America’s Open Season: Spiritual Awakening?

During the past few months, America has been engaged in what appears to be an “open season” of accusations and confessions of past indiscretions.  On a national and historic level, men like Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jefferson have been criticized for their racism and bigotry.  Angry reactions have led to the toppling of time-honored statues that have honored these and other American leaders.  

"Search ME O God...see if there be any wicked way in ME."

On the Hollywood scene, disclosure of the sexual improprieties associated with Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and others has exposed a whole culture of immorality with a long history that is strewn with ruined lives.  Then, in recent days, the “open season” has spread to Washington where names Roy Moore, Al Franken, and Bill Clinton are making the news.   It is clear that, not unlike the culture of Hollywood, the “swamp” of Washington has been growing and festering for many years.

On the surface, America’s soul searching appears to be driven by political and ideological motivations, and maneuverings.  However, many Christ-followers are viewing this season as a call to pray that something deeper, more fundamental, and lasting may be possible.  Is it possible that America is beginning to realize the heavy price it has to pay for having rejected God’s moral absolutes?  Will America realize that her foundation has been strong because she has respected the Judeo-Christian moral code that includes loving God above all else and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10: 27)?  These laws were given by a loving God to promote abundant life and blessing, not boredom and pain.  God has been lovingly saying to us through His Word, “thou shall not, because I love you; and if you do, you and others will be hurt!   If you lie, hate, gossip, steal, commit adultery, and covet, it will separate you from my love, and my Life.  I have given you a choice:  life and blessedness, or death and dispair.”

How should Christ-followers respond to the daily news of the “toppling” of statues and the improprieties of personalities representing in many cases people that we held in high esteem?  Many Christ-followers have been praying that God would bring healing of the great political, moral, ethnic, and socioeconomic divisions in America.  Yet this morning, I am struck by the need for the light of God’s truth to be directed into my own heart, first and foremost.  What is being played out in Hollywood, Washington, and in cities across America is not foreign to my own life experience.  I too have sinned.  I sin daily--sometimes in my private thought life, and sometimes outwardly though ill chosen words or actions toward my wife or others.  I am not who I think I am.  I am who God knows me to be.  And, when I open God’s Word, the Bible, I can see as in a mirror the man that I really am.

The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 7: 7, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “Thou shall not covet.”   He goes on to say that, once he realized the Law against coveting, it produced in me coveting of every kind (v. 8).  Paul admits that nothing good dwells in me  because I do the very thing I do not wish to do (Romans 7: 18, 20).”   I can so clearly relate to Paul’s dilemma.  Can’t you? 

We all share the same “flesh” because we are biological and spiritual descendents of fallen Adam (Genesis 3).  But, Romans 8 explains that

Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8: 3-4).

Based on this truth, it follows that when we “die to the flesh” (i.e. give up on our own attempts to be righteous before God) and accept the offering of Christ’s perfect life, death, and resurrection, that we can be “born again” to walk in newness of life.  Then, as spiritual reborn individuals, we have the power of God’s Spirit within us to direct us along the morally right path in life and to convict us when we tend to go astray in thought or action (2 Timothy 3: 16).

How should I respond to the apparent “open season” on moral transgressors in America?  I must remember that as far as I am concerned, God’s first love and concern is not about Roy Moore or Kevin Spacey, or even about a spiritual reawakening in America.  Rather, God is concerned about my sensitivity to sin and my willingness to confess and turn from my wicked ways. 

Gordon T. Smith, in The Voice of Jesus, Discernment, Prayer, and the Witness of the Spirit, explains that we must “avoid the temptation to look at others rather than yourself.  We cannot know how God is convicting another; we can only know our own hearts.”  We must first examine our own life.  The Spirit of Christ within us calls us to pray with the psalmist David as he prayed (Psalm 139: 23-24),

Search me of God Search me, O God,
and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

As we search our hearts in light of God’s Word (Hebrews 4: 12), we realize that, as Smith further notes,

Sin is not merely bad deeds. 

Rather we are wise to be attentive to…how the Spirit might be convicting us with respect to our speech, the attitude of our hearts, our mental propensities as well as what we have actually done [or]…what we have neglected to do…  But the bottom line remains:  “Lord, where are you calling me to turn—not the person next to me in the pew on Sunday, not my colleagues at the office or family members, not anyone else but me?”  We seek the grace to know the convicting ministry of the Spirit that calls us from death to life; that empowers us to embrace the life of God.

