As I look at the beliefs of the different Christian denominations I find the Catholic churches preaching Christ crucified plus choosing faith plus works equals salvation. Nearer the middle but perhaps still on this side are churches that preach Christ crucified plus choosing faith equals salvation.

On the other side of what appears to be an irreconcilable gap, are the reformed churches preaching Christ crucified which is given as a free gift to those chosen of God through faith which equals salvation.

Even so,
“In all things… Christ is proclaimed and in this I will rejoice, yes and I will rejoice.” Philippians 2?

But what I have observed, been taught, believed, and experienced indicates that they’re all a lot closer together than anyone is comfortable with. A lie and a sinful priority binds us together more than our perceived differences. Second only to the proclamation of Christ crucified, the battle cry of churches and Christians from all places and across all times, is one of human transformation and not mostly in the internal way God intended which God says He works out in us, but external behaviors for which we are to pray, to use the power of the Spirit, to obsess into oblivion. We are indeed so concerned with our actions, that if one belongs to even a reformed church, where we make proud proclamations of predestined believers, if your life and personality and choices don’t match up with a given set of man made rules, your very salvation is called into question.

Of course it would never be suggested that you could have lost your salvation, but it will be up for debate on whether you were ever saved to begin with. This creates a reality and lifestyle and a view of God and man which determines salvation by works. Directly in opposition to beliefs held so dearly.

Is there really a difference between one set of believers who are upfront about the ways in which you must work for your salvation and the set of believers who preach a free salvation while in practice will judge your works to determine your salvation?

A few questions:

How is it, that from a Bible that is 80% full of the promises of God, never ending lists of things He’s done for us, and descriptions of His overflowing love and His precious and spectacular character, that we as Christians spend 80% of our time thinking, talking, praying, reading, singing, and exhorting mere changes in outward behavior? Shouldn’t we be focused on Him and His promises and His works and gifts for us?

How is it that adults who have been given a personal relationship with their Creator, defined by love and acceptance, choose to fill our homes and churches and classrooms with posters of lists of things that our little ones should be doing? Shouldn’t we be plastering our spaces with the character and promises and works and gifts of God?

How is it that the law, via the 10 Commandments, which was given to open the eyes of the unbeliever, is one of the first things memorized by little believers? Why are we not encouraging them to memorize a list of God’s promises?

How is it that we have taken the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus threw over and obliterated the sinful beliefs we hold when He made promises not for those who are clever and rich and have something to offer, but made promises to those with less than nothing and turned them into a list of things we ought to try to do and be? Instead of putting up posters of the “beatitudes” as sweet promises and comfort, we have yet again put up posters with a list of things to do. This being the exact opposite of the heart of what Jesus was saying.

In the same vein, how can we take the “fruit of the Spirit” which was was inspired by God to communicate promises of the many things He promises to be actively working out in our hearts by the power of His kind Spirit , and we have turned it into a list of things to strive to become? Again, teaching our precious children and baby believers, the exact opposite of the heart of God, as revealed through Jesus and the Spirit.

When we look at Old Testament Scriptures, why is it that we ask and can quickly answer questions like:
In which ways should imitate David/Abraham/Job?
In which ways should we not imitate David/Abraham/Job?

But when we look at Old Testament Scriptures, why is it that we do not ask and cannot come up with answers to questions like?
What does God reveal about His character and plans through His interactions with David/Abraham/Abel/Job/etc ie “the good guys”?
What does God reveal about His character and plans as God deals with Saul/Lot/ Cain/Job’s friends/etc ie “the bad guys”?
What are the promises God gives and/or fulfills as we watch Him interact with the “good guys” AND the “bad guys”?

Why is it that God’s people as a whole, spend so much time, energy, thought, teaching, to concentrate and critique the choices we make in our lives? Is that the biggest most beautiful or important thing which we all have in common? Is that the thing that deserves the majority of ourselves?

