I met an interesting fellow at the coffee shop the other day. I had been intently studying while he was focused on his computer at the next table. He started to get his things together, ready to go. He stood up to leave, but then started talking to me.

“Has anyone close to you ever died?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “How about you?”

“Yes,” he said.”It changes things, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does. Who was it for you?” I wanted to know.

“My brother.”

I wanted to push this conversation further. “How did it change you?”

“It caused me to realize that life is too short to be a slave to anyone or anything.” His face was intent. It seemed that tears might come at any moment. Earnestness exuded from his very stance and look.

He talked for a few more minutes about time clocks, reviews, money, and rat races. He explained that the important things were integrity, honesty, and courage. Before I could push on this sensitive topic anymore, he thanked me for listening, turned without awaiting my response, and walked out the door. I never even got his name.

But I thought a lot about what he said, especially since what I had been so intently studying when he started the conversation was Romans, which begins:

“Paul, a servant [bondslave] of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God…” (Romans 1:1, ESV)

Keep in mind what Paul is striving to accomplish in these opening sentences and paragraphs. He is writing to a congregation he didn’t establish, to Christians he didn’t know and didn’t convert. He had to begin with the ethos of  ancient rhetoric; that is, he needed to begin by establishing his credibility. Why should these Roman Christians listen to what he wrote about anything?

When the ancients would take up this part of their rhetoric, they would talk about their exploits, their expertise, their experiences. They would mention battles they had won, victories they had achieved, commissions they had fulfilled. How did Paul begin?

“Listen to me, I’m a slave of Christ Jesus.”

We can understand the declaration of apostleship that comes next, but slavery? They should listen because he is a slave?

Absolutely.

Why?

Because a slave of the Imperial Ruler of All the Universe has more authority than a freed man in this world.

On the one hand I agree with my new acquaintance whom I hope to meet again. Life is too short to be a slave to time clocks, annual reviews, paychecks, houses, cars, gizmos, gadgets, rat races, politics, passions, pleasures. Life is definitely too short to be enslaved to alcohol, drugs, sex, food, gambling, pornography, money, etc.

On the other hand, I disagree. Life is too short to not be a slave of Jesus Christ.

The fact is we are all slaves of something or someone (cf. Romans 6:19-23). Whose slave will you be today?

What on earth is God looking for? Wouldn’t you like to give it to Him?

 “But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

–Jesus the Christ to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:23)

What is God looking for? He is looking for true worshipers.

Do you know what that means?

God is not looking for moral people; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for good people; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for grateful people; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for humble people; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for friendly people; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for spiritual people; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for church-goers; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for believers; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for baptized people; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for Christians; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for followers; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is not looking for leaders; He is looking for true worshipers.

God is looking for true worshipers who worship in spirit and truth.

Can He find one where you’re sitting?

(P.S. At the risk of decreasing the force of the statements, I hope you can easily recognize the ellipses in these statements.)

In an increasingly ungodly America, God’s people can choose to run around in a panic like chickens with our heads cut off. Or we can remember that God is a God that works for His glory always, take refuge in Him, and walk His paths no matter what. The Psalmist provides us with a fabulous prayer to offer as God’s people in the midst of rebels.

Psalm 5

Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my king and my God,
for to you do I pray.
O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

for you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in fear of you.
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.

For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.

When I realized I could start my day without prayer, but not without coffee, I knew I had a problem.

When I realized I could go a whole day without getting into God’s book, but not without getting on Facebook, I knew I had a problem.

When I realized I could go a whole week without seeing any of my brethren, but not without seeing my favorite tv characters, I knew I had a problem.

When I realized I could go a whole month without recommending Jesus to anyone, but not without recommending my favorite movies, I knew I had a problem.

Probably more than one.

Not me. But this guy sure looks like he has problems too.

When I was in high school, some teachers graded on the curve. Is God doing the same thing with grace? Keep reading to find out.

Is God Gracing on the Curve?

When I was in high school, some teachers graded on the curve. What they meant by that was that if no one earned a 100% on a test, they would add to everyone’s score the difference between the highest score earned and 100%.

Thus, if the highest score anyone in the class made was a 92%, the teacher would add 8% to everyone’s grade. In my high school you had to have a 92% or higher to get an A. This grading on the curve was awesome. It meant if the highest grade actually earned was a 92% and I earned an 85%, the grade I received would actually be a 93%. I earned a B, but received an A. It also meant that I might earn a 59% on the test, which was an F, but would receive a 68%. That was a D, but at least it meant passing the class. Many of us loved the curve grading teachers. That is, unless we were in a class with a whiz who blew the curve all the time by actually getting 100%.

For the longest time, I pictured God’s grace as if He were grading on the curve. Obviously, I could never possibly score 100% on this test of life. I’ve already blown that. But, if I worked really, really hard I might score high enough that when God added His grace of the curve to my earned score at the end of life’s semester, I’d receive a high enough grade to graduate to heaven. Of course, part of this whole curve grading system means being better than most everyone else. After all, if you outstrip me by a bunch on the test, when God adds the curve percentage, it still won’t get me to the needed A on life’s test. It’s no wonder that the Pharisee of Luke 18 spent so much time trying to prove he was scoring so much higher on the test than other people.

But is that really what God is doing?

