Life Here and There

One of the issues I struggled with deeply in the past is Calvinism… election… predestination, pick your term (but two are biblical for sure). I love the way Spurgeon addressed the question once about how he reconciled election and free will, simply stating that he didn’t have to reconcile friends.

Today I stumbled on a new post on the J. C. Ryle Quotes website and I’ve fallen in love with his viewpoint on the issue as well…

The plain truth is, that God’s scheme of salvation is like a ladder let down from heaven to earth, to bring together the holy God, and the sinful creature, man. God is at the top of the ladder and man is at the bottom. The top of the ladder is far above, out of our sight, and we have no eyes to see it. There, at the top of that ladder, are God’s eternal purposes, – His everlasting covenant, His Election, His predestination of a people to be saved by Christ. From the top of that ladder comes down that full and rich provision of mercy for sinners which is revealed to us in the Gospel.

The bottom of that ladder is close to sinful man on earth, and consists of the simple steps of repentance and faith. By them he must begin to climb upwards. In the humble use of them he shall mount higher and higher every year, and get clearer glimpses of good things yet to come.

~ J.C. Ryle
via J. C. Ryle Quotes

The one clarification I would make is that we shouldn’t mistake Ryle’s words as meaning that salvation is a long-term process. Ryle, Spurgeon, Calvin and I would all agree that conversion is the miracle of a moment while sanctification is the process of a lifetime.

I’ve always believed in an age of accountability for sin. Children and babies who die don’t go to hell, period, and John Piper does a wonderful job of explaining why in ultra-simple terms.

I, like most men I know, enjoy movies with some action and movement. Fire… explosions… suspense… these are the elements that get us excited. None of those “chick flicks,” right? My wife will sit and cry over all the sad and happy parts and I’m there strictly for the comic relief. But I will honestly admit, I’m a sucker for a good romantic comedy – a love story with a happy ending. We all are – we’re suckers for it (whether we’ll admit it or not).

In a conversation the other day, I was telling my seven-year-old the story of Romeo and Juliet. I’m not sure how we got onto the subject, but she kept wanting to know more. About two thirds of the way through, I realized I was going to have to try to explain how it ended – they both die! For some reason, during the Elizabethan era, we thought that was romantic!

Romeo and Juliet was a romantic tragedy, but our culture is addicted to happy endings, so we will accept nothing other than a romantic comedy in which everyone lives “happily ever after.”

That’s the story of Ruth and Boaz. Here it is in short (based on Ruth 3-4): Ruth finds Boaz overseeing the threshing of his wheat crop and uses an ancient cultural tradition of the time to essentially propose marriage to him. He takes her up on the offer, protects her reputation, and goes out of his way to buy the land that she will forfeit without a husband. He further marries her and they have kids. And they live happily ever after.

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What’s the worst thing that can happen to anyone? Ask most people, and the answer will have something to do with loss, illness, or death. Perhaps someone might answer that the worst thing would be for a person to die without a relationship with Christ and spend eternity in hell. Yes, but I actually think the answer is slightly more complex. Here’s my assertion:

The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to follow their own desire, refusing God’s intervention.

I know this may sound confusing, but think about it. Scripture teaches plainly (in Romans 3:10-23) that nobody naturally desires the things God would have in mind for us. We, instead, desire things that seem good to us at the time, but are really counterfeits for the best thing – an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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In the year 2000, Angie and I bought our first home. It was sweet! We took one day with the realtor. About the fifth or sixth and final house we looked at that day was the perfect fit. We headed to the realtor’s office and filled out an offer form and included with it our earnest money – a whopping $500 (big money for us at the time)!

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Confession: Christianity is a mess! But that’s the tendency of religion isn’t it? We have too many denominations, too many moral failures among leaders, and too much quibbling over secondary issues. We argue about music styles, dress codes, and politics. Let’s admit it.

And while we’re admitting, let’s admit that we’ve also messed up the message of the gospel. We either water it down or muddy it up. We either leave out the parts about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and our faith and repentance toward Him, or we throw in extra and often confusing terminology and rules. Some who are inquisitive about the faith may walk away thinking that turning to Jesus is more difficult than filling out a tax return.

So let’s straighten this out:

1. You and I have sinned. We all have. No denying it. We’ve broken the rules of our Creator.
2. We deserve punishment for our sins, separation from God in hell to be exact.
3. God loves us in spite of our sins and willingly allowed His Son Jesus to come to earth and to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our crimes. He died for us.
4. He rose again.
5. Turn to Him and trust Him as your Savior, and you’ll be saved forever.

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As Isaiah put it, God’s ways are above our ways, and His thoughts are above our thoughts. He is holy, transcendent, distinct, and set apart from us. And He is, as Noah put it, the “Judge of all the earth,” and He will “do right.”

But we often answer wrongly on His behalf. Let me say that I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t always explain things well. As a Pastor, I always like to think I have an answer, which sometimes prevents me from being honest enough to say, “I don’t have a clue why God has decided this, but He is right.”

Here are some reasons why God’s judgment is such a tough subject…

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Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God on at least two occasions and used a verse as his text from which I preached this morning. I wanted to go back and revisit it since I mentioned it in my message, and even wanted to read excerpts. You can read a full manuscript here and some history about Edwards and his message here.

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Note: Over the next week or so, I’ll be blogging through these seven great sayings, so subscribe or check back often.

The religious leaders had set Jesus up, paid a betrayer, and established false testimony against Jesus because of their intense hatred for him. They followed close to Jesus on his way to be crucified. The Roman soldiers had beaten and mocked Him and gambled over His clothing. One of the twelve had sold Jesus out, one denied knowing Him, and most of the rest were not to be seen – they had forsaken Him and fled. His creation had rejected Him. His nation and His own family had done so as well.

What would you say? You’re on the cross and given only a few breaths to speak to them all in your final moments. Would you argue your case one more time? Would you curse them? Jesus prayed for their forgiveness.

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This post is inspired by #followfriday, a weekly event in which users of Twitter recommend their friends to other friends, but this article isn’t about Twitter at all. It’s about the ‘ultimate’ follow. Ready for it?

…(John the Baptist) looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God! and the two disciples heard him (John) speak, and they followed Jesus. ~ John 1:36-37

The single most life-changing decision we can ever make is to follow Jesus. Following Him means, first of all, to forsake our sin, for which Jesus atoned for when He died on the cross. It also means to trust Him to make us righteous before God when we are anything but that. And it means to commit our way, our life, our eternity to His care.

It’s the ultimate follow! I’m an unashamed Jesus-follower. I like a lot of things outside the realm of religion – web design, social media, baseball, hikes through the woods – but I’m defined most by the phrase “redeemed Jesus follower.”

I’m a sinner, like you. I’m no better than anyone else. I deserve hell, but God’s grace has been so overabundant toward me that “He demonstrated His own love toward me, in that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me.”

Following Jesus’ example isn’t enough. There are plenty of seemingly “good” people who have missed the point of God’s grace. It’s a faith commitment. Will you trust Him to forgive your sin and to follow Him with your life?