Gelassenheit,
Part 2
A
Sermon,
Preached
on the Second Day
In
SANTA
ANNA
July
7, 2008
I
can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment
is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father
which hath sent me. (John 5:30)
I
mentioned in the first part of this series that Gelassenheit
is the practice of Christianity as opposed to the philosophy,
religion, or community of Christianity.
The term “Christianity” can have drastically different meanings
depending on who is using the term, to what they are referring when
they use it, and the context of its use. None of these uses are
wrong per se, but I
think it is important for me to define what I mean when I use the
phrase the practice of Christianity.
For hundreds of years, all of Western Civilization was called
“Christianity” or “The Christian World”, so, when referring
to “Christianity” someone may be referring to western
civilization, and to the society built more or less (it is claimed)
on Christian ideals. Within this definition of the term we also
include the concept of Christian community, or the society of
believers. Sometimes when we say “Christianity” we mean, “those
who profess to be Christians”,
or in some exclusive cases we might mean “those who are
included in the Body of Christ”.
The
term Christianity can also refer to the philosophy or religion of
Christianity, so that someone might say, “Christianity
opposes abortion, or is supposed to support and defend the right to
life”. Within this definition
of Christianity, we find the social and cultural beliefs, or the
parameters defined as “Christian”. Christianity, here, is seen
as more of a political entity or as a body politic than as an
individual spiritual system of belief and action.
For
our lesson, though, we are considering the term in a completely
different context. Probably one of the least used or considered
definitions of Christianity is Christianity as a practice
or as a life lived. Theologians
would use the term “experimental theology” or “experimental
Christianity” to define this area of Christian practice.
Experimental here does not mean “to experiment” as it is used
today where it refers to some type of scientific trial, but it means
something that is known by experiment or trial.
Derived from practical experience or use, and not just theory.
So if I were to say to my children, please do not touch the red-hot
stove because I have done it and it will burn you terribly, the
knowledge I am giving them is not theoretical, but it is called
“experimental” - it is known by actual experiment or experience,
and is therefore more trustworthy and valuable. Theory and
philosophy have their place, but that which is known experimentally
is truly known. Due to the confusion caused by the use of a word
which has changed meaning, quite often I will use the word
“experiential” instead of “experimental”, though the term
“experimental” is actually correct. The point, of course, is
that what we are discussing here is Christian practice, as opposed to
these other definitions or attributes that are used today under the
flag of “Christianity”.
Knowing,
then, that true Christianity is a practice and not just a theory,
philosophy, community, or religion, we can move forward in our study
on what is the basis or structural foundation of Christian practice.
Fundamental
to what Christianity is, is the understanding that:
God
is
This
God that is, has the attributes of Omniscience, Omnipotence,
Omnipresence, and Omni-benevolence.
This
God that is, is the God of whom it is truthfully said that He
“liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto
him, What doest thou?”
(Dan. 4:34-35). By this we determine that He is also Omnisoveriegn
(always ruling).
This
God that is, is a personal God, and is the first cause of every
thing. All things that are, or that ever will be, exist by His
power, and are upheld by His Word, and come about according to His
divine decree. As such, this God is doing in the heavens and the
earth whatever pleases Himself, with no regard, obligation, or
obedience to the creature, and that, as a King, we know that “Where
the word of a king is, there is power”
(Ecc. 8:4).
This
God that is, has a divine plan, which includes His own glorification
in the creation. He has determined to let man, the highest of His
creatures, fall away from Him. Before ever this fall took place, He
did ordain a Savior for the remedy and salvation of God's beloved
out of the creation. He has ordained and ordered all things towards
the perfect fulfillment of His own plan in His own time, according
to His perfect knowledge and power.
This
God that is, has spoken to us plainly and openly through the
testimony of the Holy Bible, in which we find the testimony and
commands of Jesus Christ, God of Very God, and only begotten Son of
the Father.
Logically,
then, we can know that God, who has created all things, and who
upholds all things, and who has ALL power and knowledge at His
disposal, is perfect and righteous and good in all that He does, and
that what He commands is holy and good for His creation when viewed
from the eternal perspective. The root and foundation of the Gospel
is that man, who had fallen totally in obeying and following his own
will by replacing the express and commanded will of God with His own,
must, by Divine intervention and overwhelming grace, be brought to a
place of humiliation and repentance, so that he might properly die to
his own corrupted and sinful will, and have it overthrown by God's
good and perfect will (by grace alone), so that he might be
reconciled to the God of Heaven, redeemed and saved by the Savior,
and returned to a position of blessed sonship and submission to His
Creator. I must tell you now that, having identified this fact, we
must declare that modern religion, and particularly modern professing
“Christianity” works contrarily to this design, by elevating and
deifying the will of man, and by minimizing or obscuring the will of
God, and as such that “Christianity” is apostate and must be
still in its fallen condition, therefore it evidences itself as the
religion of Antichrist and not the religion of Christ.
