Earn Your Own Way
As Bible believing followers of Christ today, most of us know of the grace of God to give us Jesus Christ as His payment for our sin. And while we might know of that grace in a intellectual manner, are we really believing that Jesus is our only way to God? And if we are believing that it is by faith in Jesus that as a wretched sinner, (that's what Paul called himself), His work on the cross is the only way which we can be justified before God... are we living and breathing with that grace, in our actions to the world around us? Or are we quietly judging the lost under our breath, for our own interests, and in so doing quenching the work of the Holy Spirit?
We all know this scenario; a person in need comes and asks us for a handout. In our good assessment of the situation we determine how that person ought to handle their money, and we figure (perhaps correctly so) they probably did something to deserve their bad fortune. So instead of trusting God and joyfully giving to them, we usually say something like, "Is it food you need? Because I'll be happy to buy you something to eat." We might take a deep breath and feel pleased with our words as we think we're doing good; after all we might have just prevented that person from sinning, and certainly we wouldn't want to be associated with that. What group of people from Scripture does that sound like?
Shouldn't each one of us stop and think about Jesus and the reality of my own situation with Him? Is that how Jesus was/is with me? Does Jesus give Himself to us based on our trustworthiness (eternal rewards aside) with His gifts? Does Jesus save us because we have done something good enough to help be justified to God? And after Jesus saves us, do we graduate to becoming a good person who someday will no longer need Him? Do we as individuals take the gift of salvation and treat it right every single day? Do we love God with all of our hearts, and love our neighbors as ourselves, every single day? Are we joyful givers with ALL we have?
If you're like me, you probably see that you fall short of God in many ways. And if you're like me, you have a Pharisee lurking in your flesh. Do we forget sometimes and allow the Pharisee in us to start to deceive us that we are better than others? Have we allowed ourselves to start to believe that following Christ is a static position based on our dead principles, instead of an organic relationship with the Living God in Christ Jesus? Have we begun to fall into an error in our relationship with Jesus, where we don't really think we need Him anymore?
Because if we, the church, remember who we actually are, (not for guilt or shame because Christ does not shame us, He loves us) and Who He is, then for God and others... and the Truth, we should be compelled to have crazy generosity for people with giving hearts. We shouldn't be stuck looking for investments worthy of our support. We should keep our eyes open for people who think that Jesus followers love to build themselves up and get richer and more politically powerful... and then we should joyfully give to those same people trusting God as He gives to the least worthy so we/them can see who Jesus really is and what He cares about most.
Jesus is about giving Life! Giving the most to the least! Jesus is about loving enemies. Jesus is beautiful and radically different than the stench of stale worldly principles in religion. He loves those who deserve nothing. He gave everything to those who can never contribute to their own worth. And does Jesus' love have limit$? No! His love isn't limited by greed. His love is unlimited grace for those who believe!
In Luke 6: 27-38, Jesus told us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us. He also told us if someone hits us in the face, to let that person hit us on the other side of our face! And if someone takes away our coat to give that same person our shirt! Think about that! Your enemy just steals your coat, and you decide to give him your shirt! If that's not ridiculous enough, He went on to say that we are to give to everyone who asks, and whoever takes away what belongs to us, we shouldn't ask for it back! He told us to treat others the way we want to be treated! That means that we are supposed to treat the lowest of society with the same trust and dignity we would want for ourselves.
He said if we love those and do good to those who love us, what good is that? And it seems He was talking to the people who thought they were good, because He said even sinners love and do good to those who love them. Now get this, He said that we are supposed to love our enemies, do good to them, and even lend them our money without expecting anything in return! The craziest thing is that it means NO RETURN ON OUR INVESTMENT.
What would it mean for you and I to live foolish in Christ today? What would it mean to a dying world if they saw followers of Jesus who weren't trying to get a good ROI from their giving? What would it mean to a dying person who had done everything wrong, and did so on purpose, to be loved like the father who loved his prodigal son? What would it mean to dying, messed up sinners, to receive truth and grace from the very people they thought were looking down on them; for them to realize we know we are sinners too? What would it mean to a dying person to see that followers of Jesus are weak and vulnerable people who need Jesus just like them? What would it mean to our Lord, and our dying enemies, if we began to lovingly serve those in the world today, and take brutal risks and losses, as we proclaim Jesus is the Christ?
There is a world dying to hear about Jesus and see Him lived out in their midst. People want to hear from followers who they can see whose only difference from them is that they aren't self driven, but Jesus driven. Sadly many lost people see us as a packaged product where individual Christians are typically right winged politically motivated, fighters for civil rights, who are not willing to suffer for Christ, but instead are eager to protect ourselves and our reputations as good people, while we handle our finances way better than them.
Many lost people are dying... confused and wanting to see followers of Christ who won't love man made motivations; not money, not politics, not reputation, not family, not anything more than God. And isn't that what Jesus told us we are supposed to do anyway; put all of it off and love God and our neighbors? Doesn't Jesus tell us to follow Him as Lord in such a way that people won't trip over our worldly associations, while we try to blend Him into our lives, only to confuse them and reduce His image in us? The gospel is pure God; no man.
When lost people see that we love God enough to admit we know we have to love nothing more than Him or them, then the Holy Spirit might move in them. When we get out of the way, then people can start to see Jesus is the Way. When we get our motivations and our good virtues out of the way, then people will start to see God alive in us as we depend on Him alone for our very lives. When we are willing to lose... everything if need be; God will be glorified and people will begin to see Him in us. They might not repent. They might even hate us and cause us pain. But we will be blessed, and when we stop trying to live life as though we are in heaven now, people will start to see the resurrection Life in us today!
The Apostle Paul said that if the resurrection wasn't real then he and his friends should have been pitied more than any men. But he, as much as any man could say or show, proclaimed Jesus is risen!
I hope we all remember the Truth. I pray we all see the Way. I trust we have His Life abiding in us as we become fools for the Father. True Love; there is no law that can stand against it.
God bless you brother and sister! Thanks for reading. :)