WHAT IS REAL SPIRITUALITY?
OR HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE FAULTS
Galatians
6:1 reads: "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who
are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness." But how do
you know if you're spiritual or not? And once you do know, how do you
go about "restoring" your erring brother?
What does it really
mean to be "spiritual"? "Spirituality" can mean different things to
different people. Some think the mark of a spiritual person is somber
clothing — black suit, white shirt (maybe with the collar turned around
backwards), and dark square-toed shoes. To others, the mark of real
spirituality is a certain type of speech, liberally laced with
expressions like "thine," "thou," "brother and sister," and "Praise the
Lord." Others feel that a truly "spiritual" person is one who would
never laugh too much. The Bible Definition. But are these outward signs
marks of real spirituality? What is the Bible's definition?
Romans
8:6 reads: "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind
on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh
is hostile to God: it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot;
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in
the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in
you."
Notice, to "set the mind on the flesh is death," but "to
set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." In other words, to be
physically minded, to think like the average, normal run-of-the-mill
human being, is death. As Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 state, "There is a
way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." But
in contrast, to "set the mind on the Spirit," to be truly spiritual, is
to live in a way that produces life.
But how does one go about producing life? Is there an example to follow?
We
would all have to admit that if anyone in the whole of human history
was spiritual, that someone was Jesus Christ. He was spiritual when He
walked this earth in the flesh and is now spiritual in His totality.
Christ announced that His purpose, His reason for being here, was so
that we could "have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).
Christ's whole intent, His whole purpose and ministry, was to do the
things that produced life for others. His life was "an example, that
you should follow in his steps" (I Peter 2:21). So a truly spiritual
person will follow Christ — and do the things that produce life in
himself and others.
The Practical Application. But what exactly
was Christ's approach? What specific things is a person supposed to do
to produce this kind of life? It has a lot to do with how one relates
to other human beings who have faults and shortcomings.
And who is utterly without faults?
Human
beings, seeing a person with a fault, don't often react with total
spirituality. The natural reaction is not to consider how to help this
person do the things that produce life — far from it!
Suppose
you or I come across a person who has a fault — not a minor fault like
clipping his fingernails in church when he ought to be listening, but a
really big one. Maybe he drinks too much, or is a fornicator, or a
thief, or maybe he stretches the truth, or is the worst gossip who ever
bit air. You know what the natural response to such a person tends to
be? A feeling of superiority — thoughts like "I'm above that kind of
thing!" Indignation. Looking down the nose. Disgust. Avoidance. Even
loathing and hatred — or joy in finding another juicy tidbit to pass
along the grapevine.
To illustrate the point: Say there is in
your neighborhood or your church congregation a young lady, perhaps a
teenage girl. She has been going out with the wrong crowd, perhaps
drinking too much, and she's gotten herself in trouble.
What is
you reaction? Would it be hard for you to accept someone like that?
Could you treat her just like you would any other Christian sister who
has sinned (and how many human beings do you know who haven't?). Now
maybe she hasn't come up and given a confessional in front of the
entire congregation, beating her chest and rolling in the dust or maybe
throwing ashes in the air. But she has gone before her God in a private
place of prayer and repented in bitterness and tears.
Now, be
honest with yourself. What would your reaction be? Who Is Without Sin?
Once you've honestly answered the above question, compare your
projected behavior to that of Jesus Christ in a similar situation. John
8 records how Christ was accosted by a group of super-righteous scribes
and Pharisees in the Temple. They brought before Him a woman who had
been "caught in adultery." Now you wonder how these fellows happened to
catch her, but that's beside the point.
Trying to trap Christ
into contradicting the Mosaic law, they inquired: "Teacher, this woman
has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded
us to stone such. What do you say about her?" And Jesus, in His wisdom,
at first ignored them, but finally replied: "Let him who is without sin
among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And when they heard
this, "they went away, one by one...."
Then what did Christ do?
Did He say: "Woman, you've really sinned — and we're going to put you
on the rack and stretch you from here to next Sunday! And you're going
to pay! Boy, are you going to pay! You're going to wish you'd never
done that!" That's not what He said, is it?
If there was anyone
on the face of this earth who would have been justified in putting that
woman to death, it would have been God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. But
this illustrates that punishment was not what Jesus Christ desired.
That wasn't His purpose. He said rather: "Neither do I condemn you; go,
and do not sin again."
