Most of what I’ve written on this blog has been focused on
the specifics of ministry and teaching, but I haven’t written about what God
has been doing in my own life spiritually since arriving in Colombia. So,
looking back at my journals from the past seven and a half months or so since
arriving in Colombia, here are a few things I’ve learned, areas I’m being
stretched, and (often) ways I still need to grow.
On hospitality
If there’s any theme that came up time and again in my life
this year it has been that of hospitality. Hospitality essentially comes down
to letting people into our lives, letting their needs and even preferences have
a claim on how I live. My pastor in Colombia focused a series of sermons this
year on the “one another” commands of the New Testament—love one another,
exhort one another, carry each other’s burdens, and so forth. I was especially
struck by a comment he made where he said something to the effect of, “What if
we thought of church membership primarily in terms of being a person who puts
into practice these ‘one another’ commands of the Bible in the context of the
local church community?” Obviously church membership has some institutional
dimension, but I think he captured the heart of the primarily organic vision of
what it meant to be part of a believing community in the early church.
Perhaps the most challenging biblical passage for me in considering
hospitality is Philippians 2:3-4, which says, “Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not
looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
We are then given as our model of this attitude in Philippians 2:5-11 what
could be considered the most extreme expression of hospitality ever given, the
incarnation. To use categories from other biblical passages, in the incarnation
God came and offered rest (Matthew 11:28) and abundant life (John 10:10) to his
creation, not just welcoming us in for a solitary meal, but offering to adopt
us as part of his family (Galatians 4:1-7). Considering hospitality, I have
seen three ways I especially need to grow:
1. Hospitality with space—This is the most obvious application,
such as having people over at my apartment for lunch. I’ve had a couple of
people over and taken some other friends out for meals, but this is an area I
still need to grow a lot in.
2. Hospitality with time—This is the heart of the issue for
me, and I have found more opportunities to put this into practice. I have tried
especially to make time to help out some friends with English coversation
practice. This has been a fun way to get to know people and do something
tangible to help friends who need better English for future educational goals.
Time management is a constant area where I see room for
growth. How many times do I not make time for a beneficial conversation, not
seek out someone I could encourage, or not volunteer to help someone because I
have other commitments or am rushed trying to finish something at the last
minute? God has convicted me greatly of the need to manage my time better to
have the margin in life to naturally be able to express hospitality in those
ways and not have my use of time dictated by urgent necessities. I’ve made some
progress, but have a ways to go.
One good step I have consistently put in practice is not
working at all on Sundays. This has been great as a weekly reset. While I don’t
hold that the Sabbath is still strictly binding on Christians in just the way
it was in the Old Testament, I think there is definitely still a principle to
apply today that I have often neglected to my own harm and the crowding out of
chances to be hospitable to others.
3. Receiving hospitality—Colombians are quite hospitable,
and sometimes I still feel guilty receiving so much from them, whether it’s new
friends from church taking me out or having me over for lunch on a Sunday
afternoon or being invited to Ibagué with a friend for Christmas. I have also received tremendous
generosity from the financial supporters who have given to enable me to teach
here. Sometimes there are moments of struggling with having the humility to
accept that I have received so much from others and cannot do this on my own, especially
when I see how much others are sacrificing to enable me to work in a ministry
that I love doing.
On defeatism
At one
of the first meetings of my church small group this fall, my pastor asked us to
think of a word that summed up something about what God had been showing us in
our lives. A lot of people said things like “love” or “grace,” but I said
“holiness,” because God has been working on me for a number of years now on the
topic. I later found out some people were taken off guard when I mentioned the
word. Holiness? Who wants to focus on that? Why be so negative?
The
idea that holiness might be a negative concept shows how much we’ve missed the
good news of the fullness of salvation accomplished for us by Christ. Instead
of realizing that Jesus has accomplished for us not only our justification, but
also our sanctification (and glorification), it is easy to fall into a
mentality of thinking that we are justified by grace and sanctified by works,
and with that fall into a defeatist mentality, not truly believing that God
will provide us with what we need to be obedient.
God has
brought two passages to my mind repeatedly in thinking about this issue of
defeatism in the Christian life—Romans 8 and 1 Cor 10:13. Romans 8 tells us
that the Holy Spirit dwells in every Christian (8:9), that the Spirit has freed
us from “the law of sin and death” (8:2), and that the Spirit gives us the
ability to follow God’s commands (8:4). Lest this interpretation of Romans 8:4
sound a little too optimistic, 1 Corinthians 10:13 shows us clearly that God
always provides the way out of whatever temptation we face: “No
temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is
faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you
are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” I’m not as optimistic as
Wesleyans are when considering these passages—I don’t subscribe to a doctrine
of entire sanctification. But I do believe God wants us to grow in grace,
provides for us to do so, and that this is the way to find the abundant life
that Jesus has promised us, even if we find it in the midst of some extreme
difficulties.
One of
the common indicators of a defeatist mindset is the mentality that says, “But I
just can’t do it. I don’t have it in me to make such great sacrifices or live
so radically for God.” That’s true. None of us has it in us. But through the
power of the Holy Spirit God gives us the grace we need to obey in the moment.
Notice that 1 Cor 10:13 does not say that we always are in a spiritual state to
overcome whatever temptation might come against us. Rather, it promises us that
if God permits us to be tempted, he will provide the grace needed to remain
faithful in the moment (see also Matthew 10:19. I originally heard some similar
ideas from a John Piper sermon on persecution).
That requires a much more dynamic life of prayer, depending
constantly on God and recognizing that a relationship with him is a lot more
than saying a prayer, getting his power all at once, and coasting along for the
rest of life. In God’s wisdom he saw fit not to make things work that way, probably
to keep our pride in check. Repentance and faith, the two conditions of
salvation, are things that must be ongoing in the life of a Jesus follower. As Martin
Luther said, “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent’, he called
for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” The same applies for
faith. I must not only make the momentary initial decision, as important as
that may be, but rather through faith constantly appropriate God’s grace that
he provides for me so that I may come to resemble Jesus more and more in my
character. Whether we see sanctification along more Reformed, Wesleyan, or
Lutheran lines, I think this is the fundamentally grace-oriented focus that
unites Protestant views (and ought to keep us all from being closet Pelagians!).
No comments:
Post a Comment