Grace Classics: Escape to Reality Greatest Hits, Volume 2 (6 page)

This week I finally got to see the
movie,
The Book of Eli
.
If you like stories where a lone man has to stand up to the wicked while trying
to distribute the word of God in a post-apocalyptic world, then this is the
movie for you. Just don’t show it at your youth group. It is extremely violent.
Still, it made me think about how people try to use God’s word for nefarious
purposes.

In the
movie Eli carries the last known copy of the Bible. He comes to a town where
Carnegie, the local strong man, has been trying to find a Bible. Eli’s not
about to give up the world’s last Bible to a villain, so conflict ensues. Mid-way
through the story, one of Carnegie’s thugs asks why they are being pushed so
hard just to get a book. In an explosion of rage, Carnegie reveals his
diabolical motive:

It’s not
a book! It’s a weapon. A weapon aimed right at the hearts and minds of the weak
and the desperate. It will give us control of them. If we want to rule more
than one small town, we have to have it. People will come from all over,
they’ll do exactly what I tell ‘em if the words are from the book. It’s
happened before and it’ll happen again. All we need is that book.

There’s a world of truth in that
statement. The Bible is universally known as “the Good Book” and rightly so for
it will point you to Jesus. Read the whole Bible through the lens of the cross
and you will find redemption and life.

But when
handled incorrectly the Bible is utterly lethal for buried within lies the law
which, the Bible warns, ministers death (2 Corinthians 3:7). For thousands of
years, men like Carnegie have been using the law-bits of the Bible to control
and manipulate others. Their goal is to enslave and dominate and their tools
are fear and condemnation.

People
have been living under law ever since Adam and Eve ate from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. Jesus died to set us free from the curse of the
law, yet some keep returning to the forbidden tree for another bite. To the
degree that we are under law we have fallen from grace and are cut off from
Christ (Galatians 5:4).

I’d like
to think that if I’d been Adam, I would’ve built a fence around that tree. Then
I would’ve put warning signs all over that fence. It’s too late for that now,
but it’s not too late to put warning signs around the law. Below is the
beginnings of a list of signs that reveal whether you are living under the
enslaving yoke of law or walking free in God’s divine grace. My purpose in making
this list is not to condemn you, but to see you standing firm and free in
Christ!

1. You’re not 100% sure if
you’re 100% forgiven

God doesn’t do forgiveness in
installments. All your sins were forgiven at the cross when God the Son
abolished sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). Neither God the
Father nor God the Holy Spirit remembers your sin any more (Hebrews 8:12, 10:17).
In Christ, you are completely and eternally forgiven (Colossians 2:13).

2. You believe you have a duty
or responsibility to serve the Lord

Duty and responsibility are
synonyms for obligation so this is a mindset that says you are obliged, or
indebted, to God. Perhaps you have heard it said that “Jesus has done so much
for you, what will you do for him?” Indeed, God has given us everything and he
did it so that “he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). He is not just rich in
grace, but exceedingly rich. We cheapen his grace by thinking we have a
responsibility to pay him back. Our responsibility is to believe that he is
good and true! It is not our obligation to serve the Lord, it is our royal
privilege. It is not our duty, but our great delight.

3. You suffer from performance
anxiety

Performance anxiety is a natural
response to the uncertainty of life under the old covenant, but anxiety has no
place in the new. We are to draw from the wells of salvation with joy (Isaiah
12:3). Those under law will battle anxiety and fear, but those under grace walk
with joy and thanksgiving.

Happy
are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned! Happy is the
person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of! (Romans 4:7–8, GNB)

God has made us his sons, and with
such a Father we need not be worried about anything (Matthew 6:32). He is our
Provider who delights to give good gifts to those who ask him (Matthew 7:11).
Those who serve under the law are insecure, but sons are secure.

4. You think, “God will bless
me as I do my part”

The essence of a life enslaved by
law is the mindset that says, “I must do something for God.” The motivation may
be to earn salvation or some other blessing, but this mindset is anti-Christ
and anti-cross. We are not justified by what we do but by grace alone (Romans
3:24). Grace and works don’t mix (Romans 11:6). Grace, peace, and every
spiritual blessing have been given to us by God our Father through Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 1:3).

5. You think we need more
preaching on repentance

Repentance saves lives, but
preaching on repentance doesn’t lead to repentance. A law mindset emphasizes
what people must do (repent!), but grace proclaims what God has already done
(everything!). A law mindset uses inferior incentives (e.g., fear and judgment)
that lead to temporary changes in behavior, but grace (God is good and he loves
you!) changes the hardest heart. If you want people to genuinely repent, preach
the goodness of God (Romans 2:4).

6. You think you have to
overcome life’s trials or Jesus will blot out your name

This really isn’t about you for
Jesus is our overcomer and victory (John 16:33). If you believe he is the Son
of God you have already overcome the world, because the Overcomer lives in you
(1 John 5:4–5). Jesus promised the overcomers at Sardis that he would never
blot out their name. Since then insecure performance-oriented believers have
feared he might change his mind and do exactly that. He won’t.

7. You mainly think of
following Jesus in terms of giving up things

Christianity is a divine exchange,
our life for his. No doubt you’ve heard people say that following Jesus costs
you everything and it does. You cannot call him Lord without renouncing the
right to your own life. But see what you get in exchange! If salvation means
nothing more to you than self-denial and personal sacrifice, you’ve missed the
whole point. Christ offers us an unfair exchange;
our life for his
. God
favors us with this exchange. We give him our sinful selves and get everything
in return. A law mindset looks at what we give up, but a grace mindset rejoices
at what he offers in return! Stop thinking about what you gave up (nothing you
could keep) and start enjoying what he has given you (everything!).

