the basic message #E248
2/18/04
Imagine the following scenario, if you will: A parent asks his child to clean their room. The child does the job half-heartedly, never really getting the work done. The same parent asks the child to do their homework, since the child's grades have consistently been D's and F's. Again, the child picks up his books and looks over them, but it's clear that he's not really studying. No matter what the parent asks of the child, nothing seems to get done. While the kid isn't in open rebellion, it's clear that the child doesn't have respect for the parent. The parent never asks the child to do anything that is unreasonable or impossible- everything requested is within the capability of the child.
Now, also imagine that once a week a neighbor comes over and sits in the living room with this same child. For one hour, or maybe two, the neighbor tells the child what a good parent he or she has, and how their parent only wants the best for them. The child listens and agrees and every once in a while says, "What a great parent I have!" As soon as the neighbor leaves, the kid goes right back to disobeying the parent. What kind of crazy deal is this? The answer, quite simply, is that this crazy deal is almost identical to the relationship most Christians have with God.
God gave us laws to live by, beginning with the 10 Commandments. Most Christians will immediately shout, "We're not under the law, we're under Grace". If the average Christian really believes that, then why are they so interested in "keeping their rights" in having the 10 Commandments publicly displayed? Judge Roy Moore of Alabama became the poster-boy for "Christian Rights" after installing a 10 Commandments monument in his courtroom. Personally, I think the guy is a nut, but that's a subject for another day. The point here is that God does indeed provide us with rules that we should follow. Being under Grace in no way exempts us from doing the right thing- in fact, truly being under Grace should incite every Christian to not only keep the basics of the law, they should want to exceed it. Christians should be blameless in their walk with the Lord. If Christians aren't "rule keepers", then who should be?
In my opening example, I created a situation in which a parent reasonably asks their child to do things that are achievable. The child "politely" dismisses the requests of the parent, yet when the neighbor comes over each week explaining once again what a good parent that same child has, the child enthusiastically agrees. But once the neighbor is gone, things go right back to what they were before. Can you see the parallels? The kid is us. The neighbor represents our typical Christian church service. God asks each one of us to do certain things- very reasonable things. We don't jump up and say, "Heck no, I won't do it!", rather we just fool around and never observe what God wants. We go to church on Sunday morning and listen to the preacher talk about what a great God we have, and how we should try our best to do everything God asks of us. Many of us get fired-up and shout "Amen" to everything the preacher says, but as soon as we walk out of the doors, we go right back to the same routine of what we were doing before. We know how we should live, we just don't do it.
Make no mistake, friend, God is indeed taking notes on who does what he asks versus who rejects his requests. Stop for a moment and ask yourself a simple, yet profound question: "What does God want for this world?" Does God want people to make a profession of faith? Sure, but what good is that if the people doing the professing aren't doing something to make this world a better place? The ultimate destination is Heaven, but God certainly doesn't write off the present- he wants to see lives changed right here, right now.