A Call-up to the Church: When a leader falls

I came across the words below a month or so ago. But I let them sit for a month to make sure they are coming from a place of concern for the church. I have seen this scenario play out too often. A church organizes around a pastor and looks to him or her for leadership (as opposed to shared leadership). They progressively put they trust into this pastor and begin to honor him or her more and more. Honor turns to celebration and a celebrity culture builds up around that person. The church relies more and more on that one individual’s gifting, vision and leadership. The church forms systems around the pastor and a hierarchical structure develops with some in the inner circle. Those closest begin to feel protective both of the pastor and of their time and connection to him or her.

Then the pastor stumbles or falls. To the same extent that the church exalted the pastor, they then denigrate him. The celebrity culture cannot stand the vacuum of leadership, so they quickly look for a hero to save them and lead them. The church tends to devalue everything the now villain pastor did. They remove memorabilia of that person from sight and remove prior sermons from sound. They exile the prior pastor in every way possible. They declare that the prior state of being was unhealthy, but now they have learned and the new hero leader with take them into health. But, the basic dynamic is not addressed and the cycle continues. Perhaps superficial changes occur and the overt evidence of the celebrity culture is softened, but the core problem is untouched.

So, I offer these words from an anonymous source. If you are easily offended, might as well stop reading now.

“Church, there is something missing in us. We proclaim health, but there is a malignancy. The symptoms of this disease are so common and comfortable that we embrace them as normal and right. In fact, this disease is rampant in the church universal and I only notice it because of the change I have seen in the local bodies. Commonplace, but it is cancerous none the less.

“I have spoken openly of embracing the grace of Jesus Christ in many circles of people within you. All agree, ‘Of course we hold tightly to grace; of course that is our foundation.’ But, the quizzical looks and the actions that follow indicate that what I am speaking of and what they are speaking of are not precisely aligned.

“’For grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.’ Ephesians 2:8-9. You know the words. You acknowledge that even the faith through which we receive the favor of Jesus is a gift that we cannot manufacture. You recognize in your mind that the gift of your forgiveness and life in Christ is undeserved. And you state your agreement that the apprehending of the magnitude of this unmerited gift from God calls us all into obedience from the heart and will. An obedience born of love rather than fear.

‘Then why do we persist, Church, in disobedience? Why are we so reticent to extend grace? Why, when this foundation of total reliance on Jesus as Lord and Savior is examined in detail, do cracks emerge?

“’If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’ John 14:15. ‘In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets… . Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.’ Matthew 7:12 & 26. ‘For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions… . Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why then do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?’ Matthew 6:14-15 & 7:1-4.

‘There is unforgiveness that is revealed in us, Church. It is the evidence of the cancer; the symptom. And the cancer itself is reliance on works: works of “recovery” and the works of  potential “restoration” of the exiled. Unforgiveness is coddled and even nursed in your members, oh body of Christ! Mostly the unforgiveness is subtle and the works reliance are insidious. But, when a leader of the body stands on the stage and proclaims that it has taken 18 months or so to forgive a brother his wrongs, and it is received with applause, the cancer shows itself. When that leader pronounces that now they have forgiven and gone through the “process” of forgiveness as though it is a good thing, the symptoms are manifest. Who among you realized that the leader had just confessed to living in the sin of unforgiveness for a year and a half? Who was struck that there was no repentance of that sin offered along with this declaration? Who sensed pride in this work of a forgiveness process?

‘When did Jesus ever speak of a process of forgiving? Did He not insist that forgiveness be instant? ‘But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court;… . But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also… . I do not say to you, [forgive] up to seven time, but up to seventy times seven.’ Matthew 5:23, 39 & 18:22. Church, this sin of unforgiveness is comfortable to you. You dilute the words of Jesus by adopting the modern psychological philosophy of process. You reject the high calling of Christ in disobedience to Him. You accommodate and justify your sin by saying that Jesus was only speaking in hyperbole and that what he really meant was, ‘take your time and work the steps’. This is sin. This is reliance upon psychology – a man-made philosophy. You call it recovery, but it is sin. There are many fine things that come from the recovery model, and some have a biblical basis, but it does not fully comport to the words of Jesus. And so where recovery departs from full reliance on Christ, it has chosen the easier, lesser path. You, however, are called to, ‘[e]nter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.’ Matthew 7:13. Or do you think the only destruction spoken of here is the ultimate destruction of hell? Are we not seeing destruction within your body, Church?

‘There is destruction that we wreak in the midst of God’s salvation. We have a brother in Christ who is hurting even now. A brother who has been exiled from the love, compassion and mercy of your embrace, Church. A brother who sinned, as has each of your members, body of Christ. Is his sin greater than your sin or my sin? Is his sin less deserving of the immediate forgiveness that Jesus gives to us and calls out of us? To look at our actions, it must be that there is a scale upon which his sin falls that lies beyond grace – at least beyond unearned and immediate grace (perhaps someday he can earn it back, right?). A betrayal that is beyond the betrayal of Peter’s denial of Christ in Jesus’ direst hour which was forgiven before it happened. For even now, two years later, we proclaim this brother’s “moral failing” and name his name to the entire world on the internet. Even now, we put in writing that he caused all our woes from the last two years, Church, and proclaim another brother who stepped into the leadership role as a hero. Another brother who had walked alongside our fallen one for years. Brothers who broke bread together. A brother who actively supported, promoted and encouraged the very systems and approaches that we now decry. One is vilified publicly and one is heralded publicly two years later. That is not forgiveness. That is not grace. That is not mercy. That is not compassion. That is sin. That is a works basis for the extension of favor (grace). That is passing judgment based on behavior and goes beyond the natural consequences of lost trust, lost wages, lost opportunities, and lost fellowship. It is punitive.

