Blush, sinner, Blush - GBC Pastoral Column #75

True Christian peace is not seen in the sweet absence of conflict but in the Spirit-enabled achievement of Christlikeness during and through conflict. It is sometimes the will of God that we traverse the way of grief, but as we walk along all the Via Dolorosas of life, we see the trail of blood left by our Saviour and take heart: his suffering was greater than our own, his death gives us life, and his life helps us to die with hope, we can live bolder lives and die better deaths. The “peace of God which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7) does not prevent Galilean storms, Judas kisses, Sanhedrin slander, or Roman crucifixion, but is present throughout them. Peace means that although storms rage we rest, when betrayed we keep believing, if slandered we stand firm, and when jeered at on a cross, we learn to “count it all joy” (James 1:2). For men and women at war with the triumvirate of the world, the flesh, and the devil, this peace is not an optional extra – some spiritual protein bar thrown into the Christian soldier’s rucksack for a mid-afternoon snack. It is essential equipment given to guard the heart and the mind in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7).

But not all peace is good, nor is all peace safe. Far from always being a blessing, some peace is in fact a curse. The early Baptist preacher and author John Bunyan once wrote, “Peace in a sinful course is one of the greatest of curses.”

There are those who have peace despite believing the wrong things. Of course, I could state the obvious and apply this directly to all the people in the world who worship idols and trust in people, things, and good works instead of in Christ alone for salvation. But that is too easy and shifts the spotlight away from professing Christians. We believe wrong things about God – who he is, what he is like, what he has done in and does through the gospel of Christ. We believe wrong things about what the Bible says. We believe wrong things about what is good and what is bad, even evil. We believe wrong things about ourselves and about others. We believe wrong things about the Christian life and what it looks like generally, but even more specifically how it ought to play out in the particular details of our human existence.  Whether because of ignorance or wilful rebellion, tragically some people are at peace with these wrong beliefs and neglect the means by which they could be set straight, namely the regular and meaningful study of the Scriptures in a personally relevant and applicable way.

The wrong beliefs we harbour in our hearts and minds – be they subtle or severe – are frequently heralded by our behaviour. We know we are to be “imitators of God”, but if we get God wrong in some way then logically we will also get our imitation of him wrong in that way. By believing wrong things about what the Bible says, we draw wrong conclusions about what the Bible means and so make the wrong application for our lives, or the right application in the wrong way. Without the right beliefs, the broken moral compass of our deceitful hearts randomly leads us in different directions with every impulsive whim, cultural shift, or societal change. Some believe greater things of themselves than they ought, and as though they have reached the pinnacle of spiritual maturity oppressively act like proud and self-righteous children in need of a stern word or a smacking. Others believe so little of themselves, despite being God’s image bearers recreated in the likeness of Christ that they are depressively characterized by spiritual impotence and adolescent life-loathing. Wrong belief about the Christian life means we do not hate what we ought, hold fast to what we ought, make peace and fight when we ought, weep when we ought, laugh as we ought, love as we ought, live as we ought; we shamefully sacrifice our duties for desire and dreams (and not always the right ones!) or we become so entrenched in duty that we sadly lose desire and forget to dream. We recognise these problems but neglect to change or do anything that might lend itself to helping us change. Why? Because however much we protest, we are at peace in and with wrong behaviour.

What is the answer?

We must begin with reflection. Reflect on who God is and on what he is like. Reflect on who we are and what we are like. Reflect on the undeserved love of the righteous, holy God for wretched, hateful sinners, the love that in Christ said “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” and says if we leave our sins “I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me...” (2 Corinthians 6:16-18). Reflection ought to lead us to remorse, a profound and genuine sorrow - not for ourselves but to Christ - over the mess we’ve made and indeed the mess we are.  This remorse leads to repentance, as we turn from our sins and from our sinful selves to find the solution once again in Christ: “godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret” (2 Cor. 7:10).

“Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God”, writes Paul (2 Cor. 7:1) .To do this we must believe in Christ’s person and promises. But perhaps our problem is not so much affirmatively believing in the Saviour – many have professed to do so. Perhaps instead our difficulty lies more in ashamedly blushing over our sin. Stop peacefully smiling in it. To quote John Bunyan again: “Blush, sinner, blush! Oh that thou hadst grace to blush!”

This pastoral column was distributed to the congregation of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) the week of Sunday, 03 May 2015