ST528 - Christian Existential Ethic

Jeffrey Price ST528 Daily Worship The Christian Existential Ethic in the Presence of God
Introduction The Church, as Christs covenant community, who bows down before him as their King has been given the most magnificent gift in all of eternity, even beyond what has been given to the angels. Jesus Christ, through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension has procured for his covenant people the right to become adopted sons and daughters of the Living God. More than that, by gift of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit has chosen to tabernacle within the very hearts of his people. The very nature of this relationship and the binding of this covenant should make us all joyous. Jesus Christ, as prophet, priest and king, has given his life up for his people, so that they might live and not perish. That profound gift of life would be enough for us to respond in obedience and offer our lives daily in worship to him, but he has done even more than that. Christ, through the Holy Spirit, through His Word, through His community and through the outworking of our salvation, has given us a sanctifying call to worship. It is our daily privilege
to live in light of those gifts, and to live as a shining example to the world of what it means to embrace the gifts of faith, hope and love. Our daily, moment by moment worship is what should define our lives, and it is Gods strength, honor and glory that empower us to shine his light into the world of darkness. There, in the darkness in this semi-eschatological age, we experience the profound and everlasting life of Christ within us, and it is that abundant life that we exude into the lives of those around us. How shall we live in light of that gift and calling? This is what we will explore together, on our journey to understand by our minds, the world around us, and world within us the Christian existential ethic, in the presence of God. In order for us to unpack the Christian existential ethic we will examine it from the triperspectival approach beginning first with a personal existential ethic, second with a purposeful situational ethic, and third with a deontological normative ethic. These three
perspectives when integrated with one another form a rich and full Christian existential ethic for life. The fullness of this life is beyond compare and should be on display continually for the world to see in the daily walk of any believer. In light of the magnificence of life that has been given to the covenant community, through Jesus Christ, that community should live out the abundance of that life daily worship in the very real presence of God as a shining example to a world crying out for life. Existential Perspective Before we can integrate the three ethical perspectives together, we will first examine the existential perspective in broad terms. That is to say, that all three perspectives will be approached from a Christian theological point of view, however, each perspective is only a starting point towards looking at the whole. The starting point for the existential perspective is with the individual, or put another way, with a person. This is the most intimate place to begin, and the one that comes from the greatest place of knowledge because we are forced to live with ourselves every day. There is no escape and therefore we are equipped to examine this perspective most thoroughly. While it may appear on the surface that we are trapped, the existential perspective will be the most freeing of them all. Our freedom comes from the all expansive love of God, who because he first loved us, allows us to love others and ourselves. The mistake that the non-Christian makes is by beginning with the love of self, and allowing that to pervade all his thoughts so that even acts of love towards another are tainted with a false motivation. The acts of love from Christians begin with the love of God and are therefore motivated by something greater than oneself. We know the love of God, because it is deeply personal and has been communicated to us by the archperson in Jesus Christ. Since man is made in Gods image, and Jesus Christ, as the second
person of the trinity is God incarnated as man, then Jesus Christ is the essence of personhood. When we see the personhood of Christ, reflected in our image then we are confronted with the greatest reality of who we are and how deeply we are loved. In fact, as believers, Christians bear the image of God in a way that non-Christians cannot. The essence of that perfected image bearing comes in the covenant presence of God with his people, as he has chosen to tabernacle among us by the Sprit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. There are two basic ways that God makes his covenant presence known to us. The first is through the narrow definition of worship, which takes place as a community of believers comes together on the Lords Day. The second is through the broader definition of worship as the daily living, and the moment by moment experiences of the individual believer. These two paths will be examined separately, but please note that the narrow and broad definition of worship will be linked throughout this paper. Now, we worship as individuals, and as individuals our worship is with the person Jesus Christ. That is the essence of the existential perspective on ethics, our personal worship with our personal God. In the narrow sense, that personal worship takes place in the covenant community on the Sabbath day that is to be kept holy. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.1 That is when our personal worship concatenates together in a symphony of communal worship as one body worshiping our triune God as one. There, the Lord makes known his covenant presence in a way that is unseen in any other form of worship. It is a day that is kept holy, primarily, by a holy God who sets this day apart for his people. The analogy is akin to Israels personal God, setting himself within the tabernacle for Israel to offer their regular
