Christian Misconceptions – Sin

Which is the worst sin? Answer: there isn’t one. Sin is a black and white issue, either something is a sin or it isn’t. There’s no worst or least.

Many people think all they need to do to get into heaven is live by the Ten Commandments. But Jesus taught that sin is much more subtle than murder or theft. Take anger, for example. Anger can be a sin. (Matthew 5:21-22) It doesn’t break a commandment and yet can be counted against us as sin.

So, what is sin? I’ve heard many definitions, but the one I like best is “that which God would disapprove of.” Which begs the question: what, exactly, does God disapprove of? To answer that question you’ll have to get to know God. You do that by spending time with Him, just as you would anyone else. The best way to get to know Him is through reading the Bible. The Bible teaches us about God and you’ll learn, among other things, what He likes and dislikes. The better you know God the better you’ll be able to spot sin in your daily life and avoid it.

Someone once asked me, “Who cares if I sin? God forgives sin, doesn’t He?” Yes and no. If you repent of a sin, it can be forgiven, yes. Forgiven sin is God’s way of honoring our attempt to be good. But the root of sin lies in our intentions. If you intentionally sin and simply expect to be forgiven, you’ve not made an attempt to be good and therefore there’s nothing there for Him to honor, and your sins will stay with you.

The bottom line is this: when you die, you’ll be judged and your unforgiven sins will weigh against you. It doesn’t affect me at all whether your soul goes to heaven or hell, but it does affect you. For your own good, read your Bible. Learn about God. Learn to recognize sin in all its forms and avoid it. Don’t let sin stop you from entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

Christian Misconceptions – Judging

Many Christians tend to shy away from taking a strong stand for God. They defend their position by quoting Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” But continue reading.

Matthew 7:2 states, “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” These two passages aren’t telling us not to judge, they’re telling us to make sure we do it according to God’s rules.

In Matt 7:15-20 Jesus himself tells us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. He says we’ll know them by their fruits. How are we to find the wolves among us if we don’t evaluate (judge) a person’s actions (fruits)? God gives us a long list of rules in Leviticus and Deuteronomy precisely so we can judge each other. He even set human judges over Israel before they had kings. It’s our duty to judge each other, as Paul says in 1 Cor 6:2 “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” The trick lays in the measuring stick we use.

If we judge by our own rules, our own feelings, our own opinions, then we are not following God’s rules and we endanger ourselves (according to Matt 7:2). But, if we use God’s rules when we judge, then we judge righteously and we use a measure we’d gladly have used on us. God’s rules are sound and trustworthy. He gave them to us with the expectation that we’d use them to judge ourselves. Saying that we should never judge negates God’s purpose for giving us the rules in the first place.

Judging by God’s standards allows us to take a strong stand for God and assures us that we’re standing on solid ground. Any other ground is sinking sand.

Christian Misconceptions – Forgiveness

I’ve heard people say, “Why should I forgive him. What he did was wrong!”

Forgiving a person doesn’t condone his actions, nor does it benefit him in any way. The reason you forgive others is to benefit yourself.

Before you forgive someone, you carry around the anger about what he did to you. You have to remember it each time his name is mentioned and you have to bring it to the surface to show your resentment. Frequently, the offender isn’t bothered by his actions at all, leaving only you to suffer from them.

But you don’t have to suffer. You can make the choice to forgive. Your anger towards the wrongdoer doesn’t make your feelings any more valid, nor does it make what he did any more wrong, but it does diminish you’re enjoyment of life.

After you’ve truly forgiven someone, all the anger and resentment towards that person will go away. You’ll still remember the incident, but you’ll no longer be emotional about it. Forgiving allows you to look back on an event without the influence of emotion. It enables you to see the episode clearly and to learn from it.

Too many times our memories of an incident are clouded by the emotions attached to it. This prevents us from learning from it because we can’t see past the emotions to view the actual event. Forgiving allows you to peel off those emotions so you can: A) learn from the past and B) lead a happier, more positive life. Without having to remember that you have all those negative feelings towards someone, your life will become much more pleasurable. These are benefits you get from forgiving. The offender gets nothing.

God taught us to forgive to benefit us, not the wrongdoer. Our God loves us and wants what’s best for us. Forgiveness is one of His best teachings!

Law and Love

Why are God’s commandments called The Law? Why not call them The Suggestions, The Concepts, The Ideas, or The Guidelines of God? Why, The Law?

Webster’s defines law as: “1a. A rule established by authority, society or custom.” A rule it defines as: “2 An authoritative direction for conduct…” The reason we don’t call God’s laws suggestions is because they’re rules of conduct from an authoritative source.

