That You May Abound

THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER LENT

What is the will of God towards you and me? How would you answer? Well, surely he wants to save us as St. Paul tells his young bishop Timothy, that God our Savior "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 1:3-4). And from this, we learn that God not only desires salvation for all to attain to the truth- the truth about ourselves in light of the truth of God. This also implies God's desire for people to live in reality- what I've often called 'real reality.' He wants the best for us in this life, which is why he gives wisdom through the proverbs and psalms. But the higher purpose in departing Divine wisdom is provided for more than success in this life! Divine wisdom is meant to make us holy.

Time and time again, we see in scripture the connection of wisdom with holiness. You see, wisdom is different from knowledge. Knowledge is the content, the data of revelation. But wisdom is to employ knowledge in a way that leads into righteousness- or to put it another way- Divine wisdom is the means by which we take what we know and walk in holiness. The Holy Scriptures define the goal of all Christian spirituality as 'perfection'- to finally be free from the lingering residue of impurity and imperfection, and gloriously transposed into the Divine image within each and every one of us. To be, in the words of Christ, “Perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect" (Mt 5:48). To bend the imperfect image upward, towards Perfection Himself, the Triune God of Heaven and Earth. Perfected. Complete. Completely restored to what we as image-bearers lost in the Garden.

Now, this is not to diminish the other purposes and duties of the Christian life. We would never say, "well, since I'm pursuing holiness, I suppose I'm off the hook when it comes to sharing my faith and evangelism." Or, "no time to forgive… being holy!" No. We love, we forgive, we risk, we get up and go to our respective occupations and callings, we share, we raise our kids and grandchildren, we love our spouses, we employ the very best of ourselves in whatever the Lord has appointed in our lives for his glory. We put our "hand to the plow and don't look back!" Doing all the commandments of God, for these are the works unto holiness, the way, and means of our perfection.

And, admittedly, there are many competing ideas on what exactly God’s purpose for us is even within the broader church. Often Churches will place the high calling or purpose of God in becoming a better leader. Or focusing on the family to be the best parents with the most respectable children. Sometimes the church elevates serving and volunteerism, setting the highest purpose of God in the realm of mission work, where the ultimate goal is for everyone to sell all their possessions and run off to a foreign land amidst a foreign and heathen people.

And again, please hear what I'm attempting to communicate, these are all high ambitions, they are important to the Lord as well, and some may indeed be called to such burdens. But, none of them trump God's divine purpose of sanctifying a people unto himself. For, the Father's ultimate desire for His people is that we be holy— conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus, "For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom 8:29). For you and I to be conformed in righteousness as our Lord is righteous. And this Divine purpose is clearly heard in today's epistle to the Thessalonians, where St. Paul writes,

"We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what charges we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification: For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (1 Thess 4:3-4; 7).

At the same time, we are keenly aware of our limitations in this life. None of us will reach sinless perfection in this world. And yet, our imperfection is never allowed to be an excuse or a reason to throw up the white flag of surrender in the Christian pursuit of holiness. Quite the opposite, actually. We're not to retreat but advance. Instead of resignation, we are called to abound. Hear the Apostle again "We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more." To abound more and more.

You see, St. Paul knows that these Christians at Thessalonica are presently pursuing godliness, they have already begun walking in accordance with the Gospel knowledge they have already received by faith; they are walking in wisdom. But he exhorts them, he encourages them as a friend and one with apostolic authority, to abound yet more, to more than they are presently doing. But let us take note of what he's not saying. He's not exhorting them to do more than what has already been commanded, but to do more of the commands they have already received and understood. What they have realized is to Love God and to love others. To walk towards holiness and away from sin. In particular, from the sins of the body, which can be so very difficult to confront and overcome.

And yet, we mustn't fall into the trap of dualism, which tends to disconnect the body from the soul. You see, the sins of the flesh are never disconnected from the heart, which is why we inwardly feel shame or guilt when we sin with the body. Consider Solomon, who, through the physical blessing of marital love enjoyed with his pagan wives, fell into idolatry. St. Paul isn't treating the body contemptuously as the prison of the soul— but recognizes the trouble indeed that it makes for us within the soul.

