I remember preaching a message way back when I used to pastor and preach. To me it was a 'cooker' of a sermon. It would tackle lukewarm Christians and get them into shape. It would challenge the Christian living of many believers and would challenge them in very strong words to change.
I would start by sharing a joke about a golf game between Moses, Jesus and the Father. It was a really funny joke! And it would end with the Father winning! My catch phrase at the end of the joke was spoken in a slow but serious tone....and it went like this "Do not.......play games.......with God." I would then turn to Revelation 3:15 and speak on how believers need to decide whether they want to follow God or follow the devil. You cannot have one foot in the church and one foot in the world! It was time for hypocrisy to stop and that we had to get serious in our relationship with God. It was time to fully commit and to stop living for Jesus only on Sundays and living for the world from Monday to Saturday. It's either all for Jesus or all for the world.
I thing is...what I didn't know at the time, is that I was disqualifying believers right there and then based on their life style, whereas God had qualified them based on their faith in Jesus. I wasn't speaking to what Jesus had done, His finished work and how God sees them! The gospel is a redemptive message. It brings redemption to all of us. We all need a savior! The world isn't filled with good people and bad people. We're all bad and we all need a savior. The gospel brings that truth and brings faith to a person who needs Jesus. My sermon did exactly the opposite. It showed Christians why they are disqualified, why God is angry with them and put the onus on them to change in order to qualify themselves in order to be in right standing with God. It was a different gospel. And you know what....deep inside, I truly believed that I was preaching 'God's word'. I truly believed that I was being lead by the Spirit and saying what he's saying. Thank God for His grace!
That's why we, those who've been given a revelation of the finished work of Jesus, shouldn't turn into grace pharisees and be hard on those who speak to people's condition rather than to their position in Jesus. May we excel in love and patience with those who are still coming around.
I thank God that he is saving us all. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we might receive his righteousness and know that all our sins, past, present and future, are forgiven and they have been washed away! I thank God that he has transferred us who believe, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Jesus has made us right with the Father forever those who believe and walk in the faith he has given us. Christians are no longer sinners. Our sinful nature, the sinner, was crucified with Jesus on the cross. It was buried with Him. We are now new creatures, our new natures were born again when we believed and we are now saints, holy and righteous, partakers of the divine nature in which we have been placed because of Jesus. We are hidden with Christ in God. May our minds be renewed to who we are in Jesus, to how much Father loves us and may we walk and live lifestyles that are full of Christ's finished work, full of mercy and full of grace!
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