Christ's Sacrifice is Our Gain!

Scott Williams has some incredible posts on his website. Today he has one on the effect guilt has in our lifes, how it makes us so insecure. It is located here. Link. I totally agree with Scott. When I read his post I started thinking about the mission of the church.

A couple of years ago, while I was still in the Air Force, I had a friend Dave that was Episcopalian. I asked him once what the difference was between the Episcopalian and Catholic churches. Dave answered that the Episcopalian church is the same as the Catholic church minus the guilt. Maybe he wasn't totally correct theologically, but I have thought about his response on and off for the last couple of years. Why does the church lay such a guilt trip on Christians? Scott's post got me going again on the subject of guilt.

In Luke 5:30-32 it says,

The Pharisees and their sribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered and said to them, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance".

Praise the Lord that He came to call sinners to repentance, because each and every one of us is a sinner. We would be completely lost if not for Christ. It is only due Christ's death on the cross that God's grace has been extended to me. Because of Christ's sacrifice an insignificant worm like me who is just a bug splat on the windscreen of eternity can have a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Through Christ's death God has justified me; he has made me clean just as if I'd never sinned. Christ's death has justified me for every sin I have ever committed or will commit. To believe that it is due to something I have accomplished in my life is pretty self-centered. We are all sinners, and as far as God is concerned, how big or small the sin is doesn't matter. The Lord doesn't categorize sins as big or small, only we do that. The guilt trip isn't the doing of God, it is our own making. The restoration trip is what God is all about.

So if the Lord restores and justifies us, then why are we all so insecure? I think it is because sometimes we have a problem believing how God's grace works. We are insecure because we try to live out our sanctification in our earthly lives and we link that to justification. As long as I am on this earth I will sin, but God's grace through Christ's sacrifice still continues to cover my sins for all eternity.

I think Scott's post is so linked to his earlier one on being a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). We are eternally forgiven for everything we have done, do, and will do. That's the easy part. The hard part is waking up each morning and choosing to believe it and act it out. It is something we need to do for ourlseves and something we need to commit to collectively as the body of Christ. We have to believe we are forgiven deep within our selves and then also treat our brothers and sisters like we believe God's grace and forgiveness has changed everything in their lives also. We aren't perfect, but we are fogiven!