Bible

The Parable of the Straight Man and the Lesbian

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

Based on Luke 18:9-14 The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Note: this assumes the position that sin impacts all of us; it does not agree with nor refute that LGBTQ+ people are sinners due to their sexuality.

To those who were sure of their own righteousness based on their own actions, Jesus told this parable:

A man and a woman went to church to pray, one was a straight man and the other was a lesbian. The straight man stood by himself and prayed, “God, thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, liars, cheaters – or even this filthy lesbian! I go to church, I have been baptized, and we both know I’ve repented and she has not. She is doomed for hell and I will sit by you in paradise.”

But the lesbian stood in the back of the church, almost hiding. She hung her head, and with tear in her eyes said, “God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner, and know that nothing I can do with my own efforts can save me.”

“I tell you this lesbian, rather than the straight man, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Reminder about relationships:

Ephesians 4:1-3 – not “indoctrination”, but the Word of God. Emphasis mine.

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Follower of Christ

/ Gina Marie / Leave a comment

A couple disclaimers for this post:

  1.  I refer to homosexuality in my video and in this blog as sin, not because I believe this, but because it is mirroring the context of those who believe it is a sin.  The goal of this post is not to argue this view’s merits, but to focus on how the Bible describes how we should respond to sin….specifically in reference to the noted meme.
  2. While I say in my video that I am a Christian, I actually refer to myself as being a Follower of Christ.  Unfortunately, the label “Christian” has been hijacked by a loud and hurtful segment of the American religious community that is often hard for me to recognize.  You may see it differently, but I hold more firmly to Jesus than the dogma that is portrayed often in my culture.

This is the final installment for this meme I came across that was posted by a family member.  It is my most direct response to it.  Again, this involves my interpretation of scripture that is also backed up by many studied theologians.  I will ask, if your only response to this is to insist I am not a Christian or other choice words, that is not a productive conversation and therefore I would ask that you refrain (just as I will refrain from finding reasons why YOU are not a Christian).  However, if you’d like to share your interpretations of the specific scriptures involved in this, I’m all ears.

Before I get into the theological aspects of this post, I want to emphasize that memes such as this create very dangerous scenarios for LGBTQ+ people.  In today’s aggressive and even hateful rhetoric, people are actually empowered to physically harm LGBT people because of messages like this.  Also, young people struggling with the realization of their sexuality can very easily lose all hope and go as far as take their own lives.  Words have power, which is a Biblical truth, and I encourage everyone (but especially Christians) to let their words/memes be “always full of grace”.  (Taken from Colossians)

First of all, many of my previous highlights regarding how many Christians today view things through a different filter today is related to Lordship Salvation.  This branch of religion adds our requirements to salvation, sanctification, and emphasizes works over everything.  Proponents of Lordship Salvation define it this way, “The doctrine of lordship salvation teaches that submitting to Christ as Lord goes hand-in-hand with trusting in Christ as Savior. Lordship salvation is the opposite of what is sometimes called easy-believism or the teaching that salvation comes through an acknowledgement of a certain set of facts.” Quote link.  Opponents say this, “As defined by its own advocates, Lordship Salvation could more properly be called “Commitment Salvation,” “Surrender Salvation,” or “Submission Salvation” since in actuality the debate is not over the Lordship of Christ, but the response of a person to the gospel and the conditions which must be met for salvation.” Quote link. 

To me, and to summarize – Lordship Salvation is the unsupportable and unbiblical belief that the PERFORMANCE of good works, the PROMISE of good works, or the EVIDENCE of good works MUST accompany faith in Christ in order to establish, or provide evidence, that such faith has resulted in eternal life.  While the Bible definitely outlines parameters to assist us in being disciples of Christ, it does not say that any of these man-made conditions are necessary for salvation. However, many Protestant Evangelical churches, ministries, and pastors (especially in America) teach that concept as foundational today.  Which is super ironic to me, because many of these same believers of these “truths” claim Catholics are not Christians because they are too focused on man-made efforts. In any case, I believe this approach and belief system was behind the creation of this meme.  Further, I’d like to acknowledge that if you Google “Lordship Salvation believer’s favorite scriptures to condemn”, 100% of the noted scriptures will be listed (and not just for gays, but for ANYONE they determine have not met the additional criteria of works to be truly saved).

