Living by grace

 

A friend and I discussed the current trend of Christians to avoid certain “sinners” whose behavior is obviously sinful. We both agreed that sin is sin. Christians can gossip, be judgmental, ignore needy people, and do things that the Bible also calls sin, but overlook some of those things and pounce on some we don’t do. We agreed that Jesus ate and drank with “sinners” that many of us refuse to associate with, and are not happy about bring ‘high and mighty’ — when we all fall short.

The gospel comes into play in nearly every situation. We cannot save ourselves, so what makes any of us think and act as if we did? Some call it ‘holier than thou’ and more accurately, ‘hypocrisy.’

Today’s reading begins by saying God’s tenderness toward the lowly is “rooted in His transcendent self-sufficiency.” I’m not like God, not self-sufficient. I need Him because any goodness I could claim is not even close to being like Him.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

Those who put their faith in the Savior enjoy “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22–23) and none of us can claim that we did it ourselves.

Faith puts me in the family and kingdom of God, but it is not my nature or doing that makes that happen. I have no right to boast. Where would I be if Jesus had not come into my life? I shudder to think at the possibilities.

The Word of God tells me to treat people as Jesus treats me. That means I cannot look down my nose at those who sin — which is everyone. All fall short. All need Jesus. As my lunch friend said yesterday, how will they hear about Him if our snooty attitude keeps them from being around us?

Piper quotes this verse:

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:17–19)

The goodness of God comes out of His character. My salvation has given me a new character. The old one hangs around and can mess me up, but I’m to live by that new nature by the power of the Holy Spirit whose goal is to transform me into the image of Christ. One of His traits is to welcome sinners, not shun them, point fingers at them, or put them in a category where they are totally untouchable.

My hubby attended the funeral of a coworker yesterday. He was not a believer. His ‘celebration of life’ was held in the restaurant of a pub. No evidence of faith could be seen, but hubby went, said a few words about the man’s working life, and a few words about faith matters. No one responded to the latter, but hubby went to mourn with them anyway. I’m thankful for his example.

PRAY: Jesus, the world is filled with sinners. Some seem totally disinterested in being anything different, but You died for them too. And You want me to live for them as well. Justice for the orphans and widows, and love for the refugees and aliens who need to know that they are welcome, not just here in our lives, but also to know Your invitation to join You in Your life. Help me live the gospel, knowing I cannot be like You without yielding all of my life in the grace that You give.

No ‘little sins’

 

READ 1 Kings 10–13

In the NT, Paul realized that in his weakness, God was able to make him strong. I’ve often said that each of us has a weakness such as a problem we cannot solve, a sin that seems unconquerable, a thorn in the flesh. It is to drive us to greater dependence on God, but that does not always happen.

David took for another man’s wife and killed the man. His son, often called the wisest man ever born, “excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.” (1 Kings 10:23–24) But like his father, he had a weakness:

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women . . . from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart . . . . after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God . . . . For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites . . . . Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. (11:1–8)

If Solomon had taken his weakness for women to God, the story would have been different. However, God told him that his sin would cost him the kingdom. He raised up adversaries against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, Rezon the son of Eliada, and Jeroboam a servant of Solomon. (11:14–26)

For the sake of David whom God chose, God took the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and gave it to Jeroboam, leaving the tribe of Judah to Solomon’s son. These leaders were charged to listen to God and walk in His ways and He would bless them, but they didn’t listen. Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam who fled into Egypt. Then Solomon died and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place. (11:34–43)

Rehoboam erred in ignoring wise counsel from older men and following the advice of his peers. Nevertheless, he ruled Judah and Jeroboam took charge in the rest of the divided land. Rehoboam wanted to attack the other ten tribes and restore them under his rule, but God made it clear:

 

. . . . Thus says the Lord, “You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.’ So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again, according to the word of the Lord. (12:23–24)

In Israel, Jeroboam was afraid of losing control of his ten tribes as they went up to worship in Jerusalem, so he “made two calves of gold” and told Israel this was their gods. He put them in two cities so the people could stay in his territory and offer their sacrifices. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not of the Levites. This fear was a weakness that led to this sin instead of trusting God.

