Real Life

When you think of the term “real life,” what comes to mind?  Usually I think people, at some level, get the idea of the small things in life, or maybe the “day to day” things that go one.  Ideas of real life become the tiny moments that one treasures in this life.  It is an amazing deception.

C.S. Lewis, in his book The Great Divorce, had an interesting description on heaven.  At the beginning of the book, he made clear the idea that he was not speculating on the afterlife, only giving an idea.  So, nothing in the book should be taken as the way it will be.  However, part of this idea, I believe was the difference between heaven, hell, and earth.  He describes heavens as a place that is so much more real than earth.  In comWhen you think of the term “real life,” what comes to mind?  Usually I think people, at some level, get the idea of the small things in life, or maybe the “day to day” things that go one.  Ideas of real life become the tiny moments that one treasures in this life.  It is an amazing deception.

C.S. Lewis, in his book The Great Divorce, had an interesting description on heaven.  At the beginning of the book, he made clear the idea that he was not speculating on the afterlife, only giving an idea.  So, nothing in the book should be taken as the way it will be.  However, part of this idea, I believe was the difference between heaven, hell, and earth.  He describes heavens as a place that is so much more real than earth.  In comparison, hell and earth were only shadows to Paradise.  I think that is probably something we will find to be true when we get there.

When we think of “real life,” though, our first thoughts are not of heaven.  They are of earth.  They are of the things here that bring us joy.  Now, when these things cause use to draw closer to God, I believe they are part of the life we were meant to enjoy here, but they are nothing compared to the real life to come.  What seems to happen far too often, however, are these things distracting us from God.  Choosing to sleep or do something else rather than go to church, choosing not to go witness to those who don’t know Jesus (whether as a group or by yourself) because you’re scared or too busy minding your own business to do God’s work, being caught up in a busy schedule only to not notice a person in need of help…  in other words, being too involved in “real life” that you miss the real life.  When you stand before God, what do you want to have been involved in here on earth?  Do those things.

"Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48b).

Working

I have been thinking recently about a subject that has been hitting me hard recently.  Church people...  I use this term because I want to be sure to differentiate between those who are actually believers in Jesus Christ, Christians, with people who show up in church, church people.  These two groups overlap.  They should overlap a lot.  Christians should be in church, unless they are sick or at work or otherwise physically cannot make it.  They aren't always, but that is a topic to tackle under the title "Laziness" or "Irresponsibility."  There are also people who really do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but they are in church.  It may be because they have just always done it, or it may be because they are interested in what is being said.  Either way, I'm glad they are there.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I love this verse!  It makes me marvel at the astounding grace of God toward us, who could not be good ourselves!  Any Christian who quotes this verse or is reminded or this verse or reads this verse should remember the vast amount of grace that has been poured out on them and be overwhelmed!  

However, like many good things, the use of this verse can abused.  Whether they realize they are saying it or not, many church people and Christians use this verse to justify pursuing their own desires above God.  They resolve in their hearts that because their salvation is not based on works that what they do does not matter.  If what they do does not matter, then they can go where ever they want during church and be "just as good a Christian at _______ than at church."  Can you be just as good an employee at _______ than actually being at work?  No!  You can't because you focus is in the wrong place!  Even those that work at home know that to be productive they must have a special place at home to do their job where they are separated from distractions.  They willingly ignore the very next verse, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).  Put these two verses together, and suddenly what you do matters!

I hear objections rising as people read, "But my salvation is not based on works!  It is based on grace!"  You're right!  I'm not talking about your salvation.  It's not about you!

Mind blown.  Yes, you were thinking about you again.

God has poured out His grace on us abundantly, but He did not do it because we are so awesome.  He did not do it for our sole benefit.  He didn't do it so that He would have company in heaven.  He is triune.  He has all the fellowship He will ever need in the Trinity.  He did it for His glory.  He did it so that when we saw what He did for us, we would fall down before His throne and give up ourselves!  He specifically tells us to do that, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).

The reason this has been on my heart so much is that I see so many church people that refuse to give up themselves.  They have convinced themselves that they can be a good Christian doing whatever they want to do.  They will do church things when it is convenient, but not if it isn't...  in effect putting themselves first and on the throne of their own lives where God belongs by right.

The consequences of this type of life are also not considered.  Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).  He also said, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37).  He even said, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you;depart from me, you workers of lawlessness'" (Matthew 7:21-23).  Notice verse 21 says that not everyone who acknowledges Jesus as Lord will be welcomed into Paradise.  He says only those who "do the will of my Father."  How is this possible if salvation is not based on works?  James answers this when he tells us, "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18b).  It is by faith that we receive God's grace and that grace the brings salvation.  Works are the proof of that.  What you do shows what you have faith in.  If you say you have faith in Jesus but you ignore what He commands, do you really have faith?  I am not talking about a mistake or moment of weakness.  I am talking about willfully ignoring what He says.  Do you think you have real faith?  Do you think you will be granted entry to the Kingdom of Heaven just because you cry out to Jesus as Lord?  Apparently those people who cried out to Him in Matthew 7 did.  look what happened to them.  

