Freedom Virus

When Sanctuary began almost 10 years ago, our goal (like most missional communities) wasn’t so much to build a church, but to build a great city starting from where we were at. How does one go about that? It begins with ourselves, with our marriages, with our families, our friends, the neighborhood we live in, etc. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. But how exactly does this change happen with ourselves?

And so began the years of spreading a “virus” which we call the “Gospel” into the “matrix” of this city. This virus transforms you and me from the inside out, rather than trying to change you from the outside in by will power and moral reformation. The importance of this truth cannot be overstated, and it is a truth that we as a community have been spreading from one relationship to another.

Richard Lovelace does a great job of explaining the difference between a “gospel virus” and a “moral virus” by using the example of bent iron. He says that there are two ways to straighten a bent rod of iron. One way, through purely external power and force, is to bend the iron rod until it’s straight again. But the truth of iron is that if you succeed in bending the iron back, instead of being as strong or stronger, it is actually weaker where you bent it. Even if it looks visually straight, it will be prone to break if it is bent again in the same area. The fibers of the iron are broken inside and by this physical exertion it is now unstable and susceptible to snapping in two. But if you put this iron in fire until it glows from the inside, in that fire as the fibers are transformed from the inside, you can shape and transform the iron and make it straighter than ever and stronger than ever. It becomes tempered because of the fire and is able to withstand even the physical forces that attempt to bend it and make it crooked.

This is the difference between Gospel transformation and moral reformation. It is true that through sheer will power and moral exertion you can change yourself. If someone has bent you (through abuse, trauma, etc.), you can will yourself to bend back so that you appear to be straight and strong. Spiritual disciplines, behavior modification, accountability groups and other ways of changing help bend you back by influence and outside force.

Or, through the Gospel, you can see your heart plunged into the fire of the One who made you and calls you to Himself. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of the One who made you and is infinitely more powerful than you are. Moreover, this same God procured FOR you cosmic favor, total acceptance, beauty and loveliness. Because it was procured through merits of his own Son, and not ours, we call it GRACE.

By this gospel of GRACE, as the Spirit causes it to heat your heart, you will glow from the inside and there will be a fire that will soften you and sweeten you. When you have that kind of understanding and experience of the Gospel, you’ll be malleable and pliable so that you’ll be changed, not by His rough outward force, or your harsh guilt, but by the gentle hands of the Master Blacksmith. This will cause your life to be incredibly strong and tempered so that it you’ll be able to resist the attempts of other forces that wish to bend you and weaken you.

You will be organically changed because Gospel transformation is the complete opposite of moral reformation. C.S. Lewis said this in his book Mere Christianity, in the chapter titled “Nice People or New Men?” In it he writes:

“In a world of nice people, looking no further than that, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as the miserable world and more difficult to save, for MERE IMPROVEMENT IS NOT REDEMPTION, though in the end redemption will improve you to a degree that you can’t even imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce BETTER kinds of the old creature, but to produce a NEW kind of person. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better, but more like turning a horse into a winged creature which is a whole new kind of being altogether.”

It’s hard to add to that. Gospel transformation is much different than moral reformation. It operates on the principle of freedom rather than a form of bondage. When the Gospel comes into your life and you learn the Gospel and begin to understand the Gospel, it becomes real to you and it makes you a more loving person, a more gracious person, more tolerant and courageous, more honest and more faithful. It changes you and makes you a person that looks more and more like Christ.

~Pastor Ed

Barren

Galatians 4:21-31

No one can validate themselves. We all look to certain people or things to convince us that we are significant. What are the things you attach your significance to?

Whatever they are, they will have some sort of law, i.e., list of expectations. And if the salvation of one’s ego and identity is hinged upon them, we will respond in deep guilt if we fail to measure up, or in deep anger if someone gets in the way, or in deep anxiety if our success is threatened, or in major drivenness since we must measure up, or in despair if we fail completely.

Interestingly, followers of Christ, who look to God for their significance, obey the law of God with the same fevor – but they don’t RELY on the law.  They don’t hinge their salvation to their efforts.

It’s what sets Christianity apart from other other religions and philosophies.  Our “god” lived the life that we could never live FOR US through his son Jesus. And he offers Jesus’ perfect record in exchange for ours.  This substitution – received by grace through faith – the faith not even of ourselves but a gift from God – is the ultimate cosmic leveler.  The Jewish Christians were now no more favored than pagan converts.  Their spiritual experience, and background, and heritage was moot when it came to God’s approval.  Still, the Jewish Christians, acted pretentiously as the “older brother” (think of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son). And the older brothers gave their younger “pagan” brothers a hard time.

