Jesus versus mere religion

Recently, I heard first-hand the story of how a man came to believe in God i.e. as revealed to us in the unique person of Jesus. This man had been born into a well-to-do religious family. By the time he became a teenager and then into his university years, he was fearful of the sovereign God that his religion presented to him. He became more depressed as he realised that his eliefs gave no assurance that he would enter heaven. He knew that his life was less than perfect and although God might forgive him, then again he might not. The bottom line was that the best he could do was to try and do good things to compensate for the bad, but he saw a problem with this approach. ‘What was the exchange rate? If I told a lie what good thing would wipe this out?’ He didn’t know and no one could tell him. He was in despair and hopeless, believing that he was damned.

Now I don't know enough about this guy's religion to know whether his understanding of it was a fair representation of its beliefs. Nevertheless, the fact remains that how he did understand things left him in a very unhappy place. To cut a long story short, he found himself talking to some Christians and they showed him this verse from the New Testament: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us…’

For Christians, this is a well-known verse that shows how even when we mess up and let God down there is a way back. If we confess our sins and turn again to God, we can have assurance of full forgiveness. Interestingly, this friend said, ‘What hit me right between the eyes was that phrase “God is faithful and just”’. Until this moment, his understanding was that God, being absolutely sovereign, could choose one day to forgive and on another to withhold that forgiveness.

The declaration that God is faithful and just showed him that God was actually consistent with his own character, and so to be faithful and just one day and different the next was impossible.

The man was keen to learn more and soon became a Christian. He’d discovered how, because of Jesus, we can be assured of God’s consistency and faithfulness.

The love of God

Come November and I think of bonfire night; February and (thanks to St Valentine) I think of love! Most people who have ideas about God will feel on safe ground when they tell us that God is a God of love. This is certainly true but it is not the whole truth. God is also the God of light, justice, truth and holiness but because these make us feel a little uncomfortable, we want to focus on God being loving and kindly. Does God love everyone equally and in the same way? If your immediate response is to say ‘of course’, then is his love for, let’s say, Nobel peace prize winner Mother Teresa on a par with that of Adolf Hitler?

Jesus explains to us in what sense God’s love for people is general and impartial. He says that God sends his rain onto the farmland of both the just and the unjust, and he makes his sun shine on evil and good people alike. So God’s love and kindness reveal his general disposition towards men and women even though they may be his enemies.

During the course of our lives, we each experience pain and suffering, losses and griefs. The hymn Amazing Grace recognises that we pass through many ‘dangers, toils and snares’. Yet there are endless, hidden tribulations that, due to the grace and love of God, will never touch us. If we are willing, we can view these unseen providential deliverances as expressions of God’s love and kindness to each of us even though we have to admit that we don’t deserve them.

But there is more, much more. God has a particular love for a group of people which he calls ‘his own’. Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd of these - God’s own people. He says he knows his own sheep by name and that these sheep recognise his voice, so giving them assurance that they belong to God in a definite way. This group of men and women are given a sense of God’s love and kindness in a way that isn’t common to the experience of everyone. You can know this love of God also. Look up the gospel of John chapter 3 verse 16.

Christian hope - what is it?

It was Robert Louis Stevenson who said: ‘To travel hopefully is a better thing than

to arrive’, by which I think he meant that the working towards a goal can be more

fulfilling than the actual attaining of that goal. Or taking it at a lighter level, a

child’s hope and anticipation of Christmas can be more exciting than Christmas

Day itself.

Hope is an essential part of Christianity; hope, that is, in the sense of anticipation

and expectation rather than mere wishful thinking.

So what is this Christian hope? The New Testament author, Paul, writing to fellow

Christian believers said, ‘I consider that our present sufferings are not worth

comparing with the glory to come.’ And he knew about sufferings first-hand. What

is this ‘glory to come’, the goal of Christian hope?

Before attempting to answer, I must first digress. I’m of an age where I know of

many people who are really struggling with disease, failing body parts and minds

that no longer function properly. Increasingly, I hear announcements that so-and-

so has died. Such things are not restricted to the older generation either, my

daughter’s close friend Amy has just died of cancer leaving a husband and six-

year-old daughter. Amy was just 35.

So, what of that ‘glory to come’, the goal of Christian hope? Well, how do we

describe Heaven? We can’t. But here’s part of what has been revealed by God in

the Bible. No longer frustrated by our human frailties of this present life, we’ll be

completely free to enjoy the purpose and fulfilment that God has for those who

love him. All evils will have been banished, justice will have been enacted and

death will be no more.

This is Christian hope and as such is only for Christian people, but it can be yours

also. However, Christian faith must preceed Christian hope. Faith in Jesus,

means trusting him when he claims to be all that we need for this life and the life

to come

Amy (mentioned above) died with Christian hope, which she freely spoke about

with others right up to the end. Amy was a Bible reader and so would have known

this verse: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God

has prepared for those who love him...’