Why doesn’t good take away bad?

Most people think of righteousness as something determined by an old judicial scale – If I put the good I’ve done on one side, and the bad I’ve done on the other side, which one weighs more?  Am I more good than bad?  Then I’m good! 

This might work for manmade righteousness, for telling (lying to) yourself that you are a good person, but the judgment of God described in the Bible sees righteousness in an entirely different way.  Perhaps a good picture to use would be wet paint.

If white is good, and black is bad, measure out how much white you think you have, and put it on the canvas.  Then measure out how much black you think you have (be honest), and put it on the canvas.  While the paint is still wet, mix all that you are, and all that you’ve done together.  No matter who you are – your own view of yourself ends up gray.  All your white is tainted by your black.

The problem is that God demands purity.  Perfection.  Goodness.  Not good with a little bad – not pure with a little impurity.  Not godly with a little “well I’m human.”  According to your own righteousness, you are dirty, stained, mixed up.

But God saw you in your problem, before you knew about it.  He took action to save you from it before you even asked Him.  And His salvation is something entirely incredible.  God doesn’t save you by making you a good person or by allowing you to have a righteousness of your own – He saves you by giving you His righteousness.  By sharing His perfect, holy, pure Godly righteousness with you – in fact, He covers you with it.  By sending His Son to die on the cross, God has laid Himself over top of your gray painted mess.  He has covered it up with His own perfect canvas, one that is perfectly white, the righteousness of Christ.  You are not reckoned righteous because you are – you are reckoned righteous because Christ is, and He has freely given His righteousness to you by faith.  God no longer sees your gray mixed up slop, instead He sees His only Son, who pleases Him in every way. 

Imagine that, you are completely free – freed by what Jesus did on your behalf.  You no longer have to weigh your good against your bad, you no longer have to worry about your black tainting your white, you no longer are a slave to the work of proving yourself – for Christ died for you.  Now you can do the right thing, simply because it’s the right thing to do – and remain confident that in Christ you have already been saved. 

Why aren't all interpretations equal?

When the Bible speaks of faith, it speaks of it in two ways.

1)  "The Faith" - the faith that is to be believed - the objective truth about who Jesus is and what He has done - also called the Creed.

2)  "your faith" - the faith which believes - the subjective trust that a believer has in The Faith (Jesus).

In other words, God has revealed "The Faith," and calls for "your faith" in it.

BUT... something has become terribly messed up these days.  People only ever talk about #2, as though it is what really matters.  There is a teaching which says "As long as you have faith" - "My faith kept me strong" - "Just believe" - but these cheesy clichés can be said by anyone about anything.  They are found in Disney.  They are the slogan for our Olympic team.  They are found printed on rocks and sold in trinket shops.  So let me say this plainly.

"Your faith" is NOTHING - if it is placed in the wrong thing.  Faith is not powerful.  It is not strong.  It is merely what holds onto something else, and if that thing is not "The Faith" - "your faith" is worthless.

Put another way, we should not ask people "Do you believe?" - but "What do you believe?"  It doesn't matter if someone believes in God, if all they mean is that He exists.  What matters is that they believe that when they were dead in their sins and hopeless, Jesus was crucified in their place and having risen from the dead promises them eternal life with Him.

So, let's apply this to God's Word.  God tells us His Word is clear and that we are able to believe, teach and confess it in its purity.  However, there are many different interpretations of the Bible.  And all of the people who hold to these interpretations, believe in them with equal strength.  But "their faith" does not make their interpretation true.  God's people have been mixing His truth with falsehood since the Fall.  It is the most noticeable thing about God's people in every narrative of the Scriptures.  God is able to save them despite their falsehood, but He does not want them mixing things up in this way.

So what does this mean?  According to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd commandments, the chief thing the Christian is concerned about in their relationship with God - is that His Name - His Word - is kept pure.  The Christian desires pure doctrine above all things, because the only way God reveals Himself to His people is in His Word - His doctrine.  When you get doctrine wrong, you don't have God, you have the Evil One.

The beginning of the Lord's Prayer shows this also.  Hallowed be thy Name (Your teaching).  Thy kingdom come (Your Word of power).  Thy Will be done (that I might trust in Your Son revealed in Your Word). 

This is a joy for the Christian.  It means we are pushed back into God's Word all the time to see what is in accordance with it. 

Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word
Curb those who by deceit or sword
Would wrest the kingdom from Your Son
And bring to naught all He has done

How are all religions the same?

Religions are all the same in one way: they have rules.  Law.  Commandments you must follow.

The assumption is: This is what makes a religion true (or good).

