For the Love of God

It is prudent that we learn from Israel.  God rescued the Israelites from oppression at the hands of the Egyptians by leading them through the sea on dry land.  He gave them real estate flowing with milk and honey, as he promised.  Yet they did what was detestable in the eyes of God and did not honor the covenant he offered and they agreed to.  He gave them a law that would guide them and instruct them between right and wrong.  But before Moses could even descend Mount Sinai they rebelled against God with idolatry and debauchery.  Over time, God sent them the prophets to warn them and they killed them.  Each time they repented, he blessed the nation, yet they did not call out to him but chased other Gods and adopted sinful ways that God did not approve of.  He punished them and they repented. Then he gave them blessings but they fell back into the ways that God said were detestable.  And so the cycle continued.

So finally God sent his only Son and they killed him as well.  Sound familiar?  Jesus told the parable of the absentee landlord in Mathew 21:33-46. In verse 43 Jesus said plainly, “Therefore the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and be given to a people who will produce its fruit.”  In 70 AD God punished the Jews through the Romans who destroyed their city and temple and dispersed them throughout the earth.  Then he extended the blessings meant for Israel to the Gentiles to fulfill the promise given to Abraham that through him every nation would be blessed (Genesis 22:18, Galatians 3:14).  Hallelujah, praise the Lord! 

But have we been loyal to the New Covenant, forsaking sin and honoring Christ? 

As the bride of Christ, true believers are betrothed to him and must remain faithful to him.  However today we have a multitude of Christian denominations that have committed unforced errors and have altered the gospel to satisfy their particular perspective, interpretation or in an effort to garner status, wealth or power. Today we have theologians preaching grace without the need for repentance.  We have denominations preaching salvation by works.  We have progressive Christianity advocating LGBTQ lifestyles, ordaining gays, lesbians and transgender pastors and sanctioning sin within the church and we have the prosperity gospel preaching health and wealth and treating God as a genie that will answer every material request so we can live our best lives now (2 Timothy 4:3).

Many, many churches have drifted so far away from the teachings of Jesus that the gospel preached today wouldn’t even be recognized by first century Christians if they heard it.  We must ask ourselves, did Jesus advocate sin?  Was the Mosaic Law given to the Israelites because it lacked wisdom?  As the Apostle Paul would say, by no means!!!!  However, because the Pharisees and teachers of the law took it to the extreme, it wasn’t drawing people near to the Lord and in fact was driving them further away from God.  Jesus said they served God with their lips but their hearts were far from him (Mathew 15:8).

So Christ established a new covenant where we are not under law but under grace.  However, this does not give us license to continue to live our old lives of sin.  Jesus said we are to take up our cross daily and follow him.  He also said that not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen would disappear from the law.  Heaven and earth will disappear but his words will never disappear.  Just because we are not under law, we must not ignore the wisdom of the law when it comes to lying, cheating, murder, adultery and sexual immorality.  The things the Lord found detestable when the laws were written, he still finds detestable today.

Jesus gave us two commands.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself.  If you love God, you will honor him.  Jesus said be holy even as I am holy.  However, few are holy and today we seem focused on loving our neighbor and accepting them as sinners as well as their sin.  This cannot honor God and it certainly is no way to love someone when the faith we preach doesn’t have the power to save souls.  If the Jesus we share isn’t the biblical Jesus, he is ultimately something less and cannot be the same Jesus.  Therefore, we then worship something other than the Jesus who is the Son of the living God, which is idolatry. 

Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15.  Without a holistic appreciation of scripture it is easy to cherry pick verses that say we are saved by grace, not by works, so that no one can boast, or that Jesus did not come to judge but to save the world (John 3:17).  However, that rationale doesn’t hold water when it is contextually compared to scripture that says Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead.  It’s easy to crusade on the premise that Jesus accepted everyone and condemned no one as many do today, but that is only part of the gospel.

Jesus lived a life we all are to imitate.  He judged no one, he observed the Mosaic laws and did not sin.  Not once.  He loved all of mankind to the point of laying down his life as an atonement for all sin.  He was a faithful servant and that is what we are to emulate. As a result, certain Christian groups, in an effort to imitate him, feel compelled to keep certain Mosaic laws while others reject any warnings about sin as judgement. 

Jesus instructed us to repent.  Just because he didn’t judge sinners, doesn’t mean he approved of sin.  Proponents of grace theology incorrectly conflate grace and repentance and reject any talk of judgement in a nebulous understanding of scripture.  The Bible says Jesus will return with power and great glory, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see him.  Why?  Because they love their sin more than they love him.  Jesus will return to judge.

Let us not be arrogant about this.  Paul wrote that we Gentiles are grafted in branches.  Through the inability of Israel to keep the covenant offered to Abraham and through Moses, we Gentiles have become recipients of the promised blessings through Christ Jesus.  We benefit from Israel’s failure and we must recognize that we are not above losing the blessings in the same way that Israel lost the blessings. They lost the blessings because of unbelief and we are to stand by faith.  If God did not spare them, he will not spare us either! (Romans 11:11-31).  The kingdom of God was taken from Israel and given to a people who would produce its fruit (Mathew 21:43), therefore our retention of the kingdom of God is contingent upon producing its fruit (collectively).

Those who teach and preach that Jesus did not judge or condemn, are only acknowledging a half truth.  Yes, we Christians are not to judge anyone but we are called to preach the full gospel and that includes warning others about sin and the judgement that is to come.  “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one might receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10.

The good news of the gospel is that God loved the world so much that he sent his one and only son to die in our place and whoever believes in him will have everlasting life (John 3:16).  If we truly believe in Jesus we must believe what he taught (Luke 6:46). He said that all of the law and the prophets were represented in two commands that he gave us.  Love God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind.  And love your neighbor as yourself.  How can we truly love God if we continue to sin and how can we love our fellow man and not warn them of the dangers of sin and the impending judgement?

We are saved by grace therefore the Mosaic laws hold no power to condemn true believers.  This doesn’t make the Mosaic laws meaningless it just means that we will not be found guilty of breaking them.  James wrote that if you stumble at just one then you are guilty of breaking them all. (James 2:10).  What we are obligated to do as believers, is to pay heed to what Jesus taught and do what he said to do (Luke 6:46).  He gave us two commands that encompass all of the law.

Paul tells us in Romans 8 that while we are no longer condemned by the law, we must live according to the Spirit and set our minds on what the Spirit desires.  If we have the Spirit of Christ living in us we will be controlled by the Spirit and not by our sinful nature.  “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9

In verse 12 he continues saying that, “we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.  For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:12-14.  Those who continue to indulge in sin are spiritually dead and are not children of God.

Those who are offended by this teaching are deceived into thinking that God is love and therefore is incapable of hate.  But God hates sin and he will judge the world and pour out his wrath upon an unrepentant mankind when he does (Revelation 16) and they will curse God and refuse to repent.  Many Christians today have created God in their own image and in their pluralistic ignorance they have redefined him as love and only love and see no need for repentance under grace.

I will close with Paul’s words about this deception that endangers the salvation of so many people who identify as Christians today.  “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness (unrighteousness).” Romans 1:18.  The apostle goes to great lengths in his letters to emphasize that believers must not continue to live sinful lives and even more so, those who teach and lead must not propagate this deception.   “Although they know God’s righteous decree, that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” Romans1:32. 

While Christians are not to judge others we are to judge sin and the apostate church must be called out and warned, in the name of love.  For the love of God.