Now,
all of that is preface.
What
then can we derive from this knowledge? Mankind, who has utilized
the elevation and the deification of his own will as a weapon of
warfare against the God of Heaven, continues on in this rebellion,
even in the area of religion, and even within that entity which
falsely identifies itself as the Body of Christ. Gelassenheit, as we
examined in the first part, involves the willful and purposeful
submission and yielding of ourselves to Jesus Christ, and to His
body, and it is a very special exhibition of God's grace through the
gift of faith. Let me explain...
The
religious world has redefined “faith” to mean the stubborn
adherence to beliefs, concepts, or perceived promises where there is
no actual license, grounds, or evidence to adhere to those things –
for example, the Catholic believes that he doesn't have to worry
about eternal damnation if he is convinced enough that his sins and
errors will be “purged” in the fictional place called
“purgatory”, and to compound this error, he believes he (or his
relatives) may purchase or barter his way out of purgatory early if
only they are willing. The Catholic believes in purgatory by
“faith”, but this is a faith that is grounded in nothing but the
word of the man of sin, the Pope of Rome. Many such deceptions and
fantasies of men are the ground and foundation of human “faith”.
The Charismatic (actually just another flavor of Romanist) believes
in carnal prosperity by “faith”, because clever manipulators and
devilish liars have given him a false foundation on which to base
this “faith”. His foundation is not God or the Word of God, but
is the careful and deceitful twisting of the intent of the Word of
God, so that the deceived is made to believe that gain is godliness,
and vice versa, even though that concept is anathematized in God's
Word. The point is that we should not be deceived - ALL MEN OPERATE
BY FAITH. However, not all faith is the faith defined and described
in scripture. When an atheist curses God and goes to his death
defiantly, he does so by faith. He has placed his faith in so-called
“science”, and in the religion of humanism, but he does operate
by faith. When a Papist relies on Mary to be with him and to pray
for him during the hour of his death, he does so by the faith in lies
told to him by robed soul robbers. When a modern “Christian”
marries himself to the world, operates according to the world's
system, becomes one with the world by obeying and conforming to the
precepts of the world, celebrates the world's holidays, and relies on
the world for his sustenance, provision, and protection, then we must
know that this worldling professor operates by faith. His faith is
in the world, and in the creature. His faith is in the product of
his five senses. He is a carnal beast and we shall know him by his
fruit.
Ok,
now we come to an interesting place, because now we come to examine
ourselves. Look at the way many Christians deal with one another.
Listen, when we insist on our own way, and try to create a world
where our will and our way is what makes us happy and content, and
when we insist that others yield to us (the carnal things that we
think, need, or want), then we show that we have worldly faith and
not faith in God.
When
we deny by our actions and behavior that it is God that ordains and
upholds all things, and when we refuse to be obedient to God because
of our worldly fears, we show that we have worldly faith and not
faith in God.
When
we must avenge every wrong, defend every perceived slight, retaliate
to every offense, react to every perceived negative inference, etc.,
we show that we have worldly faith and have no faith in God. When a
professing “Christian” takes vengeance into his own hands, or
feels he must constantly defend himself, he is saying he does not
believe God when God says to the elect, “I see everything, and I
will repay”.
And
this goes even farther...
The
Christian practice of Gelassenheit, which is the yielding and
submission of our own will to the will of Christ and to His Body,
demands that we utilize the “means of grace” to further kill our
own SELF. Remember, Christ said, “I of my own self
do nothing”. What can that mean? It means that Christ was not
operating by His SELF. Christ operated by a will that was completely
and totally exterior to His carnal man. This is not to say Christ
was divided, but it is to say that He willfully submitted HimSELF to
the will of His Father. He chose not to operate according to the
carnal man. He chose the road of submission and yielding. This road
led to the Cross. He submitted Himself to the pain, terror, and
infamy of the Cross, to show that way by which man must enter into
the Kingdom. Jesus Christ became the way, the truth, and the life,
and He said “no man cometh to the Father but by me”.
He then commanded His disciples to walk even as He walked, which was
a great mystery to them, since up to that time they did not
understand the mystery of how He was operating. When the disciples
saw Christ sleep, they thought “He sleeps because He is tired”,
but in reality Christ slept because God the Father willed Him to
sleep at that time. When the disciples saw Christ teach or heal or
rebuke, they thought He was operating according to His own will, but
He Himself claimed He had submitted His daily will to that of the
Father. You see, Christ did not do what He wanted to do, but He
conformed His will to the will of the Father. He became a servant,
and yielded Himself to His own creation, to serve and to be ill
treated, in order to show that path which was necessary for the
reconciliation of man. As He walked, He has asked us to walk. Not
that we are necessarily destined for the physical cross of
crucifixion, but that we are destined to the spiritual cross of
self-denial. This cross we must pick up daily, and it is with this
cross that we must walk the walk of Christianity. Putting
shoe-leather or “reality” to this picture is what is needful, and
it is the purpose of this series. We desire not the words
of sacrifice, but the obedience
of sacrifice. We
desire not the form of Godliness, but the power thereof.