Of course not. After all, that picture will produce in our service to God the very same thing it produced in my high school classes. It will cause us all to try to figure out what is the least we need to do to get the curve to kick in and get us the rest of the way. Of course in life’s class, it might cause another problem. It might cause us to so despair of ever scoring high enough on our own to cause God’s grace to kick in that we just give up.

The real problem with grading on the curve is that it completely missed the point. The point of the class was not to make a grade. It was to master material. It was to learn information. People who wanted to master math were not as excited about the curve grading system as everyone else. Why? Because their goal was not simply to get a score that was good enough. They wanted to understand math. Therefore, they weren’t satisfied with doing just what it took to get a certain grade that would be bumped by the curve. They did whatever it took to master math.

Of course, here is where the analogy breaks down. Some people are smart enough to master math. But on life’s test, we’ve all failed. As Romans 3:23 explains, we’ve all fallen short of God’s 100% glory. What is even worse is that when we did that, as Romans 6:16 explains, we became slaves of sin. Rather than mastering, we were mastered. Then Romans 7:14-24 demonstrates that in that state, none of us can master life’s fight against sin. We’re doomed. What makes this worse is that there really was a whiz who blew the curve. Jesus set the example of perfect living. He showed that it could be done. We who have already blown it are left without excuse.

Now, some people in this situation keep hoping for the curve. They keep just trying hard and hoping they are in the upper percentiles that earn a good enough grade to get God’s nudge into heaven. But that isn’t what grace is about. Grace isn’t about nudging us into heaven even while we continue to languish in our ignorant sinning. Grace is about empowering us to master life. It is not about giving us some kind of propositional nudge to make the grade. It is about giving us the strength to overcome sin.

Grace is like some other teachers I had in high school that took a different approach. They didn’t grade on a curve. Rather, they offered themselves as helpers and tutors. If you weren’t mastering the material, they didn’t just want to add points to your score. They invited you to connect with them and gain from their vast knowledge and their one-on-one help to fill you with the ability to master the material.

That is the better picture of God’s grace. He isn’t asking you to try your hardest and if you measure up as one of the highest scorers in your class, He’ll tack on some grace points so you can go on into heaven. Rather, He is opening His door to you. He is offering Himself to you to fill you with His strength to overcome (cf. II Corinthians 12:7-10; Philippians 2:12-13; 4:13).

The real question is do you want to master the material? Is God and His holiness really your delight? Or are you hoping for a curve so that you can hang on to some of your sinning and unholiness but still get bumped up to the heaven class?

You know, one of the things I find really interesting about this, is that the folks who were looking to be graded on a curve didn’t like the folks who were looking to master the material very much. They viewed them as the curve blowers. So, if you are relying on God’s grace to help you master the material, don’t be surprised when the folks who view grace as grading on the curve keep getting mad at you.

Online and face-to-face discussions abound about grace, work, and salvation. People on all sides fuss and feud, casting accusations, knocking down straw men, looking down noses. How can we cut through all the mess and see what God has really said about grace? I think there are pictures of grace throughout the Bible that mark the way of God’s grace. One such picture is the lame beggar in Acts 3.

Healing Stories are Salvation Stories

First, we need to understand that Jesus and the apostles didn’t go around healing people because they had a healing ministry. They healed people for two reasons. 1) As a testimony from God that they and their teaching were from God. This is highlighted in Hebrews 2:3-4. 2) As analogies of salvation. This becomes especially clear when comparing Jesus’s interaction with the sinful woman at Simon’s house in Luke 7:36-50 and Jesus’s interaction with the woman with an issue of blood in Luke 8:40-48. The first account ends with “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” The second ends with, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace.” The Greek for these two phrases is exactly the same. Being saved and being made well is the same word and concept. Healing stories are analogies for salvation stories.

The Lame Beggar’s Healing; Our Salvation

As we work through the Lame Beggar’s healing story, we actually see a mirror of our salvation story. Examine some parallels that we need to grasp about our salvation, God’s grace, and our work.

#1: The goal of salvation is a walk we can’t do on our own

The goal for the lame man is clearly walking, continued, on-going walking. The goal was not a feeling in his legs. The goal was not a dream of walking. The goal was not belief in his ability to walk. The goal was walking. But this man couldn’t walk. He was lame from birth. There was no way for him to walk.

We need to understand the goal of our salvation is also walking. Ephesians 2:1 explained that as sinners our walk was broken. Ephesians 2:10 explains that we have been saved by God in order to walk in His good works. The goal of salvation is walking. Interestingly, in Ephesians 4-6, Paul describes the walk 5 times (Ephesians 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15). This is a walk we cannot do on our own. There is a difference in the beggar’s story and ours. We are not sinners from birth, but having submitted to sin, it has become our master and we are no longer able to walk God’s way (cf. Romans 6:16; 7:14-24).

#2: Salvation requires a faith-filled response

Don’t miss this. The lame beggar was laying on his backside. Peter gave him a command, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” The lame man had to cooperate with that command. If he had not believed Peter, he would have resisted Peter’s aid in lifting him up to walk. When Peter told him to get up, he did.

Ananias’s words to Paul as recorded in Acts 22:16 provide a parallel for us. “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” Do you believe you will be saved by God when you obey this command? Jesus is offering you salvation, healing from your sin-sickness, power over your sin-lameness. He is reaching His hand down to lift you up. Will you cooperate by obeying His command to rise and be baptized to have your sins washed away?

