Defensiveness

 The second element in the spiritually transformed social dimension of abandonment of all defensiveness. This, of course, could occur only in a social context where Christ dwells – that is, among his special people. (Willard, Dallas, Renovation of the Heart, p. 202) 

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (I Corinthians 13:7) 

Yesterday’s Sunday School class needed to be about ten weeks long. We began with the quote from Renovation of the Heart and a question about whether or not we are defensive. My answer was “very.” And the memories have been slithering up, the first of which was working on the khaki pants part of the men’s department twenty years ago and praying, “God, I can’t not fight. I don’t know how to not fight,” and “If I did somehow stop fighting, no one would protect me.”

The goal isn’t a pity party for me. There are too many injuries – most seemingly insignificant. There are too many attackers who wouldn’t be helped by my retelling the stories. In any case, the response would probably be like the memes over which I’ve flipped out at people – saying that if your suffering isn’t as bad as (insert posterchild for misery,) you just need to sit down, shut up, roll with the punches, and get over yourself.

One of the other statements was, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (Romans 12:11) It was paraphrased as “Serving the Lord with ardent spirit and all diligence.” I contributed my paraphrase, “Serving the Lord with great determination and stubbornness.” It drew some chuckles. My point was that we tend to have two sets of words that mean the same thing. One describes them in a “good” way, and the other in a “bad” way. Sure, we’re to be diligent but not stubborn. It's sort of like the list I’ve seen and wish I could find. It’s basically a comparison. When men do X, they are considered strong. When a woman does it, she’s pushy, etc.

And that brings me back to the question of being defensive. It’s a negative term. But when one defends, one protects, and the passage for the day is from the list in I Corinthians. It’s about love, and love…always protects. We’re to love our neighbor as ourselves, so if I am to protect my neighbor, I must also be permitted to protect myself.

What about Jesus’ example? He let the Romans kill Him. Yes, He did, for the greater good. But there are two instances in which the Jews were going to stone Jesus (John 8:59 and 10:31) and another instance when they were going to throw Him off a hill (Luke 4:28-30.) Jesus didn’t let them. He certainly didn’t let them stop Him from clearing the temple.

But did He defend Himself? Or did He protect Himself? And would there have been a difference? Maybe. He protected Himself by withdrawing, by not defending Himself. Self-defense is defined as “a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm.” (Self-defense - Wikipedia) We tend to think of self-defense as attacking or using a weapon to stop someone who is attacking us.

Jesus didn’t do that. But there are times when He put people in their place. He debated. He accused. He did not back down or withdraw, and He doesn’t seem to have worried too much about people’s feelings about what He said.

At this point, we must go back to another factor in what Dallas Willard said. He spoke of abandonment of all defensiveness…only n a social context where Christ dwells. And this changes things for two reasons. The first is that he wasn’t talking about defending ourselves, which is an action we take when we are attacked.  He was talking about defensiveness, which is an attitude. And, he was talking about a specific social context: where Christ dwells.

So, where does Christ dwell? Within us as individuals. “... where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20) He dwells in the Church – but “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

This probably reads quite “stream of consciousness” because it is. It’s how I have faced the material presented. Ultimately, I am taking away three things. Even if I need to defend myself, my goal is to overcome the attitude of defensiveness. I should do this within a very specific social context: where Christ dwells, and to do this, I need to be discerning.