Do we really believe that the Almighty Creator of the Universe, the Holy Judge, the I Am, gave up His throne, became one of His creation in the gutter, lived a perfect life and then died to save not friends but rebellious enemies, all so His beloved children would spend their lives nitpicking their actions and obsessively strive to do things He’s already done or promised to do? Can we really see the character of God and His amazing works for us as mere milk worth time only to be given to the unsaved and baby Christians?

Yet, this is how we think, this is what we believe. This is how we see God and His precious gifts and promises. We would go so far as to say it is sinful to spend too much time on only these things. We so little see God as He has shown Himself through Jesus and the Word. We so little value His love and works for us. And these beliefs we have woven into our very interpretation and understanding of God’s words to us so as to turn the Bible and our churches into a perpetuator of our lies.

Even so,
“In all things… Christ is proclaimed and in this I will rejoice, yes and I will rejoice.” Philippians 2?

Selah.

God, Father, Kind Shepherd. I bow before you in repentance. We, your children, the beneficiaries of your incredible sweetness, walk so carelessly over your magnificence and the beauty of the incredible gifts you’ve given us in preference and hope for some fleshly fulfilment. We, your children, the chosen ones who have been clothed in the good works of Christ would weigh down even our newest, littlest, and weariest brothers and sisters with lists of things to do rather than the sweetness of encouragement and joy in Jesus’ delight over us. We the prostitutes, saved from the gutter and beloved, spend our lives focused on our own beautification, with few thoughts of gazing at and enjoying the company of our sacrificial Lover. We the sheep, who have an all seeing gentle Shepherd have busied ourselves with making sure all the sheep behave themselves, rather than supporting and encouraging the littlest, weariest and weakest ones as we all follow our Shepherd together. I repent of all of it. I repent of the pride we feel when we think we’ve beautified one stray hair, on the body of one who has been washed and made alive by a Holy Judge. I repent that we have fed our fleshly human desires with a perverted religiosity and have felt superior to our own beloved brothers and sisters who do not live up to our superb following of man-made rules. I repent with trembling for all those we’ve lead astray with our distractions and lies. I repent with trembling for the souls who have been turned aside from the Good News of Christ because of the heavy burdens they see us walk under and place on each other in the name of the savior who came and took our burdens from us. I repent with trembling for the little children whose souls we’ve filled with impossible to-do lists rather than lists of the many perfect and wonderful things You are and things you’ve done for us. You, oh God, have seen and been patient with us, Your children, since the beginning of time. You have continued to love us and bless us and pursue us and answer our prayers. You have been faithful while we have been arrogantly faithless. Please forgive us of all of these things.

And in Jesus’ name, even these, the greatest of sins, are already gone. They were nailed to the cross where Christ took willingly the well deserved judgement, wrath and shame. In Jesus’ name, we are forgiven.
It is finished.
Precious child of God, Jesus kneels down to our bowed selves and lifts up our faces and looks into our tear filled eyes with His bright joyful eyes. He does not wish us to live in shame, there is no purgatory for these things, no punishments left to be given. He simply says, “You are forgiven, go and sin no more.”
It is finished.

Truly, God, Your love is everlasting and overflowing. Truly Your patience with us is beyond our comprehension, as You delight in your precious children, no matter how blind and fleshly we remain. Truly Your plans are enforced by Your own great mighty Arm alone, we cannot imagine that You can get anything done with your children running around spreading chaos, lies and fleshly prerogatives. And if that wasn’t enough, it is through these fleshly saints that you execute your great works, sing both our sins and Your victories through us, to bring about Your perfect will.

We praise and thank you Father, Shepherd, Savior, King, Judge and Creator, for your joyful forgiveness of our many wrongs. As saints on this side of the cross, each and every one of these have already been nailed to the cross and died with Jesus, each and every one of us have been raised up with Christ, without the stain of our wrongs, and under the everlasting smile of God, I Am. We worship as we turn these things around in our hearts and see Your beauty shining through all things. We worship One so holy and just who could love so much to come down and live in the gutter with us, to rescue us from these things. We worship the glory of God as revealed in the kindness of Jesus.

