In his chapter on Service Bonhoeffer deals with the
complex questions of criticism, judging one another, allowing one another
freedom in Christ, and self-justification. I term these questions complex
because we live in a time when criticism and judging in any form are often considered
wrong and inappropriate; a time when freedom is often considered to be license;
and a time when the self has been exalted to the point where self-justification
is a way of life.
Many of the New Testament
letters deal with correction, pointing out sinful and disobedient behavior among
Christians as well as false teaching by pseudo-Christians. Following Jesus is
not a “different strokes for different folks” proposition, nor is it a
community that subscribes to the maxim, “go along to get along.”
When we find our sole
justification in Jesus Christ we can allow others to do the same and we can “stop
constantly keeping an eye on others, judging them, condemning them”…we can “allow
other Christians to live freely”. This in turn allows us to be among those who see
“the richness of God’s creative glory shining over their brothers and sisters
(page 71).”
It is one thing for us to seek
to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), but it is quite
another thing for us to seek to conform others to our own image of what we
think they should be. Bonhoeffer writes, “God did not make others as I would
have made them (page 71).”
Our own images may include the
way people express themselves, the way they dress and talk, certain doctrinal emphases,
social or political positions, tastes in worship expressions and music, their
favorite authors or popular teachers – the list could fill many pages. We tend
not to tolerate nonconformity to the group, we tend not to give people freedom
of expression in Christ, we tend not to listen and understand others.
Bonhoeffer writes, “God did not give them [others] to me so that I could
dominate and control them…”
And follows with “…but so that
I might find the Creator by means of them.” How is my Father expressing Himself
through my brother and sister? How can I see Jesus in the members of His Body? Being
in relationship with the Body of Christ is sacramental, when I experience
koinonia, life together, I partake of
Jesus Christ in His people, in His community. In C.S. Lewis’s essay, The Weight of Glory, he recognized that
if we saw the divinity in each other, which believers have in Christ, that we
may very well fall prostrate – we usually treat one another as men and women,
when in fact we are more than that – we are sons and daughters of the living
God and the Trinity lives within us. Paul chides the Corinthians that they are
carnal and behaving like men (1 Cor. 3:1-4) – do we think and behave like men
or do we live as the children of our Father?
Do I respect the work of
Christ in my brother? Do I seek to understand and see the reflection of Christ
in my brother or do I insist on my brother being conformed to the image I think
he should have? Am I the measure of my brother or have I surrendered my own
measure and find my justification in Jesus Christ, thereby allowing me to give
my brother freedom to reflect the glory of God according to the grace of Christ
in him?
How many insights to God’s
grace have I missed in my insistence that others be conformed to images other
than that of Jesus Christ? How can I seek to avoid this pitfall?
“Who are you to judge another’s
servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand,
for God is able to make him stand (Romans 14:4).”
Bonhoeffer writes, “I can never
know in advance how God’s image should appear in others” (page 71). This is a
good thing for me to remember.
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