"And when we come to be judged in the end, Jesus will meet each of us, and judge us, not according to our religious affiliation, or our adherence to that religion’s laws, but according to the greatest commandment — the love we gave, in our lives, to God and one another."
This is a fundamentally flawed pronouncement given by many moderated churches. The idea is often that a church based on a "saving doctrine" of Love is a church that can grow in the modern world. Love is something that we all want to give and, of course, receive. And since God is defined as a loving supernatural force, then love must be what God wants. True? Afterall, Jesus says that there are no greater commandments than "Love your God with all your heart" and "Love your neighbor"--these two commands sum up God's Law.
But notice what is subtly missing from the above statement given by many preachers today. Notice that the saving action is one-sided: it's all about what "we" do. That is the fatal flaw. Dating all the way back to the first Christian churches, humans have contended that salvation must be based on what we do. We are hardwired for guilt and a craving for control. And when we are given a challenge that we deem impossible it is natural for us to tweak things up a bit...lower the bar so that we can reach our personal goal. But the bar set by the Law cannot be lowered.
Ironically we are in an age wholly opposite from that of Martin Luther: in his day, God was an unrelenting taskmaster ready to throw down the first handy lightning bolt he could find; today, God is someone you snuggle up to and whom we expect to shake his head laughing like a house pet who looks cute while making a harmless mess. The one view gives the Law omnipotence and the other view "removes the problem" of Jesus and renders the cross impotent.
C.S. Lewis was famous for saying that it is irrefutable that Jesus lived and thus each of us had to decide then if He was a raving lunatic OR exactly who He said He was. The necessity of this question doesn't stop moderated churches and churches that view God as a spiritual CEO from trying to circumvent the question in an attempt to keep their mega-church status, or appeal to those whose opinion of Jesus has been corrupted by a sinful world. What these churches are tragically taking from their congregations is that this world is already judged fully when Christ died on Golgotha:
- John 12:31; "Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out."
- Hebrews 9:27-28; "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."
We are judged for the very Love we fail to give to God and to each other. So what these churches are preaching is a worthless doctrine; they are placing the whole of their salvation-teaching on the wrong Love and an impossible task.
God commands Love, it is what His Law is all about:
"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
Galatians 5:13-14
Given our sinful natures we cannot hope to love as God commands us, even though we may strive for this and may even think we have attained it (1 John 4:20-21). Since we cannot love as God commands we are judged and found wanting. The past tense is crucial here. The opening of John's Gospel tells us that Jesus is fully God in human form. The whole point of Christ was to be the Redeemer of man. Thus it follows reason that since Jesus existed at creation then God the Father already knew what his creation would do. And still God followed through with creating the world, and us.
That is Love.
It is also the Love we are commanded to return to God and our neighbor, and we cannot do it in the fullness God requires (Genesis 6:5).
We are left with only one path of salvation before God's judgment seat: faith in the work done through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the saving sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. It is only on this path that we can freely Love God and our neighbor the best we can, for it is Christ's perfect righteousness that God sees. This is the two-sided aspect of Love: our Love falls short of God's Love commandments, but God's Love for us manifested in His Son perfectly fulfills those commandments. No other doctrine will suffice because all other doctrines are in the Roman Catholic tradition where Love becomes a "saving work" under the Law, and "saving works" done with the intent to earn salvation are condemning works:
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9
I wish I could put into words what I wish to express. Not very many people I meet can discuss things at this level and it is what I enjoy greatly, since my Dad and I do it quite often during our own readings.
Maybe I am still to young to express my own thoughts or maybe I've come to discourage because whenever I have tried I get misunderstood, still, thank you for the things you write about Josh.
I am curious though, have you read anything by E.W.Kenyon? His small book 'The Blood Covenant' changed my view on myself, the world and my daughter-hood with God.
Anyway, thanks again, I'll keep checking back to see what you have to say about things, really, it is great to read your thoughts.
Posted by: Kylie Leane | 25 July 2009 at 09:39
Thank you, Kylie, these words are very kind of you. Some of the stuff that you may read here is kind of raw thought and me trying to reconcile what I have read with this gift of faith that God has given to me. A lot of times what I post here is a rough draft of a post that I will write for my church's website.
I am always learning and I love to discuss the Christian faith. My hope is that I can articulate the Gospel for my friends and neighbors (and for myself too) since it so often watered-down or manipulated by churches who call themselves "Christian". We must be very aware of what we hear preached at us and we must maintain our due diligence by going straight to the source--God's Word--for ourselves.. and via a good traditional translation; too many modern translations do not use the original Greek and Hebrew texts as foundational sources and it completely changes the meaning.
I am familiar with Kenyon, although I have never read any of his work. The majority of the books that I read are from Martin Luther (or authors writing about his work), C.S. Lewis, and N.T. Wright (he writes a lot of scholarly work, but he does have some excellent books for for us "regular folk").
Thanks again for checking in.. we are happy to have you as a reader! Never hesitate to ask questions of you read something that you don't agree with or don't think you understand.
Posted by: Josh | 26 July 2009 at 14:14