Reviewing the letters of Revelation this afternoon. The proscribed errors and the prescribed solutions. Jesus's prescription for the Ephesian church seems the most universal of all.
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. (2.4)
Three steps: 1) Remember from where you have fallen, 2) Repent, 3) Return to the first works. The prescriptions for the other churches include things like being faithful unto death (Smyrna, Thyatira) and buying treasure from Jesus (3.18) (which is the most unique and abstract of the of the prescriptions). But the most programmatic and typical seems to be the one given to Ephesus.
1) Remember. What does a mountain climber see when he has fallen? Looking up he can see where he was, and this sight stirs a desire to return. There is the depression of knowing he was once there, and must re-step his steps; but there is also the pressing sense that he was once there, and can be again. This assumes he is an actual mountain climber who wants to climb the mountain. Those out for a stroll who happened to climb part of the mountain because the trail happened to go that way are unlikely, having fallen, to continue that direction. The casual hiker looks up and feels only stupidity for having fallen down the mountain he didn't want to climb in the first place.
But the Christian wants to climb, and so desire and remorse, not stupidity, is stirred up in him when he looks back up. And even more so by the fact that it was his own careless disregard and waywardness that caused the fall, and not some loose rock he happened to step on. It was no accidental fall; he had in some way chosen it (though he could not have had the pain and bruising and eventual length of it in mind when he made the choice). So he 2) Repents of the cursed choice that has brought him low. Of course the repentance means he thinks evil of the choice; he turns the choice over in his heart, despising it from every angle and shoving insults and cuss words into it like prayer slips in the Western Wall. But to a greater degree his repentance consists in a simple resolution not to make again the same choice. This second part is really more valuable than the first. He can insult and cram full the choice until it's nothing but a wad of paper vibrating with expletives, but as often as he makes the choice he shows it to be his master. He must resolve not to do it again, and the most sure resolution not to do it again is the act of not doing it again. A mere internal resolution is only another passing insult if it is not acted out. A resolution indeed is a resolution in deed.
Which makes the third step: 3) Return to the first works. Instead of the work that caused the fall (or more accurately all the works that caused all the inches of the fall, because the fall was probably more like a tumble than a cliff-drop) do the "first works." In this context, the works of love (2.4). (It looks like these are works of love for each other and/or Christ, or works of love for Christ through love for others; cf. Matt. 25.45; 1 Jn 4.7). No belaboring the repentance in the first sense. No prescription of wallowing or self-flagellation for the shame of the act(s). The best repentance is not hatred of sin but acts of righteousness.
We see the hill where we once stood and long to be again
A quiet curse we whisper on our choice of knowing sin
And glare in hatred up the skids where tumbled bodies ran
Then turn to do the works we did back when we first began
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2 comments:
Good stuff David. If we wallow in our shame but do not change our direction, we definitely do not understand Grace.
What do you think is the order of sin? What has to happen before we actually act upon it?
Is it taking our eyes off the Glory of Christ(a practical ceasing to the pursuit), entertaining the thought, deceiving ourselves about the value of the experience(justifying), execution...?
This was something I've been thinking about.
I'm thinking of Gal. 5.16, 17 - walk in the Spirit and you won't gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what in contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. So those two lusts (epithumeo) are working against each other, and one must give way before the other can proceed.
But that's a little alien from our experience isn't it? It's like you said, a little justified thought or just the entertainment of it or "looking away from Christ." It's much easier to know tangible things like "I want to look in this magazine" than to know things like whether we've "looked away from Christ."
I think Jonathan Edwards would say here that the bottom line, first act of sin (that happens to also be tangible) is a sensible movement of our affections. If at any moment the thought of the magazine wells up a warm pleasurable sense (and in turn a cold alienated sense to God), we are already in the hands of our sin even if it hasn't yet had its way with us. But if at any moment the thought of our union with Christ wells up a warm pleasurable sense (and in turn a cold alienated sense to the magazine), we are in the hands of the Spirit even if he hasn't yet had his way with us.
I think that's the first thing. After our affections are after the sin (and how fast can it happen?), the next step might be one of a hundred things. Maybe justification of it if we're in the mood to think about it that long. For me, I usually perform mental evasion. If I'm deceiving someone or lusting or mocking, I usually avoid becoming conscious that I'm doing it by simply going through with it. But at that point the battle has long since been lost - it went out with my affections.
What are your thoughts on it?
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