My wife caused quite a stir on Facebook last night. Now understand, my wife, loves the Lord. She is a witness to hundreds of lost friends on a forum such as Facebook through persistent spiritual postings and has seen much fruit when lost friends of hers seek Godly counsel in times of crisis. My wife is also a fun loving person, who relates to people on a level they can relate to, especially lost people. This is why so many feel comfortable speaking with her regarding spiritual matters. This fun loving side is what led to the stir she caused last night. You see, my wife; the preachers wife; told a fart joke on Facebook.
How this caused a stir is she was rebuked by a pastor we really do not know. He called her language "guttural." Know also, this pastor has also rebuked her in the past for using words like gosh, golly and gee wiz on Facebook. My wife, a fiery one, did not respond to his rebuke as well as she should have. She reacted emotionally, and although not by name, revealed the private rebuke of the pastor and expressed her opinion of it as only she can. But what I want to focus on is the overflow of this event. How exactly is the Christian to practice a holy life, yet remain relevant to lost people in the world? How can we balance being holy, and being human?
First, let's define some words and concepts here. The bible commands us, "Be holy, for I am holy." So, just what does holy, and practicing holiness mean. Holiness is defined as living a life of purity and integrity in regards to moral character. Moral character is established by the lives we live, as compared to God's word. Are we obedient to the clear commands and expectations of the word of God? Are we living in sin, thus practicing an unholy lifestyle? Many Christians view this command as impossible to fulfil. In a way, it is, because none of us are perfect. But we are called to practice holiness, so what we judge ourselves on is: is the pattern of our lives one that reflects God and His expectations of us, or is it not. When the world looks at us; observes us, hears us, is it evident we are a Christian?
Spouting scripture does not make us a Christian, nor does attending church, or even professing Jesus Christ in word with no works to back it up. The Christian's life will stand in direct contrast to the lost person of the world. We will be seen as honest, truthful, gentle, kind, patient, loving. We will not cast judgment upon the world, as the bible tells us God will do that(1 Cor 5.) We do however judge each other by the standards of the bible so as to hold each other accountable for conducting ourselves in holiness. But if we are to engage the world, yet we are by definition distinctly different from the world. How can we do so without compromising our holiness.
The old adage is we are to be "in the world but not of the world." This means we are to live as everyday people among everyday people yet not be corrupted by the sin that is prevalent in our world. But where do we draw the line on where holiness ends and worldliness begins? May I submit, we allow people to be themselves so long as no clearly defined sin is being committed or overtaking them. You know, the bible is very clear on sin. It has lists of sins throughout, things God identifies as sin. He is the only one who can define what sin is and what it is not. Problem is, sometimes we as Christians, want to place our own ideals and opinions of what is sin where God has not spoken clearly. When this happens, it's called legalism, loosely defined as placing our own beliefs in place of or over God's clearly spelled out word.
Legalism was the problem in Jesus's day, as it is a huge problem today. As big, if not bigger, than the liberalism that compromises God's word. The Pharisees placed their traditions over God's word(Mk 7). and in doing so placed restrictions on people that God did not. We still do this today. Ever seen a church with a dress code, or one that would not allow a woman to wear makeup? Us as individual Christians do this even more so. If you smoke cigarettes, you sin. Where is that in the bible? If you drink a beer, you sin. Once again, where in the bible does this doctrine exist that directly prohibits this? If you are overweight you're a glutton. If you bought a lottery ticket? Allow your children to believe in Santa Claus? I'm not condoning these things, but neither do I have the biblical authority to say flat out, you can't do them. Believe me, we Christians can make up more rules that God never spoke clearly on than apparently any people group on the planet. And we do so under the mantra, "Be holy, for I am holy." Just like the Pharisees did.
Friends, we must realize, we do have liberty in Christ. That liberty is not a free ticket to sin. The bible says, "Is grace license to sin? God forbid!" But let's let God define what sin is, and keep our noses out of His business when it comes to our personal opinions. Romans 14 tells us that if it is sin to us, it is sin. If your spirit is convicting you regarding a vice, or something in your life that maybe the bible doesn't speak directly too, then it is sin to you. But this disputable matter may not be considered sin to another believerwho is not under the same conviction.
When we start expecting others to live to our standards, we've crossed a line. The standard we are to strive for is God's, not any human beings. When we somehow expect the world to relate to us without human foibles that we have liberty in Christ to practice, that make us who we are, we've become irrelevant and obvious hypocrites in the eyes of the world. With all do respect to the pastor who rebuked Ashley, your objection falls into that category. When we are rebuking another believer for a sophomoric joke, or using harmless, non offensive words such as gosh and gee wiz, we've ventured in to an absurdity that the world laughs at, and turns from quicker than we can comprehend.
The bible says we are not to be a stumbling block, defined as a sin or action that causes another to fall into sin and away from God. Using the instance of my wife as an example. Is a juvenile joke really going to cause someone to do this? Or a harmless slang word? Friends we do need to take great care that our actions do not lead others into sin and away from Christ. Actions that could do this are normally sin, which is defined by God. Can a tradition we have do so? Yes, just as Paul says eating meat or having a drink of wine may do so? But in these areas not clearly defined by God, we are responsible for our own actions, but not to be judged by another believer as we do have that liberty. It's a fine line, but one that is essential if we are to relate to the world without appearing to be self righteous, rigid, prudish zealots.
The Christian life is not easy, but it is rewarding. God's commands are not burdensome, but our expectations of each other when they are not grounded solidly in God's word are. We must live in holiness, as God commands it. But let's let Him set the standard for what holiness is.
No comments:
Post a Comment