A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Friday, Week 3 - Philippians 3:17-21: Resisting Lawlessness

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

In place to place, Paul has been preaching about our freedom in Christ.  We are freed from the religious law that demands circumcision, the abstaining from certain foods, the keeping of certain holy days, and being overly focused upon our own purity.  The problem, however, is that some are interpreting Paul’s words to mean that we can now do whatever we feel like. 

When he wrote of “enemies of the cross,” Paul was addressing the same issue as when Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about “Cheap Grace.” Cheap grace says that if God in Christ forgives you anyway, then do whatever you want; even though doing whatever you want leads to emptiness and a form of death before you die.  Costly grace, however, holds in reverent gratitude the truth that God’s blessings come to us at a great cost to God and are meant to transform us, mold us into a new creation, and lead us into a new way of living.   This new way of living is defined neither by legalism nor lawlessness.  It is a middle way that has the power to deliver to us God’s gifts of faith, hope, passion and compassion, deep relationships, expectation and peace, wisdom and a measure of laughable foolishness, love, humility, contentment, and more – all of which combine to deliver to us a measure of what Jesus would call abundant life, here and now before we die.

When Paul writes that our citizenship is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, he is not talking about life after we die.   He is talking about our expectations in this life.  Who or what are we expecting will come and deliver to us rich, meaningful life?  Paul is saying that what we thirst for most deeply cannot be delivered by Netflix, a fully stocked wine cellar, another sexual partner, victories from the Patriots or Red Sox, or Amazon Prime. We will always be restless in this life, for this world will never quite be home; yet Paul urges us to live with expectation that we will meet the risen Christ on a journey though life, a journey that follows the middle way between legalism and lawlessness.  Through this middle way we eat and drink with times of feasting, yet mostly in moderation so that we can stay awake; we shop for ourselves, yet in a way that there is enough to share with others; we engage our own sexuality in boundaried fashion, careful of hypocritical calls for purity in others; we enjoy movies, sports, and the arts, yet without so much obsession that we become numb to God’s call for us to partner with God in addressing this world’s brokenness. 

Resist legalism and lawlessness, Paul advises. Do not overly focus on your appetites (as both those who fast and those who indulge tend to do); rather, trusting that God will provide for you, engage this blessed and broken world around you.  Live with integrity, show mercy, advocate for fairness, surprise someone with a sign of your care, and be free from the weight of having to live with perfect purity. Then, following this middle way, expect that the risen one will meet you and grant you something that you will deep down experience as deliverance.

Oh God, deliver me from myself.  Help me to live with greater moderation, less fear, and more hope; and guide me into being of use to others in this broken and blessed world.  Amen.