Bailout

Most of the world is outraged about AIG giving out 165 million dollars worth of bonuses after receiving 182.5 billion dollars in government handouts to keep their company afloat. I’m outraged, too. The government and those who see government as the answer to people’s problems are outraged because AIG was selfish with the bailout money. I am outraged because they received it at all. I expected them to be selfish with it once they got it. We cannot subsidize bad decision making and then expect those we’ve bailed out to learn valuable lessons and subsequently make good decisions.

My position is an easy one to hold with regard to others, but what about when it comes to me? In the context of God my Savior, am I a spiritual welfare case and, therefore, a hypocrite? After all, I’m against government bailouts, but I’m a huge fan of God’s saving grace.  On one hand I hate the fact that our government saw lenders , borrowers, and major corporations making bad decisions and then provided billions of dollars to insulate those entities from the consequences of their bad decisions. On the other hand, I love the fact that God saw my depravity and came to bail me out. He paid my sin debt to insulate me from the consequences of my bad decisions and I’m overjoyed about it. Is there a difference? Scripture constantly calls the salvation God makes available a “free gift” (Romans 3:24 and 6:23). Isn’t God subsidizing my bad decisions and, if He is, do I have standing to balk at the government’s actions?

My ideological quandry is resolved when I consider the true nature of God’s saving grace. It is a free gift, but it is not a bailout. Jesus didn’t sacrifice Himself to subsidize my sinful life. He sacrificed Himself to purchase my life. Once I give my life to Jesus, the life I live is no longer my own. Paul reminds us in 1 corinthians 6:19-20 that our lives, if purchased of God, are not our own, but have been bought at a staggering price. When we receive salvation, God doesn’t bail us out, He buys us out. Salvation means new ownership, a new 3-Person board of directors, a new mission statement, a new identity, and an unbelievable benefits package.

God in Christ doesn’t subsidize our sin; He removes it. Have you sold out to Jesus? If not, salvation is just one decision away. Choose Christ and choose life. Let the “old self” go under and let your “new self” come to life.

Stimulus Package

Hopeless?

How much is 789 billion dollars? Our government just spent that much on a stimulus package intended to energize our economy. The number is mind boggling. For perspective consider that one billion seconds ago Jesus was walking the earth on His way to Calvary. If dollars were seconds, our national stimulus package would amount to enough seconds to fill more than one million six hundred years! It is staggering how much our nation is spending on “recovery”, but that is nothing compared to how much our nation owes and how much we continue to spend digging a deeper hole. That brings me back to Jesus’ trip to the cross. Jesus was and is God’s stimulus package for mankind. The sin-debt each of us owes God makes our national debt look like pocket change.

Over a billion seconds ago Jesus told His disciples a parable explaining how much we owe God for our sins and what has to happen to pay off our debt. In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus describes a man who owes his king ten thousand talents. The parable was intended to describe the futility of human effort. Ten thousand talents represents 200,000 years’ wages…an impossible debt to pay. Understanding this the king orders that the man and his family be sold into slavery. This won’t satisfy the debt, but it as close to justice as the king will get. The man falls on his knees and begs the king for mercy, promising the impossible…that he will pay every cent he owes. The king is no fool. He knows the man can never pay the debt, but his response shows us God’s heart. Matthew 18:27 reads, “And out of pity for him, the master released him and forgave his debt.”

The king never intended to be paid back. He forgave the debt and took the loss in order to show mercy. Similarly, each of us owes God a debt we couldn’t pay off if we worked at it for 3,000 lifetimes. Many try to pay down their debt to God, but it is futile effort. Go to church, give to the poor, fast for 40-days, light a candle, live an ascetic existence, work, work, work. If we use these things as penance then they are useless, like spitting into the ocean. Even if we were to live sinless lives from this day forward we could never erase the sins of yesterday or today. For every season of Lent, there is Mardi Gras. For every act of penance there is a handful of sinful thoughts and actions, which build our debt. The King is no fool. He knows we cannot pay what we owe. That is why Jesus came.

When we place our faith in Jesus His atoning sacrifice on the cross pays our debt in-full. We no longer work at gaining forgiveness because Christ purchased it for us. When God looks at us and sees Christ’s blood He forgives our debt and releases us from any sin obligation. Not only that, Christ’s blood also insures against future debt. He pays it all, past, present, and future. When we accept God’s stimulus package our former acts of fearful penance either become absolete or turn into joyful acts of worship. Perfect love casts our all fear and Jesus’ love allows those who trust in Him to have a relationship with God free from the fear of judgment.

Jesus stimulates joy, life and light were there had been only darkenss, fear and death.

Quid Pro Quo

Yesterday the Illinois Senate impeached Governor Rod Blogojevich by a vote of 59-0.  I don’t think any of us doubt that political acumen is measured in one’s ability to wheel-and-deal and even a to twist a few arms. Let’s face it; politics is an adversarial enterprise, no matter how much politicians talk about bipartisanship. Conservatism and Liberalism are mutually exclusive ideologies. Add to the equation a person’s desire to be reelected and his or her need to appease their constituency and the environment is bound to be an ethical labyrinth. Gaining and wielding influence, persuading others to see things our way and to side with us, and influencing others is part of life and there are healthy ways to do these things. This is why it is so important to have an absolute moral authority to guide us.

