What does it mean to be Born Again?

And [he] brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31).

As I mentioned in my previous post (August 23) it had recently come upon me that the words of John 3:3 are probably the most important words in the Bible, and that everything else is either God’s preamble to them or commentary on them. (That is an over-simplification I admit; nonetheless it still contains an essential core of truth.) But I left the post dangling with several unanswered questions, “What does it mean to be born again; or how can I know for certain I am born again; or what are the qualities of this second birth?”

This installment is an attempt to answer those questions. But first let me say that millions and millions (probably billions and billions!) of words have been written already on answering these questions, beginning with the apostles Paul, John and Peter, progressing through the apostolic and patristic church to the Reformation where these questions and their answers were reformulated and then on into our own time right up to where you and I are right now: this little insignificant online journal. Here I wrestle with these questions and others like them not to make myself out to be an expert. Far from it; this journal is my way of grappling (I love that word!) with these ideas; engaging with God through His Word, coming to some sort of personal understanding and then recording what I have found so that it might be of some small value to someone else. I make no pretense (as I have said elsewhere) to authority. I’m just a weary foot-soldier trying to understand what it means to experience the unmerited favour of God.

So now that is out of the way, we can proceed.

What does it mean to be born again?
The words quoted from the verses at the head of this post are from the incident that occurred when Paul and Silas were in prison together. When an earthquake struck and the jail fell apart, the jailor, in absolute terror for his life, asked the two prisoners, now free, how he might be saved (presumably because Paul and Silas were now free and unharmed). I don’t think the jailor was asking them how he might attain to eternal salvation; that was almost certainly the last thing on his mind at the moment. He was probably just frightened of the authorities who would undoubtedly punish him with torture and death for losing his prisoners. So the answer he got from Paul was more than he could ever have expected.

In any event, the important thing (in the context of this article) is the statement by Paul that to be saved eternally, the jailer must place all his trust and hope in Christ. This is what it means to be born again. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And in a way it is easy, nothing could be easier: no struggle, no effort, no rules to obey or tasks to accomplish; nothing that is but a total and absolute willingness to give yourself away to this person Jesus. But we have this dilemma: according to Scripture, we are dead in our sin; dead not sick, dead not impaired. There’s the rub, you see. How does a dead person do anything, even make a choice to surrender himself to someone he cannot see, hear or touch? Obviously he can’t. Lazarus could not bring himself back to life. Jairus’ daughter could not, nor could the widow’s son. But Jesus could and did. He brought them all back from the dead by His power, and He resurrected Himself after three days and three nights in the grave, proving that death had no ultimate power over Him but also that it has no power over those who have given themselves into His keeping.

So it is essential to give yourself to Christ without reservation. But by this I don’t mean intellectually. Many people think that because they agree with the main doctrines found in the NT and that they live basically good, moral lives in keeping with such ordinances as the Decalogue, and that they give generously to the Church (they may even tithe) and that they read their Bibles regularly, and that they volunteer in the sandwich ministry or do visitations, that they are Christians. No, they are Christians if, and only if, they have been born again, born not of the flesh but of the Spirit (of Christ). The new birth belongs to the Spirit; it is His handiwork alone. The new birth is unnatural and has nothing to do with life in the here-and-now and no amount of rule-keeping can make one a Christian.

We know from Scripture that two prerequisites to the new birth must be met: repentance and belief or faith. But both of these must come from outside us. They are alien to our very being and cannot be self-generated (in spite of what our Arminian brothers like to believe). So, we come back to Jesus’ words in John 1:13, “…who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” God and only God is responsible for our rejection of sin and our believing embrace of Christ as the single and sufficient Saviour. This mysteriously profound repentance and faith are characteristic of the new birth.

Having said all that, don’t make the mistake of assuming that I’m an antinomian and that I don’t believe in a life of obedience to Christ and his law. I do; just not as a result of any merit or righteousness in myself. I can’t earn my way into Heaven. Rather, the perfect and finished work of Christ enables me, while the indwelling of His Holy Spirit urges, encourages and empowers me, to accomplish acts of obedience and law-keeping. But even then, if I am not compelled to keep the—often inconvenient—law, why do it? Because I love Jesus, that’s why. I’m grateful for what He has done for me and a thankful heart is a glory to God. God saved me so that I would be thankful to Him. And this is the whole purpose of the new birth. It’s not for us. We don’t deserve it. Christ didn’t come to earth to save sinners as much as to be obedient to God’s will. And what is God’s will? It was, is and ever shall remain, that He should be glorified and in that glory, enjoyed.

How can I know for certain I am born again?
In many Reformed circles, this question is a bit of a hot-potato. On the one hand, we have those who say, and with some justification, that to think we are saved and to take pride in it as something to boast about, is presumptuous at best and very sinful at worst (because it may or may not be true). There are several warnings against this kind of presumption in the NT such as, (Psalm 5:5; Isaiah 13:11; Romans 2:4 ). Over against this is the Holy Spirit’s testimony in our hearts and minds that God has promised that those He saves, He saves eternally. This is the Doctrine of Assurance (also called the Perseverance of the Saints as it is expressed in the traditional Five Points of Calvinism—I prefer the term Preservation of the Saints, as it is more God-centered. That is, we are eternally saved because of God’s preservation of us in that condition and not because of our own perseverance in it.)

Many people have written about assurance, but for my money, no one can beat JC Ryle. On the subject of assurance of salvation, Ryle had this to say (in small part):

“I lay it down fully and broadly, as God’s truth, that a true Christian…may reach such a comfortable degree of faith in Christ, that in general he shall feel entirely confident as to the pardon and safety of his soul—shall seldom be troubled with doubts—seldom be distracted with fears—seldom be distressed by anxious questionings—and, in short, though vexed by many an inward conflict with sin, shall look forward to death without trembling, and to judgment without dismay. This, I say, is the doctrine of the Bible….my answer, furthermore, to all who dislike the doctrine of assurance, as bordering on presumption, is this: it can hardly be presumption to tread in the steps of Peter and Paul, of Job and of John [referring to scriptural passages Ryle had just been discussing]. They were all eminently humble and lowly-minded men, if ever any were; and yet they all speak of their own state with an assured hope. Surely this should teach us that deep humility and strong assurance are perfectly compatible, and that there is not any necessary connection between spiritual confidence and pride.”

