Tell Me What I Don’t Have to Do! – Walking the Thin Line Between Heaven and Hell - Purity 1192

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of the love of my life, Tammy Lynn Clark, looking into the distance while traversing the rocky creek bed that comes down from the Lye Brook Falls Trail comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene near the end of our 5-mile trek in and out of one of Green Mountain National Forest's most popular destinations. The creek bed was impressive, and if you are not, uh, and if you are no fan of mountain hikes, there's good news. This scene was about 5 minutes down from the parking lot, so technically you could say that you went to the Lybrooks Falls Trail, snapped some photos of the mountain stream, and even staged yourself along some of the rock rocky outcroppings at the early stages of the trail near the creek and really look like you've been there and done that. Of course, those of us who have actually hiked the 2.3-mile trail and had seen the actual falls for ourselves would know that you missed something, and some of us may call you out for not being a true Lybrook Falls hiker. But in our age of selfies and, if it's possible, increased self-interest, There are those who would vehemently argue how they didn't have to actually hike all the way up to the falls to say they had had an experience of the falls. I bet you even know people like that. The ones who will argue points and not waver from their position even when they are shown to be wrong, as long as they have some fact or version of their truth to back it up. Well, it's Tuesday and Election Day, and because I belong to a labor union that chose to bargain to have this day off, I get to declare today as a holiday because I have the day off. Now, I understand that the vast majority of people out there don't have it off, and instead of going around today telling everyone to enjoy the holiday, I'll stay content and just enjoy the fact that I get to experience it and possibly encourage others to join the union if they want to experience the benefit of having Election Day off. But in It is a labor union, and unlike the gospel of grace, you do have to work and continue to work to enjoy the benefits of union membership and then one day enjoy the benefits of retirement. When it comes to our Christian faith, there are many who want to claim the benefits of retirement—eternal life in God's kingdom—but who seem content in doing as little as possible as a supposed member of God's family and can seem virtually the same as their unsaved neighbors. While these nominal Christians are quick with a confession of faith, there is little or no evidence of the fruits of the Spirit or the good works and spiritual disciplines of Christian discipleship in their lives. Bonhoeffer called such believers to be consumers of cheap grace, those who believe in salvation by association and who express through their lukewarm faith or red-hot lives of sinful passions that discipleship and repentance of sin were difficult and unnecessary. In spiritual matters, they would claim their liberty, and rather than being considering what they could do for God's kingdom, they would more— they were more interested in what they didn't have to do for their golden ticket to heaven. If I seem harsh, please realize that I'm, that I'm very familiar with this type of little faith of the ultra-grace variety. Because that was me. As a Catholic and as an Episcopalian, and yes, even as a born-again Pentecostal Bible-believing Christian, I have had what you could— can call apprehension, if not full-blown resistance to the things of God. And as a skeptic, I feared going off the deep end of religious extremisms and often would stand on— well, let's see— my infant baptism, my my confirmations, one as a Catholic in my youth and one surprise confirmation as an Episcopalian as an adult. We're doing what? Or my sinner's prayers as the proof of my faith, the minimum qualifications for salvation, and, and all I had to do to be a Christian. While I understand that all, all of us want to be sure we are right with God, that mentality of checking theological boxes to be assured of our salvation both forgets something and indicates something. That mentality forgets God and what he has to say about you and your relationship with him. That mentality indicates you don't know the Word of God and you may have a rela— you may not have a relationship with him. We can have assurance of salvation. An examination of God's Word and our confession of faith in Jesus Christ should be enough to tell you in your heart and mind whether you— whether or not you actually put your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you have doubts and question, uh, your hesitancy to believe and follow, I recommend Dietrich Bonhoeffer's advice to believe and to obey, that, that he goes to great lengths to encourage in discipleship. If you don't obey and Um, if you doubt— oh boy, let's see— if you doubt, just obey and it will confirm your belief and faith in Christ. You know, so yeah, just obey. If you doubt, just obey and it will confirm your belief and faith in Christ. I believe in God's word, so I'm going to obey it. I will do God's will for my life. As, as Bonhoeffer writes, those who do the will of God are called and forgiven by grace. They obey and follow, and that's the proper order. We are forgiven by grace. We are not forgiven by grace because we obey and follow. We are forgiven by grace and made alive in Christ through faith in him, so we obey and follow. Just gonna highlight those things. And in the middle of my podcast, sorry. Um, let's see. And if we believe and obey, we won't be asking, what do I don't have to do to be a Christian? Or what can I not do to still— and still be a Christian? Um, because that's possibly a long list. Technically, I suppose it's possible that you could choose You could choose to not be baptized, not give tithes or offerings to the church, not go to church, not pray, not sing worship songs, not read the Bible, not— and not evangelize. While those things are not required for salvation— we are saved by faith in Christ alone, after