Please, remember that we are dust. Be merciful to us and gracious. We ask that you would fill our hearts with the remembrances of all You are and all You’ve done for us. Allow our eyes to see your Word in a fresh way. Please help us to see Your promises and gifts as you intended rather than as a list of expectations. Please, may these Truths jump off the page at us and become the first words out of our mouths. Please have mercy and allow us to see that you have taken our burdens and that Your heart desires us to rest in You and to enjoy the salvation, freedom, and promises You’ve lavished on us. Please help us be patient while we learn to see and think differently. Please help up quickly be able to turn these things around and so be able to help unburden each other. Give us words to put on posters in all our spaces, of your promises and the beauty of your character. Put pictures in our minds and through artists that convey the kindness of your Heart which is what leads to repentance and peace. Fill writers and orators with words to speak and tell stories of your approval and love and joy over us. Please remove the picture we have in our heads of you as a stern finger-wagger or of a strict task master. Please allow us to better see the pictures you’ve sprinkled throughout your Word which describes Your heart and allow us to form a new picture of You in our heads. Please help us when these Truths wound our flesh and our faith. Have mercy, and please remember to be gentle. Please pull up every last root of the lies that we have fed and watered and we trust you to plant Truth there instead.

We trust that You are working out your will in and through us, though our flesh still clings to us. We trust in your delight and love for us. And we look forward with great eagerness to the day when Your unmasked glory will be revealed to all people, when Jesus comes to be united with His bride and when we will finally be able to see and enjoy You in complete fulness.

Here is written a message to you, myself from many years ago, and I trust with my whole heart that these things, past and present, are all part of God working out His plans for His own glory.

---

Hello dear self, 

I see you speak with passion about your failings, wishing, wanting, begging for God to work change your heart. I see you reading books, listening to sermons and podcasts, reading blog posts, looking for some small hidden key that will bring change. I love you. I love your heart to love better. I love your heart that hates your sin and your selfishness and longs to be a selfless channel for God to use to speak truth to people. I see God’s Spirit working in your life and it is a joy to walk with you while you wait on Yahweh to do His work.

But this is what my heart longs for, that you might be free of the guilt and the shame that you feel and that you might spend more hours of your day resting in and enjoying the knowledge that you are pleasing to God, here, right now.

We have discussed the Biblical statement that “unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” And we both agree that it is God Himself who can change the heart, which is from where our outward actions become also changed. We have discussed His sovereignty, how He uses even our failings and sin to work for His glory and for good, just as He used the murders Paul committed as a greater encouraging testimony for 2000 years of mankind, assuring us that if God saves even the murderer of His own precious people, then God can save me and you, too. 

Yet in spite of surmounting evidence that your own efforts can effect but the smallest of outward changes and that true heart change can only be done by God in His own timing, you hold onto guilt and shame. You feel you must wallow in grief over your sin. You feel it is your duty to make outward actions to attempt that which you cannot accomplish. And I don’t blame you. It is both human for us to be fiercely independent, and also is it taught to us that the way to prove ourselves true children of God, we must do these pointless and hurtful things. We’ve come to a place where the appearance of fighting sin is now labeled as “most righteous” and the presence of sin in our hearts is overlooked…. ultimately because we know deep down that we can’t change ourselves. But we cannot accept a God who wants things different than we want them. So for generations our human instincts to “do what we can” and to “be better” and the biggest unholy thought of all, to be righteous in any small way before our Creator God has been passed down and built upon so that our twisted thinking in this way has been what is normal throughout history.

The thing is, none of that is what God tells us He wants of us in the Bible. God does not tell you to keep up your feelings of shame and guilt over things in your life that you cannot seem to conquer. He does not tell you to wallow in grief over your sin and focus your time and energy into surrounding yourself with every bit of human wisdom which you hope will conquer it. God doesn’t tell you to try your hardest to do something which you cannot do. These things are not found in the Bible, they are not in the heart of God for you.