‘Church, we continue to walk in the sin of unforgiveness and our health is being devoured by this cancer of relying on behavior and on processes rather than on the unfailing words of Jesus. I have pointed out only two examples; two symptoms. But there are more. People still leave our body, Church. Support is waning; not growing. Could it be that those who are leaving reject this ill and those who come and stay are already infected? So many talk about a feeling they get; a visceral reaction that they cannot name. So many notice that responsibility of every problem we are encountering is laid on the head of one brother just as the priest of old placed their hands on the head of the scapegoat to be led away and slaughtered. Even the mistakes made subsequent to the exile of this brother are attributed to him and to his influence. When does that chain of causation end? Jesus is our scapegoat and we need no other. He paid the price and assumed the responsibility (though there remain natural consequences). Need we look beyond the cross and proclaim blame on a brother? Many members of this body notice that either by direct observation or on a spiritual level. They recognize in their spirit that something remains off.

“I stated in a meeting of leaders earlier this year that we must go beyond what we label as forgiveness and, instead, reconcile. I have heard of no one taking steps to reconcile with this brother even though another sister who sinned similarly has been restored to fellowship. Upon what difference is this judgment made? I am not naïve and suggesting that this brother come back and physically take part in the community of this local body, Church (though I cannot see why not). But has even a single one of you who walked by his side for years, who proclaimed love for him, gone to him to reconcile? Are you waiting for his behavior and level of repentance to match your judgment of how contrite he should be? The peace of Christ does not refer to a feeling of serenity; it is a word that means ceasing hostilities and being reunited. The peace of Christ is not predicated upon our behavior, but is a gift He gives us – a specific manifestation from His grace towards us. No one has sought this peace with our exiled brother.

“I have put forth four symptoms; four items of evidence that we are not healthy even though we outwardly proclaim such. The first, acceptance of the sin of unforgiveness by calling it a process in contradiction of the very words of Jesus. Secondly, the continued public blaming and shaming of a brother in Christ while elevating another prior cohort to status of hero. The discontent of many in their spirit which continues to cause many to leave is the third symptom. And, the fourth, is the failure of fellow brothers and sisters, even those who previously proclaimed him friend, to go to a hurting brother and reconcile with him and end the spiritual exile even if the physical exile from this specific fellowship must continue.

“Church, we are ill. Cancer is at work within this body and the evidence is there, though ignored. Claiming health does not create health. Our prognosis is grim unless we undergo extreme measures. We must return to a deep obedience out of love to the hardest of the teachings of our Lord and Savior. We must call out sin, no matter how comfortable and good it seems to the eye of the flesh. We must look at ourselves first and foremost and examine our walk. We must confront our denial. We must see to the spiritual care of the most repugnant brother or sister. We must reconcile with our brother in Christ. If we do not, then only the most discerning and deeply rooted shepherd coming in to our body will be able to take us from this state of decline into true health where grace shines forth as a beacon to the lost and hopeless.

“Church, I am sorry to say these things because they will feel hurtful to nearly all of our members. These strong words will be rejected by those most invested in denying the sin with which they have made friends. They will be scoffed at as ramblings of a disgruntled man (and indeed I am disgruntled, though not by any treatment I experienced personally, but by this cancer that is hurting us all). But, some who read these words will have a deep down sense that there is something to them. Some of you will carry the torch of grace that goes beyond grace; the flame that make even fellow believes uncomfortable with its extremity. A grace that has no need to work out a process of forgiveness for it is anathema. A grace that flies in the face of what our human hurt tells us to do. A grace that is so profound that it makes us itch sometimes. A grace that calls out really risky and vulnerable steps towards others because of the assurance it gives. A grace in which we get lost to self because we are found in Him. A grace that prompts the concern for others above the concern for safety. A profound grace that instills a sense of awe, rather than the commonplace, whenever we contemplate it. A grace that always surpasses our understanding. Let that light shine.”

Anonymous

Fear of the Lord v Afraid of the Lord

Few other concepts whip up more emotional reactions or rouse more confusion than the “fear of the Lord”. This phrase occurs throughout the Bible, but nowhere is there a definition or clear explanation of what it entails. This leaves “fear of the Lord” open to tremendously diverse interpretations depending on one’s’ foundational perspective of the nature of God. Those of us tending towards seeing God as a punitive and wrathful deity define this fear as terror (which is, in fact, its common day meaning). Those tending towards a view of God as a loving and compassionate entity stretch the word beyond its common day meaning to refer to intense reverence or awe.

As to my own bias, my appreciation of fearing God transformed over the years. Early on I held to a rather temperamental, wrathful paradigm of God. I figured He got frustrated with me often in my repeated failures and, while I knew on some level of His universal love, I figured His disappointment and even disgust towards me was a fairly routine response interrupted with forgiveness and comfort. Sometimes that forgiveness had to be a begrudging thing for God, or so I thought. As I grew in my understanding and my faith matured, this changed slowly. However, I still figured “fearing” God meant being afraid of His reactions to me and so I persisted in needing to walk softly, sin little, be penitent when I slipped, and do many things to engender God’s favor towards me.

On good days, I read a sufficient amount of the Bible, worked on memorizing whole passages of the Holy Text, prayed and meditated for a long time, and served regularly. On these days, I experienced God smiling upon me. On other days, I just kept asking for His forgiveness and hoped my time of penitence would be short and hoped that I had not lost God’s favor or forfeited His gifts to me.

I want to make it clear, because words matter, that my experience of God often jives poorly with the reality of Him. God, in His grace, transformed my apprehension of Him in the last years. But, let me save that for a moment.

The Hebrew word often used which is translated to “fear” is yare’ and the definition for it does include both the ordinary sense of terror or fright as well as a sense of awe and reverence. So, looking at the exact historical text does not resolve this issue.  When that is the case, we must look at examples and context. I believe the story of Jonah sheds light on what is meant when the Bible speaks of fearing God or “fear of the Lord”.

