Are you merely human?

“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,  for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?  For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?’ I Corinthians 3:1-4, NIV

Think about this question he asked as you look around you in our Christian community: Are we behaving merely as “humans”?   Well. Isn’t that what we are?… merely human?  The short answer is no; supposedly, in Christ, we are new creatures—or at least we could choose to be new creatures.

As I pray for those that hate me each morning, I realized a few days ago that nearly every one of them were people I fired…or that I had to ask to leave my home.  I had to part ways with them because what they did (or were doing) was just “not right”.  It’s hard to make that remark, because the world tells us that “we are not supposed to judge others.”  But that’s wrong and not biblical. We’re not supposed to judge hearts, but we must address sin—especially when it is the stumbling kind of sin that leads others away from faith in Jesus Christ—or to a denial of God himself!

This past week, several of us at the camp were attacked, maliciously, because I finally had to ask someone I loved to leave. It hurts.  But the hatred spewed at me, our staff, board members, and my sons was the likes of what I have not seen before.

But flawed and imperfect as this little fellowship, our camp, and my home is, we do strive to keep it holy.  Sometimes I hurt feelings by saying, “you can’t do that and stay here.” But of course, no one is required to register to be here, or work here, or attend our services.  But when my camp is attacked, or my family or close friends,  it is my flesh that wants to defend, respond in kind, and put the offender “in his place”.  Even now I am burdened by how those I love were wounded by the attacks.  But getting even is just not what a brother of Jesus Christ would do—it’s what someone “merely human” does.  My gut reaction was just as childish as those things said bad about us.

So, the question I must ask myself, and you must ask yourself, is,  “Are we going to be people “of the flesh '—babies—or brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ?”  The test, it appears, is our reaction to: (1) those that offend us, or  (2) those that are doing better than us (i.e. those of whom we are jealous) or  (3) those with whom we seem to disagree on most everything!

To my shame, I am too often  “merely human”.  Just like my sons put on new, super-powered “skins” in their video games, so also I need to don my new skin—my new Christian skin. No more diapers or baby bottles!  And let me say boldly, there’s no baby more annoying than an old Christian baby—especially if he is a pastor or priest!

Friends, salvation is all God’s work.  All I have to do is accept it.  For Protestants, Orthodox, and Catholics, we have all come to the same conclusion: Redemption is all because of God’s love for us. He has planned from the beginning of creation to bring all who would confess their sins, repent of rebellion, and surrender to His Son—a free gift.  He would also have us understand that it is because of the poured-out blood and broken body, of His beloved Son that the Father’s wrath has been turned away—the price of ransom has been satisfied.  We also are required to accept a new birth through the ordinance of baptism, as an expression of our determination to die to self and allow His Holy Spirit to enter into us and cause us to become totally new. These are all choices we have made, or must make, if we would receive eternal life.  Have you done this?

But the next action that should be taken after redemption is totally up to you and me. He will not make me into a good son.   He will feed, clothe, and shelter us, but choosing to become like His firstborn, Jesus, is a decision we must make.  And many of us are still running around in diapers, with a pacifier in our mouths when we ought to be about the chores our Father has assigned to us.  We should be eating solid food and asking our Father about what else He would have us to do today, rather than racing about the house trying to avoid our chores or begging for more time to play games.

No, I can’t make myself holy, but I can determine to live my life in such a manner as to not embarrass my Savior and be undeniably unholy.  My Father is watching the way in which I draw others to His Son, as well as the way I turn them away by the way in which I handle insults, attacks, and setbacks.  The author of Hebrews put it this way: “How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”  Hebrews 10:29 (NIV).  And that’s why some of our prayers are not being answered. We pray knowing that something we are doing is insulting to the Holy Spirit, so we cannot pray in faith— we doubt if He will answer our prayers because of our hidden or unconfessed sin! Get rid of what is hidden and see if your prayers are not answered…

Again, it’s the One who is holy that makes us holy… but only if we are prepared to be made holy… and separated from those things that keep us from being holy. Scripture tells us that, “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters"Hebrews 2:11, NIV.  Are you able to call Jesus your brother? What an honor! What privilege to sit at the same table!

So what is He asking of me after He’s done all the work?  That I give up the old and accept the new!  This does not come automatically or naturally. It’s a decision I must make in following Jesus. The word of God says: “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.” Hebrews 9:13- 14.  So that we MAY SERVE—not so that we will become robots and serve Him of our own free will. So how about it?  Are we choosing, as servants of God on High, to serve the living God… or hoping and praying that God will serve us?  We have it backwards!

