One of the arguments opponents of
the theology of God’s radical grace is this: If you believe that once you are
saved you are always saved, or that there is nothing you can do to lose your
salvation then that means you can just do anything you want and Heaven still
awaits you and you are giving people a license to sin. They accuse us of
believing that the law no longer matters. Instead, contrary to what one might
think, what occurs when you understand this concept is the exact opposite. When
the understanding of the true nature of God’s radical grace invades our spirit,
the law actually becomes stricter because we can believe what the Bible
actually says, rather than what we believe it means. Let me give you an example.
In Matthew 5:27 Jesus says these strong words in the Sermon
on the mount.
27 “You have heard that it was
said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who
looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
When we underestimate our own badness or overestimate our own goodness we lower the height of God’s perfection. We force
ourselves to have to read more into the Bible than what is actually written in order to feel we are, "making the grade" and
we end up trying to explain away God’s holiness by telling people that this scripture
just means, “We need to do everything we can to avoid lustful thoughts or we
may fall into sin.”
I think we can all agree - that is
NOT what that passage says. It has been diminished so people can say and even believe, that they are living up to
it.
I think that the main reason so many have this mindset today is founded
in one easy-to-miss, but super-important point that is not understood by many in our churches. According to the words of Jesus here - our sin begins at its
conception - not at its inception. Because of a flawed picture of ourselves and
the nature of God, we are constantly striving to justify ourselves to God by what we do or don't do. When we
do this, we miss the clear teaching of Jesus intended show us that the first passing
thought is already sin. Let me type that slower. The first – passing – thought.
We believe that if the sinful thought
never reaches the point of costing us something, than it wasn't a sin. We say
things to ourselves like, “if it just passed through my mind then God was
pleased with me for being so strong." or when a hateful thought about someone
else goes through our head, even with good reason, but we don’t say anything out loud – we say to ourselves - “That
wasn't a sin. It was strong and Christlike of me to hold back those words.”
Please understand - the point I am making here is while
knowing when to keep your mouth shut, or to avoid a particular temptation may be
good things, from looking at the words in the passage above, I don’t think
Jesus would agree that there was no sin involved just because we didn't actually physically engage in the act or say the words. Sin always begins in our mind
before it turns into action and according to Jesus it is a sin the moment it is
conceived of.
Now think about this with me for a second – Even if you're still mad because I told you that you are bad when you were thinking you were good all this
time – stay with me. Doesn't viewing this passage, and God’s law this highly paint the life our Lord lived in a
whole new, unmistakably incredibly holy light! He is lifted up. We are brought low. If we believe in anything less
than a perfect, unwavering God aren't we short-changing the true majesty and
beauty of our perfect Creator? If so – we are missing out on something special.
This is why it is so undeniably
arrogant and silly for pastors to preach that they honestly believe they can go
long periods of time without sinning, and teach others that they can too. If
your pastor says that – RUN AWAY!! These false-teachers certainly don’t believe
all of what Jesus said. They only believe the softened version of it that keeps
them in their own good graces while God just sighs and continues to love them
through it anyway – because He is love. These preachers also lead others into
pride and arrogance and a self-serving faith that is much more rooted in what
they do for God than what God, in Jesus, has already done for them. This view
diminishes Jesus accomplishments and lifts up mans. It is the sin of foolish
pride - plain and simple.
Jesus says harsh words like these
in several places in the Bible only because He wants us to know that we are ALL
guilty before a perfect God and there is no other option other than to run to
Him and get forgiven, and get a hug. There is no other way to find peace – no
other way to be free. The Gospel only becomes good news when we see it is not
dependent upon us. Understanding this sets us free to just love imperfect
people just like us imperfectly (downright poorly sometimes), and watch what
Jesus does anyway. Remember, folks - it is finished. I didn’t say it – Jesus did - and that’s
good enough for me.
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