I've written in this subforum about Self, death to Self, co-crucifixion with Christ, and living by faith in one's union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. I've pointed out that all this is necessary to bringing each of us into rich, joyful fellowship with God. In this post, I'd like to focus on this ultimate aim of living the crucified life of a disciple of Jesus.
It is aiming way too low as a Christian to think the Christian life is about following the rules, divine though they may be. What do I mean? Well, I mean being righteous, Self-denial, forsaking all, and so on. It's so easy to begin to think that spiritual living is volunteering at the local homeless shelter, going to church, studying the Bible, maybe teaching a Sunday School class, never swearing, never watching rotten movies, never reading foul books, avoiding evil companions - you know: religious stuff, holy living.
It's also really easy to virtue-signal by urging others to embark assiduously upon such a righteous life. By some, spiritual maturity and a careful obedience to God's commands are thought of as synonymous. The truly spiritual person is a holy person; obedience is the key thing; do what's right and you'll be right. And, of course, the New Testament is chock-full of injunctions to right living, which seem to justify this sort of focus spiritually.
Strangely, this orientation upon righteous doing, this myopic fixation upon obedience, often has the unfortunate result of limiting a person's spiritual life. An analogy may help here: Imagine being invited to, say, your favorite Aunt's house for a visit. You love this Aunt; she's full of joy, and humour, and grace; she is wonderfully loving and wise; she makes you feel so peaceful, and comfortable, and safe; you want to be with her as much as you can. So, you rush over to her house, knocking first, as instructed, then entering as you always do through the front door, as your Aunt has asked you to do. You remove your shoes and place them on the shoe tray just inside the front door, also in obedience to your Aunt's wishes. You're in your Aunt's house! It's filled with sweet-smelling flowers, colorful rugs cover the floor, lovely paintings adorn the walls. You sigh in pleasure at the delights of your Aunt's home. A few quick steps take you to the plush, capacious sofa, upon which you seat yourself, waiting, as your Aunt has told you to do, for her to join you for tea, and cakes, and conversation. The warm sunshine streaming through the front window bathes the room in a pleasant golden glow. How good it is to be in your Aunt's home! You are content. You have arrived. You've done everything just right, obeying carefully all your Aunt's rules.
Now, imagine sitting there thinking to yourself that merely being in your Aunt's house and obeying all her rules is all that you should expect in relating with your Aunt! Imagine if, in all the times you've visited with your Aunt, you've never actually enjoyed direct, face-to-face fellowship with her? You just follow her rules and sit in her excellent home but never enjoy your Aunt herself. Wouldn't that seem terribly odd to you? It would to me.
This is, though, what many Christians do with God. They follow God's rules, and enjoy the peripherals of God's spiritual life and world, and come to think that these are ends in themselves, missing in thinking this way the point of it all: fellowship with God.
All of the death-to-Self stuff, all the living in obedience to God's commands, all the forsaking of the World, the flesh and the devil, are aimed at bringing you into intimate communion with God. The Ultimate and Eternal Great Reward of a holy life is the excellency of knowing and communing with God Almighty, Ruler of Heaven and Earth, Creator and Sustainer of Everything. Obedience, holiness, dying to Self are all just the means of enjoying rich, deep fellowship with God.
1 Corinthians 1:9
9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Corinthians 13:14
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
1 John 1:3
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Romans 8:15
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Have you stopped short of fellowship with God, occupied instead with obedience to Him and with the "house" of Christian religious culture? Do you even believe it is possible to fellowship with God, to enjoy intimate communion with Him all day, every day?
It's only when we delight in God in fellowship with Him that we live sincerely and truly to His glory, as we were made by God to do. (1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 15:6; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 4:16, etc.) There is no more sincere praise than that which rises out of great joy in, and love of, a thing. In our relationship with God, we cannot find either thing - joy and love - in mere obedience, mere moralism. As the professionally-obedient Pharisees illustrated, thinking that one can do so leads to pride, self-righteousness, hypocrisy and legalism.