But this assumption is wrong.  We make this assumption because we actually think we can follow the rules.  We are so self-righteous that we think we are able to keep the Law.  Self-righteousness says all religions are the same.

Because the truth is, these commandments are impossible for us.  In fact, they were not given to us to show us how to gain life.  They were given to us to show us how we deserve death.  How the sentence of death against mankind - every human dies - is just.  It is true.

This Law in which all religions are the same is merely preparing the way for the true religion.  The only religion with something OTHER than rules.  And His Name is Jesus.  For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

The true religion has Law and Gospel.  Law and Good News.  Law and Mercy.  Free, unconditional mercy that is revealed outside and without the constraints of the Law.  What God has done for you in Christ, He did because of Himself - not because of you.  He offers and gives you freedom from the Law, because He is a merciful God.  Because He is the only true God.

All religions are the same because they have rules.  All false religions have only rules.  Only Christianity has the Good News of grace in Jesus Christ.  And here's the truth:  This is what makes a religion good. (and true)

Why is life so hard?

So I just got back from the splash pad with my kids and I went to wash my daughter's hands. 

Now she was having a hard time because she is only 18 months old, so in order to do it I had to take her feet and put them on the counter.  Of course, she realized she had to push up on her feet.  So she began to push - but in order for her not to fly off the counter, I had to push back against her so she could wash her hands.

And I got to thinking, the Christian life is just like this - where a little bit of pressure in the right places actually help us to recognize our need to be cleaned, and also to prepare us to be washed. 

God is working these things out as our heavenly Father.  He is pushing down on us, bringing trials or struggles into our lives at the right time so we can "wash our hands" and if He didn't do it, we would just fall off the counter.  This He does not want.

So, if you are having some sort of pressure or trial that you cannot understand or you fail to see the good in - wait on the Lord, knowing that He works everything together for good for those who put their trust in Him.

What is the price of my salvation?

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God and true Man is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sin and death, and from the power of the devil...

Not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

God has bought you back from sin and death.  He has paid the price.  But what is it?  Not gold, not silver.  His own God blood and His innocence - put into suffering and death for you.

When we think on this great price, it is utterly baffling.  We cannot even understand this price.  It is beyond all measurements, beyond numbers, beyond humanity itself.  How could a holy, pure God give His holiness away - waste it, be cursed and become sin, to those who torture and crucify Him?  This is the Gospel - the Good News - News that is so remarkable - so incredibly compelling that it goes beyond telling.  It is simply believed.  No human has thought this up - it is too lofty and its depths are too great.

A cherished Lenten hymn - When I Survey the Wondrous Cross - captures this sentiment in its final stanza.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Nothing can give enough thanks for what He has done - but certainly, your soul, your life, your all is a start.  The final "cherry on top" in the justification of the ungodly is that even your missing thanksgiving - even the lack of praise and worship, prayer and gratitude that should come as a response to His sacrifice - He makes up for with His blood.

He is saving us through and through.  Our sin has truly been washed away in His blood.

How to Read the Bible

Yes I know.

The Bible is the Word of God. 
It is unlike any other book - religious or otherwise.
There are no contradictions in it.
It is truth.  It is light.

But how do I read it?

How do I begin to understand what it means, especially when there are so many different Christian denominations with so many different interpretations?

Here's where to start.  The Bible.  What does Christ Himself teach us about the way to understand His Word? 

Luke 24:45-47 - Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

Principle #1) All the Scriptures are about Christ.  This is what is written Jesus says.  The first thing you should be looking for in any verse you read should be Jesus and Him preached.

He says this in other places too.  John 5:39 - "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, but it is they that bear witness about Me."

Jesus. Jesus.  Jesus.  That is what you are looking to see in the words of the Bible.

Ok, what else does God say about how to understand His Word?

Ex. 34:6-7 - The LORD passed before Moses and proclaimed, "The LORD, The LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love... for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

Principle #2) Law and Gospel.  God works in two ways.  Two basic teachings.  You may also call them the commands and promises.  But regardless of their name - God speaks a Word of Command (Law) and He speaks a Word of Promise (Gospel).  And unless you properly distinguish between them, you will get very mixed up reading the Bible.

A Word of Command (Law) is one that concerns your actions, thoughts or words.  It is something man does, thinks or says.  I.E. You shall not commit adultery.  In this word, God expresses the way things ought to be - His justice. 

A Word of Promise (Gospel) is one that concerns God's actions - those done for you.  It is something God does, promises or reveals for you.  I.E. At Jesus' baptism, heaven was opened.  In this word, God expresses the way things are on account of what He has done - His justification - something that benefits those with that believe Him.

