The Compleat Christian

Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

One of the most controversial, yet valuable, scriptures for us to memorize is the one which I read earlier from the fifth chapter of Romans. In this scripture Paul boldly asserts that we are justified (made presentable to God, that is) by grace. When we accept this, we deny any possibility that we can by any means earn our way to heaven. When we accept the concept of justification by grace we deny that our good works, our good looks, our accomplishments, our education, or even that the faith of our fathers and mothers or children will make us acceptable for salvation. Yet, even after Paul has said this, he makes it very clear that there is a very definite set of values or virtues that a true disciple should purposefully cultivate and visibly demonstrate in his or her life.

The tension between these two demands has always kept the church a bit off-balance, a bit uncertain of where to focus its energies. Because of this tension there has always been the debate as to which the church should spend more time on: evangelism or social action? Or, as one seminary professor has written, "justification suggests that our lives are given to us as a gift, whereas the virtues of the Christian life seem to imply that the moral life should be construed as an achievement."

Perhaps what the apostle was urging the fledgling church at Rome to think about was transforming themselves into compleat Christians. And when I say "compleat," I'm spelling it in the way you see it printed in the bulletin: C-O-M-P-L-E-A-T, which is an old variant on the word as we know it. While both words are spelled a little differently, the differences of meaning between the two are significant. Whereas complete-ness in the modern sense and spelling applies mainly to things and ideas, complete-ness in the older sense of the word applies more specifically to persons. It refers to "highly skilled, accomplished" endeavors aimed towards "a particular art or pursuit."

Being a compleat Christian, for Paul, meant being able to accept the gift of justification, and then respond to God's grace with such faith that God is in complete control of the universe that the Christian is moved to hope, suffer, endure and build a character which will reflect that joy. Such an attitude really involves the whole person in commitment to faith in Jesus Christ.

One theologian has suggested that a person becomes fully engaged in the life of Christ by adopting a theology of head, heart, hands, and feet. Our conversion, the realization of our justification by faith through grace, must involve our head, hands, heart, and feet. Paul called for this same totality of involvement, this integrated compleatness when he spoke of the need to develop hope, suffering, endurance and character.

From time to time we should consider how each of these qualities, and each part of the body, can work together for faithfulness. Issues which assault our head, our understanding, test the mettle of our character. Questions that pierce our heart penetrate to the very roots of our reasons for hopefulness. Putting our hands to work in service to our faith entails suffering. Placing one stubborn foot in front of another, continuing on despite obstacles and opinions, takes endurance. In such a theology compleat Christians can act out their faith without confusing the gift of grace with the works of the individual.

Nevertheless, the church, today, often is reluctant to talk about "virtues" when it refers to the Christian life. Not very many churches seem to deal with such things as temperance, justice, wisdom, courage and piety and what kind of demands they make on us at the close of this 20th century. We often tend to think of virtues as the concerns of quaint religious sects or the relics of a bygone day -- certainly not for busy, active men and women of faith going toe-to-toe with the everyday world. But a mature faith cannot happen until in both an individual and communal sense one first risks encountering the truth -- the truth about oneself, the truth about others, the truth about God. Examined in that light, how do we measure up to Paul's understanding of a truly virtuous, compleat Christian?

Do you have hope? Hope is probably the most uniquely Christian of all the four virtues. We hope because we are part of a community of hope, living on the Holy Spirit. Christian hopefulness is rooted in a belief that there is purposeful movement in history towards a future filled with meaning. Without this sense of hope we become little more than momentary globs of protoplasm on a mindless, soulless shell of existence.

I am reminded of a School Superintendent I knew out in Iowa. Ramon was a very intelligent man with a wonderful family, a member of my church. One Sunday, after I had preached a sermon where I had mentioned the topic of hope, he stopped me after church and said that he had never thought that there was room in the Christian faith for such a thing as "hope." After all, he said, if you really have faith you shouldn't have to hope at all. His concept of hope was that it was something that a person had if he or she didn't have the complete assurance that something would actually take place. And, if a Christian had assurance of salvation he or she didn't have to hope for it.

