Stephen
Terry, Director
Families
of Faith
Commentary
for the June 15, 2019 Sabbath School Lesson
“ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and
all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so
that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of
the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for
Abraham what he has promised him.” Genesis 18:18-19, NIV
Over half a century ago, God spoke profoundly into my
life and called me into service, and even today, I continue to grow in
understanding of all that such a calling entails. I have learned that the institutional
church, in its many iterations, is consistently flawed and fails, often
miserably, to present a fair image of the character of God. But I have also learned
in that time that I too am flawed, in many ways similar to the flaws of the
church. This is because the church is merely a compilation of the flaws of the
individual multiplied by the size of the membership. Some may expect the church
to be perfect, but it is not. Failing that, they may expect individual
attainment to perfection. No one outside of Christ has managed to achieve that.
Even those closest to him fell far short as demonstrated by the many squabbles
that took place in his presence[i] and continued to happen
even after his ascension.[ii] We humans are a sinful
lot,[iii] but fortunately that is
the purpose of Christ’s incarnation two millennia ago. He made possible the
vehicle of grace that removes condemnation from us.[iv] It is truly miraculous
that through the simple means of repentance and baptism, we are able to lay
claim to such deliverance.[v] And it is truly confounding
why more do not take advantage of such an opportunity.
But I want to speak of another great miracle. When God
spoke into my life all those many years ago, I was one of four children in a
family that would not be considered religious. While we always seemed to have
neighbors who would take us to church as children, my parents never attended,
nor did they belong to any particular denomination. They would attend
gatherings for card playing or dancing that were fueled by alcohol and shrouded
with the smoky haze of tobacco, but almost never church. Only once do I recall
them attending a church Christmas program. They never went back, and I was too
young to know why. I will not recount the many problems raised for our family by
my parents’ lifestyle choices. Instead, I still marvel today that God
apparently takes a special interest in children whose hearts might be open to
his love and compassion in spite of such situations.[vi] Some might have
difficulty seeing this with children who have not been raised in Christian
homes, attended parochial schools and participated in ongoing church
activities. However, I am proof that this is so, and just as he did for me, he
will send them individuals, perhaps even angels in
disguise, to assist with their life journey as long as they continue to wish
it.
Strangely, this may even be more likely in a
non-Christian home than in a Christian one, because the child raised in a home that is separated from God knows all too
well the fruits of that experience and can appreciate the freedom and hope that
grace provides. But because they have been raised under the mantle of grace
through their parents, those within the church may have a harder struggle to
understand the full meaning of salvation. My first wife, since deceased, told
me that she never had a conversion experience per se, because she never thought of herself as needing salvation,
having always lived within the church and never out of it. This puzzled me because
I could always point to the moment of my conversion when I was led through the
sinner’s prayer and sincerely gave my heart to God. Nonetheless, I have since
met several who also either felt like or assumed they had been born into
salvation and could not point to a moment of conversion. Their salvation may be
no less genuine than my own or vice versa,
but it illustrates the problematic nature of raising up subsequent generations
in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.”[vii] For instance, is it
necessary to experience that conversion moment or can salvation happen by
osmosis? Is there a need for the sinner’s prayer, and if so, who should lead
the young person through the process, the parent, the pastor, the youth leader,
or…?
Many times over the years, I have heard the message
presented from the pulpit that children should go to parochial school to ensure
their salvation. I may even have preached that message myself in former days.
But does that then give the parents a pass on the whole conversion issue and
then place is squarely in the lap of the school in order to ensure the next generation
continues in the faith? We all know families that have been in a denomination for
generations. Often these families have positions of power and influence in the
church and seem to have it all together. Are they the ones who did it right?
Has God blessed them for doing so? Was an individual conversion experience
necessary for the members of such a family, or does the initial conversion of a
family member that may have occurred generations ago cover all subsequent generations
as long as they remain church members?
Perhaps the life of the Apostle Paul can help us
understand. Paul was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee[viii] and trained in the
faith under the Pharisee Gamaliel[ix] in what might be
considered the parochial system of his time. He was sure of his faith and
zealous in its application not only to him but to all others. He even went so
far as to persecute Christians who were pursuing what he thought was heresy
compared to the path he had been taught. With full faith in the righteousness
of his understanding and actions, he was traveling to Damascus to arrest some Christian
heretics and bring them in chains back to Jerusalem when something remarkable
happened. Paul, the faithful believer, raised in the faith and so favored by
the temple leadership that he had been given authorization to make the journey
to Damascus that he had undertaken, had a conversion experience. While his was
more dramatic than others (I have never heard of anyone else blinded by conversion.),
it represented a turning point, an abrupt “about face” in the direction of his
life. In the Greek, repentance means leaving the path one is on and taking a
different one. This can literally be described as an “about face,” where one
stops walking away from God and starts walking toward him. But now we have a
problem. How could Paul, raised in the faith, educated in the faith and favored
by the leadership of that faith have been walking away from God? Could this be
the crux of the matter? Could it be that we are all, no matter the
circumstances of our birth, upbringing or position, initially walking away from
God? Is it possible that we all need that moment of repentance we can clearly identify
as a result?
Maybe we all need the experience of Martin Luther. One
might think that a monk would surely understand the path to salvation and
grace, yet Luther was continually tormented over the possibility that he was
not saved. He tried to find assurance of salvation through obedience to
everything he was taught, including acts of penance intended to drive sin from
his life. In spite of all, he could not find the rest that Christ promises[x] and continued to sink ever
deeper into despair. He did not find that rest until he discovered in Romans,
chapter one,[xi]
that it is not our obedience that makes us righteous enough to be saved, it is
the grace given us through Jesus Christ as a result of our faith in his promise
of salvation to all who would believe.
If God is consistent, and I believe he is, then each of
us may come to the same point that Paul and Martin Luther experienced, a moment
when everything falls into place, and we begin our journey toward God. In order
to do that, we must understand first that we have not been walking in that
direction. This, as I previously mentioned, may be easier to see for someone raised
in a home without Christ at the center, but it is no less necessary for the
child raised in a Christian home to understand. This may mean that an identifiable
conversion experience is necessary and an assumption (perhaps presumption) of
salvation is not sufficient foundation to obtain the rest Christ offers.
The post-Nicene church saw itself as the boat that would
carry us to heaven. They even often constructed their churches to resemble such
a craft with the pews facing a depiction of that heavenly moment of welcome portrayed
with paint, mosaics or sculpture. Tis reminded the parishioners not to abandon
ship lest they miss that moment of glory when they sail into the heavenly port.
But as Paul’s and Martin Luther’s experiences illustrate, the ship may be
heading in the wrong direction. We each may come to God and find the right direction.
The Bible tells us there is no other way.[xii]
