Is Jesus Religious, Part 5


The Second thing that happens when we emphasize Law over Grace, and accountability over Love, is that people begin to hide from one another. Assuming we all sin, which I’m certain we do, then it makes very little sense to treat people as anything other than forgiven sinners. God saved us when we were His enemies (Romans 5), not when or because we got things figured out. If the Law of Life is appropriated by grace through faith, then the same grace through faith prevails from day one through eternity in our lives. We do not come to a place in our lives in which we are no longer in need of God’s grace. And if we need it, so does the person I condemn. And if Jesus gives us grace when we sin, why would we withhold it from others? And if we withhold it from others, how do we not understand that we are encouraging the sinner, including our self, to hide the sin that we share in common, since I cannot count on your mercy if I am exposed for who I am. And if I cannot count on your mercy, why would I admit or confess anything to you, for I know full well that grace will not be the result. It becomes a vicious cycle marked by people believing themselves more righteous than they actually are, hiding those things that most certainly need God’s grace to change within us, and living in darkness rather than the wonderful Light of God’s mercy and grace. As the story of the Adulterous Woman in John 8 teaches and highlights, forgiveness and grace precede repentance, and true repentance is impossible without the reality of God’s grace appropriated by faith (See Romans 5 and Ephesians 2). To judge and condemn is the exact opposite of what Jesus came to earth to accomplish (John 3:17) He came to change us, and grace is the only hope we have for genuine Christ-like change. If you are counting on anything else, you are placing your faith in a Law that can never change anyone, for the Law has no transformative power when it comes to our sin, as Paul clearly declares in Romans 3:  ¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

 

The sum total is this. Do you desire to be a follower of Jesus, or a religious person? Are you concerned about your reputation, or Jesus’? Do you love your enemy with the same passion and compassion as you would your own child? And do you give to others the same grace, love and mercy that God has freely given to you in Christ? If not , it just might mean that your faith is more a religion than relationship; that your life is more reflective of Moses than Jesus; and that your love for people is restricted to those you think deserve it, rather than those who most desperately need it. This, my brother and sister, is the difference between being religious and having a relationship with the Living God through Christ. This, my brother and sister, is the difference between being a good church member, or a redeemed sinner whose only Home is within the loving presence that we Call The Body of Christ.

 

Now, the next important question becomes why? Why forgive? To answer this question we must first consider God’s motives for forgiving. In Daniel 9 there is a prayer that gives incredible insight into why Daniel believed God forgives. It is not for Daniels’s sake, or the people’s sake, but for His own sake. God forgives because it is brings a great amount of pleasure and Glory to himself. Verses 18 and 19 make it clear that he is pleading for forgiveness for His people because of what their condemnation and exile have done to His own name. If we turn this toward ourselves, we can easily see that a lack of forgiveness from us first destroys our own name, the Body of Christ, but dishonors God’s name as well. In Romans 2 Paul discusses what happens when we judge and condemn each other. When we do so, we are simply highlighting our own condition, the truth that we in fact also deserve condemnation. When we judge another Paul makes it clear we are simply condemning ourselves, for the same Law or standard we use to judge is the same Law or standard that will also be used against us. We are all guilty of violating it, and as James makes clear, to violate at one point is the same as violating it all. By the time Paul finished with Romans 3 he will make it clear we all stand condemned by the Law we use to judge others.

The interesting thing about Daniel’s prayer is that he categorized himself with the people who bear the judgment of God for sin. He does not say, “they have sinned”, but instead, “we have sinned”. Though he was at most a child when the captivity began, and nothing more than a gleam in this mother’s eye when the sins that led to captivity were being committed, Daniel viewed himself not as a righteous man who deserved deliverance, but as a sinful man who is just as responsible for the captivity by Babylon as his forefathers. He was a sinner pleading for God’s grace with his people, not a leader of his people holding up accountability as the necessary outcome. Daniel makes it clear that the righteous judgment of God upon His people does damage to God’s own name. He therefore pleads for God’s mercy, so that His name might be restored, so that His city might be honored, so that His people might be called by His name. It is not condemnation that brings glory, but mercy and forgiveness. Dear people of God, by the time we read Rev. 21 we are that city, we are that people. God’s desire is to make us spotless, and this will not be accomplished through judgment and condemnation, accountability and focusing on shortcomings. It can only be accomplished through the grace and mercy of God, just as in Daniel chapter 9. If you are somehow convinced that your righteous living is what will usher in the Kingdom of God, I am afraid you have missed the boat and are on a road that will take you as far from God as you can travel, until the day you stand shoulder to shoulder with the righteous New Testament Law keepers that we call The Pharisees. Can you not understand that the only path that leads us to the cross is the way of the cross, a people who acknowledge their sin in order to find grace and mercy as opposed to judgment and condemnation? The only vehicle God has made for true transformation is grace, lived out through love, as we offer ourselves to others just as if their eyes and hands were the eyes and hands of Jesus Himself.