So, enough of my thoughts on this (though I think it is important to understand), let’s see what the scriptures indicate.  Remember, they were referenced specifically to prove that I cannot be a Christian because I am gay.

1 Cor 6:9-11

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

First of all, I am MUCH MORE condemned for being an adulterer if I took this at face value, for Jesus Himself said, “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” Matthew 19:9. I would argue that, because of these red letter words, at least 50% of the Evangelical Church would be in hell with me!  But again, the context of this meme is about BEING GAY, so I suppose they wanted me to ignore the adultery part and focus on the “who practice homosexuality” part.  I won’t get into the etymology of the word “homosexuality” in the script for today, but note this is a more recent translation and heavily disputed.

I surmise that the person who created the meme as well as the one who shared it believe that people who commit serious sins (especially those filthy homos!), or whose lives have a pattern of serious sin, won’t go to heaven. They probably also believe that “true believers” won’t commit these sins, or at least that they won’t have a pattern of any of these sins in their lives – hence the “can’t be a Christian” tag for us gays.

However, this is NOT what this scripture is saying!  This passage means that people who are not in Christ (that is, who have never trusted in Christ as Savior, aka “the unrighteous”) will not get into heaven. They are condemned because they have never believed in Jesus, not because they have committed these sins. Christ paid for all of our sins, past, present, and future, including the ones listed in this passage.  Remember when we accepted Christ He put HIS righteousness over us?  We are no longer unrighteous because of the free gift Jesus gave to us.

2 Cor 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Many Christians (but especially those who follow – even unknowingly – Lordship Salvation) believe this means that whoever has believed in Christ as Savior will have an instantaneous change, that their mind will instantly be focused only on holy topics, their will will be subdued and directly to God’s, and their affections will be completely changed from love of sin and self to that of love of holiness and God.  Because of that, sin cannot truly continue – or especially pervasive and ongoing sin – because if it does, they can’t really have accepted Christ or have been saved.

But we all just have to be honest and look in our mirrors to understand that was not the case in any of our lives or our walk with Christ.  The affections of a saved person are not automatically changed from a love of sin and self to a love of holiness and God. Changing our way of thinking to line up with God’s way of thinking takes our cooperation, as Romans 12:2 makes so clear:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Corinthians 5:17 means that whoever has received eternal life through faith in Christ has been regenerated, resulting in the creation of a new human who is a sinless, incorruptible child of God.  This new human is a result of the second birth, a spiritual birth, which all who possess eternal life have undergone. The flesh nature, which is neither good, nor righteous, does not go away when we are born again. That results in a conflict between the flesh and the spirit, which will continue until we die, or are raptured.   We are instructed to walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4), to put on the new man (Ephesians 4:24), and to walk in the spirit (Galatians 5:16 and 25) so that we can manifest the fruits of the spirit (which are good things) and not the works of the flesh (which are evil).  This scripture has nothing to do with salvation, but a promise that we will not be forsaken and we hold a new position as a child of God that was given to us despite our position in sin.

Gal 5:24

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

To really get the context of this scripture, I am expanding it to include Gal 5:19-23

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Again, this scripture was used to prove that I am not a Christian because I am gay.  Does this show that people who commit these sins will not get into heaven?

No. This passage teaches that these works of the flesh will be manifested in the lives of Christians if they choose to not walk in the Spirit.  Not walking in the spirit is one thing, but it doesn’t mean one has not accepted Christ nor does it cancel salvation, which was a gift to begin with.  The people referred to as “they” in this passage are unbelievers. They will not inherit the kingdom of God (go to heaven), because they have not believed in Jesus as Savior.  People who are not Christians cannot walk in the Spirit, because they have never received the Spirit.

Further, also in Galatians, Paul rebukes the Jewish Christians for demanding that Gentile Christian men be circumcised to truly be a follower of Christ. 

Claiming the Promise puts it this way:

Paul refuted the troublemakers by referring the gentile converts to Christianity to God’s early promise in Genesis. God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have heirs and be the ancestors of a multitude of nations (Genesis 15:4-5; 17:4, 15-16). Those descendants were Gentiles as well as Jews. Paul referred to that early promise in order to prove from scripture that it is not God’s law but God’s promise that defines God’s relationship (covenant) with humankind. The law didn’t come until long after Abraham and Sarah had received the promise and believed (Galatians 3:17-18). Though Gentiles were never under the Jewish law, they clearly were part of God’s covenant. They did not need to be circumcised or to follow other Jewish practices.

