HAVE YOU ENDURED TO THE END? I did 41 years ago

"He who endures to the end will be saved." 

This statement by Jesus is recorded in Matthew 10:22; 24:13 and Mark 13:13. Jesus makes a similarly puzzling statement in the parable of the sower in Luke 8:13 in speaking of those who believe for a while and subsequently fall away from believing.

• Did Jesus really mean that enduring to the end was a condition of salvation?
• Was Jesus exaggerating?
• What does it mean to endure to the end?
• Is it possible you are confused about this?

I have met more than a few Christians who stumble into anxiety when they read or hear these words of Jesus. Have you ever had that experience?

I once heard a preacher friend declare boldly in a sermon the meaning of these words. He said you could believe the gospel for thirty years and then stop believing the gospel and prove that you never really believed the gospel. Do you agree with my friend? If you don't agree, why not? Is his boldness too much for you? Is his statement of thirty years too long for you? Do you feel sorry for him that he totally missed the point of Jesus' words? If your experience as a Christian is anything like mine you had a different response. You had a gut feeling that something was wrong with his explanation. You can't put your finger on the issue, but you know something is wrong or at least missing. I responded this way my first 35 years in Christ whenever I heard or read a milder form of my friend's explanation.

The reason for this gut feeling 

John 3:16 declares the simplicity of the truth of the gospel. "For God in this way loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." To believe in Christ results in a person having eternal life and freedom from destruction. Are you persuaded that John 3:16 is true? Are you confident that Christ's work on the cross is all the work you need to enter into Christ and have eternal life? Many non-Christians have told me that personal works as well as Christ's work on the cross was necessary for a person to be right with God forever. Have you heard that? Do those words cheer you or lead you to pity the speaker? It is obvious. If you are a Christian as I am, you know personally and certainly that resting in Christ's death in our place is enough to be at peace with God.

To endure to the end means to believe the gospel. If it doesn't, then either Jesus was confused or he was misquoted. Why then did he describe believing the gospel as enduring to the end? In short, context.

What is the context?

Jesus came into our world at a point of history. He died on the cross at a point in history. He knew he was going to die for the sins of the world to reconcile sinners to God. And he told his disciples he was going to do it. Before creation the Father planned to send the Son to be the savior of the world. (1Peter 1:19f)  This was Jesus' purpose and goal for himself in coming into the world. Isn't this what we Christians say?

Jesus also had a goal and purpose for his disciples and all other people. His purpose for them was for them to join him in his purpose and vision of life. In other words, Jesus wanted to give people a new way of life. He wanted people to be free from the pressure of their sins. He wanted people to boast in God's love revealed in the cross rather than in human performance. We see this clearly in the gospel writings. Did the disciples grasp Jesus' purpose for them? Did they urge Jesus on to the cross so they could receive forgiveness through his blood and receive the promised spirit of God? No. They were worse than clueless. After three years of ministry Jesus mentioned the cross for the first time (Matt. 16:21ff). Peter rebuked Jesus for this. Jesus turned and rebuked Peter in front of the others, declaring the absolute necessity of the cross as the way of following him. Shock and silence followed. Why? Their hope was in their temple and the system of law and sacrifices given by God to Moses over 1000 years earlier. They couldn't imagine why Jesus would talk about dying as a sacrifice for sin. They were blind to their own prophet's clear teaching of a coming new way of forgiveness. They were so confused they couldn't even muster a fumbling question to request Jesus to explain himself.

Again, Jesus' goal and purpose was to get to the cross to free his people from their sins. The disciples' goal and purpose was for him to free them from Roman domination. The four gospels record Jesus winning the hearts of the people though compassion and miracles. But when he turned his teaching to the cross, they sneered and lost interest. His words couldn't break through the hardness of their hearts. People began falling away from following him. His closest followers abandoned him the night before the cross. This is obvious. So what is the big deal?

Our problem is that we are culturally distant from Jesus' context. I easily get tricked to read the events of Jesus' life as if they were lessons to help me know the right things to do. In doing this I miss the story of Jesus' relationship with his close followers, with the multitudes of onlookers and with the leaders of Israel. Ever had my problem?

What does end mean?

Here is the big surprise. Jesus said a person must endure to the end to be saved. What does the word end mean? I suspect that you think the word end means something about time running out, like in the end of a class, exam or sporting event. And in this context you think that enduring to the end means believing the gospel until your last breath on earth. True? In English the word end usually means this, but not always. Look on your Bible app for the Greek word translated end. Look closely at the definition given. Do it before you read on and see if you notice where I am going. The Greek word translated as end is telos. At Biblehub.com the definition is given as end-goal or purpose. We occasionally use the English word end to mean purpose or end-goal, but not often.

Thus Jesus said a person needs to endure to the purpose to be saved. What purpose? Jesus' purpose, not his disciples' or yours. Jesus' telos (purpose) was to create a new way of life through his death and resurrection. If you are a Christian you are alive in Christ and no longer dead in sin. You have been adopted into God's family. You are free to live as a righteous child of the king of glory. The hamster wheel of human performance is no longer your identity. Christ is now your life and his sin-bearing love is your new motivation to love others. You have a new song in your heart: "It is finished!" By the way, in Greek these three words are one word, a form of telos. Hmmm... You don't merely have a new label. You have a real experience with God in union with Christ. You are no longer an outsider to God. The moment you believed the gospel you entered into Christ and were in his telos (purpose), you had come home. You endured to the telos (end-goal, purpose) Christ desired for you. Now he is free to be your life and to overflow from you by his spirit to everyone you encounter. All the pressure is on him and he can handle it. I endured to Christ's telos (end-goal, purpose) 41 years ago. How about you?

A Hint from the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Most Christians are unaware of the Westminster Shorter Catechism written in the 1600's. For those who are aware of it, have you considered its first and most famous question as you pondered Jesus' words about enduring to the end?  

Q: What is the Chief end of man?
A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever. 

What is the chief purpose of man? Man's chief purpose is to glorify God, and to enjoy him always. The first step in glorifying God is to believe the gospel. This means totally abandoning oneself to the work of Christ on the cross. The next step is to maintain focus on Christ's work whatever one's circumstance. Keep boasting in the cross. You can't keep boasting in the cross until you do it for the first time. Have you entered into God's purpose for you, i.e., have you believed the gospel and boasted in the cross in your heart for the first time? If so, you have already endured to the end. Now that you are in the end--in God's purpose for you--why not keep boasting in God's purpose for you? Why get distracted from the cross to boast in human performance? 

The spiritual battle rages. God's way is for us to always boast in Christ's work on the cross. The world continually and intensely pressures us away from the cross to boast in human work. Is enduring to the end about boasting in the cross or about focusing on (boasting in) some human performance as a requirement or an evidence of salvation? Let's be honest. If you don't think you can get tricked away from boasting in the cross, then likely you are far more gullible than you think. Our traditional view of enduring to the end is about boasting in human performance. 


Why endurance?

