Richard Truitt
THE DANCE AND THE JOURNEY or WHY WE DO THE THINGS WE DO
(or perhaps more appropriately titled, if we did things we should/want to do, why do we do them)
The Cross is the usual first response to the question of what should be guiding our actions. It is a normal response, a good response, that sometimes goes something like “Because Jesus died that horrible death on the Cross for me, I should [fill in the blank].”
I hope you do not hear me diminishing the Sacrifice on the Cross (if you do, take me out back and tar and feather me), but the motivation I hear in this response is guilt or thankfulness. As guilt is not included in the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – Ga 5:22 & 23), that does not seem quite right to me. I also don’t think you can find anywhere in the Scriptures where guilt is acknowledged as a proper motivation (Narramore: No Condemnation).
And thankfulness (well one of my personal struggles is with gratitude so bear with me) reminds me of my mother saying to me “I was in labor with you for fourteen days so you better well do as I say and be thankful.” To which I responded, “I didn’t ask to be born!” Obviously I have real issues, and I do not want to say that gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice is not important, but what if we looked at that defining moment on Good Friday in a different way?
So back to where we started. I think we all agree that the Cross is a proper motivation, but why did Christ go? Yes He loves us, but what guided Jesus’ actions? A fair number of Gospel verses indicate Jesus was primarily motivated by the love of the Father.
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
John 5: 19,20
Or…
So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. John 8:28
Focusing on the love of the Father and Son has brought me some peace of late. When I cannot seem to do anything right, when the pressures of this world are overbearing, I try to focus on that Trinitarian love.
Maybe the cross should point us to the Trinity. The Trinity – a perfect community of three yet one. The Father so loves the Son, the Son so loves the Father, and that love is so strong it is another entity - the Holy Spirit. All perfectly relating. It has been described as the Dance of Trinity.
What if the cross is an example of that Trinitarian love, and since we are created in God’s image, i.e. the image of the Trinity, we –the pathetic, little beings that we are - we are called into that love.
I like Larry Crabb’s description in his book Real Church:
The most staggering and stunning truth God has given to me in His Word can be summed up, perhaps a bit simplistically but I hope not irreverently, in two short sentences. One, God is a party happening. Two, I’m invited to the party.
With John 3:16 in mind, let’s dream of a conversation before time:
FATHER: Let’s create creatures with the capacity to fully enjoy us. Of course we are completely happy within ourselves, but let’s create personal beings like us to whom we can reveal the very depths of our glorious nature.
These beings must be built with the freedom to love us but they will make wrong choices. They will believe the enemy’s lie that we are holding out on them and will search for good through their own efforts.
But these faithless choices will enable us to reveal how profound our love is.
Son, at the proper time I will send you to become one of them to accept the guilt of their sin. When we break connection and die, they will see the extremes we will go to bring them into our community.
SON: Though what you ask is painful beyond description, I am delighted with your plan. The joy of seeing you glorified makes it worth it all. Is there no other way?
FATHER: No
SON: Then, I will go gladly.
FATHER: Spirit you will come upon various people to advance my purposes until my Son dies as a man and is resurrected. Then you will take up residence in every one you have drawn to me, and you will incline their hearts toward loving me so that obedience will become a joy and not mere duty.
SPIRIT: It will be my incomparable thrill. I will nurture an appetite to know you until it becomes stronger than all others. I will not rest until they live in my strength and overcome all desires to find life apart from you.
(Crabb: Connecting)
I only recently became aware that I have just described a long running debate in the church. Apparently prior to the Reformation, one movement in the Catholic Church thought that atonement, (i.e. Christ shed his blood to pay for our sins) was the appropriate way to view the Cross. The other movement thought that concentrating on inclusion into the community of the Trinity was more correct (Rohr). The “atonement” movement had better debaters and that line of thinking became more accepted and eventually adopted by the Protestant faith.
The Eastern expression of the faith has retained this “life sharing” side of Christ’s work, emphasizing sin as pollution which Christ took away. The Western church has kept the more “legal” aspect of Christ’s payment of our sin debt (Hoekema: Saved by Grace).
Looking at things from different angles is usually good, especially so in spiritual matters. As Mark (Philpot) continues to impress upon us, no matter how big you think God is, he is bigger. That says to me, that we will never “figure out” God – “how inscrutable his ways” (Romans 11:33). So looking at these spiritual matters from completely different angles might indeed help us to understand our walk with the Lord a little better.
As Anthony A. Hoekema writes in his book Saved by Grace,
We must keep these two aspects of Christ’s work together (the “legal” and the “life sharing”)…. Christ came to earth not just to pay the price for our salvation, as one might pay an overdue bill, but also to bring us into and keep us always in living union with himself. Through union with Christ we receive every spiritual blessing. Christ not only died for us on Calvary’s cross many years ago; he also lives in our hearts, now and forever.
I think if one is not careful, wrong thinking can arise by a focus on the atonement aspect of the Cross (as can an over-focus on the relationship aspect of the Crucifixion). Guilt and even gratitude can create a works emphasis which leads to legalism or moralism. The authors of Truefaced call it living in the “Room of Good Intentions” where we try to please God. Working to please God sounds admirable, except we know that “without faith, it is impossible to please God”. It is only God working through us, and not through our own efforts, that we can please God (verse?).
C.S. Lewis said something to effect that there are first things and second things. If we pursue second things first, we get neither first nor second things. If pursue first things (obviously God) first, we get both (though not necessarily in this life). To love God is the key. It is hard with our sinful hearts.