Yes, we are in an “open season” of disclosure of the sins of celebrities and political leaders, and of toppling of historical statues.  But, sadly many don’t know the next step.  We can see “the spot” of individual or national sin.  And, like Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, we are beginning to cry, “Out, damn spot!”  But we don’t realize that only by turning to God can the spots be removed through repentance and confession of our sin.  It’s not Bill Clinton or Roy Moore, “It’s me first, Lord!  Open season on my heart!  I must open my heart to your loving search for what is not life and peace, but sin and death.  May I humbly confess and turn from that which dishonors you and separates me from walking with You.  With David (Psalm 51: 12-13) I will pray,

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.

Me first!  Then, what next?   Maybe God will bring another “Great Awakening.”

Compelled by Christ’s Love for a Cousin

I know a man in Christ who is mourning the loss of his beloved cousin. He was several years younger than her.  They had grown up together on neighboring farms managed jointly by their fathers.  His father tried to lead his family on a Christ-centered foundation; but her father gave little or no effort toward leading his family to faith in Christ.  As they entered adulthood, their communication ceased except for rare conversations at family gatherings.  These brief encounters revealed that the girl he had once known had become hardened, saddened, and without a God-centered source of hope and joy.

Then, three years ago, the two cousins reestablished more frequent communication when he initiated regular phone conversations and sent cards and letters.  This year, during the month of August, she mourned the death of a man with whom she had lived for over 40 years.  During her mourning, she granted her cousin a visit to her home, and she received his sympathy and comfort.  She listened politely as he humbly spoke of God’s unfailing grace and love that is available to all who open their hearts to Him.  He encouraged her to establish a daily routine of rest, good nutrition, and regular reading about God’s love and comfort found in the Bible he had given her.  He remembered emphasizing the theme, “Hope in God because He cares for you.”

She lived barely two months after the loss of her partner.  Aside from occasional contact with her neighbor, it appears that her only close companion was her dog.

All of us experience the loss of loved ones through death.  But, this man that I know in Christ remained deeply concerned about something that was missing in his cousin’s life--something that would likely determine her eternal destiny.  What was it?  And why was he so deeply concerned?  Finally, how could this man be so sure that his cousin would not have gone to heaven when she died?  What follows is my effort to answer these questions based on what I learned from the man that I know in Christ.

What Must We Do to Be Saved?

“Why,” I asked him, “are you so concerned about the eternal destiny of your cousin?”  He reached for his Bible and asked me if I would agree that the Bible is God’s inspired revelation of Truth to mankind.  I nodded “Yes.” Then, he read the Bible’s own self-declaration of its authority:  …All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It corrects us when we are wrong and trains us for a life that has God’s approval  (2 Timothy 3: 16, New Living Translation, and God’s Word Translation).

Knowing that we agreed on the authority of Scripture, he then referred me to 2 Corinthians 5:1 which states, …if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  He explained that each of us has a soul, representing our personality which resides within our physical body, or “house.”  According to this verse, when we die, our soul leaves the “house” which then decays (“is torn down”).  With an expression of sadness, he explained that his cousin’s neighbor had found her dead in her home.  Yet, according to Scripture, her “person” had already departed at her death; only her body was found.  According to Hebrews 9: 27, God’s judgment will decide her eternal destiny-- And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.

I responded to his mention of “judgment” with a shiver that he must have sensed.  He reminded me that God does not send anyone to Hell.  People choose this place.  Indeed, God is not willing that any should perish (be separated from God), but that all should come to repentance (turning from our sin and living in agreement with God’s Word) (2 Peter 3: 9).   Then, we read Romans 6: 23:  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  We agreed that each person is responsible to accept God’s gift.  In other words, God desires that we “choose Life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). 

Next, he referred me to Romans 10: 9-10 (emphasis mine) which explains how a person responds through faith to God’s transforming power, resulting in His righteousness (approved standing before God) and salvation from our sin:

 …that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

The man I know in Christ then explained that if his cousin had confessed that she is a sinner in need of a Savior and accepted the free gift of God provided through Christ, God would see her as one who is clothed in the righteousness of the sinless Christ Who died in her place on the cross.  He smiled as he summarized this Gospel (“God’s good news”) of Christ as if there were a ray of hope that she may have accepted God’s gift.  Then, his sadness returned and I wondered again how he could be so deeply concerned about her eternal destiny?

