Among the many things that caused me to leave the Protestant tradition was a problem that I began to see with what is called “easy believism.” What that basically means is what I experienced as a child; I was told to say a certain prayer, be baptized and then I was all good. Now, I look back on that and feel like it was kind of a “get out of hell free” card. Once saved, always saved, right?
The problem with that is that it’s not actually a biblical understanding of what salvation is or what it means to be a faithful Christian. There are repeated exhortations in Holy Scripture, specifically the NT, to be faithful, to endure, to keep the faith until the end. In other words, there are things we must do if we are of the Faith. St. Paul says we are to “examine” ourselves to see if we are of the faith in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” And St. Peter exhorts (2 Peter 1:10-11) us to make our calling and election sure by doing “these things,” “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” One of the things that I have found in the historic Church that is profoundly helpful is the practice of asceticism. And it has changed the way I live out the Faith. I have always been drawn to a monastic practice (though I am not a monk) of prayer and asceticism and the early Church did this very well, I feel. I’ve begun to slowly work my way through a book entitled Way of the Ascetics by Tito Colliander and it is fantastic. I want to interact with what I am learning and putting into practice in my own walk with Christ and His Church. Colliander starts right off in Chapter 1, “If you wish to save your soul and win eternal life, arise from your lethargy, make the sign of the Cross and say: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Faith comes not through pondering but through action. Not words and speculation but experience teaches us what God is.” Lethargy. I feel like, in my own life in the past, there has been great lethargy. I depended on a little prayer to “save me” and did little to actually put forth any effort of my own. I love his call to action but not just action for the sake of action alone. No, the call to action is to a lived experience of walking with God. This is a way of life. It is the Way. The first Christians were initially called “followers of the Way” (Acts 9:2). One of the earliest extant Christian writings we have, other than what became the books of the New Testament is The Didache (literally meaning “teaching”). In this work, one of the major themes talked about is the comparison between two “ways” that are called the way of life and the way of death. Following the Way, following Christ should change everything about our lives. And once we change our lives to follow Christ, we cannot let go, we cannot give up. Colliander exhorts us to, “Hold fast to your purpose and do not look back.” Don’t look back. Sounds like something Jesus said when He stated, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62 Jesus says that, if we begin to follow Him, if we put our hand to the plow and look back, we are not fit for the kingdom of God. Not fit. I don’t think Jesus is taking this lightly, but I fear that we do. We are given warnings throughout Holy Scripture of how we are to live and the judgement that comes on those who do not. We must remember that we are no longer our own; we are not even alive in our flesh. As St. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” He didn’t say old things are to be put on a shelf so we can take them down and look at them occasionally. Old things have passed away. They have died. Or, as St. Paul again says in Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Our former selves are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ in God (at least this should be true of us). As Colliander puts it, “You have cast off your old humanity; let the rags lie.” Our lives should be lived with one purpose: to be conformed to the image of the Son (Rom. 8:29). This can only be accomplished by putting on the Lord Jesus (Gal. 3:27) and putting our flesh to death (Rom. 13:14). We must, moment by moment, take up our cross and put our flesh to death and be unified to Christ. Although this sounds impossible, it has already been done! This is the glory of the gospel! Christ has already defeated sin, death and the devil. In Him, our humanity has been redeemed in His own flesh! We have but to walk it out, daily dying to self and putting on the Lord Jesus, walking in His way and finding again the communion with God we lost in the Garden. This is the glory of Christ and ours to share in! Through Christ, our communion with God has been restored and, like our first parents, we can now walk in the cool of the evening of our lives with Him. This is not yet fully realized but one day…oh, one day! In that day, we shall see Him as He is, and we shall be like unto Him! Glory to God! Hold fast to your purpose, beloved, and do not look back. Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee!
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I talk about this a good bit. People get tired of repeating themselves and others get tired of hearing the repetition. The thing is, we actually need this repetition. If we don’t continually repeat things, we forget them, or we fall away from the practice.