“Those of us who are lesbian and gay Christians,” some of us observe, “are the Gentiles of modern Christianity who are being asked wrongly to renounce their/our sexual identity and live under the law of heterosexuality in order to be included in God’s covenant.  That demand is a gospel that is not really a gospel at all.”  Link to Quote, Pg. 11

1 John 3:7-10

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.  Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

So again, the premise of the meme being that I can’t be a Christian because I am gay, I surmise these scriptures were used to point out that because I continue to sin (live as a lesbian each day), I am not practicing righteousness and am instead sinning.  Therefore, I am not of God.  Is that what this scripture is saying?

No. When we love God, we will love those born of God. Loving God and loving others is not automatic in the life of a believer. If it were, we would not be exhorted to love God with our whole heart and to love one another.  But more importantly, we need to take the entire context of 1 John into account.  Go backwards and look at 1 John 2:1. There John is writing that children of God can and do still sin. Paul in the book of Romans 7:14-25, tells us that indwelling sin remains within us. Our sin nature is dead, but indwelling sin is still active.  The key to it all is understanding our identity in Christ; we have been declared righteous, however we will still sin after we have been saved. As we grow in Christ, we will learn to hate sin more and more, just as God hates sin.

Many still believe that we can lose our salvation or that because we still sin, we must not be a child of God. Remember who is declaring us justified – God Himself.  And the Bible is clear that we are not justified by works.  As such, our failure at works also do not disqualify us. So, the Bible is clear we sin as children of God, and we’d be more clear ourselves if we were more honest. Jesus has covered ALL of our sins; our will and self-effort cannot save us or keep us saved. Finding my identity in Christ has provided me freedom from bondage, and it was given to me as a gift from Christ Himself.

Rom 6:1-7

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

This is a complex area, especially since many Bible translations (including the older versions of the NIV) create the “sin nature” argument instead of sticking to “flesh”.  These verses are often used to condemn groups of people that are viewed as sinful, thus labeling them “Not Christian”.  See Andrew Farley’s article here for expanded details. 

Look also at Romans 7:21 that puts the above verses into full context; our flesh so wants to contribute to our holiness. That is the flesh of self-effort or trying to will ourselves into a state of righteousness. That cheapens what Christ did on the cross! Saying that only some of our sins were forgiven (the ones leading up to our asking God to forgive our sins), would mean Christ only died for some of our sins. If He died for only some of our sins, then the cross isn’t finished, and He would need to go back on it each day to die for more sins and future sins. This is not to call out those of us who sin (which, hello, is all of us Christians) to expose us as fake, or any other focus – but to remind us that we are crucified with Christ and we need to stop acting like we used to when we tried to offset this with our own actions.  Or even worse, deny we are sinning while condemning others who sin.

1 Tim 1:8-10

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine

Again, based on the meme, I am to understand that – because I am sexually immoral – I can’t be a Christian.  But what is Paul really saying to Timothy with these verses?  Paul White says this:

Now Paul wants to make sure that no one thinks that he is against the law, so he says that it is good, “if a man use it lawfully” (verse 8). Wait a minute! If there is a lawful way to use the law, then there must be an unlawful way to use the law. Paul says, “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane…” (verse 9). In light of this instruction, why is the law so frequently used against Christians? When a saint fails, we often hear the same condemnatory remarks used, citing the Law of God, as we do against the sinner. Instead, we should edify the believer, reminding them of who they are in Christ. Only the grace of God is going to teach them how to live righteous in this present world (Titus 2:11, 12).

In other words, the Apostle Paul was saying the law is for the list of sinners.  We are not under the law, we are under grace.  Paul White goes on to say, “Saint, receive no condemnation today. Let the love of God and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son silence the voice of condemnation in your spirit. God’s Law is just, holy and good and it shows people their sins. You are clean in Jesus, so see His grace and favor, and walk therein.”  Link to article.

Conclusion

The Bible does not give us a litmus test to check if someone else is or is not a Christian.  As I’ve shared in previous posts, the fruits of the spirit can and are manifested in non-Christians as well – even Satan displayed them per the Bible!  Jesus said others would know we follow Him by the love we show.  I think the Apostle Paul’s answer would be fairly straightforward: a Christian is someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ”, he writes in Romans 8:9. Then, two verses later: “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” So if someone has the Spirit, they will be raised, and if someone does not have the Spirit, then they don’t belong to Christ. That sounds about as close to a definition of what makes a Christian as we’re likely to find. And for what it’s worth, I think the story of Cornelius indicates that Peter and the other Jerusalem apostles would agree (Acts 10:47; 11:17-18).

