TENSION [week two]
Last week we talked about this idea of TENSION. That so many of us struggle with, on a daily basis, choosing God�s way over the way of sin. That we struggle with translating what is in our heart into our actions. We talked about how there is this battle that goes on in our minds and in our hearts to live like we know God wants us to live. But when it comes down to actually living like we know that we should and like we want to, somehow we get lost in the translation.
Senora Van Arsadale Illustration
It was so frustrating to me that I couldn�t translate what she was saying. And it was frustrating to her that I couldn�t translate what she was saying. Consequently, I just gave up. I got tired of dealing with it. About halfway through the semester, I threw the towel in. I had a D at that time and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to pull that up, so I just gave up. And I think that is where some of us land. We get so frustrated with not being able to translate the desire in our heart to live God�s way, that we just give up and decide to just live content with the way we are now. And I fear that to many people have bought into this type of life. This defeated life. That they no longer have a desire to continue to move forward in their journey with God.
The good news is that you and myself, we�re young. Which is why I�m hoping that I can paint this for you in such a way that you grab hold of it, because a lot of adults who have been Christians, or God-followers for a while, have reached a level of contentment. And I don�t think its that they desire to be at that place. I just think after years of living a tiring, constant battle with choosing between God and sin, that they finally just give up. And just live content with the sin that is in their life.
There�s pros and cons to having this TENSION that I�ve been talking about in our lives. The positive is that by the fact that we struggle with it shows that we haven�t given up yet. That we�re still wrestling and fighting and hoping to advance past this, it shows that we�re still alive. The negative though is that there is a real danger for us to get so tired of fighting the battle. To give up on choosing between right and wrong. To become so frustrated or to let guilt begin to cripple us.
When this happens, one of the most dangerous things that can happen to Christianity occurs. Christians get content. They give up. They quit fighting. They begin to lose interest in living like God wants them to. And instead of choosing God, one of two things happens. They either turn away from God altogether or they choose what I believe is the more dangerous option. They simply get �used to� the content life. A life that floats on aimlessly. And they assimilate or just act �Christian� because that�s what you�re �supposed� to do. Meanwhile, they become just as bitter, angry, lustful, and judgmental as anybody else. Except they disguise by claiming to be �Christian� and acting �Christian�.
So there is a real danger in this TENSION that we deal with. With choosing God or sin. With choosing right or wrong. Because what happens, is we fight it and fight it and fight it and we finally end up frustrated and/or guilty at not being able to overcome it. Both of these things, frustration and guilt, have a huge potential to lead us down the road of contentment. So here�s where we go with resolving this TENSION.
Last week, if you�ll remember, we ended with a question. It�s the question that Paul asked after he described his TENSION with choosing between God and sin.
Last week, I didn�t give you an answer to this question because I wanted you guys to address the issue of sin, the condition that you find yourselves in. Hopefully, you got the opportunity to do that. This week, I�m prepared to give you an answer. However, I�m going to be straight up with you. The answer I�m about to give you has the potential to sound so simplistic that you�ll pass it off. It has the potential to sound so �churchy� that you just dismiss it all together. But if you can hang tight with me for a few minutes, I�m going to try and show you how it is more than just some simple �church answer�, but in actuality a way of life. So I�m being up front with you. But be open-minded enough to hear me all the way through.
Ok, sounds pretty �churchy� huh? I can�t tell you how many times I�ve had someone just tell me �Just trust Jesus, it�ll be ok� or �It just comes back to Jesus, sweetie!� That�s not what I want you to hear tonight. I want you to listen to the entire context of the answer that Paul gives. He doesn�t just leave us with the simple answer of Jesus. He explains how Jesus is not just a word or an answer to the question. Instead he explains how what is seemingly a simple answer, is in actuality, complex and deep and full of meaning. If Paul left us right there . . . it would sound like just another �church answer� to a complicated, multi-layered problem. But he doesn�t. He continues. He shows us how his answer is more than just a �churchy� answer.
All right. Paul takes what seems like a simple answer to the question, �Who can help me deal with this TENSION between God and sin, between right and wrong?� and shows us how its more than just a simple answer. Lets start with the last verse he wrote:
�In his Son, Jesus, He personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all.�
Do you remember last week how we talked about how sin corrupted what we were made to be? How we were created in God�s image, created to be whole and complete?
Do you remember how I talked about how the world was in downward spiral? That the world got turned upside down from the way that God wanted it to be?