For example, if you’re into physical fitness like me, you know the constant repetitive practice of physical exercise, while not always exciting, will eventually create a better and more healthy lifestyle. If you will discipline yourself enough, eventually it becomes less of a discipline and more of a lifestyle. This is one of the reasons liturgical worship is used in the historic Church. The things we repeat are the things that stick in our minds, hearts, souls and bodies (lex orandi, lex credenda). By the way, think about that as it relates to what kind of media you consume on a repetitive basis… Anyways, repetition. What’s my point, you may ask? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not but things in our world seem to be in constant flux. Everything changes on a daily basis it seems. Sometimes, it feels like everything changes moment by moment. In this ever-changing and constantly innovating world in which we live, it can feel like there is nothing to hold on to that remains the same. It feels like the whole world has gone mad and taken us for a ride and we just honestly want to make it all stop and hold on to something that’s not moving. The Church has become like that as well. In the one entity that should be eternal and unchanging, there has been constant change. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we shouldn’t use electricity and have indoor plumbing in our churches. I’m not suggesting we don’t take advantage of advances in technology that can help us. What I am saying is that new is not better when it comes to innovations in the Church. The Church should never adapt to the world and “modern man.” The world should be adapting to the Church. The Church does not and should not change. Doctrine and dogma do not “develop.” There is a difference in finding new ways to say what has always been said and completely changing what the Church has always said. The Church is eternal and does not change precisely because Her Bridegroom is eternal and does not change. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Because He does not change, the Church should not change. It’s sad to me that those who wish to innovate the worship of the Church (which indeed changes the theology of the Church) always have such negative things to say about those of us who hold to tradition. We are “rigid” and “creating division.” My response to that is the faith does not change so, in the reasoning of the innovators, the faith must be rigid and create division. I believe it was our Lord Jesus who said, in Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Does that mean that Jesus is a quarrelsome guy? No. Rather, His message creates conflict with the world and its so-called values. If we follow Christ as He is to be followed, there will be conflict. Even with others who claim the name of Jesus. I heard a sermon recently by Fr. Josiah Trenham that has prompted this train of thought and thus this post. In that homily, Fr. Josiah, in talking about our forefathers in the faith who have held fast and unchanging, said this, “Novelty is the soil of heresy.” Marinate on that for a minute. That statement reminds me of what we read in Jude 3, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Even in the 1st century, just a few years after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord, they were already having to remind the faithful to hold fast to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Jude did not say, “It’s cool. I know times have changed so we can do what seems good to us now.” No. He said to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” The faith hasn’t changed and neither should our approach is what he’s saying. Don’t be tempted to novelty and innovation. Don’t be tempted to appease the world. It’s too easy to fall away. Again, the writer of Hebrews in chapter 2:1 says, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” Lest we drift away from the faith once for all delivered to the saints and the things we have heard, remember, “Novelty is the soil of heresy.” The writer of Hebrews again exhorts us in 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hold fast without wavering. Why? Because He who promised is faithful. Christ is faithful. He hasn’t changed a thing. Why should we? Who is it that has changed, us or Him? It ain’t Him. Why is it that, over and over in the New Testament, the writers talk about holding fast if we aren’t tempted to fall away? “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.” – 1 Corinthians 16:13 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” – 2 Timothy 1:13-14 “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” – 1 Timothy 6:12 Christ, in John’s Apocalypse, tells the church in Sardis (Rev. 3:3), “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come to you.” And again, to the church in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:11), “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” Dear brothers and sisters, God’s Word has not changed. The Son has not changed. The deposit of the faith has not changed. Our charge is to hold fast to the faith once for all delivered to the saints (that’s called Tradition) and not to give in to the impulse to be constantly innovating and changing and trying to make God fit into what we want and are comfortable with. As you seek for His Church, ask yourself this question: “Who has changed and who has not? Who has held fast to the Faith without wavering?” I’m not saying that all churches are perfect. That would be foolish to assume. After all, the Church is made up of you and me and we are imperfect sinners. But, who is that keeps innovating and changing things? Be wary of those who call good bad and bad good, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” – Isaiah 5:20 May we run to His Church, the ark of our salvation and may we remain steadfast, rigid and immovable! If we do that, if we are true to Christ, our Savior and King, then we will have the same joy as St. Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” – 2 Tim. 4:7 Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee! |
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