What are the qualities of this second birth?
The qualities of the second birth must perforce be qualities we have in common (to a limited degree) with Christ and given or bestowed on us by His Holy Spirit through our continuing sanctification. The best known summary of these qualities is from the letter to the Galatians and is known as the “Fruit of the Spirit.” There are many other such lists. One, from the Letter to the Romans which I have recently been studying, is “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17).

It is important to note that these qualities are all moral qualities. It is in this sense that we are imitators of Christ after the new birth. It is God’s moral will that we should emulate and be obedient to, with thankful hearts as well as minds; and this because He has enabled us to do so.

Let me just clarify that these qualities are not something to be bought and sold. They are not commodities to be traded and exchanged. They are not adopted as life-style choices. They are not anything we can generate from our own effort. Rather, they are the evidence—the fruit as it were—of a life radically changed from the inside out by God and Him alone.

So pray—if you are one who cares—pray with all your heart, mind, soul and strength for this repentance unto faith, this new birth from above, this incomparable gift from almighty God, for He is able to save even the worst of sinners. And if you think that describes you, Dear Reader, if you know yourself to be the worst of sinners, then you are very close to the Kingdom of God “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near” (Isa 55:6).

Soli Deo Gloria.

Postscript
This post and the one before it are dedicated to the memory of a man by the name of Murdo Mackenzie. He, more than anyone else, was my spiritual tutor and mentor when I was young and wandering in the wasteland, before I knew anything of God’s saving grace. Murdo and his wife took a liking to me when I was still young. They would give me milk and cookies and would have me in their home as often as I wanted. They had no children of their own and perhaps that was the reason they seemed to like me. Murdo was a great Christian and evangelist and every time I went to his house I knew I was in for some gospel preaching. Sometimes we would argue. Sometimes I just sat and listened. His favorite passage was John chapter three and his favourite verse was the third verse. Perhaps that is why it is among my favourites as well. I know that Murdo and his wife are both with the Lord and it is going to bring us all great joy to meet again with one another in our Father’s house. I’m sure they’ll have the heavenly equivalent of some milk and cookies waiting for me on the kitchen table. I can hardly wait!

The Importance of John 3:3

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

It has come upon me just yesterday afternoon that these are probably the most important words in the Bible, and that everything else is either God’s preamble to them or commentary on them.

Do I offend with my boldness? I don’t mean to. It’s just that I believe these words are describing the one necessary thing for salvation. Paul and the other apostles and contributors to the Scriptures are merely unpacking this single verse with all its freight of meaning and significance. For instance, what is Romans but an extended commentary on John 3:3; or rather should I say the working out of its significance and consequences in great detail. What are the great themes of the NT—grace, regeneration, justification and sanctification—if they are not the unfolding of the essential truth found in this verse?

It is often said that John 3:16 is the most beloved and well known verse in the Bible. So it may be, but when it comes to importance and urgency, John 3:3 says everything needed to be said. Verse 16 tells us that God loved (and loves) the world by sending us His only Son. It tells us that this was an internal act of His love (He gave His only Son) as well as an external demonstration or expression of that love to the world (that whoever believes). But it does not tell us that the mere coming of Christ is insufficient for one’s salvation (this is the essential reason why I don't celebrate Christmas). While it tells us that salvation is made available to those who would believe on Christ, it does not tell us how that is to happen. Yet John had already told his readers that the one only needful thing is to be born again, earlier in the chapter by recording Jesus’ speech with Nicodemus. He then offers commentary on His own words in verse eight when He says, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (that is, “this is what happens to everyone who is born of the Spirit"). This indicates to me that the new birth is of an alien origin as well as character; it is “from above” and totally beyond our apprehension and control. Paul and the other apostles as well as the prophets of the OT explain this by recourse to God’s “election.”

The point being that this new birth is not and cannot be accomplished by us. John makes this painfully clear when he says, “…who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). What words could be simpler and yet what words could be more hateful to the world and its need for pre-eminence and wickedness. The wicked don’t like to hear the truth of Scripture that the dead in sin cannot give themselves new life. So the new birth is despised by the world, and so are those who in fact are reborn as children of God. Each one of them is like salt in a wound to those worldly and once-born children of wrath.

But let me be even bolder. I would say that if you do not understand John 3:3 or John 1:13; if you do not know what they are saying viscerally as well as intellectually; if you do not have an emotional response to these verses; if you are not convinced of the assurance they provide, you are probably not one who has in fact been born again and therefore not a Christian.

This is harsh I know. It is meant to be. I don’t write these words to find favour; I write as one who cries Fire! Fire! to those who are asleep in a temple and who know nothing of their impending doom.

I write them as an appeal to non-believers yes, but also as a warning to the modern Pharisees who think themselves saved because they follow the rules and do all the right things rather than experiencing Christ; who see holiness as a separation from the world rather than as a dedication to God; who think that being saved is the result of acquiescing to biblical ordinances and prescriptions and traditions rather than of experiencing and living in a mystical union with Christ, Who, in that union, carries us along with Him in His holiness and righteousness before God.

People who think they are responsible for carrying out or even attempting to fulfill the demands of the law are those who fail to understand they are still trying to earn their reward. They fail to understand the truth that Christ has already fulfilled the law, so they are necessarily resorting to a subtle form of works-righteousness, instead of throwing themselves on the mercy as well as the finished and perfect work of Christ.

We will never be found righteous before God by attempting to keep the commandments (even though called to do so). Rather we are found righteous in Christ because He has already met all the requirements of the law Himself and has graced us with His protective and sustaining love in spite of all our weakness, foolishness and sinfulness.

This is something that ministers of God’s Word have been saying all along of course. This message is not mine, nor is it new. It is foundational to our faith. There will never be a time (until Christ’s second coming) when it will not be needed to be shouted from the very housetops, in the alleys and byways and streets of our villages, towns and cities!

