A Year of Living Biblically – the ABCs

By Neil Earle

Secular man tries to live by tenets of Bible – much hilarity ensues.

Two years ago my wife, Susan, was stranded at an airport when she picked a paperback from the rack titled “A Year of Living Biblically.” It was the mostly humorous account of a lapsed Jewish disciple’s attempt to follow the strict letter of the Torah for a whole year.

Living Biblically in 2015

New Year’s Resolutions are still in vogue. Here’s a second look at some selected texts we all know:

— Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5)

— Let everyone be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath (James 1:19)

— So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall (1 Corinthians 10:12)

— Do not judge, or you too shall be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged (Matthew 7:1-2)

— Let all things be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40)

— Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels (2 Timothy 2:24)

— I urge then first of all that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceable and quiet lives (1 Timothy 2:12)

— Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court or he may hand you over to the judge… (Matthew 5:25)

— Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)

— Do all things without complaining and arguing (Philippians 2:12)

Susan related how the author, A.J. Jacobs, found out he had to grow a beard so as to keep the commands to keep it clean, and that was the easiest part. Eating locusts was almost impossible so he partook of crickets as a near substitute. Stoning lawbreakers was definitely out of it so Jacobs threw dust specks at people acting rudely in lines, restaurants, etc.

The book had a serious point behind the inane set-up and it makes a good sermon title for us as we move into 2015.

You might think the New Testament with its New Covenant reinterpretations of the Law is easier to observe but hold on. Check the Box for further reference. With these caveats, here goes.

As pastors we live or die by acronyms so let’s see what the “A” in ABC is all about.

I. A = Attitude

A year of living Biblically has to start with the basics and why you should even bother with the attempt. Well, let’s jump into the Good News right away. Try Psalm 32 for example: “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are discovered. Blessed is the man whose sins the Lord does not count against him.”

My, my – what a great start for the year.

Your sins are forgiven. Yours and mine. This verse is so good (how good is it?) it’s quoted in the New Testament by a writer named St. Paul (Romans 4:7). God has cleared the deck for us. It is not that we in ourselves are righteous. It is that he imputes to our account (financial and legal models are in Paul’s mind here) the very righteousness of his obedient son Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe me believe the distinguished Bible teacher John Stott who says:

“If we gain Christ and are found in him then the righteousness we have is not our own but the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:9). That is why “in Christ” is Paul’s most characteristic phrase – found in one form or another – at least 144 times for good measure. And another Bible scholar, William Barclay adds this:

“Here again we have the root cleavage between Jewish legalism and Christian faith. The basic thought of the Jews was that a man must earn God’s favor. The basic thought of Christianity is that all a man can do is take God at his word and stake everything on the faith that his promises are true” (Romans: The Daily Study Bible, page 64).

It gets better. Listen to this:

“It is the supreme discovery of the Christian life that we do not need to torture ourselves with a losing battle to earn God’s love but rather need to accept in perfect trust the love which God offers to us. True, after that, any man of honor is under the life-long obligation to show himself worthy of that love. But he is no longer a criminal seeking to obey an impossible law; he is a lover offering his all to one who loved him when he did not deserve it.”

William Barclay: Greek expert and one of the best communicators of his generation.

Jesus is called “Christ our righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1: 30) and a Christian is one who has put on Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14). That perfect Christ-like clothing is what the well-dressed Christian will wear, this year and every year. So, dear friends, we boldly stride into 2015 knowing that God has forgiven us and will forgive us – his pardon is absolute and cannot be reneged (Romans 11:29).

With that bedrock assurance we begin our year of living biblically.

II. Biblical Values

See the Box. These are just ten commands relating mostly to the New Testament. It sketches an outline of how God wants his people to act and it has nothing to do with cutting beards or eating locusts. It is much tougher. It is an inner transformation that God is looking for. Christianity at its best is a heart religion and it aims at the reshaping and reworking of our corrupt desires that erupt from the heart, as Jesus said (Mark 7:20-23).

But notice the last point from the King James Version – “Do all things without murmuring and disputing.”

Is God kidding himself? We snide, rebellious, opinionated human beings who revel in and build on protest and rebellion...surely God doesn’t expect that of us? Well, the answer here is that Biblical perfection is a very good target to aim at. All these New Testament commands are like that. There are those Christian teachers and preachers who (following Martin Luther) say that God lays down certain paths for his people to follow, ordnances and commands that are impossible to adhere to in order to teach them to throw themselves on his sustaining power. The disciples protested that very way to Jesus on a point of Christian living (Matthew 19:26). But Jesus said such things were possible. He was the man who outlined perfection as the Christian task. “Be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Wow. What is Jesus trying to do to us there?

Thankfully good Christian teachers have given us a more full answer to Matthew 5:48. The careful teacher R.T. France says that the word in the Greek for “perfect,” is teleios: “Teleios is wider than moral perfection; it indicates ‘completeness,’ ‘wholeness’ (see Paul’s sense of it in Philippians 3:15), a life totally integrated to the will of God, and thus reflecting his character…It is an ideal set before all disciples, not a special status of those who claim to have achieved ‘sinless perfection’ in this life” (Matthew: Tyndale Commentary, pages 129-130).

Whew. Thank you R.T. France. That saves us a lot of stress. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is clarifying the ideal attitudes, procedures and prescriptions for his people to live by. He gives us an ideal, an attempt to live our lives in conformity with the character of God.

The Church – it was Jesus' idea.

III. C = Church Community

You knew it led to this. Christians are called and forgiven as individuals. But then they are placed in a group, a body, a community known as the Church of Jesus Christ.

We’ll talk more about this in the coming weeks especially when we cover Christian stewardship principles – supporting your local church. But it is enough to say here that we as “called-together people” (ekklesia in Greek) have a responsibility to God and Christ, to the worldwide Christian body, and to our local congregation. Paul always wrote to the Church of God but it was usually the church in a specific place. Corinth. Ephesus. Salonika. Philippi. And by extension in your home area wherever you hang your spiritual hat.

We have to live as representatives of the king and of the institution that points people to the Kingdom – the church. As a pastor friend of mine says, “people have to be careful when they disparage the Church for the Church is Jesus’ idea.” Some have abused and will abuse this churchly principle but generally speaking, 2000 years of history and even the lives of the great saints have shown that Christians function much better together as part of a church. We need each other.

People need prayers for healing – and the church announces those every week.

People are either dying or just being born – and the church keeps note of and keeps track of those dear souls.

People need a physical reminder of the reality of God about us and – within limits – the church and its special ceremonies meet that need, through the Lord’s Supper and baptism.

As a pastor once ruminated – we can’t bless ourselves, baptize ourselves, marry ourselves, ordain ourselves or bury ourselves. We need the church.

Okay. Enough said. These are good points to ruminate upon as we contemplate a year of living biblically.