1
Exodus 20:8-10
worship to him. The people of God come together, and God blesses their worship by manifesting his means of grace to them in a special and particular way, as the family of God. Here the Holy Spirit moves through the community, knitting the individual hearts together as one, as worship is offered to the Lord. However, God does not abandon his people, and as they go out into the world he promises to continue to be with them. It is that covenant presence that makes itself known to the individual believer, as God communes in the Holy of Holies of their hearts. Within the heart of the person lives the everlasting and personal God who maintains this bond of fellowship because of his great love for his people. There the focus is no longer on the many, but on the one true existential experience of living with God in your heart, just as your own presence is inescapable, so too is the presence of God when he makes his home within you. Living with the person of Jesus, not only in his image as true man, but with his very spirit dwelling within you makes every day and every moment a daily act of worship. This is worship in the broad sense. The believer should be acutely aware of this presence and with this presence be set free to live a life of ongoing and perpetual worship. In doing so, the believer takes the name of the Lord, not in vain2 but in exalted humility. As God consecrates his holy places with his presence, he also consecrates his holy people with his presence. When the believer stops trying to save himself, and realizes that power of the holy God has set him free and is setting him free in exalted humility, there the believer finds freedom and confidence to live out a consecrated life of daily worship before God. The inescapable prison of self has had the door opened by the jailer of our souls with the love of
Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Jesus Christ who calls us to life from death. Existential perspective helps us to remember these truths by continuously pointing our worship back to the personal God, living both in our community and in our very hearts. Situational Perspective While the existential perspective on the ethics of worship begins with a person, the situational perspective begins with a purpose. Another way of thinking about purpose is thinking about meaning or asking oneself the aged old question, Whats the meaning of life? There are obviously many competing answers to that question in a post-modern culture that continuously strips away meaning altering the meta-narrative or ignoring it completely. The mistake of so many is to offer up a completely meaningless answer or believe that the only purpose for living is based in the here and now with what is existentially meaningful at that moment. Those thoughts lead to a fleeting and wandering culture, devoid of any real soul. Without a teleological perspective, or a grand story to be a part of, our culture has no meaning, no purpose, no hope at all. That is a great tragedy, and one that cannot stand. However, there is a great reason to have hope but that hope can only be found in the Christian teleological perspective on the ethics of worship. Since the existential perspective is focused on love the situational perspective is focused on the hope that is set out before the people of faith, who having the eyes of [their] hearts enlightened, that [they] may know what is the hope to which he has called [them].3 There is a promise held out in the hope for Gods covenant
Ephesians 1:18
community that they would know, not only that he would not abandon them, but also know what joy lies before them, the riches of his glorious inheritance.4 As we have already seen, the complexity or immutability of God gives a rich and full reality from which we can examine the world. Not only do Gods covenant people continuously live in his loving presence, but God also exercises his lordship in hopeful control. What appears to be a loss of freedom is in fact, a source of tremendous two-fold liberty. First, the author of the universe who spoke creation, breathed life into the world, and continues to sustain existence has set man-kind into the world with a hopeful sense of purpose. He did not deistically or diabolically leave his creation behind without his sustaining power of control. That ensures man-kind the marvelous opportunity to freely become who they are created to be. Second, the intimacy of Gods relationship with his creation and the sustaining power which he freely gives ensures the trustworthiness of God. In all things there is purpose, in the good times and the bad, there is always purpose behind it all. That is a source of trust and freedom to know that the world is not careening out of control, but it is held within the hopeful, purposeful grasp of the creator. There is freedom in Gods teleological control, and that freedom manifests itself in a purposeful hope and trust. The covenant people of God join their hearts together when week after week they celebrate with communal worship. This is a time when Gods teleological principle is continuously laid before the people as both the goal and the object of their worship. The covenant community has been given a beautiful gift in the hope which is set out before it in a promise secured by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. In death, he took the communitys sin upon himself and in his resurrection he showed the power of life over death
4
Ephesians 1:18
