I have struggled for some time with the whole notion of being deemed worthy of heaven by my works on earth (my behavior, what I do and don’t do, how much I help other people, etc.) versus simply accepting Christ as my Savior. It is pretty clear in the bible that, in order to inherit God’s Heavenly Kingdom, the only thing we needed to do is accept Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. Yet, there is so much in the Bible that focuses on behavior and laws and commandments. I had a tough time separating the two paths. I think I finally understand and would like to share my thoughts with you.
As I look back over my life I am shamed by some of the acts I have committed. I cannot believe the things that I had done or said or tolerated. My heart was hardened and I was living the life of the flesh rather than a spiritual, Godly life. I was living for me, not for God. I wanted it all. I wanted wealth and recognition. The only thing that mattered to me was personal happiness. Thankfully, God softened my heart and I let Him in. My perspective on life began to change and, as a result, I changed. I know that since I now have accepted Christ as my savior and that He was sacrificed for my sins they have been forgiven. There is no record of the man I was in God’s book. Thank you Lord for softening my heart and giving us your Son as our redeemer.
John 3:16 -- ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’
1 Timothy 1:14-17 -- The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.* Amen.
So what about sin? What is sin? How do we know that a sin is a sin? If we don’t know something is a sin and we do it is it really a sin? If we sin and know we sin does God punish us for our sin and, if so, how? (For as horrible a man I was, and sometimes still am, a lightning bolt has never been sent down by God to strike me.)
The Ten Commandments and the New Testament Covenant
Every one of us who has ever spent any amount of time in a Christian church are aware of the Ten Commandments handed down to Moses by God (Exodus 20). We may not be able to recite all ten from memory but we know what they are and we know when we break them and, if we have a Christian conscious (or for that matter, any moral conscious), we consider that breaking of the commandment to be a sin. We are all most likely familiar with the New Testament Covenant to love your God with all your heart and soul and to love thy neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37-39 -- “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” and “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
So is that it? The “Big Ten” with the new one thrown in for good measure? If we obey these are we assured a place in heaven? The answer is no. Simply obeying the Ten Commandments and the New Testament Covenant will not in itself assure eternal life. Oh yes, disobeying them is a sin for which we should ask our Lord and Savior for forgiveness, but simple compliance to them is meaningless without the grace you receive by your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, simply living by a set of rules isn’t going to get it. We must embrace these rules not as just rules but rather as instructions from God to use to guide us in living a righteous life. The real issue is not are we following a set of rules, but are we living according to the flesh, focused upon earthly things, or are we living our lives according to the Spirit, focused upon doing God’s work? If we are living according to the Spirit we view these rules as commandments from God and, since we strive to do God’s work, we eagerly strive to obey them.
Romans 1:16-17 -- For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’*
Romans 8:5-11 -- For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit* set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
613 Laws
The Ten Commandments plus the New Testament Covenant are only the well-known laws. Actually, there are 613 laws of God provided to us in the Bible. (No, I didn’t count them. Once again the Internet is a marvelous resource.) It’s sort of fun to take a look at them. Here are a few examples.