Why did Jesus say that we needed to experience endurance in order to make it to the telos (to his purpose)? Again use your Bible app on endure.  Biblehub.com says that this word literally means to remain under. Under what? Jesus' disciples objected to Jesus' new teaching about the cross. Jesus didn't give up on them. He kept telling them about the cross. They kept opposing the cross. All the way to the cross they rejected the message of the cross. When Jesus died they despaired as their old hopes were crushed. Something changed when they encountered Jesus after his resurrection. They were now ready to listen to his crazy message. He explained in detail the meaning of his life, death, resurrection and more from all the scriptures. Jesus spoke to them for 40 days, ascended to heaven and then poured out his spirit on them at Pentecost. All but Judas (who had killed himself) remained under Jesus teaching for those 40 days. Sometime in that period the message of the cross broke their blind trust in their temple system and in their own righteousness. They moved their trust to the message of the cross. They believed the gospel. They embraced Jesus' telos. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the message of Christ."  

While at university I heard the gospel clearly for the first time. I strongly opposed it. Since I liked the Christians I joined their activities. I subjected myself to their words of the cross at Bible study, prayer meetings, church and more. I wanted some excuse to leave their company as the message bothered me. But I endured (remained under) the message of the cross for months until finally the message broke my self-righteous pride and I trusted in Christ as all my righteousness. Catch that? I remained under the hearing of the gospel until I had Isaiah's experience of seeing myself as a ruined sinner, embracing Christ and being purified by God. 

My father-in-law endured to Christ's telos (purpose) a few days before he died at 89. He had heard the good news in church all his life. He learned the right answers in Sunday school. He married a pastor's daughter. He used to tell me that others were wrong to trust in their good works for salvation and that Christ's work was enough. Whenever I made it personal for him as to why God should let him into heaven, he never mentioned the work of Christ and always told me of various good things he had done. But when he told my wife that he was ready to die because he knew that he was a good person, she told him that he was a sinner like everyone else. For three hours she reasoned with him about sin, righteousness and judgment. This broke his confidence in his own righteousness and he entered into Christ. He lived as a Christian in Christ's telos for a few days before going to glory. He had remained under the hearing of the gospel for over 80 years before the message broke through. 

Much has simplified and clarified in my reading of the gospels after stumbling onto a simple double question. Did Jesus say this before or after the cross and does it matter? Very few of Jesus' recorded words were spoken after the cross. Nearly all were spoken to God's dear lost sheep under the Mosaic law--the Old Covenant. It matters that Jesus spoke his words before the cross. Nearly all his words were spoken in anticipation of the cross, which is the door into Pentecost, which is the celebration of Christ and his work as all our life. We don't anticipate the cross and Pentecost. We look back to them. 

Pentecost is God's telos come to earth. He anticipated us sharing in his life. He delights for us to share in his purpose. His purpose for us is to be satisfied with his goodness (Jeremiah 31:14) and to have peace because he has done all our work for us (Isaiah 26:12). The way into this satisfaction is to remain under the hearing (as long as it takes) of the message of the cross--Christ's flawlessness and substitution. The message of the cross needs to be preached if lost people are to remain under the hearing of this message. The message of the cross applies to all aspects of my life and yours. Let's preach the cross continually, boldly and joyfully, first to ourselves, and then to a dying world until we go to glory. Christ is all of life for all people.

ARE YOU ABUSING GRACE? James Denney's Surprise

The grace of God is beautiful and glorious. Since it is not good to abuse what is beautiful, do you think that it is good to abuse God's grace? I suggest that this topic is full of surprises. Let's begin by making the issue personal.

• Do you think that you have ever abused the grace of God?
• If so, how did you abuse it? 
• If you were only pretending to abuse grace, would you want to know?

I suggest that you were only pretending to abuse God's grace. Read on to discover what you were really doing when you were pretending to abuse grace.

The Abuse of Grace:  an Important Concern

Does the abuse of grace concern you? Have you heard anyone express concern about the abuse of grace? I have read this concern in books and heard it in sermons. Mostly I have heard it in my many hundred annual conversations about grace with non-Christians.

The Reason for Concern about the Abuse of Grace

When I have declared that a person's forgiveness with God is guaranteed by the the sin-bearing death of Christ apart from any personal works, my non-Christian hearer has more than occasionally responded with concern that such a guarantee would give a person a license to sin. We Christians commonly emphasize our point with non-Christians by quoting Paul's declaration "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9).

It is common for non-Christians to continue their objection and declare that guaranteed forgiveness would mean that God doesn't care about good works. At this point it is common for a seasoned evangelist to respond that God actually does highly value good works and indicate such by quoting the next verse, Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." This has generally not persuaded my non-Christian hearers. After many hundred such conversations I have concluded that the critics of guaranteed forgiveness are not really concerned about good works—though they declare that they are and I suspect that they honestly think that they are. But in listening closely to those who disagree on this point, it seems clear to me that what they are really concerned about is human effort. Since it is good to do good, they unwittingly think that good works are sourced in human effort—in trying to do good.

Many true Christians have expressed to me a concern about specific non-Christians, Christians, pastors, or authors—that these people are abusing grace. Have you ever wondered if another Christian might be abusing grace? 

• Have you heard a non-Christian declare that Christians are abusing grace?
• Have you heard a Christian express concern that some Christians are abusing grace?

Who is Concerned About the Abuse of Grace?

My conclusion from much reading, discussion, and meditation of scripture is that God is also concerned about the abuse of grace. Who do you think is the most concerned about this issue: you, me, your pastor, your favorite theologian, the apostle Paul, or God? 

I find that framing issues in terms of questions helps me to notice my confusion. Let's go back to the beginning and apply some questions to the assumption that you weren't pretending but were actually abusing grace.

1. Is it good to abuse grace? Yes or No
2. Can you abuse grace?  Yes or No
3. How can you abuse grace? Pause and write down your understanding of how grace is abused and how you have done it. If you are unsure then write down what you have heard other people say that it means. Note: Jude 1:4 may be the scripture you have heard used to explain this issue. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What prevents you from abusing grace? Pause and write down what you understand or what you have heard. Note: Romans 6:1-2 may be the scripture you have heard used to urge people not to abuse grace. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Are you meeting the standard you set in your answer to question 4? Write down the name of one or two people you think might be meeting those standards. Write out your understanding of the proper standard for evaluation of abusing grace or preventing the abuse of grace. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Who is Responsible to Prevent the Abuse of Grace?

If it is not good to abuse grace, then God must have a way for grace to not be abused. 

1. Who is responsible to carry out God's way? Write down your understanding of who is responsible. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Is God's way being successfully carried out by whomever you named. Explain if necessary. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In all your pondering of my above questions, did you consider God as the person who might be responsible to prevent the abuse of grace? Let me ask the question more clearly.

• Who is responsible to prevent the abuse of grace: God or humans? 