Jonah, a prophet of God, was called upon to go the people of Ninevah and proclaim His word to repent. For generations, the Ninevites tormented Israel. Jonah had no love of them and, frankly, disagreed sharply with God’s desire to give them another chance. Rather, Jonah would have only welcomed a call to destruction of Ninevah – not a second chance. So, Jonah ran the other way and even boarded a ship to go as far as possible from God’s call on his life.

While on the ship, God whipped up a big storm that threatened to destroy the ship and all upon it. While the sailors scrambled to do all they could to stay afloat, including tossing cargo overboard, Jonah went to the hold of the ship and took a nap. This scene gives us a picture of two ways fear regarding God manifest. By his own account, when confronted by the sailors, Jonah feared God. Yet, he ran in defiance trying to get free of what God wanted of him. Further, when things seemed most dire, he slept. The sailors, after hearing of Jonah’s God whom He correctly said created the land as well as the very sea upon which they sailed, also had some sort of a fear of God. The text is revealing:

Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. Jonah 1:10 (ESV)

The Orthodox Hebrew Bible uses the phrase “yirah gedolah” for “exceedingly afraid”. Other versions say “greatly feared” or “extremely frightened”.  They witnessed God’s power and were terrified of Him. Jonah tells them they must toss him overboard to escape the storm, but in their fright, they try to row for shore instead. Finally they relent and toss Jonah into the sea and the storm immediately ceases.

The sailor had great terror of God when they heard He was creating the storm that threatened them, and then when the storm ceased, they also had great terror, but it shifted. They had confirmation of what Jonah said and then truly believed what they had heard. Now they feared God, but it was still with a great terror; they continued to be afraid of God:

Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. Jonah 1:16 (ESV)

The English Standard Version of the bible juxtaposes the “extremely afraid” in verse 10 against the phrase “feared . . . exceedingly” of verse 16 to highlight the shift. But, the real difference is that the terror they felt shifted from what they did not know to what they did know. The nature of the fear remained the same. It can be argued that these sailors were converted or, as we would say it now in many churches – saved, because the next verse show them making vows to God and offering sacrifices. We can extend this further and see these sailors as being the heroes whole tale because, while they started out following false gods, as soon as they were shown the truth, they turned and began to do things to please the true God.

That is the nature of the fear of the Lord I carried for the longest while as a Christ follower; I was afraid of God. Out of my being afraid of the Lord, I did many good things and sought to eradicate sin from my life. I tried to live up to the favor the Lord gave me. I tried to be good. Now, the motives were not wholly, or even mostly fear. But, there remained a residue of fear to the motives that lingered decades. The sailors were afraid of the Lord; I was afraid of the Lord.

Yet, I think Jonah had a far more correct apprehension of God than the sailors, or I, even in the midst of his seemingly suicidal disobedience. Jonah feared the Lord, and we can see later in the book how that played out, but his fear was of a different nature. He was not afraid of the Lord; he feared the Lord. He knew God and knew God’s nature far better than the sailors. He grew up immersed in all the stories of salvation of the Israelite people. God talked directly to Jonah. In the face of the immense power exhibited by God through the storm, Jonah was able to sleep because He knew God’s intent for Him. He knew God had no intent to harm him, but to use him. Jonah simply hated the use to which God intended for him.

Somehow, right in the very evidence of God’s wrath towards Jonah, he knew of God’s love for him. That is why he could sleep just as, centuries later, Jesus would sleep in a boat in the midst of a storm. Jonah was so secure in God’s love that he knew being thrown into a raging sea was no end of him. I suspect Jonah even knew all along that his running from God’s plan was ultimately futile, but he wanted to resist as long as possible.

The best analogy I have come to in my experience for what fear of the Lord is to me now comes from my time around horses. When I stand next to a horse or climb up on its back, I am keenly aware of the sheer size and power of the animal. That horse could crush me in a flash. It could kick me and shatter bones; rupture organs. That horse’s power is danger incarnate. Yet, I am also aware that the horse has no ill intent towards me (most of the time). Mostly, I am aware that the horse enjoys my presence, especially if I scratch behind its ears. My experience of these times is a paradox of high alert and peaceful rest.

My fear of the Lord is like that, except that God is no beast and his nature is not subject to the caprice of a horse. I am simultaneously aware that God could wipe me from existence in a mere moment and aware of His intense love for me. Not just love, but also, I am aware now of his eternal affection towards me. I am aware that He is pleased in me just as He is pleased in Christ, for I am in Christ. He may become displeased for me – that is, for the consequence of my sin that I still experience but, never again is He displeased IN me.  God is with me through Christ and never flees or withdraws from me. Even in rebellious moment, He is with me. Wherever I go, even if I run from Him, there He is.

And so, I fear the Lord but, I no longer am afraid of the Lord. My motivation for doing good has also shifted as the fear has transformed. My motivation is borne now out of purer and purer love of God and love of others and fear of failing Him dissipates into mere moments occurring more infrequently. Grace abounds and God transforms. I, like Jonah, merely relinquish my own efforts to God who initiates, pursue, and perfects all that He has for me.

This doctrine of radical grace that I espouse is disturbing to many. Reactions abound: But what about sin – aren’t you being soft on sin? Aren’t you ignoring all the verses about God’s wrath? What about all the admonishments in the Bible to do good works? What about the whole book of James? Are you an Universalist – do you think God’s love just covers everything and we all get to heaven no matter what? I even had one person think I was being legalistic, though I am still dumbfounded by that one and can only conclude I said something very poorly.

Answers:

No, I am not an Universalist. I believe in free will and that we must receive Jesus to be saved. I just think we have no ability or power to cause this to happen. It all starts with Jesus and we can only come to Him when the Holy Spirit calls us. Those that refuse that call will not be saved in the last days.

As to the book of James, I believe it is primarily addressing walking out our horizontal relationship with others and secondarily addressing the barriers we experience towards God in that vertical relationship. James also is a big fan of infinite grace – consider James 4:6. I do not think James is about earning points with God at all, but if we read it with that mindset, it sure sounds like it. If we read it looking for grace, then we see it in abundance.