What say you: have you been truly and incontrovertibly saved? Are you truly born-again?

Because if you are not born again of the Spirit of God then you are as one of the foolish virgins to whom it was said by Christ the Bridegroom, “Truly I say to you, I do not know you” (Matt 25:12).

But this begs the question, “What does it mean to be born again; or how can I know for certain I am born again; or what are the qualities of this second birth? I’ll try answering those questions from my limited knowledge as well as my personal experience next time. But let me end with this: Those who truly are born-again don’t need an answer from me. They know the answer already, for it lives in their hearts as well as their minds.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Recapturing Holiness

I take up my pen (actually my keyboard, but I’m somewhat quaint in these matters) to continue my reflections begun earlier (August 6 and August 9) on the essential otherworldliness of Christianity and the fact that so many Christians (let alone non-Christians) don’t seem to really understand and believe this, at least not here in North America and even less (so I understand from the reading I do) in Europe and Britain. North American Christians seem to have an attitude that effectively denies the elemental other-worldliness found in the fundamental teachings of the NT.

In the previous posts I’ve been trying to say that the essential message of the NT (and especially the words of Christ taken as a whole) is one of other-worldliness. When you strip away the cultural and psychological accretions with which we ourselves have encumbered the Gospel, you will find an otherworldly quality, a disdain even, toward this life here and now that borders on what secularists consider truly bizarre and even somewhat suicidal. And if I were a secularist, I would consider it so (I was and I did!). We find over and over again in the NT what could easily be argued as contempt for this world: “And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’ And He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.’ But He said to him, ‘Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.’ Another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:58-62).

When we, as Christians, read words like, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36) do we take the time to work out and understand the implications of this and many similar statements in the NT? What have words like these to do with us? Well, for one, we are told, in no uncertain terms, to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt 6:33, emphasis added). This means we are to spend our time looking and working for a kingdom which cannot ever fully be found or attained in this life. It means that the things which are necessary for us while we sojourn here will be provided for us. And what are those “necessary” things? Those things that are necessary are those things which sustain life and enable us to do the work of God, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal” (John 6:27). Everything else is superfluous and leads to worldliness.

Over and over again, Jesus warns us against our own satisfaction with the superfluous. His curative prescription for the disease of worldliness is radical surgery: “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matt 5:29-30). Hard words indeed! And while we are not to take them at their literal face value, they nevertheless underscore the absolute imperative facing us in our Christian walk. I don’t think this can be stressed too much. It is this sense of the urgent as well as radical that the modern Church has by-and-large lost. The modern churchgoer no longer experiences this radical other-worldliness. If we did, the world would be a truly different place because we would be truly different people. But instead, we are all like the rich young ruler, who could not give up that which enslaved him and held him back from the Kingdom. He was so close; by his own admission he did all that was required by the Law of Moses. And yet he had the besetting sin of love for the wealth of the world that he couldn’t completely give up or cast away. Are we not like that rich young ruler? We lack the courage—motivated by sure, firm, unshakeable conviction in the truth of the Bible and the working of the Holy Spirit on our consciences—that Christ requires of His followers.

Why don’t we have this sense of urgent, radical other-worldliness that characterized the early church? We are too complacent and consequently we have lost our sense of that essential, all-encompassing attribute of God that includes all His other attributes: that of holiness. We are no longer holy because we have, in our complacency and desire for creature-comforts and what I call easy-believism (the broad way and the wide gate), forsaken God’s holiness and therefore our own holiness, of which the radical other-worldliness of the NT is an expression. The other-worldliness of Christ and His teaching is nothing other than God’s holiness bursting (or perhaps seeping is a better word to use) into the world. What else could be the case? Over and over again, God’s people are called to be holy. Leviticus 20:26 is a representative verse from the OT: “Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” And there are several representative texts in the NT that could be used to illustrate this essential teaching. One is Eph 5:27: “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Another is the well-known verse from Hebrews: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14, KJV). Many other verses could be used to support the idea that holiness is of paramount importance to the Christian’s walk. But let us not make the mistake of understanding such holiness to be complete and finished, for that will never be in this life. Rather, we must be partakers of God’s holiness each and every day. It must be characteristic of our lives as Christians. This experience of God’s holiness will help us to understand why Peter, for instance, addresses the recipients of his first letter as “strangers.” They were indeed strangers or aliens in the lands in which they sojourned but more to the point they were also (as are we) strangers, aliens and sojourners on this earth, and whose real home was heavenly, not earthly (“In my Father’s house are many mansions….”). Peter goes on to say: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5, emphasis added). In these three verses Peter is teaching us that God’s remnant (among them the strangers to whom the letter is addressed as well as ourselves) have an imperishable inheritance reserved in heaven. In heaven, not on earth! He also tells us this inheritance will be (fully) revealed in the last time, the Day of Judgment. It is not for us now; it is not for us on earth. It is for us (in its fulfillment) in a later time and a new place. Peter also tells us that this inheritance is ours by God’s power and His will. It is not ours to determine.

However, we should not mistake this disdain for the worldly as being the same as indifference to it. The Scriptures are very clear that there is a reason for being here. It’s just not to be chasing after worldly pleasures and the like. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asserts that the chief end of man is to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever." That is why we are here; not to amass wealth, gain power, or make friends. But we can neither glorify nor enjoy God at all without holiness. “A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it” “For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness” “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years”(Isa 35:8; Heb 12:10; Rev 20:6).

It is this other-worldliness, this sense of holiness, which we must recapture if we are to give to God the glory that is His due. It is the spirit of sacrifice we must embrace if we are to be true followers of Christ. Can this shift occur within the mainstream church? I believe that this is not possible without a revival on a scale equal to that of the Reformation. The modern, mainstream church is essentially unbiblical. She is a bride with a questionable character and unsavory habits. The church at large has not yet become an abomination but she certainly is headed in that direction. She is not a slut or a harlot, who has gone whoring after strange gods and the things of this world. But she is syncretistic and has embraced false gospels to one degree or another. There are only a few congregations left who understand God’s holiness and which preach the true Biblical Gospel. (For all its failings, I count my own congregation to be such a one.) Yet even these, God’s true remnant, are in reactive mode, refusing or unable to balance the costly demands of the Scriptures with the legitimate needs and concerns of people here and now. We are no longer the salt and light Christ called us to be.