James Denney's Insight: God Guarantees that Grace Cannot be Abused

James Denney was a Scottish theologian and pastor. I. Howard Marshall called Denney the theologian's theologian. I find reading Denney to be like Jeremiah's experience of having his heart on fire while seeing the Lord as our dread champion (Jer. 20:9-11).  Denney saw all of life and theology to be about the sin-bearing love of Christ. In 1894 Denney gave a series of lectures at a seminary in Chicago. The lectures were promptly published as Studies in Theology. Currently there is one review of the book on Amazon Kindle. It is a very long review in which the pastor author declares: "I want to explore this point further to attempt an answer to a perplexing and disturbing question: Why has the evangelical church in America refused to embrace wholeheartedly this uniquely gifted pastor/theologian whose passionate expositions of the Gospel far exceed anything that has been written or preached in the entire twentieth century?" The author ends by urging saints to read Denney with an honest heart. 

Here is Denney's bold and surprisingly simple declaration that God is the only one who is responsible to prevent the abuse of grace and He does it perfectly. At the end of this post is the quote in a lengthy context that is full of light and life. 

"But in the death of Christ, and in faith laying hold of that death, we have the security against such abuses of the grace of God." page 146

Here are four explicit or implicit declarations in Denney's sentence. 

1. God is responsible to prevent the abuse of grace.
2. God guarantees, secures, and enables that grace cannot be abused on any condition.
3. Thus it is impossible to abuse God's grace.
4. God's way to perfectly prevent the abuse of grace is through the death of Christ, and the faith that lays hold of that death.

According to Denney, God's grace cannot be abused; therefore no human has any participation in abusing or preventing the abuse of grace. This should make us sigh with relief. Points 1 to 3 are equivalent statements that God makes it impossible to abuse grace. Point 4 summarizes how God does it. Is his meaning clear to you, even if you disagree with him?

Reading Denney takes some getting used to. It isn't that Denney uses too much academic language or lacks clarity of style. The exact opposite is the issue. We are the problem. First, we are not used to Denney's clarity. We are used to talking in circles and fooling ourselves into thinking that we are saying something useful. Second, we are used to using words in artificial ways that are disconnected from real life. Denney chooses his words so very carefully and roots them so deeply in the reality of life, that we feel intimidated. How can life be that clear and simple? Denney declares in the book "that the more we reflect upon it [the sin-bearing death of Christ] the more we shall be convinced that it is as simple as it is great." Wow! The great scholar declares that the atonement is very great and very simple. Can you explain how both are true?

• Thank the Father often that grace cannot be abused.
• Thank the Father often that the sin-bearing death of Christ is the door into freedom.
• Thank the Father often that true faith lays hold of the sin-bearing love of Christ.

If Grace Cannot Be Abused, Then Why is there a Problem?

First, we need to notice our common confusion about grace. If grace means unmerited favor, then why do we so often use it as a synonym for kindness or leniency? My Mormon culture has much helped me notice my confusion. In my culture grace has two common definitions: God's help to keep the commandments and God's additional chances to keep the commandments. These are both moralistic and un-scriptural. Let's remove more potential confusion from unmerited favor by sharpening our definition of grace as a relationship of total freedom from merited favor. This clearly implies that there is zero pressure from any source of obligation, duty or rules. Unmerited favor is not like an empty jar that used to contain law, though for many years I was trapped in that confusion. Unmerited favor is like a jar full of the performance of Christ, which always honors the perfection of the law. Every true Christian is full of the unmerited favor of God—of the performance of Christ, which is the life of Christ. Have you been tricked to seek to live your old life better rather than to live the new life? Paul declared in Galatians 2:20 that "you no longer live, but Christ lives in you and that the life that you now live in the flesh [the realm of human faithfulness] you live by the faithfulness of the Son of God." 

Second, the apostles speak much about forgetting and remembering and the power of both. Let's use Peter's letters. In the first letter he commands his readers to set their hope completely on the unmerited favor brought to them in Christ (1:13) At the end of the letter he commands his readers to stand firm in unmerited favor (5:12). Every word in the letter is an explanation of the power of unmerited favor. In 4:1-2 Peter declares that unmerited favor frees a person from sinning—from doing evil. "One who has suffered [experienced strong emotion with Christ] in the flesh [the realm of human faithfulness] has ceased from sin [rebellion against goodness] so as to live in this world for the desire of God." Let's be honest. Do you agree with Peter that unmerited favor frees a person from doing evil? If this seems unrealistic to you, then I suggest that you don't understand the simplicity and power of standing firm in unmerited favor. Christ's life is yours to live now, but Satan seeks to trick you to try to live your old life better. Read Peter's second letter and notice in the first chapter his triple declaration of the call to remember unmerited favor, which is the performance of Christ. Also notice that Peter declares that bad fruit is the result of forgetting unmerited favor. Can life really be this simple?

The Problem is Forgetfulness of Christ's Performance

You can't abuse unmerited favor, but you do have a problem. It is a problem of vision. Your every sin has been a natural result of disregarding Peter's commands to stand firm in unmerited favor—to set your hope completely on the performance of Christ—to resist the devil by standing firm in the faith [which means Jesus' faithfulness] (5:9). When you expect a person to be perfect and for Jesus' sacrifice to be enough for that person, it is impossible for you to be surprised and upset by the person's failure to perform. But when you lower your expectations from Christ, you are on your own. You are seeking to manage or control life your way and God doesn't support that way. This is not your job and you should not be surprised by your bad reactions. Also, since it is wickedness to lower God's expectations, why do it? This means that all the sins of people result from the disregard of Peter's commands. Let's get over ourselves.

I have discussed this with many hundred people [Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, agnostics] in the past two years. Recently I discussed these matters with an old Chinese woman who didn't believe in God. She had heard of the Bible and Jesus but knew nothing about them. She was surprised to hear that Jesus had never done evil. She said that she should always do good, never do wrong. She feels bad when she does wrong. We started there and laughed together much as we talked about the power of comparing ourselves to perfection and the evil of lowering expectations to control other people. By the end of the long conversation she was surprised to understand the reason for her bad reactions, the importance of always judging life compared to perfection, which is Jesus, and her need to be free from having to obey her conscience. It made sense that God wanted to take her place in death to free her to do good without pressure. She gladly took a bilingual New Testament and materials I have written on this topic. 

What Were You Pretending When You Thought You Were Abusing Grace?

As you began reading this article, were you worried that you might have abused grace? You may even have been a bit worried about God's reaction against your possible abuse, but God knew that you were only pretending to abuse grace, even if you didn't know. This should be a relief and comfort for you about yourself and about all other people. God has guaranteed that grace cannot be abused, but He hasn't guaranteed that grace cannot be forgotten or neglected. 

Pause to let that sink in. 

All evil has already been put away by the sacrifice of Christ (Heb 9:26). Why not embrace God's way of sin management? All evil is a result of neglecting, forgetting, or losing focus on God's way of managing life. Distraction from the simplicity and purity of Christ is Paul's great fear (2Cor. 11:3). Are you familiar with Paul's words here? Have you ever heard a sermon on this passage or matter? This is Paul's introduction to his description of Satan and his helpers as counterfeiters of righteousness. I suggest that we need imitate Paul and make his concern ours.

Context for the Quote from James Denney

James Denney's words are simple and piercing. They cut through human pretenses, discomforting our pride. But is it possible that you have some blind spots that you need help to notice? Below is some context for Denney's declaration [in green] that God guarantees that grace cannot be abused. The passage is multicolored to facilitate meditation. I plan to write soon a post on his last sentence about miserable theology.