#3: God’s power does the healing

Was the power that healed the lame man bound up in his faithful response? No. It was God’s power that healed him. The authority for healing came from Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This man did not strengthen his own legs by his faithful response. Only Jesus had that power.

In the same way, while we cooperate with the command of God, obeying it, the power for salvation doesn’t come from our working. It is God’s working that provides the salvation. Thus, in Colossians 2:12 it is through faith in the working of God that we are saved by baptism, not through faith in our work of baptism. Thus, in Titus 3:5, Paul claims that we are not saved by works done by us in righteousness. Surrendering to God as a faith-based response is not asking God to save us because of our righteousness. It is admitting that salvation only comes through God and His working, so we simply surrender to His word and work. Baptism then, submitted to properly, is not a work of our righteousness. It is a submission to the working of God. Of course, some do not submit to baptism properly, and instead believed they are saved because they were so righteous as to be baptized.

#4: Walk like you have been healed

What did the man do after he was healed? He went walking, leaping, and praising God. He lived as a healed man. How ridiculous would it be for him to be healed, but then go back to living as a beggar? How ridiculous would it be for him to continue laying at the gate of the temple, begging for money, having people carry him around? He’s been healed; he needs to get up and walk.

In like manner, if you are in Christ, you have been saved. You have been taken from death to life. You have been given the power to walk. You need to walk like it. Again, consider Ephesians. The first half of the book explains what God has done, healing us by His grace. The blood of Jesus drew us to God, saved us by God’s grace. Then the last half of the book explains the implications of this for us. The implication is not that we can continue to sit on our backsides like lame beggars. The point is that we have now been empowered to walk; so get up and walk. Ephesians 2:1-5 explains that we were dead in our sins and trespasses, but God made us alive. Shouldn’t living people behave differently than dead people? You have been made alive; quit acting like a dead person. Shouldn’t healed people behave differently than lame people? You have been healed; quit acting like a lame person.

#5: Give God the glory when you walk

The lame man didn’t just go about walking and leaping. He went about walking and leaping and praising God. Why praise God? After all, walking and leaping isn’t that big of a deal, is it? Additionally, isn’t he walking and leaping based on the strength in his legs and back? Isn’t he walking based on his own choice and his own volition? Yet, despite all of that, he is praising God for every step because the one thing this man knows is if it weren’t for God, he wouldn’t be walking. For the rest of his life, this man knew that every step he took was based on the power and healing of God. Was he cooperating? Of course. Was he working? Absolutely. But he knew he wasn’t walking just because he was so awesome at it. He was walking because of the empowering strength of God. He wasn’t walking in order to be healed; he had been healed in order to walk. So when he went walking and leaping, he did so praising God.

When you have been walking as a Christian, God should be glorified. Anyone who has grasped, as Paul did in Romans 7:13-24, the complete inability to walk in God’s will recognizes the need to praise and glorify God when they actually walk in His will. They don’t bring their walk to God trying to impress Him with their power. They bring their walk to God thanking Him for the empowering strength that lifted them up on their spiritual legs. Like Gideon with the 300, they know that they can’t boast over God about their victories (Judges 7). They know they aren’t winning the victory because of their power and strength. They are only winning the victory because of God’s power. They understand this, they aren’t walking in order to be healed; they were healed in order to walk. Therefore, they praise and glorify God for their healing and the power to walk.

#6: Don’t atrophy

Let’s face it. We’ve all heard of people who have been given the power to work, but decide they would rather beg. After having spent his entire life laying at the temple gate, this man could have decided that he wanted to go back to that life. A walking man, working to provide for himself might seem like too much responsibility. It was one thing to walk and leap the day he was healed. That seemed exciting. But what would happen the next day when it came time for him to get food to eat? Would he walk like a healed man or go back to laying around like a lame beggar? This seems odd, but even Israel looked back at slavery in Egypt with longing when walking with the Lord seemed hard. What would happen if this man went back to his begging ways, laying around, convincing everyone he was lame again, having people carry him instead of walking? His healed legs would atrophy. They would lose their ability to walk.

The same is true for us. We enter Christ through our faith-filled response to His offer of healing grace. We walk, leap, and praise God in our newfound spiritual living. But then the birds come to strip the seed away, the sun comes up and bears down on us, the weeds grow and distract us (cf. Matthew 13:1-23). How will we react? Will we continue to walk in the power of God or will we look longingly back to the days of lameness and begging? I know this sounds ridiculous, but somehow Satan can make the slavery to sin seem appealing even after we have known the misery of its bonds. If we go back to that behavior, our spiritual strength will atrophy. The spiritual muscles we had been exercising will become flabby and powerless again. Yes, despite what many say, if we refuse to walk God’s way, exercising the spiritual strength He has given us, we will lose the strength. We will lose the healing and salvation God gave us.

The Whole Picture

I hope you can see the whole picture without getting distracted by each part. God offers His healing grace to lame beggars. We gain access to that grace through a faith-filled response. That grace empowers us to walk God’s way. Yet, when we have walked God’s way, we glorify Him and not ourselves knowing that we don’t walk in order to impress God so He will heal us, but understanding that we are walking because He has healed us. Since we are healed, we need to walk like it or we’ll atrophy and lose our spiritual strength. This is a picture of God’s grace.

I hope this picture helps you in your walk.

Don’t look at a map. Which way do you have to drive from Reno, Nevada to get to San Diego, California? Do you need to go north or south? Do you need to go east or west? Think about it. Got your answer? Keep reading to find out the truth.

