The Standard (July 2012)

I have a confession to make, and I would appreciate you stifling your laughter or judgment until you've heard me out... (deep breath)

I kinda dig 80's hair bands. As you can tell - even if you've never heard that term or their music - it's not just a clever name. If you can get past the crazy get-ups and hair that single-handedly upheld the perming products industry in the 70's and 80's, some of the stuff they put out, musically-speaking, isn't half bad. Not all of them, mind you, and certainly not all of their songs, but some of them really jazz me up, you know?

In fact, I'd be willing to wager that some of you would be willing to say the same thing, even though your minds have likely suppressed what it means to "like" an 80's hair band (after all, what if your friends found out?!?). If you know what livin' on the edge is like, if you've ever been hot for teacher, or thought that - for lack of something else better to do - you might as well just jump, then you might be into at least some classic hair band jams. Let's run a simple test in the vein of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" jokes, okay?

You Might Be Into Hair Band Music If...

... you've ever gotten ready for a date while blasting some "Pour some sugar on me" (Def Leppard);
... you can't hear someone say just two words - Paradise City - without busting into your personal homage to Guns N' Roses;
... you've ever walked into a public bathroom, smelled smoke, and sung "smokin' in the boys room" (to yourself or [bonus points if] out loud) by Motley Crue;
... you consider "every rose has it's thorn" to be a deep and poignant philosophical statement, and you might have even forgotten it was first sung by Poison;
... if you know the immediate response to "I wanna rock and roll all night;"
... if you've ever started something new in life by singing, "here I go again on my own - going down the only road I've ever known;"

Now, I put that not just for a stroll down memory lane, or to start a debate on whether rock music can, or cannot, be sanctified, but to set up this month's topic of standards. Some rock is certainly not profitable or edifying in any sense, just as some Christian-labeled music can be more about the artist singing than the God they're asking to pour out blessings.

One of my favorite bands - ever since I started listening to Christian music (some of which is still WAY below my standard of quality, but that's a-whole-nother post) as a kid - is Petra. To this day, when we sing "Salvation Belongs To Our God" in my smaller, rural church, I want to tenor-scream and rock that tremulous vibrato like John Schlitt did at the first Christian rock concert I ever attended in Houston, Texas. Just to be clear, I know the whole congregation is thankful that I don't. For right now, though, I want to focus on their song, "The Battle Belongs To The Lord," and the following lyrics in particular:

The power of darkness comes in like a flood.
The battle belongs to the Lord.
Let's raise up the standard, the power of His blood.
The battle belongs to the Lord.

We sing glory and honor, power and strength to the Lord (2x)

 

What Is Our Standard?

If the standard we are to live by is the power of Christ's blood, then what are we saying about God when we claim to regulate the style, timeline, and manner by which another moves from a worldly life to a life of God-honoring holiness? Said another way, what are we trying to do when we put time frames and stipulations on another's process of sanctification? Do we believe it to be a process at all? And what does our action or speech say to others about the ways of God in another's sanctification? Think about Paul's words here:

1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. ... 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’" 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. ... 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Paul is clearly talking about eating and drinking here, the distinction between the sacred and profane, but we must ask where we put the focus in this passage. Is Paul primarily focusing on the prohibition of something, or on the preeminence of Christ in one's life? Is it on prohibition of sin, or progression of faith? What is the goal, for Paul? It might be easier to ask a question - where every word is important - to then draw out our conclusions from: did Jesus die primarily to keep us from sinning? Think about that for a minute, then read on...

Raise Up The Right Standard

My assertion here is that we've actually changed the standard for those coming "behind" us. Whether purposefully or inadvertently, Christians can sometimes convey that God's standard for progress is remarkably similar to our own. Others should progress on the road of sanctification at our rate of progression (if not faster) or we need to coax them along so they don't derail. Those of us born in the church have acquired much head knowledge about the progress and we still stumble. What does that tell us? Sometimes a quick and zealous conversion/change experience can leave little room for others whose response to the Spirit of God is slower, resistant, or just unsure. For such people, Christians can graciously respond with patience and love or convey messages those new to faith in Jesus may find hard to take...

• you need to do ______ or you're not really saved.
• since I got this from the Bible, if you don't agree with me on this, you're wrong.
• the starting point is you've got to believe everything in your Bible, the way I believe everything in my Bible, to be saved.
• these political stances prove whether or not you're actually a follower of Jesus.
• you've had enough time to get your sin of ________ under control, so now I've got to step in and handle things.
• if you really loved God you wouldn't be doing ________ anymore.
• I'm not judging, just inspecting your fruit, so if you know the Bible says _________ and you're still _________, then I've got to call you out on this.

... and this is wrong.

We are all involved in the same "game," if you will, and with different levels of skill sets, experience, and motivation. Did you ever play team sports? You know that guy who was so gung-ho he practically sweated Gatorade? Or the girl with such a competitive edge she blew her nose and Wheaties came out? Then there were people who were the backbone of the team, who served as go-betweens for the play-makers, and who simply wanted something to do with their free time? We knew these things clearly as we played. Some rose as leaders, some just wanted to be leaders but weren't equipped, some had the ability to lead but didn't want to, and the list goes on...

The Church is much the same way. The Body is composed of people, just like a team, and everyone has a role. Paul tells us they're all important, and yet we still try to tell eyes to be a better ear, or knees to stop being so flexible and be a femur, for Pete's sake! Do you get the analogy?

We can know the Word (as much as the Spirit's enabled us to know at this stage in our faith, at least), we can know Jesus personally, and we can know all the struggles, temptations, heartaches, and life circumstances that have brought us to where we are now, but we can't know those things about others unless we are let into their world. With different levels of intimacy with another, there are different levels of confrontation.

Let us not confuse the levels and overstep our bounds. When we set ourselves up as the arbiters of another’s struggle between [Point A] life without God and [Point B] life in God we're not doing anyone any favors - least of all, God. Treat others graciously, run after Jesus faithfully, and let love keep us in the boundaries of right relationship with each other. For all else, we must trust that the Holy Spirit knows what He's doing... even if it's unclear to us!

And just for fun, here's one of their greats for you to rock along to - be blessed!!

WE ARE WORKS IN PROGRESS