The most raging religious controversy the world has ever known has been between the do-it-yourself religions and the God-alone-can-save-you kind. Man has always been trying to save himself, to work his way to heaven, with just a little help from God thrown in. That way he can give himself most of the credit and go his own way.
This conflict has resulted in some of the greatest misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the Scriptures that have ever existed. Most people have been trying to save themselves ever since, with as little thanks to God as possible, and they have twisted the Scriptures to try to prove they could do it. But God can’t help them to save themselves. He does not help those who think they can help themselves, but only those who know they can’t. They can’t save themselves, no matter how much they try to get His help to do it their way.
This “grace versus works” debate was the biggest cause of division among the early Christians. Could one simply believe and be saved, or was it necessary to also keep some of the hundreds of Jewish religious laws? The Jewish Christians just couldn’t help but believe that Jews were a little bit better than Gentiles, even among Christians. “Sure, we believe that Jesus is the Messiah,” they said, “but we still have to help Him save us by keeping the Mosaic Law.” This obnoxious mixture of works and grace so nauseated the apostle Paul that he publicly bawled out Peter for it and spent years fighting it in epistle after epistle.1
As a young Christian, I too was deceived for a time by the delusive doctrine of off-again, on-again, gone-again eternal insecurity taught by some churches and “works” religions. But then one day as a teenager, I was thrilled to discover the simple truth of John 3:36.2 After years of discouragement and defeat and lack of assurance of my own salvation, I found that all I had to do was believe. That was enough! Jesus said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life”—right now! No ifs, ands, or buts about it! No “providing you’re a good boy or girl and go to church every Sunday,” and none of this “sinless perfection” business.
I just hadn’t been able to make it on my own, and I knew it. It seemed that the harder I tried to be good, the worse I got! As the apostle Paul lamented, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”3
That was all there was to it. There was nothing else, no other way, no righteousness of my own, none of my own good works. None of these could keep me saved any more than they could save me in the first place! Only Jesus could do it! Not only had He needed to save me, but He also had to do the good works through me. I was so relieved to learn that, as I knew I could never make it otherwise. It had to be God. I just couldn’t do it—so He did!—David Brandt Berg4
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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.—Ephesians 2:85
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I used to be driven to do something great for God. I volunteered for numerous opportunities and worked hard in the hopes that some book I was writing, some church I was planting, or some organization I was helping would accomplish great things for God. While I think God used my misguided zeal in spite of myself, nothing I did ever rose to the level of my expectations. Instead, my pursuits seemed to distract me from God, consume my life, and leave me stressed out or worn out.
I’m not driven anymore. I haven’t tried to do anything great for God in more than a decade, and yet I have seen him use my life in ways that always exceed my expectations. What changed? I did, by his grace.
My desire to do something great for God served me far more than it ever did him. It kept me too busy to enjoy him and distracted me from the real ministry opportunities brought across my path every day.
I used to start my day laying out my plans before God and seeking his blessing on them. How silly! Why would I want God to be the servant of my agenda? God’s plans for my day far exceed mine. I can almost hear him now as I awaken: “Wayne, I’m going to touch some people today. Do you want to come along?” …
If you’ve never known the joy of simply living in God’s acceptance instead of trying to earn it, your most exciting days in Christ are ahead of you. People who learn to live out of a genuine love relationship with the God of the universe will live in more power, more joy, and more righteousness than anyone motivated by the fear of his judgment.—Wayne Jacobson6
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All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.—2 Corinthians 5:18–197
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I used to think following God required complicated formulas. I thought I needed a big stack of books, so I could figure out exactly where I was all the time. I thought if I constantly measured the distance between me and God, I’d get closer to Him. Early on, the religious people I knew explained to me all kinds of nuances for doing this sort of spiritual math. They suggested that I say certain things in my prayers, have quiet times, go to Bible studies, and memorize Bible verses. They said I needed to know how to explain to someone that God could be a person and a spirit at the same time. They urged me to know how God was going to come back someday but that some people would be here and other people would go missing because it would be a time of great tribulation. They said that for me to know God, there was a whole pile of things I’d need to know first. … What I realized, though, is that all I really needed to know when it came down to it was the direction I was [going] and that I was somewhere inside the large circle of God’s love and forgiveness.—Bob Goff8
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[In the story of the prodigal son] the younger brother believes that he is cut off, estranged, and no longer deserves to be his father’s son, because of all the terrible things he’s done. His badness is his problem, he thinks. He’s blown the money on meaningless living until he was face down in the gutter, dragging the family name through the mud in the process. He is convinced that his destructive deeds have put him in such a bad state that he doesn’t even deserve to be called a son anymore.
The younger brother’s wrongs have led him away from home, away from the family, deep into misery. This is true. His sins have separated him from his father.
The second truth, one that is much more subtle and much more toxic as well, is that the older brother is separated from his father as well, even though he’s stayed home.
His problem is his “goodness.”
His rule-keeping and law-abiding confidence in his own works has actually served to distance him from his father.
What we learn in his speech to his father is that he has been operating under the assumption that his years of service and slaving were actually earning him good standing with his father.
He thinks his father loves him because of how obedient he’s been. He thinks he’s deserving because of all the work he’s done.
He thinks his father owes him.
Our badness can separate us from God’s love, that’s clear.
But our goodness can separate us from God’s love as well.
Neither son understands that the father’s love was never about any of that. The father’s love cannot be earned, and it cannot be taken away. …
It goes on, well into the night, and into the next day, and the next and the next. Without any finish in sight.
Your deepest, darkest sins and your shameful secrets are simply irrelevant when it comes to the counterintuitive, ecstatic announcement of the gospel.
So are your goodness, your rightness, your church attendance, and all of the wise, moral, mature decisions you have made and actions you have taken.
It simply doesn’t matter when it comes to the surprising, unexpected declaration that God’s love simply is yours.
There is nothing left for both sons to do but to trust.—Rob Bell9
Published on Anchor October 2013. Read by Jerry Paladino.
1 Galatians 2:11–21.
2 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (ESV).
3 Romans 7:24–25.
4 More Like Jesus (Aurora Production, 2001).
5 NIV.
6 He Loves Me (WindblownMedia, 2007).
7 NIV.
8 Love Does (Thomas Nelson, 2012).
9 Love Wins (HarperOne, 2012).
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