The problem is, then, how can we tell who has the Holy Spirit?  Admittedly, this doesn’t give us a cut-and-dried test we can apply to others. It is, after all, not always easy to be sure who has the Spirit and who doesn’t, but that may not be such a bad thing. If God had wanted us to know for certain whether a particular church leader, or presidential candidate, or an LGBT person was a Christian, he’d have given us a secret password which only true believers could say. But he didn’t.  So maybe we’re supposed to have assurance of our own salvation, but leave the final answers about the salvation of others with God.  And, I contend, that it is MORE IMPORTANT to love……Christians, non-Christians, sinners, even our enemies.

Reverend Dr. Kari Tolppanen put it this way:

With respect to the debate about gay marriage, people in opposite camps have shown very little real love for each other.  It is sad to see how few Christians have shown any desire to see the issue from the perspective of homosexuals.  They do not want to explore the subject or to know any gay people (GMR or show love and compassion to family members they do know).  The only thing that homosexuals hear from the mouths of these people is condemnation and disapproval.  These Christians are today’s Pharisees who cling to their view of the Bible’s teaching, but forget what is most important in the law: mercy, justice and faithfulness (Matt. 23:23).  They tie up heavy loads and put them on homosexuals’ shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them (Matt. 23:4).  They believe they know what is best for homosexuals even though they may not know any homosexual people personally.  I constantly hear stories about how cruel some Christians are towards homosexuals.  Some parents abandon their gay children and many churches kick out gay people.  No wonder many homosexuals have a very hostile attitude towards Christians and regard them as the worst kind of Pharisees. Link to article.

If you believe LGBT cannot be Christians, that is your right.  Even if you’ve read this blog, seen my other blogs, and stick to that view, that is your right.  But memes such as these are not loving.  They do not share “good news” as the gospel does, but it closes the door to relationships.  Where there is judgment, there is no love.  And, I encourage you to ask yourself, is it more important to condemn others than to love them and have a relationship with them?  Is your way better than the steps Jesus took with the sinners around Him?  Do you honestly believe that, unless someone is perfect in your moral measurement, they can’t be Christian?

I contend we are called to love.  Love our neighbors, love our enemies, and love is to have a relationship with them where they are.  And I will NEVER say someone is not a Christian because I cannot tell with any surety that they have the Holy Spirit in them.

But to those who DO know me, I would hope that you see the love I share.  I cling very heavily to the Holy Spirit to assist me in this, because I am the one being told my sincere faith is not true and I am not changed.  I rest in Christ and I know without fear that I am His, no matter that others would rather spend their time insisting I am going to hell.

Peace.

Bible Study: Cheating on Jesus

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

As presented to CCC 8/21/11

Last week we learned about how we, as Christians, need to stop living under the law or even under a hybrid religion that combines the law with grace.  Instead, we should live 100% under GRACE, but even knowing that I think it’s still hard to walk in that.  So today, we are going to discuss this topic a bit more.

The law is so ingrained in us, I will be the first to admit it may take time to even realize how it rules us.  But God, in His wisdom and power, is doing that in my life!

First, look at me.  Today, I stand here and I am wearing flip flops.  In the 80’s I called them thongs, but my kids tell me that is inappropriate nowadays.  I am teaching Bible Study wearing flip flops and THAT IS JUST WRONG!  I was raised that you should NOT wear these to church and certainly not be on the PLATFORM is such sinful attire!

Oh, clothing certainly is an area that is STRONGLY ruled by the law.  Years ago, when I first became a Christian in a Foursquare church, I was encouraged to wear long dresses and very modest clothing.  Now I am not saying to dress immodestly, but it really felt like the girls in our church were encouraged to dress much more modestly than the boys.  I followed the rules because I wanted to be a good Christian girl as many of you did as well.  At least we could wear pants and shorts, unlike Deana’s upbringing, but at CHURCH we were told dresses were the best approach.  That even existed when I began to play the drums at church!  I mean, hello – drummers have to sit with the snare between the legs, and I had to wear a DRESS?????  Never mind that, I was told it was more important that “ladies on the platform wear dresses than if they had to sit in a unfeminine manner while there”.  The law for law’s sake is silly sometimes!

