ANOMIA

"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matthew 24:12 KJV)

Today, it seems there is no standard for determining right or wrong attitude, behaviour and communication among Christians. It is said that attitude, behaviour and communication are the ABC of life. Institutions are founded upon patterns of attitude, behaviour and communication. The church is an institution because there is a pattern of attitude (regularised way of thinking), pattern of behaviour (regularised way of conducting oneself) and patten of communication (regularised way of speaking) among Christians. The pattern is Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way..." In the Gospels, his followers were initially called followers of the Way before they came to have the more suitable name, Christians. 

Standard means meter—meter for measurement. The New Testament has it that all Christians are destined to measure up to the fulness of Christ's spirituality. Christ is the standard for determining our spiritual growth and maturity. As spiritual people, we are to keep growing until we all reach unity in the faith and in the full discernment of the Son of God, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ (Eph 5:13). In Christ, all Christians measure up to Christ for completeness. So then, there is a standard based upon whom you must measure your own spirituality. The standard is Christ and he alone. 

In-Christ versus Christ-In-You

All the provisions of the New Testament are given to bring you at par with Christ's spirituality. By the new birth you have his nature and life. You have received his Spirit and his mind (his mentality and mental capacity), and so you can, and must live like him. You are in Christ, but then, Christ is also in you. In-Christ speaks of your exposure to and enjoyment of the riches of Christ. Christ-In-You speaks of showcasing the riches of his glory that is in you so that the world may see and give praise to the Father. You in Christ; Christ in you, is the sum of the New Testament. 

A Completely New Testament 

The New Testament is completely new. It is not an updated version of the Old Testament. The New Testament was ratified in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, not the body and blood of lambs, rams and bulls. The blood of the New Testament is living, the blood of the Old Testament is lifeless. This makes the New Testament completely unlike the Old. 

God's grace and mercy versus God's law and justice

The New Testament reveals God's grace and mercy. The Old Testament taught God's law and justice. Law and justice were the foundation of the Old Testament. But grace and mercy are the foundation of the New Testament. In the New, Christ has fulfilled the law of God on our behalf. This means that the law was important to God yesterday as grace is important to God today. We must not think of the law as devilish as the law reveals the nature of the lawgiver. God revealed his love, righteousness and holiness through the law. But today, God has revealed his love, righteousness and holiness through Christ. So then, the law is not diabolic. It has been fulfilled by Christ. In Christ, we have met God's righteous standard.

Grace, liberty and licentiousness 

Grace has brought us liberty but not licentiousness. Grace is favour that is undeserved but freely given out of God's own goodwill. Liberty in Christ means being no longer under compulsion to do or not do something, but having a choice to either do it or cease doing it for God's sake. Licentiousness is the state of being without restraint; ignoring societal standard; living as though there is no societal, institutional, in our context, spiritual standard. Truly, we are not under the law but under grace, and under grace, we have a spiritual standard, which is Christ. 

Licentiousness 

Many Christians are living as though we are without standard meanwhile Christ is our standard. Liberty in Christ means that you are no longer under compulsion to live for God, but you have a choice to either live for him or live for yourself. Whatever you want to do with your life is now under your control. If you choose to live for the glory of God, you have a great reward from God, but if you choose to live for your own glory, you suffer a great loss as the consequence of your own choice. 

Your body is not your own, it belongs to God since he purchased you with his blood. You are no longer under compulsion to not tattoo, to not fornicate or to not indulge in adultery, however, knowing that God has never been happy with these deeds, you decide to joyfully live to please God as Christ did, that is liberty. But if you decide to glorify yourself by tattooing your body, fornicating and indulging in adultery under grace, God does not condemn you, yet, you fall way below the standard of Christ, and that should be a concern. Christ did nothing of that sort. Liberty glorifies Christ but licentiousness glorifies your own self. 

Living as though without law

Many Christians are unknowingly fulfilling prophecy of the New Testament. Jesus prophesied, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." The word iniquity is from the Greek "anomia" which means lawlessness. Lawlessness means living as though you are without law, or in our case, without standard. Christians do not follow moral standard but spiritual standard. Moral standard is established by human rudiments, but spiritual standard is established by the Holy Spirit through Christ. 

To wax cold is to cool down or to chill from being hot. This is like blowing air to put out a burning candle. The moisture in the air cools the heat of the burning candle, putting it out completely. 

The devil has been carrying out his agenda of putting out the encroaching fires of Christians who are blazing with the love of God in the world. Since the beginning of the church, he has tried to quench it through people outside the church but he has failed fatally. Now he is trying to quench it using members within the church who are spiritually blind. 

The love of God is the love which emanates from within you out of deep reverence for God. You show love to your brother or sister in the Lord because you have the nature of God's love in you and you deeply revere God. When you see your brother or sister deep-seated in licentiousness, you will hardly believe that he or she is a child of light. This confusion of mind will prevent you from continually showering them with love. Eventually, love will be missing within the church. 

The devil is aware that the church is the most trusted institution on earth. If he is able to deceive a chunk of Christians to live a life of no restraints, believing that they are without standard, he succeeds in putting out the encroaching fires of the Christians who are blazing with the love of God in the world. Therefore, he is propagating licentiousness in the body of Christ so that the world will see it and no longer hold the church to be the haven of truth. Already many Christians seem to agree that we are without standard, yet we are not. Christ is our standard.

Today, when you teach Christians about conforming to Christ, you are labelled as legalist, perfectionist, non-revelational teacher and 'John-the-Bapstist' among other labels. Owing to the rapid increase in lawlessness within the body of Christ, the love of many is waxing cold, thus, fulfilling prophecy. 

Many Christians use Judas as example of betrayal and disloyalty. He fulfilled a biblical prophecy unknowingly. Do you suppose that God purposefully selected Judas to betray Jesus? No, he did not. Judas had a choice to betray Jesus or not, and he chose to betray Jesus for his selfish gain. This happened because he lacked insight and spiritual understanding of Christ. Today, for the lack of insight and spiritual understanding of Christ, many Christians are practising licentiousness but they think that they are enjoying their liberty in Christ.

Everybody seems to be doing what is right in their own eyes since "there is no restraint to our appetites", they think. Did/Would Christ think the way I think? Did/Would Christ behave they way I behave? Did/Would Christ speak the way I speak? These are the questions you should be asking yourself. Do not live as though there is no restraint to your appetites. Christ is the standard of our spirituality. Whoever, whatever, does not look like Christ is not God's will for you. And any doctrine that condones a wrong attitude, behaviour or communication, you must not listen to it. 

#Verity Haven