Staying in Rhythm, Part Five: Get Up and Dance!
“Every day, they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying all the people’s favor. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:46-47
My family moved to Paducah, Kentucky, in the early 1970s. At the time, Paducah had a large variety store called Uncle Lees. It was one of the most interesting, most unusual stores in which I ever shopped. It seemed you could buy almost anything there. On one trip, my mother and father bought a paddle for administering corporal punishment. I don’t think they ever used it, but they thought it was funny to have one. On another trip, my father and I peered into a locked glass cabinet that displayed sticks of dynamite.
One of the most unusual features of the store was a full aisle displaying damaged and defective goods. You could have something from this area at a deep discount if you could think of something to do with it. These were items that had something wrong with them but which could still be of some value to customers possessing a sense of creativity. For example, you might find a lamp with a broken lampshade. Or, you might find a doll with mismatched eyes. There were also sets of dishes with missing pieces and artwork flawed by a dent, chip, or crack.
To some people, these items were junk and not worth the time it took to walk down the aisle looking. For others, this area contained treasure. It was all in the eye of the beholder. Some saw nothing but potential, others saw nothing but imperfection.
Human beings are a lot like the items on that aisle. In some way, each of us is a damaged item. We have baggage. We have imperfections and things missing from our lives. We have dents, chips, and cracks in our lives. The Bible gives us a code word for that: it’s called sin. Sin is a word that describes everything that keeps us from being whole and from being in a right relationship with God.
The Bible gives us another code word for how God puts everything back in the right order, including us. That word is justification. Justification is a fancy way of saying that through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has done everything necessary to deal with the sin that keeps us from him. Many people are familiar with the message of how Jesus has conquered sin on our behalf. What you may not know about is the work the Holy Spirit does in our justification. I want to spend this chapter telling you about it. #justification #sanctification
1 Corinthians 6:11 – “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our Lord.”
I have already made it clear that I love dancing and that it has been an important part of my life, but my first school dance was not a smashing success. The dance took place during my 7th-grade year in middle school, and I could barely contain my excitement about going. Unfortunately for me, most of the kids who were going were busy pairing up into romantic couples. I was a late bloomer, and romance was not on my radar screen; not that I hadn’t thought about it, but, up to this point in my life, my experience with romance was nil. I expected to show up and have a wide selection of dance partners. I thought I would be so cool.
Instead, I was a nervous wreck. My two attempts at asking someone to dance were awkward, and each girl flatly rejected me. I spent the rest of the dance sitting in a chair watching everyone else have a good time, while I wished the night would just end. I am now secure enough to admit that I felt humiliated and unwanted and cried when I got home. It was one of the worst nights of my life. I felt like something that should be labeled damaged and defective goods.
Thankfully, my next dance experience could not have been more different. This time, the dance took place at summer camp. I was with an entirely different group of kids, with whom I found it much easier to bond. This time, when the music began, several friends ran to me, grasped my hand, and dragged me out onto the floor. There, I danced with all of my friends, girls and boys. No one was worried about romance that night. Instead, we simply had the time of our lives, dancing as a group of friends.
Jesus has done everything necessary for us to join him on the dance floor of life. But it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to act in faith to that invitation. Faith is more than abstract belief. Faith is a deep-seated trust that allows us to act on what we believe. It is as if the Holy Spirit comes and takes us by the hand, pulling us enthusiastically to the dance floor, where we will join Jesus in the dance.
The Holy Spirit enables us to see ourselves as Jesus does. He does not see us as defective or damaged. His love and grace see past those bruises and blemishes. When he beholds us, he sees us as those for whom he has died.
Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Charles Blondin was born in France in 1824. He was a tightrope walker and acrobat. He toured the United States, amazing audiences, and is remembered most for crossing the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope 1,100 feet high in June of 1859. The Wikipedia article about him says that he performed this feat “a number of times thereafter, often with different theatrical variations: blindfolded, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying a man (his manager, Harry Colcord) on his back, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet, or standing on a chair with only one of its legs balanced on the rope.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin
One onlooker stood watching Charles Blondin the entire day. Toward the end of the afternoon, Blondin struck up a conversation with the man, asking, “What do you think?” #charlesBlondin
The onlooker replied, “Why, you’re the best tightrope walker in the whole, wide world.”
Blondin said, “Swell! I’m glad you like the show. Say, do you have faith that I can take the wheelbarrow across the rope again?”
“Why sure I do,” said the man.
Blondin prodded a little. “Do you think I could do the trick with someone in the wheelbarrow? Do you have that much faith in me?”
“Sure I do,” replied the enthusiastic fan.
Blondin said, “Then hop in, and I’ll give you a ride across the mighty Niagara.” To which the man said nothing but, instead, slowly walked away. There is a difference between believing abstractly in something and believing enough to get in the wheelbarrow. The Holy Spirit helps us take that crucial step of moving beyond believing things about Jesus to believing in Jesus.
But the Holy Spirit does something else to make it possible for us to trust in Jesus. We call it repentance. Repentance is the act of letting go of all that keeps us on the sideline, afraid or ashamed of joining Jesus on the dance floor. When we act in repentance, we let go of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that keep us from running to God and embracing everything he has for us. We let go of shame, fear, anger, pride, and a broken sense of self. We dare to believe that by God’s grace, we are not damaged and defective goods. We are the beloved of God.
Repentance is a gift of God’s grace in that he enables us to stop holding back. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to move forward in faith.
It may be a little much, but take a look at these three verses about the gift of repentance:
“Jesus is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” – Acts 5:31
“When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” – Acts 11:18
“Or do you think lightly of the riches of God’s kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” -Romans 2:4
Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has done everything necessary for our salvation. By his faithfulness, Jesus completed everything for us and offers us grace so that we can live in a right relationship with God. The Holy Spirit empowers us to leave behind all that keeps us from embracing that gift of grace. The Spirit also enables us to act in faith, trusting in Jesus’ faithfulness. #jesus
I can picture my life before Christ. It was a lot like my first dance. I was afraid, embarrassed, and awkward. I felt rejected and alone. But when the Holy Spirit came, it was like my next dancing experience. The Holy Spirit came, took me by the hand, and with great eagerness, said, “We have been waiting for you to join us in the dance.”
Titus 3:3-7 – “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” #rebirth #newbirth #secondbirth