Living
Holy Lives
By Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the August 18, 2012 Sabbath School Lesson
“…make it your ambition to lead a quiet
life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we
told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders…” 1
Thessalonians 4:11-12, NIV
Several years ago, while attending church potluck after
services one Sabbath, I noticed a visitor going from table to table visiting
with the local church members. His appearance had caught my attention as most
of those in attendance were dressed in their Sabbath best from church. I had not
seen him at the service, but it was not uncommon to have locals attend potluck
without attending church. The church was in a depressed part of town and for some
who came this may have been their only balanced meal all week.
This man was a rather slender, even skinny fellow with a
long beard and suspenders to hold up his khaki pants. The suspenders clashed
with the colors in his plaid shirt, and a canvas fishing hat covered masses of light
brown, disheveled hair. I surmised he was a newer member, just arrived in the
local neighborhood, looking for a meal. However, he eventually arrived at my
table, and his purpose became clear. He began to share with those of us sitting
at the table what Ellen White had written about cheese. He quoted that “it
should never enter the stomach.” Testimonies, Volume 2, page 68. Also he
recited that cheese was “wholly unfit for food.” Ministry of Healing, page 302.
With further conversation, we discovered that this church
member had made it his life work to travel the country and attend potlucks at
Seventh-day Adventist churches and tell everyone that they could only find
salvation by being obedient and that obedience meant eliminating cheese from
the diet. Anyone who had attended a church potluck, Adventist or otherwise,
knows that cheese is present in many dishes from potatoes au gratin, to
macaroni and cheese casseroles. He saw this as a challenge to the perfection
that holy living required. It was a touchstone for him. If people were not
being obedient regarding cheese then they probably were not being obedient
elsewhere in their lives and probably weren’t really saved. Finding few who
would stop eating their meal when he pointed out the cheese to them, he
eventually “shook the dust” off his shoes and moved on, presumably to another
church the following weekend.
Is this what holy living is all about? Is it based on an obedience checklist that we compare ourselves against to determine if we are holy enough to make it? There have been many such checklists through the ages.
Jewish converts of the 1st century tried to make circumcision the bellwether of a person’s relationship to God. Sometime around the first Council of Nicaea in the early 4th century, penance became a hot topic for the early
church. Many felt that converts must demonstrate their commitment by obedient
acts of contrition. Perhaps this was because some had renounced their faith
when persecuted and then sought to re-establish their relationship with the
church. Some felt that rebaptism either should not be allowed or was not enough
and that some difficult penance must be assigned to demonstrate to the sinner
and to the church that falling away was not to be taken lightly.
As time went on, obedience came to be identified with
creeds that outlined adherence to doctrines defined by the various
denominations. For instance, you would not be seen to be obedient and striving
toward holiness in the Seventh-day Adventist church if you did not adhere to
Saturday Sabbath keeping. Conversely, other denominations such as the Southern
Baptists, the Nazarenes, and other Sunday keeping fellowships would feel that
you were not progressing in your faith if you did keep a Saturday Sabbath.
Irrespective of the perceived biblical foundations for these positions, the purpose
in citing these examples is not to proclaim doctrinal truth but merely to
illustrate how obedience may be defined.
Today, we see obedience is often more than a matter of
simple commitment to a creedal position, but rather as a commitment to a
particular interpretation of those creeds. In the case of our cheese-abstaining
friend, for instance, we find that the denominational creed known as “The 28
Fundamental Beliefs” of the Seventh-day Adventist Church contains in belief
number 22, “…we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible…,” and number 18
regarding Ellen White, “As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing
and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance,
instruction, and correction,” became, through interpretation, a mandate to
proclaim the gospel of forbidding cheese consumption in order to be saved.
Many such interpretations are made battlefields of
contention in the modern church. I have heard vegetarians proclaim that anyone
who eats meat will not be allowed to live to meet Jesus when He returns. But
even vegetarians are now looked down on by vegans who feel they are the modern
keepers of the Holy Grail. Some feel that those who listen to certain musical
compositions can never be saved as long as they do so. Others feel that dress
is the deciding issue. Still others feel that women who seek ordination as
ministers of the gospel are on the Devil’s highway. Often, these tests of
obedience are more about emotion and feeling than about any real understanding
of salvation.
When we succeed in achieving the demanded outward
obedience in any of these areas, we all too often find that the next thing we
are doing is looking around to see how successful others are in the same area.
When we compare ourselves to others in this way, we stand in danger of becoming
spiritually proud and arrogant over our own imagined progress, and we begin to
look down on our brothers and sisters in Christ as not measuring up to our
self-imposed standard of obedience. We forget that “…all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23, NIV Isaiah
adds to that, “…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” Isaiah 64:6, NIV In spite of that,
we might still want to believe that we can do some act of obedience and enhance
our standing with God, but the Bible says otherwise. “Can an Ethiopian change
his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to
doing evil.” Jeremiah 13:23, NIV
As much as we might want to believe that somehow our
works of obedience will add something to our savability, all such attempts will
only result in pride and subsequently our downfall. (See Proverbs 16:18) One
might think that if this is the case, then no one will be saved since we cannot
be righteous. Nothing is further from the truth. The righteousness, the
salvation that so easily eludes us is given to us as a gift. “the gift of God
is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23, NIV One might say
that yes, I have been justified by Jesus and that is a gift, but now I must work
on being sanctified, or made holy. After all, I must work out my own “salvation
with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12, NIV But what does that mean? Does
it mean that we can somehow, through the exercise of our will overcome the
tendency to sin that we have inherited from Adam? Can we simply by choosing to
do the right thing overcome our fleshly desires? It seems that Isaiah and
Jeremiah don’t believe that is possible. Does Paul’s letter to the Philippians
then urge us to do something we cannot do? For the answer we need only look to
the next verse.
In verse 13, we find “for it is God who works in you to
will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13,
NIV Apparently even our sanctification,
our perfection in righteousness is not our work but God’s. It is even His will
that is working in our lives, not our own. What then is our part to play in
living holy lives? Perhaps James says it best, “Submit yourselves, then, to God….Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:7,10 NIV Our part then
is not to somehow accomplish our sanctification by being obedient to every perceived
standard. It is simply to surrender to God so He can work His will in our
lives. The Bible promises that He will write his law on our hearts. (See
Jeremiah 31:33) The Bible also promises that when this is the case, “The law of
their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip.” Psalm 37:3, NIV Obedience then is
a matter not of any creed or belief statement but rather what God has done
within. Since it is God working internally on the human heart it is subject to
something we cannot see for only God can see the heart. (See 1 Samuel 16:7)
Sometimes we hurt others by demanding, or even just
hinting, that they come up to a standard of obedience they are not ready to
achieve. We forget the counsel “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To
their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is
able to make them stand.” Romans 14:4, NIV We even push ourselves to achieve in
our own strength what we are not ready for. When we go to the doctor and the
doctor tells us that we need surgery, we trust the doctor to pick the right
time and place for the surgery. Perhaps we need to go through certain
preparations before we are ready for the surgery. Maybe we are not strong
enough for the surgery and must have our health built up first to withstand the
rigors of the operation. In the same way, God chooses the right time and place
to deal with that pernicious habit that is preventing us from advancing spiritually.
He knows when it is time to deal with the problem and how best to deal with it.
He will not leave us lacking in anything necessary for our salvation if we only
trust Him enough to let Him be in control. When we submit ourselves to Him,
obedience becomes about how perfect God is and not how sanctified we are.
This Commentary is a Service of Still
Waters Ministry
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