What did you say? If you are like most, you said southwest. After all California is west of Nevada, right? However, San Diego is actually SouthEAST of Reno. Don’t believe me? Scroll down to the map at the bottom of this post.

Why does this matter at all?

I recently read what I think is actually going to be one of the best books on studying the Bible. Yet, it actually has nothing to do with studying the Bible. The name of the book is Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan. He presents the San Diego/Reno question on p.118.

As I read this book, I realized that several of the mistakes he mentions find their way into my study of the Bible. The name of the chapter that shared this wonderful bit of trivia in answer to the question of why we make mistakes is “We Like Things Tidy.” That is, we don’t really like things complex.

We all know California is west of Nevada. However, even though we all know California bends, when we think about directions from any point in Nevada to any point in California, most of us naturally envision traveling west. We straighten California out in our minds and don’t even realize we are doing that. Then we miss the question.

I even took up Hallinan’s challenge to ask some friends (though I didn’t do it as a bar bet like he suggested, but explaining that is at least two more posts). I was with a group of Christians at McDonald’s the other night (yes, I eat at McDonald’s; and yes, I’m sure that means you’re better than me). I asked seven people this question. They all said west. When I explained the truth about California bending underneath Nevada, one of them, a guy who takes an annual trip to Nevada, even said something like, “No, California doesn’t go that far east.” I had to call up the map on my phone.

He immediately asked this question. Which American League baseball team plays the farthest north? That answer is obvious: the Toronto Blue Jays. After all, they are in Canada and Canada is north of the USA. But then again, Seattle, Washington is actually north of Toronto, Ontario. Who would have thought? Once again, we like things neat and tidy.

We Like Our Bibles Tidy

This principle impacts our Bible study. The problem is we like our Bibles tidy. We like simple. We like to boil things down to soundbites, pithy points, and power statements. Certainly there is a place for those. But we have to realize their danger.

We like simplified lists. Do you remember those picture timelines of the kings of Israel and Judah in your childhood Bible classroom? The “good” ones had smiles and the “bad” ones had frowns. Manasseh who repented late in life still had a frown. And  Joash who because he repaired the temple had a smile even though at the end of his reign he rebelled against God and had Zechariah assassinated. Maybe being a good or bad king wasn’t so tidy.

We all know that 10 tribes went with Jeroboam forming the northern kingdom of Israel. Only 2 tribes stayed with Rehoboam–Judah and Benjamin. Oh, but wait, the Levites also went with Rehoboam. And then as you read through the history, you find that people from the 10 tribes repatriated to Judah. You also learn that land went back and forth between the kingdoms. And, of course, we all know that those 10 tribes are lost. And yet in Luke 2:36, Anna the daughter of Phanuel is of the tribe of Asher. Hmm, perhaps not so lost after all.

Further, we don’t think of a divided kingdom until Rehoboam. David was the second king of the United Kingdom period. And this may be a great way to remember time periods. But the kingdom was divided when David came to power. For seven years and six months, David only reigned over Judah (cf. 2 Samuel 5:5). Then there is the time when the kingdom was divided into three parts because half of Israel followed after Omri as king and the other half followed after Tibni (1 Kings 16:21).

We, of course, know that the tabernacle was housed in Jerusalem until the Temple was built. That is simple, straightforward, and tidy. But do you remember that when Samuel was ministering before the Lord as a child, he did so at the tabernacle in Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:3). That is not too hard to swallow. After all, things can move. But then comes the untidy bit. David brought the Ark to Jerusalem and put it in the tent he had prepared for it in 1 Chronicles 15-16. But in I Chronicles 16:37-40, there is the tent for the Ark in Jerusalem and the tabernacle for sacrifices in Gibeon. Further, when Solomon wanted to seek the Lord at the beginning of his reign, he took the assembly of God’s people to the tent of meeting in Gibeon, even though the Ark of the Covenant was in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 1:2-6). That was where he prayed for wisdom and received it.

On and on I could go with these kinds of examples.

I’ve especially learned that we like the Bible to be tidy on Facebook. Facebook (and Twitter for that matter) is a hotbed of decontextualized pithy, power statements that sometimes sound good, even are good, but must rarely be seen as all-encompassing outlooks on the Word of God and glorifying Him.I have fallen prey to this. A few weeks ago, I was reading Galatians 2 and was reminded of vs. 20 again.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The verse particularly moved me that day and so I decided to comment on Facebook about it. Here’s what I said:

I was feeling really good about myself until a good brother sent me a private message reminding me of 2 Corinthians 5:15, which says:

“And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

If we are just reading Galatians 2:20, my statement sounds great. If we are reading 2 Corinthians 5:15, not so much. Now, I don’t really think my statement was wrong, and I don’t think my corrector really thought it was wrong either. It simply had a context. But this gets to the point; the Bible, Christianity, serving and glorifying God are all far more complex than we usually want to think about. We like things to be tidy. So we simplify and straighten them out in our own minds.

What about this? Galatians 4:7 says: “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” But… Romans 6:18says: “…having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Which is it, in Christ am I a slave or not? No doubt, we can explain how these passages coincide. I just want to point out that Bible study isn’t always tidy. We can’t put everything in a nice, neat, little package, wrap a bow on it, and tweet it in 140 characters or less.

But this can hit us at important principles of theology and salvation as well. Consider two sets of contrasting passages in Psalm 119.

