Monday, September 07, 2020

CP 291 The expulsive power of a new affection

 

CP 291 The expulsive power of a new affection

In 1970 I had a life-changing, split-second dilemma at the Wagga Wagga Railway Station. I’d come home on the train from Sydney and mum was there to welcome me. For all my life, up to that very moment, I would have automatically and instinctively walked straight up to mum and greeted her with a kiss. Not this time. I hesitated for just a fraction of a second and instead went first to greet my soon-to-be-fiancee, Rosemarie, who was also there to meet me. The love of my life had changed the norms forever!

This fleeting ‘moment’ on the railway station became a sort of mini-forerunner of what happened to my life when the gospel of grace hit me with the force of a train a year later.

Fast forward to 1976. I’m at the seminary and listening to old Doc Hamann in Homiletics. (Yep, when I started that class I had no idea what it was about either.) It was a compulsory course class about preaching – putting sermons together and how to preach them. The Doc’s approach was simple. Do your homework on the text you are using, let the text speak for itself, then mull it over until you can distil what you will say in one simple sentence. He gave us an example from a sermon preached by Thomas Chalmers in Edinburgh, around 1820.

Chalmer’s text was 1 John 2:15-17:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.’

What was Preacher Chalmers sermon about? Simple and direct…

The expulsive power of a new affection!

He developed that sermon from key thoughts.

1. All of Adam’s children are driven by the affections (loves) of the flesh. Mostly this is expressed in self-love. (Matthew 15:9, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 2:1-4)

2. When one comes into a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ a new affection is introduced. For example, ‘God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us…’ (Romans 5:5) ‘In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.’ (1 John 4:10)

3. This new affection has a power of its own. For example, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation…’ (Romans 1:16) See also Acts 4:33: Grace powerfully at work, or 1 Corinthians 1:18: ‘The message of the Cross… is the power of God.’ See also Ephesians 1:19-20 and Ephesians 3:20-21.

4. Consequently, because this new affection is an expression of God’s power, this new affection’s power is expulsive… For example, ‘Perfect love drives out – expels or casts out - all fear.’ (1 John 4:18) Yes, the Greek word here is the same word used when Jesus was driving out unclean spirits… and strangely, the same word is used in Matthew’s Gospel to describe the Holy Spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness for the confrontation with the tempter!

The New Testament is full of examples of this expulsive power of the Good News of Christ:

Matthew 13:44 Jesus parable… A man found treasure hidden in a field… in his joy, he went and sold all he had and bought that field… Freedom to give up everything to obtain the one thing his heart truly desired.

Philippians 4:7…And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ Clarity and calm replace confusion and distress.

Acts 19:17-20… The name of Jesus was held in high honour… many came and confessed their evil deeds… the sorcery scrolls were burnt. Faith and trust replaced idolatry and witchcraft.

Luke 19:1-10… Zacchaeus ‘meets’ Jesus… Honesty and generosity replaced greed and dishonesty.

Acts 5:29… The Apostles… ‘We must obey God rather than men…’ Boldness and confidence replaced timidity and fear.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Where Christ’s cross-love rules, there impatience, nastiness, judgement, selfishness, pride, envy, contempt, conceit and anger cannot stand!

Cross-love is an overcoming love. Cross-love is a cleansing love. Cross-love is an empowering love. Cross-love is a cross-bearing love. As Paul wrote, ‘The love of Christ compels us…’ (2 Corinthians 5:14) The Good News version of the Bible has ‘We are ruled by the love of Christ…’ Note: Not love for Christ, but the cross-love of Christ already within us.

We should not be surprised that such expulsive power is in us. Consider Jesus.

Matthew 4:10-11… In the wilderness of temptation, it is the Satan the tempter who is forced to leave the scene of battle.  

Hebrews 12:2… Fix your eyes on Jesus… For the joy set before him he endured the cross…

Luke 22:42… ‘…not my will, but yours be done.’ Faithful, faithful, faithful!

John 1:6… ‘The light shines in the darkness… the darkness cannot overcome it.’ 

The impact in my life.

I noted above that the love of Christ is a cleansing love. It has confronted the idolatry in my life, the selfishness and bitterness and nastiness, the impurity and dishonesty, the lying, the pride and the anger. Often gently, sometimes violently, the love of Christ in me has been achieving its expulsive purpose. It hasn’t always been instant but it has always been insistent!

This love of Christ in me has also been a transforming, strengthening power. It has built courage in me, a stand-my-ground-ness, a refusal to compromise, a determination to speak when I should. It has generated a refusal to be controlled by the demands of man and man-made institutions. It has enabled me to keep my shoulder to the wheel, to tie myself to the mast when necessary, to refuse to deny my Lord. It has enabled me to hang on and hang in when there didn’t seem any reason to hang on or hang in any longer.

And when I’ve failed there has always been Cross-love forgiveness!

Heavenly Father, pour out the Spirit and love of your Son, Jesus the Christ, upon us, upon the whole church.

Be blessed…

Fred

(Big PS: I still loved my mother, but she was never again ahead of Rosemarie…!)