Month: October 2010

I cut my spiritual teeth in legalism but I knew there had to be a better way. I regularly demonstrated Paul’s Roman treatise that the law inflames the sin nature. My brazen combo of playing high school basketball on Wednesday prayer meeting nights and reading (gasp) the Living Bible nearly resulted in excommunication. I remember one seasoned saint self-righteously telling me that he only read God’s original Word. I asked him if he read the Hebrew or Greek texts. He looked at me like a Golden Retriever hearing a high pitched sound.

We believed that we really were to be a “peculiar’ people. And we nailed it. We were spectacularly peculiar. We were so peculiar that most folks steered a wide path around our judgmental brand of faith.

I thought of that verse from Titus that our pastor often referenced just in case our guilt meter was not peaking.

Who (Christ Jesus) gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2, King James Bible)

We were to be a peculiar people. And we were indeed zealous of our moralist definition of peculiar. Peculiar meant no smoking, no alcohol, no movies, no dancing, no gambling, no cards, no bingo (those Catholics!), no immodest clothing, no jewelry, no makeup, no swearing and no fun. Especially no fun. Seriously. No fun.

But a look at the passage in a slightly later translation shows a bit more context.

For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. (Titus 2, NLT)

Hmmmm. Verily, even the King James version doth acknowledge God’s grace. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” We are to be “peculiar” not by making a big deal of what we don’t do. We are to be peculiar by living in (not apart from) this evil world with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God. We are to be “peculiar” by recognizing what Christ has done to give us a new identity and power over sin. We are to be “peculiar” by gratefully surrendering to Christ and being committed to good works. That, my friends, is peculiar in a self-centered culture.

We have missed the mark so badly by isolating ourselves into Christian bunkers and only venturing out to buy provisions. We are called to trust God to live in this world with devotion to Him.

All of this came to mind, oddly, after my beloved Texas Rangers won the first playoff series from Tampa Bay. Star outfielder Josh Hamilton is a committed Christian. (You can watch his I Am Second story here) He appreciates God’s grace because Josh was rescued from the depths of hell and restored to health, to his family and to the game he loves. Josh Hamilton is an addict. His addiction nearly killed him. He knows that everyday he must trust God and others with his life or he could fall. That is true for all of us. Josh Hamilton just lives it every day.

He suffered one relapse during an off-season moment of weakness. He did what all followers of Christ should do. Take responsibility. Repent. Seek forgiveness and return to our source of strength. Those simple steps would short-circuit a lot of charges of hypocrisy and those steps would emphasize that our righteousness is not about our behavior. Our righteousness is because of Jesus and the gift of grace. Here is a snippet of Josh’s response to that moment.

“I’m embarrassed about it. For the Rangers, I’m embarrassed about it. For my wife, my kids,” Hamilton said then. “It’s one of those things that just reinforces about alcohol. Unfortunately, it happened. It just reinforces to me that if I’m out there getting ready for a season and taking my focus off the most important thing in my recovery, which is my relationship with Christ, it’s amazing how those things creep back in.”

Because of his history, Josh Hamilton had discretely excused himself from the division title winning post game champagne and beer celebration in Oakland. He could not take a chance to be tempted. He made no demands. He did not make himself a martyr because he could not partake. He didn’t feel sorry for himself. He just did what he had to do to “live in this world with wisdom”.

Fast forward to Tuesday night in Tampa Bay. When Hamilton peeked in the clubhouse he witnessed one of the most heartwarming moments in recent years. His teammates all had bottles of ginger ale and they deluged their teammate with a shower of respect, love and grace. Josh had lived the truths without self-righteous posturing and his teammates recognized that.

After the ginger ale celebration the regular champagne flowed as Josh retreated to the hallways outside. Josh Hamilton has given the rest of us a little primer on how we navigate our world by how he lives out his faith in the pressure cooker of performance.

Focus on the grace of God who brought us salvation and new identity in Christ. Turn (personally) from godless living and sinful pleasures without condemning others who have yet to understand or experience God’s grace. Live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God.

We are His people and from that we are to be totally committed to doing good deeds. I am proud of my Texas Rangers and their first round win. But I am also very proud of their post-game honoring of a teammate who demonstrated that you can be “peculiar” without being weird. People will notice that.

A recent breakfast with my friend Bruce McNicol continues to mess with my mind. Bruce asked me a couple of thought provoking questions and they continue to bounce around my cranium. Yeah, I know there is lots of room. I was sitting there innocently enjoying my oatmeal and catching up on mutual friends when he dropped one of the questions on me.

“If grace based theology as the way to live out the Christian life is true then why is it not more popular in the church?”

That may be a paraphrase but that is the essence of his query. That is a great question. I have been swept away by grace. My life, my ministry, my marriage and my relationship with Jesus have been transformed. Yep…it has been that dramatic. So why aren’t there more revelers on the grace train? And why are so many afraid to even board that train and take a ride? I think part of the answer is control. When you lean on grace you surrender control and hopping on a train that you are not exactly sure where it is going is not real appealing to many Christians. I will address that thought in another post.

One of the first analogies I thought about when Bruce asked that question came from football. Perhaps that is because I am a television director and college football is the current gig. Perhaps it is simply because my brain is not wired to factory specs. But this idea popped in my mind. A lot of football teams play a defense that is called the prevent defense. That style of defense is designed to allow the opponent short yardage gains as it tries to prevent big plays and long touchdowns. The theory is that if you can force the other team to settle for short gains they will eventually make a mistake, get called for a penalty or simply fail to get the yardage needed.

I thought about the opponent we line up against as followers of Christ. It occurred to me that Satan played a kind of “prevent” defense in my spiritual journey for many years. It was almost like the Enemy was willing to give up short gains of spiritual growth and ministry as long as I focused on my own efforts to keep grinding out more gains. Satan, like a good defensive coordinator, believed that I would make a mistake and then he could pounce on my miscue and cause a costly turnover. My failure would cause me to doubt myself, my commitment and my worth. When I made a mistake Satan’s play by play announcer would broadcast loudly in my head.

“You have failed again. Jesus must be really disappointed with this effort but He certainly is not surprised. Dave, you have been a disappointing member of the team since you joined.”

Or my past performances might cause me to be tentative and fearful. The announcer always chimed in.

“Certainly no reason to expect victory from Dave this time. He has failed over and over in this very situation. To be honest, I am not sure why Jesus even keeps him around.”

The goal line of joy and freedom and peace seemed more and more difficult to reach. Finally I was happy just to make a short gain now and then. I seldom sustained a lengthy drive of positive spiritual gains. 

But then I discovered a new offense. A game plan that Satan can’t defend. When I lined up with grace there was no way for the Enemy to keep me from the goal of freedom and joy. Instead of grinding out each painful yard with begrudging self-effort I simply followed the lead block of the Spirit and ran with confidence. I remembered my team identity and the power that was promised from that association. I believed that I would be victorious not because of my skill but because of Christ.

Maybe the analogy is a stretch. But I think there is something to consider in the idea that Satan “gives” us little gains and tries really hard to stop the big ones. I believe that grace scares the Enemy more that anything we do because grace relies on surrender and trust. My self-effort against the ruler of this world is a long shot. My surrendered life to Jesus is a sure shot. Jesus has fought this battle and won. Why we would we not depend on His gameplan to reach the goal?

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.  (Hebrews 4, NLT)