“I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.”–Psalm 119:94

“I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.”–Psalm 119:146

Now which is it? Should we be saved because we have sought God’s precepts, or do we need to be saved so we can observe His testimonies?

“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain.”–Psalm 119:36

“I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.”–Psalm 119:112

Which is it? Must I incline my heart or must I ask God to incline my heart for me?

No doubt, you are already formulating answers to these questions. And that is good. I’ve done the same. But for a moment let’s just recognize that this is not exactly tidy. It is difficult. It takes work.

After reading Hallinan’s book, I attended a Bible class on Job. It hit me that Job and his three friends were having this exact same problem. They liked things tidy. It’s the same problem a whole lot of people (especially atheists) have. The tidy idea is that bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to good people.  When bad things happen to good people and good things to bad people, it isn’t tidy. It isn’t neat. It isn’t simple. So we rebel against it. After all, San Diego must be west of Reno. It just has to be. Perhaps the thing we need to realize is that God and life are infinitely more complex than a map of the United States. If He wasn’t, would we really want to serve Him?

We could go on and on, but let’s get to the long and short of it.

The Long and Short of It

So, you ask, why does this matter? Too many people walk away from God because He is complex. He doesn’t do things the way they want or expect. Since He doesn’t do what they expect Him to, they assume He must not be real. And yet, if there really is an infinite God, should we really expect Him to behave in ways that finite people can trap in a box and wrap in a bow? No wonder God Himself tries to explain in Isaiah 55:8-9 that His ways and thoughts are not ours.

Further, even among those who accept God, too many people throw their hands in the air and walk away from the Bible because it is complex. They want bullet points. They want to be spoon fed. It just doesn’t work like that. Bible study isn’t tidy. It’s messy. It’s tough. It’s work. It’s complex. God wants us to work at it,  not give up on it just because it doesn’t always progress in a straight line. No wonder Peter explains in 2 Peter 3:16 that there really are some difficult things in the Scriptures. We have to work to understand them.

Don’t ever forget, San Diego is actually east of Reno. And God and His Word aren’t simple either. But God did it that way for our good.

Face the challenge. Spend time with God and in His Word today.

Oh yeah, and if you still don’t believe me about Reno and San Diego, here’s a map.

—————————

P.S. Today’s post does contain an affiliate link. After all, I’ve still got four kids to feed (plus an extra one with our exchange student from Germany). If you’d like to find out more about Why We Make Mistakes, click the link below.

“How on earth can a Christian commit that sin?” Have you ever heard someone ask this question? On the surface, it seems like a good one, doesn’t it? We’ve all heard of Christians, even preachers or pastors, who commit what seem like heinous sins. We are certain they should know better. But they’ve fallen. How on earth can they commit that sin?

But this is the wrong question. Read on to find out why.

The Wrong Question

This is the wrong question because the answer is so obvious that we shouldn’t even need to ask it. A Christian can commit that sin because a Christian is still human. A Christian is not perfect.

As Romans 7-8 points out, Christians are people who once obeyed sin and became slaves to sin (cf. Romans 6:16). Though now Christians are in Christ, they are still growing. This means they still mess up. Additionally, now that they are in Christ, they are special targets of the one who is seeking someone to devour (I Peter 5:8). Finally, the mere fact that Christians think to answer this question is part of the problem. I Corinthians 10:12 says, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” When Christians think that being a Christian means they can’t commit a certain sin, they are in danger of falling over the principle of this verse. If your response to another Christian’s sin is, “How could he/she do that? I’d never do that,” watch out. Satan views that as an invitation to prove you wrong. Or even more subtly to let you believe you are right while defeating you with some other sin you deem not quite as bad.

Perhaps Christians know God’s law better, but that doesn’t mean they are immune to violating it. They are just more likely to know when they have. Certainly, as they grow in Christ, they should know better how to overcome. And that leads us to the right question.

The Right Question

How on earth can a Christian not commit that sin?

That is the question we need to be asking. When a person comes up out of the watery grave of baptism, they have become a new creation, but they are still the same person. That is, their sins have been washed away. They have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. They have been raised to walk in a new life. However, they have the exact same background they always had. They have the same upbringing, the same baggage, the same tugs, temptations, and triggers. So, how can they keep from falling prey to them like they used to?

Certainly, they are riding on a spiritual and emotional high from their recognition of God’s love, but eventually that honeymoon ends and the real walk with the Master begins. Then the question really becomes how on earth can they not go back to their old sins?

Certainly, knowledge is part of it (Hosea 4:6; Psalm 119:11). I have to know the will of God, what is sinful, what is righteous. Otherwise, I’ll sin. But there is more to overcoming sin than that.

If I want to overcome sin, I must first recognize that I can’t overcome sin, but my God can. Sin is like Goliath on the battlefield. None of the Israelites could beat him. They all knew it. The difference between David and the rest of the Israelites was not the belief that they could not beat Goliath. They all agreed on that. The difference was that David knew God could. When I quit trying to prove to God that I can beat sin, and instead simply surrender to the God who can beat sin, I’ll overcome sin (cf. Ephesians 3:20-21).

This means I need to walk in God’s presence. I could simply say pray, but this is more than that. More than having a schedule of prayer, I want us to heighten that by recognizing God is with us. I Thessalonians 5:17 says we must pray without ceasing. But this is more than just checking off an action from our to-do list. This is understanding that if I am not connected to God, I’m going to die. He is here with me; I need to talk to Him like it. As I talk to Him with that understanding that He is with me, I change the direction I’m walking and the behavior I’m practicing. (cf. Ephesians 6:18).

