Today’s post is a follow-up to last week’s post describing sin as the process of drifting away from our relationship with God……..rather than the act of breaking a rule. This week, I want to develop that a bit further.
If we view sin as the breaking of rules, then we succeed by keeping track of all of the rules and honoring them. History tells us that this is not possible in practice. But, at least it is straightforward. Diligently follow all 635 of the rules…….you become a “good person”………you spend eternity in paradise………where you will, presumably, continue obeying the rules. But, where is God in this process? He is, no doubt, buried in the rules……”Love God”. But this approach is flawed. This approach to Christianity puts our focus on an intermediate step…….the rules. In a way, we wind up worshiping an enormous list of rules. Even if we could pull it off…….diligently honor 635 rules all day, every day for 80 or 90 years……..we would be missing the point of our faith. Even worse, we would be missing out on the power, not to mention the joy, of Christianity. Carried to its extreme, it is entirely possible to flawlessly follow the rules and to never know and experience God. This is tragic……..but it happens. The Bible is full of examples of people who did just that. Picture Caiaphus.The history of the Christian church is full of people who did bad things…….all while following the rules. Caiaphus carefully followed the rules. All the while, he viciously attacked God. In our modern church, it is not hard to find a committed Christian who follows the commandments but who mistreats members of the LGBT++ community……..or followers of other faiths. Consider the oxymoron of the antisemitic Christian.
But
The rules are not the heart of Christianity.
The heart of Christianity is God. And love is the heart of God. The rules are an intermediate step in our journey to God.
Focus on the rules………and you will completely miss the entire point of Christianity. You will miss out on the joy of relationship.
To put it bluntly, sin is distance from God. Sin is distance from love. The greatest tragedy in a human life is the Christian who religiously adheres to the rules listed in the Bible……..and in the process, allows his relationship to God’s love wither. This “good person” may very well be the greatest sinner of all.
So…….how do you know if you are the “good person” who obeys the rules without knowing God? How do you know if you are one of the “righteous” sinners?
The acid test is joy.
Joy grows out of love……..love grows out of relationship with God.
You will know it when you see it on the face of someone who is nurturing their relationship with God.
Even more importantly……..you may be the one…….whose joy demonstrates God’s love to others.
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
Jesus, John 14:23, ESV