Immediately you can see that the way of the Law is a matter of works, while the way of the Gospel is a matter of faith.  The Law condemns.  The Gospel frees.  The Law kills.  The Gospel gives life.  The problem is that when we read the Bible we are more inclined to be reading it to find out what we should do.  We are more likely to look for the Law.  In fact, we tend to try and see if we are doing the Law - if we are righteous on our own.

This is actually the reason WHY there is the Gospel.  To free us from our sin which would have us only look at ourselves and what we need to tell ourselves "I'm good".  God uses His Law and Gospel to kill our self-righteousness and bring us to life again in Christ.  Death and Resurrection.  We are not good.  Christ is.  This is God's salvation, and the only reason He speaks.  We are declared to be good in Christ alone through faith in what He has done - through faith in His Gospel. 

Why does God work this way?

St. Paul tells us. "It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Rom. 3:26)

Just and the Justifier.  God alone is Just - yet He has by sheer grace and mercy determined to Justify those who have faith in Jesus and all that He has done for us on the cross.

When you read the Bible look for Christ (#1), and be sure to distinguish what you ought to do (Law) which you have failed, and what Christ did/does (Gospel) which forgives and saves you from your failure (#2).  You'll want to see Christ in both Law and Gospel.

This is a good start in learning how to read the Bible.  This is the revelation.  God says you are a sinner worthy of punishment and death.  But God also says you are righteous for the sake of Christ, and that by trusting in His declaration of innocence, you are free from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil.  Thanks be to God.  May His Word be ever opened to us.

How does faith grow?

We told our son that when he turned four he would be bigger.  Shortly after his birthday we saw him at the kitchen table flexing his arms and saying "Bigger.  Bigger.  Bigger."  He was pumping himself up - like a Reebok shoe. 

There are times we think of faith the same way.  We think that we are the ones that can increase our faith or make it stronger.  But this is man's idea.

Faith is a gift of God.  One given by Him, Exercised by Him, Kept alive by Him.  All these things happen in our heart and mind, but the Holy Spirit is the One who is active in this work.

Then how does faith grow?  The way God has revealed in His Word.

You can see it in the Psalms.  A pattern.  A cycle.  It is the cycle of faith growth, or spiritual development.  And it has three players.

The Holy Spirit

The Word (Christ the Son of God)

AND...

Nope - didn't guess it.

The Devil


WHAT!?  Are you sure?

Take a look at how it works.  In Latin its called oratio, meditatio, tentatio - or in English - prayer, meditation, temptation/trial.

Prayer - requests and supplications to God - lead us into His Word for His answer.  After having this seed (Word) sown, the devil comes to try and take it away.  He does this in a variety of ways, most of which make something miserable - whether it is "not having" that thing you shouldn't have (temptation to sin) - or taking away something that you liked (sacrifice). 

The incredible thing is that when we face trial, where are we to go?  To God in prayer.  Our plight pushes us back into prayer, back into God's Word.  The Devil's involvement serves God's purposes - not the Devil's.  But he can't help himself.  God is using him against himself - priceless.

Let's take a look at a specific psalm to see what I mean.

Psalm 13

How long, O LORD?  Will you forget me forever? (Obviously the psalmist is undergoing trial here)
How long will you hide your face from me?  (Yet he calls out to God in prayer)
How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? (Sin is the issue)
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (The unrighteous have it good here - believers wait)
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God (I turn to you in prayer)
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death (I deserve death for my sin)
lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him," (The Accuser [Satan] is saying this already)
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. (They are already celebrating in my face - save me)
But I have trusted in your steadfast love (Enter the Word - God's Word of forgiveness has broken in)
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation (Your Word promises me salvation, and I know I can trust it)
I will sing to the LORD (The psalmist has gone from trial through prayer/meditation to thanks)
because He has dealt bountifully with me. (WOW!  The Word of the LORD stands forever - it is your defense - your fortress - your shield - and will always defeat your enemies - those who want to take you into greater sin and death.)

Neat right!  God knows what He is doing.  Just as a tree pushes its roots deeper after a windy day, the Christian pushes closer to God - His Spirit and Word - after trial and temptation.  God is not angry with you - He has open arms of grace, and He calls you into them when you are frightened by the devil, your sinful flesh and death - even when those things speak the truth to you - like you are a sinner, or you are going to die.  The Word of Christ is more powerful and it wins.

So you have no need to flex your arms and say "Bigger. Bigger. Bigger"  about your faith.  Get into God's Word, and pray that Word back to God.  He will sustain you in this life.