Additionally, I need to seek out God’s ways of escape (I Corinthians 10:12-13). Too many times I’ve walked a path right up to the edge of sin protesting that I hadn’t done anything wrong yet, thinking that I would get off the superhighway to sin at just the last moment. It doesn’t work that way. If I want to avoid downtown Atlanta, I can’t pass the exits to the bypasses saying, “I’m not in downtown Atlanta yet.” I’ve got to take those bypass exits when they are available. In the same way, I’ve got to take the way of escape long before I’m knocking on sin’s door. Otherwise, I’m going to end up smack in the middle of sin with no defense or justification.

I need to cut off everything that leads me to sin (Matthew 5:29-30). Most of the time, our big, overwhelming, Goliath-like sins have a ritual. Guys who struggle with alcoholism and other addictions understand this. The ritual may begin with driving a certain way home from work that passes a certain liquor store or bar. Your sin may be fits of rage at your wife and kids. This may be preceded by wandering around the house looking for things to be mad about or going and spending an hour in your mancave watching the news that gets you all angry. There is nothing wrong with driving home a certain way or watching the news. But if this ritual leads you to your sin, chances are once you start the ritual, you are going to sin. Cut off the ritual.

Pack your bags for righteousness. I really get this from a combination of Romans 13:14 and Philippians 4:8-9. I must not make provision for my fleshly lusts. That is, I must not pack the bags for the trip into sin. Making provision for a trip and taking the trip are not the same things. Sadly, because of that, I often justify making provisions by claiming I’m not really on the trip. I think of the number of Christian men I’ve heard say they will go to the water park with women wearing their bikinis and just make a commitment not to lust. Certainly, I must leave room for the exceptional brother who can pull that off, but for most, hanging out with bikini clad women is packing the bags for fleshly lusts. Along those same lines, I’ve had to quit watching certain television shows and listening to certain songs because I know that at the end of them I’m always revved up in my fleshly lusts. I’m not saying they are wrong for everyone, but I’ve had to unpack them from my bags because they always lead me to sin. Rather, I need to pack my bags for righteousness. I need to think about, focus on, talk about things that promote righteousness. The bags I pack typically determine the trip I take.

I need to quit taking the journey alone (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). Right now I’m thinking of a good friend of mine. I shared my struggles with him. In those moments, I was always ashamed because it seemed to me like he was so much better than me. He had it together and I was such a mess-up. He never shared his struggles with me. I thought that meant he didn’t have my kinds of struggles. That is, until I found out he was in the midst of an affair, was leaving his wife, and was turning his back on the Lord. After two years, he still hasn’t repented. I know this brother and friend. He is not living the life he most wants to. I know he is not. Unless he has simply cauterized his heart with his sin (which is a distinct possibility now), I know he is filled with guilt and shame. How did this happen? He was taking the journey alone. Even though I was right there, confessing my own sins and struggles, he never invited me or anyone else on his journey. Don’t make the same mistake.

And, finally, when I mess up and commit the sin I need to immediately turn back to God. Like Peter who upon sinking turned to Jesus and not back to the boat (Matthew 14:30), I need to turn back to Jesus when I’ve messed up. Jesus didn’t die to give me permission to sin. But neither did He die for me to feel so much shame that I just hang on to my sins. He died to set me free. He wants me to turn to Him so He can say, “Neither do I condemn you.”

What do you think?

These are just a few of the things I can think of off the top of my head. Please, drop down to the comments section and share other answers to the right question: “How on earth can a Christian not commit that sin?”

I know, I know, you’re shocked to see such a blog title on the page of such a confirmed and convicted Christian. But the concept of “Christian Nation” is a myth. It is bogus. It is wrong. We shouldn’t endorse it. We shouldn’t keep passing it around. I’m convinced Satan is using the concept to divide the church.

Please, keep reading if you want to find out why I say all of this.

Defining Terms

If by “Christian Nation” you mean a nation whose founding fathers used biblical principles to guide a lot of what they did, I have no arguments. If by “Christian Nation” you mean a nation whose founding fathers believed they were Christians, I have no arguments. Most of them claimed to be Christian.

However, it seems to me most modern Christians leap from these ideas to thinking of America as Christ’s nation. This just isn’t true. There is no such thing, at least not in the physical realm.

Misusing Bible Passages

During an election year you’ll hear Psalm 33:12 touted again and again:

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!”

This verse is absolutely true, but doesn’t have a single thing to do with any nation on earth today, not even the USA. This verse was about Old Covenant Israel. It was not a blessing on any nation who claimed Jehovah as their God. It was about the Jewish nation. That was the nation He had chosen as His heritage. The point was that they needed to follow Him and keep Him as their God or they wouldn’t receive the blessing of being His heritage.

Whether most Americans are Christians or not, whether our laws reflect the Bible or not, this verse has nothing to do with the American nation and Christians need to quit using it that way.

Another misused passage is Proverbs 14:34:

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

I don’t doubt that any nation who mainly pursues righteousness will be exalted before God even today. I also don’t doubt that if a nation in the main pursues sin it suffers reproach before God. Proverbs contains universal wisdom for all time, but we learn that wisdom by first keeping it within its Old Covenant context. Once again, the proverbialist was reminding the Jews that they were God’s nation and must maintain their relationship with God. This was written in a time when nations had their differing gods. Consider the story in I Kings 20:23-30 to see the mindset. Judah needed to pursue righteousness or they would fall before the other nations, but if they were righteous, the other nations would fall before them because of sin.

