HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2012 / SPRING / CLEAN UP YOUR SIN
S P R I N G • 2 0 1 2
VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1
NICOLE STEVENSON
The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide for January-March, 2012, contains a week of lessons examining prayer. How does it “work”? How are we involved in having our prayers answered—or are we? The lesson for March 8 begins with an illustration of an over-eater maintaining his habit of indulgence while praying for weight loss. We should not pray for something and then do nothing in our power to see to it that the prayer is answered, the lesson asserts. Moreover, the lesson continues, sin in our hearts keeps God from hearing the prayers of believers, and this point is emphasized with a quote from Ellen G. White. The lesson then sends the reader to five passages of Scripture and asks what the texts have to do with “complying with the conditions” for prayer. Finally, the lesson concludes by stating that what keeps our prayer life the most effective is our own sense of helplessness, sinfulness, and need.
God expects us to do our part
The illustration of the over-eater praying for weight loss without changing his habits is a wonderful example of the Adventist straw-man argument used to obfuscate the biblical teaching of a changed life. By establishing an extreme and unrealistic scenario, the Adventist can dismiss the over-eater’s “prayer of presumption” as ridiculous because “everyone knows” that asking God for help is not enough; we must do “all we can in our power to see (our prayers) answered” (p. 118) and let God do the rest.
To understand the real problem underlying this train of thought, we must know that Adventism in general does not understand the biblical teaching that believers are born again and have literal regenerated spirits that we are permanently in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. To the Adventist, the act of being “born again” happens when a person chooses to follow God’s “ways” (law), is baptized, and is committed to behavior modification (with God’s help, of course) as a means of showing his or her love and respect for God and His will. After being baptized into Adventism, the new convert then begins to learn all of the Adventist “family rules”, and with determined commitment begins to change his lifestyle to accommodate them. When Adventists become discouraged or lose their resolve, they are advised through Adventist literature and leadership to live a life of spiritual discipline (study their Sabbath School lessons, attend Sabbath School, get involved, read a devotional, pray for more strength, and so on). The implicit understanding is this: the harder one tries, the more likely one will be to live a godly life.
To remain in the chains of addictions such as pornography, drinking, binge eating, prescription drugs, anorexia, or other compulsions is seen as weakness or a lack of loyalty to God. The person who suffers with these vices either hides them or experiences relational alienation and is viewed as a hypocrite. (This marginalizing is especially true of those in positions of preaching or teaching because they pose a threat to the organization’s reputation). The fact that members must live an acceptable lifestyle without understanding the reality of the new birth is the reason there are far more self-help programs than support or recovery groups in the Adventist organization.
For example, classes teaching healthy eating and vegetarian cooking (classes which double as evangelistic efforts for the organization) are common. The hope is that if the members focussed on “healthy habits”, they would be able to avoid or replace their unhealthy obsessions because they would be honoring God by living right. The fact that “eating healthy” and scanning labels for animal products can become an obsession in itself is generally not acknowledged.
The truth about sanctification
Born-again Christians have a very different spiritual understanding of personal sanctification. No, they would not deny personal responsibility for believers, but the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit is profoundly different from the decision to live “right” and then to ask God to help it happen! When the Lord Jesus brings us to life, He is Lord even over our desires if we submit them to Him. I will try to illustrate with an example from my own life.
Before I was born again, I struggled with an explosive temper toward my husband. I knew it was wrong, and I prayed and asked God to help me stop. On rare occasions I would choose to walk away from an argument and try to cool off in my room. On those rare occasions, I often felt worse than ever. I did not spend the time cooling off, but rather in dark, lonely, indescribable despair. The emotional scars that were driving me to respond to my husband as I was would surface, and I did not know how to handle them. Those were such dark moments. As I would sit in my room weeping, I deeply resented myself for not being stronger. I didn’t understand where the comfort of the Lord was even though I was praying and begging Him to help me. I knew I just wasn’t trying hard enough. I was devastated because I knew I wasn’t strong enough to try any harder, and my continual failure meant that I probably would not be saved. While I may not have blown up at my husband at those times (the sinful behavior) the underlying heart issue was raging inside and growing in intensity while I sat, lonely and despairing, in my room. I thought I was being punished for a lack of faith.
After becoming a born-again Christian, Jesus knew what I needed more than I did. He began showing me the root causes of my acting out, and He met me in those places of brokenness. I submitted those wounds to Him by admitting that I could do nothing to heal them, but I knew He could. Jesus freed me not just from my addiction to bursts of rage that kept me from feeling all the other “stuff”, but from the lies and despair that drove me to act out to begin with! Again, this new freedom was not the result of my doing everything I could do in my power and then waiting for Jesus to pick up the slack after seeing I was trying hard enough. Neither was it because I invoked the power of the Holy Spirit through enough effective prayer. In fact, I had no idea what to pray for! I didn’t even know what was happening inside me! This new freedom and submission to Him were all because Jesus came to live in me, and He did this healing in my heart.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 says that God will give us a heart of flesh. He truly changes us! 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” It is absolutely true. A “new creation” is not a metaphor for a reformed lifestyle governed by the keeping of God’s law through personal resolve and reliance of the here-today-gone-tomorrow presence of the Holy Spirit.
Trust God and His word
It was in the Christian community that I was first exposed to ministries of support and care for those in battles with habitual sin or self destruction. What a shock to see support groups for people who suffered with substance abuse, divorce, porn addiction, sex addiction/abuse, and even the guilt and regret of abortions—to name a few. These groups were designed by leadership teams that understand our war with the flesh sometimes requires the help of the body of Christ. Struggling with sin is not an indication of an inferior lifestyle or poor commitment to Christ. Rather, it is a symptom of a heart condition in need of the healing power of a Holy God working intimately in His beloved child!
No list of Scriptures taken out of context for the purpose of imposing behavior modification to facilitate personal righteousness will ever give us what we need: the perfection required in order to stand before the Father of Spirits (Heb. 12:9). Instead, we must be spiritually brought to life in Christ and counted as righteous on His merit. Once we believe and receive Jesus as our Savior and Substitute, we must trust what Scripture says about how our being in Christ changes who we are in God’s eyes. We cannot obtain or maintain our standing before God—we must repent of such personal pride if we think we can.
If your heart convicts you of your need for God, of your helplessness, and of your sinfulness, there is wonderful hope for you! His name is Jesus, and He is enough! Give up trying to follow a yellow brick road to a made up god who will consider hearing your case if you first do x, y, and z. Trust the word of God! When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” He wasn’t lying. Accept His free gift of salvation to all who believe and call on His name. Please stop looking back for prescriptive proof texts about your obligation and standing before God. All Scripture is useful for training, but it must be used in its context. It is because of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ—Almighty God, that we can go before our Father boldly. He loves us far more than we will ever be able to comprehend.
It is true that we must live lives of repentance to sustain honest fellowship with our Father, but He will not turn His face from His child. He will simply persist in showing us truth. †
Copyright 2012 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Casa Grande, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised April 18, 2012. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
Nicole Stevenson has a degree in social work from La Sierra University. She is married to Carel, a structural engineer, and they have two children: Abigail (3) and Joshua (5). Nicole and Carel volunteered their time as mentors to youth while they were Adventists, and now they are involved in helping design an outreach for Seventh-day Adventist youth who are processing out of Adventism or are questioning the religion they've inherited. They attend Trinity Church in Redlands, California. You can check out their Facebook group for Former Adventist Teens here: Facebook.com/groups/FAT4theGospel/.