The Bible also teaches that we should love thy neighbor. (Mtt 22:39) This means we should look out for, care for, and protect each other as a mother does her child. How are we to do this? The Bible says we should be an example for others. (1Ti 4:12) It also states we should admonish each other when we see our neighbor stumble. (2 Th 3:15) Love, as the Bible teaches it, is acceptance of those things that do not break the law of God and admonition (with love) of those things that do. We’re to support, uplift, and edify each other so that all may stay within the law. Love cares enough to confront our neighbor when he breaks God’s laws.

Lately, I’ve heard many people say we shouldn’t judge each others actions. They say we should just accept each other and get along. But is it loving to allow someone to live a life contrary to God’s law? We know the penalty. Should a mother allow her child to get hooked on drugs and offer no opposition? Is that love? Or should that mother, knowing the downside, warn her child of the dangers of his choice.

Sometimes loving thy neighbor means doing the hard thing. It means saying what the neighbor may not want to hear, but, because you can see the outcome clearly, is in the best interest of that neighbor. Love doesn’t just accept, it also verifies against the law. The destiny of a soul may be at stake.

Love is an Action Word

Someone once asked Jesus, “Master what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second is like the first, love your neighbor as yourself.” (paraphrased Matt 22:36-39) The most important thing we can do is to love God and our neighbors, but what does it mean ‘to love’?

In John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Jesus equated love with action. If I love my wife, I’ll do things for her. Simply saying I love her isn’t enough. My actions are needed to prove my statement.

I say I love my wife, and I say I love ice cream. Same word, drastically different meanings. The type of love I have for my wife is shown by my actions. If I do nothing for her, it would be hard to discern between my love for her and my love for ice cream. It’s my actions that show the depth of love I have for my wife.

The same is true of my relationship with God. If I say ‘Christ is my lord’ but don’t strive to follow His commandments, then my statement is no more significant than my love is for ice cream. But if I follow His commandments, my actions will show the depth of my love for the Lord. Without actions to back them up, words are hollow.

As the old saying goes, ‘actions speak louder than words,’ and that’s certainly true when it comes to love. As the Contemporary Bible puts it, “Obey God’s message! Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it.” (James 1:22) We are commanded by God to love. What actions have you taken recently to show God you love Him?

The Keys to Salvation

Let me start by saying that you can not earn you way into heaven by doing good works. This is plainly stated in Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” and there is no other teaching in the Bible that even remotely challenges this. Faith is an absolute requirement to enter the kingdom of heaven. That said, what else is needed?

In Rom 10:9 Paul tells us. “Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” This says two things are needed for salvation, you must believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, and confess it. That’s straight forward enough, at least on the surface. And the surface is where many people stop looking. But let’s look at it a bit closer.

The two key words in that statement are ‘confess’ and ‘believe’. We’ll start by looking at confess.

The Rom 10:9 quote above is from the Modern King James Version (MKJV). Other versions state it as: “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord” (ASV) and “If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord” (ISV). The pattern here is one of telling someone else. It’s not enough to come to the conclusion in your own mind that Jesus truly is the Son of God, you have to tell someone else what you believe. This is consistent with Phi 2:11, “and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” It is indeed a requirement. Do it, and you’re half way to salvation.

I think it’s important to point out that this confession includes the faith requirement from Eph 2:8-9. One can only come to the conclusion that Jesus is the true Son of God through faith. Why? Because we don’t have first hand knowledge of the physical Jesus as He walked this earth. Therefore, it requires faith to accept what we read as being true. But even if we did, even if we were one of apostles, it would still require faith. The things Jesus did, walking on water, healing the blind, raising the dead, etc, have no earthly explanation. Normal men simply can’t do these things. So even if we were to witness the miracles of Jesus first hand, we’d still need faith to conclude that He is the Son of God because we can’t explain how they happened. In order for something to be used as proof, we must understand each and every step of what happened. If we don’t, if there’s something we don’t understand about the process, it introduces doubt and thus loses its ability to prove. Since we can’t explain, in earthly terms, exactly how Jesus did His miracles, it requires faith, even for the apostles, to conclude that He truly is the Son of God. There’s a lot of evidence that points us to this conclusion, true, but it only points, it doesn’t prove. To actually accept Jesus as the Son of God, and therefore worthy of being the Lord of your life, requires faith as that very last step.

The second requirement Paul gives us is to believe. This is where there’s more than meets the eye. Webster’s defines believe as 1b: to accept as true, genuine, or real. And that’s what most people in this country think today, that all they have to do is intellectually accept Jesus as the Son of God and they meet this requirement. But is that all there is to it?

