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Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He was to say to you, "Why should I let you into My heaven?" what would you say?
Your eternal destiny is more important than the problems you may be facing, exploring educational options, or what's for dinner tonight! Please stay with me and let me share some Good News with you!
I am a good person and I don't think believing in a system of organized religion is necessary to go to heaven or have a relationship with God. "Many persons agree with what they think is the gospel intellectually, but mere agreement with a system of theological precepts means nothing in and of itself. Faith is much more than either intellectual assent or a way of life. It is total reliance on Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life and the only way to defeat death. Anything less than this degree of faith is a sterile exercise; moreover, agreement with church doctrine merely because it is church doctrine can easily lead to worship of the institutional church and its leadership, rather than seeking to do the will of God.
This leaves a seeker in a dilemma, for the question remains, “How do we get faith?” Can we be rewarded with faith by punctilious obedience to the commandments, or can we train ourselves to live into faith by repetitions of the Creeds? The answer is that we cannot. What God requires of us is infinitely more than being “pretty good” or “above average,” and we cannot make ourselves trust God. The standard for saving ourselves with our actions is that we must be as flawless as God is (Matthew 5:48), and none of us can be so impeccable in our deeds and desires. We each know that we can and do fail repeatedly in ways large and small. Practice does not make perfect; and – unlike Dorothy in Oz – we cannot wish ourselves home.
Faith is no less than a graceful gift from God, proffered by the Holy Spirit, and is not in any way merited by us. It is a life-ring thrown to us when we are drowning in entropy and our own sinfulness; and it is something that once given cannot be lost, for it makes us children of God forever.
But is it enough to have faith? The answer is yes, if faith is defined as a life-changing rebirth – first, into the recognition that we are doomed, cannot save ourselves, and desperately need a savior – and second, that our Savior is to be found only in Jesus Christ. Such faith is not abstract or empty of meaning, for it lives within us so that we might live. This is very different from mere moralism or intellectual agreement, which leaves us as dead as we were, for agreeing does not empower us to change how we relate to God. James means this very thing in his letter when he says, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (2:17)
So, in summary, while almost anyone can self-describe as “Christian,” neither a way of life nor intellectual agreement can bring us to Christ. Christ brings us to Christ. The good news is that the work of our salvation has already been accomplished, for the very Son of God loves us unlovable creatures so much that he died to remit the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2) and rose that we might rise again (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)."
God's gift of everlasting life in Heaven is a free gift! Heaven is a free gift (Romans 6:23). It is not earned or deserved (Ephesians 2:8-9). This can be seen more clearly when we look at what the Bible tells us about ourselves .
We aren't sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. That separates us from God. "Sin" is a fancy church word, isn't it? It literally means "to miss the mark." When I bring this up, often people tell me, "I try to go to church regularly," or "I try to do x, y, or z good things, but I can't seem to consistently do the right thing." My response is, you are human! God's Word, in Romans 3:23 tells us that "We have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God." Well, okay, but what does that mean? God's standard isn't just "doing good." His standard is perfection. "Be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48). God also tells us that His standard isn't limited to the big ones like lying, murder, or theft, but looking at another with lust (Matthew 5:28) or anger in our heart. We can not, in and of ourselves muster up the will to go to church, not want what others have, or even think nice thoughts toward those who are unkind to us! When we fail to attain God's standard -- perfection -- and we CANNOT -- we are by nature sinners.
God is merciful, and doesn't want to punish us, but is just and must punish sin. Remember that His standard isn't just "being good," or "going to church," but perfection? I John 4:8, Exodus 34:7 "Sin" isn't just a fancy church word, but literally means "missing the mark." For example, I've never been an axe-murderer, and am generally ok, but 'miss God's mark' of perfection.
OK, then, how is Jesus important? The Bible tells us that Jesus is both God and man (John 1:1). Remember how God said sin must be punished? It's with death. (Romans 6:23) But because God loves you and me, He came to earth to pay the penalty for our sin on our behalf (Isaiah 53:6) . This song reminds me of working in a law firm and the lawyers asked for favor on behalf of their clients. It's a cute little ditty, but I think it explains things quite nicely.
This is where "faith" comes in. "Faith" is a nice word for believing that something is what it says. For example, I bought a can of green beans in the grocery, and when I opened the can for dinnertime, I expected green beans to be inside, not corn. The Bible says to have faith in Jesus Christ alone for everlasting life. (Acts 16:31) However, there is a caveat: "Faith" isn't just believing in your head! James 2:19 tells us that even the demons "believe"! (And shake in fear) "Faith" in this sense means to transfer trust from yourself to Jesus Christ. In other words, we will not get to heaven to live with Him forever because our parents were Christians, because we "try" to live by the Ten Commandments, because we're just good, decent folk. The only way to live forever in heaven is to believe (or cling to) the finished work of Jesus as the debt paid in full for our sin. |
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