During the writing of this installment I happened to be studying Volume 3 of JM Boice’s Expositional Commentary on Romans. In the chapter I was reading while writing the balance of this post, I happened upon a quote from AW Tozer, from his book, The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life (New York, Evanston and London: Harper & Row, 1961). So to add a degree of legitimacy to some of the things I’ve been trying to articulate, I’d like to reproduce the quote from Tozer that Boice included in his own book:

“The church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, [on this particular point I have to disagree with Tozer] but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

This low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians [I can verify this statement from personal experience] is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of the Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking.

With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence. Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit. The words, ‘Be still and know that I am God,’ mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshiper in this middle period of the twentieth century.”

These words were written forty-six years ago, and as I think you must agree, things have not improved! Yet through all this I’m confident God will care for and protect His people, not because of anything meritorious in them but because of His own faithfulness and the covenant He has made and because He has promised that when the trials and tribulations of this life are over, there shall be a reward: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away…. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away’ And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Rev 21:1-5a).

Soli Deo Gloria.

The Christian and "Global Warming"

In the huge debate over what is popularly known as “climate change” or “global warming” what should be the Christian’s position?

Why should this issue even be a dilemma for the Christian? Well, because it seems to call into question some biblical truths as well as non-biblical assumptions. The real problem for Christians is that it is difficult for all of us to separate our assumptions about truth from truth itself. Let me offer an example from some comments left by a reader of an article on global warming found on the Christian news service, (OneNewsNow). The reader says in part,”…the Great Creator is in control of all things, including His beloved earth, and His Beloved Creation, the Church [italics added].” The writer assumes that God’s earth is beloved, perhaps because at one point in its history God did love the earth; according to Genesis 1:31 He considered it very good. What the reader fails to understand though, is that God cursed the earth after the fall of Adam, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee” (Gen. 3:17-18a, emphasis added). The earth is no longer beloved by God, at least not in the way this person assumes. The reader has not really separated Biblical truth from his own assumption about that truth. But he does point out one thing that was and still is true, when He says, “…the Great Creator is in control of all things.” This much is true. We know that primarily from the Bible (for instance, in Neh 9:6) and secondarily from history and lastly (but with obvious limitations) from our own personal experience.

So the first apparent obstacle presented to the Christian by climate change or global warming is the seeming threat to God’s control—His sovereignty—over His own creation and all His creatures. At no place in Scripture are we led to conclude that God is not in control of all existence, including His earthly creation. Hence, many Christians infer that we cannot—or should not—worry about or try to fix problems like global warming because it denies God’s sovereign will as well as His sovereign ability. But this is not real truth, it is half-truth at best. We are told in Genesis that God put the man He had formed from the ground into the Garden of Eden, “to dress it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15, KJV). As well, when, after the fall, God drives Adam out of the garden, it is still to cultivate the land, just not in the Garden, “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken” (Gen. 3:23, emphasis added). What we deduce (by good and necessary consequence) from these verses is that God expects a certain kind of caring for or stewardship of the land. That was always Adam’s responsibility, both before and after the fall. And since Adam was our federal head as well as our progenitor, it is our responsibility as well. This means that we still have a God-ordained responsibility to care for the earth and to make it productive and fruitful. God nowhere relieves us of that duty of obedience. In this God has not relinquished His sovereignty, He has rather demonstrated it by commanding us to do His will.

We have a God-given responsibility to care for the earth, even in her fallen, corrupted nature after the manner of the gardener who cares for his garden. But if the science of global warming is true, it is not true in a vacuum. If global warming is causing pain or suffering, we must approach the problem on that basis. The earth is cursed. People are suffering because the earth is cursed; “in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life” (Gen. 3:17b). The cause of the curse is sin. These things are true and irrefutable. This being the case, it should not matter to the Christian if global warming is a man-created problem. We have never taken care of the earth as we ought to have done, our sin has seen to that. Global warming (if it really exists) can only be understood as another consequence of sin. Nor does it deny God’s sovereignty. God is in sovereign control but we cannot use that proposition to deny the reality of sin, however much we may wish to. God in His sovereign omnipotence and omniscience allowed the fall and therefore sin to happen. If we are so concerned about God’s sovereignty, why do we continue to disobey that sovereignty through our rebellious sin?

The globe appears to be undergoing dramatic climatic shifts, the like of which humans have not experienced (or at least recorded) before. I can’t imagine a person denying that. This could be part of the naturally recurring climatic patterns over geologic time or it could be a result of increasing green-house gas emissions caused by humans. It really doesn’t matter for Christians because we have our marching orders and our obligatory duty: subdue the earth, but care for her in doing so.

The second big problem for the Christian is that global warming is the result of burning “fossil” fuels. The existence of fossils seems to lend credence to the notion of evolution along with the refutation of the six days of creation. But here again, we are not separating out the truth from our assumption of the truth. The problem is that Christians deny global warming because they assume that to accept this proposition is to accept evolution and therefore deny creation. But really, this issue is much simpler than that. Oil, natural gas, coal and such like are in the ground. That is fact. In the context of the environment, it simply doesn’t matter how the fossil fuels got into the ground. This is not a theological issue. These fuels can be burned to release energy and so make it available for other uses (such as running our cars and trucks, as well as making the roads we run them along). That too is unavoidable fact. Dramatic climatic change because of CO2 emissions from burning such fossil fuels as oil or coal could very well be fact. (On the science of this I admit a large degree of ignorance.)