Good works are important and God calls us to them. However, doing them or not doing them does not impact the reality of the relationship with God that a Christ follower enters into. We just saw that with Jonah. Doing them or not doing either unleashes or impairs our love for others and our love back towards God, but God’s relationship with us is fixed and finished. Our experience of His relationship to us, well that is subject to our human frailty and failings.

God is both a God who exhibits wrath and exhibits love. However, His nature is Love. God is Love, as we are told in 1 John. For a non-believer, they are children of wrath (Eph 2:3-5) and under wrath. For believers, God’s wrath was exhausted upon Jesus (Isaiah 53:4) and we stand under His covering. Therefore, there is no wrath for us, but peace with God. We may experience wrath as a believer (remember experience is not reality), but I believe that is a misapprehension of God’s love. Jonah somehow saw the storm as God’s love and pursuit of him and not something intended to do him harm – so he could sleep in peace. Consider rubbing ones hand against the grain of rough-cut wood. It will be a bit painful and you will likely get splinters. Wrath, for a believer, is rubbing the wrong direction against God’s love.

Sin: Well, in my experience I was more tempted to sin and more likely to succumb to those temptations when I failed to comprehend God’s unending grace. This is because I remained a slave to fear, even if that fear was very slight or hidden, even a mere residue. There is no fear in love (1 John) but when fear exists, even in infinitesimal degrees, we are looking elsewhere than into the face of God’s love. That is when we are more susceptible to sin. Conversely, when we are awash in grace and absolutely certain of God’s favor and affection towards us, then our tendency to sin is at its lowest ebb. And, our desire to do good and exhibit God’s love to others and return love towards God is at its peak.

So, being an advocate for recognizing God’s rampant grace towards us does NOT mean I am soft on sin. On the contrary – I believe that salvation apart from grace requires absolutely perfect adherence to the law. It requires me to continuously love God with all my heart, mind and spirit. I cannot achieve that. Perhaps you can. I am rooting for you if you want to shoot for it, but only Jesus was successful. Sin, any sin, is death because God is entirely holy. Instead, I recognize that there is no degree of substantial compliance that I, or anyone, can achieve that will gain us admission into God’s Kingdom. I only gain admission by receiving grace.

Now that I am in that Kingdom, I am not left to “do my part”. Thank God, because I still cannot. Only the Holy Spirit working in me can transform my being, sanctify my life, and carry out my purpose. I am powerless to make any of that happen, and sometimes I chafe at not having some control so I begin trying again to sanctify myself. Sometimes I still want to run like Jonah.  Doing my part is all and only that of surrendering. Surrendering does not mean passively sitting around (except sometimes it actually does mean that if so led). Rather, it means responding to the prompts of the Holy Spirit to do that which He directs and that which He empowers. A surrendered life ONLY comes from an apprehension of unbridled grace.

Gospel of Glory v Gospel of Grace #JesusStuff

I will trust a historian to check me on this, but I believe it was Martin Luther who spoke of there being two gospels preached in the church: the gospel of glory and the gospel of grace. Only one of which truly pointed the way of Jesus. However, the false gospel is so subtle, sounding so right and appealing, that it is preached more than the true gospel. In fairness, those who preach the false gospel have an abundance of scripture to cite, though they must pull them out of context to posit the gospel of glory.

The gospel of glory, in essence, says that we draw near to God by how we conduct ourselves. Another way this is expressed is that, “while we have God’s love, we can only please Him – we can only get Him to like us, if we do good works.” It is called the gospel of glory because we seek to glorify ourselves. Now, many professing Christians recognize that we are only born again, as Jesus discusses in John 3, by grace and that no one earns salvation. After all, this is made abundantly clear in Ephesians 2:8-9;

For it is by grace that you have been saved and not by works, so that none may boast for it is a gift of God.

However, it is in the days and weeks that follow that moment of surrendering to God’s grace regarding our eternity that we slip back into the glory path. Old voices begin to speak into us saying that if we just pray more, if we just read our bible more, if we just spend more quiet time with Jesus, or if we just serve with more abandon, then we will attain . . . something more from God. Perhaps that something is His favor or perhaps it is His closeness. To distill it down, it is this pervasive notion that we please God through our behavior; our right acts – attaining glory on our own merits. It is as though we try to re-define our justification before God by our approach to sanctification.

Take a moment and think about it. Have you not hoped that God (or others) would take notice your act of contrition, your forgiving someone, your sacrifice or your devotion? When is the last time you felt like God was less than fair in what you get compared to someone else? How about wondering if only you had steered clear of a particular sin, then God would hear and respond to your prayers? Or, do you ever feel embarrassed that you are still struggling with that particular issue and feel as though you should be further along? Do you wonder if God is disappointed in you? These are little tell-tale signs that the glory gospel is running in the background of your mind. We superimpose on our relationship with God our human, conditional love; conditional acceptance paradigm.

It is not just the nagging, worrisome issues plaguing us that indicate we are walking the glory path. The more innocuous manifestations of the gospel of glory are in what we celebrate rather than in what we struggle with. For example, in my church I hear people celebrating that they ?… just led someone to Jesus!” Tweets go out all the time saying, “I just got to lead so and so to Jesus!” Sounds wonderful, right? And, to give it justice, it sounds like they are only expressing gratitude at getting to do this thing for God. A very good work one must admit. Now, contrast that with, “I witnessed the Holy Spirit lead so and so to faith in Jesus!” Where are we assigning the glory in each? We do not do it knowingly, but we love to assign credit to ourselves, that is – promote our own glory, when in fact it was not us doing the work.