It’s a question of submission and obedience. Lucifer would not submit and obey and has been tempting mankind to follow his example and ignore the example of Jesus Christ—who was the epitome of obedience— humbly laying  down His life for His Father.   Peter’s eyes were wide open to spiritual truth when he said, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:22, NIV).

Well? Have we??? The two disciplines required for holy living and the sanctified life are obeying Him (ostensibly by loving others outside your nuclear family) and living the life of a genuine brother or sister—because we believe it.  We were not redeemed to be pet monkeys or invalid warriors but sons and daughters of God Almighty—and that means we trust Him.

What will we be?  “Mere humans” or brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ?  Will our father be Satan… or God Himself?  We can choose to stand before a witness of millions that proudly defied the standards and common thinking of the day and boldly proclaim, “as for me and my house—we will serve the Lord!”   When sadness, badness, and storms come our way, we can stand with men of purity like Job and defy the temptation to give up, even when all around us shake their heads, mock us, and doubt us, by confessing, “Even if He slays me, I will trust Him”

The author of Hebrews again exhorts us with these words:“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”Hebrews 12:1-3, NIV).

If you venture out of ordinary life into the astounding and sensational life of being a new creation in Christ, you will be attacked and wounded by everything Satan can throw at you, but especially from immature Christians or those who claim to know Him.  That’s just the way it’s always been—and those are the injuries that hurt the most.  But don’t respond in kind when a weaker brother or sister attacks you—it’s bad manners at the Master’s table.    We’re told in the New Testament that: “The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?”  (Hebrews 6:7, NIV)

That’s what a mature Christian does in the Christian community.  They let God work things out; they don’t seek revenge; they prefer to be disenfranchised or cheated by someone sitting at the table than be a baby and seek restitution or to be justified.

Jesus has justified us before God—we need no other justification. God knows our hearts—we are not required to prove the intentions of our hearts to another or allow their hate or unkindness to inspire us!    God is more than able to restore what has been taken from us and protect us—but to squabble and quarrel about hurt feelings has no place at the dinner table.

I had a dream a few nights ago about my mom, who passed away a few years ago.  In the dream, she was at our childhood home and was very unhappy about something. I was there with several of my siblings, and I was urging her to get ready to go to church for a Wednesday night service. But she was distracted by something that was really bothering her.

Finally, I told her that I was going to go regardless, but why was she so upset?  She only remarked that someone had been very unkind to her,  and then went outside the door by herself. I asked my sisters if they knew what had happened and who was it that had offended her.  No one knew—we were all perplexed because my mom did not let things like that get her down. She was resolute and tough about life.

Then I stepped outside to talk to her again and found her sobbing uncontrollably. She was holding her head with both hands and just cried and cried—she was inconsolable.  It was heartbreaking and broke my heart!  I was so angry at the one who hurt my mother, but so desperate for a way of helping her through her lonesome suffering.

It’s hard to translate the emotions that one feels in a dream, but this was one of the most painful dreams I have experienced in my life.  The particularly painful part of the dream, emotionally, was my poor mother’s weeping and her unwillingness or inability to allow anyone to share in her suffering, let alone understand it.  I could not fix the hurt or avenge those who hurt her. Is there a more helpless feeling in life than this?

There are bad things happening around me that I can’t stop, fix, or eliminate. I know that what is happening is wrong in the world today; I know that there are some very sad mothers—weeping with no hope and with no one to help them! I know that many, many people are lonely and some have given up on living and are ending their lives to stop the hurt.  It is bewildering to witness this and feel so totally incapable of helping—a true nightmare!

In these things we have no other avenue of peace… no other remedy… no other source of healing…than to fall upon our knees and cry out to “Abba”, to our heavenly Father.  Today I am hurting in my heart like I have not hurt in many years—a culmination of challenges, obstacles, unkindness, and rudeness to me, etc.  Like my mother, I am tempted to simply walk away and find a place to weep and ask Him to take me home!  If we live long enough and choose intimacy with Him, we will have these moments.

But I know that my Redeemer lives! I know that He loves me and that I am special—anointed and one that He calls His own. He knows my name, and He will not allow anything to befall me without His permission if I continue to look to Him for deliverance, protection, and peace.  The words keep repeating in my ears all weekend long, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”…and I do.