hope over sin. When he ascended into heaven he promised his people not only life, but glorification to the exalted realms and he left behind his Spirit as a down payment and assurance of that glory to come. That hope must be continuously set before the world, so that those who believe would not forget and for those who do not yet believe would hear and have their eyes opened. That is worship with a purpose, with a deeply set focus on the goal of salvation. The only way this purpose comes to fruition is if the object of that worship is Jesus Christ. The existential person, Jesus of Nazareth, is also the situational object, The Christ, on which our teleos is hopefully focused. A worship that is focused in such a manner cannot happen without
the present lordship control of the Living God who sends his Spirit into the people and collectively draws their hearts to him. That is the essence of his benevolence to call life out of death and continuously keep the covenant community fixed upon the object of their worship Jesus the Christ. The teleological ethic of worship has obvious and profound impacts upon the way one lives daily. Man finally has the answer to the meaning of life, and that cannot be wasted on the fleeting moments of joylessness provided by a world gone mad with control issues. Purposeful, daily worship takes place every time the kingdom of God is brought into the here and now. That is to say, when we hold out hope in the face of adversity, or compassion in the pangs of pain, we remind the world of the great narrative being written before us. There is a God, who created the universe and he sent his son, Jesus Christ, into that world to secure a hope for his people. Those people live with a freedom founded on hope and fixed upon Jesus Christ for what
he has done and what he is doing in securing their salvation. One can only respond by saying, [I] shall have no other gods before me5, except the one who has saved me for a great purpose. The narrative of redemptive history is the clearest way to see Gods teleological purposes in the world today. When reflecting on human history, redemptive history shows the world where it has come from, where it is and where it is going. God has sustained his purposes and control throughout, from creation and yes even to the fall. Ultimately the aim of the story has been on redemption that was promised and secured by God himself. Our collective worship, in the narrow sense of the Lords Day, should tell this story over and over again. While our personal daily worship, in the broad sense of the everyday, should be to continuously live this story of redemption out. In the end, Gods consummated glory will be held out for the world to see clearly, what is now only seen dimly because it will be on full display in the person and purpose of Jesus the Christ. Normative Perspective We have now examined the existential or personal perspective and the situational or teleological perspective, and so our third and final ethical perspective on worship is the normative perspective. Rather than beginning with the person, or the purpose, the normative perspective begins with the proposition the law that governs truth. The non-Christian mistake here is not primarily love of self, or stripped away purpose, but the usurpation of authority over all things. The problem is not direct because few would actually admit to being their own supreme authority; however, rather than giving this authority to the one that has it, God alone, they ascribe this authority to something or someone else. False religion is born out of the desire
to strip God of his rightful position, and to elevate a proxy-god instead who can be changed,
5
Exodus 20:3
controlled and manipulated. The deontological challenge for the non-Christian comes when they realize their authority was an illusion, their self-made law was not normative and they are left naked and abandoned by everything, save one inescapable truth there is only one God that rules over all creation. His word alone governs us, and his word alone is the very essence of the law. Since Gods word is the essence of the law, then we have an assurance from God that his norms are not there to harm us. It was his word that spoke creation light from darkness, and his breath that gave us life. The covenant community has been given the gift of second life which begins in regeneration and leads to faith. Regeneration is the re-creative work of God whereby he breaths his Sprit into the believer and makes him a new creation in Christ Jesus. As a new creation, he is free from sin and given the power of faith which is necessary to submit to Gods authority. More than mere ascension to authority, faith has the power to lead to repentance and repentance to obedience of the law. God does not rule as a totalitarian dictator, awaiting the perfect opportunity to squash his people. Instead, he provides his people with not only the rule of life, but also the means by which to live that life in obedience. With the power of faith and repentance, the believer knows that God is for him, and not against him,6 which creates a strong desire for obedience. If that were all, while it would be a sufficient gift to someone unworthy of receiving such a gift, it would not be sufficient for total acceptance. More than that, In [his] love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.7 God covered over our inequity with righteousness of his Son, and by beauty of grace has made Christs obedience, our obedience. The beauty of Gods law is in both the perfection of the norms themselves, as oaks of righteousness, and in the holiness of
6 7
Romans 8:31 1 John 4: 10
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those who are in Christ and keep the law perfectly by faith.
