Celebration or surrender? - Chambers, Oswald

We begin our christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of god. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Every now and again we find ourselves lost in wonder at the marvel of the redemption; it is a wholesome initial stage, but if it is made the final stage it is perilous. The difficulty of believing in the redemption in the sense of assimilating it is that it demands renunciation. I have to give up my right to myself in com- plete surrender to my lord before what i celebrate becomes a reality. There is always the danger of celebrating what Jesus Christ has done and forgetting the need on our part of moral surrender to him; if we evade the surrender we become the more intense in celebrating what he has done.

1. The snare of emotional rapture

(mark 9:28)

And peter answered and said to Jesus, master, it is good for us to be here. (mark 9:5)

Be quick to notice how god brings you rapidly from emotional rapture into contact with the sordid commonplace activities of life. There are times in the providence of god when he leads us apart by our- selves, when jesus reveals himself to us and we see him transfigured. The place apart by ourselves may be a prayer meeting, a service, a talk with a friend, a sunrise or a sunset, when we are stirred to the depths and see what we are unable to utter; the snare is to imagine that that is all god means; he means much more.

And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, this is my beloved son: hear him not, this is my beloved son: now spend halcyon days with him on the mount. Beware of celestial sensuality. No matter what your experience, you may be trapped by sen- suality any time. Sensuality is not sin, it is the way the body works in connection with circumstances whereby i begin to satisfy myself. Mary magdalene was in danger of making this blunder, but Jesus said, touch me not dont try and hold me by your senses, but go and do what i say. Always thrust out into the actual, because it is there you exhibit whether your emotional rapture has seduced you, made you unfit for activities. After a time of rapt contemplation when your mind has been absorbing the truth of god, watch the kind of people god will bring round you, not people dressed in the castoff nimbus of some saint, but ordinary commonplace people just like yourself. We imagine that god must engineer special circumstances for us, peculiar sufferings; he never does, because that would feed our pride; he engineers things which from the standpoint of human pride are a humiliation.

And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with them- selves (mark 9:8). Instead of its being, no cross, no crown, spiritually, it is no crown, no cross. We are crowned by the moment of rapture, but that is not the end, it is the beginning of being brought down into the demon-possessed valley to bear the cross for him there. With a sudden rush we find no Moses, no Elijah, no transfiguration-glory, and we fear as we enter the cloud, till we come to the place where there is no man, save Jesus only. As men and women we have to live in this world, in its misery and sinfulness, and we

Must do the same if we are disciples. Of all people we should be able to go down into the demon-possessed valley, because once we have seen jesus transfigured it is impossible to lose heart or be discouraged.

2. The sincerity of experimental realisation

Yea doubtless, and i count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my lord. . . . (Philippians 3:8)

Paul goes on to state that he not only estimated the cost, he experienced itfor whom i have suffered the loss of all things, . . . That i may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness. . . . Imagine anyone who has seen Jesus Christ transfigured saying he is sorry to find himself mean17 and ignoble! The more i whine about being a miser- able sinner, the more i am hurting the holy spirit. It simply means i don’t agree with gods judgement of me, i think after all i am rather desirable: god thought me so undesirable that he sent his son to save me. To discover i am what god says i am ought to make me glad; if i am glad over anything i discover in myself, i am very short-sighted. The only point of rest is in the lord himself.

Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside . . .
So enchained my spirit’s vision
Gazing on the Crucified.