Just before I walked into the pulpit of a large Midwestern church, I was introduced to a distinguished looking gentleman who was described as the most spiritual man in the church. Quite frankly, he looked pretty spiritual to me.
As I gave the invitation at the end of my sermon, the first ones to the
communion rail requesting prayer were the "most spiritual man in the
church" and his wife. Immediately the wife leaned across the rail and
whispered, "You've got to pray for me; I'm carrying a horrible secret."
I prayed for her as best I knew how. As she returned to her pew, her husband,
the most spiritual man in the church, remained behind. He leaned across
the rail and whispered: "You've got to pray for me; I'm her secret.
I'm an alcoholic and you've got to pray that I get will power." In
a heartbeat I said to him, "Dear brother, you don't need will power,
you need the Holy Spirit!" I then explained to him some principles
of basic spirituality that are so easily forgotten. Here is essentially
what I said.
The Law of Sin and Death
Romans 8:1-2 insists that "there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Quite simply, the
law of sin and death is the law without the Spirit, without the power or
inclination to obey it. Read straight through the Bible and you'll see that
one sin keeps occurring and reoccurring throughout—self-reliance. Will
power has to do with self-reliance. We need to get beyond the law that is
self-defeating. Law, in and of itself, brings condemnation. When we sin,
repent, and sin again under law we are incapable of believing in the kind
of good God who would hear such feeble repentance. Our sin is simply compounded.
Just try to stop sinning by trying to stop sinning. Left to your own resources,
you will be consumed by your sin. Any idea how big a bottle is for an alcoholic?
Just try to take your eyes off temptation by trying to take your eyes off
temptation. Again, without help from the Holy Spirit, we tend to wallow,
we flop around in our own muck.
How many times have met well-meaning Christians whose spirituality is seemingly
two or three steps forward and then two or three steps back. I've known
Christians whose spirituality has been grunt and groan for 30 years—what
Walter Walker calls the "ditch to ditch" theology. There is a
better way.
The Law of the Spirit of Life
The law of the Spirit of life is the same law as the law of sin and death.
Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
The law of the Spirit of life is the law now empowered by the Spirit so
that we have both the power and the inclination to obey it. It is no longer
a burden, but a reminder of the consequences of sin. It is the needle that
pulls the thread of the Spirit. The law of the Spirit of life is grace—now
there's a word. Under grace, when we sin, repent, and sin again we are still
capable of believing in the kind of a good God who would hear even our feeble
repentance. Every time we repent and are willing for God to take from us
that which causes separation, and then renew our faith and trust in Jesus
Christ, it is a fresh start, a new beginning. Note! I did not say
every time we are willing to give our sin to God. If we could give our sin
to God we would not need God. Will power would suffice. Grace says that
God must take it from us and empower us, so that the next time we are tempted
our first inclination would be to resist it. Grace says that genuine repentance
and faith leads to a disposition of the mind and heart that makes it easier
to obey God than to disobey. Most of us do not want to sin. We sin out of
habit. It happens to be the right time of the week or the month. But, there
is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. We become new. In Christ Jesus we become
righteousness-prone. There is a theology for this. Let's look at it briefly.
High Pressure, Low Pressure
Sometimes theology can best be taught by analogy. The parables of Jesus
set a precedent for that. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for wind
is ruach, translated in the Greek by the word pneuma, or spirit.
Spirit translates as wind. That is no accidental metaphor. Most know that
wind moves from high pressure to low pressure—the point of least resistance.
The same thing is true for spirit. Spirit moves from high pressure to low
pressure—the point of least resistance.
Ephesians 2:8 states that "by grace you have been saved through faith."
Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit wooing us from the time of conception,
preventing us from moving so far from the Way that when we finally understand
the claims of the gospel upon our lives the Spirit guarantees our freedom
to say yes. Faith is what I call the "I give up." I give up on
my own righteousness and place my faith and trust in the righteousness of
Jesus Christ—low pressure. One does not have to convince wind to move
from high pressure to low pressure, that is what wind does. Neither does
one have to convince the Holy Spirit to move from high pressure to low pressure,
that is what the Spirit does. Again, spirituality is not grunt and groan;
it is repent and believe. Repentance and faith create low pressure so that
the Spirit of God moves to the very ground of our being, granting us both
the power and the inclination to obey. Once God has taken from us the condemnation
(our propensity to sin), once God has refreshed and renewed, the law of
the Spirit of life sustains us so that we can anticipate victory over those
things that would attempt to swallow us.
Put It to the Test
As my friend, the most spiritual man in the church, listened to all of
this I could see some hope beginning to dawn. I challenged him to put it
to the test. I asked him, "As far as you know your own heart, are you
willing to renew your faith and trust in Jesus Christ (low pressure) and
act upon the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to give you both the power
and the inclination to obey God, so that the next time you are tempted to
take a drink your first inclination will be to resist it"? He responded
immediately, "With all my heart!" I then prayed, "God, move
to this low pressure. Baptize my friend with your Holy Spirit. Take his
eyes off the problem that is consuming him and place them firmly on Jesus.
By your grace set him free from the law of sin and death. Give him a new
heart filled with a new hope that anticipates a new beginning." Through
glistening eyes, I saw the man begin to change, as I sensed the Spirit of
God doing a new thing. I am convinced that he was baptized by the Holy Spirit.
My friend then returned to his pew. His wife later told me that she hardly recognized him. There was a brief period when temptation led to setback, but he did not despair. He did not have to go back to the cross and start over; he was still able to believe in a good God and simply renew his repentance and faith until, by the Spirit, he was a conqueror. The last real battle was several years ago. He's been sober ever since.
Robert G. Tuttle Jr. is the E. Stanley Jones professor of Evangelism at Garret-Evangelical Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. He is a contributing editor to Good News magazine and, most recently, the author of Sanctity Without Starch: A Layperson's Guide to Wesleyan Theology of Grace (Bristol).
This article was published in Good News magazine (November/December 1993).