That should stir such incredible
freedom to know that the onus of perfection is not on oneself, but on the One who is capable of such perfection. God is the standard bearer, and the standard keeper. The corporate worship of the church recognizes Gods authority to be the standard bearer by virtue of Scripture. Since Gods word is authoritative and revelatory of his norms, it is expected that the church would worship corporately according to those standards. The regulative principle is the guiding light to ensure that corporate worship takes place within those norms, but it also has the freedom to express those norms through the ordinary means of culture. Certain elements should be present in worship, such as prayer, confession, Scripture reading, singing and the sacraments, but God has given freedom to the church to express those in ways that fit with both the culture and their conscience. The covenant authority of God, along with his covenant document Scripture, should never be compromised during corporate worship and should always be primary to keep the peace among the church. The regulative principle does not ensure that all churches will look the same, sound the same and be the same, but it should ensure that they will all teach the same Scriptures so that they will remain part of the true church. The true church teaches with the authority of God, and teaches the normative truths of God to the community so that the community can worship truly. Daily worship is not reading Leviticus and attempting to keep every single normative truth presented within those pages. Daily worship is living under Gods authority, with faith that the law has been perfectly kept for you in Christ. That does not give one liberty to act out of accordance with the character of Christ, but it does give one liberty to know that when they do not act in accordance with the character of Christ they have been forgiven. It is far too easy to
11
shun those who stumble and fall into sin, without recognizing how deeply needed forgiveness is for oneself. The freedom to live in obedience to Gods law comes not from self-righteousness, but from Christ-righteousness. If you have Christ-righteousness, then you can live every moment with confidence that every success or failure is an opportunity for humility or exaltation. Live in accordance with who God has made you to be, for his authority was enough to make the world perfectly, and it is certainly enough to re-make you perfectly in the image of Jesus, The Christ. However, if you have self-righteousness, then you are in for a very long road ahead of constant fear, pain and anguish when you fail. The deontological ethic of worship frees you of those burdens and sets the law of God upon your heart forevermore, and that is a proposition that you cannot live without. Christian Existential Perspective The sphere has been turned around again and again, and has now been examined from every perspective. The tri-perspectival approach has shown three distinct starting points from which the whole sphere can be examined. That sphere is the ethical principles of worship from which we now stand back and look at in totality. The ethics of worship have not only been looked at from three points of view, but also within two distinctively defined areas corporate and individual worship. It is now time to integrate the parts of the whole together in what is
called the Christian Existential Ethic. At first glance it would appear that this view has already been studied at the beginning, but the distinction drawn here is the integrative focal point for life. The Christian Existential Ethic in the presence of God is the foundation for navigating the world and is essential to experiencing the abundance of life that God has offered his people. Van Til called this abundant life the ethic of self-realization, which at first blush would appear to be completely antithetical to Christianity. The self-realization of the non-Christian
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makes man, himself, the arbiter of truth and the king of his own domain. However, Van Til defines Christian self-realization in Gods terms, [a]s man approaches his ideal, the realization of the kingdom of God, the area of his activity naturally enlarges itself.8 This means that the more a man engages in kingdom building work, the more the realization of the kingdom of God comes and the more he himself becomes the man God made him to be. When man becomes truly the king of the universe the kingdom of God is realized, and when the kingdom of God is realized, God is glorified.9 Christian self-realization is kingdom of God realization and it is three-fold in power. First, kingdom of God realization is existential, [m]an was created so that he spontaneously served God[w]hatever God has placed within man by way of activity must also be regarded by him as a capacity to be developed.10 The motives of his heart should lead man to respond and act in accord with kingdom realization. Second, kingdom of God realization is situational as mans will must increase in momentum.11 The more man begins to trust his kingdom calling, the more rapidly he can live out his life in accordance with that calling. Third, kingdom of God realization is normative, [m]ans God is absolutely self-determinate; man will be God-like in the proportion that he becomes self-determining and self-determinate under God.12 The key to mans self-determination is that it is obedient self-determination under God. The three-fold power of kingdom realization is that God has created man to bring the kingdom of God into the world, and man can only do that with an ethic of self-realization.
