“The important thing after being born again spiritually is to live.” That’s a quote from someone who, forty-five years ago, was a cornerstone for Christian thought in America.
I’ve been reading Francis Schaeffer’s book Whatever Happened to the Human Race? The chapter titles pretty much tell the story: The Abortion of the Human Race-The Slaughter of the Innocents- Death by Someone’s Choice-The Basis for Human Dignity- Truth and History- Our Personal Response and Social Action. The book, written in 1979, was prophetic at the very least. Schaeffer was unique in his ‘cultural perspective.’ How to live successfully, personally and culturally was his strong suit.
Originally a pastor in St. Louis, he and his wife later moved to Switzerland. His two most successful books were The Christian Manifesto and another titled How Should We Then Live? Each book is an apologetic of the Christian Faith. In the late 1970’s, if you did not own a copy of his Christian Manifesto you were suspiciously looked at as unfaithful. (Just kidding) Being scholarly, Schaeffer’s writings are not everyone’s cup of tea, but if given a cool, rainy day and lots of time to kill, I’d at least encourage giving it a try. Even if you don’t get all the way through his book, before you notice, you’ll find yourself thinking much more seriously than usual.
Francis believed that “modern man’s problem is not getting to the stars; it is the loss of his humanity.” In his books, you read along and come up on the next sentence and think to yourself, “Please, I can’t take another heavy thought right now!” They just seem to come like waves on the beach, one right after another. But, when that happens, I just lay the book down and wait for another rainy day to try and force more serious reasoning into my wee brain.
According to Schaeffer: “True Christian life, true spirituality, does not mean just that we have been born again. It must begin there, but it means much more than that. It does not mean only that we are going to be in heaven. It does mean that, but it means much more than that. The true Christian life, true spirituality in the present life, means more than being justified and knowing that I am going to heaven… Our desire must be for a deeper life…it is positive; a positive inward reality, and then positive in outward results. It is not just that we are to be dead to certain things, but we are to love God, we are to be alive to Him, in this present moment in history…anything less than this is trifling with God – trifling with Him who created the world, and trifling also with Him who died on the cross.”
I hope we all think the Christian life should be more than just getting born again and waiting around 80 years to die. It should be more interesting and entertaining than that. I hope you have a Hope for something profound in between the born again and the dying.
Schaeffer: “The Christian life never ends on a negative. There is a negative because man is a rebel. But it doesn’t have to end there; it always goes on to the positive.” Schaeffer believed that true spirituality always ended on the plus side. “Although the negative should not be overlooked in Scripture and our life experience, inevitably life always leads to a positive when based on our Faith in Christ. It is always: death, burial and resurrection.”
For Schaeffer, “The reality of living by Faith, as though we were already dead, of living by Faith in open communion with God, and then stepping back into the external world as though we already were raised from the dead, this is not once and for all, it is a matter of moment-by-moment faith, and living moment-by-moment. This morning’s Faith will never do for this noon. The Faith of this noon will never do for supper time…To believe Him, not just when I accepted Christ as Savior, but every moment, one moment at a time: this is the Christian life, and this is true spirituality.”
The result of much of Francis Schaeffer’s thought brings us to the conclusion that God’s grace is sufficient for us. That specific understanding yields knowledge that God loves us, and that knowledge casts out our fear of God: “Fear falls to the ground when we see before whom we are standing. We are standing in a living relationship with a living God who loves us, and has shown His love for us to such an extent that Jesus died on the cross. Fear falls, and we have the courage to give ourselves for His use without being afraid when we see we are not giving ourselves into the teeth of an impersonal situation, or of a world that hates us, or an inhuman world of men. (Rather) We are offering ourselves before the God who loves us, and He is not a monster, but our heavenly Father.”
“The inward area (our spiritual heart) is the first place of loss in the Christian life, of true spirituality, and the outward sinful act is the result.” For Schaeffer, it is the heart of man that is evil long before that man manifests the outward expression. (Matthew 15: 16-20) Solomon expressed that in Proverbs 23:7, ‘as a man thinks within himself, so he is.’ Today, practices previously labeled ‘unthinkable’ or ‘immoral ‘are considered acceptable. It’s the wisdom of God that encourages us not to perfect the flesh in order to be spiritual, but rather to work on the heart, love God and man in order to change the outside expression of a man. (Gal 3:3) The problem with the creature is that his heart is evil first, and the symptom of that is revealed in his outward expression. It is the heart of man that will need to be ‘converted’ before man’s walk can ever be.
Francis Schaeffer is a challenge to us. No spiritual candy here. I read along and think to myself, “Oh, no, not another thought that I have to try and remember. It’s too much.” The parts that I think I need to try and remember, they just come too fast. My brain feels like it could burst if I packed in one more idea. But, it’s possible to read if you pick a cool, rainy day. Perhaps just take a small portion at a time. Chew on it, but eat it slowly.
I’m going to leave you with one last little thought from Schaeffer, “…the universe is not what our generation says it is.” Actually, he believes each generation misses the mark on its definition of the universe. He thought that error was true of every generation. Each pulls away from the Creator to do business with the created. Each generation tries to solve its problems by rebelling against God, and therefore interprets the universe in its favor, missing the whole purpose and opportunity of the universe and its Creator.
This letter had lots of quotes in it, more than usual let’s say. But, when talking Schaeffer you have to actually quote Schaeffer most the time because you really can’t improve on his thinking. Reading his books I’m reminded of scripture that tells us God’s thoughts are above our thought, His understanding more than our understanding. But, sometimes God gives us a Schaeffer to whisper some of His thoughts to us. Here’s one more:
(Prophetically, remember Schaeffer wrote over 50 years ago), ‘If man is not made in the image of God, nothing stands in the way of inhumanity. There is no good reason why mankind should be perceived as special. Human life is cheapened. We can see this in many of the major issues being debated in our society today: abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, see the increase of child abuse and violence of all kinds, pornography, and the routine torture of political prisoners in many parts of the world, the crime explosion and the random violence which surrounds us.’ Nailed it all those years ago.