A word after

Some people doodle, I write lists.
One day I felt inspired to list all the ways that we can put ourselves under
law. By the end of the day I had listed 93 different ways! I took the first
seven points on my list and put them in the article you see above.

When the
article came out, number five (“You think we need more preaching on
repentance”) got the biggest reaction. At the time I didn’t realize that repentance
is a touchy subject. But I soon learned…

What comes to mind when you hear
the word football? Your answer to that question says a lot about where you come
from. If you’re a fan of football and you travel the world you may have
conversations like this:

“So you
like footy. Who’s your favorite team?”

“Collingwood.”

“Never
heard of them. Do they play in the Bundesliga?”

“The
Bundes-what-now?”

It’s a bit like that with the word
repentance. Here on E2R there has been a lot of discussion regarding the
purpose of repentance. Much of that discussion is like the conversation above.
We’re all fans of repentance but we seem to be talking about different things.

So what
is repentance?

Like
football, your answer to that question says a lot about where you’re coming
from. If you’ve been raised under rule-based religion, repentance is
something
we must do to be saved
. If you don’t repent, you’re not saved. What is the
something
we must we do? Turn from sin of course. It’s resolving to not break the rules. But
this is a limited and misleading interpretation of repentance.

What is repentance?

The New Testament words for repent
and repentance are derived from the Greek word for mind. To repent is to change
your mind. Nothing more, nothing less. Let’s look at an example from scripture:

“The
time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe
the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

This is where the football
confusion starts to kick in. The rule-focused mind interprets Jesus’ words as
“turn from sin and believe the good news.” But Jesus is addressing unbelievers,
not rule-breakers. He’s talking to those who have never heard about the kingdom
of God. He is saying “change your unbelieving mind and believe the good news.”

Repentance
is not primarily a sin issue, it’s a faith issue. In the old covenant,
repentance meant saying no to sin; in the new it means saying yes to Jesus.

Now that
we know the essence of repentance (a change of mind), I want to address three
common myths or misconceptions.

Myth 1: Repentance compels God
to forgive me

…
repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)

The one who is inclined towards
self-improvement reads this and thinks “I need to repent to get forgiven.” In
other words, God will not forgive me unless I do something. This is pure
hubris. It’s straight out of the old covenant. God is God and he does not need
your permission to forgive you.

We don’t
repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. This is the good
news! You need to repent and believe it. Repentance doesn’t make God forgive
you; it helps you receive by faith the gift of forgiveness that has been made
available in Christ Jesus.

Myth 2: Repentance means
turning from sin

Since repentance means changing
your mind, it’s certainly possible that one can repent by turning from sin and
there are plenty of people in the Bible who did so. But that is only one kind
of repentance and it is not the kind that leads to salvation. In the New
Testament, repentance typically means turning to God.

I have
declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must
turn to God in repentance
and
have faith in our Lord Jesus. (Act 20:21, emphasis added)

Turning from
versus
turning to
may seem like splitting hairs, but
it’s the difference between life and death. Someone who turns to God
automatically turns from sin and dead works, but someone who turns from sin
does not automatically turn to God. This is why it is misleading to preach
repentance as turning from sin. Paul never did. “I preached that they should
repent and turn to God” (Act 26:20).

If you
want to understand the difference between turning from and turning to, consider
the Pharisees. They ran away anytime sin appeared. If anyone knew how to turn
from sin they did, yet Jesus called them sons of hell (Matthew 23:15). Turning
from sin might make you a moral person, but it won’t make you righteous.

Jesus
said if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, you need to be more righteous
than the self-righteous Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). Righteousness, like
forgiveness, comes to us as a gift. It is received through faith in Christ alone.
If you don’t believe that then you need to repent and turn to God who makes us
righteous.

Myth 3: Repentance means
feeling sorry for sin

According to some repentance is
not genuine unless there are tears involved. It is not enough that you turn to
God, you also need to produce remorse, regret, and feelings of guilt. Fail to
manufacture these emotions and your repentance is suspect. You’ve not really
repented. So you’d better go away, ponder your sins some more, and come back
when you’re ready to have a good cry about them.

This is
pure emotionalism. This is old covenant sackcloth and ashes. This is Judas
killing himself with grief. The good news is supposed to release great joy, not
great sorrow. When you’ve heard that God loves you and has forgiven you and
provided everything you need for life and godliness, why would you be sad?

There
may indeed be sorrow involved when you realize that you have missed the way and
wasted your life, but it’s only godly sorrow if it leads you to God. Godly
sorrow and repentance go together, but it’s unlikely that you will cry every
time you change your mind about the Lord. In truth, it doesn’t really matter
how your emotions respond when you learn about God’s goodness. It only matters
that you believe it.

Repentance,
like football, means different things to different people. But only one code of
the game is played in heaven (it’s rugby, of course). Similarly, there’s only
one kind of repentance that matters to God and that’s the kind that leads you
to him. His heart’s desire is for you to come to him. You can come happy or
come sad but the main thing is that you come.

A word after

If social security is the third
rail of politics, then repentance must be the third rail of Christianity. Like
social security, everyone agrees that repentance is a good thing, but people
differ on what form it should take and how much is needed.

This
article attracted many comments that demonstrated the point I was trying to
make—that repentance means different things to different people. In settings
where the rules are esteemed above people, and sin is defined as rule-breaking,
repentance usually implies punishment. It’s the big stick you get for
disobedience. The problem with this approach is it doesn’t work. It leaves
unaddressed the heart issue that led to the mistake in the first place.

True
repentance, in contrast, implies an opportunity for genuine restoration and
healing. True repentance, has nothing to do with punishment, which drives us
apart, but love, which draws us together.

Repentance
is not something we do in response to sin; it’s something we do in response to
love.