Let’s imagine for a minute something a little random. Let’s say God gave you a free pass on the way you love people. Ridiculous, ami right? But go with me. Use your imagination. What if He told you that it was really ok with Him for you to not love people well for the rest of your life. That He wanted you to use the energy and emotion you were pouring into this and use it however you wanted. What if He promised that He would give you the rewards for a life better than you could ever earn in exchange for letting go of this stuff and participating in this little experiment. And let’s pretend you believed Him and that hearing these things made you take a huge sigh of relief. The pressure to conquer and perform was off. Breath now, iiiiiiinnnnnnnnn and outttttttttttt. Relax your shoulders, let go of that knot in your belly. Imagine a peaceful mind. If you knew that God had promised to be abundantly pleased with you when you stood before Him for judgement. And let’s say that you also would be immune to judgement or praise from another human for the rest of your life. No one could approve or disapprove of you. What if you were free from the judgement of God and the fear of man. 

Here’s the crazy thing. That is exactly the message God has for us through the Scriptures. Does God hate sin? Of course! Should we hate sin too? Yes, and God has promised that His children will have a hatred of sin…. though it may not be as intense of a feeling as we would like. God has promised that part of our salvation includes a hatred of sin, and the intensity is exactly according to His will. In some it may look greater and stronger and in some it may look weaker, but who are we to question God’s will, to give a hatred of sin to each according to His own plan? We get to rest in God restraining our sinfulness as much as He chooses, and as little as He chooses. To believe this is impossible for us.

Does God want us to be righteous? Yes! Is there anything we can do to become more righteous? Heavens, no. “More righteous” is simply not a thing. One is either all righteous or not righteous at all. That’s what God tells us in His scriptures. Even IF one could achieve partial righteousness, which they can’t, God would toss them in the bin with the next guy because God is ALL holy and ALL perfect and ALL pure and there are no brownie points for trying or striving or wishing for righteousness. So, is there a way for us to be righteous? All of God’s children ARE righteous, they ARE holy, they ARE set apart, each and every single one of them, from the highest pharisee to the lowest wretch. Perfectly completely righteous. And you simply cannot ADD anything to complete perfection. We get to rest in Christ’s perfect righteousness and trust that included in this gift, as stated in the Scriptures, comes also perfect unity with God, just like Christ has. And standing perfectly pleasing for God, just like Christ does. And a beautiful perfect rich inheritance beyond what we could imagine, which Christ earned and has allowed us to share with Him. To believe this is impossible for us.

But what if I just don’t get how I can BE righteous AND sinful at the same time. Seems like I need to pick one or the other to really focus on and let God deal with the other. Yes! That’s pretty much spot on, you just need to pick to focus on the righteousness that you are and trust the sinful part to God. Indeed, we are redeemed perfect righteous beloved spotless creatures, our very life IS Christ, in whom we are kept and because of whom we are one with God in a perfect union, right now, here today. We are made so perfectly pleasing that nothing can be done to add to it. And yet our souls are bound by the flesh, bodies of flesh chaining us in this fallen earth in which we still are stuck connected to the sinful wretched old self which is no longer our identity but a filthy garment yet to be shed. It is the fallen flesh which is untamable by us which causes us to act against the things we long to do according to life, which IS Christ Himself, doing His work within us. So while we do long to restrain our fallen flesh from hurting ourselves and those around us, we recognize that this flesh cannot be “fixed” or “made righteous” or anything, but has been condemned to die with Christ’s death. It is a thing that must be removed wholly and cannot be altered or transformed. We can reign it in sometimes, and surely God is so kind to keep so many reigned in as much as He does. And so while we do continue to reign in and restrain our flesh, while we do aim to do actions which make up for the wretchedness of our flesh, we do not dwell there. We do not judge ourselves before God by them, and God does not judge us by them. They were crucified with Christ and will fall away when we are made alive in Christ. We do the best we can for now but we focus our hearts on the God who has given us His favor, on the God who has restrained our sin as much as He has chosen, on the Savior who loved us, died for us, crucified this flesh which must die, and has planted Himself as LIFE within us, who is working out His will to His own glory right now in us, using both the actions and desires of the righteous us and the fleshly us. To believe this is impossible for us.

