Thursday, April 30, 2015

The Lamb Was Slain - Thank God!

             I posted a tweet recently that was simply this: "Jesus didn't die so some of us could be good - He died because He knew none of us can be."

             It was in response to something I had read that day. Here's the quote: "When you wake up in the morning and the devil is against you and wants to ruin your day before it even starts, you put on your bandana, war paint, and grab your machete and tell him where to go!"

             I so appreciate the sentiment behind this quote. I truly do. We are a people in America who want to, "go after it" and as Tullian Tchividjian says, "We would rather have someone tell us that it will take a lot of work on our part, than tell us there is nothing we can do". The problem is - there really is nothing we can do and before you write angry comments remember - I didn't say it - Jesus did.
             This ongoing sermon series of, "picking yourself up by your bootstraps" we preach in America and other western nations was not something preached by Jesus or by the preachers in the New Testament. Frankly - this view is not scriptural at all - for two main reasons.
1. It GREATLY over-exaggerates the human ability to do the right thing with the right motive at the right time, all the time.
and
2. It GREATLY underestimates our inescapable, omnipresent need for a savior, when compared with the height of the perfection that Jesus lived.
            It also completely misses the clear, scriptural fact that the life of Jesus was lived much more as a sacrifice for us, than as an example to us. Not because the Lord is not worthy of emulation, but because He is simply not able to be emulated by sinners like us! We are not capable, in our fallen form, with or without Christ, to reflect Him accurately for anything more than a split second here and there. Please understand - I do not say this to bring guilt to my brothers and sisters, but to bring the  liberty your heart has been craving. When we understand and grasp the fact that we are SOOO lacking and still have a Savior willing to shed God's blood in His pursuit of us, it changes us at a fundamental level, and simply changes how we wish to operate.
            I do not feel guilty as often. I am changing because as I fall in love with Jesus, I simply don't want the same things. I still fall (often) - but that becomes a secondary issue because my faith is about the finished work of Jesus, and the lost still here, and not about me working selfishly to please a God who is already pleased at the expense of loving those who need Him desperately. The more our life becomes about them the less we will sin. It is a natural byproduct of serving, and getting outside ourselves, as we know as Christians that all sin comes out of us according to Jesus in Matthew 15:11. 
             Now this doesn't mean that we won't sin even in the middle of our service to Him (ie. our pride, arrogance, Pharisaism creeps in, at some level, as it exists in all of us) - it just means that the fact we are sinners loses it's power to manipulate us when we realize that it's not really about us anyway, It's about them - and that our sin is not really even the issue.
            Understanding my own weakness, and God's love and mercy in spite of it, helps me to understand that because I am loved, I begin to DESIRE to change. I am no longer obsessively compelled to change myself by guilt and fear. I now just WANT to do the right thing more than I did, but I also see that the "right thing" is no longer selfishly about me and my sinlessness - it's about them and their need for Jesus love. I don't need to report to big brother - I'm just trying to love my brother - because the battle is already won. I do not fear my redeemer - I seek Him out of sheer delight, and don't obey out of fear that if I don't, I will lose favor with Him, or disappoint Him. I want to live like Jesus because I love Him - and I just don't want to let a loved-one down. I do not fear God's wrath or reprisal - I understand that if God says it's the best way - It's the best way and I can trust Him. I believe Him - because He is good - even when I can't trust myself.
             I wrote a song for Easter years ago whose chorus just says this - "The Lamb was slain - The Lamb was slain - Thank God!" (BTW - You can hear it at www.ronbakerjr.com/music/thelambwasslain.mp3 if you want.)
              Praise God today that only one good (Jesus) was enough - then to live free in the love He gives freely, and you will see quickly that there are plenty of other people just as need of a savior as you are. Understand that 1 Corinthians 13 speaks truth when it tells us that Love never fails - even when we do. The Lamb was slain - Thank GOD!

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