Tonight’s thought is something that has been increasingly becoming somewhat of an obsession for me as a priest. I have been struck with the feeling that there is something coming very soon which we will all be affected with. My personal feelings have been running the gamut of sadness, anger, hope, joy, yet they are coupled with a deeply unsettled feeling. My mind, through it all, has been reflecting upon the state of the Body of Christ and what we will present before our Lord and Savior at the end of days. I will share with you what my thoughts have been and if they ring true for you too that’s a-ok and if not, that’s fine too. I simply feel the earnest need to share my heart with you all. You all know that I tend to speak my mind fearlessly and this thought will be no different.
I have been reflecting upon several childhood memories in my life that I acted appropriately and others which I have acted inappropriately. Most of these memories stem from a perspective of a priest that has experienced much in my own ministry. Many of you who read this were a part of my life from the very beginning and will understand where I am coming from. Others will simply give the computer screen a puzzled expression and that’s ok too. As I look back I feel ashamed of some things in my past and feel proud for others that I did the right thing, yet all these things will be compared to Christ’s matchless glory and will be in His hands alone to judge. In contrast, I have also been thinking more about home. Not this earthly and transient abode, but our eternal and spiritual one. Thoughts of dutifully performing tasks for my Lord in the New Kingdom and existing in a place that is without sin or pretense fill my mind.
At the end of our life what will we present as an offering for the tremendous love and grace that has been poured into our hearts as Christians before our Lord? That thought crosses my mind more often than I care to admit. Constantly being aware of one’s own actions and fighting the fleshly desire to “do your own thing” seem to be at the heart of many of my thoughts and those of St. Paul’s in his epistles. The flesh which fights against the spirit and vice versa is a running theme for him as it should be for every Christian who is conscious of the Great Day before the Judgment Seat. I think we all too often fall into one of two categories in our Christian walk. One side is the idea of “anything goes” as long as you add a sprinkle of grace to the concept and water it with some flowery words on non-judgment, while the other side seems to say that nothing goes due to a need to deny the flesh and dive into the realm of asceticism which judges everything harshly.
At the end of age, what do you feel will be required of us? What do you expect that Christ will assess within your own life and mine that would warrant our entrance into the Kingdom? We all know, as Christians, that there is nothing we can do to earn our way into the Kingdom of God for it was a free will sacrifice of God’s own Son that brings us into right relationship with the Father. Yet, I believe that we all too often forget the great example of Christ and the Apostles as they “turned the world upside down.” Grace was given at the cross for our redemption and we are bought with a price for all eternity. Nothing can separate us from the love of God and His grace unless we sever that tie within our own self and turn our back on the Lord who bought us with nothing less than the price of His own precious blood. I am going to borrow something of St. Paul’s at this point:
1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
15What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:1-23) ESV
St. Paul is speaking about the same thing that has been consuming my heart these past few days. To lay a foundation I want to speak about the recent troubles of my brother priests in the Roman Church. There are some who have committed atrocious acts against the most helpless of human beings as they preyed upon their trust and have contributed to the ruin of not only that child’s faith as they have grown but also to outsiders looking into the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. For every one criminal, however, there are dozens who do what they’re supposed to do. Some are better than others at this as with any minister, but too often we overlook the good and seek the bad. This can be motivated by many things in our lives, but that is another exhortation in and of itself. Switching the channel a bit we turn to the “feel good” ministers that preach “your best life now” and other Christian pop psychology to calm the masses. They preach health, wealth, happiness, and frankly it has a “Stepford Wife” quality to it. It is not the Biblical foundation upon which the Body of Christ is truly founded. Just like the Roman priests who have perpetrated criminal acts, I believe that many of the “feel good” ministers commit a similar and more insidious criminal act before God. They fail to teach holiness, the pitfalls of sin, the wages of sin, and the ultimate outcome of those who profess with their lips to live a Christian life but behave as though they never knew Him. That being said, there are also many good, solid ministers who do their best with the knowledge they have and are working feverishly to win souls to the glory of God. So what shall I say? Avoid both extremes of behavior and thought. Both lead to death and both lead people down a path of spiritual destruction because they have not been taught the “faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3b).”
So who is ultimately responsible for your soul if there are so many voices which call us into so many directions? YOU ARE. St. Paul tells us that, “as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).” Unfortunately, I see very few people who call themselves Christians doing that in this day and age. Could it be that we are truly living within that “falling away” predicted in the scriptures just before the end?
This life is but a flash in the pan compared to the eternal one in which we all shall live. That’s correct. We all live eternally. Some of us will live to eternal life and others will live to eternal damnation. There is no middle ground in eternity and there should be no middle ground in the Christian’s spiritual journey. You are either on the Lord’s side fully or you are falling by the wayside into the great undercurrent of the enemy. So what does it mean to “fear God?” It doesn’t mean wringing our hands in desperation as we contemplate meeting Him; it means that we respect Him enough to abide by His rules for our life and our conduct with each other. It also means we understand that He has the power to cast us out or usher us into His presence forever. Do I fail in my daily walk? Absolutely. Do I think I deserve heaven? No way. There’s the rub, however. As a priest I must balance my life with God’s grace and my human failures. I know that His grace is immeasurable and that it is only by that grace that I can stand before my parish and encourage them through God’s Word. When I say these things, I in no way believe myself perfect, but I do believe there are standards of conduct which every Christian must gauge their lives by. St. Paul also mirrored this in the passage from the book of Romans. In essence, working out my own salvation with fear and trembling. Knowing that I deserve hell and yet, through His grace I am given life. What else could I ask of Him? Nothing. What temporal blessing could be so awe inspiring as to warrant a denial of whom I am in Christ and who we are all supposed to be as the Body of Christ? If I simply spoke “fluffy bunny” words as I like to call them then I do no one a favor; especially not the Lord who owns me.
How often do we, as Christians, focus so much on what this temporary world can muster in our lives that we neglect to spend time with the Lord and sit at His feet and study His Word? How often do we make excuses for our poor behavior and then have the audacity to claim we are living within God’s plan for our life? How often do we put family, friends, relationships, things, etc before our duty to God as a Christian and before allowing ourselves to be loved by Him and His amazing grace? I often ponder on how it is true that many times the things which we want to possess often possess us. In another direction yet: How often do we share the good news of God’s grace? How often do we excuse sin within our life or the life of others simply to make ourselves feel as if we are “mature” and “modern” in our thinking? I am quite proud to be “Neanderthal” in my approach to the Word of God and in my approach to worshiping God as He deserves to be worshiped. If I attempt to add something to the doctrine of Christ it can NEVER be an improvement. It is ALWAYS a move towards heresy.
I suppose the whole premise of tonight’s thought is based on the idea of St. Anselm’s work, “Cur Deus Homo.” We fail to render unto God what He is due and yet we believe that we are fulfilling our obligations as Christians by warming a pew on Sunday, “getting jiggy wit’ it” in song and psalmistry, and then patting ourselves on the back as we leave and then go right back to do the same damnable things we did before. How atrocious and unbecoming it is to live as if there is no God and yet call yourself a Christian. Or worse yet, base our worship on emotional responses instead of pure spirit and truth and merely go through the actions of a Christian and deny the life of a Christian we are commanded to live. A little can be said for emotion, but it shouldn’t be our focus. Our focus lies squarely upon the two things Christ will ask us on the Day of Judgment: Did you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind? And…Did you love your neighbor as yourself? Good night all.
