The other day, I sat down for my monthly meeting with our
church’s deacons. We have a wonderful
deacon board in our church – godly men who are gifted to serve the body. As we usually do, we started with
devotions. A few years ago, I began
using good Christian books as devotional tools with my leadership. At this time, our deacon board is reading and
discussing The Grace of God by Andy Stanley.
The topic of this month’s chapter was the Ten Commandments
and the whole issue of law versus grace.
In our discussions, our conversation wandered around to the whole issue
of someone who is lukewarm in their faith.
What do we do with the person who claims grace of God but exhibits no
evidence that the grace they claim is actually changing their lives? As the discussion continued, various people
were brought to my mind. These were
people I knew, people I had taught and ministered to, people I had counseled
and sought to care for. They were also
people who, despite my best efforts, displayed no evidence of the
transformation Jesus brings to a life.
At those situations, a typical pastor often does one of two
things. Either we write that person off,
convinced that any help they need is not going to come from us. Or, we get down on ourselves, thinking that
it was our failure to connect, to communicate, to help, that has them in that
spiritual position. And while there may
be some truth in those reactions – we may not be the person who will ultimately
help them or we might have taken more time with them – the heart of the matter
is often something very different. The
heart of the matter is often this: that the lukewarm Christian is more in love
with the world than they are with Jesus.
After my discussion with the deacons, I was reminded of a
passage I read this past fall from Michael Reeves’ book Delighting in the
Trinity. Interspersed throughout
this wonderful book are small vignettes about historical figures and their
thoughts on the Trinity. In one of those
sidebars, Reeves quotes Thomas Chalmers, a 19th century Scottish
pastor and scholar.
In a sermon on 1 John 2:15 entitled “The Expulsive Power of
a New Affection,” Chalmers discusses where the power to change comes from. Our lives are naturally guided and controlled
by our love for the world. That is our
default setting, a tendency that we all are born with. What can we do to change that? Is it possible to convince ourselves that the
world around us is not so alluring after all?
Can we adjust our heart’s desires so that the world does not seem quite
so attractive? Chalmers concludes that
trying to change our hearts by ourselves is “altogether incompetent and
ineffectual,” for nobody can “dispossess the heart of an old affection, but by
the expulsive power of a new one.” In
other words, our tendency to love the world can only be changed when we learn
to love something or Someone else more.
We always love what seems to be the most desirable to us. As a result, we will only change what we love
when something or Someone proves to be more desirable to us than what we
already love.
To put it another way, you and I will always love sin and
the world until we truly sense that Christ is better. We will be stuck loving the world first and
foremost until we are convinced, by the power of God, that loving Christ is a
better and truer option. We will love
the world until we are convinced again of the truths of the gospel. You see, true change happens when we are
overwhelmed by the grace of God in Christ.
True change happens when we grasp anew the height and breadth and depth
of the love of Christ for us. True
change happens when we experience the freedom of forgiveness and the assurance
of salvation. True change happens when
God’s Spirit convinces us that God is indeed good. True change happens when we truly grasp hold
of the truths of the gospel and are captivated by Christ our Savior. That is the answer for everyone – whether
they are a “lukewarm” believer or not.
