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| introduction
to the City's Gate |
Section
2 - the
vows
III - A,B,C,D |
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III.
Commitment to
walking in the Spirit
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| Vow 3: "Do you resolve
and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that
you will endeavor to live as is proper for the followers of Christ?”
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A. “...resolve and
promise....”
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Using the term “resolve”, in this
membership vow, means that we are talking
about a commitment of the will. It
means that we are willing to stand against the prevailing “spirit of
our age”, against the Zeitgeist
of our times. In our day, that
spirit is one that teaches us to “do what you feel like doing.” If morality is reduced to our natural impulses, then the Gospel is
rendered meaningless. Sometimes,
we are called to do the very opposite of what we feel like doing, simply
because it is the right thing to do. This is integrity.
“Promise” means that we are making
ourselves accountable to someone else. Ultimately,
this promise is made to God the Father, whose we are; the
Son, who bought us with a price; and the Spirit, whom we will discuss in
the following part.
This promise is also made to the Church,
for when Christ rescues us from our former way of life, He makes us
members of His Body, the Church. This
universal Church, as we have seen, is not conceived of apart from its
local expression in a community of believers.
So, whether you join The City’s Gate, First Baptist, or
St. Paul’s Lutheran, you need to be prepared to make yourself accountable
to your local Church. |
| Two Biblical and practical reasons support
the need to make such a promise of accountability.
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 | Most likely, we are all aware of Christians who are notorious
because of a great disparity between their profession of faith and
their practice. In such situations, shame and reproach are brought
upon the Lord. It has been given to the Church to discern which
practices are, and which are not in keeping with her faith. |
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| When a Church member is not held accountable for her/his
lifestyle, it encourages others in the Church to act similarly. |
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B. “...in humble reliance
upon the grace of the
Holy Spirit....”
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This is the heart of the vow. Too many believers live as though the vow was simply, “Do you
resolve and promise that you will endeavor to live as is proper for the
followers of Christ?”, as though it is all up to me! The words, “...in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy
Spirit...” make this a Christian vow.
Jesus Christ not only suffered and died to
bring us to God, but He rose again from the dead and ascended into
heaven. As the exalted Lord, He
gave THE GIFT of all gifts, the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon
His people. Now, through the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He brings the resurrected Christ to us.
The life of Christ in us, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, is what gives
the power to live righteously.
This is the Gospel, and the Gospel is what
we need, not only to come to Christ, but to continue in Christ.
“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts.”
This leads to the question, “How does the
Holy Spirit help us to live as is proper for the followers of Christ?”
In Christian jargon, the answer usually is through the “means
of grace.” These are channels through which the grace of the Holy Spirit flows
into us. Among these means are the Word (Scripture study and
meditation), prayer, celebrating the sacraments, service to others, and
worship. These “means of
grace” are sometimes called “spiritual disciplines,” or
“spiritual practices.” They do not gain us grace, but rather are the channels through
which the grace comes to feed our faith, make us more like Christ and
keep us strong in the things of God.
Christ’s people are also, themselves, a
very important means of grace. We will discuss this more under the
heading of “spiritual gifts.” For
now, we need to focus for a moment on one way the people of God are a
means of grace. Because of our
need for sensitive and meaningful accountability, and in order for the
Holy Spirit to give us His full assistance to live as is proper for the
followers of Christ, we need other Christians.
This is why The City’s Gate places such a strong emphasis on
small groups. You will grow
in the Spirit and in your Christian faith, as you minister to others and
are ministered to by others.
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C. “...that you will
endeavor to live....”
The key word here, of course, is
“endeavor.” We
recognize, and it is the teaching of the Bible, that no one is, or will
be perfect in this life. Sinless
perfection is an illusion born out of self-righteousness.
Nevertheless, your desire must be to be
like Christ. It is the goal for
which we aim. It is in the
struggling with your old-self, and in the wondering if Christianity is
working for you, that it really is working.
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D. “...as is proper for the followers of Christ.”
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Christ and His apostles speak very clearly
about the necessity of holiness. Recognizing that we will never attain perfection, there is still
the assumption that the followers of Christ will, in fact, follow Him.
A genuine commitment to Christ will not limit deliverance from
sin to the past only. To confess Christ as Savior means that we look to
Him in the present as well, to rescue us from sin’s power in us.
What can we expect as followers of Christ,
who rely on the Holy Spirit? God promises that we will see His law fulfilled in our lives.
God’s law is summarized in the two great commandments, to love
God and to love our neighbor. Therefore, followers of Christ who rely on
the grace of the Holy Spirit will see their love grow.
There are many facets to the life of
holiness, but since these sessions have to do with membership vows and
the considerations which surround joining the Church, we want to focus
on one facet which, when neglected, causes the Church great harm:
how we are to handle our disagreements.
So, how do we handle disagreements in the
Church? A very practical and
consequently a very valuable resource is Ken Sande’s book, The
Peacemaker (see Appendix C for a summary of peacemaking
principles, or see the pastor/elders if you are interested in pursuing
additional study). For our brief purposes here, the following points are essential:
According to the apostle Paul in the book
of Galatians, walking in the Spirit is equivalent to loving one another.
Poorly handled disagreements quench our love for each other and
separate brothers and sisters in Christ.
The basic Biblical approach to
disagreements is to go to the person with whom we have a problem and
work it out in private. We may
NOT grumble, whine, and complain to others.
Note the following Scriptures:
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| Matthew 7:3 - 5 The person who offends another must take the
initiative for reconciliation. |
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| Matthew 18:15 The person who is offended must take the
initiative for reconciliation. |
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| Matthew 5:23 - 24 Reconciliation will not be successful unless it
is preceded by honest self-examination and repentance; and unless it
is motivated
by a deep desire to genuinely love the other person. |
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| This vow is not a commitment to be perfect or
die trying. It is not a commitment to try harder than you did yesterday.
It is not a commitment to live up to someone else's standards, or even
your own. This vow does not commit you to compete with Mother Teresa for
goodness.
Instead, this vow commits you to recognize your inability to follow
Christ, even in a simple thing like getting along with family members!
This vow teaches us to admit and confess our weakness.
To rely on the Holy Spirit to make us more like Christ by causing us
to see His death for our sin as the supreme act of love for us.
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