Swimming Upstream

You'd think it would be easy. We have one message--the Gospel. We have one story--Christ crucified. Every religion on the planet offers, "Be good and get to a better place," but we have something different to say. "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:8-9) Wow! What a difference! What a message! No other religion offers a message like that. Clear. Straightforward. Simple.

So why is it that so many don't seem to get it? Talk to most people and they'll tell you that being a Christian is being good. "Murderers don't get to heaven," they'll tell you because everyone knows that sinners don't go to heaven but good people do. They'll hold up signs about gays going to Hell or they'll warn their friends that suicide is a one-way ticket to perdition. Talk to unbelievers and that's what they think. Talk to Christians and that's what a lot of them think. They'll affirm "saved by faith" on one hand and then assure you on the other that it's a matter of earning your salvation. Oh, my, no, they won't use those words. But that's what it boils down to.

After awhile I begin to realize that I'm swimming upstream against a powerful current. Both proponents and opponents are telling me that Christianity is just another morality code. I can sit down with someone, spell out the Gospel step by step, clearly and without equivocation, absolutely denying "saved by works" and holding firmly and constantly to "saved by faith", and they'll nod and tell me things like, "I'm trying." Trying? What does that mean? How do you try? You believe, or you do not. You place your confidence in Christ, or you do not. It isn't something that can be tried.

Now, of course, I get some of the confusion. In the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25:31-46), Jesus tells of the nations gathered in judgment. There are two groups--the sheep and the goats. The sheep are those who cared about Christ by caring about people and the goats are those who ... did not. Sheep are welcomed into His presence, and goats are sent to eternal punishment. What is the difference between the two? One well-known Christian said it was "what they did or didn't do." And there you are ... a "saved by works" gospel. But I say that the difference between the sheep and the goats was that sheep are sheep and goats are goats. The sheep acted according to their character, and the goats according to theirs. Look, "sheep" is not defined as "a furry thing that is a sheep if it is well-behaved or a goat if it is not." That's not how it works.

So when you hear those well-meaning but confused folk who are trying to tell you, "Works have nothing to do with it," you can be sure that they're missing the message. The one born of God assaults sin in his or her life because we have the seed of God (1 John 3:9). We change because it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). Because we love Christ, we seek to obey His commandments (John 14:15). Faith produces works (James 2:20). So I get the confusion. There are works involved. Just not works for salvation.

Getting that across seems to be more difficult than I could imagine. The glorious good news of "Saved by grace through faith" seems to fall on deaf ears. The wonderful "It is God who is at work in you" seems to confuse rather than clarify. And I'm not sure what to do.

Jesus spoke of three kinds of people (Matt 11:15). There are, first, two types. Some have "ears" and some don't. Spiritual ears, of course. But of those who have "ears", some hear and some don't. Statistically, then, it's a rather small number who 1) have ears and 2) hear. Or, as Jesus put it, "The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt 7:14) So I want to be careful. I want to tell people--Christians and not--that we are not saved by works, but by grace through faith. And I need to remember that a large number won't hear it. No amount of wisdom, reason, logic, evidence, or cogent presentation is going to get that across. Blinded by the god of this world, they're just not going to see it. So I'll do my best to make it clear and count on the One who can wake the dead (Eph 2:4-7) to get it across when He plans to do so. Because most of the time I'm just swimming against the current.