In This World...

Where is the line?

As Christians in a broken world, many would say it is completely impossible to be in the world and not of it. And besides, what difference does it make that we try to avoid submerging in sin if we are knee deep in it anyway? Some book makes a mockery of my worldview, but it doesn't change it. Why shouldn't I read it? Some movie is completely inappropriate, but I know what is right and what is wrong, so why shouldn't I watch it? When it seems that no one else in the world cares about holiness, where else can you turn? And why does it matter?

When Jesus first called his disciples, he didn't immediately demand perfection. His first call was for proximity. "Come follow me," he said. It was that simple. Naturally, as we follow Jesus, we should become more like him. But even at the cross, Jesus's message was not that we should be perfect and therefore we might be accepted. The message of the cross is that we are accepted, and therefore we can be perfect. If acceptance required perfection of our own accord, there would be no need for the cross. Jesus willingly went to the cross because we cannot be perfect on our own, and he went knowing even before taking on all of our sin that we would sin anyway, and that the world will not be completely sin-free until he returns for the formation of the new heaven and new earth

 In this world we are not free of sin. That has been established through scripture, through common sense, and through day-to-day struggles with sin. We are not free of sin, but in Christ we are free from it. That is a purpose of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it is the hope we have in him. From the moment Christ said, "It is finished," we have been free from both the power and the penalty of sin. The only thing we are not free from is the presence of sin. This explains the phrase made famous by Martin Luther, Simil iustus et peccator, which, simply put in English, means that we can be simultaneously righteous and sinners. In Christ, we have been made righteous, but we still live in a world full of sin.

So what's the point? If we can't be perfect, why should we try? That's where the fault is. We are free from the power of sin because of Jesus, and he can tell us to go therefore and sin no more. Jesus's first call is for proximity, but he doesn't call us to him so we can live a life of sin. He calls us to him so we can learn from him and truly live out our calling on the earth.

The best example there is for how this ties in to the line is alcohol, of all things. Many people drink without getting drunk. There is nothing wrong with that. But how do they do it? There are only two ways. The either stay far away from their limit, or they know their limit because they have exceeded it before. In the same way, how far can we go with sin before we have gone too far? The only way to find out is to go too far. It is simply wiser to avoid the risk entirely.

Regardless of what you are struggling with, it is important to know that Jesus lived the perfect life we were incapable of living and died the death we deserved. Your sins have been paid for. Don't take that news as an excuse to run from Jesus. The first call, after all, is proximity. To deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. Not because you have not sinned, but because you have been drawn near, you may go therefore and sin no more.

"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" --Luke 9:23

Before the Throne of God Above

Before you read the rest of this post, take a moment to finish this sentence on paper or in your head:

"The God I believe in would never..."

Think about that for a moment. The omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God of the universe would never... do what? Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases. What can we say he would never do? Yet many people have an answer to that question, and it often comes in the form of another question:

"How can a loving, merciful God send people to Hell?"

When people ask themselves this question, they are leaving out several important attributes of God and some important background information that answers itself.

The first thing we need to understand is that God is holy, and we are not. Holiness is perfect, spotless righteousness. If God came into contact with sin, He would no longer be holy. Since every single person is a sinner, we must therefore be eternally separated from the holy God. The physical place where God is not found is Hell. People don't choose whether or not they are going to Hell, but rather we all have no choice aside from Hell due to our unholiness.

Okay, so God is holy. But He is still loving, so how can He send people to Hell?

A second important attribute of God is that he is just. People often confuse 'just' with 'fair.' We must realize that they are not the same thing. Fairness means everyone gets the same thing. Justice means everyone gets what they deserve. In this case they would originally result in the same thing: everyone would go to Hell. In fact, everyone is born headed straight there. However, we must remember the attribute we are more comfortable with: God is merciful. While justice means everyone gets what they deserve, mercy means everyone gets more than what they deserve. Therefore God sent His son Jesus, who lived a righteous life and took on all of our sin, and died on the cross as punishment for them. The illustration my youth pastor used today was that we are all in a river to Hell. God is not sending to Hell, but we are making our own way there. This is not merely due to rejecting the gospel. We are making our own way to Hell because of all of our sins, that sin included. But God, being rich in mercy, rescues us by pulling us out of the river of our sins.

If we were comparing this to a court of law, we would see it in this way: God is the judge. He looks at us and says, "You are guilty, and you deserve death, but I forgive you." That explanation makes sense. But that's really not the best explanation of what happens when those in Christ are judged. A better illustration would be God the judge looking at us and saying, "You are NOT guilty." It has to be this way because if we were guilty, it wouldn't matter if we were forgiven. We would still not be holy and therefore would still be unable to stand in the presence of God. The only way to stand in the presence of God is to be holy; to have no guilt. And only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can we say that our sins are dead, and we are hidden in Christ's life, and therefore not guilty.

The best way I have heard it worded is in the song, Before the Throne of God Above:

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there, the Risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I am,
The King of glory and of grace!

One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

We will never be able to fathom the depth Christ's love for us. How can we even try to understand God's grace? We could never count the vast amount of sin in our own individual lives. Yet Jesus paid for all of it, and we have been given the gift of salvation. One day we will inhabit the New Heaven and the New Earth and our creator, the one, true, holy God will dwell among us. That is not something that ought to be taken for granted.

The final attribute of God that is important to answering this question is that God is sovereign. He is in complete control, and He does whatever pleases Him. We struggle to understand this sometimes, and I think we probably always will. We simply need to understand that God does whatever he wants to do, and he doesn't have to explain it to us. The illustration in Romans 9:20 puts it into perspective nicely. God is the potter and we are the clay, and we have no right or reason to ask God why He does something. We should always remember Romans 8:28. No matter what the situation is, God is working it together for our good on the eternal scale because we love Him, even if we cannot see it.

So we should not be asking ourselves how a loving, merciful God could send people to Hell. We should be in awestruck wonder that the holy, just, sovereign God rescued us from Hell. And we should more importantly be sharing it with others and glorify God in everything we do because He has rescued us.

"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." -1 Thessalonians 5:9