Keeping a tab...

So here's the question of the week: "Do you think people can 'earn' their way into heaven? Why or why not?"


I was talking to my mom about this question, trying to find the best way to put my thoughts into words. She reminded me of a story that she used to tell the students she worked with while on staff with Campus Crusade for Life.


Dawn breaks over the California coast as two men dressed in swimsuits stare out at the vast body of water in front of them. The sun is reflected in the clear water giving a sense of peace. 
The taller of the two men wears a confident smile to match the glimmer of sunshine in his hazel eyes. While he stands stretching his legs and preparing for the arduous swim before him, the second man looks insecure. He stand more than four inches shorter than man next to him in stature and confidence.


"So Dan, are you ready?" Asks Hazel eyes as he claps Dan on the back, "Swimming to Hawaii is going to be awesome!"


Dan gulps, "Actually..."


He digs his feet into the cold morning sand and looks uncomfortable.


Hazel eyes laughs it off, "Come on man! I'm a great swimmer, don't worry about it!"


"But Steve, what about sharks?" He says looking concerned, "Or changes in the tide? What if we get tired? What are we --"


Hazel eyes, or Steve, argues back. "Stop being such a worry wort."


They go on for a while arguing whether or not they should carry out their plan when an older gentleman walks up. 


He stares thoughtfully at the boys for a minute and then speaks, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear you two talking about swimming to Hawaii."


Steve's face lights up with enthusiasm, while Dan looks down at his feet. 


The old man looks back and forth between both boys, "You do know that no matter how good a swimmer," he looks at Steve, "Or how awful a swimmer you are," he looks at Dan, "that neither of you will make it to Hawaii by swimming alone?"




Let's say for a moment that Hawaii is "heaven" and swimming is "works." There is no way that we can get there based solely on works alone. Like Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."


In the Old Testament, God required "works" through sacrifices to show help people remain humble and as a way to show them something better was coming. Sacrifices couldn't wholly cleanse them in the way that Christ dying for our sins accomplished.


Hebrews 10, especially the New Living translation, describes how the old system required people to trust God by offering sacrifices. Through Christ dying on the cross for our sins, he wrote the law on our hearts and as verse 17 says, "I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." 


"And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices." (Heb 10:18 NLT)


So like the men who tried to swim to Hawaii by themselves, we can't pile up works or swim our way to heaven.


God has already erased your sins. Like Ephesians 2:8, 9 says, our salvation is a result of a free gift from God. We accepted it through faith, but we can't receive it through works. 


Getting to heaven isn't a competition between who can rack up the most points. It is a free, though not easy, gift from God.

A follow up to thoughts on Sanctification...

In class today, our teacher urged us to probe deeper into the question of sanctification. 
He asked: "if sanctification is God's responsibility, then why don't we see more "sanctified" persons around us -- especially among older adults, those who are supposed to be more mature Christians?
"Conversely, if sanctification is primarily our responsibility, does this possibly explain why we don't see more sanctified people?"


Here are some of my thoughts:


If sanctification means "the process of becoming holy," how can we sanctify ourselves? Only God is holy and can make us holy. Who am I to say, "Alright, I have declared myself holy" ?
Yes. We have to put forth effort, a lot in fact, but it really is only God who can sanctify us. We should be working on maintaining a solid relationship with God because the closer we are to Him, the more he can work in our lives and change us from within.


I'm not trying to step on toes when I say this, but I believe the reason that we are not seeing more "sanctified" persons around us is because they are not truly living a life with God. There are many people out there who have said the words, but did not mean the words and make no attempt to maintain a relationship with God or make life changes from their old ways.


James 2:14-26 talks about how faith without works and works without faith cannot function. My favorite part of the passage is verses 15-16, where it says, "If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?"
Verse 26 says, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."


A friend visiting my house has the view that we must sanctify ourselves and he used Joshua 3:5 as an example. The problem with using this verse is that in different translations, it has different meanings. For example, in the Message, it says, "Then joshua addressed the people: 'Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you.'" If you take a look at the New American Standard Bible, which I have had multiple Bible scholars tell me is the closest translation to the original meaning, it says, "Then Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.'"


Consecrate means that you are dedicating something formally to a religious purpose (taken from my handy Apple computer dashboard dictionary). Isn't that such a different meaning from Santification? One means that you are declaring yourself the Lord's child and the other means that you are declaring yourselves Holy.


So here's the bare bones answer: Only God can sanctify us, but we must truly have dedicated ourselves to Him and desire a life-change and allow Him to work within us. This means that we want to spend time with Him in His word and we want to become more like Him.
The reason we aren't seeing more "sanctified" persons around us is because many people are living a life pretending to be something they are not. It sounds good to say that you are a Christian, but to truly live the life of a Christian means facing persecution and standing up for a God that you have let into your life to change you from the inside out. 


The process of sanctification is one that happens over a lifetime. It doesn't happen overnight and will never be completed until the day you go to be with the Lord. 


I would like to leave you with a favorite verse of mine from the book of Philippians.


Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."