HAVE YOU FOUND THE REAL JESUS WHOSE SALVATION IS FREE?

"Have You Found the Real Jesus Whose Salvation is Free?"

By Melinda Fish

I've recently been reading a book from Bill's seminary days, HERE I STAND, by Roland Bainton. It is the go-to book on the life of Martin Luther. Wow! Talk about a "poker chip pusher"who risked his life to preach the grace of God. In the 1500's, Martin had been a young monk who found himself almost crazy (his own words) in a quest to find forgiveness of sins. Being a very devout Catholic and a sincere seeker, he explored every avenue the Roman Catholic Church prescribed, but never could find the joy and peace of eternal salvation. His confessions would last for six hours as he would try in vain to uncover the hidden motives behind every act, afraid that a failure to discover his sins would condemn him to hell.(Don't you know the priests would see him coming and say, "It's your turn!--I had him yesterday!") Finally, one priest actually said, "Martin, why don't you go out and do something worthy of confession!"

 

After three years of struggle, a mentor sent him to teach the Bible at the University of Wittenberg, Germany. As he began to study the scriptures, he saw in them the real God who loved him, a loving Father who was eager to forgive. His quest to find forgiveness had led him through repeated lengthy confessions, cruel acts of penance, the purchase of indulgences and the viewing of relics to insure that his soul would one day spring from purgatory after his death. His view of God had become so distorted through trying to approach Him this way that he struggled with resentment and hatred toward Him.

 

Listen as he describes the moment he found eternal salvation while reading the book of Romans:

"... I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the “justice of God” had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven!"

If you haven't had that sort of experience with God, you must. It's called the new birth, and it is available to you as a free gift. Just receive it!

But what happens afterward? Have you noticed that "religion" tries to creep back in to substitute for His grace? You say no, but how then do we become captive to our own rituals such as fasting, pressure to prove our devotion by leading more and more people to Christ, holding prayer meetings 24/7, tithing and climbing the ladder of success at church? The other night I was flipping through the channels and saw a snatch of a "Christian" telethon. If someone contributed a financial gift to the television ministry, they were guaranteed that a blessing wasn't far behind. Another host promised that a prophecy would follow any financial gift that exceeded a certain amount. They assured donors that God was taking note of each financial gift to the telethon and would "reward" the person with "the desires of (his/her) heart." I couldn't help comparing this to Luther's quarrel with the papal indulgence, a decree which guaranteed a supplicant reducing their time in purgatory for a monetary contribution. St. Peter's in Rome was actually funded by the revenues from papal indulgences. 

The Catholics don't have anything on us, though. We have our own fund-raising methods. I wondered when we would break out the Charismatic relics: the gold dust, the jewels and the feathers, which had supposedly appeared in services where certain evangelists were invited to speak. And don't  forget the healings and prophecies your donation will buy. For a nice contribution you may even purchase the Lord's undivided attention on the matter of a loved one's salvation. I shudder to think what Martin Luther would say if he had seen the telethon and what goes on in some pulpits today. Worse yet, what would Jesus say as we attach our price tags to His sacrifice?

Are you being seduced from the "simplicity and purity" of devotion to Christ? If you feel the need to place your faith in your donations to "Christian " ministries and admiring Charismatic relics, fake signs and wonders, religion is snapping at your heels! It's ok to stop, turn around and embrace the simple, pure and free grace of God. If it doesn't sound like grace is free anymore where you are, you need to go home to Jesus. He paid the price for your sins and shortcomings and His love is not for sale! 

IS HE MOSTLY DEAD, OR ALL DEAD?

"IS HE MOSTLY DEAD, OR ALL DEAD?..."

By Melinda Fish

       No wonder Jesus said to us that the key to true discipleship is reckoning oneself dead. After almost fifty-eight years as a Christian, I'm beginning to understand why and what He really meant. I realize now that for much of my Christian life, I was hoping He just meant "mostly dead." Maybe I could get by with faking it by looking spiritual. I identified with Wesley, the protagonist of the movie, "The Princess Bride," when his friends brought him in unconscious to Miracle Max ( Billy Crystal). 

      Miracle Max asked, "Is he all dead or just mostly dead?"

      Who wants to be "all dead?" When you are "all dead," there is no going back. You lose it all including your life, your agenda, your reputation, your defense, your control and all your rights including the right to choose. Who wants to go there? 

      It's not just a one time choice, either, Jesus said we have to die every day. The paradox is that your death, as His was, is the secret of experiencing the power of His resurrection in your life. 

      Back in Jesus' day, capital punishment wasn't as easy as it is now with lethal injection, you actually had to suffer physical torture in a gruesome public display known as crucifixion. It served as warning to everyone who walked past your rotting body that you were deserving of this shameful torment. It was a form of punishment, sometimes lasting for days, that embodied the words "cruel and unusual."

      In World War II, the Japanese kamikaze pilots displayed such devotion to the emperor that they hardened themselves and drove their planes into American ships in the hopes of destroying them. They were feared more than any other Japanese weapon. When the sailors on board the target ships heard the deadly whistle created by their final plummet, they knew there was no weapon to stop them. Like the jihadists of today, the decision to reckon oneself dead was their key to spreading terror. 

     But Jesus wasn't talking about committing suicide in which you are in control. When you die on a cross, you can't put yourself there. Others, particularly your enemies, will be very happy to help. Nor is it like suicide which we commit to get this "dying thing" out of the way. 

       Have you ever tried to heed a preacher's admonition to "die to yourself?" 

      I have. I've tried to give up things for Jesus like the privilege of having a new blouse or a new refrigerator. I thought that if I was willing to give up stuff, I was taking up my cross, but it was only a pathetic attempt at what I thought Jesus wanted. So is any form of sacrifice such as giving my body to be burned, selling everything I have to feed the poor and going to a third world mission field. You can do all of that and even fast for 40 days, but according to the Apostle Paul, it is not what Jesus was talking about. Do all this and you will still only be "mostly dead." 

     Why? It is only appeasement, something you do to satisfy your religious self and just another thing in which you can take glory.

     The kind of dying Jesus meant isn't subject to your convenience. In fact, when and how is not up to you. You give up entire control over it until you draw your last breath. No one can or should try to shame it out of you. And no one should over dramatize his own death by bragging about it to inspire you to donate money in the offering plate. That only glorifies the self, hiding it under a veil of self-sacrifice. That opposes the very thing this death is designed to do:  remove the only barrier between receiving His unconditional love and giving it away freely.    

     The moment you really die may be a secret, because likely no one will know it but you. You will give Him permission to carry out the sentence at His convenience, whenever and wherever He chooses. It may be quick, but it may not be. It may be embarrassing or not. You will not threaten or scream, you just simply decide to let go and lose yourself in Him. 

     Then it happens. You find yourself at peace and flooded with Divine joy. When your self-love dies, you realize you are the object of His magnificent love and the wall in your heart falls down. In that moment, He starts flowing out of you to the other "objects" of His love all around you. God releases His secret weapon of mass destruction-pure, selfless love.

     God isn't calling you to be "loving," to imitate what only death can produce. And He isn't interested in your blouse or refrigerator. Those things are only a mockery of real death. He is just asking for you, just as you are, to give up and stop resisting the inevitable.

         Shakespeare wrote, "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."

     What are you waiting for?