To Live is Christ — obedient

Once I talked to a group of young children about sin and the need for forgiveness. One wide-eyed five-year-old looked at me and said, “But I’ve never murdered anyone.”

Like so many, she defined goodness by what she didn’t do rather than what she did do. One pastor jokingly did the same by saying, “I don’t smoke, I don’t chew, and I don’t run with the girls that do.” Since more than half the commands in the Old Testament are negative and begin with “Don’t,” it is easy to see where this understanding comes from.

However, God is also interested in what we actually do, as well as what we don’t do. He says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17).

That right thing could be something as simple as sensing His nudge to call a sick neighbor, or picking up someone else’s litter, or smiling at a grouchy store clerk. He says that failing to respond to that nudge to do right is sin — obviously the sin of disobedience.

That said, disobeying more complex commands seem easier to label with the ‘S’ word. God says to honor father and mother. Dishonoring them seems more like sin than failing to pick up the phone or not smiling at someone. God also says we are to love one another, strive for unity in the church, and give to the poor. Hate or apathy, arguing or scrapping, and stinginess sound a lot more like sin than the less obvious nudges previously mentioned.

While those biggies, like murder, adultery, and stealing seem obviously more harmful to more people, I don’t think God measures sin the same way we do. To Him, I’m either obedient or not. He does not measure in degrees as we do. When I step over the line, I have stepped over the line. The only grey areas are those created in my mind when I’m not sure of God’s will on a matter. When I am sure of what He asks of me, then the imperative is to obey it, no matter if it appears a big or small thing.

Former missionary, author and speaker, Elizabeth Elliott was asked how she got so much done and how she scheduled her day. She said, “I do the next thing. I almost always know what it is, so I just do it.”

I’ve found that to be true for most of my task organizing. I know what needs to be done, and usually know what to do first. When I get confused or unsure, this is often prefaced by disobedience. God had put a task in my head as the “next thing” but I didn’t do it. Because of that, I lose my way and my plans go askew.

Knowing what to do stresses the importance of staying alert to God. Without a listening ear, I cannot possibly know “the right thing” to do, never mind carry it out. However, when I stumble off the path of obedience and lose my way, yet God is amazing. He mercifully picks me up and guides me back on track. He cares that I know and do the right thing. He is also far more intentional than I am about keeping my life free from sin.

My Shepherd — my Sacrifice

My parents owned a grain farm, then moved and lived in a mixed farming area. By then I was married and we owned a mixed farm nearby. Cattle are the norm in that area, but one season we bought a few sheep. Never again. To say it nicely, sheep are difficult to deal with.

In his book, A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23, published by Zondervan in 1970, shepherd Phillip Keller draws wonderful parallels between the work of raising sheep to the way the Lord Jesus Christ takes care of His people. He also shows how we are like sheep. Sheep easily scatter and wander off. They are prone to predators as well as injury and disease. They need help finding food and water, and are scared of everything.

I read the book a long time ago, yet still shiver a bit when I remember the smell and the seemingly empty heads of those critters. Without a lot of care, I’m sure they would starve, walk obliviously into danger and be eaten by wolves, or simply die of fright.

The Bible uses this image of sheep and our Shepherd in several places. Initially, the most important verse in my mind is the one that defines sin.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

I used to think sin was the big stuff, like murder and stealing, but this verse and others show me that sin is just doing my own thing, ignoring God and ignoring His commands. It is thinking my own thoughts, saying my own words, and doing whatever pleases me. I am like a silly sheep.

Most of that seems innocent enough, yet eventually my selfishness got me into trouble. Even though I am far more aggressive than the average sheep, I hadn’t killed anyone, but Jesus said even wanting to makes me guilty. I hadn’t stolen anything either, but the Bible makes it clear that coveting what others have is as bad. However, I did do things that I knew were wrong and the Holy Spirit began convicting me that I was a sinner, even though I would not have used that word to describe me. Instead, I called myself a colossal failure. I cried much and lost all confidence in my ability to do anything right.

At that low point, the Shepherd walked in. Jesus brought light and life and started to care for me. As the Bible says, I was “like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:25)

Keller’s book pointed out that Jesus is the patient and loving shepherd. He saw me going off track and took me into His fold. He said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

Jesus did do that. He died for my sin so I don’t have to. Yet the startling truth of His death is that Scripture does not picture a Shepherd on a cross as these verses might suggest, but a lamb, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

In becoming a lamb, He also became one of us. He is not totally like us in that He didn’t sin, but like us (and like a lamb) in our vulnerability. Right after the verse where Isaiah defines sin, he writes:

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

The last thing I would have done to take care of my flock of stupid sheep would be to become one of them. While they might understand me better, even a cute lamb is not so cute in reality. But Jesus did that. He became one of us, a lamb, even a sacrificial lamb. Then He allowed Himself to be led to the cross where He silently offered His life for mine.

