Here is an interesting question that was emailed recently:
Thanks for this question. Rest assured, scripture affirms that God judges individuals based on what each one does - we are responsible for our own actions. God shows no partiality (Rom. 2:11; Acts 10:34; Gal. 2:6) and "he will render to each one according to his works" (Rom. 2:6). However, Jesus and Paul ruffled some feathers because neither of them had confidence that if we are judged according to our own works that things would go well for us. Paul wrote "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" and Jesus' core message was that the kingdom of God was coming but that individuals needed to "repent" in order to enjoy it. So we are judged according to our works but according to the New Testament our good is not good enough. This is where the Gospel comes in. The good news is that where we fall short - Jesus didn't. Jesus is really the only one who was ever completely obedient to God (Phil 2). So the Gospel is offensive to us because it calls into question the belief that "I'm not rebellious at all by nature". While there may be a sense in which we don't feel rebellious, Jesus diagnoses all of our hearts as infected with sin (Mark 7:1-21) and in need of his intervention.
More to say but I will stop here to see what comments you guys have.....
I see this as a dichotomy and that is where I feel a sense of confusion as well. There is the God that seems punishing - we are judged on our works, and then there is the God that forgives and is loving because we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and ask for his forgiveness. My question is this - is the act of asking for forgiveness and accepting Jesus as my Savior, that he has risen from the dead and will return to judge me enough? By enough, is that the action (work) that God expects? Will his judgment be based on my faith that Jesus is my Savior and that my intentions are to give my life to his plan for me?
ReplyDeleteI sin and I will continue to sin, sometimes the acts are intentional. Does the act of repentance signal that I am sorry, or does my prayer for forgiveness demonstrate my struggle to be good in the eyes of God? Is there a difference?
One of my questions has always been about distinguishing between asking for forgiveness out of the nature of being a sinner and then asking for forgiveness for an act that I chose to do. Will those acts of sin condemn me despite my faith in Jesus as my Savior? That is definitely a fear of mine!
Thanks for your comments, Jaclyn. I don't think you are alone with this fear, however, I think we can help with this issue. To place your trust/faith in Jesus means at least two things: first, it is an acceptance/acknowledgment/submission to what Jesus has done. It is trusting the sufficient nature of his life, death, resurrection and return and that what he did was indeed enough. Second, this faith in Jesus is an acceptance that you can't achieve a relationship with God a part from Jesus. That is, faith is to acknowledge Jesus' work and to admit that there is no amount of goodness/work/righteousness that we can do on our own that will earn us good standing before God. Understood in this way, faith is the "anti-work" in that it is the realization that our work is not good enough but that Jesus' work is.
ReplyDeleteOpps....not quite done yet:)
ReplyDelete....So the fear that your "work" of faith might not be good enough is to miss-approach the issue. Your are saved because you have placed your faith in what Jesus has done - in this way your salvation does not rest on you anymore. This is what freedom in Christ looks like - you have been released from the burden of works-righteousness and have been given a righteousness that is NOT your own (Phil 3:9). As a result of this, real transformation begins to occur (Rom 12:1-2) but it is not based on fear but rather on love (Rom. 8:35-39; 12:9-10).
That is certainly a good question, and does make you wonder fundamentally why would God allow sin into the world in the first place. I think it is so that we can have a true relationship with Him. Without a choice to follow Him and have fellowship with Him, there is no relationship. The perfect relationship existed in the Garden of Eden and was broken when the imperfect man disobeyed God's command. However, God knew that this would happen, and even then He had a plan for restoring man’s relationship with God. The following verses illustrate this clearly:
ReplyDeleteWho has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. (2 Tim 1:9)
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. (1 Peter 1:20)
I really don’t think that God is being unjust at all in this, but rather showing the full measure of His grace. He has given us a means to restore that broken relationship, and done so in a way that it must come individually through faith in Jesus for salvation of our sins.
Both of you have opened up a new perspective of looking at my question, or fear. I realize that my faith in Jesus' works has eliminated the burden of works-righteousness. I've learned these words of God and heard their power but I've struggled with putting all these elements together.
ReplyDeleteJared's point that our relationship with God exists because of his grace and his plan and without sin, we wouldn't know the same just and loving God shows that His love and righteousness is so much more than I can comprehend. I remember a friend telling me a few years ago, during a tough week of college finals, you can't know the good without the bad; how would we know the good if it weren't for the bad?
That simple statement has so much meaning and God knew that the sin we experience would bring us closer to Him. I am so thankful for my salvation and am now more aware of where my relationship with God is heading.
Hey Jaclyn. So glad to hear this. Thanks again for your response.
ReplyDeleteI always like to think of this question in terms of the fracturing of a rythym..God set the world in rythym where there was peace, connection with Him, joy, right relationship with others and so on. As in a orchestra all it takes is that one off instrument to break the sound and break the peace. Now we all long for that rythym again deep in our souls and we try to fill it with a million different things. We only really start to regain that rythym when we allow Christ to reign over us.
ReplyDeleteFor if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17