So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? Hebrews 2:1-3
If your doctor is
like mine there are always tests with bodily fluids, machines, and thumping of
my chest, knees and whatever else he’s curious about; lots
of tests!
The reason (I’m
told) for these tests are for developing a baseline. With blood pressure, not everybody has 120
over 80. Some naturally have higher
pressure, and some lower. Few are
constantly perfect at 120/80. But that
is the target; it’s the way (so say the experts) a heart pump operates
best.
If, after all
those tests my doctor tells me I’m sick, he will start writing in Latin on the
prescription pad. And it’s understood
that if I really want the sickness to go away I’d better follow through and take
my medicine.
Now, at the risk
of offending the theological correctness police here, I
want to say that my doctor is like Jesus; he’s very annoying. Often, because of the expense or trouble
involved in getting cured, I’d rather ignore an illness. But, my doctor won’t let me do that; he gets
in my face and says (with words or just a stare) do you really
want to be well? That is so-like
Jesus!
Historic
Methodist doctrine says it is possible to sin-away God’s
work of grace, meaning Wesleyans are not part of the once-saved-always-saved
camp. You can get that down at the local
Calvinist doctrine-leaning churches, but here there’s free will both in coming
to Christ, or turning your back on Him in backslidden sinfulness.
In keeping with
that doctrine the very idea of drifting away from the truth
should scare the eternal fool out of each of us. If even the angels who disobeyed were
punished for drifting away from complete obedience to God,[2] and they are
lumped in with such nefarious immorality as Sodom and Gomorrah, how could we NOT
be overwhelmingly mortified to be considered along with that lot?
Now some people
might be quick to say…but the grace of God. Of course, the grace of God is the Father’s
way of restoring us to right relationship with Him. But a right relationship
is only right when it is a holy
relationship.
Grace only works
when it is received and responded-to. Forgiveness extended demands a keeping
of the relationship “right”. And that keeping
requires constant monitoring of our behavior, and confession of our sins to
keep moving in the direction of growing as a believer.
This is a
corollary to the works and faith connundrum; we do not do good works (like
helping people, praying, attending church, tithing, and witnessing) to get
saved…that is a matter of faith. However, a faith which brings on salvation as
the gift of God will always lead the one who is saved into good works. We walk by faith, which, if we are being
obedient to our Father’s will, results in good works.
James, the
half-brother of Jesus laid that out for us in his letter:
What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” James 2:14-18
So, it’s never a
matter of knowing all the right stuff about God and what’s
right or wrong, if we’re not going to put that stuff to work doing
what God has commanded.
And therein lies
the key to living the life of a disciple of Jesus; it’s less about talking the
talk, and more about walking the walk.
I don’t so much
worry about what I don’t understand in the Bible, as I worry about the things I
do understand and don’t do.
And that is the forgiveness
baseline. That is the point
at which we check our faith-pulse to see if we are really walking the walk of
doing what we have had made clear to our hearts about following Jesus (or if
we’re just talking the talk about following Jesus).
We come to this
table to touch base with that baseline about our spiritual health and how we’re
doing with keeping that relationship holy and right. That is one of the reasons our liturgy or
ritual is so important; it’s like a checklist:
·
We examine ourselves
·
We clear our
hearts with other believers
·
We confess our
sins, receiving forgiveness and offering it to others
·
We confess our
faith and dependence on Christ
All of this frees
us for joyful obedience and service in God’s kingdom. We take our medicine and watch our test
levels return to the baseline, forgiven, healthy, and useful.
The invitation to
this table is not from me; it is from the Good Shepherd who loves all His sheep
– the Great Physician who wants all his friends well.
And this
invitation is a reminder to not ignore the prescription to do this often, in
rememberance of Him.
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Russell Brownworth (original work) All Scripture from The New Living Translation (unless otherwise stated)
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