By the way, I am seeking authenticity rather than disparaging my church. I have done this same thing of celebrating myself – my discernment, my faithfulness, my words, and my love that “brought a lost sheep home to Jesus”. I learned recently that we track who led whom to Jesus to see trends in evangelism. There is nothing wrong with this being done, but it is ripe for being done for wrong reasons. If it is done, as was discussed, to show if the preachers were being left to do the evangelism of the church, then it is a good and effective tool. If, though, as was my temptation to consider when I heard of it, to identify and celebrate the “evangelists” of the church, then it can go very wrong. So many times I have been in a conversation where someone was ready to profess a commitment to follow Jesus, where I could have clutched the honor of helping them in the prayer, but I passed that honor to another at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. My temptation, then, was to clutch that honor. That is the glory path; that is the seeking of holiness before God and men through my own accomplishments.

I am repenting of that glory path by agreeing with the Spirit in His transforming my heart towards such things. I am glad God has me participate in His work. He grows my love for others and my love back to Him by giving me these experiences and letting me be a participant, but it does not increase His affection or pleasure in me. The true gospel, the gospel of grace instead says:

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, whois against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:29-32

We are not left to our own devices to please God. His grace covers the entire breadth, length, height and depth of our new birth. Jesus does not usher us into a reborn existence only to leave us to do the rest. He chooses us, then He calls, next He justifies, and then HE, not us, glorifies us. There is not a single mention in any of that process of our role because we do not play a role – at least not an active role (and honestly, perhaps not even a passive role). However, if we go back further in Chapter 8, we see that all we do in the whole process is set our minds upon “the things of the Spirit.” In other words, we stand in agreement and look to Jesus and that is our only part. This agreement is a passive posture or stance of surrender and EVEN THAT we cannot achieve by our own will, but the Holy Spirit gives us this faith. We CANNOT glorify ourselves; it is all grace.

That is good news indeed because it means we can daily remember: NO STRIVING! We can rest. We do not have to worry about “doing our part”; but we can simply agree with the transformation the Holy Spirit is doing in us and through us. At this point, some of you feel a huge sense of relief, but many others are feeling a little trepidation. It sounds TOO easy and, perhaps, it leaves you feeling TOO powerless.  Others will be wondering, but what about my sin? Should I not be trying to be holy by removing sin? How can God be pleased with me in my sin? This just sounds far too radical. Please come back for my next post as I tackle this.

Why pray?

As I said previously, I am fascinated by all things prayer. My last post was about the “how” of praying. This post focuses on the “why” of praying. I suspect the majority of people fall into two broad categories when it comes to why they pray: those who pray because that is what they are supposed to do and those who pray because they want to maneuver God into giving them something. Of these two groups, I am definitely more concerned about those who pray out of habit or out of a “have to” mindset. Because, there is nothing inherently wrong with praying to get some specific outcome from God. In fact, according to the verse I quoted last week, Philippians 4:6, making requests is indeed a way to pray authorized and encouraged by the Bible.

However, I believe that on the range of priorities given to ways of praying, making requests of God is the predominant way people pray when it should be the least. How many prayer chains and prayer meetings always seem made up of specific requests for this and that. In fact, we Christians have developed a short-hand for common prayer requests. Consider, for example, the request for “travel mercies”. Most everyone knows that is a request for prayer that one gets from point A to point B (and back) without mishap. But, it could mean just about anything: no leg cramps, no butt fatigue, no speeding tickets, no delays in the airport, no obnoxiously loud kids behind you on the bus, etc. Seriously? Why is that our prayer when a trip is coming up.

What if, instead, we pray for a wild adventure on the trip that takes us through snares and scares so that our faith is grown and we lean like never before on Jesus? Now that is a prayer! Oh, but the list of aches, pains, irritations, inconveniences, and bellyaching whining prayers are nearly as infinite as God Himself. I should know, I have prayed a fair portion of them myself. Let us end the yammering attempts to manipulate the Creator of the universe. Well, rather than end them, let us drop such grousing down to the bottom of the prayer list and focus on the prayers that are meant to be top priority.

I turn to the Bible to teach me the proper priority of prayer; of why we pray:

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 John 5:14

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:3

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10

We have here verses from three different authors: the Apostle John, the Apostle Matthew, and James the brother of Jesus. All three heard directly from Jesus about prayer. All three of these verses elucidate the key to why we pray. While most of our prayers attempt to move God, the preeminent reason why we pray is for God to move us. John tells us that our prayers should be in accord with the Father’s will. We learn His broad will from scripture and His specific will from prayer. James confronts the very thing I spent most of this post pointing out: that we pray for our inconveniences to go and good stuff to come – our pleasures.

Matthew, in sharing Jesus’ actual words, highlights that the very first priority in prayer is to come before God – to address Him with reverence so that our heart is in the right posture. The second priority in prayer is to seek God’s will. How often do we diligently seek God’s will first and foremost in our prayers? And, if we do, how often is it just bare lip-service; a rote formula we are used to spitting out. If we kept the priorities straight like Jesus shows us, I am confident we would have far fewer requests.

Why pray? We pray to apprehend the Father’s will. We pray to grow intimately acquainted with how the Father sees and feels about us. We pray to be moved – drawn away from the old desires of the world that lead to death into life (Romans 8:6). We pray to conform to the mind of Christ (see 1 Cor. 2:16).

When we pray with this desire to know the Father’s will, then the request part of our prayer will change dramatically. You see, part of the Father’s will for us is to go through “various trials” that our faith may be proven (1 Peter 1:6-7). Why then would we ask for those trials to simply disappear? Instead, we would ask for our faith to be emboldened and our eyes opened to how God is showing up.

This is not to say that we should never seek to move God with our prayers. I am certain that our Father often is waiting to move in a particular way until we join Him and care enough to cry out for that movement of God. And, there are many examples of the prayers of man changing the Father’s mind on a particular course of action: Abraham comes to mind pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah; Hezekiah’s boon of fifteen extra years of life also stands out; and if one reads the book of Amos, that prophet convinced God to twice change His mind. So, it is entirely legitimate and worthy to pray for God to move in a different way, but seek first His will. Seek first to understand His heart, and to some extent, His mind on things.