I must be careful that my “religious” activities have the goal of loving God, of joining Him in the dance, as a first not second thing. So easily can activities become a method to control God (a second thing).
Of course I know bible study is important – but I can study to attempt to explain in order keep a semblance of control;
Of course I know prayer is important – but I can pray to attempt to get (turn God into a vending machine);
Of course I know serving in church is important – but I can serve so others will like me.
Ever since the Fall, we have set idols up in our hearts. The void that God has placed in our hearts, a void that calls to Him, we attempt to fill it by our own strength. Deep down, we do not want to concede authority/control to God. As with Adam and Eve, we seek to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in an effort to control our lives through understanding. Soren Kierkegaard, and eighteenth century existential philosopher said:
When a lark wants to pass gas like an elephant, it has to blow up. In the same way, all scholarly theology must blow up, because it has wanted to be the supreme wisdom instead of remaining what it is, an unassuming triviality.
Maybe the following clip, though dated, will explain this better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvyelwDA0Ws&feature=related]
We attempt to be little gods, “singing” the Song as if it were of us. How foolish for us to think we can control things as if we were God. God is all immense, all powerful/sovereign and we are too puny to begin to understand all His ways.
We are called to His dance. We are made to sing his Song, not our own- to walk in the rhythm of the Spirit – to follow His lead, not what we think is best.
Think about where God is when you pray. Yes He is up there, but he is also inside of you. How incredible! Shouldn’t we attempt to hear His voice? He has already given us a new identity, with new purity, new desires, and new power (Edwards – Revolution Within). But we have so hardened our hearts by setting up false idols that we can’t hear His voice over our own. As Michael Casey in his book Toward God said:
We do not produce prayer. During prayer time we do not attempt to initiate a relationship with God; that relationship already exists. Prayer is an attempt to realize the love that unites us with God, allow it to become more present to us, and give it greater scope to act upon us and to change us. We do not produce prayer.
THE JOURNEY
What does this all look like? How do we move toward the Dance? I doubt I will ever fully know this side of Heaven, but the attached picture attempts to show the journey as I know see it.
The Christian walk is a like a narrow path lying between an inviting meadow and a beautiful cliff. The path has up and downs, but generally climbs upward.
The Law, represented by the fence, runs along the path for the first part of the journey. It is useful as a reference to make sure one is on, or near the path. The fence over time, though, is less useful as a guide. Remember as a Christian, you have the Spirit inside you to guide you (Jeremiah 31:33). The law lessens its guiding importance as our sensitivity to the gentle pulling of the Holy Spirit (i.e. Thread of Grace) becomes stronger.
The Field of Legalism is safe and inviting as opposed to the exciting slopes leading to the Cliff of License. We have a natural tendency to wander into legalism because we can make our own gods out of our efforts to perform up to the law and fear of looking bad if we tumble off into lawlessness. Our sinful nature pulls us to sing our own song as in our own song we have control. We also have a natural tendency to guide others along the Law Fence to keep them away from the Cliffs of License. It is easy to lean towards the known of legalism than the unknown of lawlessness.
But it is important to know we are equally off the path, i.e. out of God’s will, out of touch with the Dance, (read “sin”), on either side (Galatians 5:4). But is more important to remember the Thread of Grace is never untied from our waist.
The sides of the path become steeper as we journey. Martin Luther likened the Christian walk to a drunken peasant riding a donkey continually falling off one side (legalism) or the other (license). But he keeps getting back on. Thank God for grace. And our faith in grace is periodically tested when we come to various trials (Abyss of Unbelief).1 We will be called to step off into a void in faith that the Thread of Grace will hold us. It is at those times that the Field of Legalism looks particularly inviting (and is the most dangerous).
This is the “Narrow Road” (Matthew 7:14). It is not easy. In fact, I understand that the word “narrow” Jesus used in Matthew 7:14 when describing this Journey can be translated “crushing”. Yet as narrow as the Way is, amazingly there is usually room for a friend – a spiritual friend.
We need community to hear His voice for it is in the image of community that we were created. We need to be able to speak into each other’s lives to call forth a Spirit induced life – to help each other on the journey towards the dance.
For as the worries of this life crowd into our minds, we need each other to remind us of that Thread of Grace. That it will protect us as we encounter our Abysses of Unbelief. That it is calling us toward a future more incredible than can be imagined. This is not our home. Though how sweet it is now, the Gospel’s real beauty lies in the promise of eternity in the Dance.
Let’s close by again imagining that conversation long ago:
FATHER: Son, when you become a human being, I will give you a glory you don’t have now. People will have the unprecedented opportunity to see what I’m like and a vision of what they could become.
SON: It will be a delight to make you known. After I return to your side, I will give them the glory you gave me so they can reflect your character to one another. I’ll leave a community of people who will carry on the work of revealing your irresistible kindness to others.
SPIRT: No one will reflect the Father as you, but from the moment an image bearer is conceived, I’ll start molding him to uniquely reveal the Father and advance his purposes. I’ll see to it that nothing happens to your followers that interferes with my design. Everything, even the difficulties they cannot explain, will work together to enhance their opportunities to make you known.
SON: Father my deepest joy will be to represent you to your children and to receive their worship. My joy will be complete when I hear our people sing:
To him who sits on the throne and
to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory
and power,
forever and ever.
FATHER: The plan is good. Son, prepare to die. Spirit, set eternity in every heart you create and, as soon as they are conceived, begin whispering your intentions for their lives into their souls. And then, Spirit, inspire the few who listen to you well to repeat to the others what you’ve already said. That will help them hear you a little better.
God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can, in divine communion, enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile. A. W. Tozer