Identification ===> Justification?

Gentle reader, I have written before about the idea (controversial in theological circles some years back) of justification in Christ for eternal life resulting from identification with Christ in this life.  Yesterday in Sunday worship, the pastor referenced Matthew 10:32 to make a particular point in his sermon.  The point he made was solid, but I was thinking in a different direction altogether from what he used it for.  Here's the reference:

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."

Jesus here is sending out the 12 apostles for their preaching & healing tour, and giving them what amounts to the "pre-game pep talk" by the coach, last minute instructions, encouragements and all that.  It's also the passage where He goes on to say he has not come to bring peace but a sword, to divide families because He demands allegiance to Him above allegiance to family, culture, country, etc.  

It struck me, listening to this, that this is what Saint Paul meant by "identifying with Christ in His death, so that we may also identify with Him in His life eternal".  (loosely adapted from Romans 6, Galatians 2, Colossians 2-3.)

In seminary I studied the various theories of the Atonement (judicial, substitutionary, victorious, etc.), and studied some of the unifying themes of Saint Paul's theology, including the "in Christ" or "with Christ" theme.  The weaknesses of some of the Atonement concepts and the mystical "in Christ" idea all tickled at me, bothered me, until I read the book by N.T. Wright "Justification", which finally made it all clear to me and opened up the notion of identification with Christ as key to understanding our justification before God, and the balance between the free gift of saving faith, and our free will exercise of it.  It also helped me understand God's "identification with the poor", or as Catholic Social Teaching puts it: God's preferential option for the poor.

But in all that study, I never connected Matthew 10:32 ff with identification with Christ.  Yet in this passage, Jesus Himself both makes clear the simplicity of the idea and the difficulty of carrying it out for a lifetime.  In 2 Timothy 2:11-13, Saint Paul writes:

              "Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,

    we will also live with him;

if we endure,

    we will also reign with him.

If we disown him,

    he will also disown us;

 

if we are faithless,

    he remains faithful,

    for he cannot disown himself."

Never was the cost of that identification with Christ so great as it was for the early church.  They understood; they faced death day and night for that identification with Jesus.  We may yet come to understand, as holding to belief in Jesus and the authority of the Scriptures becomes increasingly outside of the mainstream in this country.  We may yet come to understand the parable of the seed and the sower in Matt. 13:1-9 in which some of what sprouts from the seed of the Gospel withers and fades away.  Identification with Christ is a marathon, not a sprint; if we endure, we will also reign with Him.  If we disown Him, He will disown us.  This life presages the next.

The Ethics of Church Involvement

As is often the case, something our pastor said in this morning's sermon caught my attention and set me to thinking.  I'm sure he would be pleased to hear that... until I tell him that I missed everything else he said after that point.  ;)  J/K!

He asked a pretty simple question, which had a far harder answer than I thought it should:

     "Why is it that you do the things you do for church involvement?  However it is that you volunteer: nursery, worship team, setup, serving communion, teaching, giving... why do you do it?"

I, um...
well, it's...
hang on now, I gotta think about this.

So I thought about it and came up with four main reasons:

1. Because I should
2. Because it's good for others
3. Because it's good for me
4. Because it's virtuous

The numbering is deliberate; that's the order of motivation for me.  And there are different ethical motives that sit behind these (at least according to the Ethics textbooks from which I teach occasionally at Upper Iowa University).

1. Deontological Ethics (a'la Immanuel Kant).  I'm driven by a sense of duty.  I serve and give because I should do.  Why?  Because God says so in the Scriptures.  In that sense it's a subset of Deontological Ethics: Divine Command Ethics.
2. Altruistic Consequentialism.  The benefit to others of my service outweighs the inconvenience of it for me.  It's derivative of Utilitarianism, which focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number, and is reminiscent of Mr. Spock on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."  I'm an introvert and the idea of mingling with others has very little appeal to me - it wouldn't ordinarily draw me out of the house on a Sunday morning.  But while I might be put out by serving and giving, these things produce good for others, so that calculus rules the day.
3. Individual Consequentialism.  There is benefit to me from giving: it teaches me to not depend on my own ability to get wealth, but to trust in God for what I need.  There is benefit to me from serving among others.  It stretches me and keeps me from both getting in a selfish rut, and from being a recluse.
4. Virtue Ethics (a'la Aristotle).  Giving of yourself, self-sacrifice, being generous... these are virtues common to mankind.  They are inherently good and morally right, so in doing them you align yourself with moral goodness.

After compiling this list, I first thought:  Well, that's not too bad.  There's many different motivations to my service and giving, not just "because I have to".  Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was one motivation missing.  I actually did remember something else that our pastor said today; he identified another motive that didn't make my list:  

     5. Because I'm full of gratitude and joy, and want to let it out.

When I realized that, I wondered aloud:  But, but, but... I'm a grateful person with a generally happy disposition!  Why didn't that motive make my list?

It's true, I am normally a person of gratitude, and most of the time, even under stress, have an upbeat outlook on life.  Those are both things I think of as hallmarks of my nature, along with a quick mind, a musical ear, big picture thinking, and introversion.

I'm still not sure I have a good answer, but it might be this:  I don't tend to express my gratitude to God & others, and my general happiness about life, in the church setting.  It tends to come out and be more visible at work.  And at play.  And being out and about, interacting with strangers like wait staff and retail clerks.  Maybe it's because at church everybody is grateful and happy (well, not really, but they SHOULD BE!)  ;)  You expect joy and a grateful spirit there, so I don't think I really contribute anything extra in those departments, but out in the world, I do.  Outside the confines of church, folks are beaten down, grumpy, frustrated, uncivil, worried, etc.  There some optimism and generosity can shine briefly into their lives and maybe bring a glimmer of hope.

I don't know...  that sounds good.  It may not be the whole reason, but... it's what I've got to offer today.