Easter is next weekend. Commercialism has made it a time of chocolate, eggs, rabbits, and cute little stuffed lambs. How sad, but at least when I see the lambs I can be reminded of the Lamb who was my sacrifice and is now my Shepherd.

Who is steering the boat?

Defined by Scripture, sin is when “we have turned, every one, to his own way” rather than going the way of the Lord. All fall short of godliness, of the righteousness that is revealed in Jesus Christ. Apart from faith in Him and the transforming power of God to give us new life, no one measures up.

This could be illustrated by the following diagram. The vertical line in the middle represents the Cross and a saving encounter with Jesus Christ.

pure evil <----human good | new life -----> godliness

This shows how people apart from Christ have the potential for both pure evil and human good. We are sinners, but still made in the image of the living God. However, no one can head toward godliness unless they go by the Cross.

Yet even after receiving new life from Christ, Christians still struggle with sin. We also we have the potential in Christ for a goodness that is beyond our own ability. We are chosen by God that we might be godly people.

Today I’m thinking about the process God uses to get me moving toward the right side of that diagram. Sin is such that I tend to turn a blind eye to my shortcomings. I may do things that are merely “good” or at least look like it, but very often what the world values as good is an abomination in the sight of a holy God (see Luke16:15).

When this happens, God has to get my attention. He does it when my efforts fail. He does it when I read His Word. He also does it with affliction. He allows trials of all sorts so that I might see that I’m trudging along on the wrong side of the diagram and not relying on Him to live the new life He has given me.

The psalmist wrote “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. You are good, and do good; teach me Your statutes. . . . It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:67-68, 71).

He knew the drill. Without affliction, my tendency also is to go astray and drift off the course that God has clearly laid out. It isn’t always blindness or ignorance. Sometimes I know the way and just don’t “feel like it” so foolishly do my own thing.

Another thing God uses to get my attention is mood. My boat may seem to be sailing along without any problems, but the fruit of His Spirit is peace and joy. It that is gone, something is not right. While I know that He will never abandon ship (“I will never leave you nor forsake you”), I also know that I can let go of Him and start drifting.

God is patient. He also knows what to do. If I am drifting, He knows how to snag me. He might let me drift into a log jam, or sail me into rapids or even let me be caught up in a whirlpool. In those places, I become painfully aware that I’ve stopped relying on Him as the Captain of my little boat and need to invite Him back to the helm.

God looks for people who will say 'Yes'

Yesterday I read about Hannah who wanted a baby and prayed for its birth. Today my reading moves forward a few hundred years to Mary, who was single, not likely thinking about babies, but finds out that she is about to become pregnant with the Son of God.

The virgin birth is a cardinal doctrine of Christian faith. If Jesus was born in the usual manner, He could not be God in human flesh. If He were not God in human flesh, He would have sin of His own to answer for (since sin is part of the human condition), and He could not die for the sins of others. If He could not die for our sin, we would have to pay its price ourselves.

Just an insert here—sin, by Bible definition, is not just the big things like murder and robbery, but simply turning from God to do our own thing, not believing what God says to form our own views. If anyone thinks we are not all sinners, they already have turned from God because God says we are!

Mary was also a sinner, but she was also trusting God and not turning her back on Him. She believed what He said and lived according to His teachings. Even so, I can’t imagine how she felt when the angel came to tell her that she was about to become a mother, and no ordinary mother. This baby would be born without her ‘knowing’ a man (they used euphemisms back then too), and was reminded that “with God nothing will be impossible.”

Mary was in a tough spot. Not only would she face the stigma of a baby conceived out of wedlock, but Joseph would know that the child was not his. She would be accused of adultery, an offense at that time that was punishable by stoning.

The Bible doesn’t say she had any choice in the matter, however, her remarkable response showed her yielded spirit. She was not set against God nor determined to go her own way, even with this. Instead, she said, “Let it be to me according to Your word.”

Maybe the Lord picked her because He knew she was a godly young woman, one who trusted Him. The Bible says she had found favor with God, but that does not mean she was perfect. Some think she was sinless like her Son, but there is no biblical evidence that Mary was any different from any other person, other than she believed in God and obeyed Him. She had fears, doubts, joys and sorrows. She was born with a sinful bent just like the rest of us, but God had shaped her life and worked in her heart. He made her ready to be the one who would have this experience, and ready to respond to the news with a willing heart.

What I learn from Mary is just that. God brings things into my life, and while none are even close to being this momentous, He still wants that attitude of heart that says, “Whatever You ask, whatever You want; let it be to me according to Your Word.”