A news item on this radio this morning about opposing viewpoints sparked a memory.

Some years ago, in  different town and church from where we are now, my husband had spoken to the pastor privately about what we sensed as a subtle shift. It wasn’t a major problem at that point, but if it continued it would lead to a major drift from the church’s position as it was when we had first come. The pastor graciously heard him, and at some point made the comment that the church needed the more conservative members to keep it from going too far and the more adventurous members to keep it from being stuck in the status quo.

I hadn’t thought about that before, but the idea came up again in a series at the same church on spiritual gifts. Everything I had ever read or any little “test” I had taken before all concentrated on you and finding out what your gifts are, but this particular study went further and studied the issue from various angles. One angle was the potential clash between people with various gifts.

There is a certain tension between opposing viewpoints: those who want change vs. those who want sameness; those whose natural stance is “Let’s do it now!” vs. those who who say, “Let’s think about it first.” This tension between opposing viewpoints, personalities, and gifts can exist in government, families, churches, clubs, any organization of more than one person.

But it’s not all bad. It keeps us in balance. It helps us consider other sides of issues, other consequences to actions. It helps expose our own weaknesses.

Years ago when a very big, important issue came up for a church vote, and everyone voted “yes” with no discussion, the pastor was concerned that people hadn’t really taken time to consider the issue. He would rather have the discussion out then rather than later on after action had been taken. He wanted unity, yes, but not “yes men” who do whatever the leadership thinks without thinking on their own. That can backfire: a dear pastor friend was voted out for “running the church into debt” when of course he had not done so singlehandedly. His church had voted every step of the way to all the projects being voted on, yet when crunch time came they blamed the leader. Most good leaders would much rather have the discussions, questions, doubts, etc., out on the table and have an opportunity to work them out ahead of time and then approach the action with unity, than to have everyone seem to be in unity at first and then fragment afterward.

In the area of spiritual gifts, those with the gift of mercy might be moved with compassion and immediately want to help in a certain situation while others with the gift of discernment want to hold back and check into the situation a little more thoroughly first. They keep each other in balance. That’s one of many reasons a church is made up of people with varying gifts working together as a whole. If a church’s members all had the gift of mercy, it would likely go bankrupt soon as it ran out of funds. If a church’s members all had the gift of evangelism, it would have a lot of new members but not much depth if there were none gifted to teach. Yet those different giftings and emphases can cause tension between them.

I’m thinking that the tension between two opposing forces might be the essence of balance (if my physics major husband were here, I would ask him). Think of a plane flying: there is the pull of gravity to keep it from flying off into space, but the tension of speed, wind, and air currents to enable it to fly. There is tension in a sewing machine to enable the threads from top and bottom to secure the fabric between: a tension set too tight or too loose causes problems. There is a certain tension in gears and machinery.

Within Christendom, we’re called to love those with an opposing viewpoints (I’m talking here about Christians with the same bedrock doctrinal truths who might differ in other ways, not taking a soft stance on false doctrine, though of course we’re to love folks in that situation, too, yet  love God’s truth enough to defend it), to remember they belong to the same God and the same family we do and to remember that we need each other and that God made us each with all our differences. We can, or should be able to, air differences of opinion without the heat and hatefulness the world displays. When the tension is set the right way, we keep each other in balance.

Tim Challies has posted a 3 part series on envy this week, and a sentence in the last post stood out to me: this principle is true in regard to any sin:

A mistake you might make is to focus on Envy itself, waking up each day and declaring, “Today I will not envy.” Instead of focusing on not sinning, orient yourself toward obeying God’s commands and especially the commands that are completely opposed to Envy, which is to say, the commands that motivate love.

What a difference that makes in combating sin. In Erwin Lutzer’s How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit (linked to my review), he used the illustration of trying not to think of the number 8, which results in not being able to think of anything but the number 8. If I want to stop thinking of the number 8, I need to actively think about something else.

I was beating myself up for overeating a snack yesterday and wondering how to combat that. This morning I read, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6:20). Instead of thinking of what I am not supposed to eat, and therefore being preoccupied with it, I need to think about how to glorify God in my body.

The Scriptures are filled with examples of pursuing the right things rather than just being preoccupied with avoiding the wrong things.

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (II Timothy 2:22).

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him…Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (Colossians 3:8-14).

I don’t know if that helps you as much as it does me, but focus really does make a difference.

This is one of those posts where I am trying to work things out in my own mind. Some of these thoughts have been swirling around for years, and even now I’ve sat staring at the computer for a while wondering how to start. I guess I’ll do so by pulling out one strand at a time.

