one way

This post is third in a series of three.

You can read part one here and part two here. This post is built on top of those.

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” -John 1:29 ESV

Scripture is like a steering wheel. As soon as you veer to one side or the other, it will come in and set you straight. There are many scriptures which seem to contradict themselves and I believe that current ‘understanding’ gets in the way. Scripture supersedes doctrine. No one has it perfectly right, so be where you are, but know that there’s more.

Does Christ’s sacrifice cover every sin?

Yes. Jesus died once for all.

The thing that I haven’t quite figured out and probably never will is that it’s scripturally clear that you cannot come to God unless he calls you, those He calls eventually come running. Then, I read scriptures like this:

He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. -1 Timothy 2:4-5

I’m a thinker and I want to know the Truth. I don’t believe that scripture contradicts itself, I believe that my understanding contradicts my understanding. I am flawed, not scripture.

‘He wants not only us, but everyone saved…everyone to get to know the Truth we’ve learned.’

…we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. -1 Timothy 4:10

He is the Savior of all people. His sacrifice covers every sin. This tells me that what He did is sufficient for every sin, but those who believe will receive the effect. He wants everyone to know the truth. That knowledge keeps me from thinking about who may be ‘chosen’ and who may not be. That is no concern of mine when all I need to know is that God wants everyone to be saved and everyone to know the truth.

Is there more than one truth?

‘…there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free.’

That is the Truth.

Theological elitism and discrimination is on a flimsy layer of ice wearing heavy shoes of pride. We are all connected by One Spirit and any person trying to illuminate divisions should be questioned about who they’re representing. We have separate parts and purposes, but one Source of Blood, one Heart and are led by one Mind.

God wants us all to be saved even though it’s clear that not all will be. It’s our responsibility to do our part to never give up on anyone. Represent God’s forgiving love and mercy to those who seem to be packing for an eternal vacation to Hell.

Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul. -2 Timothy 2:14-17

God’s purposes and plans do not need to be cleared by you. He was at it long before your ancestors could form a thought. He deals with each of us on an individual basis.

Every person is on their own journey. I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it: Until a person is dead, their story is not over.

Meanwhile, God’s firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones: god knows who belongs to him. -2 Timothy 2:19

paradox

You have two identities: your ’self’ and your spirit. You have two choices: feed yourself or feed your spirit. There are two master’s to choose between: you and God.

The difference is easier to describe when you use a before and after picture of a new Christian. However, the choice still remains after you become a Christian. The holes in the religious system continue to go unaccounted for.

Your flesh is the identity who seeks personal achievement and control. When sin is taught in churches, it’s usually about lying, stealing, cheating, etc… This creates a land mine of unanswered questions in the faith system. Sin is never taught as being hidden under the cloak of achievement or laced within the fabric of religious conduct. In fact, moral sweat and self-sacrifice put you on the fast track to religious popularity.

When a ‘righteous’ person stands in judgement over a ’sinner’, they are applauded for their stance against immorality and opposition to the rules of Christian conduct. Those on the outside of the sub-culture of Christianity have a simple understanding of scripture and even less of an understanding of the way things go within the church walls. They know that scripture teaches against judging others, yet they see an insider clearly judging others. It doesn’t matter to the simple that the judgment may be superficially warranted.

The ’simple’ have a childlike faith that is never exercised to the extent of being seen as it should be. They are the one’s who won’t come to church because of the mess that the humans within it have made of the simpleness.

Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. -Matthew 18:3

Maybe there is something to be learned from those who don’t play in the religious drama.

Whether you admit it or not, humans will always seek their own benefit. It’s easy to see self-centered choices when they are outside of the Christian sub-culture. It’s harder to argue this point with someone who uses God or faith as their motivation. This is why hoards of people want nothing to do with Christianity and the blatant double standards that seem to define it.

When you set a standard of what a Christian looks and behaves like, you give them an alternate ‘god’. If you serve these standards, you will be accepted. How many students have to sign a contract of behavioral conduct in order to go to the Christian school? How many employees have to sign a contract saying they won’t participate in certain behaviors? Self-control, in its scripturally intended meaning, is not the question or enemy. Self-control in the mutilated puppet show in the religious arena is the question and the challenge.

“Just to be clear before I sign this, if I adhere to these rules, then I’m qualified to be part of this Christian organization? You mean, I don’t have to actually be a believer….just look and act like one?”

I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. -Galatians 5: 2-5

The reason you are not taught this in church is because it’s terrifying to set you free in such a way that gives you no rules to live by. If they don’t give you a way to control yourselves then how can they control you? A leader who does not acknowledge the freedom for which Jesus died, is one who does not have the faith it takes to let God be God and mold his children into the very person your leader wants you to be.

