Made for glory (to give glory)

I would say we have lost our sense of the heroic in the West. Today, philosophy insists on the death of the transcendent, which means, the death of transcendent values. If we are merely an accidental concoction of atoms and protein chains, how can there be heroism in us? There can't be. This thinking evaporates the idea that somebody can be heroic. And classical psychology tell us that almost everything we do that is grand or noble is the result of suppressed desires. The Freudians suggest Leonardo da Vinci was so busy with inventions, painting and political life because of his suppressed homosexuality. Behaviorism reduces everything to some kind of quest for a reward. Behaviorists might even say that Mother Theresa wasn't truly altruistic; she didn't really care for the people of the slums, she did it for some sense of wholeness, gratification or significance. The economists say we do everything in hope of a reward. In the West, even if you do something for free, you may be thinking that maybe somebody will do something in return. There is some truth to all of these, that's what makes it so dangerous. Every sacrifice can be explained away by cynicism.

Of course, in the West, we still have our heroes, but they're one dimensional. We have mighty men, kicking balls through posts, bowlings cricket balls at great speeds, scoring centuries, and so forth. But we must take care not to look too closely, because when they're done bowling, and kicking and batting, they have no more idea of how to live then we do! They're not role models, except for maybe if you're looking to model them as professional sportsman, but not how to live life. We also have mighty men who play the guitar, or who act or dance- whatever the case may be. We have heroes, but they are not people whose lives we want to model. This is heroism in the West today.

I would like to suggest that the Bible asserts that heroism is important. In the NT alone, the command to imitate somebody is given 28 times, 11 of which are to imitate God the Father or God the Son. We are urged 17 times to imitate, or model ourselves after some human, most often the apostle Paul. The Bible wants to recapture the idea that there are heroes. There is something to imitate, a vision of excellence and maturity. It captures the imagination and makes us say 'I want to be like that'. There are role models who induce admiration and inspiration somehow.

Sometimes we can think or act as if being a Christian is a matter of keeping certain rules- doing certain things and not doing other things. But the Christian life is vastly more than what you do not do.

It is very easy to think, 'if I do certain things, I will please God and He will be on my side. If I just keep the rules and follow them, then I'm living the Christian life'. This, essentially, is an alternate form of legalism: we may not be saved by keeping the law, but we do keep God's favour by observing the law. How can we get away from this idea?

To have heroes. To have a vision of greatness and grandeur and to let these images of greatness enter our minds. Think about this. Do you have a hero? We should choose wisely. Who's your hero, besides King Jesus? In important ways, how can you model yourself after this person?

This idea of heroism helps us form our identity as Christians because it addresses a problem we neglect in the Christian life: the problem of shame. The problem of shame is different from the problem of guilt, because we can be ashamed of things for which there is no guilt. For example, what if a boy lacks dignity and excellence because of blemishes on the face or a squeaky voice? You can be ashamed of that, even if there is no sin involved. The problem of shame. Shame comes from a lack of heroism, and the cure is to be great, excellent and grand.

In the Western church, the biggest problem is the violation of moral rules. We're stuck in the realm of rules and morals. We say, rightly, that Christ solves the problem of our guilt and violation of the moral law. This is absolutely true! And we say the cure for the problem of guilt, by violating the law, is gained by the righteousness won for us by the work of Christ through faith. But this is not all the Bible says: Romans 3:23, 'All have sinned' = our violation of the moral law which makes us guilty. We need righteousness. 'All have fallen short' = the problem of not being great. We fall short of the glory of God, as we also see in Hebrews 2:8 and following. We were meant to rule the world (Psalm 8) for God, and if we do not, we have fallen short of glory. We are not just meant to be good, we are also meant to be glorious. We have fallen short of that and so have a sense of shame.

We violate God's standards and the result is guilt, and the problem is solved graciously by the righteousness of Christ. The second problem is a lack of glory, and this is solved not by Jesus dying for our sins, but by Jesus giving us glory. How do we get glory? The solution is two fold: we are accepted, we belong, we are loved. If you are inept in sports, but somebody is willing to say, 'I'll take him on my team', that removes the shame of not being picked on a sports team. Hebrews 2 tells us Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers; He calls us into His family, and gives us His creation to govern. Second, we possess greatness by being made into the likeness of Jesus and by faithfully governing the world for Him. We should look to Jesus as our hero, and to fellow Christians as our heroes to get a vision of moral excellence. The Christian life isn't just following rules, it is greatness. It is having a vision that transcends. It is having a concept of ruling the world for God, of accomplishing great things, of being made noble and virtuous. We look to fellow Christians for this, but also much more to the Lord.

How can we be like the Lord? He can be your hero/model, not in His being, eternal power or sacrifice for sins, but in his manner with us and the world. We can imitate his willingness to accept us, His boldness, His style, His courage. Jesus had a way of life that is exciting. He never shirked at difficult questions. He was willing to fight the strong, identify with the weak. He had friends who were rich and poor, slave and free, upper class, outcasts. Jesus had greatness.

I'm meditating on this because it seems as though this is a portion of Christianity that is almost ignored in the Western church. We're so stuck on rules, and that Jesus saves us from violation from the rules. And this is true, in fact, it is the most important thing, but it is not the only important thing. It is important to realise that we were created for glory and that Jesus leads us to glory. We both have a need and desire for that. There are consequences for lacking glory- such as shame- and the cure is in Christ Jesus.