This is a blog post I wrote for my church website in February 2014 (High Pointe Church in Altoona, IA)
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Am I the only one who ever feels like the Christian life
can be exhausting at times? There are days, sometimes weeks, where I feel like
I’m just spinning my wheels. I feel like I can’t do anything right. I get
beaten down by my guilt & sinful desires. My mind is a frequent
battleground for the war that Paul describes in Romans 7 between the old nature
& the new. I end up either beating myself up, or throwing a giant pity
party. But why does it get this way? How do we get to that point of exhaustion,
and what drives us there?
The last few weeks at High Pointe, we’ve had the
privilege of learning from John chapter 15. We’ve heard sermons on the concept
of abiding in Christ and continued the discussion within our small groups. Personally,
it has been eye-opening, refreshing, and mindset-altering. And in the midst of
saturating my mind with these truths, the Spirit of God has helped me realize
the catalyst that leads to our periods of “spiritual exhaustion.” It’s when we
forget that we are branches & try to act like the vine.
John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for
apart from Me you can do nothing.”
“Apart from Me you can do nothing.” - I think it’s safe
to say that truth is the foundation of any & all Christian growth. We would
all readily nod our heads and say a hearty “amen” while listening to someone
read that verse. We would all agree that “of course we can’t do anything apart from Christ,” – and we’d
probably even try to sound smarter by victoriously adding, “Instead, I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me!” But for some reason, even though we would all nod our heads in
agreement to this foundational truth…it’s usually the first one that we
practically abandon.
One of the most difficult things in our walk with Christ
is to get our hearts to agree & mesh with what our mind knows to be true. When
it comes to our salvation, our minds
know & understand that what truly took place was a divine miracle of
passing from death to life (Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:13-14). Our minds
know & understand that it wasn’t based on anything we have done, could do,
or ever deserve – it was truly an act of God & through His grace alone
(Ephesians 1:3-6; Ephesians 2:8-9). Our minds know & understand that once
we place our faith & trust in Christ, we are forever justified & viewed
by God through the righteousness of Christ (Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1; Romans8:33-39). And we know that nothing
can ever change our position in
Christ. However...when it comes to our sanctification,
for some reason our hearts tend to hold on to some deep-seated desire to
continue to work for that salvation. To try & prove our worth to God. To
dig deep and do everything in our power to “be all that we can be.” Our hearts
try to hold on to the notion that God is disgusted with us when we fail, and
that our good behavior is required to keep
God’s approval. This is the disconnect that causes our disappointment & exhaustion.
These contrasts of belief & practice are what pastor
& author Tullian Tchividjian calls “self-salvation projects,” and they
eventually give way to legalism & slavery. In his book Jesus + Nothing =
Everything, Tullian says most believers realize that we could never earn our salvation, “…but when it comes
to our sanctification, suddenly we become legalists.” He goes on to say,
“We seem to inherently assume that our performance is what will finally determine whether our relationship with God is good or bad: so much good behavior from us generates so much affection from God; or so much bad behavior from us generates so much anger from God … Legalism happens when what we need to do, not what Jesus has already done, becomes the end game. Our performancism leads to pride when we succeed and to despair when we fail. But ultimately it leads to slavery either way, because it becomes all about us...”
And when being a Christian becomes all about us – when it becomes all about following
our “to-do lists” – that is the very moment that we, as a branch, have broken
off in a futile attempt to be the vine. We subconsciously believe that we are our own life source. We start
reading the Bible as if it was mainly written about what we need to do for God
instead of what God in Christ has done for us. And the whole time we’re
“working hard” to build up our spiritual résumé & impress God, we don’t
even realize how far we’ve strayed from the foundational truth that we were
once saying ‘amen’ to: “apart from Me you can do nothing.” Talk about a definition
of exhaustion – working hard to do nothing.
So how do we avoid this? What does it look like to “abide
in Christ?” I believe it starts with a daily acknowledgment of the gospel. The
gospel, ironically, starts with us – but it’s not good. As William Temple said,
“the only thing you contribute to your salvation and to your sanctification is
the sin that makes them necessary” (Romans 3:10-12; Romans 3:23). Too often, I
fail to daily acknowledge the fact that Jesus brought me out of death. If I could do nothing on my own
to escape my spiritual death, why would I ever think that I could do anything
on my own to become more like Jesus (Galatians 3:2-3)? “Sanctification consists
of the daily realization that in Christ we have died and in Christ we have been
raised. Life change happens as the heart daily grasps death and life.” –
Tchividjian
So is sanctification effortless? Does our growth require
no “work” at all? Of course not – Jesus says in John 15:10 to keep His
commandments. But the work isn’t focused on us
or our performance – it’s focused on Jesus
and His performance for us. We work
to recognize that He is the one at
work in us & through us (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3). To gain a deeper
understanding of what we already possess in Christ. And perhaps the thing we
need to work the hardest at is to simply stay put; to remain; to abide. To stay attached to the true
vine – our life source – and let His
grace, mercy, and love propel us to then let our light shine before men, so
that ultimately He is glorified
(Matthew 5:16). “Practice doesn’t dictate position. Position dictates
practice.” – Judah Smith
When we try to do it on our own, the Christian life will
become exhausting. But when we abide in Jesus, we find true rest. Abiding in
Christ doesn’t mean that we have to work hard to keep a good standing with God
– it means living with the freedom that Jesus has done all the work for us, and
will continue to remind us each day that “It is finished.”
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Matthew 11:28-30
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