A third reason why Christians (in North America anyway) have not become involved in the issue of global warming, except largely to dismiss it, is the fact that the argument for global warming has been delineated as a political issue, specifically, it is a cause which has received greatest support from left-leaning non-Christians. This has acted as a dis-incentive for more conservative Christians, influencing them to either stay uninvolved or to take an opposing position from the perceived ungodly secularists on the left. But this is merely to bow the knee to those very same secularists. The problem is that Christian leaders have dropped the ball. They have let the secularists define the rules of the game and to frame the argument. As a consequence, Christians have been forced to be reactive rather than proactive (on this, but also on other issues such as homosexuality, abortion and the like).

On the other hand, ultra-conservative Christians have—in some ways—actually taken a more honest, biblical position in their refusal to become involved in this debate. They see themselves as sojurners and strangers on this earth, waiting for the fulfillment of their redemption, first in Heaven, then on the re-created new earth after the final judgment. The problem with this position is that it ignores the simple fact that we are all on this earth now and are called to be in the world though not of it. Moreover, the pietistic position is simply irrelevant to the greater, more vocal debate being carried on. These ultra-conservative, biblical Christians should rather be acting as a counter-point to the secularists, preventing them from high-jacking the issue as they obviously have. The mainstream church is completely ineffective in this as in all things. (I believe the future of the true Church is in the hands of these modern day Puritans and radical Biblicists. The mainstream church has simply caved in to the worldly agenda. It is no longer a church in the pure sense of the word.)

Given our God-ordained obligation not only to rule the earth but also to care for her, I’d say that the avoidance of Christians to take a clear position on stewardship of the earth because of political or possible theological implications is nothing more than grossly irresponsible. There are no theological implications other than those which are the result of the Fall of Man. Nor should Christians be averse to getting involved in political issues, especially those which pose a threat to our God-given mandate, in this case the stewardship of the earth, from which we came. There is a problem. We have a responsibility to mitigate the problem. Let’s get on with it! We as Christians must be concerned with mitigating the obvious physical symptoms of this problem. To do otherwise is simply to excuse our own sinfulness.

The Happy Man

The Happy Man was born in the city of Regeneration in the parish of Repentance unto life. He was educated at the school of Obedience. He has a large estate in the country of Christian Contentment, and many times does the jobs of Self-Denial, wears a garment of Humility, and has another suit to put on when he goes to Court called the Robe of Christ’s Righteousness. He often walks in the valley of Self Abasement, and sometimes climbs the mountains of Heavenly Mindedness. He has breakfast every morning on Spiritual Prayer, and Sups every morning on the same. He has meat to eat that the world knows not of, and his drink is the sincere milk of the Word of God. Thus happy he lives and happy he dies. Happy is he who has Gospel Submission in his will, due order in his afflictions, sound peace in his conscience, real Divinity in his breast, the Redeemer’s yoke on his neck, a vain world under his feet, and a crown of glory over his head. Happy is the life of that man who believes firmly, prays fervently, walks patiently, works abundantly, lives holy, dies daily, watches his heart, guides his senses, redeems his time, loves Christ, and longs for glory. He is necessitated to take the world on his way to heaven, but he walks through it as fast as he can, and all his business by the way is to make himself and others happy. Take him all in all, in two words; he is a Man and a Christian.

REV. LACHLAN MACKENZIE of Lochcarron, Scotland

Values Reversal in the Gospel Message

In a previous post (August 6, 2007), I reflected on the idea that the true Gospel is in complete opposition to many values people almost universally consider correct and normal (even Christian people). By the standards of the world, they (that is the teachings of the NT and their resultant values) must actually be considered insane. (The word usually used by the politically correct is eccentric.) The apostle Paul gave voice to this attitude by saying, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness” (1 Cor 1:23). In the forgoing post I said, “The New Testament…proclaims a complete surrender to the will of God. It proclaims the way, not of plenty, comfort and complacency, but of poverty, sacrifice, and struggle.”

I am constantly amazed that most contemporary Christians don’t seem to get this simple fact. They glibly assume that their faith is about “being nice”, “getting along”, “feeling good” or “love” without for instance examining what true, Christian love really is, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13, emphasis added). Love, real love, is sacrificial, it is not about being nice, getting along or feeling good.

This train of thought was started by a comparison of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:3-11) with those from the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-23). I have always been struck by the tone of this portion of the Lukan sermon. Apart from its shortness, it is stronger than that from Matthew, more to the point. And as I observed in the previous post, it has a clear eschatological profile somewhat obscured in the Matthean sermon. Luke captures this sense of strength by his recording of the word “now”, thereby building a frightening comparison between what happens now and what will happen then (upon the Day of Judgment).

In this sermon from Luke, Christ makes it very plain that the Kingdom of God (“Heaven” in Matthew’s Gospel) is as different from the world of men as it could possibly be. Everything we take for granted as normal and desirable, even as Christians, Christ says is not worth the struggle to get or to keep, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matt 6:19-21).

Being a true follower of Christ (“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”, John 14:15) is costly. It requires sacrifice and total commitment in ways that we simply refuse to acknowledge seriously, including a willingness to suffer and die for Christ’s sake if that is what we are called or required to do (Rev 12:11). Jesus says, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came 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 MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it” (Matt 10:34-39 emphasis added). When we read words such as these, our first response is to trivialize them, to remove their sting, to explain them away as mere hyperbole. Do you think Christ was hyperbolizing? Do you think, in light of what He knew would later happen to Him at Calvary and what He told His disciples would also happen to them (John 15:18-21), that he was exaggerating? How can we explain these words and so many others just like them? What are we to do with them?

These ideas of suffering and death for the sake of Christ, do they not border on the insane? Can you imagine such a thing in today’s complacent, easy-going, post-Christian, materialist society as someone being persecuted and actually dying for Christ, perhaps horribly? But it is happening in other parts of the world. Even as I sit at my desk and write these words Christians somewhere are being threatened, beaten up, thrown in jail and killed. But we have grown fat in our wealth, materialism and spiritual complacency just as Moses describes in Deuteronomy and have shielded ourselves against the costly truth of Christ’s words.