Compelled by Christ’s Love

In a busy world where so many things compete for our attention, this man I know in Christ seemed almost fanatical to express so much concern about “the hereafter.”  Why was he so compelled to share the Gospel of God’s love with his cousin?  My answer wasn’t long in coming as he opened his Bible to Luke 16: 19-31.  There, Jesus recounts the story of two men, one rich the other poor.  Both men died and their souls were transported to very different places.  The rich man ended up in Hades, not because he was rich but because he had rejected God during his life on Earth.  There Jesus described him as being “in torment… [and] in agony in this place of flame” (v. 23, 24).  The poor man, named Lazarus, a man of faith in God, “died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom” (v. 22).  There, Lazarus was “being comforted” (v. 25).

In this unusual account, Jesus Christ, the God of Eternity, reveals to us a partial view of the reality of life after physical death.  First, we learn that our eternal destiny depends upon how we respond to God’s gift of salvation while on Earth.  Second, we learn that we do not sleep or cease to exist after death.  Instead, the souls of those who have died physically are very much alive and able to experience their surroundings, whether in a place of torment or with God and other people of faith.  When they die, the unrighteous--those who have rejected God’s gift of righteousness--will be separated from the righteous by a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us (Luke 16: 26).

The man I know in Christ was now teaching me about life after death, and he now had my rapt attention. There was one more powerful truth that we can glean from Christ’s revelation.  In Luke 16: 27-31, Jesus reveals that the rich man in torment asks that Lazarus be sent to warn his family of the impending judgment and eternal torment awaiting them if they do not respond to the message of the God’s love and salvation.  According to the words of Abraham, God has made every provision through His revelation in creation and in Scripture so that those who reject His Gift of righteousness while living on Earth are without excuse when they die (see also Romans 1: 16-24).  Yet, according to this account many will reject these revelations of truth and will remain unbelieving even if someone were to die and be resurrected from the dead.  In fact, many remained unbelieving even after watching Jesus raise another man named Lazarus from the dead (John 11); and then, Jesus Himself was resurrected from the dead (Luke 24:6).

I now realized exactly why this man had been so compelled to share the good news of Christ with his cousin and others in the family.  As if to further inoculate me with his sense of urgency about those yet living who have been rejecting God’s call to them, he invited me to read more of the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5.  This time, in verses 10-11, I read,

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  Therefore, since we know what it means to fear of the Lord, we persuade men…

We continued reading the rest of 2 Corinthians 5, including verse 14-15 which states that …the love of Christ compels us…so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.  Upon hearing this verse, I begin to feel within my own heart the power of Christ’s love lifting me out of my self-centeredness to share this man’s concern for lost souls.  I was especially challenged by the way Paul’s words in verses 20-21 (emphasis mine) placed my sense of urgency into a call to action (emphasis mine):

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

After a period of time to think about these Scriptures, I felt a calm assurance in my conscience that it was my faith in Christ, not my own good works that had made me acceptable in God’s eyes.  But also I experienced reverent fear of God’s power and His perfect justice that decides the fate of every person.  How could I not share in the passion, the compulsion, and the same sense of urgency that this man I know in Christ has shown for others? How could I not help but want my loved ones and friends to know the joy of walking with Christ daily and being assured He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13: 5), even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23: 4).

Not Willing That Anyone Should Perish

I sat with the man I know in Christ for awhile; neither of us spoke.  Then, his face beamed with an expression of hope as he turned and began to share a new insight.  Could it be that his cousin had avoided the place of eternal torment.  Maybe she is now in the presence of Christ.  We both believed that as long as a person responds to God’s invitation for salvation before death comes, they can be saved.  As the Apostle Paul writes, [God] saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit…(Titus 3: 5). 

If we are saved, not by works, but by faith, then a life-long rejecter of God’s love and mercy can be saved if they admit their need of forgiveness even in the final minutes of their life?   While pondering this amazing truth, we each remembered an important conversation among three men who had been crucified by the Romans as common criminals Luke 23: 39-43). 

