In Chapter 12 of The Cross of Christ, Stott writes, "To live under the cross means that every aspect of the Christian community's life is shaped and colored by it. The cross not only elicits our worship ... it also directs our conduct in relation to others, including our enemies. We are to 'be imitators of God ... as dearly loved children' and to 'live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us...' (Eph.5:1-2) More than that, we are to exhibit in our relationships that combination of love and justice which characterized the wisdom of God in the cross."
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"Loving Our Enemies"
If our peace-making is to be modeled on our heavenly Father's ... we shall conclude at once that it is quite different from appeasement. For the peace which God secures is never cheap peace, but always costly. ...we may have to bear the embarrassment of reproving or rebuking the other person, and thereby risk forfeiting his or her friendship. Although the followers of Jesus never have the right to refuse forgiveness, let alone take revenge, we are not permitted to cheapen forgiveness by offering it prematurely when there has been no repentance. 'If your brother sins,' Jesus said, 'rebuke him', and only then 'if he repents, forgive him.' (Luke 17:3)
The incentive to peace-making is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peace-making exhibits the love and justice - and so the pain - of the cross.
Turning from social relationships in general to family life in particular, Christian parents will want their attitude to their children to be marked by the cross. Love is the indispensable atmosphere within which children grow into emotional maturity. Yet this is not the soft, unprincipled love which spoils the children, but the 'holy love' which seeks their highest welfare, whatever the cost. Indeed, since the very concept of human fatherhood is derived from the eternal fatherhood of God (Eph.3:14-15), Christian parents will naturally model their love on his. Consequently, true parental love does not eliminate discipline, since 'the Lord disciplines those whom he loves'. Indeed, it is when God disciplines us that he is treating us as his sons and daughters. If he did not discipline us, it might show us to be his illegitimate, not his authentic, children (Heb.12:5-8)...
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Rom.13:1-5)...
God overcame our evil by justifying us only because he first condemned it in Christ, and by redeeming us only because he first paid the ransom-price. He did not overcome evil by refusing to punish it, but by accepting the punishment himself. At the cross human evil was both punished and overcome, and God's mercy and justice were both satisfied.
[Challies' review, Chapter 12]
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