I’m troubled by this apparent simplicity because of passages like Jam 1:22, “But become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” This passage clearly states that we can deceive ourselves if all we’re doing is listening to God’s Word and not doing it. So, what does ‘doing it’ mean? It means incorporating God’s teachings into our daily lives.

Everyday we make decisions that can either agree or disagree with God’s teachings. We need to make sure each decision we make is in agreement with Biblical teaching, that’s being a ‘doer of the Word’. If you neighbor offers to make you a copy of the CD he just bought of your favorite band, you must say no, because it’s stealing. The fact that you probably won’t get caught and the band won’t even notice missing the profits from one CD are unimportant. The important thing is that you be a doer of God’s teaching.

“Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (Jam 4:17) This is the danger of being a hearer only. We hear God’s teaching so we know what’s right and what’s wrong, and yet, if we don’t do those things we know are right, we sin. And sin separates us from God. “For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.” (Rom 2:13) It is critically important that we not only hear God’s Word, but live it also.

Jam 1:23-25 says, “For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror. For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like. But whoever looks into the perfect Law of liberty and continues in it, he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one shall be blessed in his doing.” If we don’t strive to live God’s teachings in our daily lives, we’ll find it all too easy to justify our sinful actions.

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.” (Mat 7:21) This is the other passage that has me thinking that there’s more to Rom 10:9 than meets the eye. Not everybody that calls Jesus Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven. That means that some of us think we are going to heaven when we are not, just as Jam 1:22 warns about. So who are deceived?

1Jo 3:7 tells us, “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous.” Again here, we see that one who does what is right in the sight of the Lord is indeed righteous. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also will reap.” (Gal 6:7) This passage tells us that a man that sows righteousness (i.e. makes daily decisions that are in keeping with Biblical teachings) will reap righteousness. It also tells us that one who is a hearer only of the Word, but not a doer, sows nothing, and therefore reaps what he has sown, nothing. To me, this sounds like a person who thinks they are going to heaven, but is deceived. And this is in agreement with the end of Mat 7:21 quoted above, “but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.” If we do God’s will by living our lives according to Biblical teachings, we are assured a place in heaven. If we make no attempt to live according to God’s word, we are “deceiving your own selves.” God is not mocked. He knows if you are truly making an effort to live according to His will or not and will judge each of us accordingly.

Rom 8:14-17 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father! The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together.” Notice what it takes for us to inherit the Kingdom of God, we must be led by the Spirit of God. Led. That’s a verb of action, not simple intellectual acceptance. We must listen to and follow the direction of the Holy Spirit each and every day. We must be doers, in accordance with the passage in James.

Jesus said, “For whoever shall do the will of My Father in Heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother.” (Mat 12:50) ‘Do’ is the key word here, another action verb. He didn’t say ‘whoever acknowledges My Father,’ or ‘whoever doesn’t reject My Father’, no, he said we have to be doers of God’s will to be considered a brother of sister of Christ. And if we’re a sibling of Christ then we’re heirs to the Kingdom of God and our salvation is assured.

I could tell you that I know Jose Canseco (a famous baseball player for those of you who don’t follow sports). I could rattle off a lot of information about him, where he was born, where he lives, his marital status, number of children, batting averages, teams he’s played for, World Series he’s been in, etc. But do I really know the man, or do I just know a lot about him. The real test would be upon meeting him. Would he say “Hi, Dan,” or “I’m sorry. Do I know you?” The same is true with Jesus. We can know about lot about Jesus, but what’s important on judgment day isn’t whether we know Jesus, but whether He know us! “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!” (Mat 7:22-23) It doesn’t matter what kind if a life you’ve led or how many good works you’ve done, if Jesus doesn’t know us on judgment day it will all be for nothing.

Our Lord said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (Joh 14:15) By doing what your Lord has instructed us to do, not just acknowledging the validity of His teachings, we show our Lord that we love Him. And if we love Him, He will surely notice, for that is the entire purpose of creation. God created us to share His love with us. When we show our love by keeping His commandments, we become heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven and assure our salvation.

The Bible is an integrated message from God. When learning from it it’s not always best to simply take a passage or even a chapter and draw your conclusions simply from that, especially on a topic as important as salvation. We must look at all of the teachings and take them as a whole. When done, the message becomes clear.

“Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it. Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” “Strive to enter in at the narrow gate. For I say to you, many will seek to enter in and shall not be able.” (Luk 14:15) Would you be able to enter the narrow gate today?