Whenever I go through the exercise of reading the words of Christ from all four gospels, I am always struck by the essential other-worldliness of the statements. Modern Christianity has marginalized these passages, partly through the doctrine of the “carnal Christian” verses the disciple. We have fooled ourselves into believing there are two kinds of Christian: the ordinary, garden-variety who does not believe he is required to sacrifice his own worldly comfort and materialism for the sake of Christ, and the “super-Christian” who is able and willing to do so. This comfortable fallacy is not biblical and has nothing to do with being a Christian. Paul testifies of his own hardship as well as the danger of death in 2 Cor 11:23-27. And we also have the account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John, as further evidence of the power normally resident in the early Church.

In the modern era, the best known martyr is probably Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who resolutely condemned the whole idea of Christians who were not willing to sacrifice for the sake of Christ by describing the complacent attitude as “cheap grace”, that is grace without cost, without sacrifice. To quote Bonhoeffer from his best known work, The Cost of Discipleship: “The price we are having to pay today in the shape of the collapse of the organized church is only the inevitable consequence of our policy of making grace available to all at too low a cost. We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale, we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation without condition. Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving [Matt 7:6]... But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard.”

I’ve been talking about sacrifice and commitment as well as other-worldliness and the reversal of values and have probably confused you no end, Dear Reader, by not making clear what I believe to be the relationship between them. The point I’ve been trying to make, perhaps poorly, is that biblical Christianity is not, nor could ever be a compromise with the world. It is other-worldly in its very essence. Its values are not those that we naturally hold dear. They are strange and foreign. They are meant to be enjoyed in the fullest sense after we die, not before. It is this element, this idea that there will be no real return on our investment—other than as it were in small measure—until after our death, that is so difficult for us, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor 2:14).

Please don’t understand though. I’m not suggesting that it is the duty of Christians to turn themselves into cannon-fodder or to become like the fanatical fundamentalists of Islam who gladly die (and kill) for Allah. Nor am I saying that the command given by Christ to the rich young ruler is necessarily binding on every one of us. I’m not saying wealth is bad, nor am I saying death is good. What I am trying to say is, first, we must not mistake the worldly blessings bestowed on us by God as having the same value and worth as the spiritual blessings we most often come to through struggle and sacrifice. Further, that we must not seek our reward here, in this life. Or more to the point, we must not look for the fulfillment of our reward here and now. While being a Christian will give us a foretaste of our reward in heaven, the fulfillment—the consummation of our marriage to our Bridegroom Christ—must wait, even for the Day of Judgment and the resurrection of the dead. Nevertheless, we have this first fruit made available to us through the atoning blood of Christ’s sacrifice and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, if we do not quench or grieve Him. But if our love for Christ is not sacrificial in its essential nature—if our love is not servant love—we will indeed quench the Spirit. Rather, our love, our commitment must be characterized by a willingness to go where we are called and to do what we are commanded, regardless of the personal cost. How many of us can say we demonstrate that kind of love? I can’t, at least not to the degree that I know—by the testimony of Scripture and inner conviction—is required of me. You see, I am the weakest of the weak. I often feel as did Paul, that I am the chief of sinners. Yet is that not how we all should consider ourselves? For it is not by our own power or will that we have the strength to make these sacrifices, but by the grace of God and the indwelling power of His spirit working in us.

I will probably have more to reflect on later, as I consider some of the real-life implications of this train of thought. Until next time.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Blessed Are the Poor?

I’m sure you will agree we’ve often been captivated by the apparent inconsistencies of Scripture, so that you begin to wonder why a certain passage will say one thing and another parallel passage seem to say something else. I know I have. One such inconsistency has kept capturing my attention over the years. It is in the difference between Matthew 5:3 and Luke 6:20b in the Sermons on the Mount and the Plain respectively. Matthew says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Luke’s Gospel says: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

Now, I am not foolish enough to exegete the passages in all their contexts for that would take someone much more learned than I as well as several volumes worth of writing. Rather, I just want to talk about a few things I find interesting and perhaps develop one theme a little further in this and future posts.

Two things pop out at me initially. First, in the verse from Matthew’s Gospel, Christ is speaking to people in general. He is being somewhat hypothetical. On the other hand, in the verse from Luke’s Gospel, Christ is being very specific and is addressing His listeners directly; He says “blessed are you.” One wonders what gave rise to the directness of His speech in Luke. Had someone moments before come to Him to complain of his lack of worldly goods, or about the oppression of the tax collectors? Perhaps there were fewer listeners on the occasion of the Sermon on the Plain than there were for the Sermon on the Mount and so Christ could afford to be personal. Most of the commentators I’ve read believe that Christ was speaking directly to His disciples, not so much to the crowd. This works for me.

But, in any event, He seems to be saying plainly that in poverty, there was a certain kind of blessing to be had and the blessing of poverty was not the same as the blessing of wealth. It is here that I’m in danger of biting off more than I can chew, because there is so much to say and not near enough space to say it. For now, I just want to focus on this idea of poverty as an apparent blessing. One thing that comes through loud and clear—at least to me—is that Christ saw wealth as major hindrance to salvation. But more importantly, he saw poverty as a kind or type of condition for salvation. The Sermon on the Plain has eschatological implications lacking in the Sermon on the Mount. It was a sermon based on the coming advent of the Kingdom. Christ made it plain that heavenly rewards would come later, or rather after. He said in the Sermon, as He says elsewhere many times, that the wealth one pursues and obtains, is the reward one receives. For the wealthy, the wealth enjoyed here and now is the reward, perhaps the only reward, of what they desired most! In the writings of Paul we have a somewhat expanded explanation of the wealth/poverty dichotomy. He said: “[be] not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money”; “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim. 3:3; 6:10, emphasis added). And from Hebrews, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have” (Heb. 13:5a, emphasis added).

