The Power of And

Before I dig into a new topic, I want to remind you that several years ago, by unilateral decree, August 25th was designated Annual International Oikos Day. If you lead an oikocentric church, be sure to remind your church family! Leverage the chance to frame 8/15 as the day they can all reboot their personal commitment to lead their 8-15 to Jesus! If you’re not a pastor, try to celebrate the day by praying for your oikos list with your family, or by creating at least one opportunity to invest in one of your front row relationships, or by inviting someone in your oikos to attend your church, or simply by recommitting yourself to being more intentional about your oikos every day of the year! (Now to the topic of balance.)

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“It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.” —Ecclesiastes 7:18

 In my uphill battle to eat healthier, I came across this mantra.

“Food is fuel, not therapy.”

Although it may be fundamentally true, it does kind of take the fun out of a Double-Double. So, I was relieved when I heard about “the power of and.”

In the business world, “the power of and” has become a thing. One definition describes it as “the ability to embrace seemingly opposing ideas and see them as compatible, rather than forced to choose between them.”

One historic expert in lifestyle strategies (I’m sure you’ve heard of him) put it this way.

“It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.”  

I guess we could call that Solomon’s version of “the power of and.” 

The Bible is full of examples of embracing two seemingly opposite ideas. Practicing faith and possessing knowledge. The doctrines of election and free will. And then there are the virtues of Christian discipline and Christian freedom. The value of putting up guardrails versus the value of taking them down. The good news is, as is the case with all of them, it’s not “either or.” It’s “both and.”

Both discipline and freedom were designed by God with the same purpose, to effectively fuel the church’s mission to change the world.

“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-23)

The Bible portrays our quest to find balance as virtuous. One of the world’s wisest men couldn’t be clearer. Our sinful nature naturally defaults to extremes. Even for a Jesus-follower, no matter how much we want to find balance, it can be frustratingly elusive. In fact, balance has been described as that space we occasionally occupy as we pass from one extreme to the other.  

But balancing Christian discipline and Christian freedom can be tricky. The New Testament champions both as incredibly important. God calls us all to be intellectually honest enough to recognize which side we tend to lean into too much, and then be more intentional about leaning the other way.

If you never think about either one, you might be spiritually lethargic.

If you’re high on the discipline side and never enjoy your freedom in Christ, then you might best be described as a legalist who runs the risk of being irrelevant to the mission. The only people who are attracted to Christian legalists are other Christian legalists. Following rules simply to impress other Christians is neither godly nor fun.

On the other hand, should you be high on freedoms, but see no need for Christian discipline, then you also run the risk of losing relevance to the mission, being too indistinguishable from the world we’re called on to change. You can’t be just like the world and change it too. Our leadership in the culture requires that we step out in front and lead it somewhere.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:13-14)

In hindsight, it would be fair to say that Sheryl and I struggled to find balance in our parenting. We were both raised in more legalistic worlds, so we naturally leaned into the discipline side rather than consider the freedom side. As time went on, though, we discovered how both could bring both joy and purpose. Even now, we continue to believe in guardrails, but those guardrails are placed on ourselves for others. Not to impress others, but to be an example to them.

Christian freedom isn’t the freedom to do whatever a Christian wants to do, but the freedom to not do anything that could be detrimental to others or a distraction to our mission of leading people to Jesus.

500 years ago, in his treatise On Christian Liberty, Martin Luther put it this way: "A Christian is the freest lord of all, and subject to none; (but) a Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone."

In other words, according to Luther, because of what Jesus has done for us, we are absolutely free from the bondage of the Law. We no longer have to do anything to make ourselves worthy for Heaven. On the other hand, because of our faith in His unique ability to do for others what He has done for us, we are bound to serve God and the people around us. 

When it comes to Christian freedom, the questions we are all obligated to answer are not, “What am I free to do? and “What am I not free to do?” (Because of grace, there is nothing a believer is not free to do.) The questions we must ask are these. “What am I free to do? and “What am I free to not do?” The placement of that one “not” changes the tone and the entire point of the conversation.

We are now free to follow Jesus, and thereby elevate His redemptive mission to save this fractured planet. When that freedom requires discipline, our discipline becomes as purposeful as our freedom is.