But the bigger problem with how Christians use this verse today is thinking that God thinks in terms of nations today. Allow me to clarify. I do think God works in the world today. I do believe God establishes the governing authorities today. But we need to see a fundamental shift from the time these Old Covenant passages were written and today. Under the Old Covenant, God had a nation. It was a civil, material, physical nation. It had land and boundaries. Its citizens were part of a kingdom of this world. But when Jesus Christ died, that was erased. Christ doesn’t have a physical nation. Israel is no longer His nation. Rome wasn’t His nation. Britain wasn’t His nation. The United States of America is not His nation.

The True “Christian Nation”

God is no longer working in terms of physical nations. In Daniel 2:44-45, God promised a different kind of kingdom or nation. It was envisioned as a stone cut out without hands. That is, it is not an earthly kingdom. When Jesus was on trial, He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36). Twice Jesus explains that His kingdom is not of this world. He was not only establishing a new nation, but a new kind of nation.

What is this nation? Christ’s church. This nation was established in Acts 2. It is described in I Peter 2:9-10. The church is now the people for God’s own possession. The church is the Israel of God mentioned Galatians 6:16. We see Jesus connect the church with God’s kingdom in Matthew 16:18-19. Jesus was going to build His church, and then give the keys of this kingdom to Peter and the apostles.

Once we recognize this, when we want to take the Old Testament passages that speak of the Israelite nation and apply them today, we need to apply them to Christ’s church, not some physical earthly nation. No wonder Paul explains that the Christian citizenship is in heaven, not in Jerusalem, Rome, or even Washington D.C. (Philippians 3:20).

Righteousness exalts a nation. Yes, but we need to apply this to His church not to a physical nation. We Christians, members of God’s household, citizens of God’s kingdom, must pursue righteousness or we will not be exalted and Christ’s church will bear reproach.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. However, we need to apply this to Christ’s church, not the USA. The church is blessed when its members surrender to God as Lord. When they follow man-written creeds, develop man-made organizational structures, pursue man-thought-of means of worship and work, they will not be blessed but will fall before the world.

Be Patriotic, but Keep the Proper Perspective

If you are a patriot of your country, that is fine. If you long for the United States of America to continue as a strong nation, that is great. But please don’t make the mistake of thinking that God cares how long the USA lasts. He has witnessed the rising and falling of nation after nation after nation. He didn’t send Jesus into the earth to establish the United States of America. He sent Jesus to the earth to establish His nation, the church. And this nation exists inside of all the nations of the earth.

Whether the USA rises or falls, God couldn’t care less. What God cares about is that His people pursue righteousness and draw more and more people into His kingdom. God couldn’t care less about our efforts to prolong the nations of our world. What He cares about is whether or not we live as His people in whatever nation we reside. He asks us to seek first His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33), not that we seek to turn some physical nation into His kingdom.

He used a physical nation once. His purpose was to show that wouldn’t work. Now He has established His true nation, and sadly, many in that nation are letting it get divided based on an election in a nation that doesn’t matter in the eternal scheme of things.

Trust me, when we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to realize that what happened to the United States of America didn’t really matter than when we first begun. But what does matter is how we conduct ourselves toward our brethren, toward the world, toward our God.

I’d love for the physical nation of which I’m a citizen to have laws that correspond with biblical teaching. I even vote based on that. But let us not for one second think we are accomplishing God’s will by voting in some way that we think will improve our nation. God hasn’t said anything about that. What He has said is that whatever our nation does, we need to pursue righteousness because we are part of Christ’s nation–the church.

America wasn’t Christ’s nation when it was founded. It will never be Christ’s nation, no matter who is elected our next president or what laws he enacts. Christ’s nation is His church. The world is at war with Christ’s nation. It has always been that way and always will. Sadly, this mistaken notion that the USA is the Christian Nation has caused us to lose sight of the fact that we reside in enemy territory. It has caused us to let our guard down and let us get too friendly with the world. No wonder so many church buildings look more like movie theaters, recreation centers, and entertainment venues than they do places of worship and spiritual edification. No wonder it is hard to tell the difference between Christians and non-Christians. But I guess this gets us into what should be another blog post.

We must not lose sight of Christ’s real nation even in this election year.

—————

EDIT:

Following my post above, I have received some private comments I would like to address.

First: One friend and brother who agrees with the sentiment of my post is concerned about my saying that God couldn’t care less how long the USA lasts. I agree with Him that God may have plans for the USA. God may use the USA to accomplish things or teach lessons. Please keep my statement in the context of the article. My hyperbole is intended to drive home a point. Just as when Jesus told us to hate our family (Luke 14:26), He didn’t mean that absolutely, I don’t mean my statement absolutely either. I simply mean in this context that God cares far more about how His actual nation, the church, acts than He does about how any physical nation acts. He cares far more about how long the church lasts than how long any actual nation lasts.

