Taking Advantage of God?

We shared the gospel with a senior. She hesitated, feeling that if she trusted in Jesus at her age, it’s tantamount to taking advantage of God’s kindness. She had tried to be a good person all her life, and moral by human standards, but readily admitted that she has her faults. However, if she takes up Jesus’ free offer of salvation by trusting in Him so late in life, wouldn’t it be like exploiting God?

We assured her that while she may feel that way, God doesn’t:

• Isa 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Jesus’ promise is:

• John 3:15-16 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Man’s way is based on performance. The premise of all religions is that if you try hard enough, if you work at it long enough, you earn your way into heaven. And if one life is not long enough, go through as many cycles of reincarnation as you need till you are good enough to deserve heaven, based on your merit. As much as this appeal to man’s pride, over-estimating his abilities to perform while under-estimating the sinfulness of his heart measured against God’s perfect requirements, it simply does not work. This is because no matter how hard we try, we can never be perfect. None of us are, or ever will be. We can never save ourselves.

God’s way, on the other hand, is based on faith. Performance is not a just system. Some are born with innate qualities and abilities that they start out in life not on the same footing. The world values intelligence, strength, speed, looks etc. While part of these can be developed, some are born smarter, stronger, faster, or more handsome or beautiful than others. To demand the same performance from all is not a fair system. However, everyone can believe, everyone can trust, regardless of whether you are young or old, smart or ordinary, strong or weak, fast or slow, pretty or plain. Because what’s important is not what you can do, but on what God had done for you in Christ. All God asks is that you put your faith in His Son, who sacrificed Himself to save you. Salvation is based on this trust relationship. You can accept or decline God’s free offer, and, depending on your choice, either Jesus pays the penalty for our sins, or we bear the consequences ourselves.

Let me close with a biblical example and an analogy. In John 3 Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus to ask about how to enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). As quoted in the Jewish Encyclopedia, “the qualifications of the members of the Sanhedrin are as follows: they must be tall, of imposing appearance, and of advanced age; and they must be learned and must understand foreign languages as well as some of the arts of the necromancer (Sanh. 19a). We can therefore infer that Nicodemus was learned, respected by his fellow men, and elderly. Jesus did not tell Nicodemus that based on his achievements, he can enter God’s kingdom. On the other hand, He told him, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7)

John 3 did not record Nicodemus trusted in Jesus at that time. But as we can deduce from John 7:50 and 19:30, he became a disciple subsequently, late in life. Those who trusted in Jesus early in life has many years to follow Him and serve Him longer. Those who trusted in Him late in life has a shorter time to learn from Him and serve Him, but He welcomes both. Whether you board the “Jesus plane” early or you got on at the last minute, you still arrive at the same destination. Don’t ever feel that trusting in Jesus is only for the young who can do a lot for God. It does not depend on work at all!

Heaven and Hell

Q. Show me proof that heaven and hell exist and I’ll believe you. Otherwise it’s just fairy tale for those who fear death and want a crutch to stand on.

A. Many non-believers have asked this or similar questions. They say they’re not superstitious. They want scientific evidence before they believe. Fair enough. Any thinking person should believe with their mind, not just a blind leap of faith. But we need to think through what type of evidence are we asking for.

Heaven and hell are spiritual entities, not material things. Science, however, operates in the physical realm. It makes observations, proposes a hypothesis to explain the phenomena, designs experiments to test the theory, then takes measurements to see if its assumptions are valid. Spiritual things are beyond the scope of science, which is simply not equipped to measure spiritual realities.

As such, the quest for evidence must follow a different path. There are two primary approaches – personal testimony from witnesses, and evidence from the Bible.  The former comes from people who have died and came back to life, who claim they have been to heaven or hell. The latter is historical because several books in the Bible describe heaven and hell (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Revelation).

While books from contemporary authors who had near-death experiences (NDEs), or seen visions, are quite popular, personally I have reservations about them, for two reasons. The first consists of direct statements in the Bible:

• John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God (God the Son) who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
• John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.

I will explain why I believe the Bible is true in a moment, but essentially these verses state that only Jesus had descended from Heaven and can explain God. There were no other eyewitnesses. Since current authors are after NT times, couldn’t they have ascended into heaven after the Gospel of John was written? Technically yes, but their claims are not verifiable, so the validity depends on the trustworthiness of their character.