So we see that it is not so much the wealth but the love one has for it, the hankering after it, which is so destructive. Now granted, many who are wealthy have gotten that way through no love of money on their part, as through an inheritance. And too, there are those who love a challenge, love to work and so amass wealth as a by-product of something other than the love of money. But that begs the question: Why then did Christ warn us of pursuing and being wealthy?
It seems unavoidable from my reading of Scripture, and especially the Gospels, that poverty was a condition that Christ considered in some way actually favourable for one’s spiritual life. Not that one should pursue poverty, for that would be as bad as pursuing wealth, in a perverse sort of way. No, what Christ had in mind, according to my understanding, was that one should be content with whatever it was God’s good pleasure to give. Paul certainly thought so, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am” (Php 4:11, see also 2 Cor 12:10; 1 Tim 6:8; Heb 13:5).

I believe Christ extolled the virtue of poverty because it accomplished three related goals: it removed the alluring distractions that the desire for and possession of money inevitably brings about; it mitigated the inexorable sin that accompanies the pursuit as well as the possession of wealth; it rendered one helpless and dependant and therefore more willing to submit to the idea of a divine providential Creator and Sustainer. That is, it removed the self-assurance and smug, self-satisfaction that is such an obstacle to our spiritual lives.

So when Christ said “poor” as reported by Luke, it had, on the one hand, a reference to real material poverty but on the other it referred to all those who had not yet found (or rather, been given) the Kingdom of God or Heaven. This was the real poverty that Christ came to earth to eliminate. In the Gospels, it is clear that Christ expects us to help and support the oppressed, exploited and poor in our midst. I believe this is illustrated by passages showing that He was aware of the need of the poor and was prepared to help that need and expected His disciples to do likewise (Matt. 25:34-36; John 13:29 for instance). However, in His inaugural speech in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18-19) and again in answering the questions of John the Baptist’s disciples (Luke 7:22) Jesus loosely quotes Isaiah 61:1-2. This quote refers to the people of Israel. This and other references like it, referred to the whole unsaved people of Israel who were so much in need of God’s mercy, even as they once had been in Egypt.

The eschatological bias of the Sermon on the Plain actually reinforces the notion of the Gospel as intended for the spiritually poor, as when Christ says, “Blessed are you who hunger now for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh (Luke 6:21, emphasis added). The implication being that the poor, the hungry and the mourning shall all receive a spiritual reward at some future time. This is reinforced when Christ says of the rich that they are receiving their comfort in full; of the well-fed that they shall be hungry and of the laughing that they shall weep (vs. 24-25). Clearly, Christ had more in mind when He spoke these words than defending poverty or denouncing wealth. He was speaking to all those who could hear His message and the message was, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

In Luke 6:20-26, we hear Christ giving examples of what to expect from life in the Kingdom. In these verses He repudiates the pursuit of wealth and the idea that wealth should rightfully be considered as a demonstration of God’s special blessing. By Jesus’ time, most people in Israel were as worldly as any other people and had taken the promise of wealth and prosperity, given by God (as in Deuteronomy 15:4) as something to be expected and which was a kind of entitlement and a mark of special favour (similar to the “health, wealth and happiness" gospel that is so prevalent in our own time). Christ was taking all these kinds and types of assumptions and standing them on their head, and not by any new message. The Gospel is not new; it is eternal and finds expression throughout the OT in one form or another. Christ was reversing what had come to be considered the norm and as a kind of entitlement, by actually fulfilling the law, by living out in complete obedience what God had truly wanted for His people all along. This reversal seems so different because we are so caught up in our own worldly pursuits that even though we have eyes to see, we are blind and have ears to hear, but are deaf. We have each of us become complacent. We have each of us come to expect an entitlement. We live as though we might not die at any moment. The New Testament does not extol material prosperity. It does not describe a “name and claim” gospel. Rather, it proclaims a complete surrender to the will of God. It proclaims the way, not of plenty, comfort and complacency but of poverty, sacrifice, and struggle until those who do not fail, those who overcome, will finally receive their reward in heaven, not on earth (Rev 12:11). This radical idea or values reversal is so deeply entrenched in the NT that most people (most of the time) gloss over it. We demonstrate by our love of life and the world that we don't truly understand the absolute nature of what Christ has been telling us. I'd like to explore this idea further in future posts but let me close with one final question. If we, as self-professing Christians, are not ready to die at any moment, nay--are not actually looking forward to our death--then I ask, "Are we really Christ's true disciples after all?"

Soli Deo Gratia.

A Word for Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances and Co-workers

This is a word intended for those of you who have not yet seen the need to reflect upon any thoughts concerning your present spiritual condition and the impending eternal state that will come upon you in death. It is inconceivable that I should say nothing to you concerning your eternal destiny. Most people nowadays are not overly concerned with life after death. I hope this post will help to change that. So to you, beloved, I address my remarks and I pray they will take root in the soil of your souls and bear much fruit unto salvation.

But first, an illustration. There are many people all over the world who are on death row for horrible crimes. They sit in jail day after day, year after year, each one waiting for the sentence of death to be carried out. At first they are frightened and apprehensive about their execution, dreading that it could happen at any time. But after waiting for the execution that never comes, they begin to relax and to stop fretting and worrying. They begin to act as if there was no sentence of death. They begin to act in ways that are—relatively speaking, given their circumstances and lack of freedom—more or less normal. They go about whatever business the prison allows them, they form relationships with other inmates and even the guards; they dream, they plan and they harbour desires. So they continue, until that moment the almost completely forgotten sentence of death is carried out with swift justice. But by then it is too late for remorse or regret or repentance.