8 9
Van Til 1974, 46 Van Til 1974, 45 10 Van Til 1974, 45 11 Van Til 1974, 46 12 Van Til 1974, 45-46
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The essence of an ethic of self-realization is the Christian Existential Ethic of worship. The underpinnings of this ethic are the three theological virtues faith, hope and love. Each of these three virtues is tied to one of the perspectives we have already examined, so it should be no surprise that together they would undergird the Christian Existential Ethic. The normative perspective teaches the faithful truth that God is the chief norm, while the situational perspective teaches the hopeful reality that God is the chief fact. Finally, the existential perspective teaches the loving beauty that God is the chief person. All three are essential for understanding and for living out the Christian Existential Ethic, but with Paul I say, So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.13 God as the chief person, in whose image we are made, calls the Christian to live a life marked by love. It is Gods love by which salvation comes into the world, and it is by Gods love that the kingdom is realized. Kingdom of God realization takes place in the daily moments of the everyday kings and queens of the promise. Motivated by Gods love for his people, spurred on by hopeful trust in his promise and with faithful obedience to his word, these kings and queens change the world. Their lives have been transformed by Gods kingdom coming to bear in their hearts, and that transformation begins a process by which their self-realization takes the kingdom into the world. The Christian Existential Ethic is one of amazing power, to do amazing things, in an amazing world, and God has given his covenant community the freedom to be amazing. The key to living life abundantly is embracing this reality and tasting the marrow of the world. Conclusion The consummated kingdom of God has already come, and he has already called his people to take part in this kingdom. The promise is held out for those that have already tasted it
13
1 Corinthians 13:13
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now, and who will taste it more abundantly in the future. The already and not yet has been replaced by the already and more to come. That is a joy-filled promise of present and future glory. The salvation of Gods people has already been secured by Jesus The Christ, and as he was raised to be seated at the right hand of the Father, he promised the exaltation of his people along with him. The exalted sons and daughters of the living God, may and do experience hardship, pain and turmoil in this age. And yet, even in the midst of that pain and suffering, there is always reason for hope, and more than hope there is reason for joy. God does not keep his people in the world as a punishment for wrong doing, or as a sadistic joke. Gods people are in this world to bring glory to his name by tasting all the wonders of the world, and bringing the kingdom of God to bear in the four corners of the earth. That is not a call for timid living, but one for sharing in the joys and pains of a life extraordinary. Because the living God has chosen to make his home in the heart of his people, they are never abandoned, never forsaken, and most importantly never far from the loving embrace of their savior. The realization of these truths should be a source of great power and triumph towards a self-realization that God wants his people to live. The Christian Existential Ethic in the presence of God is not a call to move away from who you are, but a call to remember who you already are and to embrace it. In Christ, every moment is an opportunity for you, not to live as Christ, but for Christ to live as you changing the world around you and shining the light of truth out into the darkness. Be who you are in Christ, and embrace the extraordinary life that is inches from your grasp.
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Bibliography
Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011. Bultmann, Rudolf. "Demythologizing in Outline." Kerygma and Myth. Bultmann, Rudolf. "New Testament and Mythology." Kerygma and Myth. Frame, John M. Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1994. Frame, John M. "Greeks Bearing Gifts." History of Philosophy and Christian Thought Syllabus, 2004. . The Doctrine of the Chistrian Life. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing Company, 2008. . The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1987. Kaufmann, Walter. Existentialism from Doestoevsky to Sartre. New York: Penguin Group, 1975. Kierkegaard, Soren. "Is There Such a Thing as a Teleological Suspension of the Ethical?" Church and the World Lectures by W. Andrew Hoffecker, Ph.D, 2003. Murray, John. Principles of Conduct: Aspects of Biblical Ethics. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957. Stott, John. "Romans: Gods Good News for the World." InterVarsity Press, 1994. Til, Cornelius Van. In Defense of the Faith. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1978. Waltke, Bruce K. An Old Testament Theology: An exegetical, canonical, and thematic approach. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007. Warfiled, BB. The Person and Work of Christ. Philedelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1970. Wilberforce, William. Real Christianity. Ventura: Regal Books, 2006.

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Jeffrey Price ST528 Daily Worship The Christian Existential Ethic in the Presence of God

Romans 8:31 1 John 4: 10

That should stir such incredible

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