Have you ever gone over to the hardware store and bought what you believed to be the right components to do a job around the house, got the stuff home, only to find that you were missing something essential? I mean, seriously, it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. "How many trips to home repair store does it take to repair your home?" You just wish, at times, that someone or something could give you a hand, a list, a set of instructions, something that would make sure you got everything you needed to accomplish the task at hand.
I can't tell you how many voices out there tell me (us) to "back off". You know. Stop all this "Jesus is the only way" stuff. Quit with the serious, step-by-step explanations about sin and damnation and "What must I do to be saved?" clamor. "Look," they tell me, "Jesus is all about grace. Do you think he's going to limit his grace to your little formula? No, no, just believe. That's enough."
That's one of those "helpful" little visits to the hardware store. You feel like you got what you need. You think you have the essentials to accomplish your aim. And then you get to the gate and say, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" Imagine your shock when you hear, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness" (Matt 7:22-23). And, you see, it's there, at that gate, you don't want to find out that you didn't have everything you needed, right? Because you can't go back to the store and get it anymore.
Somehow it sounds kinder, gentler, more gracious to say "Jesus is all about grace" and "Jesus is the Way; it's not about works" and all that. It does. It really does. It sounds more inclusive, you know? Much broader than "Repent and believe." So narrow, you know? But I, as a follower of Christ, read where Christ (you know, the One I'm following) said, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt 7:13-14), and I'm forced to conclude ... I don't know ... that the gate is narrow, the way is hard, and few find it. Jesus didn't sound very inclusive there. Nor did John seem to be saying that works are no issue when he said, "Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36). You see? "Obey" is not incidental. It is integral.
Jesus told His disciples, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). (Yes, that same "Jesus" whom we call "Christ" ... in the term, "Christian".) James said, "Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). So we are saved by faith apart from works, but the effect of that salvation ... is works. John wrote, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:9). "Cannot keep on sinning." In that vein, Paul told us to "Work out your salvation" and even "with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12). Now if works were of no effect in salvation, in what sense could he say that? He doesn't leave it there, of course, He tells us that "it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil 2:13). So this work isn't in a vacuum. It isn't "Knuckle under and get to it!" But neither is it, "There are no works in view in your salvation." In fact, right there in the "saved by grace through faith apart from works" passage (Eph 2:8-9) is "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10). "For." The reason we are saved by grace through faith.
You see, I'm not trying to be mean or narrow or ... well, wait ... yes, there definitely is narrowness in there. Jesus used the term. But it isn't a case of "Obey or die!" It is a case of "If you love Him, you will obey His commandments." That is, I haven't the arrogance to say, "Yeah, but He didn't mean all that." No, this is by way of full disclosure. I don't want you to make the trip to the gates of heaven and find out you didn't get everything you needed while you were here.
1 comment:
I remember working on my kitchen sink when I lived in California and going to Home Depot five times before it was fixed. It was a nightmare. Pluming will never be my day job.
I would have to include myself in that group. For many years I worked for a Christian ministry and shared the 4 Laws with college students. I would show them the circle of a person with self on the throne and a person with Christ on the throne. If they wanted Christ on the throne all they had to do is pray this prayer even though I communicated that the prayer itself won't save a person. If they prayed the prayer and their life did not change I would share with them the Blue booklet where there are three kinds of people. My desire was to get the "carnal" Christian to make a commitment and allow Christ to be The Lord of their life. It was the simple act of the will that a person can go from point A to point B. Repentance was hardly even mentioned and with no significant study in doctrine, I believed what my leaders taught me. I wonder now how many people I deceived in thinking that people that they are Christians but still slaves to sin?
I went to the hardware store many times in those 16 years to try to be better prepared in presenting the gospel. Some of those trips were really helpful. The ministry really helped me grow as a Christian but their synergistic view of the gospel can cause a person to believe that he is a Christian when he is not and will be surprised when God tells him to depart from His presence.
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