When grace is tossed into the pond
of legalism, abusiveness is exposed. When Jesus’ mandate for
self denial is dropped into the pond of freedomism,
self indulgence rises to the surface. Both ponds are replete with the poison of
self-righteousness. Between them is the living relationship with the One who
justifies by faith and sanctifies by his Spirit. This
relationship calls us to follow him as doers of good; and that call by its very nature
implies the self-control of self-denial.
Self denial is not about “giving up
stuff.” It is a feature of focus. The less focused one becomes, the more he
will indulge his appetites. The more focused, the more he will set aside those
things which get between him and his goal. When that focus is set on following Jesus
Christ in love and gratitude for his grace, the follower has direction from God’s Word as to what gets in the way
and when.
Some things absolutely do not belong. They
include idolatry and sexual immorality. Both are perversions because anything
outside God’s ordained parameters for worship and sexual activity is a twisting
of his intention. Those parameters are not complicated: (1) one God who has revealed himself in the Scriptures; (2) one man and one woman in a publicly committed covenant relationship with each other.
People may debate what "worship
style" or "wedding ceremony" may be used, but there is no biblical
latitude with regard to who is to be worshiped and who is to be involved in sexual intimacy. Although God's redemptive work with Israel tolerated the
perversion of polygamy, he contrasted it with his covenant "marriage" to that nation alone, and he drew a sharp line in describing Christ’s relationship to his Church. As for other distortions, there has been no
lowering the bar from Genesis to Revelation.
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