A PASTORAL LETTER
Dearest family,
I trust you had a restful Labor Day weekend, a final breath before the next season of work and school and also church community. Next Sunday is “Back to Church Sunday” but as I suggested at our Family Communion on Sunday, we don’t need to wait till then to make the most formative decision possible that will influence the outcomes of a new church year. Our expectations and anticipations at the beginning of a new church year are not about new organization. We can print the brochures, make the presentations of all the programs but these of themselves do not bring spiritual transformation. Nor is an anticipation of a new church year about what new things we will be doing in our public gatherings, about who will be teaching what new series. As meaningful and helpful and necessary and encouraging as our corporate times of worship and word and fellowship are, these public expressions in themselves are not the main issue. Nor is it even just about prayer, or new prayer and intercession initiatives, new maturity in asking. Of course, all these things are fundamental constituents of how we get to know God, grow in grace and show his life to a watching world. So what is the foundational and formative issue for this new church year?
My biblical argument was simply that the same injunction is repeated again and again throughout scripture as a marker of spiritual engagement and progress: “Consecrate yourselves!” In other words, set yourselves wholly apart to me and for me. This exclusivity of relationship is the inevitable loving demand of a covenant relationship. The constant appeal of the prophets to the people of God, in a context of defiled land and desecrated sanctuaries, was to come out, come back and consecrate themselves. It is the story of Daniel, but we see that the commitment to consecration in no way harmed his promotion prospects or his success in a secular context. And after the Babylonian exile, it remains the main theme of scripture. “So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate the Passover together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their neighbors, in order to seek the Lord the God of Israel.” (Ezra 6:21) I love that juxtaposition of their taking the Passover and renewing their consecration, in the same way that we did when we partook of communion, this new fulfilled presentation of Passover. Later in chapter 9:2, Ezra addresses those who were living a lifestyle that the text describes as a “mingled” life. The mingled life quickly became a muddled life and ended up a mangled one spiritually. Their acceptance of prevailing cultural mores had led to their accommodation of its values which resulted in an assimilation of its spirits. It is not surprising that in chapter 10, the climax of restoration is expressed like this: “Make confession to the Lord…do his will…separate yourselves…”
So throughout scripture we continually are confronted by a spiritual realism about the call to serve the true God while living in a market-place that offers a pantheon of many gods; to walk straight in what the NT describes as a “crooked” generation; to resist temptation in a seductive culture; to believe in God’s goodness in a cynical culture of contempt. The biblical record and narrative tells the stories of backslidings and waywardness, of revivals and restorations, but never dilutes the power and potency of God’s analysis and God’s appeal through the prophets or the apostles, or best of all, through Jesus. Like Isaiah, they don’t dumb-down either the dangers or the diagnosis. How would Isaiah go down in a post-modern congregation? “Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide – you made a pact with those whose beds you loved and you looked on their nakedness. You were wearied by all your ways but you would not say it is hopeless. You found the renewal of your strength so you did not faint.” (Isa.57:8-10) This is a counterfeit renewal, because it is actually a self -renewal, self-derived and self-directed. These people never got to place of desperation and confession of need. They didn’t appear to crash because they were able to keep it together. They were keeping the head above water while the spirit drowned.
We saw on Sunday how a NT Jesus used the OT example of Lot’s wife for his consecration message. Paul is no different. When he is pastorally addressing the practical spiritual problems facing NT Corinthian Christians who are living in such a demonically sexualized and materialized society, like Isaiah, he does not mince words, probably because he is quoting Isaiah and other OT prophets. “What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God!” And just in case you argue that all this call to consecration stuff is an OT throw-back before grace was really understood, there then comes a lava flow of quotations from the OT as the rationale for his appeal and argument: “as God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.’” (Lev.26:12; Jer.32:38; Ezek.37:27) “‘Therefore come out from them and be separate’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.’” (Isa.52:11) Now comes the clincher; now comes the key revelation that will explain maybe why I am sharing this on the eve of a new series on the fathering and fatherhood of God. “‘I will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters.’ Says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Sam. 7:8,14) This consecration is not about an imposition of some legalized rules, but all about an invitation to an intimate filial relationship with God. It is all about the lifestyle that characterizes the relationship between father God and his true sons and daughters. I’ll leave you to argue with Paul about whether or not he understands grace, but just note that for every call to consecration, to separation, there is nothing but joyful promise and provision:
Come out…and I will receive you; be separate…and I will be a Father to you; don’t relate to the spirit that is in the sons of disobedience…and I will call you my sons and daughters. Fair exchange is no robbery! No wonder his summary conclusion reads: “So then dear friends, since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Cors. 7:1)
You’ll have to get the download for the meditation we did using 2 Chronicles 29-31. But what’s my point on the doorstep of a new church year? I’m not asking you to sign up for membership or join a program, or do a task, or renew your subscription for anything at COSC. All I’m asking you to do is consecrate yourself and set yourself apart to the Lord. Everything else follows. I suggested three areas of consecration to engage: your heart, your home and our household of faith. I sincerely hope you were able to do some of the applications I suggested. I warn you, they will be tested! What power there is in a community that has a unity of mind when it comes to setting themselves apart for the Lord!
Pastorally yours,
Stuart
http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)