Month: May 2010

Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that I am a recovering legalist. I spent about three decades trying to find the right set of performance tools to become righteous. Guess how that worked out?

I have such mixed feelings about my first church. I am grateful for the Gospel message they preached that led me to trust Jesus as my Savior. I am sad that they lived a joyless life of self-effort, guilt and self condemnation. In this particular theological flavor you could achieve a second stage of sanctification where you would not sin anymore. This was particularly tough for a young cynical teenager who saw “sanctified” people doing things that smelled and looked suspiciously like sin. I watched with frustration and sometimes amazement at the semantic hoops they jumped through to remain sinless.  

They simply developed new language and rules for themselves. Here is a partial listing that I observed.

When I gossiped it was sin….
When they gossiped it was “sharing.”

When I stood up for a belief I was stubborn…
When they were rigid they had the strength of their convictions.

When I made a mistake I was an immature Christian…
When they erred they were going through a “difficult time”.

When I acted in self-interest I was selfish…
When they act in self-interest they were looking out for themselves because no one else would.

When I missed church I was undisciplined and letting down the fellowship…
When they missed it was because of their difficult week that I couldn’t even begin to understand.

When I didn’t work at a church function I was lazy…
When they didn’t volunteer it was because they couldn’t possibly take on another thing (heavy sighhhh as they lugged the cross behind them).

When I took initiative I was self-centered and controlling…
When they took charge they were following God’s direction.

When I got angry I had a terrible attitude…
When they got ticked off they were “filled with righteous indignation”. I had no doubt they were filled with something. 

I think I have made the point. Anyone can justify sin and fake holiness with all sorts of clever nuance. But the way to deal with sin is to understand that my sin has already been justified. By grace. And because of that I am holy. Can’t work my way to righteousness. Righteousness is imputed to me by Jesus Christ.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3, NIV)

Adam set the tone way back in the garden when he sinned and then hid when God sought him. When I try to work my way to righteousness I will invariably hide because I can’t do it and I am filled with guilt. My response to guilt is to hide in shame. There is no need to hide when you believe that your sin is forgiven and justified because of Christ alone. When you stop being hidden and let the light shine on your sin you suddenly and even surprisingly find that you can begin to mature in your faith. And the works that seemed so burdensome become joyful service of gratitude and love.

There is a little saying that I have heard all of my life.

If you can’t say something nice about them…then don’t say anything.

Had I practiced that very wise advice I would have had many more “quiet times” in my life. I have not always practiced that simple principle even though I have read and nodded solemnly in agreement as I read James and Paul warn of the dangers of gossip and an uncontrolled tongue.  Whether you call it venting or sharing it is always perilously close to gossiping. That is one of those “fine line” challenges. Like Dave Barry’s quote that “there’s a fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness’.” I would submit that there is a fine line between venting/sharing and gossip. Gossip is one of the favorite tools that Satan has in his toolbox.

Brooklyn Tabernacle takes gossip very seriously. New members hear this charge as they become members of the church. 

“And now, I charge you, as pastor of this church, that if you ever hear another member speak an unkind word of criticism or slander against anyone—myself, another pastor, an usher, a choir member, or anyone else—you have authority to stop that person in mid sentence and say, ?Excuse me—who hurt you? Who ignored you? Who slighted you? Was it Pastor Cymbala? Let’s go to his office right now. He will get on his knees and apologize to you, and then we will pray together, so God can restore peace and unity to this body. But we will not let you talk critically about people who are not present to defend themselves. New members, please understand that I am entirely serious about this. I want to help resolve this kind of thing immediately. And meanwhile, know this: If YOU are ever the one doing the loose talking, we will confront you.”

If every church practiced this I suspect we have far less division in the church. An interesting thought about gossip comes from Frank A. Clark. “Gossip needn’t be false to be evil – there’s a lot of truth that shouldn’t be passed around.”

Ouch. That convicted me. I have vented and shared things that were true. Somehow that made me feel better that I was venting truth. But I later realized that my venting was not edifying to the body of Christ. I was not giving the grace that I had received from God. I may have been right but I was not righteous. King Solomon wrote that “a perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.” How tragic. But that is happening every single day in the church. Later the wise King notes that “without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.”

So my challenge to you and to me (as I look uncomfortably into the mirror) is to not add any fuel to the gossip fire. I have too often added kerosene instead of kindness. I want to be tender and not tinder. I cannot use the lyric from the old Billy Joel song as an excuse that “I didn’t start the fire”. Jesus is asking us to not spread the fire and He especially is asking us to extinguish it with grace.