Stir One Another Up - Sittser

The following are quotes from Gerald Sittser’s book, Love One Another.

Jesus called it the narrow way and warned us of its cost. He said that in the Christian life death precedes life, losing comes before gaining, renouncing the world precedes eternal life.

Jesus looks for intent and desire more than capability and success. What matters is that we want to measure up to the full stature of Christ, however far we fall short.

Christians don’t always want to become like Christ. Christians don’t always want to pursue the highest and best to which he calls us. In these circumstances the Bible commands us to “stir up” and “admonish” one another.
(147)

Faith and obedience come hard because of doubt, struggle, temptation, exhaustion, and busyness. Yet in my mind these difficulties are not the greatest obstacle in the Christian life, however prevalent they are. The greatest obstacle is more subtle, which is why the Bible warns us against it so strongly. Scripture calls this problem “lukewarmness.” I call it inertia.

Inertia in the Christian life is dangerous because it seems so natural and justifiable. It’s like water that flows to the lowest elevation possible, where it can rest after cascading down mountainsides. People have a natural inclination to seek that same state of rest and ease. We like things to be convenient and controllable, stable and predictable. We want “givens” because they provide security. Consequently, we fall into predictable behavioral patters – in private life, in relationships and in society. Inevitably free choices become necessities, spontaneous activities become habits, innovations become traditions. Bold action sooner or later turns into “the same old thing.” We like to settle into a routine. Rushing rivers always empty into placid lakes. We tend toward inertia.

Yet stability and predictability cost us something. The cost is sameness, blandness, boredom and sometimes injustice. There is nothing wrong with following a set schedule from day to day. But what happens when that schedule keeps us from enlarging our world with new experiences or challenges? There is nothing wrong with fulfilling different marital roles. Yet those roles might be unfair when children come, the husband goes back to school or the wife gets a new job. There is nothing wrong with policies that make institutions run more efficiently. Yet sometimes rules made for the sake of efficiency and productivity stifle creativity; rules made to give the most experienced people authority may gave way to an “old-boy network” that keeps new blood from rising to the top.
(150-151)

Comfort zone Christianity appeals powerfully to certain legitimate impulses within us. But it is still dangerous. It can lead to laziness of spirit, deadness of faith, a routine that gives the appearance of religion without cultivating a heart for God. It makes us nice, decent, and respectable. It can also lead to dead worship, exclusive churches, lifeless devotions, token service, easy giving, superficial knowledge of the Bible. It is, as the Bible calls it, lukewarmness, which is more perilous than open rebellion (Revelation 3).
(152)

What is true for churches is also true for individuals. Quiet and sensitive people don’t have to become noisy and aggressive; activists don’t have to become contemplatives; scholars don’t have to become popularizers. Stirring up means we become all God meant us to be. It’s not helpful or possible to stir up people to something they are not and can’t be. It’s not right to stir up a church to change so much that it becomes unfamiliar with the church it once was. Stirring up preserves the best of what we already are, the best of the tradition our church embodies. Continuity and change are partners, not enemies.

The secret of stirring up is balance – to push people, churches and Christian institutions beyond the comfort zone without breaking continuity with the past. Balance requires us to expand our vision of discipleship, not change it entirely; to enlarge our capacity to know and obey God, not swing periodically from one extreme to the other.
(159)