And so, to break that, I asked “will it be a sin to wear flip flops today?  Will I feel more holy if I wore closed toe shoes today?”  Now, remember the whole “all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial” study last week?  I will say it would be VERY inappropriate for me to stand here in a bikini – and I won’t even explain to you how traumatized you would be – but there ARE some reasonable do’s and don’t about these things.  But the LAW that flip flops are “signs of sin” is just hokey.  And what kind of burden do we put in these sort of areas to people we are trying to bring to church so they have FREEDOM IN CHRIST?

Ah come on, come to church!  We want to love on you!  But make sure you don’t wear flip flops!  God FORBID you come as you are!  Clean yourself up before you come to OUR church.

Now, this is not a big deal at CCC, where this stereotypical church rule is not as prevalent, but you get my drift?  What is something that YOU feel is required to do before you come to church?  Is it a man made law or requirement?

That can also be true for those who judge people who dress nicely for church – it goes both ways!

I am reminded how the Jews who received the grace of Christ struggled with this sort of thing, too.  In fact, even APOSTLES OF CHRIST got into drag out fights over this issue!

Galatians 2:11-21 (Paul is sharing this story)

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

“If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Thousands of years later, are we STILL claiming that righteousness can be gained through our actions and/or the law?

But the law is not as obvious as this in many of our day to day activities.  It finds its way to permeate the way we think!  For example, I started my new job this past week and was able to go out to lunch with some of my co-workers.  That was really great, to connect with them outside of the office.  So here we were at In-N-Out Burger and somehow the topic of “being unclean” came up.  One of my co-workers began to explain to us that to Jewish people in Biblical times, if they touched a dead body they could not stay within the city or attend temple activities for about 6 weeks.  And then he went on to share the story of the Good Semaritan.

His version went something like this:

One day a man who was seriously injured laid on the side of the road.  At the same time, a priest who was heading to his duties in the temple was walking down the street.  The priest, wanting to avoid the man, went to the other side of the street and passed him.  In the mean time, the Samaritan – who was the dirtiest of the dirty by the virtue of being a Samaritan – helped the man immediately.  He even paid the inn keeper to care for him and promised to come back and pay any amount due, as long as the man was cared for.

And the moral of the story?  The priest cared so much for God, that he knew he could not touch the man because he would be unclean and then he would not be able to serve God and God’s children for several weeks.  And we, as Christians, could be more concerned about serving God like the Priests of the Bible and yearn to remain clean for God.

Seriously.

But how does it read in the Bible?

Luke 10:25-37, as told by our Lord Jesus

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Our Lord did not say that the priest or the Levite acted as neighbors to the injured man.  Instead, it was the Samaritan, the most unclean in their society!  It is clear that the LAW was not lifted up in this parable (aka, do not become unclean) but rather the compassion of LOVE.  And how important it is that we take the time to find out where are “law blinders” are touching on stories where it totally changes the true message!

That leads me to share with you a friend of mine – a former co-worker of mine is an Orthodox Jew.  Now, it may seem that I am picking on her or her beliefs, but that is not what I mean to do.  She is just a great example of what we ALL do in some areas of our lives.

My friend – I’ll call her Laura – was born in Israel although her parents were from Europe.  She has always lived an Orthodox Jewish life.  She observes the Sabbath by observing Shabbat beginning each sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.  She observes all the religious holidays, studies the Tanakh which is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text’s three traditional subdivisions: The Torah (“Teaching”, also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi’im (“Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Writings”)—hence TaNaKh.  She only eats kosher food (which was fun when we’d go to client sites that made things like sausages!), and follows the law in every way that she could.

And you know, it was great fun to ask her about her beliefs, to compare our views of Bible stories, and ask about certain things.  Like, did you know there is such thing as kosher wine?  When I asked her what made wine kosher, she said basically that is was produced by Orthodox Jews, and the process itself was not special.  But going through these “kosher lessons”, some things were revealed to me.