You see, we never sin in body alone, for the holy or unholy uses of the bodily vessel necessarily intermingle with the soul. The implications of bodily sin reach far beyond flesh and bone, for the wisdom of Proverbs says, "A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, whoever does it destroys his own life" (Prov 6:32).

The body is a temple which we are to adorn with righteousness so that the inward worship of the heart may be uncorrupted and pleasing to the Lord. It isn't meant to become the seat of unholiness. It wasn't redeemed to offer impure sacrifices. The money tables in the soul weren't knocked over to continue corrupt temple practices but purified so that we as a temple might be a house of prayer unto God. Listen again to the Apostle, who, in this passage, really sums up what I've been trying to impart,

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him (1 Cor 6:13-16).

Again, there is a soulish component to what we do with our bodies. The baptized life is graciously joined to the Lord, his presence resides in the temple of our being. Therefore, too sin in the body is to sin against the Lord of the temple. In this, I find a much more compelling impulse to pursue holiness through the mastery of the flesh.

Now, the Apostle does not think as we do of sanctification as a gradual subduing of the flesh, but for him, as the separation from the world for the purpose of enjoying union with God, the being made partakers of His Spirit. And here, we begin to better comprehend St. Paul when he says, that "God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." Holiness for the purpose of union with Christ; to enjoy unimpeded union with the Bridegroom, who is our Great and First Love, the prime object of every desire and the hope of everlasting life. Therefore, St. Paul says,

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. (1 Thess 4:3-4)

For we through our baptism "have put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:24). And through the grace of baptism, St. Peter tells us that "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them [we] may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire" (2 Pt 1:4). The knowledge of Christ given to us whose eyes and hearts have been opened, and we have been given the Holy Spirit for life and godliness so that we might partake of the divine nature. To become as he is. To participate in the Divine life... by continually escaping by the grace of God, the corruption which comes from sinful desire.

Holiness is God's will for our lives and this is why He is drawing us back to Himself. But of course, the flesh is weak (Mk 14:38). This all too real challenge in the spiritual life often drives us to our knees, in prayer to our Lord, to cry out for Divine assistance. Our natural tendency in our prayers is to ask God to help us, to aid us, to assist, and to strengthen. And this is all well and good, but sometimes hidden in our requests is the general idea that we can do a great deal on our own and then only need God to come along and give us an extra push, to add something to the tank, to top off our strength. But in today's Collect, our common prayer begins first by recognizing as we meditate before almighty God our Father, who is the Omnipotent One, that in fact, we need more than a push and a topping off. In reality, we need his help, his power, grace, and strength entirely and wholly. For, "we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves" in the real battles of life against adversaries much more potent than we are.

Let us look to the Canaanite woman as a beautiful and poignant portrait of prayer. One who, in the midst of great trouble, runs out to meet the Lord crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David" (Mt 15:22). What wondrous humility. And what tenacity as she shrugs off the disciples attempt to push her aside. Persevering and trusting even when the Lord himself tests her faith. We can learn a great deal from her. And when we stumble or face great adversity in our abounding, we too are to pray with reckless abandon for Jesus to do for us what we simply cannot do on our own. For his grace. For his protection. For his power to overcome evils of every sort.

Therefore, from the position of total dependency upon God's gracious power, we are asking the Father in the name of his well-beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that in body and soul, we may be daily preserved and protected from all forms of evil and sin. We cannot predict as each day begins what bad things can and will happen to our body, from accident, disease, carelessness, or the evil will of others. Further, we cannot predict what can and will happen to our soul - our mind, emotions, or will - as it ever remains open to testing and temptation. Evil thoughts, desires, and imaginations can be generated within our souls by all kinds of provocations from the world, the flesh, and the devil. And yet, wholly dependent and abandoned to our Lord, as we pray for grace, and labor for holiness, we will abound.

Today's Collect is a Lenten prayer of wholehearted submission to the Almighty Father and so very suitable for this Lenten season engaged in self-examination, fasting inwardly and outwardly in union with our blessed Lord and as we look forward to his glorious victory at Easter over the world, the flesh and the devil in which, by union with him, we share. In fact, like the Canaanite woman, we need to be so intent of being united to Jesus that he too shall say to us what he said to her: "O woman, great is thy faith!" Amen+