These three posts on prayer have merely been a prelude. I hope to have drawn you into deeper consideration of prayer and how you approach prayer. There is so much more I could say about it. For example, to be effective in prayer, one must have forgiven all those whom he or she has held a grudge against (Mark 11:25). Also, one must be seeking to live an increasingly holy life by confessing and turning from sin is also essential to effective prayer (James 5:16). However, I am compelled to next go deeper into this idea of intimacy with Jesus through prayer; coming to know His heart and share its beat. I believe that some are called to identify with and even embrace the sorrow of Christ for those far from Him through prayer. And, that is where I plan to go next. I hope some will join me.

Let Us Go From Here

Peace from Jesus was the topic of my last post. This post will conclude my treatment of the 14th chapter of John. Each final verse actually has a vital insight for us:

“Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.” John 14:29-31

First, Jesus prophesied His death and resurrection in this chapter. He told His disciples in advance to prepare them, but also to speak to us. Fulfilled prophesy is how we recognize a credible source of God’s word. If He had not died, then His own words would convict Him as a liar. If He had not rose from the dead, again His words would have proven hollow. But, no mere man could make the statements Jesus made in this chapter and then back them up. The words He gave were sufficient for us to believe because they were all fulfilled.

Second, Jesus warns us that the “ruler of the world” had no part in Jesus. The ruler of the world is Satan and He is absolutely anathema to Jesus. Even though Jesus’ death and resurrection bring about the ultimate defeat of Satan, there is a time in which he will still hold sway in the world.

Third, Jesus could have stuck around and ruled the world displacing Satan from this place. However, Jesus did “exactly as the Father commanded” Him to do. This means there was absolutely no place for Satan to accuse Jesus. As I mentioned awhile back, the essence of sin is simply going our own way. Jesus never did that. This allowed Him to be the unblemished sacrificial lamb – entirely sufficient to pay for our sins once and for all.

Fourth, there is no standing still. Jesus just delivered some devastating news to His disciples. He also gave them mind-boggling promises beyond human capacity to comprehend. I imagine the disciples wanted to sit and think all this through. It was a lot to process and I am certain questions abounded. Instead of letting the disciples stop and mull all this over, He called them on closer to the cross. And so He calls us on. There is no stopping. We either advance the Kingdom in and around us, or we fall. Let us go on from here.

Touching the Intangible

We are approaching the end of this series of posts on John 14. My last post was the crux of the whole thing where Jesus declares that although He will no longer be seen soon,  He lives. Jesus goes on to elaborate on this day when He will no longer be seen; no longer physically visible to people:

“In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20

He knew the disciples would be tempted to discouragement at His death. He knew they would be looking for reassurance and comfort in those days of His absence after being physically present with them for three years. And, in response to their need, He told them that from which they should derive that reassurance and comfort they would soon seek.

So often we prefer to rely upon that which is physically present for our support, comfort and reassurance. I had dinner recently with some friends and the conversation was very authentic. One friend shared about letting alcohol take a place in their life where God should have been. Another shared that food was that to them. Too many times have I felt entitled to something of this world, whether food, drink or money because it was something tangible that gave me reassurance. If my bank account said I had $$$, then I could rest. If I had a tough day in some respect, I might overeat and fee justified because I had earned it. Many treat sex, drugs, relationships, appearances, prestige, possessions the same way. It is rampant in our world to find comfort and reassurance in things physically accessible to us.

This is not so removed from idol worship that we can completely automatically dismiss it. Throughout the Bible we are cautioned against relying upon idols. Are not these idols simply physical objects made or wood, stone or metal? Did we not turn to such idols because they seemed immediately present to us? Do we not still turn to physical, tangible things for this same reason? We justify these things because they often are not sin in and of themselves. We all must eat and eating is not sin. The Bible makes it clear that drinking alcohol in and of itself is not sin. Having fellowship and hearing words of encouragement from friends is part of God’s plan. God designed sex and the Bible gives us the framework within which sex is good, and so sex in and of itself is not sin. We lull ourselves into complacency on these sorts of things. But, they require no faith; they are physically present and usually readily available. We do not need to seek long after such things and there is no element of belief – we know they exist and we have an immediate result from their use. We say it is only natural.

But, that is not what Jesus tells us. Jesus says that He knows He will not be physically there with us (John 14:19) but regardless we should KNOW. We will not be able to touch Him, see Him, or hear Him with our ears. There is no tangible hand upon our shoulder from Him when we are weary or grieved. And, Jesus calls us beyond the physical pursuit of comfort and reassurance to be spiritually aware. He tells us there is something more real than that which we can touch or taste. He tells us in the verse above that we can KNOW beyond our physical senses that He is intimately present. He will be present beyond His physical presences because He will be IN you and IN me; IN all who follow Him. We are IN Him and so we are also IN the Father. Elsewhere Jesus tells us that if we seek first God, then the things we need will be added to us (Luke 12:31). Is there sin in turning first to the tangible? At what point does relying on tangible reassurances rather than God become sin?

It seems to me that I turn to the tangible rather than reaching to touch the intangible God because of my unbelief. If I adamantly believe that Jesus exists in me and I in Him, then would not my immediate response to something difficult be to turn to Him? Does not that lapse, brief as it is, where I turn to something other than Jesus reveal a point of disbelief? I cannot confidently say every time we turn to something tangible is sin. However, at some point I believe it becomes sin. For myself, I have been convicted that over eating and eating to make myself feel better emotionally is sin. This may not be so for you. Many will be saying that this word is too harsh; that I am splitting hairs and overstating the position. You may be thinking that if you over-eat a bit when blue that it is no big deal;  that God understands and it is just human nature rather than sin. Perhaps, but rather than trying to convince you of a position let me point to scripture and allow it to speak to your heart:

All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way…. Isaiah 53:6

Sin is not just some gross manifestation of bad behavior. Sin, in essence, is turning to our own way. That is why Jesus died upon the cross – we turned to our own ways. And, it is why Jesus’ death covered our sins – He never deviated from the Father’s will – He never sinned by turning to His own way. Realizing that sin is simply turning to our own way rather that obedience to God’s will, then a new perspective on sin emerges. Suddenly what seemed innocuous becomes iniquity. As we shed sinful practices from our life, we develop a keener awareness of sin. Jesus calls us to turn to Him as the source of all that we need. He calls us to touch the intangible.