For example, there were several rules that Laura shared with me related to the Sabbath:

•    You could not cook, so all food was prepared before sunset
•    You could not carry items in or out of your home
•    You could not work (or even have non-Jews serve you!)
•    You could not “light a fire”

But then, when I asked more questions, things got a bit more complex

•    You “could” cook, as long as it didn’t get the food too hot
•    You could probably carry small things outside of the house
•    She would NOT work, so that was not an issue.  But some would tell her reading her kindle was sort of like work since she was a computer programmer and the kindle was like a computer.  She didn’t agree with that.
•    “Lighting a fire” was subjective, as many Orthodox Jews believed that also meant you could not turn on electricity during the Sabbath.  Laura didn’t take it that far, but she said sometimes if others were in her house she would at least turn the lights on BEFORE Sabbath and leave them on so that she wasn’t LIGHTING anything……..it was already on.

Where is became even more complicated was in the day to day activities at work with Laura.  For example, at our work we had to account for 100% of our time even though we were salaried employees, due to how we billed our clients.  Laura would often say she would enter times very late at night or even early the next morning on days where she knew she needed to leave early, even though she actually worked at different times or even days.

This speaks to a recent Harvard Business Review article that I read that shared many “high moral standard” employees often break the most rules because they feel they stay on the “straight and narrow” so often that a little turn here or there is permissible.

And really, what I am trying to point out that basically, the more rules you create to make you FEEL righteous, the more parameters you will create to circumvent those rules!  And yet, these rules make us feel holy, special, set aside, and so many other things.

And then there are those of us who do all we can to be acknowledged as “good people”.  It reminds me of a church I visited once, where it was preached from the pulpit why members of that congregation were better than everyone else.  Some things the Pastor shared:

•    The men wore suits
•    The woman wore dresses
•    The children went to the church’s Christian school
•    The members NEVER went to movies, few watched TV, and NO ONE listened to worldly music
•    They followed the Bible to a “T”, and sin did not live in their house
•    They only sang songs from hymnals, just as God intended
•    Because of these actions, God listened to these members more than any other souls on the earth.

You get the gist of it.

I am NOT saying any of those activities are wrong or right, just sharing their view of themselves.  In fact, I have to say that I was indirectly called out because it was said that “no woman” in that church would EVER sin by wearing pants, though I was there in such horrible garb!  So, I walked out understanding this – they had arrived and were righteous, at least in their own minds!

And yet, when I went out to my car in the parking lot – the church’s LOCKED parking lot and where they made sure only church members parked – there was a huge dent in my car.  A dent that was not there before I parked my car that morning.  And there was no note saying, “Hey, call me and we can work this out.”

All the things that they were “doing right” did not make them righteous.  And yet, whoever dented my car, if they have Jesus in their heart, was already righteous even though they hit my car and took off!  They were righteous because of CHRIST, not because of anything that Pastor shared…….and their righteousness was not negated by their actions with my car.

Here is what Paul says about these examples.

Romans 2:17-29 (The Message) – picture yourself and your rules as the Jews Paul is talking to.  Whatever it is that makes you feel holy or the actions you do that makes you feel like you deserve God’s grace:

If you’re brought up Jewish, don’t assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you’re an insider to God’s revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God’s revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I’m quite serious. While preaching “Don’t steal!” are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law. The line from Scripture, “It’s because of you Jews that the outsiders are down on God,” shows it’s an old problem that isn’t going to go away.

Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being circumcised. The reverse is also true: The uncircumcised who keep God’s ways are as good as the circumcised—in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law uncircumcised than break it circumcised. Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.

Stop cheating on Jesus with your own theatrics at righteousness.

Here are some more examples, which I have pulled from Andrew Farley’s book THE NAKED GOSPEL.

First, let’s go back to the times of the Israelites.  Back then they were in the middle of the desert and had their Tabernacle, where sacrifices were made to God.  Imagine one day a priest found a PERFECT lamb, with no one blemish.  The priest rushes to the Israelites and said, “WOW!  I found THE perfect lamb, and after I sacrifice it to the Lord, we will NEVER have to perform any other sacrifices!  ALL of our sins – FOREVER – will be covered!”

The Israelites, in their excitement, accept the sacrifice and then dismantle the Tabernacle and begin to live a guilt-free live “under the blood”, knowing that the perfect lamb has done away with sins once and for all.

Of course, you and I both know this never happened like it says here.  Instead, the Israelites continued to give animal sacrifices over and over as no single sacrifice was enough to perfectly cleanse them.  Hebrew helps to explain this:

Heb 10:1-2  NIV

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.

