I think my parents' pool hall fence was appropriate. But there is a lesson in my experience for all parents: Don't focus on the fence. If you erect a fence for your children - for example, in regard to certain movies or television programs- be sure to focus on the real issues, not the fence. Take time to explain and re-explain the reason for the fence.
If you decide, as my parents did , that you don't want your children going to the local pool hall, explain why. Distinguish between playing the game itself - which has neither negative nor positive moral value - and the atmosphere you are trying to protect them from.
For all of us, it may be good to have some fences, but we have to work at keeping them as just that - fences, helpful to us but not necessarily applicable to others. we also have to work at guarding our freedom from other people's fences.
Some of the fences in our respective Christian circles have been around a long time. No one quite knows their origin, but by now they are "embedded in concrete". Although it may cause conflict if you violate one, you must guard your freedom. To paraphrase Paul, "Stand firm in your freedom, and don't let anyone bring you into bondage with their fences."
I'm not suggesting you jump over fences just to thumb your nose at the people who hold to them so dearly. We are to "make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification" (Romans 14:19). Use discretion in embracing or rejecting a particular fence. but don't let other coerce you with man made rules. And ask God to help you see if you are subtly coercing or judging others with your own fences.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Fences
Chapter nine of Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, has been may favorite thus far. He deals with legalism and the type of legalism that he calls man made rules or fences. He says on page 124:
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Joel R. Beeke wrote an outstanding book, "Overcoming the World," which speaks to the deadly misconception rampant in the church today that what God has clearly called "sin," we can now freely participate in under the guise of "Christian liberty." Our liberty is to free us to do acts of mercy and righteousness, to truly love God and neighbor -- our liberty is not license to indulge the fallen flesh. Calvin taught us that we are to live quiet lives of piety, living Coram Deo in every moment of life He gives us. The entire orientation of our lives is to be towards God. The goal of piety, as Joel Beeke writes, is that God is glorified in us. It cannot be that God is glorified in us when we participate in things which God has clearly identified as evil (Galatians 5:19 is just one list).
It's truly heartbreaking to see that the American church has so "evolved" that evil is now spoken of as good and good is derided as evil. How is it legalistic to desire to eschew the things God has Himself labeled as sin? I am not speaking of adding rules to God's commands -- these are things He has ALREADY said are sin. Nor am I speaking of living a life of purity in hopes of gaining salvation itself. It seems to me that the term "legalist" is now used to deride anyone who sincerely desires to live a life of piety. Increasingly, the lines are being blurred in the church and what was formerly regarded as "obvious sin" is now being re-evaluated in light of our new, enlightened thinking. It used to be that foul language was unheard of in the church. Now we have this new liberal thinking that it's OK for a pastor to use foul words, even the f-word, in the pulpit. How can these things be? Even in churches which were formerly orthodox, it has become "cool" to adopt a gray lens and put a question mark where God has distinctly put a period. Pastors are now "wrestling with issues." On the other side of the liberal coin, McLaren has been "wrestling" with whether homosexuality is right or wrong for 5 years now and says he may need another 5 years to figure it out. What has happened to the church that God's word is no longer clear and definitive?
Please understand: I'm not talking about adding a series of manmade rules and saying all Christians now have to abide by these things, which is what my definition of legalism is. I am talking about the fact that it is used to be sin for a Christian to use foul language or commit fornication or engage in drunkenness. Nowadays, in the name of liberty, some Christians are calling these aforementioned sins "fences those legalists want to erect." Yet those fences are found in Scripture! How is it that God has said sexual immorality and filthiness of speech is wrong, yet it is okay to support (by buying the CD) and participate in (by listening to) such trash? How can a person abide by the command to "set before my eyes no vile thing" and then willfully do just that? How is that being a "legalist"? Is that not just a sincere believer honestly seeking to "flesh out" His commands and please the One who bought us?
I know for my family and I, all we wanted to do was just live quiet lives of piety in the face of God--to walk in purity of heart and mind, and as Owen aptly said, "To be killing sin wherever we find it." We don't have any desire at all to sample the surface-level "delights" of this Vanity Fair we live in. It's akin to what William Gurnall wrote, "God gives His people the faith to see behind the curtains, to see sin before it is all dressed up for the stage." Sin is destructive and the slope towards sin is slippery indeed (and often beset with unmarked trails, at first).
But sadly, we are increasingly feeling that the modern-day church is married to the world -- and the more worldly you are, the more welcome you are. I know that may seem like a weird statement, but it's just how several of my friends and family have felt lately. Even to hear a sermon nowadays you must be thoroughly steeped in pop culture and watch much television and MTV to be able to follow the illustrations. There is no place anymore for ordinary, simple Christians who just want to grow in faith and live pure and devoted lives in the face of God. I suppose we are not "cool enough." In the church, it seems you have to learn to straddle the fence between desiring God and desiring this world. Alot of Christians seem to have it down pretty well. But our hearts just aren't in it.
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