By Ron Price
Gary Thomas wrote Sacred Marriage, subtitled “What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?” He sees marriage and the family as wonderful living laboratories in which we can refine our desires and choose to serve others more than ourselves. I believe the Church is God’s sacred tool to help make us holy as well. The church is a perfect environment to practice Christlike, selfless service to others; to practice putting others’ needs above our own, and to find our greatest joy in pleasing God and others more than ourselves.
While God’s plan is perfect, we can all admit there is much wrong with how we carry it out. Church conflict should be the greatest oxymoron of all time, yet it is too frequently a painful and disheartening reality. Although there could be many reasons for specific church conflicts, Dr. Larry Crabb has identified the true explanation at the heart of each and every one. In his book Men and Women: Enjoying the Difference, Dr. Crabb suggests that at the root of all sin lies self-centeredness. I challenged his view at first, but have come to believe he is correct.
Take any sin you can imagine and trace it to its base cause and you will likely find self-centeredness. I believe the same is true for conflict among brothers and sisters in the church.
We come together once a week and join in singing “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” but then choose to live “Have My Own Way.” We sing “I Surrender All” with relish, but often live “I Surrender Some.” I like to sing the modern song “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” written by Paul Oakley. The first line reads “It’s all about You, Jesus” so why do I often live as though “It’s all about me?”
The world says “Look out for number one”—obviously referring to oneself. God says “Look out for Number One,” obviously referring to our Savior Jesus Christ. If you’re look- ing out for yourself, you have every right to get upset about the color of the carpet, the style of worship, or being over- looked for a church position. If the focus of your life is on serving God and furthering His cause, I dare say you have no right to get upset about any of those things.
A favorite text for many is Gal. 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave His life for me.” If I read that text correctly, the essence of the Christian life is that Christ died that we might live, we are therefore to die (symbolically and relationally) that He might live in and through us. Sounds like a good deal, yet it does not appear to be so simple to live out.
John Bevere writes about this in his wonderful book The Bait of Satan. While Mr. Bevere does not write from an Adventist perspective, I believe he has identified a common cause of listless Christianity, weak faith, and conflicts within the church. We learn about Jesus and grasp—as best we can— all that He did for us. In response, we willingly, joyfully commit to serving Him and His purposes only. This is celebrated in Heaven, but not so much by the opponents of God. The enemy and his minions double their efforts to undo our decision and get us to recant and return to self-centeredness. And thus the battle rages moment by moment, month by month, year by year, decade by decade.
As the saying goes, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is the battle is not going to lighten up. It is going to intensify big time leading up to the glorious return of our Savior. We better be prepared for this, or we are in for some really big defeats. But the good news is Great News. Read your Bible all the way from Genesis to maps and you find out that we win! So long as we remain in a surrendered state and accept Christ’s sacrifice, we have nothing to fear for the future.
Am I suggesting we should all become doormats and place “kick me here” signs on our backsides? I sure hope not. But I am suggesting that our churches, our homes, and our lives would be much more peaceful and enjoyable if we all practiced true Christian humility and self-surrender.
Let me make some suggestions:
Daily renew your desire to follow Jesus and place Him on the throne of your heart and life. It’s difficult—if not impossible—to truly love Jesus and dislike others.
Daily seek His will and His marching orders for you, His soldier. Determine to be a vessel into which He can safely pour His grace, mercy, and love—knowing you will share them with others rather than hoard them to yourself.
Find a ministry to engage in deeply—this should not leave you with the time, energy, or desire to get upset with others.
Determine to practice true Christlike humility. Look at everyone you meet as someone for whom Jesus died and someone He loves. What right do you have to be upset and ugly with someone for whom Jesus your Lord and Savior gave His life?
I’m not saying this process is easy or that I have mastered the concept and practice it perfectly. But I am saying that my very best days are those when I do sing and practice “Live Out Thy Life Within Me, O Jesus King of Kings.”
–Ron Price is a member of the RMC executive committee from Farmington, New Mexico. His new book is Play Nice in Your Sandbox at Work.