Psalm 16:8-11
8 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
It is aiming way too low as a Christian to think the Christian life is about following the rules, divine though they may be. What do I mean? Well, I mean being righteous, Self-denial, forsaking all, and so on. It's so easy to begin to think that spiritual living is volunteering at the local homeless shelter, going to church, studying the Bible, maybe teaching a Sunday School class, never swearing, never watching rotten movies, never reading foul books, avoiding evil companions - you know: religious stuff, holy living.
It's also really easy to virtue-signal by urging others to embark assiduously upon such a righteous life. By some, spiritual maturity and a careful obedience to God's commands are thought of as synonymous. The truly spiritual person is a holy person; obedience is the key thing; do what's right and you'll be right. And, of course, the New Testament is chock-full of injunctions to right living, which seem to justify this sort of focus spiritually.
Strangely, this orientation upon righteous doing, this myopic fixation upon obedience, often has the unfortunate result of limiting a person's spiritual life. An analogy may help here: Imagine being invited to, say, your favorite Aunt's house for a visit. You love this Aunt; she's full of joy, and humour, and grace; she is wonderfully loving and wise; she makes you feel so peaceful, and comfortable, and safe; you want to be with her as much as you can. So, you rush over to her house, knocking first, as instructed, then entering as you always do through the front door, as your Aunt has asked you to do. You remove your shoes and place them on the shoe tray just inside the front door, also in obedience to your Aunt's wishes. You're in your Aunt's house! It's filled with sweet-smelling flowers, colorful rugs cover the floor, lovely paintings adorn the walls. You sigh in pleasure at the delights of your Aunt's home. A few quick steps take you to the plush, capacious sofa, upon which you seat yourself, waiting, as your Aunt has told you to do, for her to join you for tea, and cakes, and conversation. The warm sunshine streaming through the front window bathes the room in a pleasant golden glow. How good it is to be in your Aunt's home! You are content. You have arrived. You've done everything just right, obeying carefully all your Aunt's rules.
Now, imagine sitting there thinking to yourself that merely being in your Aunt's house and obeying all her rules is all that you should expect in relating with your Aunt! Imagine if, in all the times you've visited with your Aunt, you've never actually enjoyed direct, face-to-face fellowship with her? You just follow her rules and sit in her excellent home but never enjoy your Aunt herself. Wouldn't that seem terribly odd to you? It would to me.
This is, though, what many Christians do with God. They follow God's rules, and enjoy the peripherals of God's spiritual life and world, and come to think that these are ends in themselves, missing in thinking this way the point of it all: fellowship with God.
All of the death-to-Self stuff, all the living in obedience to God's commands, all the forsaking of the World, the flesh and the devil, are aimed at bringing you into intimate communion with God. The Ultimate and Eternal Great Reward of a holy life is the excellency of knowing and communing with God Almighty, Ruler of Heaven and Earth, Creator and Sustainer of Everything. Obedience, holiness, dying to Self are all just the means of enjoying rich, deep fellowship with God.
1 Corinthians 1:9
9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Corinthians 13:14
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
1 John 1:3
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Romans 8:15
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Have you stopped short of fellowship with God, occupied instead with obedience to Him and with the "house" of Christian religious culture? Do you even believe it is possible to fellowship with God, to enjoy intimate communion with Him all day, every day?
It's only when we delight in God in fellowship with Him that we live sincerely and truly to His glory, as we were made by God to do. (1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 15:6; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 4:16, etc.) There is no more sincere praise than that which rises out of great joy in, and love of, a thing. In our relationship with God, we cannot find either thing - joy and love - in mere obedience, mere moralism. As the professionally-obedient Pharisees illustrated, thinking that one can do so leads to pride, self-righteousness, hypocrisy and legalism.
Psalm 16:8-11
8 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
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