"This suggests the last remark which I would make on the subject. Reflection on the atonement, a recent theologian has observed, has in our time proceeded mainly under two impulses: (1) the desire to find spiritual laws which will make the atonement itself intelligible; (2) the desire to find spiritual laws which connect the atonement with the new life springing from it. The legitimacy of these desires no one will contest. There is certainly work for theologians to do under both of them. It has always been too easy, referring to this last point first, to treat the atonement as one thing, and the new life as another, without establishing any connection whatever between them. It has always been too easy, in teaching that Christ bore our sins and died our death, to give conscience an opiate, instead of quickening it into newness of life. It is a task for those who hold such a doctrine of Christ’s work in relation to sin, as I have just been asserting, to show that there is a natural, intelligible inspiration to a new life in the acceptance of it, and that it cannot be lodged in the heart, in all its integrity, and leave the life, as it was before, under the dominion of sin. Even in New Testament times the gospel which Paul preached was accused of antinomianism; and so will every gospel be accused which makes pardon a reality. But in the death of Christ, and in faith laying hold of that death, we have the security against such abuses of the grace of God. To accept the forgiveness so won is to accept forgiveness which has in it God’s judgment upon sin, as well as His mercy to the sinful; it is to have the conscience awed, subdued, made tender and sensitive to the holy will of God, and the heart bowed in infinite gratitude to His love. It is not the law which can secure its own fulfillment; it is not by gazing on the tables of stone that we are made good men. It is by standing at Mount Calvary, and taking into our hearts in faith that love which for us men and for our salvation bore our sins upon the tree. It would be a miserable theology that by any defect in this direction gave room to think of Christ as the minister of sin." pp.148-9

HOLINESS AND WORLDLINESS - WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Holiness simply means to be set apart or to be different. Different from what? Different from the world. Both holiness and worldliness are about focus. Worldliness is about focusing on imperfect human effort. Holiness is different in that it is about focusing on perfection which is embodied only in Jesus. Jesus is enough for all of life.

Holiness is about the experience of being aware that Jesus is enough--that both 1) his perfection is the only good measuring stick and 2) his death is the only good resolution for the problem of human failure. This easily and naturally applies to all human relationships in all circumstances. Life flows freely from a heart while it is satisfied with goodness. A satisfied heart doesn't struggle, but rather responds to others as valuable people. This is what it means to be human.

Worldliness is the distortion of what it means to be human. It is a focus that doesn't see the whole picture of life, that only perfection is good. Life becomes a check list of good and bad thoughts and actions. I doubt that  you appreciate people seeing you as part of their check list. No one does, but there is no other way to function when perfection is not in view. Goodness is shattered and the only way forward is to try to pick up the pieces one by one. Trying mocks doing, mocks our humanity, and mocks goodness. It bears the ugly fruit of the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21). Worldliness denies goodness as a real experience.

Humans live only in the current moment. Therefore, in the current moment we either see life as a check list of ideals (kindness, patience, self-control, love) to strive for, or as perfect goodness to experience now. As you notice human behavior, do you occasionally get distracted into forgetting the big picture that goodness includes perfection, or do you always maintain awareness that only perfection is good? Where is your focus? You can't do perfection, nor can anybody around you. But Jesus did, and his life flows out of you when you simply focus on His goodness (His perfection and His sacrifice for sin). Trying is like a hamster wheel. Only the hamster thinks he is getting somewhere.

Note: In a recent sermon (listen here) in Hebrews 10, I explained how the world is all about trying and how trying is a lie. The sermon visual aid (white board photo) can be seen here by scrolling down to Hebrews#35.

SPIRITUAL COUNTERFEITS: CAN YOU SPOT THEM? #1

Why Counterfeits?

Life is a real experience that is full of surprises and meant to be enjoyed. To be human is to be a moral creature bearing the image of the personal creator of the universe. To be human means to be a person of heart, mind, soul, and spirit—all of which are intermingled and inseparable. Thus, spirituality is a natural and inseparable part of what it means to be human. Spirituality is connected to our moral sense of what is good and evil—what makes for good human relationships and what makes for violation of goodness. This moral sense is pliable; it is molded by our family, culture, and experience of life. Atheists tell me that no child is born a racist, but rather trained to be one by culture. A shallow glance at this variation in moral understanding has led some to wrongly conclude that culture and experience create our moral sense. But something that doesn't exist can't be molded into something real.

Real or true spirituality is the experience of being in harmony or at peace with what it means to be human. This is a real experience of life. False spirituality is the opposite of that—anything that denies, suppresses, or violates what it means to be human. Because we have an awareness of what it means to be human, and a sense of need to experience that reality, the alternative to real spirituality is counterfeit spirituality. It is a pretended sense of moral harmony, a mask we wear to fool ourselves into thinking that we are in harmony with who we are. Pretending something to be real doesn't make it so.  


A counterfeit has some degree of appearance of the real, but is lacking a critical element. Counterfeit currency lacks the authority of the government that the currency claims to be backed by. A counterfeiter may fool me into accepting his counterfeit currency. If I in good faith take it to the bank, I likely will receive the unpleasant news that I have been tricked and therefore the bank will not deposit the expected funds into my account. Authorities don't like this kind of activity and may use my unpleasant experience to seek to find and punish the counterfeiter. Authority is the key to understanding what separates the real from the counterfeit. Poorly printed but authorized currency may look inferior to carefully crafted and printed counterfeit currency, but the issue is not one of quality, but rather one of authority. The authority in the moral world that separates the real from the counterfeit is the mark of goodness. This mark of goodness is highly nuanced to be appropriate for every aspect of human activity.

What does it Mean to be Human?

To be human is to have a sense that life has meaning. This applies both in the moment in every relationship, as well as in a general way about life as a whole. I suggest that both senses are reflected in the question: What is our place in the world? 

Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist, describes in Man's Search For Meaning, the human struggle to find meaning in life, even when trapped in the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp. He also tells of his counseling method, which he called logo-therapy. He states that logo is the Greek word for meaning. Thus, his therapy method focused on helping patients look for meaning in whatever situation they were troubled about. When I first read his label, I wondered if Frankl might help clarify my shallow thinking about the New Testament statement that Jesus was the word (logos) of God. It has been a simple and enlightening step to fill the word "word" with the meaning "meaning". Jesus is the meaning (word) of God. Jesus is the meaning (word) of life. Jesus is the meaning (word) of truth. Jesus is the meaning (word) of peace. Jesus is the meaning (word) of righteousness. Jesus is the meaning (word) of wisdom. Could it be that every word in the New Testament is full of meaning, and thus full of surprises for us humans who tend to bumble through life unconcerned to discern the counterfeit experiences around us? I highly recommend Frankl's short, accessible, and insightful book.   

What is Our Place in the World?

This year an illustration came to my attention. The sun and moon both light our world. The Bible declares that this was the purpose of their creation. The sun is the source of the light that it shines out in all directions. The moon has no light of its own, but does reflect well the light of the sun. In the same way God is the source of all spiritual light—goodness, love and value. He created us to be his image bearers in this world, to know and reflect goodness, which comes from Him. Dependence describes the human relationship to goodness. It is good to be a source of goodness if one has the ability to be that source. God does, but we don't. The role of a dependent person is to be satisfied being a receiver of goodness. 