Politicians can be people of integrity and character regardless of their party, but the lines have to get blurred without a strong and absolute moral compass. Now regular citizen, Rod Blogojevich, may or may not be charged criminally, but he put desire above integrity and crossed the line. “Quid Pro Quo” means “something for something.” Quid Pro Quo is as improper in politics as it is in Christianity. We are to exert as much influence as we can, but only within the appropriate boundaries. Politicians are supposed to do what is best for their constituency, not necessarily what their constituency wants. As potential contributors see the job a politician does they will contribute accordingly, but the likelihood of that contribution is never supposed to dictate a politicians next move.  Give-and-take among legislators is fine, but pay-to-play is not. Blogojevich got caught peddling influence instead of wielding it.

So it is with Christians. We are not supposed to do acts of righteousness in an effort to get God to do what we want. Our acts of righteousness are supposed to be motivated both by what God has already done for us and our love for Him. I love God because He first loved me and he sent His Son to atone for my sins. I trust Him as a wonderful Father to bless my obedience, but I should be obedient because I love Him, not because of what I might get out of the deal. What God has already provided for me is more than I’ll ever deserve and more than I could possibly earn in a thousand lifetimes of doing good.

Inaugural Address

Choose this day whom you will serve...

I was proud to hear our new president make a few references to scripture today in his inaugural address. I was happy to hear from him that our ability to carry freedom to future generations requires God’s grace upon us, but I was disappointed to hear him attribute to God promises God has not made.

President Obama’s intent was to lay a foundation of principles upon which we can base hope and from which we can spring in to action as Americans. He stated that we enjoy God’s promises that we are all are equal, we are all free and we all deserve a chance to pursue our full measure of happiness.  I guess one out of three ain’t bad.

God does promise that we are all equal. We are all equally guilty apart from Christ and all who embrace Christ are all equally forgiven. But God makes it abundantly clear that we are not free and that our happiness is not His main concern.

We’re not free. We are slaves (Romans 6). We are all born slaves to sin (Romans 6:6). When we give our lives to Christ we are free from sin, but we become slaves to righteousness Romans 6:18. Nobody, not even the most devout anarchist is actually free. We all serve somebody or some thing (ideologies, passions, religions, desires, etc.).  Slavery to anything other than Christ leads to death. Making one’s self a slave to Christ brings life, hope, forgiveness, and joy. Our Lord is kind, benevolent, patient, merciful, and loving. It is an honor and privilege to serve Him.

It is also true that God doesn’t promise us any measure of happiness. He is good and, therefore, allows us considerable happiness, but happiness is temporal and situational. Happiness can result from satisfying a sinful desire. Happiness is a feeling and it is fleeting. Happiness doesn’t have the grit to see us through tough times. Happiness is Satan’s playground. He gets us all chasing it and lusting after it and, when we don’t get it or it disappears like a vapor, we blame God. What God promises His followers is endurance, abiding joy, and peace that passes all understanding. These fruits of the Holy Spirit transcend emotions (Galatians 5:22-23). They are bedrock benefits of genuine faith in Christ.

Let’s base our hope and our future actions upon the solid bedrock of Jesus Christ and God’s true promises, which are all fulfilled through Him. That will make us not only good Americans, but also faithful subjects of God the King.

A Little Leaven…

Jesus used leaven (yeast) as a metaphor for things both holy and unholy. Jesus warned His disciples to be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducee’s, which was a reference to their improper teaching and their hypocrisy (Matthew 16:2 and Luke 12:1). The Apostle Paul used leaven to describe immorality among God’s people (1 Corinthians 5).

But Jesus also used leaven as a metaphor for the Kingdom of God:“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:33

I reflected on this passage as I read about Barack Obama asking Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. My immediate reaction was, “What is Warren thinking? This is an obvious political ploy to try and get conservatives to let down their defenses,” but that was “the flesh” talking. Truth be told, there is no doubt that asking Pastor Warren to pray at the inauguration is a political move on Barack Obama’s part, but that doesn’t mean it was done with ill-intent. It is a wise political move, but that doesn’t mean it was disingenuous. In any case, Barack Obama’s motivations shouldn’t matter to Christians, anyway (Philippians 1:15-18).

What matters is that a Christ-follower is being asked to pray at an event that will be seen and heard by millions, if not billions of people. We need to rejoice and make our requests known to God (Philippians 4:6). The Holy Spirit will be guiding Rick Warren’s words and thoughts and the world will hear one of God’s children speaking to his Heavenly Father. God tells us in Isaiah 55:10-11 that His word, when issued forth, will never return void and will always accomplish the purposes for which it was intended. Success is a given whenever God’s word is spoken.

It is our duty to pray for our President Elect, but also to pray for Pastor Rick Warren. The good news of Jesus Christ is about to sound forth on a scale that may very well be unprecedented. If a little leaven leavens the whole loaf, what might this boat-load of leaven accomplish? God be praised!