Now, WE know as Christians there WAS such a lamb in Jesus Christ, and it is confirmed in the Bible as well:

John 1:29

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Because of Jesus, there is no longer a need for the tabernacle, the temple, or the daily sacrifices.  We have been cleansed ONCE AND FOR ALL.  There is NO method or procedure required for us to remain forgiven.  Instead, we are invited to depend on the onetime sacrifice as the means to lifelong forgiveness, without any strings attached.

1 Peter 3:18 (first portion)

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

But maybe you’re like me – heck, like so many of us humans – who thinks, “Yeah, that’s great!  But I need to ASK for forgiveness.  I need to repent.” OR “I need to act this way or that way to prove I am holy” or so many other things.

I may even quote 1 John 1:9 which says

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

I am not a theologian, and this verse is complex when taken out of context.  But let me clarify something very quickly as this is really a different lesson altogether:

•    This is the ONLY verse in the entire NT that says there is a method for maintaining daily cleansing.
•    It is not in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, or Thessalonians.
•    When 1 John was written, Gnostics has infiltrated the church and popularized the idea that Jesus was only spirit as God would never stoop to the level of being human.
•    Further, Gnostics also did not believe sin existed
•    John was trying to show the Gnostics both views were incorrect.  Because of that, John purposely uses physical words in his opening statement to challenge this Gnostic heresy.  Later, he says that anyone who doesn’t believe that Jesus came in human flesh is NOT FROM GOD (1 John 4:3)
•    As such, John was not talking to true believers, because we know Jesus walked on the earth.  Instead, it was addressed to non-believers, or Gnostics who had entered the church.  In fact he says in 1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
•    True believers in Christ KNOW they are sinners, because to become a Christian you have to admit you’re a sinner!
•    As such, John here is concerned with Unbelievers, encouraging to confess their sins, so that they can accept Christ and be saved.  Or, in other words, the verse is an invitation to become a Christian.  Once you’re a Christian, the confessing is done.
•    Notice verse says, “from ALL unrighteousness”?  There is no one-by-one concept here!

So, let’s break that down and think about this.  I asked myself, “do I REALLY believe that I have the power to control the power of Jesus’ blood to forgive?”

“Do I REALLY believe if I talk to God more and more, he will pour out more of His blood, because He’s holding some back from me now?”

And then I asked myself this: Do I REALLY believe the blood of Jesus was sufficient to bring me a lifetime of forgiveness and cleansing, or do I actually believe it was lacking, and therefore I need to fill in the gap with my own efforts?

Crazy questions, yes?

So let’s talk about and try to understand God’s economy – from the beginning of time, cleansing included BLOOD which covered sin.  The animal’s blood is what covered the Jews, and the blood of Jesus is what covers us today.

Hebrews 9:22 says it this way

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

But even with knowledge, we push the truth away, saving that is for heaving, but POSITIONALLY on the earth “once and for all” does not work.  Maybe it’s because it feels way too easy!

“You mean I don’t have to do ANYTHING to be forgiven?  That doesn’t sound right.”  My human pride doesn’t want to admit that it really IS a free gift, and that I am not powerful enough to extract my own salvation.  And, truthfully, what would I do if I didn’t have my daily list of sins to feel guilty about anyway?  I mean, I was taught all these years that I need to confess my sins, to ask forgiveness, and take a truthful tally of my sins.

But there’s no blood in those actions, is there?

Do I REALLY believe the blood is only effective in HEAVEN?  That it lacks power here on earth so I need to do my piece?  Aren’t remembering, confessing, asking, and claiming MY powers?

Ultimately, it becomes OUR responsibility to make the cross carry real benefits in the present.

And that’s just plain cheating on Jesus!  At it’s plain insulting to His sacrifice, don’t you think?

In adopting this fine-sounding belief system, we fail to recognize that the cross is a historical event.  Its effects are already accomplished, no matter what we believe or claim.  Our actions do not cause more blood to be shed.

So I encourage you – start accepting the fact that, as a Christian, you are saved by grace!  Today, tomorrow, it’s done.  Repeat the following truths as much as needed:

•    Only blood brings forgiveness
•    Jesus’ blood will never be shed again
•    Therefore God is SATISFIED
•    And I enjoy lifelong and eternal cleansing
•    Jesus plus nothing!