These historical events are a warning about weaknesses, about the sinful tendencies we have that can lead to great disobedience. The NT says in several places that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” using the example of yeast permeating all of the bread dough. I remember a time when I took some frozen but unbaked loaves out of the freezer and forgot to put them back. The storage room was warm and the next time I went to the freezer, those loaves had burst their plastic bag and were several feet long! At the time, I laughed. Now I see the parallel.

Fear of losing power drove Jeroboam to idolatry instead of trusting God to keep him on the throne. God points out that I’m not to allow anything, like delight in being right, small envy, unresolved irritation, unforgiveness of a little offense, small lies, and so on grow into obnoxious pride, jealous cravings, bitterness, and deceit. Those ‘little sins’ are not less sin than multiplied sin, but symptoms of a lack of faith and rebellion against God that can affect all of life.

I sometimes get irritated or self-defensive when corrected = lacking humility. I also get annoyed with a few Christians who latch on to unbiblical or unresearched ideas = failing to seek God asking Him to open their eyes to truth. Both seldom happen but I can see them as roots that need to be pulled. Thank God that when I confess, He forgives AND cleanses sin, no matter the ‘size’ because from His perspective, sin is sin!

 

Never defy His holiness . . .

 

 

READ Leviticus 9-12

Jesus told His disciples to pray realizing God is our Father in heaven, and His Name is to be hallowed, that is, holy, consecrated, held sacred and honored. He is a God of great love, but He is also holy and to be held in reverential awe.

Lest anyone forgets this, the third book in the OT records God calling priests to serve Him and the people. It gives various laws that reflect His holy will, and tells this story:

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace. (Leviticus 10:1–3)

A careful reading shows how deeply offensive this action was. Not only did these two sons venture unauthorized to perform the incense service (the highest and most solemn of priestly duties) and not only did they do this together which was the duty of only one priest, but they intruded into the holy of holies, to which access was denied to all but the high priest. When “they offered strange fire before the Lord” they were guilty of a presumptuous and unwarranted intrusion into a sacred duty which did not belong to them. But even more, instead of taking the fire which was put into their censers from the brazen altar, they seem to have taken ordinary fire. This happened just after a descent of holy, miraculous fire from God that was laid in the temple for use in service. Thus they showed a careless irreverence, a lack of faith. God would not allow this to set a precedence. He expressed His divine displeasure because they had done something which “God commanded them not.” (*Some of these thoughts are from a commentary by Jamieson, Robert, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown.)

Note also that Aaron held his peace. I cannot imagine the pain of losing two sons in such a sudden and awful manner. He must have been horrified, yet this pious priest was silent. Many would have cried out in such a situation, but he did not complain or say a word, instead submitted to what he saw. Already he understood a principle that many of God’s people do not think about:

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:1–5)

It is easy to pass judgment on those who commit sins that we would never commit. Yet the Word of God says we must not do that. For one thing, sin is sin. In the NT, lists of sin point to such things as lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, but also include quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. God does not grade sin on a scale. Sin separates sinners from Him, whether it is murder, stealing, gossip or conceit.

Not only that, only God has the authority and ability to rightly judge sin. Aaron understood that and when his boys were struck down, this dad refused to show the same disrespect for Almighty God as did his sons.

For many years, my husband and I have prayed with another couple for our adult children. Some of them claim to know Jesus yet we are not certain if that is true. Even though we have not seen great changes in their lives, our prayers have changed us and that is a good thing. However, could I be like Aaron if God saw in any of them a great hardness of heart and disrespect for His holiness and His call to their hearts? Could I hold my peace and not cry out in be upset with God if He struck them down? 

For this, I cling to His promises and keep on praying and doing whatever I can to represent His ways and His will, realizing that God is God and has every right to choose wrath for sin or grace — based on the willing sacrifice of His Son. If it were not for grace, none of us could take another breath; we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.