My second reservation relates to the reaction of contemporary versus Biblical authors when they see heaven. Current writers talk about amazing beauty, seeing departed loved ones, some of whom tell of things on earth that they (the writers) didn’t know before. Biblical authors uniformly write about their fear, falling prostrate because they recognize their uncleanness in the presence of the Holy One:

• Isa 6:5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
• Ezk 1:28b And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.
• Rev 1:17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

Why are the descriptions so different? Have contemporary authors really seen the Lord, or Satan disguised as an angel of light (2 Co 11:14)? For these reasons I read such testimonies with caution, accepting only those portions that are consistent with the Bible.

Not so when it comes to evidence from the Bible. Although skeptics disregard Scriptural evidence on heaven and hell, they do so at their own peril because the reliability of the Bible had been attacked throughout history and had stood the test of time. I will present a more detailed explanation in a later post, but several strands combine to form an irrefutable argument that the Bible is true, that Jesus is in fact who He claims to be, the Son of God incarnate, and what He said about heaven and hell will definitely be fulfilled. These include:

• The uniqueness of the Bible in its internal consistency, despite being penned by over 40 human authors, from many different walks of life, over a span of 1,600 years.
• The Bible’s accuracy as confirmed by archeology and extra-biblical historical records.
• The hundreds of fulfilled prophecies, some written hundreds of years before the events happened, in minute details, not generalities. Mathematicians have used probability to test whether such predictions are mere guesses and have rejected the possibility that they’re random conjectures.
• The testimonies of millions upon millions of changed lives, which would be incontrovertible evidence in a court of law.

So, my suggestion is don’t take my word for it. Search out the truth for yourself. God’s word is up to the challenge. Then place your trust in Him who loves you so much that He gave up His life for you. You’ll be glad you did. I did that 47 years ago, and never regretted it. My prayer is that you’ll find Him too.

Hypocrites

Q. One of the reasons why my husband refused to believe in Christ is that there are so many hypocrites in the church. They are two-faced, acting very pious in church but no different from us when they are in the marketplace. This really puts him off Christianity. I know we’re not to judge but how should I respond?

A. This is one of the main hurdles hindering people from receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior – the inconsistency between what they proclaim and what they do. First, I want to point out that not only is this a problem to many unbelievers, it is an issue with the Lord Jesus as well. Of all the people He chastised, He reserved the most severe rebuke for the hypocrites. In Matthew 23 alone, He pronounced “woes” to the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites eight times. Read them for yourself in Mt 23:13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27 and 29. The Lord is full of compassion and merciful towards sinners, but He disliked hypocrites the most.

Secondly, why should it surprise anyone to find hypocrites in church? Many people assumed, wrongly, that everyone in church should be holy. While it is true that those who are in the universal Church, the Body of Christ, are separated unto God and made holy, this is not necessarily the case in the local church. The Lord Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mt 9:13; Mk 2:17; Lk 5:32), so it is natural to find sinners in church until they come to know God personally and repent. Even after a sinner repents, sanctification (being made holy) takes time. We don’t expect everyone who confess faith in Christ to be a “saint” (in our common usage of the term) instantly. You may see flaws in a person’s life and look down on him, but maybe compared to where he had been, he had already made great progress, so don’t be so hasty in our judgment.

Third, closely related to the above, not everyone who professes to be a Christian is necessarily a genuine follower of Christ. In the parable of the Tares and the Wheat, the Lord’s enemy (Satan) purposely sowed tares (darnel, a weed resembling wheat) among the wheat. The devil sowed the sons of the evil one to confuse people and to cause the sons of the kingdom to stumble, but their separation will be in the time of the harvest at the end of the age, not now. So, the hypocrites you see may not be Christians at all; they are tares, not wheat, but people assume they are Christians and their behavior give Christians a bad name.

Fourth, the One who examines us is the Lord:

• Rom 14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 
• 1 Co 4:5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.

Judgment belongs to the Lord alone. We are in no position to judge our brother or those outside. We don’t know the things hidden in darkness, nor the motives in men’s hearts, only God knows. So, don’t try to usurp the Lord’s role as judge.

How should we respond, besides withholding judgment and praying to leave the matter in the Lord’s hands?

• Gal 6:1 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

“Any trespass” would include hypocrisy. So, if you consider yourself spiritual, our responsibility is to restore the trespasser in a spirit of gentleness. Let me borrow from

• Mt 18:15 If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

The context is a brother sinning against you, but the principle is the same. Confront and warn the hypocrite in private. If he listens and repents, good for him. Even if he does not listen, good for you, because you have warned him. It’s a difficult task, but that’s the job of mature Christians, not just pastors.

Lastly, don’t be hypocritical yourself. The essence of hypocrisy is saying but not doing, so do what you say:

• Mt 23:3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
• Mt 5:37 But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.
• Jas 5:12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.