There is a cascade of surprises in this satisfaction. This is a result of the nature of moral goodness. Moral goodness is about the meaning of relationships, which is all about community. God is community (trinity) and created humans to be in community with Him and to be satisfied with His goodness. When we are content with His goodness, then we naturally overflow with (or reflect) His goodness to those around us, treating them with goodness, and delighting to do so. 

Sin is Rebellion Against Our Place in the World

Community is a beautiful and natural place to thrive in life. Why would anyone rebel against that good and proper place? If we understand what it means to be human, we will realize that it is very easy to rebel. Adam was created with the imprint of God's goodness so as to naturally and freely experience and reflect that goodness in all directions. As mentioned above, that imprint includes the nuanced distinction that it is good to be a source of goodness, if one has that ability, and good to be content being a receiver and reflector, if one doesn't have that ability. Adam and Eve reflected well God's goodness in all directions all the time. It was a simple matter for Satan to suppress this distinction and trick them into thinking that since it is good to be a source of goodness, they too were or could be a source of goodness. To seek goodness in themselves was rebellion against their proper place of dependence as receivers and reflectors. This was a real and traumatic experience. They failed morally and suddenly were in desperate need for restoration (justification). Something became twisted deep in their nature, and this deep twisting has been inherited by all their descendants except Jesus. We all were born with a rebellious desire to find goodness in self and with a real and good need for resolution for this rebellion. G.K. Chesterton wrote humorously that this inherited rebellious nature is the only empirically provable Christian doctrine.

Restoration of Proper Dependence

God came to the two rebels and spoke a blessing over them, that one of the descendants of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (who had deceived them). God anticipated and promised that He would provide restoration for humanity, which He did provide 4000 years later. But for 4000 years it was good and proper for humanity to be content with God's anticipation of that restoration. The Old Testament and the gospels are a record of discontent with that anticipation—with some notable exceptions. That initial place of good dependence where human faithfulness was in the equation of life, vanished with Adam's first sin. The world was broken by that one act of rebellion. There was no going back. A new kind of dependence was needed, one of death to personal faithfulness so that humans could love without external pressure or impure motives. Isaiah said much in anticipation of that new kind of dependence on God's goodness. His words climax in Isaiah 53:11, circa 700BC.

"Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant shall make the many righteous, for he shall bear away their transgressions." 

A century later, Jeremiah boldly declared this anticipation of the human experience of what God would provide. I find this to be the theme of the New Testament.

"I will fill the souls of the priests with abundance, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord." -Jeremiah 31:14

At Pentecost God poured out the experience of this anticipated satisfaction. The cross had just prior been the experience of Jesus dying the death that rebellion deserved in order to create a good, fitting, and glorious place of dependence where God would do all the work and get all the glory. What had been in God's heart from before the creation of the universe was now a reality in the world. The death of the faithful one had become the door into death to, and thus freedom from, human unfaithfulness. He in His delight was now free to live in His people. 

Why Rampant Counterfeit Spirituality?

Above was mentioned the ease with which one can fall into rebellion against our proper place in the world. Do you agree that this is true for you? In case this is not clear, here are a few simple questions. Is it good for you to be irritated with your spouse, parents, children, friends, and fellow humans who happen to interrupt your plans for the moment? Is it good for you to hold a grudge, withhold forgiveness, or keep score on those who have hurt you? Is it good for you to minimize, or excuse away your sins or the sins of others? Is it good for other people to seek to manage your failings? Is it good for you to seek to manage the failings of others? Have you violated any of these principles (the ones which you agreed with) this past year, month, week, or hour? Socrates, who died about 400BC, said that one should rather die than violate one's conscience. That is serious. No wonder we feel guilty so often. 

Some years ago, I had an enjoyable conversation with a woman, Haley (23), at our "Are you a good person" booth at the local fair. She failed the test and received the dollar coin as a surprise gift. In the course of the conversation she declared that she had left her religion of birth and become an agnostic. As she was leaving, I asked her a few questions to encourage her to think more deeply about life. Here is a short dialog representative of that exchange.

Me: Haley, I have a few questions about your boyfriend (he was with her).
Haley: Okay
Me: If I see him sin, is it good for me to let him get away with it? 
Haley: That is wrong. You shouldn't do that.
Me: Okay, here is another one. Is it good for me to be his judge when I see him sin?
Haley: You shouldn't do that either.
Me: Okay, then what should I do when I see him sin?
Haley: I don't know.
Me: What about this? What if I let God be his judge?
Haley: (smiling) That's it. That is good. 
Me: My role in life is to agree with God's judgment when I see your boyfriend sin. The cross is the only place that resolves sin. and I need to be content with what God has provided. When I think that way, then I am glad that Jesus died for him and I am careful to be gentle in helping him notice what he did wrong. If you know that rape and child abuse are wrong, then deep inside you know that Jesus had to die to bring justice into the situation. I would encourage you to think about these things.

 Haley knew intuitively that sin (evil) is not good and needs to be resolved. She also knew that it is not good to act as judge for others. With my help she realized that these two good things leave people in a quandary of what to do about human moral failings. Without the surprise that I offered her, we humans are left stumbling in the dark about how to manage sin. Evil needs management, and we all know it. It is near impossible to resist the urge to become sin managers. Some people manage the problem by sweeping it under the carpet. They deny the existence of the moral world and declare that right and wrong are imaginary. It is just tough luck for those who get raped, abused, or enslaved. Other people create lists of what needs to be done to overcome evil. Some manufacture gods to help harmonize the sin problem. All these are counterfeit solutions that dishonor what we all know intuitively about the meaning of life. It is important to realize that we need sin management solutions every waking moment every day. Counterfeit solutions are lurking in every situation we face.

Christians are not Exempt from Confusion

Socrates' shocking statement above—that one should die rather than violate one's own conscience—predates by centuries the apostle Paul's similar statement (Romans 1:32) that every person knows the righteousness of God, that every evil thought or act deserves death. This is moral knowledge, part of our intuitive knowledge of the meaning of life. Every human is born with the need for justification (resolution) for their own rebellious longing to find goodness in self. We criticize others for justifying their failures, all the while doing it ourselves. Everyone I have asked has told me that it is wrong to self-justify for moral failure. One USU student agreed that he and I had both failed morally and needed justification. When he declared that it was wrong for us to justify ourselves, he suddenly burst out with emotion, asking, "If I don't justify myself, then how do I get it?" This led to clear conversation about the cross. We all are so sensitive to our need for justification for failure, that we would rather deny our humanity than honestly declare our nakedness. This is a huge blind spot. 

A close cousin to this is another blind spot related to our understanding of life. Because life is full of meaning, it is easy to think that I have to be able to explain that meaning in order to not be guilty of failing at being good. This thinking leads back to the potential for self-justification. This time the real issue is suppression of our ignorance. We talk in circles to avoid honesty about our confusion. Some weeks ago a new grad student friend (not a Christian) laughed at me when I shared my slowness to notice my ignorance. He declared that I was just like everyone else, thinking that I knew everything and oblivious to my need to ask questions. I laughed with him.

