Evangelical Reformation

The quality of computers I find utterly amazing is their phenomenal precision. It is mind-boggling to think of a central processing unit working with data at 2.0 gigahertz. One would think that at that speed a computer would have all those electronic impulses smashing into one another.

That is only possible because God made the universe with that level of precision. In fact, everywhere we look in the universe, we find the same precision. Therefore, every endeavor in life, be it farming or brain surgery, requires precision in dealing with God’s creation.

That being the case, we should expect that of all pursuits, theology, which in the olden days was referred to as the queen of sciences, would demand precision. Yet, contemporary evangelicals tend to do their theology with a shotgun, which splatters pellets all over the target, rather than using a rifle, which cleanly hits the bullseye.

One example of shotgun theology is found in the cliché, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.” This assertion represents a fundamental tenet of the evangelical community. Challenge it, and you will get your head handed to you on a platter.

Nonetheless, Psalm 5:5 states: “The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity,” and Psalm 11:5 asserts: “The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.” Lest someone suggests that hate means to love less, this verse is followed by Psalm 11:6, “Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.” That would suggest that He loves the wicked a lot less. Strange that evangelicals could be so adamant about a concept directly countermanded by Scripture.

If God does hate the workers of iniquity, and not just their works, where does grace fit in? The following verse gives us a hint. “For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.” (Psalm 11:7) It interesting that this same love of righteousness, and the corresponding attitude toward wickedness is ascribed to Jesus in Hebrews 1:9: “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

These passages suggest that as long as we align ourselves with our wickedness we are objects of God’s hatred and wrath. However, if we disassociate ourselves from our wickedness by confession and repentance, if we agree with God that our sin is wrong (the essential meaning of confession), and commit to turn from it (the essential meaning of repentance), then God can deal with our sin without dealing with us. However, as long as we do not confess and are not repentant, we remain identified with our sin, and God, who hates all that is unrighteous, will hate us along with our sin.

For those who think this sounds harsh, let me share two thoughts. The passages of Scripture above indicate that this is the case. We tend to live in an evangelical world that places more authority in how something feels to them than it does the clear pronouncements of Scripture. Hell may also seem harsh, but it is a clear biblical teaching.

In addition, those who view this as harsh are asserting that people should be allowed to embrace their sin with impunity. Through the blood of Jesus, God has made provision for grace. He only asks us to repent in order to be object of his grace rather than His wrath. They are insinuating that such a requirement is unloving.

To those who think this to be unloving, the author of Hebrews asks this question: “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29)

If we put away our shotgun and work to become accurate marksmen with our rifle, we could start an evangelical reformation.

For those who wonder how the above is reconciled with passages such as “for God so loved the world,” we plan to explain that on Monday.

To get the air out of a bottle, you can attach a pump to it and attempt to suck it out. However, you will never get it all out because a total vacuum is practically impossible to produce. In fact, the bottle will probably cave in before all the air is removed.

An easier way to get the air out is to simply fill the bottle with water. The point is that nature resists a vacuum. A space tends to be filled with something.

The same is true of our hearts. In fact, in Matthew 15:19 Jesus talks about all of the things that come out of the heart: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” This indicates that the heart tends to be full of these things.

We have been suggesting that the Sermon on the Mount is the ultimate success seminar. It seems that the biggest challenge confronting Jesus in His presentation is getting us to think clearly about the nature of success.

We tend to think of position and power and prestige and the like. However, regardless of how much of those commodities we amass, they do not spell success if we live and die with a heart full of wickedness.

Of course, most of us do not see ourselves as wicked. In fact, in talking to people about their lives across the years, I have discovered that everyone is going to heaven because everyone is better than his neighbor. One reason we are not concerned about the wickedness issue is our blinding self-righteousness.

However, a more objective look reveals that the best of us is born depraved, each of us expressing repulsive self-centeredness in his own way, even the philanthropist in most cases thinly veiling his craving for recognition, differing little from the hypocrites that sounded trumpets when they made their donations in the synagogue. The schmoozing of the recipients notwithstanding, this is ugly.

Even if we somehow resolved the heaven and hell issue while maintaining a heart filled with sin, a legacy of ugliness represents a life of failure by any lucid calculation. Solomon teaches us in Proverbs 22:1 that “a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.”
However, try as we will, we can’t get the sin out. Regardless of how powerful the pump, we can’t produce a vacuum.

Jesus provided a better solution. He promised that those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness would be filled. That is, He offers to rid our hearts of wickedness by displacing it with righteousness.

We tend to think that Jesus died is to deliver us from hell. However, Scripture tells us that one of the main purposes for His death was to remove the hell from us. For example, Titus 2:14 teaches that He “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

The Beatitudes tell us that those who hunger and thirst after this righteousness will be filled. Therefore, success comes with a deep desire for what really counts in life—a righteous heart.

Look around a Christian bookstore, and you will discover that this is not a major concern of our evangelical community. That blinding self-righteousness can even blind believers to the wickedness of our hearts, causing a lack of concern for what we are full of. Seeing ourselves for what we are, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness would start an evangelical reformation.

That’s what we all want. I confess. I am also guilty.

Though I resisted for many years, about two years ago I totally capitulated and bought both a riding mower and a snow blower. Till then I argued that the exercise was good for me, and therefore it made no sense to pay money to forego an activity that was healthful.

But a couple of big snows and a summer when the grass grew a foot every week motivated me to find a rationalization that would let me escape my own logic. The heart is not only deceitful; it is also clever. Time provided that escape hatch. Yes, my time was too valuable to spend shoveling and mowing. Therefore, it was just good stewardship to buy implements that would salvage vast amounts of this precious commodity.

And did I mention that those tools made life a lot easier.

Though my rationalization may have been a stretch, maybe we can make a case for taking the easy way out with the grass and snow. However, our quest for ease also spills over into the moral area, where even modern technology has not devised a shortcut.

This is unfortunate because righteousness is hard. The Apostle Paul spoke of beating his body and making it a slave (1 Corinthians 9:27). That is why only those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. Chris’s success seminar offered no quick fixes. There must be an easier way.

And there is, if we are willing to do enough rationalization. Theology offers some such as the “let go and let God” approach to life. That’s it. Experiential righteousness is just like imputed righteousness. It is all of grace. God does it all. We need only walk by faith, trust Him to do all the lifting. That’s why I have failed. I’ve been trying instead of trusting.

Yes, the power to be righteous is of God, but He still leaves us with appropriating and applying that power, which entails a lot of hard work. That is why Paul kept talking about struggling and fighting. Apparently he hadn’t discovered that he could just let God do it.

Psychology also offers moral snow blowers and riding mowers that make righteousness easy. One that takes various forms is the “it’s not your fault” implement. If I am a victim, my unrighteousness is no longer a moral issue but a disease, and change must come from someone else doing the work. For Freud the fault was with our parents, and the psychologist bore the load of fixing me. Rogers taught that significant others must be the change agents. Psychiatrists place the burden on the chemist, who must devise a pill to correct our chemical imbalances.

It is true that there are both theological and psychological concepts that legitimately make the challenge of being righteous easier, and we need all the help we can get. A major device taught both in Scripture and psychology is that the fight to be righteous must start with the thought-life. If our efforts begin at the behavior stage, we will probably lose the battle. The fight must start with the mind.

Such legitimate strategic concepts make the fight easier. It is both wise and biblical to find all the legitimate help we can get. However, if we genuinely hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will accept no imitations for the real thing. We will not take the morally easy but disingenuous way out. We will join the Apostle Paul in the fight for the real thing. And if we do, that would start an evangelical reformation.