And so, in my sorrow and in great overwhelm I see my own wretchedness, my own inability to please God even to believe the most basic pieces of His great news to us about salvation in Jesus Christ. And yet it is here in this honest view of ourselves, this is exactly where God dwells within us. This is where He dwells within us, living in us in spite of all of this wretchedness. Indeed He loves us better than we do ourselves, for we cannot stand this view of ourselves. It crushes and destroys us, it torments our pride and vanity and independence. Often the circumstances required to bring us to a place where we can see these things is so terrible that they destroy us, and so though wiser for knowing our true depravity, our minds and hearts and lives are often shattered in the process, perhaps never to recover. 

So this is why I wait for Yahweh. To be ignorant of our depravity is to exist in a dependence on something we can do for God and the end to any bit of that pride is condemnation. To be made aware of the depth of our depravity often does permanent damage to our hearts and minds and lives and the lives of those around us. Surely the wrath of God is unendurable and destroys both the flesh and the soul. And surely the love of God also is unendurable, destroying the flesh. This is the truth. As God has communicated Himself to us in His Scriptures. 

Praise God who has never forgotten that He made us from dust. Praise be to God who has always done all things for us in His timing, according to His will, in His own way for His own glory and has brought about so much kindness for His children. Praise be to God who often leaves us blind to the depravity of our souls and the totality of everything He’s done for us in Christ, preferring to allow us to go merrily along our way in blindness, waiting to share this revelation with us once we’ve been united with Him and our flesh has fallen from us. Praise be to God who has sat faithfully alongside us, in the deep dark pit of sorrow, as He has revealed Himself to the death of our flesh. 

Have mercy on us, oh God. Show us not too much of your truth here on earth, bring us through our life to a life with you where we will better be able to behold your glory. We praise you for the mercy you have shown your beloved children, even going so far as to endure millennia of humans giving themselves the credit and flaunting their superiority around, though all credit belongs to you. You have shown us such great mercy. We bow in awe and reverence.

In our humility we beg for mercy on behalf of those whom you have not chosen. We cling to those instances in the Scriptures where you used the prayers of your saints to “change your mind” and work out salvation for more people that was your “original plan” and we beg that you might show mercy on each soul that you have created. For we see that our “decent” or “good” lives are the result of You, behind the scenes, restraining the flesh of many. And we see that every bit of good in us is only there because Christ overcame our flesh and produced the good Himself in us. We are completely and utterly humiliated. And yet, with the realization that we are less than worthless, You lift our faces from our own filth and bring our gaze up to your glorious smile and you laugh and you hold us in a tight embrace and you tell us that we are loved and approved of, more than we can ever know.

Now to Him who is able to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude 24-25

She peaks in. She stands with just a toe inside the pearly gates. A booming voice from somewhere above announces “Here stands Rose Smith! She was wholly sinful, did no good before God, yet is wholly loved and adored by God and has been given all things in Christ Jesus! Rose, enter into your rest!”

In an instant, Saint Peter is just at her side, taking her by the arm, greeting her, “Welcome, friend! There are a few more yet to arrive, Jesus will be here in one hour to take us all Home to Heaven! Refreshments are over there, if you like….”

Peter meets resistance for though her eyes seem to linger on the punch bowl near by, she is clearly hesitant to take a step forward, she is trying to process something.

“What is it, friend?” Peter asks her.

Lifted from her thoughts she meets his eyes and pleads, “But, what about…. well, I hate to disagree with you, Peter, but what about all those good things I did for God? That big voice that announced my arrival didn’t mention them, and I’m just wondering if maybe there is an error on my account?”

“Oh, yes!” Peter replies, “The good stuff Christ Jesus did through you! It’s all here!” He motions to the tablet in hand, “Jesus will tell you about that Himself!”

“Ok cool!” Rose half smiles letting herself be lead along, hoping more than believing that he’s answered her question to her satisfaction. They stop by the punch bowl, Peter smiles and nods to Jonah then turns back to Rose who adds slowly, “Do you mean, like, the stuff Jesus helped me do? That I did in His strength? That stuff? When I obeyed, you know, for God’s glory?”