I put it to you beloved, that this illustration, imperfect though it obviously is, is nevertheless a picture of most people in the world today, including many of you. There is another example (among several) which is to be found in the Bible (Luke 12:16-21). It concerns a well-to-do farmer who looked at his abundant crops and decided he was doing so well that he needed bigger barns and silos so that he could store even more harvested grain. So he tore down his old barns and built newer, bigger ones. And on the very night they were completed he thought to himself how wise he had been and that now he could sit back, take it easy and enjoy all that he had built for himself. But as he was rubbing his hands together in gleeful anticipation of all the grain he could store and then sell, God said, “You fool! Tonight I will require your soul—this very night! Now what will you do with your fine new barns and silos and who will own what you have laboured so hard to build?” The story ends with the warning, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Are you storing up worldly treasure for yourself, as did the man in the parable? Remember what Christ said on a different occasion: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

The problem is that most people, like the criminal on death row and the farmer in the parable, give no thought to the sentence of death that has been passed on to everyone without exception and under which we live every day. Instead we live as if there is no death sentence against us and we live as if there is nothing to fear. And it would be a blessing for most of us if in fact death were the end. But that is not the case, at least not according to the Bible. Yet most people today, including many of you, Dear Readers, don’t think the Bible is what it claims to be: God’s Word and the Revelation of Himself and His ultimate plan for creation. What a perilous and foolish notion! In our own silly and infantile pride, we consider ourselves to be OK. We think that we can rely on our own belief that we have nothing to worry about; that even if there is a life after death, we’ll be alright. We don’t have anything to fear because we’re not like the horrid criminals in our illustration who have done something so awful as to deserve some sort of eternal punishment! We haven’t killed anybody. We’re not thieves, cheats, liars, pedophiles. We’re essentially good, decent people. We love our children and give to charity (sometimes). We might even call ourselves Christians or think that because we love the old hymns or believe in “God” that we have nothing to repent of and so nothing to fear. God surely couldn’t find fault with us?

No? What about the hypothetical possibility of being wrong. What if—against all “common sense”—it is the Bible that is true and the God of the Bible the ultimate determiner of all that is? Think about it, just for a minute. But please don’t think even for a second that God owes you anything except justice. And before you think that His justice is just what you want, consider the following propositions. If you seriously consider them, you’ll realize it’s not God’s justice you should want but rather His mercy. If God should treat you according to justice, you’re as good as doomed. Remember, God is perfect and eternal; therefore His justice must also be perfect and eternal. Do you really want to be judged by God’s perfect and eternal justice? I sure don’t!

Please consider whether or not you agree with the following propositions. If you don’t agree, it is of vital importance that you determine why not, and then change your whole mind before it is too late. If you agree, you had better do something about it—right now!

If God should forever cast you off, it would be nothing less than agreeable with how you have treated Him. Instead of ignoring God, or worse, finding fault with Him, you should use your intelligence and your ability to think and reason about how you have treated your Creator and Sustainer, the One to Whom you owe your continuing existence. Remember, God is perfect and we are called by Him to be perfect also. God’s standards of excellence are rigourously exact. If conducted honestly, you’ll be forced to admit that you don’t stand up well to such an examination.

Do you love God? Do you think of Him constantly and wish to be with Him always. When a man and woman are in love, they want to be together every moment. Every minute away from the beloved is like a day, every day like an eternity. Is that how you feel about God? Do you think lovingly of Him or do you blame Him as being the author of your misfortune when things go wrong? Do you go to a place of worship with regularity, not out of duty but because you love Him? Do you spend time in the company of His saints? Do you pray? Do you study His word?

In all honesty, you have slighted God in thousands of ways already. Everything you are and all that you have is from God, but are you thankful? Have you sought God’s righteousness and not your own? Then why should God care for you? Why should He welcome you into His heaven? You have refused God’s call time and time again. He has called you to repent and believe many times. You know He has. He is doing so even now! Yet you continue to ignore the call. You are like the foolish virgins who slept through the coming of the bridegroom. And when He comes and shuts the doors of the Wedding Hall, it will be too late to complain (Matthew 25:1-13).

But it is not just “God” you have rejected. You have rejected His one and only Son, sent into the world to die for such as you so that your numerous sins could be forgiven. Christ testifies of Himself that He is the promise of eternal life in Heaven and without Him, there is no hope! How could God and Christ accept you when you care nothing for them and even treat them with contempt everyday?

If God should forever cast you off, it would be nothing less than agreeable with how you have treated others.
Everyone believes in fairness. We think it right when the cheater is cheated or the bully gets his come-uppance. You think like that, don’t you? You want to be treated with that kind of fairness, don’t you? But is that how you always treat others, with fairness? Do you always treat others as you would have them always treat you? Of course not!

In fact, you have treated others with shabby disrespect, and do so all the time. You tell tales about others behind their backs; you spread rumours; you criticize others for the very same faults for which you are guilty. Admit it! You want to be treated fairly by others, even though you don’t really treat them fairly; more importantly, you want God to treat you fairly. Yet you are so arrogant that you can’t see that if He were to treat you fairly and as you deserve, you would indeed be cast off and damned! You harm others by including them in your own deceit, as when you act out your feelings of anger or lustful desire. Fathers have harmed their sons; mothers have hurt their daughters. On and on it goes. Yet you still think that God should treat you with fairness because you’re “not such a bad person.” Really!

If God eternally should cast you off, it would be nothing less than agreeable with how you have treated yourself.
While you cannot save yourself, you have nevertheless refused to do what little you could on your own spiritual behalf. There are many sins you could refrain from, but don’t. There are many steps you could take toward your spiritual reclamation, but don’t. You could place yourself among the company of God’s saints, to listen and learn from them, but don’t. You could read the Bible, but don’t. So then, should God be forced to take better care of you than you take of yourself? Why should God seek your welfare and blessing when you don’t seek this yourself but in fact actually pursue a course in life leading away from God?

Beloved—you know who you are— I say these things for your good. I ask these questions in the hope that they will spur you on, first to honest examination and then to action. Don’t follow the easy way, the one that is broad and wide. This will only lead you to a fate far worse than mere death could ever be. Rather, first, give yourself to Christ and second, follow the more difficult way, the way of righteousness, the narrow road that will lead to a glorious life here and now and to an even greater glory than you can imagine after death. Don’t delay! Death will come like a thief in the night and rob you of your ability to repent and believe. Christ stands at the threshold of your life and is even now knocking at your door. Oh poor sinner, let Him in before it is too late. There is no second chance after death, only the judgment.

(This post is inspired by a sermon of Jonathan Edwards’ entitled The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners.)For another look at this issue, see the short article on my home page entitled Why You need to be Saved

Soli Deo Gloria.