Well here�s the beautiful thing. And for some of this is may be old news, and for some of you it may be the first time you�ve heard this, but what God did was He stopped the downward spiral. He entered into humanity. This is where Paul�s answer becomes more than just a simplistic answer. Because it isn�t just a name. It�s a lifestyle. It�s a way of life that Jesus entered into. Jesus entered into the equation of fallen creation, fallen humanity. And because of the cross of Christ, he reversed its nature. Humanity took a turn towards hope. What was spiraling out of control after sin entered into the world, Christ set right. Thus, Jesus Christ becomes the central figure of hope. The icon, logo, the crux of humanity.
He stopped the chaos. He turned things right side up. He restored what was broken. He restored us. Many of you in this room have experienced this. If you�ve decided to become a follower of God and embraced the significance of the cross, then you�ve been restored. But here�s what this means. Being restored is not just theological phrase that I�m throwing out. It has huge significance for who we are now and who we are becoming versus who we were.
This is the huge verse.
He entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all.�
He entered the mess to set it right. To restore it. Disorder, chaos, disarray, confusion. He reversed it. He basically fixed the problem of the effect of sin.
JENGA ILLUSTRATION
God put the pieces back in the puzzle. He restored what was wrong with us. He fixed it. He made it right. He made us right. He opened up a new way of living for us. He opened up a new road for us to go down. A road towards hope and not of despair. A road towards restoration, not destruction. A road towards life, not decay. The problem is that many of us either haven�t heard this before, or haven�t realized the significance of what happened when we became Christians.
NEW
The early church was very young. They understood Jesus. They followed Him. They loved Him wholeheartedly. In fact, many of them were willing to die for their belief. Some even did in fact die. They are what we call martyrs. But the early church was an interesting organism. Many of the people who made up the early church were kind of like a bridge in many ways. They grew up in a world and in a religious system pre-Jesus. Meaning that for the first part of their life, they were a part of the old system, the old way of doing things. The old way of dealing with sin. Which was a way full of sacrifice and ritual.
Well when Jesus came on the scene, He created a new system. A new paradigm. A new way of doing things. So those who followed Jesus and believed in Him and His way of life, even after His death on the cross . . . just didn�t have a full understanding of what happened and what the cross meant. And because Christianity was at that moment, a young, infant religion, the God-followers were in a way just along for the ride. They were figuring stuff out as they went. Figuring out theology as they went. Figuring out their faith as they went. For many of them, they had heard Jesus talk about an eternal life that He would give them. About a place that He was going to prepare for them.
What they didn�t understand was that Jesus did not just to come and save them so they could go to heaven. He didn�t just come so that they could get rid of sin�s influence one day way down the road in heaven. He came to get rid of sin�s power in the present as well as in future. He came to open a new way of life on Earth now, just as He was opening a new way of life in the future.
This has huge implications because that�s why Christ put the pieces back in to the puzzle. That�s why He came to set things right. That�s why He came to fix what was broken. To restore what was upside-down. That�s the whole purpose of resolving the TENSION. Because once we ease the TENSION. Ease the struggle of choosing between right and wrong, God and sin. Then we can move into the type of life that God desires.
But instead of living like God wants us to live, we continue to operate as if the full scope of the cross hasn�t even entered into the equation. Good people who love God, but never move much beyond that. Never fully embracing all that God has for us in this life.
The sad difference between us and the early church that Paul was writing to is that we are on the other side of the cross of Jesus Christ. We now have a different option. Sadly, if you look at most churches today, you see people who do not care about being different or moving in a counter cultural way. We�re happy with simply getting by . . . waiting for our eternal life in heaven and not caring much about our present life here on Earth. Jesus did not sacrifice his life on the cross solely for our eternal life. He sacrificed as well for our lives today.
For to many of us . . . we have encountered Jesus, become followers of God, become Christians. And in doing that, we have misunderstood the whole point of it. For many of us, we end there. We end at the beginning of the journey and sit back and wait for heaven to get here while we do little or nothing with our lifestyle or the junk that�s in it. Accepting Jesus and choosing to follow His way of life is not the finish line. It�s a starting line. A starting point into a new way of life.
But first, we have to embrace the reality of God setting things right. Of restoring us to right relationship with Him. And in that place, we find that the TENSION between choosing God or sin, right or wrong, eases ever so slowly. The TENSION releases and we�re free to move forward with God.
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS
2. What is an area of your life that you�ve grown content with? Is there a �sin� that you�ve tolerated in your life?
3. How do you describe your spiritual state of being? More precisely, when you think of yourself in spiritual terms, what do you think of? For example, a �sinner�, a mess-up, a betrayer, perfect, good, etc.? Why?
4. How do you think God views you? What word comes to mind? How does this make you feel?
5. How does this word affect your life? How does God�s view of you affect your life?
6. What is your opinion of the difference between a �starting line� mindset and a �finish line� mindset regarding salvation?
