The Beautiful Plan of Redemption

These are some verses that I've been meditating on a lot lately. I've arranged them to help me think through telling the story of redemption to others.

God created us in His image and was in perfect relationship with us (Genesis 1-2).

We were deceived and turned our backs on God (Genesis 3).

Since then, no one has been righteous. Not even one. All of us fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10, 23). We deserve to be eternally separated from God for all eternity (Romans 6:23).

Since all of us have turned from God and are unable to save ourselves, God planned a rescue operation that was only His doing (Jonah 2).

Jesus was the plan (John 3:16).

He went to the cross to give us His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

We receive Jesus' righteousness as a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) after we hear the gospel proclaimed to us (Ephesians 1:13) and the Holy Spirit convicts us (John 16:8) of the bad things we've done and the good things we've worshiped apart from God (Romans 1:25).

Some religious people reject God's rescue plan through Jesus and so they create other things to do to appear righteous before God (Romans 10:3). These people will not spend eternity with God (Matthew 7). These people experience worldly grief (a guilt that spurs them to make themselves holy by doing good things), not godly grief (a guilt that spurs us to call out and plead with Jesus to give us His holiness) (2 Corinthians 7:10).

For those who do not cling to their own righteousness, but plead for mercy, the Holy Spirit is sent to dwell in their hearts and renew them them day by day so that they can become the people that God intended them to be (Titus 3:4-6). The Holy Spirit produces in these people the same kind of loving affection for God the Father that Jesus had (Galatians 4:6).

These people become confrontational messengers and go on to spread the news (Acts 2:38) that Jesus is our only hope to get back into right relationship with the Father again (John 14:6).

One day Jesus will come back to completely put an end to Satan, sin, and death (Revelation 12:10).

When that happens, just like the beginning of the story, we will live in perfect relationship with God and dwell with Him forever (Revelation 21:3).

Quick Musing On Heaven

I have heard over and over again from students back in Nebraska and here in San Diego that good people are going to heaven. The problem is that morally good people are some of the worst out there! We tend to view sin in terms of outward behavior rather than an inward reality. It's easier to spot sin in a guy getting drunk than a religious person's pride who judges that drunk.

This is the problem with our view of heaven.

If these type of “good” people are going to heaven, then heaven will not be heaven at all. Heaven will be filled with tons of morally good prideful people who do not worship God as their savior but worship themselves as being their own savior.

When someone comes up to me and says that most people are going to heaven (minus a few Hitler types) then I let them know that heaven won't look much different than the world we live in now.

What if heaven was a place where pride didn't exist? What if heaven was not place of boasting in self, but a place where Jesus was boasted in as being our savior?

That is the true heaven and most people don't want to go there. How can we know? Well, if people aren't willing to enter into gospel-centered communities here on earth – places they can come into, confess sin, and worship Jesus – why would they want to do that when they die?

God is a God of justice. He will let people have what they want.

If some people want a heaven where they deserve to be, filled with morally good people who think they deserve to be there as well, then God will let them have that. But, it will be hell since this place will be void of people who are humble and void of the presence of God.

If other people want a heaven where they don't deserve to be, and they trust in Jesus as their only hope to get there, God will grant them their request.

A Day On a Cali Campus: Tuan and Tolerance Idol

In the last post I talked about encountering Edgar who has made family the end goal of his life. One of the other students I met, Tuan, has made tolerance his end goal.

Jon, a Virginia Tech student, and I listened to Tuan talk about how much he appreciated Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and so on. He tolerates all religions.

Tolerance is the air that post-modern students breathe. It sounds so good on the outside, but is one of the most destructive ideas on the college campus right now. Tolerance is the idea we should accept the beliefs or worldviews of everyone. It's the belief that there are many roads to heaven as well as many ways to live.

I told Tuan that tolerance at first glance seems like the most ultimate form of love. But, when you put tolerance through a “real life grid” its weaknesses are exposed. For example, if a father or mother does not have a worldview for his kids to grow up in, the family will fall apart. If every idea that the kids acted on was tolerated by the parents, it would end up bringing chaos to everyone's life. True love is shown when the kids are restricted to listening to and following their parent's wisdom. The way which seems narrow to the kids is actually the best way.

To use another example, if a patient has cancer and is in need of chemo or radiation, why would he/she want the doctor to tell them that there are other people out there with other alternatives – such as “positive thinking”? Would that be a loving thing to say or do? Of course not.

Christianity is amazing. It is the only religion in the world in which God came to the earth Himself to clear up the confusion on truth. He said, “I am the way.” This leads us not to speculation, but to revelation.

Yes, Jesus' message is narrow (exclusive), but it is also good news since it offered for everyone (inclusive). When we worship Jesus and trust in Him as the only way to salvation, it makes life much less confusing.

When every answer is right, no answer can be right. That's what tolerance promotes - a false sense of love by accepting everything. But in the process, everyone stays blind because no one has knows anything for sure.