Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Up or down – Elevation or False Humility

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“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3, ESV)

Elevation or False Humility

There are two ways of seeking to fulfill the proscription in this verse. We can either elevate others or put ourselves below others in an effort to produce humility.

The first way is to think of others as having more value, of elevating them above us.

The image of God that Jesus presented in Luke 15, the loving father waiting for the son to return, should cause me to think of myself as valuable in God’s eyes. The fact that Jesus came to save me is another datum that indicates my value.

Therefore the second option, the devaluing of my self, is not the better choice. I should not think of myself as having less value than God thinks me to have.

I have heard humility defined as “seeing myself as God sees me.” In spite of my many flaws and failures, God thinks me valuable. So any move that I make to make me appear less valuable in an effort to appear humble would then become false humility.

We can agree that the second option is not valid, but then comes the struggle.

There are some that we do not want to elevate to greater significance. We sometimes pick certain sins as disqualification for this elevation. We too often hold on to grievances or past failures and refuse to count others as more significant. Too often the church is more focused on who is in and who is out and refuses to elevate those who are deemed as outsiders.

Jesus did not have a problem with elevating others. He was always gentle with the very people upon which the church has historically looked down. He let a prostitute kiss his feet. He dined with tax collectors. He took a bunch of fisherman and social outcasts and turned them into a world changing force.

Jesus elevated everyone around him to be better. There was no false humility in Jesus, he understood exactly who he is and what he came to do. Yet, he dignified the people around him in his interactions.

Can we stop with the false humility and follow Jesus in understanding our value and elevating the people around us to help them know their value?

What would the church look like if we did this well?

Going after false idols

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Too often the church takes on aspects of the surrounding culture and is damaged as a result. I believe this happens when we lose sight of the nature of Christianity. It my be a worn phrase, but still true that Christianity is a relationship and not a religion. This has been true of the worship of God since the beginning.

The Nation of Israel lost sight of this fact and fell into error. We read in 2 Kings 17:15:

“They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.” (ESV)

Happy Meal ToysThere is nothing wrong with taking aspects of the culture that can be redeemed by the gospel and using those to communicate eternal truth. There is nothing inherently “spiritual” in being 10 to 50 years behind the culture in musical taste. God does not like organs any more or less than guitars. Music in any style can be used as a medium to convey the good news of Jesus Christ.

Dress is another area that has often been a source of contention in the church. My normal Sunday dress consists of Converse All Stars, blue jeans, and some form of a button down shirt. In some churches, this would be considered irreverent. Yet, this is how much of the surrounding culture in my area dresses. We should not allow our dress to distract someone away from our message of hope.

Dress, music and many of the other battleground issues in the church do not constitute going after false idols. The problem of Israel was not that they emulated the surrounding nations in their cultural expressions of dress or music.

The problem was that they forgot the source of their blessing and national existence. They turned away from the God who brought them out of Egypt and made them a nation. They hedged their bet by also worshiping the gods of the Canaanites.

When we look to anything other than God for our existence and blessing then we are following in the steps of the Nation of Israel in following after false idols.

If we think that methods or programs will grow the church we are going after false idols. When we think that altering our message will grow the church, we are following after false idols. When we think that the beauty of our campus will grow the church, we are following after false idols.

Jesus told Peter that He would build the Church and this remains true today. In the end, if we want the church to be strong and to grow, it must be entirely focused on Jesus Christ and the message of salvation that can be found in his birth, ministry, death and resurrection. It is upon this rock, this confession, that the church will be built.

Too often the church seeks acceptance by becoming like the surrounding culture and ends up making inappropriate compromises. When we do this, we are trading what is of value for that which holds no value. It is like trading a bar of gold for a used Happy Meal toy.

Speculation in the Evangelical community

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Speculation“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” (1 Timothy 1:3–4, ESV)

There are two categories of those who Paul condemns in these verses. The first is those to teach a different doctrine. The second are those who promote speculations (ESV) or controversies (NIV).

A different doctrine

In the first category I would put organizations like the LDS Church and the Watchtower Society. What sets them apart from Scripture is their teaching on the person of Jesus Christ and the means of salvation. They clearly teach a different doctrine than the catholic (universal) church has for the last two thousand years. When the teachings of these organizations are compared to Scripture, it becomes clear that their doctrine is different than what Scripture presents.

Promoting speculation

Those who promote speculation are often less obvious. We must be willing to look inside the Evangelical community with honesty to identify when we have begun to promote speculation.

For example, the Book of Revelation is full of symbols. It would have been so much easier if Jesus just gave us a timeline and provided specific dates and descriptions of events yet to happen. He did not. Therefore, we must look at the symbols to see what lessons are in them for us.

The danger in this is that depending on presuppositions we can come to different understandings of what the symbols mean. The fact that they are symbols that can be interpreted differently should lead us to caution in declaring that our understanding is the only right interpretation. Yet, there are many churches who make such a declaration.

Let us stand firm on the teaching in Scripture that is clear. About the meaning of the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we can be confident in our understanding. On those issues that are not clear or are open for interpretation, we mush allow for difference of opinion and be wary of those who promote only one possible understanding.

I am reminded of the phrase attributed to Rupertus Meldenius:

In essentials unity
In non-essentials liberty
And in all things charity

On rationalization of sin

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Gold BarsThis morning I read the story of Achan whose sin caused the defeat of Israel when they went up against Ai. This story can be found in Joshua 7:16-26.

As a 21st Century American, I bristle when I read this story. I want to tell God that it was such a little sin. It seems natural that Achan should desire the goods that he confiscated. He had a momentary lapse of judgment and for that he and his entire family got stoned?

The danger of grace is that we can take Grace for granted and lose perspective on how serious God is about sin. I once heard a definition of sin as man playing God in his own life. By this definition, anything that I do that is contrary to what God expects is a sin.

I observe in myself and I believe I observe in others that humans have an almost infinite capacity to rationalize sin and make it sound legitimate. In this we follow our first parents in their response to the very first sin. Adam blamed Eve (and God) and Eve blamed the serpent.

When confronted with sin, like Adam, I want to find a way to say that it is not my fault. But it is my fault, the fact is that I choose to disobey.

The fix for this problem is not a legalistic system of do’s and don’ts. Legalism exacerbates the problem by focusing attention on the symptoms rather than the disease. The disease is a heart that is unwilling to yield to God. Legalism does nothing to soften the damaged heart and bring it in submission to God.

Legalism produces two undesirable effects. For those who are successful at keeping the rules, pride sets in which makes the heart even more unresponsive to God. For those who recognize their inability to keep the rules, an inappropriate sense of unworthiness can set in. This sense of unworthiness can then trigger rejection of the very God who gives them worth.

The sin of Achan was not that he desired the loot. The sin was that he did not desire God more than the loot. As C. S. Lewis points out, the problem was not that Achan’s desires were too strong, they were weak and focused on the wrong thing.

We presume upon Grace when we rationalize sin. The fact that we don’t end up under a heap of stones is not because we don’t deserve that heap. I share in the sin of Achan and that is why this story makes me feel uncomfortable.

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