all— they are good indicators, although not proofs, of a relationship with God. I myself, because of my sinful past and sinful bondages after becoming a Christian, didn't feel able, willing, or worthy of doing many, many things on that list. In my spiritual infancy, I thought it was best to not draw attention to myself in case God wanted to change his mind, which proved I didn't know his word, which tells us that nothing can separate us from his love. But God calls us to follow. And live with him forever. And hiding from him and the church and Christian discipline, uh, discipleship practices, and the way to have a relationship with God— while we can know the facts of the gospel, our assurance and growth as a Christian come from seeking the Lord and spending time in his presence through his word and in his church. So don't Ask what you don't have to be a Christian. Instead, ask the Lord how you can know him more and obey his will for your life. We don't want to walk that thin line between heaven and hell and not be sure of our place in God's kingdom. We want to take progressive steps of faith that will draw us closer to the Lord and assure us that we are free indeed and secure in his love and kingdom. Forever. As always, I encourage— well, no, not as always, sorry, jumped into the text. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on children, and today's verse is Psalm 8, verse 2. And the Word of God says, out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength. Because of your foes, to set still the enemy and the avenger. Today's verse falls under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on children, which says God delights in the praise and worship of children. Today's verses are admittedly somewhat mysterious to me, but I think that the psalmist, because this is a hymn of praise, is stating that even children can declare the glory of the Lord in the awe and wonder they express when experiencing God's creation. Luckily, the context of the psalm draws this out, as most of Psalm 8 is about God's creation. The foes of God would say there is no God, I guess. Hello, atheists and Satan. But the heavens declare there is, there is a Creator God. The fact and design of creation scream it. Any rational person should be stilled by it. As for our resource author's point, God does delight in the praise and worship of all his children, young and old. He sent Christ so we can have peace with him, and Revelation indicates that those who enter into his kingdom by faith in Jesus will praise and worship him forever and ever. And so we should praise him. Amen. Uh, as always, I invite all to go to— and mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Arthur Pink Anthology, a collection of A.W. Pink's tracts brought together in one book and dispersed here on the blog for your encouragement. Today we're still in, we're still in tract number 2, which is another gospel, but we are drawing a conclusion as this is the fifth and final part of that that, that message that we're sharing today. So if you want to read the message in its entirety, you would just have to go back, you know, 4 other blog posts, and you'd get all of that resource from A.W. Pink. And, um, yeah, so we don't want to believe another gospel. We want to believe in the gospel of the kingdom of God. We want to believe in the gospel of faith and Christ alone to save. You know, so Christ taught about the kingdom, and the Bible tells us to believe in him, and he will be our king forever and ever. Amen. So, uh, and that's why we, we try to trust and obey. Um, you know, and the more you follow, the more you will understand. And the more you read his word, the more you know God's truth, the more you'll know God. And you'll lose any doubts about your salvation, and you won't ask what you don't have to do to be a Christian. You'll ask, "What should I do as a Christian?" And that makes your purpose in life. We don't live irrespective— you know, our faith isn't something on the side of our lives. It's supposed to be the thing that, you know, it's the thing that'll determine our eternal destiny, and it's the thing that should define our life. It was never meant to be a hobby or an interest that we put on the side and, you know, put out of the way of the rest of real life. Our life in Christ is supposed to be the most— to be everything, as we are called to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then love our neighbors as ourselves. We're supposed to have that love of God first. And so that's why we encourage a life of Christian discipleship, where we draw close to the Lord through knowing his word and seeking his will for our lives. When we follow him, our lives change. And I can attest that it's so much better to have a life that is busy cultivating the fruit of the Spirit than one that's, you know, removed and selfish, um, from God. So we encourage faith. And, um, even though I don't have to work today, we're still going to pray because we want the Lord to go before us. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all you do, um, for us, all you've done for us. Lord, we just, um, pray that you would come alongside our friends who are listening or reading today's message, that you Bless them, bless their prayer requests, and come alongside them in their walk, because we all need your help. And even though I don't have to technically work today, I'll be doing work with ministry— prayer ministry today, Lord. So we need your help and guidance to keep us safe in our travels and to let us be open to what you want to do and what your Holy Spirit leads us to do in prayer ministry today. And we ask for your help to help us complete the work where we have to do for our, for our studies and for our ministry. Um, we rarely have a day where we don't want to do something for you, and we just want to be guided to do that with peace and grace and not in our own efforts, but according to your will and your spirit, Lord. So we just pray for you to go before us today. Show us the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom and lead others to life eternal and faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.