“Well everything you did was paid for by Jesus’s blood, Peter explains, with just a hint of compassionate understanding creeping into his eyes, “and all the good stuff was just stuff Jesus did that he let you observe up close and in-person!”

“Oh but surely not everything I did was paid for by Jesus’ blood?!” Rose says, half to herself, “No, that doesn’t make sense!”

“Oh yes, everything you did was surely paid for by the blood of Jesus.” Peter smiles hopefully.

“No, no! It can’t be! This is no good! Sorry, I mean, of course it is good, because here I am, I’m saved by Jesus blood. But also not good, because I did some really hard stuff! I sacrificed for Jesus, you see, and chose to glorify God! I ran the race, I fought the fight, I put on the armor of God and did battle with the forces of evil! Yet I get to heaven and you seem to have lost my entire file! Maybe if I tell you some of them, you can do a search? You must have me confused with someone else!”

“I think maybe you are confused about who you are. You see, Jesus did all those things –“

But Rose cuts in, her panic rising. “Yes, yes, of course, Jesus did all the things. I know, I know, I was a Christian for a long time, you know. I meant the stuff I. Did. For. God.
Like how I looked after that old neighbor lady for years. And that year I taught toddler Sunday school because no one else was willing. And, oh man, I worked really really hard to become a better wife! And all that stuff I did so for my kids that other parents didn’t do! And I made sure my husband didn’t work on Sundays when he thought it was ok! And those years that tithed to the church even while paying off student loans!
Is none of this on my file?! I can’t have done all that for nothing!!”

“Well hang on,” Peter interrupted, “I never said your deeds were for nothing! Let me ask you this, the elderly lady you tended to, was her life better because you kept an eye on her?”
“What?” Rose blinked, “Well yes! I mean especially that year with all the snow –“
“And the toddlers in the Sunday school class,” Peter interrupted, “did you hug them and talk to them them and tend to their needs and tell them about Jesus?”
“Of course, but –!”
“And would you say it was a blessing and a joy to your husband that you became a better wife?” Peter pressed on.
“Yes! I mean I think so! I sure hope so! I did try!”
“And did your kids gain benefit in their adult lives from the extra stuff you did for them?”
“Well, not from all of it —
“But from some of it?”
“Well, yes but –“
“And do you think your husband felt more rested by Monday when he had to go back to work, having rested on Sunday?”
“I… I don’t know, that’s not why we… huh?”
“And was your church able to use the money you gave them while you were paying off student loans to better care for it’s members and the community around them?”
“I mean, I guess so….”
“And did you receive satisfaction or pleasure or joy from any of those things?”
“Well, yes, many of them…”
“Then there you go! Not a waste! Not at all!”

“But… but… I did them for God!” Rose wailed, “I obeyed and everything! I ….. well, are you telling me you cannot find find any of that stuff on my account?!”

“Well, honestly, no, everything you did was done in your flesh and died with Jesus Christ, remember? We don’t keep records of those things since they have been paid in full! Here on your account, is a list that is so infinitely better than the one you think you should have. This one says that Jesus fulfilled the whole law for you, paid in full! You are as delightful and pleasing to God as you could ever be! Nothing you could ever do could make God happier with you! You are perfect, by the life and death of Jesus Christ!”

But at this Rose starts to cry, the poor thing. We can relate, can’t we?

Wrapping Rose in a big hug, Peter aims a sad smile and a nod at a man conversing nearby. The man pauses his conversation and hustles over.

“Here’s another one. ” Peter says, “I’m afraid this one will probably be disappointed and confused until Jesus Himself comes and wipes away her tears. But we shall do our best.”

“It is quite the shock for them, isn’t it? Poor weary souls.” The man replies, putting his arm around Roses shoulder, letting her tears fall onto his shirt.

Peter bends near to Rose’s tear covered face and explains over her sobs, ” “This is the man who died on the cross next to Jesus, he’s going to sit with you while you chat with Ezekiel, these explanations are his specialty. Perhaps he’ll be able to bring you more comfort. And don’t worry, Jesus will be here very soon to wipe away all your tears. I know you are so weary, have patience, my dear, Jesus is coming very soon.”