You likely say, “But that is impossible!” Yes, of course it is impossible. On our own none can do what Jesus calls us to. And that is the other portion of grace. The first portion of grace is Jesus paying for our sins though we do not deserve it; justifying us as if we had never transgressed. The second portion of grace is that He does for and through us that which we cannot do on our own; He makes us progressively holy by sanctifying us. Through the Holy Spirit, He makes it possible for us to walk is such tremendous faith as He asks of us.

Fantastic Five: The ATONEMENT

My last post pointed to the incarnation as an indispensable article of faith. The incarnation refers to Jesus being divine, existing with God the Father as one, and while remaining fully God being manifested as fully man. If this were not true, then the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross would only have been a tremendous example of love and sacrifice, but it would not save anyone. Because Jesus was the only sinless man and also God, He became the entirely sufficient Passover Lamb.

There are many verses I could quote to show the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, but these verses written hundreds of years before speak deeply to me:

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed…. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:4-5

I implore you to read and re-read all of Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12. This passage contains the entire gospel in 15 succinct verses. We often focus only on Jesus death on the cross as the atoning sacrifice, but that was just the culmination of it. The entire gamut of ridicule, shame, and torture that Jesus encountered are part of the atonement and also the grief He experienced. His entire life as a man from the temptations He rejected in the desert, the hatred He encountered at the hands of His chosen people, the intense strain of grief resulting in sweating blood in Gethsemane, ripped flesh, mockery, naked exposure, and even feeling abandoned by His Father all combine in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

The reason this is an irreplaceable article of faith is because:

All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. Isaiah 53:6

Not all of us have sinned in ways that the world would see as profound or overt. Many who have led very wholesome and decent lives struggle to recognize the need for Jesus’ atoning sacrifice. But, it does not take gross sin to separate us from God and bar us from His Kingdom. Simply going astray; just doing our own thing and going our own way is sufficient rebellion to condemn us. The horrid sins just make it more obvious to ourselves.

But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. Isaiah 53:10

Even when we recognize that God loved us enough to send Jesus to be our Savior, we miss the full extent of God’s love. Many seem to hold that God did this begrudgingly. Some never seem to let go of the guilt of their sins because they feel a crippling sense of shame and failure when they sin again. I have heard people tell believers that when they sin they might as well be hammering the nails into Jesus’ hands right then. While I believe it is true that Jesus became each of those sins (2 Cor. 5:21) and, I think, is/was aware of each of them during the atonement, such statements only serve to condemn and manipulate. Jesus died to make us free!

The truth is that God the Father loves us so much that it actually pleased Him; actually made Him feel good to offer His only begotten Son up as a sin offering. When Jesus chose to be obedient and walk into His own crucifixion, God the Father felt joy. Perhaps He felt other things as well, but scripture shows He felt joy because He knew the gap between us could now be bridged. That is how much He loves us; loves you.

I do not believe God is angry at us. I do not believe God feels wrath or anger towards believers or unbelievers because Jesus’ died for us all (1 Tim 2:6) though we have not all received His grace. I have heard it said that God gets mad at non-Christians who pray to Him. I believe, instead, that God exhausted ALL His wrath upon Jesus in the atonement so there is none left, at least not until the judgment reserved for the end of days. In verse five above, the word “well-being” can also mean “peace” so that the phrase would read “the chastening for our peace fell upon Him.” So, we do not live under wrath but peace. I am not saying we all just automatically get God’s peace; rather, Jesus’ atonement gave us a covering of peace available to all that we can step fully into only when we receive Jesus.

To step into that peace we must come to know Jesus; we must enter into a relationship by coming to know who He is and what He has done. To truly know Him, we must believe in the incarnation as well as the atonement of Jesus – and also in His resurrection. Join me for my next post where I dive into why the resurrection is an essential article of faith.

Does God hear the prayer on non-Christians? An answer!

This is the third instalment discussing the question of whether God hears the prayers of non-believers (non-Christian). Last week I dived into several verses that support the belief in John 9:31, asserted by the healed man born blind, that God does not hear “sinners”. That followed the first post covering preliminary matters of the question. At the close of the last post, I wanted to look for verses that reveal God listening to the prayers of “sinners”. To that end, let us consider Ahab, one of the chiefest of sinners:

Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him. He acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel. 1 Kings 21:26-27

But, when Elijah brought God’s word of condemnation to Ahab, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted with a despondent heart (1 Kings 21:28). As a result, God heard Ahab and backed off some from His punishment of Ahab:

“Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s days.” 1 Kings 21:29

So, God did hear the prayers of a sinner such as Ahab, but it was only after he experienced legitimate remorse. Scripture does not tell us whether this remorse resulted in true repentance or if it was a momentary state of mind. Let us look at another notorious sinner, Pharaoh whom we know did not truly turn from his sin even when he felt remorse:

Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. “Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and make supplication to the LORD your God, that He would only remove this death from me.” He went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the LORD. So the LORD shifted the wind to a very strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. Exodus 10:16-19

These verses from Exodus involve a remorseful heart just like Ahab and show that it is the remorseful heart rather than ongoing repentance to which God responded because the remorse did not last; there was no repentance. They highlight something else besides remorse: an intercessor. For Ahab, Elijah was involved though the scripture does not say he carried Ahab’s words directly to God. With Pharaoh, Moses was a direct intercessor who carried the request to God. These glimpses of an intercessor foreshadow the role of Jesus.

