skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Section 1: Freedom from the Bonds of Sin
Basic Considerations of True Spiritulity
Chapter One - The Law and the Law of Love
Schaeffer begins the book by enforcing the fact that one cannot live the Christian life or experience the healing Christ brings without being a Christian.
"The question before us is what the Christian Life, true spirituality, really is, and how it may be lived in a 20th century setting." Page 199
"The first point which we must make is that it is impossible even to begin living the Christian life, or to know anything of true spirituality, before one is a Christian." Page 199
"The only way to become a Christian is ... by accepting Christ as Savior. ... This is true for all men, everywhere, through all space and all time." Page 199
"The reason for this is that all men are separated from God because of their true moral guilt." Page 199
"It is the infinite value of the finished work of Christ, the second person of the Trinity, upon the cross, plus nothing, that is the sole basis for the removal of our guilt." Page 200
"Just as the only basis for the removal of guilt is the finished work of Christ upon the cross in history, plus nothing, so the only instrument for accepting the finished work of Christ upon the cross is faith." Page 200
"It [faith] is believing the specific promises of God, no longer turning our back on them, no longer calling God a liar, but raising the empty hands of faith and accepting the finished work of Christ as it was fulfilled in history upon the cross." Page 200
I am going to attempt to blog through Schaeffer's True Spirituality by posting quotes from the book I have already typed and maybe mixing in some additional thoughts. It will be seen if I have the discipline to carry this out. Hopefully by going through my notes, Schaeffer's argument will be reinforced in my head once again. The page numbers will correspond to True Spirituality in the Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer Volume 3.
True Spirituality
How to Live for Jesus Moment by Moment
Francis Schaeffer
Preface
Schaeffer went through a spiritual crisis in the early 50s. He explains this on page 196
“I faced a spiritual crisis…. I had become a Christian from agnosticism many years ago. After that I had become a pastor for 10 years in the United States, and then for several years my wife Edith and I had been working in Europe. During this time [1948-1951] I felt a strong burden to stand for the historical Christian position, for the purity of the visible church. Gradually, however, a problem came to me - the problem of reality. This has two parts: first, it seemed to me that among many of those who held the Orthodox position, one saw little reality of the things the Bible so clearly says should be the result of Christianity. Second, it gradually grew on me that my reality was less than it had been in the early days after I had become a Christian. I realized that in honesty I had to go back and rethink my whole position.
...
"As I rethought my reasons for being a Christian, I saw again that there were totally sufficient reasons to know that the infinite-personal God does exist and that Christianity is true." Page 196
It was out of these struggles that True Spirituality was written. His determination to live differently as a result of his spiritual crisis was also the basis for his ministry in Switzerland (L'Abri).
One of the things that turned me on to Schaeffer was his consideration that Christians are to live in such a way so as to show forth the existence and character of God. This thought runs throughout True Spirituality. Here is a quote from The Letters of Francis Schaeffer that is very straight forward on this point.
"Increasingly I believe that after we are saved we have only one calling, and that is to show forth the existence and the character of God. Since God is love and God is holy, it is our calling to act in such a way as to demonstrate the existence of God - in other words, to be and to act in such a way as to show forth his love and his Holiness simultaneously. Further, I believe that the failure to show forth either of these is equally a perversion. Of course, in one's own strength it is only possible to show forth either love or holiness. But to show forth the holiness and love of God simultaneously requires much more. It requires a moment by moment work of the Holy Spirit in a very practical way. It has become my conclusion... that there is something doctrinally wrong with that branch of [extreme] fundamentalism.... This wing of “fundamentalism” not only failed to show forth the love of God, but actually considered mentioning the love of God in itself to be a heresy.... I believe, however, they are a heresy in their own way, in reference to the love of God, just as modernism is a heresy in its own way in regard to the holiness of God.” The Letters of Francis Schaeffer, Edited by Lane Dennis, Page 71
This thought really resonates with me. As I was being converted, I became so certain of truth (biblical, historic, reformation truth) that I threw it down like a gauntlet. I think immature people are prone to this. I now see the abiding principle as we deal with folks is to be truth with love. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. This includes the believer as well as the unbeliever. The one who presumes upon Christ and the one who is proudly skeptical. How can we love and serve people? Eventually we love and serve our fellow man by showing them their utter lostness and hopelessness. Then, by God's grace, when they understand their need for a Savior, we point them to Jesus Christ. But, all of this must take place within the context of a loving relationship.
Schaeffer has much to say on this front and we will hopefully see more later.