Ramon's concept of hope put limits upon it. For him salvation was either accomplished or it wasn't. For him there was little possibility for flux and change and growth in the Spirit of a God who walks with us and loves us even in the midst of our failures, weaknesses, and disappointments. As Christians we can talk about hope because our relationship with God is fluid and moving.

I wish Ramon had understood this. For I think it might have helped him survive a embarrassing failure that took place soon after I left that parish. In stead, and in spite of his many successes, in spite of his wonderful family and wonderful job, in a moment of despair and without hope, he committed suicide.

How, important it is, then, for us to hope. For hope gives us purpose and meaning in our existence.

But, then, there is suffering. Do you suffer for Christ's sake? Once again, it is in our expectation of salvation that suffering finds its meaning. And Christian suffering doesn't mean having to suffer through another boring meeting, or your daily gym work-out. Nor is suffering even physical or emotional deprivation. Christian suffering is not about learning to take on additional burdens or problems so much as it is about learning to give up the right to indulge in certain human weaknesses. When we agree to participate in Christ's suffering, that means we forfeit the urge to "get even," take revenge, harbor malicious thoughts or speak vicious words. Shouldering our own cross means returning intentional wounding with love and forgiveness, even as Christ did.

The Cheyenne talk about "The Seven Teaching Arrows." They call them "arrows" because these are pointedly important, but painfully suffering lessons taught by the four directions (North, South, East, West) plus Mother Earth and Father Sky. The seventh "teaching arrow," the Cheyenne believe, comes from the bow of God, the "One Spirit" who holds all things together.

For example, if you fall out of a tree, your body is being pierced by the teaching arrow that comes from Mother Earth. The suffering caused by that teaching arrow is teaching you about gravity, or as the Cheyenne would put it, you can feel Mother Earth "turn an arrow in us." It is a teaching arrow that hurts, but one that teaches about ourselves -- the very fact that we fell testifies we weren't recognizing or respecting the tree but were preoccupied with ourselves. Most likely we were showing off how high we could climb, proudly doing something beyond the limits of our body.

Or, do you have endurance? Endurance might also be called the virtue of fortitude. Or even more simply, guts. Far from being a "passive, roll-over, be-stepped-on, "hang in there," patient attitude towards adversity, Christian endurance is courage. I don't think anyone would argue that Paul's commitment to preaching the good news despite being beaten, ridiculed, jailed and shipwrecked was a passive response to adversity. It was courage and perseverance of the highest degree. As he participated in Christ's suffering and remained immersed in the hope of the approaching glory of God, Paul did not swear vendettas and seek revenge against those who abused and rejected him. Christian endurance meant Paul merely continued to preach. He preached in jail. He returned to those who rejected him to try again. He wrote letters again and again to some of the most difficult and argumentive churches ever to bear the name of Christ. Christian endurance means sticking by our faith, sticking to our grace and demonstrating our faithfulness even when the odds are overwhelming.

Consider the story of an elderly gentleman who astounded everyone by his cheerfulness in the face of physical ailments, family troubles, and deferred pleasures. When asked the secret of his cheerful disposition, he replied: "Well, you see, it is like this. The Bible says often, 'And it shall come to pass.' Never does it say 'It came to stay.'"

Or, do you have a recognizably Christian character? There are plenty of unique "characters," both inside and outside the church. Often these are individuals so concerned with being recognized by some quirky habits or trademark attitudes that they spend most of their energy trying to polish up that essentially artificial image. That is not Christian character -- but caricature.

Henry David Thoreau once gave this indication of what was necessary to get down "to the bottom" of things: "Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion...till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality...a place where you might found a wall or a state."

Paul puts character at the end of his list of virtues because it is what results when the Christian succeeds in integrating these other virtues into a consistently faithful Spirit-filled whole. Only when we are such a fully integrated individual do we share in the integrity of Christ.

If all this seems like an impossible goal to achieve...you're right! That is why Paul circles back around to hope at the conclusion of his list of virtues. With trust in the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit, and the assurance of our justification by faith, Christians should be filled with the hope that our lives will come to reflect God's glory.

Amen.