In the Wednesday morning bible study we looked at something I labeled Spiritual Deterioration or Development. How does one grow or destroy the spiritual life? It’s not a typical Lutheran topic. In fact there are factions of Lutherans today who would say that it is not a necessary topic. It’s a quirk of Lutheran ministers that we are all looking for our Luther at Worms moment. Our chance to shout “Here I Stand” in the defense of the gospel. There is a greater demand for works righteousness scolds than the supply, so they often get made up. But for clarity’s sake the topic is out of the third article of the creed. The first is The Father and creation, the realm of academics and sensitive young men. The second article is Christ and Justification, the realm of the broken and he dead and the start of the spiritual life. The third article is the Holy Spirit and Sanctification, the realm of the Church Militant. The academics and the sensitive young men can ponder concepts and those more Luther than Luther can end the creed in the 2nd article and pretend history stopped in 1521. But preachers need to be able to teach. Especially questions like “How do I actually live this?”
The first general statement about the spiritual life is that there is no neutral gear. One is either in drive or in reverse. The cause of this is largely this fallen world. While one can actively turn their back on Christ in a variety of ways, the fallen world has many structures that will lead you away passively. The lack of a spiritual leader or shepherd is one. Moses goes up the Mount and when he comes down the camp is worshipping the golden calf. Worldly success the bible warns leads to trust in it over the providence of God. “It is easier for camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter eternal life (Luke 18:25).” And there are several things that you might think you have put your spiritual life in neutral, but in reality it is going backward: evil associations, shallowness, emptiness of life, lack of spiritual insight are but a few.
While there are many ways one can passively see the spiritual life slip away, the development of the Spiritual life is active. Unlike your justification which is the work of Christ alone, given to you by grace alone and received by faith alone, your Sanctification is something that you co-operate with the Holy Spirit in. Luther’s word picture of this comes in the catechism on Baptism. “The Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and the new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God is righteousness and purity forever.” And it is that catechism image that frames my answer to “How?”
How does one overcome temptation, sins and evil desires? Before venturing a simple answer a reminder is worthwhile. While the Roman church might hold up the saints as being perfect in this and John Wesley held out perfect sanctification, Lutherans have always held onto the phrase simultaneously sinner and saint. You are Holy right now because the Holy Spirit dwells in you. because Christ has washed you in his blood. You are a saint. And the fundamental act of every saint is repentance, the admission that they are a sinner. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit.” I tend to think of the Spiritual life more like baseball. If you hit .300 you are on your way to the Hall of Fame.
So, how does one overcome or at least stay above the Medoza line (.200)? It’s about spiritual maturity, putting away childish things. By attempting to live the Christian life we become more cognizant and aware of our weak spots. When we pass through the trial we can the recognize the path that lead us there. And when that path comes up again, and it will come up again, we can not walk it. I think this is what the Bible means when it talks about mortifying or killing the flesh (Romans 8:13, Col 3:5), Luther’s drowning the old Adam. We can become mature in the Spiritual life such that we know nothing good lies past certain decisions and we can put them away. But Spiritual Maturity is not all defense. As you put away childish things you also strive for Christlikeness (Eph 4:13). We can do this by imitation. Paul imitated Christ and urged the Corinthians to imitate him (1 Cor 11:1). We can do this by practicing the virtues like courage and love. For me, we know when these opportunities are before us. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “God has laid out in advance good works for us to walk in.” We might not always recognize Satan’s bad paths, but the good is usually immediately recognizable. It is just hard. Both for the immature because they might still be bound to the ways of the flesh and for the mature because they might recognize that path as the way to the cross. But this is the imitation of Christ and the saints.
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