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Singleness of spiritual purpose is key to the Christian life. Dallas Willard speaks of the “respectability trap” (The Divine Conspiracy). Much religion is directed toward respectability, not radicality, not apprenticeship to Jesus. Indeed, many churches are very respectable fellowships to belong to, but largely devoid of any sense of the focus on following Christ. Clyde H. Reid writes of how church activities often seem structured around escaping God. He speaks of the “law of religious evasion”: “We structure our churches and maintain them so as to shield us from God and to protect us from genuine religious experience” (The God Evaders).
A monk went to his Abbot, upset. The Abbot had held a meeting with the monks and chided them for their laxity in devotion. The monk spoke, "Father, I don't understand. How can you speak as you did to my brothers? They are really fine men." The Abbot replied, "Son, the call to follow Christ is not a call to be a group of fine men. The call to follow Christ is a call to be like Christ, and he was not esteemed as a fine man by many of his day."
Your and my single eye is not on respectability, but on matters pertaining to the Spirit, even if that makes us appear odd and disrespectable by the standards of the culture or the religious fellowship we attend and serve through. Being a fine people and fine person can be a subtle avoidance and evasion of the Spirit. Being just fine people is deadening our churches to all sensitivity to the subtle movements of the Holy Spirit.
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So, let us hear the Jesus of the Gospels on this matter. In the first passage, in St. John 5, Jesus is addressing persons seeking to kill him for acting culturally and religiously disrespectful: “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (v.18,ESV). Later, Jesus says, “How can you believe [trust in me], when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (v. 44, ESV)
Then, in St. Luke 16.14-15, Jesus addresses the Pharisees, challenging their character and commitment:
The proud religious law-keepers heard all these things. They loved money so they made fun of Jesus. Jesus said to them, "You are the kind of people who make yourselves look good before other people. God knows your hearts. What men think is good is hated in the eyes of God. (NLV)
Affirmation
Today, I will organize my life so as to focus my attention on pleasing Christ and serving God in all things.
What is the difference between being a church of disciples of Christ and being a church of respectable persons? Are you willing to give up being respectable in order to follow Christ, if that is what it takes? How does the organization of your life reflect your priorities? Does your actions and schedule reflect a focus on being an apprentice of Jesus? How might you organize your life to demonstrate better one-pointed attention on pleasing and loving Christ?
*First edition, August 3, 2006
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