Now, how many times have we truly considered what that means?
Godliness, which is true piety, true holiness, and a true walk of
faith on the actual and evident promises of God, is accomplished by
faith. The “power thereof” of Godliness, is that gift of true
faith which allows us to actually see the truth of God's promises,
and to rely on them when facing the fire of the carnal reality
perceived of by our five senses.
The
martyrs of God faced death with peace and dignity not because they
were insane or deceived, but because the promise of the Crown of Life
was very real to them - more real than that data provided by the five
senses. Christ and the Kingdom and eternity were more real to them
than the flames. The great men and women who are listed for us in
the Hall of Faith in Hebrews the 11th Chapter operated by
incontrovertible evidence in that, which for others was unseen (Heb.
11:1), and it was Gelassenheit that was exhibited in their faithful
submission. It is this same Gelassenheit that gives us the practice
and the strength to give up our way, and to rely on God's goodness
and His promises when there is conflict or trouble. It is
Gelassenheit that allows us to submit and yield when our carnal man
would argue or fight. It is Gelassenheit that gives us strength and
peace when all of our senses (and all of our neighbors, family, or
friends) think we ought to be panicked and distraught.
As
I mentioned in the first part, Gelassenheit is not just a single
thing, or a single attitude or a single idea. Gelassenheit is not a
thing in itself, it is the PRODUCT of a thing. Gelassenheit is the
product of self-emptying and self-denial. It is the product of
believing that “He must increase and I must decrease”.
It is the product of loving that which Christ loves, and of being
loved in a sacrificial way. Gelassenheit is not just meekness,
goodness, and humility – but it is the product of those things in
action, and of the will of God being elevated above self.
When
we are able to say, “I seek not my own will, but the will
of the Father which hath sent me”,
then we will see Gelassenheit at work in our own lives.
When
we say that Gelassenheit is “experimental Christianity”, we mean
that Gelassenheit is the the practice of Christianity, and thus
Christianity is known by the practice of it. Now, all of the types
which are given to us... the submission of the child to the parent,
the submission of the wife to the husband, the submission of the
individual to the community of believers, the submission of the
believers to one another, the submission of the true Church to Jesus
Christ, all of these, which make up the bulk of the “story” of
the Bible, go to teach us the route of Christianity. This
is the Pilgrim's Progress.
This is the much talked about but little experienced “Christian
walk”. All of creation points to it, and it is at the root of
every story in God's Word.
Think
of the pattern of the life of the regenerated Christian man. He is
born as an infant, completely selfish and unable to even conceive of
a will outside of his own. He must eat, must drink, must be
protected, must be loved, must be comforted. All things must be
provided from outside, and he must be satisfied above all things. He
is the ultimate consumer. No will exists to him outside of the
fulfillment of his perceived needs. He is, in this position,
completely selfish, and from this (and God's direct declaration on
the matter) is derived our understanding of the Doctrine of Total
Depravity. Children are completely selfish. The walk of life is
designed by God to be a walk away from selfishness and a walk towards
selflessness. The
purpose of parents, the purpose of society, the purpose of culture,
the purpose of Church, the purpose of Eldership, the purpose of the
Gospel, etc. is to completely overthrow this false reality. As we
grow older, if we receive grace at some time, this reality is made
evident to us. We slowly (painfully slowly) begin to see and
identify our selfishness and pride. To the elect, God shows a man
his internal wickedness and his selfishness. If God is pleased to do
so, He leads us by faith to rely on Him and not ourselves, to begin
to die to ourselves, and to demote what we think, what we know, what
we want, what we need, etc. in favor of what God says is good for us.
We begin to submit ourselves to His will, and to see His will
replacing our own. We come to believe that God's will is perfect and
ours is fallen and corrupt. We no longer trust our carnal man, but
we daily put more trust in Jesus Christ and in the Word of God. If
God is pleased to walk with us towards perfection and sanctification,
we increasingly desire that which may be contrary to our carnal will,
and we will even seek that which our five senses reject and which
might horrify our carnal man (and, by the way, all of the carnal ones
around us). The perfected man, which is embodied in Jesus Christ, is
completely surrendered to the will of the Father, which allows Him to
say “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father
which hath sent me”. Now, the
Spirit of God is sent for this task, and it is to Him that we must
apply for strength and ability in this walk. Gelassenheit, then, is
this practice; It is daily attention on the death of our own will; It
is the daily, purposeful, willful, taking up of the Cross of Christ
in obedience, submission, and yielding. It is nothing less than
that.
Which
is what makes this lesson so important. The lack of such teaching in
the professing Christian world, ought to inform us, and it ought to
give us greater clarity in understanding the way we ought to walk.
I
am your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael
Bunker
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