Some of you who know the Scripture may now want to quote, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).  I agree.  Notice it says that you must believe.  It does not end with just a confession.  You must believe in your heart that Jesus died to pay for the sin debt on your soul and that God raised Him from the dead conquering death itself!  You must believe, and if you believe, something more than just a confession will come from you!  You will tell others about the great salvation you received.  You will serve others first because Jesus did.  You will reach out to help the hurting and needy because God has reach out to you.  You will give your tithe so the church can continue to to operate and reach more people...  you may even give more that 1/10 of your income so that more can be done.  You will do these things because you love Jesus, and He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

Being that living sacrifice can hurt.  I know from experience.  I have lived below the poverty line in a place I didn't know with no family in service to God, not because I'm great, but because He is great.  God may not call you to that, but He is calling you to lay down your own life.  If you are a Christian, you proclaim Jesus as Lord of your life.  If He is, get out of His chair.

Abominations: Light & Darkness

"An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but the one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked" (Proverbs 29:27).

In the movie Braveheart, the English king, Edward I, offers William Wallace a bribe of land, title, and gold to stop his crusade against England's oppression of Scotland.  When the princess, who was speaking for the king, offered him the bribe, Wallace responds, "A lordship and titles. Gold. That I should become Judas?"  She continues, "Peace is made in such ways."  Wallace, who is now visibly angered, shouts, "Slaves are made in such ways!  The last time Longshanks spoke of peace I was a boy.  And many Scottish nobles, who would not be slaves, were lured by him under a flag of truce to a barn, where he had them hanged.  I was very young, but I remember Longshanks' notion of peace!"  The princess takes Wallace's response back to Edward I who is baffled by what he hears.  He assumed that his bribe would be accepted.  He trusted in the greed of men.  He trusted in his deception, and the fact that his bribe was turned away confused him.  Even more telling of Edward's character is revealed in his response when he learns that his royal emissary gave the gold away to help those suffering as a result of the war.  His son, Edward II, asks Isabella, "You brought back the money, of course."

Isabella:  No, I gave it to ease the suffering of the children of this war.
Edward I:  Ha!  That's what happens when you send a woman.
Isabella:  Forgive me, sire.  I thought that generosity might demonstrate your greatness to those you mean to rule.
Edward I:  My greatness will be better demonstrated when Wallace returns to Scotland and finds his country in ashes.

The wicked are confused, confounded, and offended by what is good.  They expect everyone else to be as greedy, treacherous, and wicked as they are, and they do not understand it or expect it when a person acts righteously.  You might even be able to remember a time when you stood for Jesus and there were people who reacted in a way similar to Edward I.  They might have been confused by it.  They might have even been angry about it.

I was informed recently about something like this that included me.  I was in a group, and I mentioned something about homosexuality being wrong.  Now, I do not dislike people that practice homosexuality.  God loves all people.  He commands us to love all people, too.  However, homosexuality is not a people.  Homosexuality is a practice, and it is a practice that Scripture says wrong, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived:  neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).  What is also clear is that it is not the only thing that is considered unrighteous.  Homosexual sin is put on the same level as a number of other sins.  It is also clear that people can come out of such practice just as they can stop being drunkards and thieves.  Paul said so, "And such were some of you" (1 Corinthians 6:11).  It is not easy.  Just ask an alcoholic, but it is possible.  The point is that I mentioned that homosexuality is wrong, but I did not say they were ugly, rancid, disgusting excuses for people.  In fact, I believe just they are just like the rest of us, searching for good and missing it.  However, to that person, it sounded like I was a hateful and horrible person merely by saying what Scripture already says.  She did not understand it, and it was very offensive to her  Therefore, I was offensive to her, and she got angry at me.  Righteousness offended.

What is important to understand is that even those of us who are saved by the blood of Jesus are unrighteous people becoming more and more righteous.  The process of sanctification is still at work in us.  We come to Christ with many questions, and nobody understands everything from the beginning.  The important thing is to submit ourselves and our thoughts to the Word of God.  If we do this, we will be on the right course, but we will also offend.  Even the thought of submitting to the Word of God is offensive to many ears, but Jesus did not come to have everyone get along, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:34-39).  He came to reveal righteousness, and righteousness offends the unrighteous.  In many cultures today, when one member of the family becomes a Christian, their whole family will turn against them.  They will abuse them, disown them, or even kill them.  Many have to keep their faith a secret from their own families in order to survive.  Righteousness offends.

Righteousness is an abomination to the wicked because it casts light on the evil that they commit or give approval to.  Jesus brought the light to the world, "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'" (John 8:12).  It was because He illuminated the darkness that those who loved the darkness hated Him.  The same will be true of us, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you:  'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept my word, they will also keep yours" (John 15:18-20).

 Edward I never got passed his confusion at the way Wallace acted.  Lies and deceit were his strategy throughout the entire movie.  He bribed Wallace's allies even as he sent assassins to kill him.  At the end of Braveheart, Edward I has Wallace tortured.  He attempts to use pain in order to get Wallace to submit to England, thereby admitting that he was wrong in fighting for freedom.  I will always remember how the magistrate extended the English royal seal to the prostrate Wallace telling him to kiss it as a sign of submission to the crown.  Wallace, in visible pain, coughing and heaving as a result of the torture, got to his feet and stood defiant in the face of pain and death for the what was right.  In the same way, Christians must stand upon the Rock that is Jesus Christ in the fact of all opposition.  We will offend.  We will be hated, but we must never relent.