To be fit for consumption, clean animals must be slaughtered. (Do not eat what dies of itself or is killed by wild beasts.) (Deuteronomy 12:21)
When we give testimony in a lawsuit, we must speak the truth. (Exodus 23:2)
Build a guard rail around a roof (if it is flat and used as living space), and remove potential hazards from the home. (Deuteronomy 22:8)
Pay the hired worker his wages on time. (Deuteronomy 24:15)
Help a stranger who has a fallen animal. (Exodus 23:5)
A woman's father may utterly refuse to give his daughter to a man even though he pays the bride price. (Exodus 22:16-17)
Monetary restitution must be paid in cases involving bodily damage. (Deuteronomy 25:11-12) (Exodus 21:18-25)
Do not follow teachings other than the Law of Yahweh taught by the sanctuary of Yahweh. (Numbers 15:39)
Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it; neither eat any meat not fully cooked. Only when meat is cooked until it is white inside with no tinge of red or pink whatsoever insures that all blood had been removed. (Deuteronomy 12:23)
Do not judge a matter until it has been fully investigated. (Deuteronomy 19:18)
The camp of Yahweh must be equipped with the necessary implements to keep it in a sanitary condition, and each must do his part. (Deuteronomy 23:12-14)
Drunkenness of any sort is prohibited. (Deuteronomy 21:20)
And believe me, there are hundreds more just like these. Notice the common thread? Yep, they sound more like instructions than laws. What is really interesting is that most of them have, since they were written, been adopted 3,500 years later as common knowledge in our current day through experience as necessary in order to maintain a clean, wholesome life style and an organized, well functioning society. “Do not eat what dies of itself or is killed by wild beasts.” “Remove potential hazards from the home.” “Keep the camp in a sanitary condition.” Well duh. We all know this stuff. So is it a sin to eat a dead skunk that’s been lying on the road for three days in the hot sun. I don’t know, maybe. I’m not going to do it. What are the consequences of eating it? You will get sick, of course. So why are these common knowledge “instructions” in the Bible? We have to remember that God provided most of these laws around 1500 B.C. after the Israelites fled Egypt and while they were wandering around in the desert preparing to enter the Promised Land. These folks had been slaves in Egypt their entire lives and did not have a clue what it meant to be free, let alone how to go about establishing their own civilized culture that will allow them to flourish. They needed to be taught so God provided them with the instructions and called them laws so they would be obeyed. God is good.
Punishment
Many of the laws/instructions deal with moral issues or behavioral matters. “Pay a hired worker his wages on time.” “Help a stranger who has a fallen animal.” “Do not judge a matter until it has been fully investigated.” These laws/instructions are a little easier to break than not eating road kill. Have I always helped a stranger who needed help or have I always waited to judge someone or something until all the facts are available? I am ashamed to say no, not always. So the laws/instructions are not all common sense things that we all know intuitively to do or not to do. Many of them are just so easy to ignore when it is convenient to ignore them or when it is to our benefit to ignore them. (“I could have stopped to help him but I really wanted to get there before the movie started.”) So is it a sin to break these laws? I don’t know, maybe. Am I doing God’s work by driving by the stranger who needs help because I have something else I would rather be doing? No. (Wow, just thinking about the number of times I have driven by someone broken down along the side of the road assuming that they can take care of themselves makes me shudder.) Will God punish me for ignoring this law/instruction? No, I don’t believe God will punish me. But I do believe that life will.
Consider the law/instruction “Drunkenness of any sort is prohibited.” Why should this be prohibited? Well, drunken people do stupid things that can be harmful to themselves or others. Suppose I decide that having those couple extra drinks at the party won’t really affect my ability to drive home after the party. I have them and, on the way home, I run off the road, hit a tree, and, as a result, become crippled from the waist down. Is this God’s punishment for breaking the law/instruction? No. I don’t think so. It is the consequence for breaking the law/instruction that punishes me. I would live with my crippled condition the rest of my life. God didn’t have to do a thing to punish me. I did it to myself by breaking his law/instruction.
Consider this, given to the Israelites by God prior to entering the Promised Land:
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 -- If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God.
What God is telling His people is that, as long as the Israelite nation obeys His laws/instructions, all of the blessing they need to thrive will overtake them. I think the word “overtake” is important here. To me it implies that, with adherence to the laws/instructions, over time good things will happen. There is no immediate reward, but if you are living a righteous life then life itself will reward you. Likewise, the consequences of breaking the laws/instructions and not living a righteous life shall overtake you. You will have to live with the consequences of your behavior and life itself will punish you. Again, God doesn’t have to do a thing. You did it to yourself.
So, is it sinful to break one of the 613 laws/instructions? I don’t know, but by breaking them I am punished. Is it God who is punishing me? Wow! I just had a thought that contradicts what I wrote earlier. I was about to write, “No, God does not punish me but life will. The consequences of breaking them are what punish me.” But I just realized that God, in his infinite wisdom, created the system so maybe He is punishing me after all. (I’ll have to think about that one.)