Jesus Christ and two criminals had been sentenced to death.  According to Luke, each man was nailed to a wooden cross where they suffered horribly.  One of the criminals was rudely mocking Jesus.  But the other criminal rebuked the abuser saying, "Do you not even fear God?”  Then, he reminded him that they both deserved to die for their crimes, but Jesus was innocent.  After saying this, the repentant criminal turned painfully to look at Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!"  And Jesus replied, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

How amazing is the love and grace of God through Christ that would welcome this criminal in the final minutes of his life to be with Him in paradise for eternity.  Neither criminal had performed any works to merit Eternal Life.  But one of the criminals had looked to the cross of Christ, repented of his sin, and asked Jesus to take him with Him to Paradise.  This conversation between Jesus and a criminal from their crucifixion crosses underscores the biblical claim that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3: 9).   Truly, God is not willing.  But, before I can be saved I must be willing—willing to (1) agree with God that “I am a sinner,” (2) be willing to repent (turn from a life of sin), (3) believe that the death and resurrection of Christ occurred in order to take away my sin, and (4) invite Christ to come into my life and control my life through His Holy Spirit.

One truth had become very clear to me and to this man I know in Christ:  If his cousin had at some point before her death been willing to accept by faith God’s gift of Eternal Life, then we could be sure she was now with Jesus in Paradise.  The decision had been hers to make. 

But, on the other hand, had the God done His part to make His Good News clear to this dear cousin?  I watched his face become very somber as he related to me how he had explained God’s love to her in spoken word and through his cards and letters.  In one phone conversation, after his cousin’s partner had been diagnosed with cancer, his cousin’s partner asked him, “Where is your God when I need Him?”  This angry plea became an open door for the man I know in Christ to graciously respond that, “Many people in pain like yours have asked this same question.” Rather than speak at length on the phone to this angry man, he excused himself and later wrote a letter to both his cousin and her suffering partner that included the following words:

My answer to “Where is God when you need Him?” is found in God’s Word, the Bible.  Psalm 145, verses 18 and 19 tells us,

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.

God is very near and knows all about us.   God’s will is that we “call upon Him in truth.”  God’s first concern for us is not in keeping rules like going to church.  Instead, we develop a relationship with God by spending time with Him (worshipping and learning more about Him from His Scriptures).

But, God will not badger us.  He has revealed Himself through creation, in the Bible, through Jesus, and through the love and concern of other people.  It is up to us to “let him into our lives.”  You must have heard this before, but in Revelation 3: 20 we read Jesus saying,

'Behold, I stand at the door and knock;
if anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and will dine with him,
and he with Me.

God is very near, and His Son, Jesus is knocking at the door of our lives.  One artist painted the scene as he imagined it.   Notice in the painting, there is no knob on the door!  God waits for us to open the door of our lives.  He expects us to think for ourselves.  When we are hurting we can cry out to Him….”Where were you God when I needed you?”  God will not break when we shout at Him.

The man I know in Christ explained that he had closed his letter with a short invitation to his cousin and her partner to talk more about this with him.  He also included a tiny “Personal Bible” which provides an excellent sequence of Scripture verses on the nature of man, God’s love for man, and man’s sin and need of a Savior. 

The man that I know in Christ had given his cousin and her partner all of the information needed to understand and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Indeed, his zeal and passion to reach the soul of his cousin in a loving way seems to have been driven by nothing less than the power of God, making him an ambassador for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through him as he pleaded to his cousin on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Was his beloved cousin, by an act of believing faith in Christ, set free from the sin and bondage of her troubled life on Earth to find a freedom in Christ she had never known?  Or, did she continue to reject the love and mercy of God all the way to the end of her physical life?  Regardless of the answers to these questions, the man I know in Christ now rest assured on two important truths.  First, he knows that God had used him at least in part to make His loving appeal to this cousin.  And second, he was assured by his faith that God is good and just, and is unwilling that any should perish.

How About You?
You may have read this article and are left with a sense of confusion, uncertainty, and even fear.  If you have never encountered the “Good News” or Gospel, let me help.   The “Good News” is summarized in an outline called “Steps to Peace with God” which explains God’s love, our predicament (sin and separation from God), what Jesus has done to address our predicament, and what you can do by faith to receive God’s righteousness (right standing with a Holy God).  If you have additional questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail me at silviusj@cedarville.edu