We all are confused at some level, and it is not good to be confused. We all have blind spots, and it is not good to have them. Whether you are a new Christian or a seasoned Bible school professor, you are confused and have blind spots. By definition we cannot see our blind spots. Noticing them in others should make us aware that we have them, too. It is not good to be apathetic about out confusion or blind spots. It is good to seek to notice them and to want, request, and welcome help from other people to reduce our confusion and notice our blind spots. This is one blessing of community. Glad thankfulness is a good response to a person who cares enough to help us in this matter. Do you gladly thank those who criticize you?

Are you insecure about your confusion and blind spots? Insecurity means that you are confused about satisfaction in life, as quoted above from Jeremiah. It is good and fitting to find your satisfaction in God's goodness. All other satisfaction is fleeting or impaired. Begin thanking God that He is everything for you. Declare openly that you are confused and have blind spots. Thank Him for loving you anyway. Tell God that only perfect freedom from confusion and blind spots is good. Thank Him that it is good for other people to offer you help in this matter and that it is good for you to want and welcome their help. Invite God to send helpers your way. Get ready for answers to this prayer. One blessing of this prayer is that all critics and complainers become answers to prayer rather than being an opportunity for defensiveness resulting from self-justification. 

The Key to Begin Spotting Counterfeits

If there were a spiritual key that would open your understanding to notice many of the lies, counterfeits, points of confusion, and blind spots around you, would you be interested in at least hearing about the key to see if it might possibly be real? Jesus stated in Luke 11:52 that there was a key to understanding. Have you ever heard anyone talk about it or tell you what it was? 

"Woe to you experts in religious law! You have taken away the key to knowledge! You did not go in yourselves, and you hindered those who were going in."

First, I suggest that what is entered is life—God's life—life in God's goodness—eternal life. Second, I suggest that the key is the simple understanding that perfect love is the only good way to see life. This means that perfection is how we should evaluate all things moral. Jesus is the only place we find perfection in this world. Therefore, He is the only good reference point and we should always compare ourselves and all others to Jesus. When we do this, much confusion disappears quickly. Are you an obedient Christian? Not, when compared to Jesus. Are you holy? Not when compared to Jesus. Are you a good person? Not when compared to Jesus. Are you confused? Yes, when compared to Jesus. Comparison to Jesus leaves us with nothing but Jesus as perfect love to cling to.  Sin management loses its appeal and we find ourselves drawn toward other people. We separate with them concerning their evil rather than from them.

Awareness of this key is highly motivational. Isaiah saw the perfection of God and was stripped of his pride and prepared to gladly preach to hardened and unresponsive Israel for 50 years. They couldn't hear him because they had rejected the key and were drunk on their own righteousness (Isaiah 29). With practice one can see how perfection fits every situation of personal relationships and helps clear away our confusion. I further suggest that it is very helpful in gaining clarity in Bible passages that seem confusing. God and scripture are not confused; we Bible readers are. For many years, I have experienced hundreds of witnessing conversations annually. My principle is to carefully use the key of perfection to help people honestly and properly evaluate themselves and realize their intuitive awareness of their need for the death of Jesus as the only good way of righteousness and the only good way to perceive life in every moment. It still surprises me sometimes to see the surprise on a person's face as the person hears their own mouth declare that they should always compare people to Jesus (or perfection, in the case of atheists or agnostics). My goal is to sensitize people to their intuitive knowledge that only perfection is good in all aspects of personal relationships (including with God). My hope is that this new awareness will take root in their hearts and the cross will become unavoidable for them. I also use the key of perfection in conversations with Christians to help them realize the simplicity of God's way of life and begin renewing their minds to perfection as the place of God's delight.

Application

Do you see life as a spiritual battle? Do you see life as full of counterfeits? Do you want to grow in sensitivity to them so as to be less often tricked by them? Might you be unwittingly embracing some counterfeits right now? If you were, would you want to know about it? This is the first in a series of posts on counterfeits. I suggest that every Christian concept has a corresponding counterfeit. Satan is a counterfeit Jesus. Paul declares that he counterfeits light and righteousness (2 Cor 11:14-15) Below is a list of some of the counterfeits that I have spotted and plan to write about. They are set as questions because I find that questions help me notice where I have been tricked. The first one is set first intentionally (others are in random order) because it has been my biggest surprise (that I am aware of) and seems to have accelerated my awareness of other counterfeits. It will be the focus of the next in this series.

• What is the flesh?
• What is righteousness?
• What is holiness?
• What is worldliness?
• What is walking in the spirit?
• What is love?
• What is a Christian?
• What is a sinner?
• What does it mean to die to self?
• What is sin?
• What is forgiveness?
• What is grace?
• What is law?
• What is light?
• What is the discipline of the Lord?
• What does it mean to endure to the end?
• What is repentance?
• What is the fruit of being a Christian?
• What is the alternative to laziness?

GRACE AND THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD: SOME SURPRISES

Is Grace Unmerited Favor?

Christians often and rightly say that grace is unmerited favor. This is a beautiful declaration. However, we Christians easily get tricked into forgetting grace when we we look at our relationship with God and with other people. To say that Christians have a relationship of unmerited favor with God means that merited favor has no place in that relationship. 

What Is Merited Favor?

Merited favor means that some personal performance is in the equation of the relationship. If my wife has to perform properly in order to avoid my displeasure, then I perceive her as needing to merit my favor, in part or in whole. If I were her employer that would be fine, but good personal relationships are free from merit. Since it is never good to lower the standards of goodness, merit in a personal relationship would necessitate moral perfection. Let's be real: none of us are perfect. Thus merit cannot be part of a good personal relationship.  Is a personal relationship about doing good things?

The Symptom of Merited Favor

In your relationships with other people, do you have check lists for them--do you require them to merit your favor? If you say that you don't because it is not good, then it seems reasonable that you would want to know when you violate your own principle. Here is the symptom that reveals that you (or someone else) have been tricked to include merited favor in a relationship. I would like to approach this from a different angle to increase clarity. Have you ever had others irritated, impatient, frustrated, or angry with you for something you did wrong? Of course your failure was not good, but did you appreciate the other person's reaction? We all have been on the receiving end of such treatment and know that it is wrong. But it is also wrong when we have these reactions. And these reactions have only one source: some flawed human faithfulness is perceived to be in the equation of the relationship--some check list must be met--some work done--satisfaction is not in God's goodness alone. Remembering to exclude flawed human faithfulness from the relationship creates peace with God and peace of heart in the moment. It is good to do good and it is good to be faithful, but it is never good to find satisfaction in sin, which is what you are doing when you perceive flawed human faithfulness to be a part of a good relationship. Sin is any violation of moral goodness. Let's be honest: human faithfulness is always flawed and thus is not good. So why not exclude merited favor from relationships? Faithfulness is good and necessary to put our minds at ease. But whose faithfulness? Perceive your relationships through the lens of God's faithfulness and goodness and you will be free to notice human sin in a razor sharp way with no bad reactions.