Countless Instructions
One Internet source indicates there are 66 Books, 1,189 Chapters, 31,173 Verses, and 807,361 words in the Bible. (Each source varies the numbers a bit but the order of magnitude is the same, regardless of the Bible version used.) Beyond the 613 Laws provided in the Bible there are countless instructions, tips and hints on living a righteous life contained in all of these chapters, verses and words. Go to any chapter and you will likely find instructions from God. That’s a lot of stuff. These countless instructions are given to us as a guide to doing God’s work here on Earth. They are given to us so that we can profit God’s Kingdom and, as Christians, that is (or should be) what we strive to do.
The book of Proverbs overflows with instructions on living a righteous life and profiting God’s Kingdom. Some of my favorites are:
Proverbs 3:5-8 -- Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body.
Proverbs 3:11-12 -- My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 15:1 -- A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 18:2 -- A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.
I find it comforting to browse Proverbs and I often do during my study. I seem to always find something there that, because of what happened that particular day or what my thoughts had recently been, has meaning to me and, very often, reminds me that I really should have done this or said that rather than what I did do or say. God has given us these instructions to help us live a righteous life and profit His Kingdom. It would be foolish not to pay attention to them.
So, in order to live a righteous life and profit God’s Kingdom and have good things overtake me I must follow, to the best of my ability, the laws/instructions God has given us in the Bible. But there are probably thousands of them! Yes. Impossible for a mere mortal to do! Yes, but, as Christians we are called to profit God’s Kingdom so we must strive to do so. But there are so many laws/instructions, how in the world are we supposed to know them all? STUDY THE BIBLE. They are all there, in one book, provided by God. Think about all of the books on self-help, on how to improve this or that in your life, on how to make you happier than you currently are or how to make you popular or more satisfied with you life. Yet, one book, the Bible, contains it all. It can be thought of as “Life’s Users Manual”.
Once I realized what all of these laws really were and began to become familiar with them through study (and I still have a lot to learn) I discovered something really neat. The Holy Spirit could now do its work. In an earlier rambling I wrote about how the Holy Spirit both convicts (corrects) and comforts me. Since I am beginning to learn what I should be doing and how I should behave in order to do God’s work the Holy Spirit can correct me by smacking me across the back of my hard head when I step out of line. Yes, the more I learn the more I get smacked but I welcome the correction. The bottom line: If our work does not profit God’s Kingdom, further our faith, strengthen a brother, or provide a testimony to the world then it is not something we should be doing in the first place. (I shamelessly stole this last sentence from someone on the Internet. I don’t think he or she will mind.) If we are doing something that we ought not be doing we should be corrected. “Thank you Lord for giving us instruction and the Holy Spirit to guide us.”
Psalm 119:97-105 -- Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on our statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Eternal Life
Okay. So does all this mean that, as long as I try, to the best of my ability, to follow all of God’s countless instructions I will be judged worthy at the Great White Throne Judgment to enter God’s heavenly kingdom? No. As Christians we strive to live a righteous life because that is what God has instructed us to do. But simply following these laws, that is, doing the work that God has called us to do, will not deem us worthy. What God wants from us is a personal relationship with Him. He wants us to understand and know Him.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 --- Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the LORD.
We will always fall short of adhering to all of the laws. Every day I can look back and spot more than one occasion where the Holy Spirit smacked my head (often more than once for the same offence). God wants us to place him in our hearts so the Holy Spirit can do its work. God asks that we accept his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Savior and Redeemer and that through His grace we are saved through that faith, that our sins will be forgiven and then, and only then, will we inherit a place in God’s Heavenly Kingdom. God tells us in the Bible that the rewards we receive in Heaven will depend upon our work here on earth, but those works have no influence upon being deemed worthy of heaven.
Galatians 2:21 -- I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
Galatians 5:19-26 – The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Ephesians 2:8-10 -- For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Ephesians 4:22-24 -- You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 6:10-17 -- Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Lord, thank You for softening my heart and letting You in and thank You Lord for giving me the Holy Spirit to correct me when it is so often needed.
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