Holy3
Holistic Holiness for
Humanity, Part 1
Reaching for Clarity
in What Fully Surrendered Humanity Looks Like
By David
Drury
When speaking of demons,
C.S. Lewis pointed out that there are two great errors: not taking them
seriously enough, or conversely, taking them so seriously that one develops an
unhealthy fascination with them.
When it comes to the topic
of human holiness I think his two great errors likewise apply. On the one hand there is the error of not
taking the subject seriously enough.
This of course either results in a kind of
theological lawlessness that essential removes the possibility (and thus
responsibility) to be holy at all as followers, or in a kind of biblical
gymnastics that denies the expectations found in scripture for us as
followers. Some from traditions with
such a history are in the search for a more culturally relevant and
life-transforming biblical theology than this leaves one with.
On the other hand there are
those that take human holiness so seriously that they develop an unhealthy
fascination with it. God may expect us
to have a degree of holy living—but He by nature condemns self-worship of any
kind because of it. Holiness cannot
exist in humanity where there is not also humility conjoined. The so called “holiness movement” of which I
was born into (4th generation member, 3rd generation
minister) finds this to be the most tempting demon in the ranks. The pendulum swings for us from unhealthy
fascination on this distinctive all the way to fleeing from it as temptation.
Somewhere in the middle
lands we are bumping into one another in search of a new home. By “we” I mean a very broad ecumenical
representation. In some respects even
non-Christian people are in the middle lands milling around with us testing the
soil. A responsibility for humanity is
desired—some anchor for morality and how we should then live. I believe humanity is called to a holistic
holiness only possible by the power of God.
We seek the sacred. We are
looking to become more than we were born as.
More than we were at birth, more than our families are today, more than
our communities currently muster and much more than our downward spiraling
cultures create. We are searching to be
what God hopes for us to be rather than just what we’re capable of being on our
own.
Defining Holiness
The attempts to define this
demon on our backs are common. Attempts
to describe just how and in what order the demon goes about it’s business are
perhaps even more common—and certainly all the more debatable as those attempts
seek to nail down air and water and spirit to something as simple as an order
of steps to follow. In these later cases
the fascination becomes far too arrogantly prescriptive rather than humbly
descriptive. We’re far more secure with
personal testimony than conjured prophecy when it comes to holiness. Some think the loss of preaching holiness (in
the holiness movement in particular) caused the loss of holy living. I tend to believe the lack of courage to give
personal testimony to God’s power caused the loss of attraction to holy living.
Being born in the mid-seventies into the
Holiness movement I honestly cannot recall one single time when I heard a
personal testimony from anyone to the power of God enabling them to live a holy
life. Perhaps the preachers merely
reflected the lack of real testimony and figured conjuring prophecy about
holiness was not their responsibility.
In order to exercise this
demon and find that middle land where we identify, appreciate, and live holy
lives while not becoming self-fascinated and self-satisfied I suggest a more
simple definition of holiness. Perhaps
the specific way in which humans experience and live with God’s holiness is not
the key—nor is the order in which they seek or attain it. Again, each personal testimony has its own
nuances and twists and turns. Our
omnipresent God seems to have the capability to mess up our order of sequence
and scribble outside the lines of our theological boxes. My great-grandfather, the second “convert” in
my family after his wife came to a holiness small group and church, was part of
this. He was an active member in the
holiness church for many years before he, in his own words which I’ve heard on
tape, received Christ as his Savior. The
pastors and old time holiness people circled the wagons and tried to convince
him that this was indeed the famed “Second work of Grace”—that he had been
saved for years and that this new experience was now sanctification. They had a lot to lose if he didn’t accept
this pressure to define his experience on their terms. He had been on the board of the church, after
all. They would be admitting they had an
unsaved elder in their midst if they bought his new testimony. That happened in the dead mainline churches
all the time, they presumed, but not in their own. However—Walter Drury didn’t budge on this
even to his death. He knew what “Christ
had wrought in him” and no matter the lines they drew he knew. He did live a holy life of full surrender and
would have considered himself “sanctified” (in the preferred terminology of
that day and that movement—a term I find scripturally and theologically
beautiful and nuanced but practically I find to be cumbersome and
confusing.) So you see I have a genetic
predisposition towards the power of personal testimony—even in the face of
ministers claiming otherwise—over what people like myself, now a
minister-great-grand-child of Walter, say is so and in what order they say it
happens.
Surrender Shorthand
A solution I see to the
problem—an exorcism of the demon in particular for those in the holiness
movement—is the solution simplicity provides.
I wish on us a more simple and common ground in language that is
unifying and inspiring, rather than divisive and oppositional. For this reason I am defining holistic
holiness as being fully surrendered—as crucifying sin and self for Christ and
with Christ. In one word I see surrender as shorthand for
holiness. I think it can become an
ecumenical but truthful middle-land for us to live together in. For me it says enough without saying too
much.
I’m sure some will scream at
this term and find all sorts of reasons why it doesn’t go far enough. They want more. Others I’m sure will scream the other
chorus—that it goes too far, that full surrender is not possible this side of
heaven. They want less. However, when I read how Paul communicated
that we should then live in Galatians I find myself inspired by the graphic and
immediate call to surrender—to crucify my sin and self on the Cross of
Christ. My proposal is that holiness be
broken free from past boxes of division, in the church and world. My hope is to see us not regain some older
sense of holiness, but to draft a new perspective on holiness that is truly
holistic in four dimensions, and that is truly for humanity as a gift from God in what I view to be the four major
categories of humanity. I want to see our cultures, our communities,
our families & our lives become fully surrendered to our
Lord. I yearn for the birth of a new
movement in the Body of Christ that is no longer irrelevant to that culture because it is no longer lawless in living out biblical
community because it is no longer dishonest
as though the family is not also part of the Body because, finally, first and
last and through the other dimensions, we are no longer hypocritical but are as individuals fully surrendered to our Lord.
Now, that was a mouthful I
know. But that is where we head together
in the future if you return to see what I mean by four
dimensional holistic holiness for humanity. I leave you with the words of Paul I
referenced above—perhaps these words are the summation of what might be said
about surrender, about the holiness I yearn to experience with others I live
and move and breath with:
“You, my
brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the
entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor
as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or
you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will
not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires
what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is
contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that
you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are
not under the law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual
immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord,
jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy;
drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who
live like this will not inherit the
Click here
to respond to this article at the response blog
To inquire about publishing this or
other copyrighted pieces at this web-site simply contact David Drury at David@DruryWriting.com. All
rights reserved.
David Drury Bio