Does Merited Favor Belong in Parenting?

 Have you ever cringed when observing parents express disappointment, frustration, anger, or harshness toward their children? Did you ever receive such treatment from your parents? Was it helpful to you in learning love, forgiveness, trust, and good behavior? Hardly. Parents are entrusted with the lives of children and given the great privilege of helping those children learn to understand life, goodness, and how to thrive in relationships. Children are born with physical and moral senses that are immature and need development. They need to learn to walk and talk. This is a natural process. In the same way, it is a natural process to learn to navigate the moral world. And that process is shepherded by parents, relatives, and extended community. It doesn't happen in a vacuum. Good parenting is about shepherding a child's heart, realizing that right thinking results in right living. 

It is tragic when parents fail to realize that right behavior flows naturally out of right thinking and bad behavior flows naturally out of bad thinking. It takes practice for parents to notice bad behavior and not take that bad behavior personally. "How dare that child not do what I say." Alert parents will have been preparing themselves by applying this principle to themselves first and then to other people. This is intuitive knowledge and one need not be a Christian to grasp it. Personal maturity is skillfulness in applying this principle in its all-encompassing application to life. Identifying the principle clearly, helps us evaluate and understand our experiences and reactions. Because bad behavior is bad, it is so very easy to get distracted from the principle and then criticize human behavior as the problem. But the root cause of bad behavior is bad thinking--always. 

It is also tragic when parents don't realize that a child is born with a moral sense that needs nurturing. I think and teach that frustration, impatience, manipulation, rage, and abuse are always out of place in parenting, as well as in the rest of life. These reactions are the natural fruit of the parent being offended that the child is not conforming to the parent's wishes. This is a symptom of forgetting the child's common humanity, moral sense, and tendency to make excuses. All of us make excuses, so why be surprised if a child does it? The child's moral sense is very real and touches all aspects of goodness. It is a great privilege for a parent to help a child learn to be honest about that moral sense and to learn to honor it and not suppress it. A child is not his behavior. Realizing and remembering this frees a parent to have a compassionate, tender, and firm response while identifying clearly the wrongness of the child's bad behavior. A parent has no authority to dispense merited favor just as I have no authority to dispense merited favor in any personal relationship I have. The parent is not the child's sin manager, but rather an advocate to help the child learn that sin is managed fully and solely at the cross. Therefore, being disappointed (frustrated, impatient, angry) with your child is always wrong because it is a sign that you perceive that your child needs to merit your favor. 

Where Does God Find Satisfaction?

God is not an impersonal force or vending machine. As the creator of the universe, He is the source of what it means to be a person. He is the ultimate person--good, perfect, and righteous in all ways. We are made in his image, but that image has been distorted by human pride. Since God is a divine person and good, he desires a good personal relationship with people. To be a Christian means to have such a relationship. God initiates and maintains the relationship without our help, otherwise our flawed faithfulness would distort the relationship. 

God does want something from us, and it is good for Him to want it. But it is not our faithfulness, goodness, obedience, or works, for they are all flawed. If you are a Christian then you have done only one thing perfectly, the only thing that a person can do that is not a work. It is to rest in the work of another person--Christ. Paul declares this explicitly in Romans 4:5: "But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness." Christian faith is confidence, trust, rest, and satisfaction with Christ's faithfulness as all one needs to be in a good relationship with God. Our initial conversion was a pure rest in Christ's faithfulness. Jeremiah anticipated the Day of Pentecost when he declared: "I will fill the souls of the priests with abundance and my people will be satisfied with My goodness, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 31:14) To be satisfied with God's goodness excludes finding satisfaction in your own work or in the work of other flawed humans. Is God fully satisfied with His goodness in the work of Christ on the cross? Are you fully satisfied with God's goodness? Isaiah also anticipated unmerited favor flowing naturally from the cross when he prophesied, "Lord, You will establish peace for us, since You have also performed for us all our work." (Isaiah 26:12) Do you see peace as a fruit of God doing all the work for you and other people? Conversion is entrance into this new mindset, but it is easy to revert back to the corrupt mindset of seeking some satisfaction in flawed human faithfulness.

Christians are Royal Children of God

All Christians have the great privilege of being adopted into God's family. In Christ we are God's royal and righteous children. Our righteousness is real and present, but it is not our own; it is the righteousness of Christ. He has taken our identity as lawbreakers under the law and given us His identity as children under the authority of grace. This is very difficult for us democratically-minded people to understand. Read here the testimony of a Jordanian Muslim attorney friend who did not become a Christian. He understands what grace means at a deep level because he has a real king with real authority. He told me that his impossible dream was to be adopted into the royal family. He added that if that came true, then he would be above the law and free to do whatever he wanted. He then made the amazing declaration that he would be so happy for what the king had done for him that he would never do anything wrong again. I pressed him and was finally able to shake his confidence. He admitted that he might do something wrong if he forgot what the king had done for him. He saw that remembrance of that great gift would motivate him to do good always. I suggest that this is what the New Testament teaches Christianity to be: that the death of Christ is what turns the world right side up to provide both a way of royal adoption and a way of good, pure, and sufficient motivation for good works, where they flow naturally and effortlessly out of a vision of love received. Does this seem to you to be too good to be true? 

Is God Ever Disappointed, Frustrated, or Angry with Christians?

Forgetfulness by an adopted royal child can have bad consequences, as my Muslim friend stated. But that forgetfulness and its consequences are not part of the relationship with one's king because human performance is excluded. This is not to deny that consequences can be tragic, but it is to establish satisfaction with the goodness of God as the center of the universe. "God passed over the sins previously committed so that he might demonstrate His righteousness at the present time [the cross]." (Rom.3:25) The cross resolves all evil not just the small stuff. God calls all people to be satisfied with that resolution and He leads the way in being satisfied with it Himself. If God is ever disappointed, frustrated, or angry with a Christian, then He is not satisfied with sin-bearing love at the cross and He perceives merited favor to be in the relationship. There is no way around this fact. In theory, merited favor has had no place in my parenting of my five children. I was tricked to put it in sometimes, but God is a perfect parent and thus never puts it in. This means that God has no disappointment, frustration, impatience, or anger toward any Christian. NONE! If you disagree, then there are two options: either I need to be corrected, or you are unwittingly reading the Bible upside down. If you were, would you like to know it?

Does the Lord Discipline Christians?

The Bible clearly teaches that God disciplines Christians. Have you noticed that the Bible also clearly teaches that God disciplined Israel under law? Discipline simply means training. The question we need to ask is this. What is the purpose of the training? In the Bible the purpose is clearly something moral and not anything like skillfulness at some musical instrument or sport. This leaves only two options for understanding what the purpose is: 1) to take sins seriously and control them, and 2) to grow in skillfulness in seeing life through the lens of righteousness (perfection). If my observation of scripture is true, and my Muslim friend's understanding of motivation is true, then sin by a Christian is always a result of forgetting righteousness. Therefore the two options are not equally valid. The latter is true, real, and good, while the former is counterfeit. If the latter is true then the former plays into the hands of Satan. Satan appears as an angel of light; he is the father of lies; he is a master counterfeiter. And he seeks to deceive us with his counterfeits. Do you ever get tricked by them? I do. What does he counterfeit? I have lived 85% of my Christian life, 33 years, in the den of master gospel counterfeiters. My Mormon culture uses Christian terminology and spins it to make life all about you becoming a better you, rather than about you getting a new identity as a royal righteous child in Christ. For Christians here, the conflict and contrast are very real. Still we get tricked sometimes. Paul declares in 2Cor. 11:15 (see the context of 11:3-15) that Satan counterfeits righteousness. 