A New Testament passage brings all this together for me:

Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Acts 10:1-4

Cornelius was a “devout” man and the Greek word means “pious” or “dutiful.” So, he was what most would call a good man. However, we know from scripture that good behavior does not make one righteous or “saved” or many Pharisees would have been fine. The first post in this series gave supporting scripture for this if you would like to refer back. Cornelius, then, was a sinner. Also, this passage occurring well after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension so, Cornelius was also a non-Christian; he had not received Jesus as Lord and Savior. However, God heard his prayers. Consistent with the examples of Ahab and Pharaoh above, Cornelius heart towards God mattered. While the scripture does not say he was remorseful, we do see that he genuinely sought after God.

I believe I have arrived at an answer to the question of whether God hears the prayer of non-Christians. There is no guarantee that God will hear the prayers of a non-believer and if one is intertwined in sin either through stark rebellion or by holding sin dear in one’s heart.  If the sinner has turned sharply away from God, then He will not hear their prayer. However, I believe that when one has a soft heart towards God, then He does hear them. A soft heart can be evidenced through one who is remorseful for their sins or when one is sincerely seeking to know God. As I pointed to in my examples above, there is often (perhaps always) an intercessor involved when God hears the prayers of non-Christians.

There was no human intercessor between Cornelius and God, though, so something was different in that equation for him. The difference between those Old Testament examples and present day is that we have no mere foreshadowing of an intercessor, but the Perfect One, Jesus:

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:1-6

Even though not all of us choose to receive the forgiveness and covering that Jesus’ death and resurrection offer, it occurred for ALL PEOPLE. I believe that for anyone who seeks after God even if not yet Christian, Jesus is interceding on that person’s behalf because He desires all people to be saved. Jesus is doing as Moses did for Pharaoh and carrying the petitions of the non-believer with a remorseful heart to the Father in hope that they would see Truth and receive Christ.

So, does God hear the prayers of non-believers? I believe the answer is “yes, when…” God hears the prayers of non-Christians when they approach Him with a soft heart because there is now a permanent intercessor in Jesus. God does this because He “desires all men to be saved” so, I believe that whenever there is a prayer indicating an opening in a sinner’s heart – an opening where Jesus can be revealed – then God’s ears are inclined towards that sinner. That is the reason Jesus became a ransom for all and not just a select few. And, the ransom must be received before it has effect.

There remain the questions of whether God blesses non-Christians and whether God always hears the prayers of Christians. Also, I have heard it said that God is actually angered by the prayers of non-believers, so I would like to touch on that. Check back in for those topics soon.

By God’s Grace: Blessed, not cursed

Three verses punctuate the extreme gift that God’s grace is to me (to all!):

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus actually became sin. His torture, crucifixion and death was not a symbolic gesture. He took into Himself every aspect of our fallen existence and every rebellious decision. As a result of Jesus being the scapegoat, I am righteous as soon as I believe; as soon as I receive Him. Furthermore:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14

Jesus became a curse so that I can receive the blessing of God. Hanging there on torment upon the cross was not a token. He who was glorified with God from prior to the existence of the universe (John 17:5) took upon and into Himself all those curses from the Old Testament that were inflicted upon mankind for our rebellion so that we could enter into all those blessings that we could never earn.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)

Ever wonder what happened to all that wrath of God from the Old Testament. One could compare the Old Testament to the New Testament and think they are two different Gods: an angry, vengeful one and a kind, loving one. The truth is that there is only one God and His wrath arose out of His holy and just nature that never changed. At the same time that He is holy and just, He is loving and kind. Because He is holy, he could not just turn a blind eye to our rebellion and sin. Because He is loving and kind, He took all that wrath (chastisement) out on Jesus so we could exist in peace. It is the same God, but we no longer experience His wrath because it was all expended on Jesus: He who became sin and He who became cursed. All the punishment was exhausted in the crucifixion and what we now have from God is the offer of peace.

The Essential Promise of Jesus

I had the opportunity to share an insight about the basic promise of God with two people in different positions the other day. The first person was wondering what they had done to deserve the bad things happening in their life while professing that they had done some really good things lately, so God should be giving them a break. This person recognized that they had not entered into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and acknowledged their believe in karma. The second person had given their life to Christ just in recent weeks and they saw a handful of good things that had happened to them since that death to life transaction as evidence of God’s adoption of them as a beloved child.

While I understood where each was coming from, I recognized the importance of being really clear that true Christianity does not hold to the karmic principle of good things resulting from good acts and bad things resulting from bad acts. Sure, our actions have consequences, but that is different from the notion of karma. In a very simplified form, karma teaches that the accumulation of good or bad acts in one life cycle influences ones position in a later life cycle – ultimately leading to some form of heavenly existence. In our culture, we have watered that down to just the concept that if you do something good, the universe will return the favor; if you do something bad, it will bite you in the butt.

Instead, this is what Christianity teaches:

But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. Isaiah 43:1-2

In other words, God does not promise to take us out of difficult, or even devastating, circumstances when we choose to believe in Him. Sometimes people say a prayer (called a foxhole conversion because of how many soldiers would say a prayer to Jesus in the midst of battle) hoping it will get them out of trouble. Perhaps the faith is genuine, but too often it is a contingent kind of faith which dies away when tough times persist or return (see Matt. 13:20-21). God’s basic promise is that when you give your life to Him (receive His forgiveness through belief in Him as both Savior and Lord and invite Him into your life to lead it), then He will always be with you. The trials and turbulence may persist or even get worse, but He will walk along side and lift you up. In fact, your life may become exponentially more difficult by following Jesus, but He will sustain you in the midst of it.

It was important for the new believer to understand this truth because tough times will come again. If the strength of his faith rests on the good things that happened right after he gave his life to Jesus, then it could be crushed and paralyzed when the bad stuff happens. It was important for the seeker of Jesus to understand this because giving one’s life to Him is departing entirely from some karmic idea and stepping into grace. These two paths cannot coexist. Either one earns salvation or it is a gift bestowed by a loving Creator. Karma plus Jesus is simply not Christianity; it is just a lie elevated to a more complex deception. Only Jesus saves.