"Radical" New Testament Life<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
In A.W. Tozer's book, Keys to the Deeper Life, he posits the need for a "radical life" in order to know God and to keep grace from being "cheap grace." At the end of Chapter One, Tozer more fully defines this "radical life" by saying, "We must return to New Testament Christianity, not in creed only but in complete manner of life as well. Separation, obedience, humility, simplicity, gravity, self-control, modesty, cross-bearing: these all must again be made a living part of the total Christian concept and be carried out in everyday conduct." He is making the case that all our prayers for revival are for naught if we are not actually living the New Testament life. Note that he considers these points as facets of a New Testament life, which implies that he believes what we have in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />America is far away from a genuine New Testament church filled with believers actually living a Spirit-filled, New Testament life. I would like to explore some thoughts about his list. Obviously it's not all-encompassing, but Christians who live their lives in this manner would most certainly be well on the road to sanctification and would certainly affect their culture. Here are my musings on Tozer's list:
SeparationToday I was listening to an archived webcast of "Generations with Kevin Swanson" where Swanson was interviewing Greg Harris, one of the pioneers of homeschooling and father of Joshua Harris, pastor and author. Harris made a point about "separation" that gave me an "ah-hah!" moment. He pointed out that separation is NOT isolation. He gave the analogy of a Christian's home being an embassy for a foreign land. For example, one would expect to find Spanish cuisine and Spanish culture in a Spanish embassy in Australia. The Spanish embassy is in Australia, but it is not of Australia. It retains its own culture and flavor, while being physically present in a different culture and country. The same holds true here. As ambassadors of Christ, our homes are to be embassies of heaven. One should find the fragrance and culture of Heaven when they enter, even though we are physically here on earth. They can also find out how to become a citizen of Heaven as well. Obviously like all analogies, this one does break down. But, it does help us to understand that as Christians, we must live our lives according to the dictates of our real home: Heaven. Our lives need to witness forth and glorify God. We do that best when we quit trying to conform to the world and its practices, when we quit trying to be "relevant," and instead actually practice New Testament Christianity. That will separate us, but will not isolate us.
 
ObedienceYou don't have to look very far in the New Testament to discover exhortation after exhortation for us as Christians to obey the commandments in God's Word. We in America chafe at the idea of obeying anyone or anything, and thus gloss over these extremely obvious commands, preferring instead to focus solely on grace and not on the fact that as God's adopted children, He has a claim on our lives and requires certain things of us. Yet it is this very obedience that will separate us from the culture and give us the aroma of Christ to the lost world. Please note carefully, though…this is not obedience in order to earn our righteousness, but is the obedience that is part and parcel of sanctifying us after conversion. I have blog posts on obedience here, here, here, and here.
HumilityAs a people who have peered into our souls and found them wanting, we know the depths of our depravity and the amount of forgiveness we have received from God (and if you haven't done that…you might want to question your salvation, for you probably don't even know what you are saved from!) We cannot be anything but humble toward others when we truly understand the grace that has been extended to us by God. Pride is the natural mode of the flesh, and we must fight it at every turn. Do be careful, though, not to misinterpret humility as lack of conviction of the truth. One can stand for the truth in a humble manner.
SimplicityThis relates to the separate life. A separate life is a life of simplicity. We in the Disneyland of America get so completely tied down with our toys and our activities that we are like the rat on the treadmill…running, running, running, running, yet never getting anywhere. We justify all the activities as being good things or as exposing our children to different aspects of life, but in the process we miss out on the truly important things in life…things like relationships, service, love of our neighbor, time together as a family in daily worship. A simple life is not a boring life, but rather is a calm life, and a shelter in the storm that is our culture. Imagine your neighbors seeing your home and life as a shelter when their lives are raging in the storm…and then you will see the Gospel-witnessing power of simplicity and separateness.
GravityI had to ponder this one a bit, but found it made a lot of sense. Our lives here are pitifully short in light of eternity. As ambassadors for Christ, we only have a short time to bring the Gospel, to advance His Kingdom. Those are critically important things…far more critical than the "bread and circuses" of our culture. Does it mean that we are grumpy and never smile? Of course not! We have our joy in our Lord and we most certainly can enjoy our lives. But it does mean that we understand the importance and the brevity of our lives and the difference we can make in our world…thus we go about our task with gravity and zeal. I think of the closing scene of the movie, Schindler's List, where Schindler realizes the difference he had made in the lives of so many Jews…BUT he grieves because he realizes how many more he could have saved had he truly applied himself wholeheartedly. As Christians, we don't want to look back on our lives and say, "If only…"
Self-ControlThis is obviously a fruit of the Spirit. But how does it relate to living a life in the vein of New Testament Christianity? A person who is self-controlled is a person who is able to resist temptation, and thus is able to progress toward a holy life and more Christlikeness. A self-controlled person isn't buffeted by the whims and pressures of the world because he understands where his life and his joy is…and it isn't in this world! A person who is self-controlled reminds me of the meditation I did on "meekness." A meek person would certainly be a self-controlled person. And if you think being meek is being wimpy…you need to read this post! A self-controlled person is a steady person, a rock and an anchor in a storm…and thus a witness to the world as they whirl about in the storms of life.
ModestyDo I need to even stress how modesty isn't even on the radar screen of today's society? And I don't mean just in terms of dress, but also in terms of lifestyle. Do we keep up with the Joneses in ostentatious lifestyle choices? Do our children use pop culture to determine style of dress? Is the world our standard? Modesty says we should be using the Bible as a standard, both in dress and in lifestyle. In dress, our women certainly don't have to be dowdy or wear a Christian version of a burqua…but they DO need to uphold a standard of virtue in the way they dress so as not to communicate messages of sexual availability. They also need to be sensitive to how their dress may cause their Christian brothers to stumble. (Ladies…ask your husband or your dad, and then listen to what they say; they see things you don't when it comes to suggestiveness in dress.) In lifestyle, do we need to live in a mud hut? Of course not. But we do need to be cognizant of what we are spending our money on; our spending habits are the best indicator of what we truly love. Does our lifestyle promote relationship and service? Does it bring people to us in ministry opportunity? Is our home a haven into which we bring the unsaved? These are outworks of modesty in lifestyle.
Cross-BearingJesus made it clear that the world will hate us just as it hates Him. After all, we are His hands in the world right now. We bear His image. As a result, we can certainly expect persecution if we are to attempt to truly live a New Testament life. As long as we are tepid, the devil is quite happy to let us just roll along. After all, we aren't really affecting anyone, and because we lack introspection, we ourselves may not even be saved! He's happy if we just stick with "cultural" Christianity, for it is powerless to save anyone. But if we look to start a life patterned after this list…look out! There will be roadblocks everywhere…from family, friends, church members, and even strangers! There will be a cross to bear. But remember that Jesus bears that cross with us, enabling us to endure beyond anything we considered possible. And there is joy in the endurance, in the journey.
The premise of this chapter in Keys is that our prayers and appeals to God for revival in our country as the solution to our societal problems are not effective as long as we as Christians are not actually living as Christians. As long as we have compromised with the culture, we don't offer the culture any hope, anything that is different. We as Christians may very well be the answer to our own prayers! Imagine the effect of the culture actually seeing authentic Christianity lived out in front of them. There would be those who would turn away in disgust…but God would move in the hearts of many who would see God's active hand in our lives and want the same. That is called revival! And revivals change cultures for the glory of God.