Counterfeit Righteousness

I discuss the gospel with hundreds of Mormons annually. In a typical gospel conversation, a Mormon will tell me some or all of the following things about righteousness.

• It is not good to sin, therefore we should try not to sin.
• It is good to be righteous, therefore we need to try to be righteous.
• Righteousness is trying.
• God said to be perfect, which means that we need to try.
• God doesn't expect perfection, only that we do our best.
• It is unrealistic to stop all sins now, so we work on them one by one.
• Repentance is a slow process of turning from sins and obeying God.
• God forgives us for the sins we repent of.
• God will not give you righteousness as a gift. You have to try to be obedient.
• If you get righteousness as a gift, it will make you lazy. 

Do you see any counterfeits hidden in these statements? The focus is on me, my behavior, and my efforts. Merited favor is here. Mormons tell me that life is a process of learning to make right choices. They say that the discipline of the Lord is about getting people to be serious about their sins individually. All Satan's counterfeits are really just different nuances of the same thing: God's perfect goodness is turned into something manageable--something less than perfection. This is a suppression of righteousness (Rom. 1:18). It is fair to summarize the battle lines in my conversations with Mormons as identity versus behavior. They are striving to get their sinful thoughts and behaviors under control so as to be righteous. They openly declare to me that righteousness goes up and down with obedience and disobedience. They are their own sin managers. I declare to them that compared to Jesus we all are failures and therefore righteousness can only be perfection (all or nothing) and thus only available as a gift. This is the titanic struggle of the universe.  

Have you been tricked into the counterfeit thinking of my Mormon friends: that God's discipline is about controlling your individual sins? Of course your individual sins are bad, but the whole of your sins are bad. Of course it is good to be honest about your sins and take them seriously, but to be fully honest means that it is good for you to deal with them ALL immediately and simultaneously. Anything less is not good. Do you want to take them that seriously? Or do you want to be your own sin manager? You can't manage perfection, but Christ can and did at the cross. Also, your sins are not random actions. They are the simple result of perceiving life in a way that is not good. Read my articles on this: simplicity in Christ,  holiness as a way of seeing, obedience: success or trying? You sin only when you don't see life through the lens of righteousness (perfection as required and given freely as a gift). 

God's Discipline is Always About Righteousness

God's discipline is always about righteousness. The letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians living between Pentecost and the destruction of the temple. They were under intense pressure from their Jewish culture to go back to the law. From beginning to end, Hebrews is a reminder of the simple gospel to weary Jewish Christians who were giving in to that pressure. They needed encouragement to stand firm and not be intimidated. They needed a long refresher course in the simplicity of the gospel that had come to them at Pentecost and freed them to be righteousness by the work of Christ without their own works. They needed to hear again that though sin is bad, going back to the law is tragic. The Law is all about externals as part of what it means to be fully acceptable before God. The whole letter is about this conflict over righteousness. Hebrews 12 is the go to passage in the Bible on God's discipline. Since this teaching is in this context, do you read discipline in light of this conflict, or as my Mormon friends do? For 25 years I read it as my Mormon culture does. I am living proof that it is very easy to get distracted from identity to behavior and not even notice having been distracted. I still prove it every day. Have you realized that you do it too? Therefore, according to the context of Hebrews, the sin that so easily entangles (12:1) is going back to the law. The race (12:1,2) is about always considering Jesus (His work as all we need). Endurance (12:1) is needed to not give in to the pressure to go back to the law. The sinners (12:3) who were applying the pressure were the super religious Jews, not the prostitutes and irreligious people. Resisting them (12:4) meant resisting going back to the law, not resisting doing bad things. Joy is absent or suppressed while one is not considering Jesus (12:11). Christians are righteous by faith alone; we have a new identity as righteous children in Christ independent of our behavior. God disciplines, or trains, us every waking moment in every situation, to be alert to remember what this identity means and to live out of that identity. God wants us to always see and evaluate every situation in light of His goodness, of righteousness as perfection, not some manageable performance expectation. He wants us to grow in wisdom, and His wisdom is skillfulness in the word of righteousness. (5:13-14) 

Israel was Disciplined to Righteousness as Perfection

The discipline of the Lord is first mentioned explicitly in Deuteronomy 4:36. "He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and hear His words from the midst of the fire," Was God's word to them some form of do your best, try harder, or partial obedience? No. We see this earlier in the chapter. "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." (4:2) We also read, "It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to keep all this commandment." (6:25) "All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers." (8:2) Notice that God's word is inflexible--zero fudging by adding or taking away--it must be kept in full as it is. This means that God wanted Israel to keep their eye on His perfection and not compromise His perfection in thought, word, or deed. To be righteous required perfect obedience. The Old Testament is the record of God's compassion and Israel's dishonor of His perfect law. Their history is an ugly one. Finally Jesus arrived among them. He preached in such a way as to reestablish the honor of the law, that it required perfection. Israel hated that message and killed him for it. Jesus knows (taught, believed, understood) that God wants you and all people to keep all the commandments perfectly now and always, no matter the situation. If you don't believe this, by what authority do you compromise God's expectation of goodness and make it something manageable? 

Honesty About Sin

Let's be honest about sin. John declares that sin is lawlessness (dishonor of the law). (1John 3:4) In other words, sin is violation of goodness--any violation. Life is a spiritual battle to honor God's goodness. If you are not doing it fully, then you are not doing it, and you are a violator. God has brought resolution to this problem by making the cross the place where all sin has been put away by the sacrifice of Christ. (Hebrews 9:26) This concerns the power of sin as well as its guilt. The cross does not make people into robots. Rather it frees them to live in a good way, in a new identity in His righteousness without any need to find justification or satisfaction anywhere else--no matter how great the violation they commit, receive, or observe. God declares, and we all know, that it is not good to seek justification for any human failure in any human action. God is satisfied with Christ's sacrifice of Himself. Therefore, why be satisfied with a vision of God's discipline that does not honor God's goodness (perfection) or His satisfaction with Christ? Let Jesus be the sin manager of the world. Embrace His clarity about sin: that only perfection is good. Embrace His righteousness (perfection as required and given freely as a gift) as the point of His training for you and all other people. Embrace forgetfulness or rejection of righteousness as the cause of all sin. Embrace remembrance of righteousness as the place of restoration, healing, life, truth, peace, and joy. Let's together embrace and celebrate satisfaction with God's goodness and His good training of us. 

God's discipline or training is all about growth in skillfulness in seeing Jesus as ALL our righteousness, holiness, and redemption--our wisdom from God.