Monday, February 25, 2008

Raise your hands if you're sure

Following a recent memorial service the following observation was made (not to me directly, but it was relayed to me):
"One thing about you guys - you really seem confident in what you believe and that you can know for sure about heaven. I belong to the ________________ Church, and you don't get that kind of confidence there."

He's right. I had no problem telling the crowd assembled that day that the one we were saying goodbye to was in heaven.

Here's what I said, "And it would be real easy for someone to think that [she] is in heaven today because she was such an incredibly good wife, mother, friend. But we can’t do that either, because although she was all that and more, that’s not why she’s in heaven today. She was a saint, but not because she was so good. She was a saint because was given the goodness of Christ."

There's the catch. Most religious people and frankly, many, if not most churches teach that heaven is a place where good people go. If that were true, no one would be there but Jesus. It's not goodness that God's looking for, it's perfection. And Jesus was the only one qualified.

The Good News is that He provided a means for us - and none of us are that good - to receive eternal life. But it's not by being religious or even obeying the Big Ten or keeping some list of "holy" acts. We can be religious, but we can't perfectly keep those ten, can we? And the means God provided was His Son Jesus, who lived a perfect life, then was put to death by people who didn't understand who He was or what He came to do. Then 3 days later He rose from the dead to prove He was qualified.

The simplicity of it is its beauty. All that is required of us to get in on His gift of eternal life is for us to believe that Jesus was who He said He was and that His sacrifice did everything necessary for us to acquire His life.

Amazingly simple. That's why it is so roundly rejected. We want to think that there must be something we can do. But we can't. Think about it, why do you think "Fat Tuesday" precedes "Ash Wednesday"? It's the idea that today I can live like hell, but over the next 40 days I can somehow fix it. It doesn't work that way.

However, if we believe - that means to trust completely - in Jesus and Him alone, we can be confident in our eternal status. It's not self-confidence. It's confidence in a promise God made.

Here's what the Bible says - These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life... (1 Jn. 5:13) That word "know" is huge, isn't it.

God doesn't want us guessing; wondering; worried that maybe we are and maybe we aren't. He wants us to know.

11 comments:

marcia said...

My hand is in the air and God's timing is, once again, incredible! A young friend of mine was just asking serious questions about the assurance of salvation on her blog today. I was contemplating how to comment in reply, and "just happened" to check your blog a few minutes ago. I sure hope you don't mind that I just copied and pasted this post into my quick comment on her blog just now! I gave you credit!! Thank you!

Rick Lawrenson said...

Who cares who gets "credit"? What matters is that the message gets out there.

That's pretty amazing, Marcia. Almost scary!

NCBeachMom said...

The hardest thing for me, is when my feelings don't match my faith...

I know what I believe, but my feelings try to betray me, and the enemy whispers in my ear "yeah, right...like you knew what you were doing when you were 9 years old....if you were really saved you would not feel like this, doubt like you do, question the things you do, worry and wallow and whine like you do...."

I am glad I can trust in what I say I believe, even when I dont feel it all the time. IF i felt it all the time, I guess that would not be faith, would it?

RAleigh, NC

Andy Lawrenson said...

Good stuff Richard.

marcia said...

:)
If you use "scary" in the sense of "standing in awe of" God, I couldn't agree with you more!
I really wasn't concerned about the "credit" thing...would never have "borrowed" your words if there was any doubt in my mind about your heart and motivation in this life! I strongly suspect that little things like this are just the very tip of the iceberg.....
Go God!! :):)

Andrea said...

Hi Rick-
I came to your site through Nathan's. God is so awesome...I've been struggling with questions around the doctrine of election and what that means for salvation and I saw your post today! I still have some questions around this and wondered if you'd be willing to dialogue via email with me about them. I'm in Romans right now which is answering some of these questions, but I was hoping to bounce some of my thoughts/questions off of someone who's had more studying and learning about this area.

If you're open to helping me sort through these answers, please email me at aanderson@in-vocation.com.

Thanks!
Andrea

Roxanne said...

I'm so grateful to be at NHC where you teach us these basic truths again and again. Isn't it a tricky thing the enemy does, when he gets churches and Bible teachers distracted by complicated doctrinal forests so that they miss The Tree???

Welcome home. We know we have to share you with the left coast now and then, but it ain't the same without you, no matter what those other guys say! :)

Anonymous said...

Guess how I found your site… you got it… Nathan. Anyway, I've enjoyed reading your blog. You are so right. Almost anyone you ask "What do you believe it takes for a person to go to heaven?" will answer that you have to live a "good life." Even if they know the right answer that's the first response a lot of times. And I agree wholeheartedly with truepraise about feelings. So many people think they aren't saved because they don't feel saved. Salvation is a fact not a feeling. And even knowing that, I still struggle sometimes. That's when I got to the word and read Philippians 1:6 and Ephesians 1:13. Thanks for your witness to me and to all who happen upon your blog.

ZazFamily said...

mom was a great lady, but her faith in God is her confidence of that eternity in heaven. i had many family memebers and friends comment on the "assurance" that we have.

Shannon/Jodi said...

I would also love to "borrow" your words for my blog. You're much more eloquent than I. My husband is youth leader at our church, and it is amazing (scary)at times the ideas the world--and even some churches--put into our teens' minds regarding getting to heaven.
I'm enjoying your blog, and would love to get out of cold, snowy Iowa and come visit NC someday!

CJolly said...

Once again you hit the nail on the head! The beauty of God's plan for our salvation is in it's simplicity.
Mankind has come along and cluttered that path with layers of religious rules, traditions and rituals, I suppose because to many peoples' way of thinking, it just can't be that simple.
I am so happy to be a part of a church that keeps it simple!