In my post yesterday called “killing our(self),” I meant to include a caveat that by saying good deeds should flow naturally out of who we are, in no way was I attempting to say that those who desire and make an effort to do good deeds should feel guilty or that they are going about it the wrong way. There are two reasons I feel this way.
The first has to do with motivation. As Dallas Willard’s stresses, and I agree, the intent of the sermon on the mount is to cut to the heart and character of the person, not the action. Being so, Jesus explains that harboring anger is what leads to murder. Looking at someone lustfully is what leads to adultery. When Jesus says, it’s better to gouge out your eye than sin, he is not endorsing this activity. On the contrary, he is pointing out the folly in this thinking. This is because a blind person could still have a wicked heart.
“The deeper question always concerns who you are, not what you did do or can do,” says Willard. “What would you do if you could. Eliminating body parts won’t change that.”
I have observed this logic amongst men in the church. They put filters on their computers so they won’t look at porn. One time, I heard someone answer the question of “what does it means for a christian to avoid lust?”, by saying, “get tivo”. While these actions have pure motives and might work for a short time, I wonder if we are perpetuating the lie that the flesh is stronger than the spirit? The overarching reality of God’s kingdom is that, we are not stuck hiding from our sin or ourself. Change is possible.
Just as Jesus views sinful actions arriving from ones heart, so to does he warn doing our “alms deeds” from the wrong spirit. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.”
Here he is describing what it looks like when he says “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven”
In this understanding then, Jesus is not condemning those who out of the right motive desire to do good or in the right spirit pass on what they are learning. Far from it. He is however pointing out the tremendous idea that it is possible for us to do good without needing to reflect on it. That in the reality of his kingdom it is possible to shed our concern with ourself. At the same time this is possible, he also says “it is better to give than receive.” He expects us to feel the affects of entering into his kingdom.
Secondly, I think we have trouble understanding process. As does Peter Rollins, when he says that religious communities influenced by modernity have “tended to emphasize the idea and ‘being’ and ‘destination’: one becomes a christian, joins a church and is saved.” We have exchanged the idea of becoming for became. Instead of viewing ourselves in progress, we give ourselves a pass or fail. Transformation is a process. The image the bible uses to describe our change is fruit. Fruit grows over time.
I to am guilty of this viewpoint myself. It is built into my language. What I should have said in my previous post was “may we be(come) the kind of people who naturally do what is right (I have now changed this)”
As Jesus said “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
For only in desiring to be changed and holding to his teaching before it becomes natural to do so, do we get to the point where we no longer need effort in doing what is right. It is not instintainous but a process. I’m sure my wife will attest that the things that at first felt like work, now have become natural.
This is much like the idea of rhythm. For we do not wake up one day and master an instrument. Only after practicing and failing, do we no longer need to be so focused on not messing up. One day, playing that song is natural. So to, one day doing what is right can become our nature. My church ascribes to the following rhythms. By integrating the practice of beautifying, listening, eating, studying and sending into our daily lives, we are then by these practices and the help of God’s spirit transformed. So it’s not working yourself in a frenzy trying to be different, but by changing the basic rhythm’s you live by that you are changed.
Just like the rhythm of a song becomes natural to you, so too if you get in a rhythm of doing good, when change occurs in your life, your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing.
The most important rhythm one needs to introduce to their life to begin changing is the Rhythm of Transformation. The Rhythm of Transformation is knowing God. To embrace him is to know love itself. This is the love that transforms.
So we can conclude that only by desiring to be changed can we find that change is possible, and only by saying yes to that desire can we be transformed.