Second: Another friend and brother who also agrees with the sentiment of my post is concerned about my explanation of Proverbs 14:34. I certainly don’t want anyone to think that God doesn’t care about sin among all nations. I was hoping my statements expressing what I don’t doubt had demonstrated that. My point is simply that under the Old Covenant God was working through a physical nation, which made Proverbs 14:34 more fitting for Old Covenant Judah and the nations surrounding it. God is no longer using a physical nation in that way under the New Covenant which limits the use of that verse for nations today. Rather, we need to see the kingdom He is ultimately concerned about is His church.

Please understand that my main point is for all the Christians who see all the problems in the USA regarding morals or regarding the lack of concern for the underprivileged or whatever problems you see, none of that means God is being defeated. God did not send Jesus to establish the USA. He did not send Jesus to set up a Christian Nation in that sense. If…excuse me…when the USA falls, Christ’s church will endure and God will not be fretting the fall of the USA one whit.

“I can’t believe it you @#$&%$. I had right of way you *&%$@#*&. Where did you learn how to drive you stupid &%$#+$@?” And all this from the mouth of a Christian gesturing with his hand, as John Maxwell says, that the other driver is number 1. When called on the carpet for such a blatant violation of James 3:6-12, the brother or sister responds, “I can’t help myself. When someone pulls out in front of me, it just flies all over me. I have to do something.” That seems natural. It seems almost logical. We may even want to make an exception to God’s will about the tongue in this situation. But do we really have to do this kind of something? Or can we actually overcome road rage and other irrational expressions of emotion?

Yes, we can overcome. Keep reading to find out how.

The Problem

Here’s the problem. Too often when someone cuts us off in traffic, questions our judgment, looks at us funny, we have this idea that their action absolutely necessitates our negative reaction. We can’t help it. Anyone would respond that way. And yet, we’ve all seen people that don’t. So why do we?

The reason is because there is something else to the equation. The actions of others do not lead directly to our reaction. There is actually something in between their actions and our reactions.

Irrational Thinking

When something happens we tend to follow a few paths between what has happened and how we react.

We awfulize: That is, we exaggerate just how bad the situation really is. “When so-and-so does such-and-such, it’s just awful. I can’t stand it. I’m going to die.”

We catastrophize: That is, in a split-second we look into the future and determine that what has just happened is catastrophic. Our world will come to an end. Relationships will be destroyed. We’ll end up living under the bridge.

We villainize: The person who did this to us is wicked, evil, perverted, disgusting. Only stupid, awful, wicked villains would ever do this to us.

We victimize: How could this happen to me? My life is just one struggle after another. Something is always going wrong and it is never my fault. I’m just a victim and here’s one more example of how this happens to me over and over again. When will it stop?

We delegitimize: That is, we are certain that the only reason this happened to us is because we are somehow unworthy and illegitimate as human beings. We believe we must be losers. Or at least that whoever did that to us must think that about us. Then we begin to think it about ourselves.

Some or all of these things can happen in a split-second and it looks like this.

The Event

We are driving down the road and someone pulls out in front of us. Before we even react a whole host of things can happen. Our irrational thinking starts to act. It might even happen subconsciously.

“I can’t believe they did that. Only stupid, wicked, vile, evil, awful people drive like that. Don’t they know no one should get in my way while I’m driving? I can’t stand it when people do that sort of thing. They could have killed me. People are always taking advantage of me like that. I am such a doormat. Well, I’m not going to put up with that. I’ll show them.”

Then the conversation I started this post with happens.

The Solution

If we don’t want the bomb to explode, we have to remove the fuse. The bomb is our reaction. The fuse is the irrational thinking. If we want to avoid the irrational expressions of our emotions, we need to rationalize.

We need to normalize: Instead of awfulizing and catastrophizing, we need to normalize. It really isn’t awful. Perhaps it could have been, but we have survived. The world will not come to an end and neither will our lives. Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but today we are still alive, food is in the fridge, clothes are on our backs. Our kids are still alive. Sure, we prefer for people not to pull out in front of us, but we’ll survive. We know that these kinds of things happen, but we’ll make it.

We need to humanize: Instead of villainizing and victimizing, we need to humanize. Whoever did this is probably not an evil person. They are probably a whole lot like us. They want to do right and drive properly. They want to have friends and be friendly, but we all make mistakes. How about attributing to them the best possible motives just like you would want them to do to you. Additionally, you are more than just a victim of circumstance or other people. You are a human being with human responsibilities. Even in whatever situation you are upset about, you likely have involvement. If not involvement, you can at least remember that you have made the same kinds of mistakes. Now you can consider your own responsibility about how to respond as a decent human being.

We need to legitimize: Rather than telling ourselves we are illegitimate, we need to realize we are okay. Whatever has happened to us doesn’t mean we are worthless losers. Even if we recognize our own mistakes, we are allowed to realize we are worthwhile people as children of God. We don’t have to beat ourselves up or play the martyr.

Recognize the Self-Talk

The fact is between the event that happens to us and the way we respond, there are a whole lot of beliefs and self-talk. We are telling ourselves something. Those beliefs and self-talk determine our reaction.

So let’s consider a different way of handling this event.

Someone pulls out in front of us and instead of what we saw above we say to ourselves: “I wish people wouldn’t drive like that. But I bet that person is having a tough day or may be behind on something and is in a hurry. You know, I’ve made the same kinds of mistakes, and I’m still okay. I can handle it when someone messes up. I’ll live. There’s no reason to make a scene with my road rage.”

Then you can smile at them and even pray for them. Obviously something is going on to  make them drive like that. They need your prayers.

Now doesn’t that sound better?