We are free, not to be selfish, but to be selfless. We are set free to love others. How many times have you wanted to show love to someone, but were afraid of what your ‘Christian’ friends would think?

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. -Galatians 5:14

Setting yourself up with a code of conduct and a map to stay on the Christian side of town may keep you looking clean, but not clean enough. Jesus came to die for us because we are absolutely incapable of keeping the Law that God laid out for us. If you live by the Law, then you must follow it in it’s entirety…even the part about death. If you want to be free from those chains and want to avoid death by escaping through the gate that is Jesus, then all you have to do is embrace the completion of what he did. Following a set of external rules for internal purity sets your life up to not need Jesus. You reject Jesus by trying to do it without him.

Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the disciplines of God? -Romans 4:10

We are declared ‘fit’ by embracing what Jesus did for us.

I have one last thought, if a person is excited about these scriptures simply because now they can do whatever they want, you can’t really do anything about it. If someone is sinning with the hope of grace in mind, you can’t suck the truth out of the message of grace. However, let me say, as someone who has sinned immeasurably, God is real and he is involved. When God deals with a person who thinks they can take advantage of the His system, there is a place He lets them go that sears all of that selfish immaturity out of them. I have been there and you don’t have to worry about it. Do you want to know what I would say to someone in that position? ‘Try it.’ Because, I know they’ll never try it again.

wolves among us

If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! -John 10:1

The scriptures warn us about false teachers, wolves dressed as sheep and sheep rustlers. Have you ever considered how to spot them?

How many stories are coming out of the Christian culture about people who have lost their welcome in the church community? Do you describe a ‘really good Christian’ by what he does and doesn’t do? What do you see happen in your group when one of you sins?

By their fruit you will recognize them. -Matthew 7:16

We usually refer to this verse as an excuse to judge the failures of others, but that’s not what Jesus was teaching. He used that analogy to describe the result of false teachers. Students behave as they’re taught and looking at the massive community of ex-church members, you can see that what ever they are hearing is causing them to scatter.

The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. -John 10:3

I am the Gate for the sheep. -Jesus, John 10:7

In contrast, when we hear our Master’s voice, we don’t scatter, we become one. Anyone who comes through the Gate knows us, who we really are, and they call us by name.

A stranger has entered the flock by crawling under the fence and we know who he is by the way he scatters us.

They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it. -John 10:5

The community of ex-church members and hurt believers is too large to be ignored. The church is not the enemy, but there is an enemy within the church that needs to be weeded out.

We heard the initial message of the Gospel and then watched it get thrown out the window as soon as we called ourselves Christians.

If you want to understand this transformation, just think about what they teach you to say when you’re ‘witnessing’ to someone. What do you say to someone who thinks they’re not ‘good enough’ to be a Christian? What do you tell them if they think they have to clean up a little bit before they give their heart to God? How do you respond if someone is convinced he has gone too far?

Now think about what is said about the Christian who starts going to AA meetings. What is said to the woman at church who got a divorce? How is the teenager in the Youth Group treated when her pregnant belly starts to show?

At what point does the Truth change? There is a prevalent teaching within the church community that supports a doctrine that is different than the simplicity of the Gospel. If that were not true, then you would not know exactly what I am talking about.

In making examples of people, you flee from them and let the wolves devour the fallen lamb.

He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. -John 10:12

The thing that throws most Christians for a loop is how to forgive without condoning the sin. They want to stand up for what is right, but aren’t sure how in that situation. First of all, you can’t worry about the way you appear. If you stand up for what is right, make sure you know what ‘right’ is. The ultimate ‘right’ is the sacrificial gift of grace that was paid for by the Son of God. Stand up for that and then expect to be given a hard time. It’s inevitable. The message of grace can’t be stomached by a group of people who have lost sight of the Cross.

How, then, do you spot a false teacher? The point of the Gospel is Jesus and his redemption. Anyone who downplays the sacrificial death is a false teacher. This is not a blatant statement made by people who advertise their false doctrine. It’s a sneaky evil disguised as an angel of light who goes undetected by those who don’t know the Truth.

Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. -1 Corinthians 11:13-14

Look to see who is scattering the sheep. Watch who is causing divisions and dissociations. Watch who leaves the lamb when he falls. That’s your false teacher. He’s not a shepard, he’s a hired hand. He didn’t come through the Gate, he crawled under the fence.

I can’t believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I’ll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed. -Galatians 1:6-9