THE WAY |
| I have met with hundreds of atheists and agnostics, and they have taught me that the major problem the Lord has with them is not their accepting the existence of G-d. Their major barrier to faith is that they know this would mean yielding their lives to Jesus Christ. Ever since the fall of mankind into sin, people want to be their own boss. They hate the idea of having to give up things they want to do in order to live in fellowship with the Holy One. Even people of faith are tested by their own feelings, their own traditions, their own ideas. They want to determine what is required to please the Holy One of Israel. The story of Israel is the record of constant rebellion against the word of God. They did not like the way God was taking care of them during the Exodus, and were constantly rebelling. They even made their own god, the golden calf, that allowed them to follow their own passions. Their final rebellion was their refusal to enter the Promised Land when the Lord told them to do this. We do not need to go to the Old Testament story of Israel to verify that the old nature of human beings is rebellious. Look at what happened when their Messiah finally arrived. He performed miracles that only God could do. This made no difference as they rejected this reality. Even when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, only some believed while others joined the opposition. People living in the Christian era of the Church, are no different than the Jewish people who wrestled with God. When Gentiles responded to the Jewish missionaries, they soon began to distort the message Jesus came to bring to all mankind. The Galatians decided that they had to perform works to be saved. The Corinthian congregation decided that salvation by grace meant that they could ignore their Lord's command to love one another as He loved them. There were members in their congregation that committed unmentionable sins because they thought this demonstrated God's great love when He forgave them. Paul had to take them to task. There is a message that Jesus gave to those who wanted to be part of God's chosen people. He said in Matthew 22:37b-40, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” In other words, our Lord placed expectations on those whom He called to be His sons and daughters. This is really difficult for any human being to follow. The truth is, this is an impossible commandment for us. We are prone to love our material things too much. It is amazing for Him to think that pastors and lay people alike would be willing to lose everything in order to be a disciple of Jesus. Yet, the command our Lord gives is to love God above all else because we love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. We are even to love our neighbors as ourself. We need to ask ourselves how are we measuring up to this kind of love? Discipleship is difficult. Our Lord makes this clear in Matthew 6:24 when he reveals another difficult truth. He says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." It appears that some pastors avoid teaching this teaching our Lord has given His disciples because they are afraid no one would ever join the Church if they thought this was expected from them. Our nature is to love mammon more than to love God. Yet, a choice must be made whether we would serve God or mammon according to God's Word. Our generation rarely hears many pastors teaching on the need for repentance because they know there is the risk of people being turned away if they are told that their lives are told they have to give up their pet sins. Yet,God's word says in 1 John 1:6, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." Only God knows how many people come to worship services without realizing that they cannot live like the world and be children of God. The only way to become children of God is to admit that we are by nature sinful, rebellious and we fall short of God's requirements. This is made clear in 1 John 1:8-10: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." We have to teach this even if it means that there will be people who resent this message and leave. The only way to salvation is for us to confess our sins, and claim the mercy and grace that God gives to those who put their faith in Jesus. Anyone pretending he or she is not a sinner, refusing to repent daily, our lives testify that we call God a liar if His word tells us we are sinners. We testify that God's word does not govern our lives. Rejoice! God has made salvation possible for us. He tells us to confess our sins, repent of our sinful nature, and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In other words, we not only are saved, but we are cleansed by the Holy Spirit so we can love our God with all of our hearts. Once we learn of such love, we discover that we actually do love our God with all of our hearts, mind, soul and strength. Prayer: Lord God, I confess that I am by nature a sinner. I ask for your Holy Spirit to cleanse me from my sin because I claim Jesus as my only hope for salvation. Search my heart O God to reveal any wickedness within me; cleanse me each day that I might be renewed so I can serve you as I ought. Amen. |
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