Much of the discussion on grace these days emphasizes that we’re not only saved by grace through faith plus nothing, but we’re kept “safe,” kept in Christ the same way. His love for us and our position with Him is not based on what we “do,” it’s based on His grace.

I agree with that.

But some go on to say that there is no room for any kind of law (spiritually speaking, not referring to the civil laws of the land like traffic lights and speed limits), commandments, or even effort in the Christian life, and anything related to such is labeled legalism.

What, then, do they do with passages such as these:

If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 14:21

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.  For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. I Thessalonians 4:1-2

 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. I John 2:3-4

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. I John 5:2-3

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. II John 6

And these are from the grace-drenched New Testament.

Where some get it wrong is in thinking that we have to keep His commandments in order to be saved or in order to “earn” His love and favor, and that’s not correct. But where others get it wrong is in thinking that, since we’re saved and kept by God’s grace, there is nothing that should smack of commandments or rules in the Christian life, and that’s wrong as well.

As I understand them, these New Testament verses about God’s commands are saying that obeying God’s commands is an outflow of our relationship with God and love for Him, not a way to earn His love. The early part of John 15, for instance, talks about abiding in Christ, being a vine in His branch, not being able to do anything without Him, and then it goes on to say, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (v. 10). And far from chafing under His commands, “his commandments are not grievous” (I John 5:2-3), and we obey them out of love.

I think it’s something like my relationship with my own children. They were born my children. They didn’t do anything to earn that spot in the family. They’ll never have to do anything to earn that spot: it will always be theirs. I will always love them, no matter what they do. Even if they rebelled to an extreme extent and I had to ask them to leave my home, it would not nullify my love. But their actions do have an effect on whether that relationship is a happy one or a grieved one, and it reflects on their love and maturity. Sure, a child’s motivation for obedience in their early years is so that they don’t get into trouble, but as they mature, their motivated by wanting to respect and honor their parents.

Going on from commandments to rules, I’ve seen many totally eschew the idea of rules in the Christian life since we’re saved and kept by grace and not by rule-keeping. But not being saved by rules doesn’t mean there are no rules. For instance, I have a rule for myself that I attend church unless I am sick or something comes up (company suddenly coming in, bad weather, extreme tiredness, etc.). It’s not that I think God won’t love me if I miss church. It’s more an effort to apply Romans 13:13-14: “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” I should go to church out of love for God, a desire to learn more about Him, a desire to fellowship with others in the body of Christ, and ultimately I do. But we all know that even in our closest and most loving relationships, we don’t always “feel” like doing what we should. So sometimes we have to deliberately make an effort in spite of our feelings of the moment. And as one professor used to say, good feelings follow right actions: usually my feelings catch up after I do the right thing. This all doesn’t mean that I live a life of rules out of duty devoid of feeling: it means my actions are based on underlying love that’s deeper than my momentary fleeting feelings.

And that brings me to effort. I’ve read some who point to passages like John 15 and say that we’re vines abiding in the branch, and the branch doesn’t do anything to help itself grow, neither do we have to expend any effort. Similarly, the fruit of the Spirit is something wrought by the Spirit, not something we work to produce.

And I agree with that. On the other hand, the New Testament is filled with action verbs. Love. Obey. Yield. Put on. Put off. Abstain. Work. Walk in certain ways (circumspectly, or carefully, for one). Do not do certain things. Do certain things. Strive. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).

I liken it in some ways to the Old Testament battles. Sometimes God did something supernatural to deliver His people, like parting the Red Sea or having the sun stand still in response to Joshua or sending a noise to scare the Syrians into running away. But most of the time the people had to actually pick up their swords and fight. Yet even then they couldn’t win battles in their own efforts alone: if something was between them and the Lord, He did not help them and they lost.

In the same way, we can’t live the Christian life in our own strength. Yet God doesn’t always come in and just do away with whatever battles we face. But as we rely on Him, He enables us to do what He wants us to do.

Being saved and kept by grace doesn’t mean I’m just a happy little blob taking up space on earth until I go on to heaven. It doesn’t mean that since God loves me no matter what, then it doesn’t matter what I do. But it does mean that He will enable me to do whatever He wants me to.

Ephesians2:8-10 sums it up nicely:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We’re not saved by good works, but we’re created unto good works.

And Romans 8:13 shows how our efforts work together with God’s enabling:

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

He doesn’t mortify it for us: there is a response expected from us. But we can’t do it on our own: we can only do it through the Spirit.