Ever Increasing Splendor

Mark Dunagan
10/31/10 - Sunday Morning

 

Ever-Increasing Splendor

C.S. Lewis observed, “All mortals tend to turn into the things they are pretending to be”. I would add that “becoming” is not an option, for everyone is becoming something. In reality, we can’t put the brakes on, or say, “I am stopping right here, and will never be anything else but what I am at this moment”.

Choose the Image Carefully

When Paul said, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1), he was pointing Christians in a different direction from the world, for everyone seeks to “imitate” someone or something, everyone chooses a goal or role model, everyone picks something they treasure. Yet there is a warning, choose your treasure wisely, because you will become like what you consider to be the most important thing or person in life:

• “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”(Matthew 6:21).

“Choose your treasure well, because, for good or ill, it will take your heart with it!” (Fowler, p. 373). The heart is with the treasure, and the mouth speaks what is in the heart (Matthew 12:34). The heart is with the treasure and the mouth will soon reveal where the heart is, and if our conversations don’t tell on us, our schedules will. Let us avoid like the plague, this scenario:

• “They followed vanity and became vain” (2 Kings 17:15).

Sin is empty and it will make us empty! “The idea is that they became like the gods they worshipped. They bowed down to nothingness and became nothing... And the tragedy was that the followers of that empty religion had become empty themselves: their lives lacked substance, their personalities became trivial, their characters lacked depth. As one man described his friend, ‘Deep down, he’s shallow!’” (Dilday, pp. 419-420).

• “And they became as detestable as that which they loved”(Hosea 9:10).

“He points out that what you give yourself to, you not only come to resemble (Psalm 115:8), but you make common cause with it. If it is an abomination to God, so, appallingly, are you; if its second name is ‘shame’, so is yours” (Kidner, p. 88).

Waiting for a Feeling First?

One mistake many people make when it comes to change is that they think that they need a feeling first before they can attempt something. That is, the devil tries to convince them that we, for example, cannot exercise or work on being patient, loving or self-controlled unless we first feel it. This perspective has kept some people stuck for decades. I think it is pretty obvious that Jesus did not “feel like” being crucified (Luke 22:41-44), yet He died for us anyway. The Hebrew writer notes that the feeling that Jesus was focused on, was not the feeling at the moment, but the joy that waited Him after His death (Hebrews 12:2). Compare spiritual growth on this point with physical exercise. If you waited for the feeling to do strenuous exercise or go on a diet – you would never do it. So exercising love or patience or any other virtue without feeling it first, is not faking it, rather, that is the way that patience and self-control are developed. In fact, I think we could argue that the very definition of love, patience, long-suffering, and self-control would include the idea of doing something against one’s feelings at any given moment.

James, for example, talks about a person who bridles his tongue (James 1:26), which means that this man controls his tongue even when his feelings are telling him to say something he should not. Paul spoke of “buffeting his body” (1 Corinthians 9:27), which would equally include the idea of making a firm decision to overrule the present feelings our body may have about something. Finally, as you may have read or otherwise learned, “feelings” are quite unreliable and can often lead us in the wrong direction (Proverbs 28:26 “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool”).

Feeling like a Hypocrite?

The devil also tries to side-track us by telling us our attempts to exercise patience, love, self-control, and so on, are nothing more than play-acting – seeing that we are not 100% gung-ho about being patient, loving, self-controlled at the moment. Yet this is not hypocrisy.

It should be rather obvious that no one starts out with patience or any other virtue at 100% full strength. The very fact that we are told that the Christian life is one of growth (2 Peter 3:18 “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”) should inform us that everyone starts with a percentage or degree of a virtue. The Bible equally speaks of us increasing in a virtue, “For it these qualities are yours and are increasing” (2 Peter 1:8).

• “And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another” (1 Thessalonians 3:12).
• “That, as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you may excel still more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

When Real Spiritual Muscle is Added

The devil wants us to “wait for the feelings” because he knows that such will keep us stuck and he equally knows that when we overrule the feelings we have at the moment and do the right thing – that such is when real growth is taking place and spiritual muscle is being gained. The devil knows that he can no longer tempt the man or woman who has decided to use their feelings as a tool rather than obey them as a master.

You Have to Put it On

• “Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).
• “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14).
• “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self... and put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:22,24).
• “Put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11).
• “Put them all aside... And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Colossians 3:8,14).

“There is a mysterious dynamic here. In order to become what we are, we have to try it on and walk around in it, even if it feels unreal at first... We do not wait for the Spirit to put it on us” (Andree Seu). So God has told us everything that we need to add to our lives and in many cases He has even defined the quality so we know exactly what it looks like (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). So faith, patience, love and all the other wonderful attributes are just sitting there for us to put on, yet do have to put it on. God offers faith (Romans 10:17), but He cannot have the faith for us. I believe that the above writer is correct when she states that various virtues, especially those that we have neglected in the past, will probably feel a little weird at first, like a real fresh, new and high quality set of new clothes. Yet let me tell you something that I have learned in my life. As you work on these qualities, one day you will stop and realize that you actually are this. That is, if you take the Bible seriously and for example, start rejoicing in the Lord as it says, even if you have been a negative person for some time (Psalm 118:24; Philippians 3:1), it is going to dawn on you in the future that you actually are a joyful person. May I suggest that the following passage is saying as much:

• “Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

The Swap that God Offers

I am just – absolutely amazed at what God offers every person, blessings that so many people have ignored or bypassed. He is actually offering us a real chance to swap pure junk (anger, wrath, jealousy, impatience, bitterness, etc.) for some real high quality, life improving qualities (love, peace, joy, etc.). Here is how one prophet described this, “Giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting” (Isaiah 61:3) – this section of Scripture is in the context of the coming Messiah and the gospel (61:-1-2).

Growth will Sneak up on Us

It is hard to see your own children growing taller each day – yet it is obvious to someone you only sees them once a year, so spiritual growth will surprise us. “In the course of time, I realized that I was no longer the same person that I had been at the start of the journey. But it took me by surprise. It is like sitting at my computer and feeling cold, and turning up the thermostat and going back to the keyboard, and then noticing about a half hour later that I am warm. The warming was going on for a while before I started to be aware of it” (Andree Seu). We need to stop and celebrate these victories when obvious growth is present – when we’ve controlled our tongue, we resisted a temptation that had been tough in the past, something happened and we did not lose your temper nor feel sorry for ourselves, we did a hard thing that we would not have attempted a year ago, we met discouragement and did not settle there as in times past, but quickly moved on. Time to celebrate!

What we can see every day

“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

How can we fail to grow when we get to look at our glorious Savior every day of our lives! How can any of us complain that the “view” or “outlook” we have every day is discouraging? From where I sit – the view is great. Observe the continuous tense, “are being transformed” – if you are really looking at Jesus and trying to walk in His steps, change will happen, in fact, no one can stop such a person from changing. You will be transformed. And it only gets better, “from glory to glory”. “In ever-increasing splendor” (Phi). “From one degree of splendor to another” (Gspd). Our glory is not fading, but rather it grows, from present glory, to future glory. Or the glory seen in Christ creates a similar glory in those who behold Him with unveiled hearts.

And Jesus made all this possible. He died for our sins, thus freeing us to start a new life. He sent the Holy Spirit, who revealed the particulars of what to change about ourselves, and He will even transform our physical bodies at the resurrection, thus leading us to heights of even greater glory.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net