He didn't spend hours counseling her, but
He did give some very succinct advice that would produce life. He said
to go and live in the way that produces not only fun and enjoyment and
happiness in this life, but life forever. He didn't look down His nose.
He didn't stand up in righteous indignation and pull up His robes and
start running toward the hills screaming, "Sin! Sin!" He didn't go to
the Pharisees and stand on the corner in the marketplace and begin to
spread the whole story all over Jerusalem. He did what was best for her
at that time — He extended mercy and kindness and forgiveness.
Does
God Delight in Punishment? What would your reaction have been? How does
it compare? We as human beings like to see "justice" done. We like to
see people punished, especially if the fault or sin has somehow
impinged on our freedom, hurt us, or taken something away from us. The
natural reaction is, "Boy, I hope they get theirs!"
Here is
another illustration: Say someone you know has been gossiping about you
for years. You can't make a false move without it being broadcast all
over the county.
Then this individual goes on vacation one year,
and comes back to find his home has been broken into. Burglars have
walked off with everything up to and including the kitchen sink. You
hear about it, and you get this inward feeling of glee. You're bubbling
over with happiness and comfort and joy in their adversity. God has
finally avenged you.
But is that the way God works? He does
allow a lot of things to happen — time and chance happen to everybody.
But God says He doesn't even take delight in the death of a wicked
person. It doesn't make Him happy to see misfortune happen to anyone.
He says: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
wicked turn from his way and live" (Ezek. 33:11).
The basic
point is that God's primary purpose is not punishment for wrongdoing.
He didn't create humanity with the potential for evil, just so He could
sit on the edge of His throne with some sort of spiritual flyswatter
waiting to go swoof! "gotcha!" everytime somebody gets a little out of
line. But sometimes we human beings reason this way.
We don't
think of punishment like God does. God uses punishment as a tool — as
mercy. He allows punishment to take place to get an individual to look
at his or hex actions and evaluate them.
When people find
themselves in a tight situation, they don't like it. Their next logical
step is to sit down and try to figure out what went wrong — what they
did to produce the situation they are in. Maybe the situation isn't
their fault — but then again maybe they can say, "I did this, and I did
that, and now I'm in this great, huge, ugly mess that won't go away."
God wants that person to stop and think about the way they are living,
and to repent and start living His way.
That is the main reason
for punishment — to cause pain, because without pain we would all
continue living the way that produces eternal death. So the pain is
there, but it's there to produce life. How to Help. Now how can we
apply God's thinking to our relationships with other people? Suppose we
see someone "overtaken in a trespass" (Gal. 6:1). He's not in that
position because God wants to provide us with entertainment — so we can
watch him squirm. God doesn't get delight out of that and neither
should we.
God says that if we are spiritually minded we are
going to go about trying to restore that individual, "looking to
ourselves lest we too be tempted." And being spiritually minded means
asking yourself if what you are about to say or do with regard to that
individual is something that is going to help produce eternal life for
him or her. If you see someone with a fault, and your basic interest is
helping, serving and seeing that person obtain eternal life, then go
ahead and try to help them. But if it's not — if it's anger, or
superiority, or disgust, or anything like that — then be careful,
because perhaps you have no business interfering. Just get out of the
way and let someone who is spiritual (perhaps God or another human
being) step in and try to help them.
To recap: God is spiritual.
If we are spiritual, we will think the same way God does, have the same
purpose He has. And what is that purpose? God is interested in sharing
His life, enlarging his family, bringing us all from this human plane
to the God plane where we can live forever with Him and share what He
has to share. That's His interest; that's His motive and intent; that's
His purpose in life now. That's why Jesus Christ came and died.
If
you have any other purpose than that, and claim that you are spiritual,
then there is something wrong with your reasoning. Because everything
that God is doing for you, and has done, is being done with that
purpose in mind. And that's the end result He expects — you in the
Kingdom, and also your brother.
So, when you see your brother
overtaken in a fault, ask youself: "Do I really seek his good? Am I
concerned about his eternal life? Is that why I'm getting involved? Is
that why I'm thinking what I'm' thinking?" If you can answer yes to
those qustions, and have this as your overriding purpose, then you can
go ahead and help point your brother in the direction that leads to
life.
by Elbert Atlas The Good News Magazine December 1976 Issue
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