Alcoholics and Nazarenes

In Alcoholics Anonymous, they are taught to view themselves as "recovering alcoholics" even when sobriety has been achieved because of the ever-present risk of going back.

People who grew up as Nazarenes a generation ago often refer to themselves as "recovering Nazarenes". I've heard this phrase more than once.

I can see the damage that was done by looking at my own life and at the lives of others I knew that went through the same stuff. The messages were entirely double-talk gobbledy-gook that can be crystallized down to: You are saved entirely by grace because God loves you and absolutely nothing else will save you BUT if you don't follow the rules (Nazarene manual) AND the Bible, you will rot in Hell forever and ever. In the little Nazarene church of my childhood, people wore out the carpet on their way back and forth from pew to altar, pleading with God to give them "one more chance" to do right and to not throw their sorry soul into eternal damnation. Tearful testimonies were common, in which the sinner, once again made right, professed their intention to give it their all this time. A few weeks later, after a hellfire and brimstone sermon, back to the altar they went.

After one of my own trips to the altar one Sunday night while in high school, I received a well intentioned call from the pastor the following Monday morning before I left for school in which he said as a final exhortation: "just remember, when you are tempted today, if you don't cave in, if you don't sin, you will still be a Christian". So what happens if I fail? Yep, on the way to Hell again.

Most of us "recovering Nazarenes" wore ourselves OUT trying to somehow live the Christian life on our on, and every single one of us failed, over and over, and the guilt and shame just piled up and up. Some walked away and some stayed, still trying to do what they COULD NOT DO but all carried the guilt and shame with them.

I walked away, after years of trying and failing, and I became the prodigal son, looking for meaning and affirmation from "riotous living", as it used to be put. And just like the prodigal son Jesus spoke of in Luke 15:32, I eventually found myself alone in the pig-pen eating hog fodder.
The journey back has been two steps forward, one step back some of the time, but GOD IS FAITHFUL and He is guiding me toward recovery from that Nazarene false teaching. Wow, that IS a harsh criticism of them, is it not? Well, Galatians 5:4 says it so plainly:

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

There it is.

When someone has "fallen away from grace" (unmerited favor) by trying to be" justified by the law" (following the rules, so to speak) THEY ARE ON THEIR OWN without any help from God to live how He calls his children to live. And on their own, they will fail, over and over.

But when grace is understood, God does enable us to do what could not otherwise be done, as long as we let Him! I read this wonderful analogy which really does sum up the Christian walk:

A visitor to a glorious garden inquired of the gardener, what kind of lovely apple tree is that one?

"It is a Red Delicious" variety, and yes, it is lovely" replied the gardener.

After some thought, the visitor asked if, in fact, wasn't it really two different trees, don't they take the desirable stock like Red Delicious and graft it on to a wild rootstock like a crab-apple?
(This is in fact what they do, because crab-apple rootstocks are hardier than Red Delicious rootstocks).

"No, for all practical purposes, it is a Red Delicious tree, only capable of wonderful fruit, not those bitter little crabs the old root would produce if it could. If even the tiniest sprout starts up from the roots, we ruthlessly trim it off so that all of the tree's energy goes to the Red Delicious graft".

And so, I have learned, it is with me. I COULD NOT produce the desired fruit before in my own poor efforts, but God through my faith in Jesus made me a new creation, and that new part is just like the Red Delicious apple tree, INCAPABLE of producing anything other than the desired fruit but co-existing with my old nature which is definitely capable of producing all of the old undesirable things. Thus the passages below from Colossians 3:5 and Ephesians 4:31-32 make complete sense:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry .....Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.


The first part lists the things my old nature is capable of as long as I am on this earth and represents the actions of anyone who is not living by the Spirit of God. Yes, these sinful acts can co-exist with the new creation God grafted on to the old rootstock! But when I am in submission and yielded to Him, the fruit HE PRODUCES through me is different and remarkable:

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22

Thank goodness it really isn't about me!! It is about Him....

Therefore He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on the behalf of those who believe. Hebrews 7:25