The Pagan converts were known for their dark past and thus were easy targets.  Despite having exchanged their moral record with the perfect record of Christ –  the Jewish converts, like Satan in the garden, took advantage of their baby confidence and child-like trust they had in God’s goodness, and enticed them with the power to take righteousness into their own hands.

Paul quotes Isaiah 54:1, which declares that “the barren and desolate woman will be more fruitful than the woman with husband.”

Originally this prophetic word was for the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The remaining Israelites thought their national life was over, that they would never return home, or have their own country again. They seemed like failures, weak and helpless (their exile was a punishment), while other nations seemed strong and able. But God says to them, through Isaiah, “Now that you are helpless you will see that it is the weak in whose lives my grace works!  The strong are too busy relying on themselves. I will make you numerous and great.”

The prophecy of Isaiah looks back to Genesis 16, in which God looks down on two women, one beautiful and fertile (Hannah), the other barren and old (Sarah) and he chooses to save the world through the barren one. Through her, all the peoples of the world are blessed.

Paul takes this prophecy and applies it to the Galatians. It’s hard to trust God period – especially when you are feeling spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and morally “barren.” The shame and guilt of our past makes it tempting to grasp for the “fruit” (rely on ourselves) rather than rely on God’s goodness and promise.

The Gospel is a double edged sword in this sense. It’s good news, but it’s also bad news.

It’s an affront to those who feel “fertile” with hope in themselves to make the right decisions. It’s an infringement on their sovereignty.  It’s good news to those who feel “barren” of any hope in themselves to make the right decisions. God will enable them to choose and do what they can’t choose and do for themselves.  ~Pastor Ed

Like a mother...

Galatians 4:19-20

Key verse: 4:19 – My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…

Summary: Steve Jobs had said something recently which resonated with mey:

“Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

But suppose someone you care about (say your child) is depressed and tells us that they just don’t see the point in living in more. What do we do? We try to explain how their “dogma” is wrong and how it’s just not true. We try to remind them of their value and call them to drop their belief and trust in what we’re saying.

Paul felt they were committing spiritual suicide by turning to an entirely different kind of truth – an entirely different kind of doctrine.

Some would probably balk at the analogy with the opinion that it’s not the same when it comes to religion – but Paul did. The Galatians were teetering on the edge of detaching themselves from the dogma of “passive” righteousness where acceptance is given to you, and instead attaching themselves to their former dogma of “active” righteousness where acceptance is earned by you.

It was a constant battle for Paul, “I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”

It’s hard not to reject these two categories when it comes to spirituality. To Paul, they were two entirely different paradigms, resulting in two entirely different modes of being. One led to life, the other leading to death. He invokes the metaphor of a mother when it comes to his anguish which gives us a model of approaching those “teetering” off the spiritual ledge.

Like a mother, Paul was:

concerned about their spiritual growth.
concerned primarily about the growth of their affection for Christ – as opposed to their affection for each other.
willing to bear pain and anguish, disappointment, rejection.

For Paul, his “truth” was not something he used as a weapon. He didn’t approach the Galatians as adversaries. Nor did he see his truth as strictly personal, and approach them passively by “just listening.” Truth was a scalpel. And he approached the Galatians with the skill of a doctor, and the heart of a mother – using these truths as a scalpel to cut and bring healing… so that they would step away from the ledge and set their affections on Christ and not on their idols.

Last Sunday at the Park – August 28

This Sunday (Aug 28th) the Sanctuary will gather at Jefferson Park on Beacon Hill.
We will start at 11am
Look for us in the grass nearby the playground and tennis courts. We will try to be there early to secure a table but plan to bring blankets, chairs, sun umbrellas.

It is a reclaimed space build on top of a covered reservoir similar to the Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill. There is a large new playground for kids and lots of open grass.
Here is a panorama shot.

What to bring: Meat to grill, side, salad, dessert or drink to share, blankets and/or chairs for sitting, frisbees, balls, etc.

Sanctuary will provide, plates, napkins, plastic-ware.

Summer Beach Sundays continue! This Sunday (July 24) at Golden Gardens.

Just a reminder that this Sunday we will be meeting at Golden Gardens for a picnic.

Please feel free to invite friends and family!
Again here are the details

The details…

Where: Golden Gardens Park
Time: 11:00 a.m.
What to bring: Meat to grill, side, salad, dessert or drink to share, blankets and/or chairs for sitting, frisbees, balls, etc.

Sanctuary will provide, plates, napkins, plastic-ware.

Beach Sunday - June 26

We'll be at Madrona Beach this Sunday. Bring your friends, bring some meat to grill and a side dish to share. 11am.  We'll dedicate some of our children, and say farewell to the Hales.