Trust in an Age of Arrogance

This is the book Pastor Chris recommended to me when I told him I'm having a hard time balancing grace with works. It was a very difficult read. The author (C. FitzSimons Allison) is a Catholic bishop, so there were a lot of references to Roman Catholic liturgy that meant very little to me. That said, there was also a lot of valuable knowledge. 

The premise of this book is based entirely on Jesus’ admonition to his disciples in Matthew 16:6, “Take heed. Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Allison actually writes 10 chapters on this one verse. I've never understood what on earth the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees was before, but now I get it. 

I'll sum up their beliefs really quickly. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. In today's day and age, Allison interprets the yeast of the Sadducees as humanism and secularism - the world is all there is. The Pharisees believed in God, but attempted to earn their salvation through works. I tend to identify more with the Pharisees, so that's the part I really focused on in the book. 

One part of the book that was so amazing to me was Allison's assessment of the Sermon on the Mount. I read that particular passage of the Bible almost exactly a year ago. It ends with this verse: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

And I wrote in my journal, “Is Jesus demanding the impossible? Or laying the foundation to show us how impossible it is to be righteous on our own and illustrate our need for him?”

Allison wrote, “The Sermon on the Mount is a deeper unfolding of the law of Moses. It leaves no hope that human goodness can replace . . . the costly betrayal, rejection, passion, suffering, death, and resurrection of God’s action in Jesus Christ” (74).

After reading Allison’s thoughts, I do think the Sermon on the Mount is so unattainable on purpose – to show the flaw of Pharisaical yeast: we can not achieve perfection or holiness on our own. The sermon was meant to show us how wretched we are and send us to the cross on our knees in desperate need of forgiveness and mercy. That’s why Jesus’ following words about his yoke being light make sense. We’re not supposed to assume the heavy yoke of attaining perfection. We’re supposed to let him do it for us and take our burden. 

And I think this applies to life after salvation too. I've always said that I know I need Jesus to save my soul. I cannot save myself. But for some reason, I feel like I have to work to keep my salvation. That is the yeast of the Pharisees. In the same way that I can't attain a right standing with God before salvation, I'm equally as incapable of being good enough to keep it after he's saved my soul. 

The good news is that no part of my salvation depends on my goodness. Look at this quote from the Westminster Confession: “The principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace” (117).

 It is on Christ alone that we are both justified and sanctified. Justified meaning made right with God (salvation) and sanctified meaning made holy before God. I've been made right with God once and for all and I’ve been made holy before God once and for all – despite the sins I commit after my justification/sanctification. The only reason for any of those things is “by virtue of the covenant of grace.” My works have absolutely nothing to do with it – either before or after salvation. Allison says, “We contribute nothing to our salvation except ‘the sin from which we need to be redeemed’” (123). 

The hard part for me is that I feel like there should be change after salvation. I can't just get saved and say "Woohoo! I'm in no matter what I do. I'm going to go have some fun!" Allison addresses this by pointing to a changed heart as evidence of salvation: “With God’s forgiveness and love, and our repentance (a change of heart), our wrongful desires are gradually replaced, our wills are changed as expressions of a changed heart, and we begin to desire what God desires for us” (128).

 I love that he wrote our wrongful desires are gradually replaced. I feel like I've prayed the prayer, I've accepted God’s gift of salvation and grace, why do I still keep sinning? Why don’t I desire what he desires? I’m learning that it’s a gradual process. And it will never be completed on earth. But as I grow closer to him, I’ll have more of a desire to do what he wills. 

I do have more questions, and I'll probably write another post on them sometime soon, but this book did clear up a lot of things for me. I feel like I'm getting closer to the answers. And I'm just going to keep searching until I find them. :-)