The Endless Mercy of God

First, I’d just like to say that I don’t actually post these as “facebook” posts. If you’re reading this on Facebook it’s because I have my posts automatically mirrored from my real blog on wordpress, “A Stained-Glass Window“.

This paragraph is my preface; please don’t skip it! I learned long ago that in order to fully understand both the content and purpose behind what someone writes, one must read the author’s preface. What I’m about to write may very well be one of the most important things that I ever write. Probably all that will stand near or next to it in importance is my wedding vows, but then again, I could be wrong. Please understand that what you’re about to read is not meant to be a thorough and exhaustive theological treatise on soteriology, hamartiology or anything like that. Likewise, please take into account that I am not writing an apologetic defense of Scripture or the Gospel or the death and resurrection of Christ, nor am I attempting to do anything close to the sort. I’m been thinking about some things over the past couple days; this post is an attempt to put pen to paper, or keypad to pixels in this case, and explain some of the things that I’ve been thinking about. Organization may be lacking (or perhaps not, knowing me) but I hope good things come from it. I hope that you will be encouraged as you read this and that it will spur you on to know how wide, long, deep and high is the love of Christ and how inexhaustible the mercy of God truly is. In writing this I thank two people: I thank my pastor, Vince, because if it were not for God using this man’s compassion in a teen’s most desperate hour, I may not be alive today, and if I was I would not be walking with Christ. Secondly, I thank my girlfriend Amanda who has always prayed for me and has especially been fervent in doing so as my thoughts have been occupied by these things. One more warning: This is going to be a little long. Grab some hot chocolate or coffee, recline, and join me!

So where to start? I suppose questions first started to percolate in my mind a couple nights ago. I was standing in the bathroom, hovering over the sink, and as I briskly rubbed my hands together and allowed the water to rinse the suds from my fingers a thought came to mind. I don’t think I could really point to words; as tried and true as my memory tends to be, there are no words that I remember thinking. All I can think of is this word: Conviction. Out of nowhere it’s like someone hit me in the head with a proverbial brick. For some reason at that very moment I found myself disgusted with sin – with my sin. I’m not referring to any one sin or some heinous sin in particular, but just the plain and simple fact that I – a human made in God’s image but marred in fallen nature – mess up and sin. I count it a good thing that conviction comes. God’s Holy Spirit often works within us in this manner by revealing to us ways in which we need to evaluate our actions and thoughts and come to grips with the fact that we often live wrongfully.

I think the average Christian fails to grasp truthfully the nature of sin. We often see sin as “missing the mark” or failing to meet some standard. There is certainly truth to this; oftentimes our Greek scholars will tell us that the word “sin” derives from was also used of archers in biblical times when they failed to hit the target. When we sin we miss the mark, that mark being righteous living, and we can usually point to some sort of biblical principle, rule, or standard that we’ve violated. While this is true it is also inadequate. Let’s go back to the Garden for a minute.

The first few chapters of Genesis show us the beginning of what we might call “history”. In chapter one we see a brief synopsis of God’s creative act as He brings all things into existence with but a word, and in six days He brings – from nothing – all things into being. All of these things, from the sun and stars to plants and animals, He calls “good”. After stepping back, so to speak, and viewing the totality of His creative works, He “saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” In the second chapter we see another account of God’s creative acts but this time with an emphasis on humankind. We see their creation, the liberties given to them, and the one restriction: “From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”

Chapter three describes what we often entitle “the fall of man”. We all know the story and have heard a thousand times how Satan tempted Eve, twisted the words of God, and how both Adam and Eve disobeyed God. We often label this sin as pride, the chief head from which pretty much all other sin flows. After Adam’s disobedient act, he and his wife hide in the Garden. My guess is that they know that they ultimately cannot hide from their Creator, but they hide anyways being ashamed. “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” I wonder what that sounded like! They hear this and hide, and after a discussion we see the judgment laid out for their disobedient act. But I think at this point, while we’ve gotten most of it right, we fail to capture the most important element!

Let’s rewind for a second. We don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden before this fall takes place. It could be a year, five years, or two thousand years; the narrative just doesn’t tell us and we can’t mistake narrative distance in the text for an actual time distance. I imagine that regardless of how much time and how many years we’re talking about, that time was amazing! Imagine walking with God in that Garden, your Creator, and how amazing it would be to speak with him, talking about the Garden He created and about so many wondrous unspeakable things. Imagine having such an awesome, visible and uninhibited relationship with the God, Lord, and King of the Ages.

Now let’s fast forward again. We’re not just talking about a disobedient act. Picture the person you love more than any other person hurting you, not out of ignorance but intentionally. Imagine that pain; you’re not hurting because they broke a rule but because they’ve hurt you! What we’re talking about in this Genesis account is not simply the breaking of a code or disobeying a rule; we’re talking about a shattered relationship. God and humankind, once in perfect relational harmony, are now in complete disconnect. Imagine the heart of God in the face of this defiance!

Sin, while missing the mark, is more about throwing God’s words into His face. Death is separation; when the body dies it is separated from one’s soul and that is physical death. The problem humankind faces is that it is separated from God, and separation from God is spiritual death. Fortunately there’s this amazing thing called the Gospel, which I’ll get to in a bit.

So there I am in my bathroom and conviction comes upon me. I became sick to my stomach with sin, not because I sometimes fail to meet God’s standards but because my failure to do so throws a wrench in my relationship with Him. I think it’s hard to argue against the fact that sin in the Christian’s life will stunt growth and cause problems not only in our human relationships but also in our relationship with our God Himself. John would tell his readers that we can know, or have assurance, that we have come to know God and are in fellowship with Him if we obey Him. To obey Him means to love Him. If we say that we have this fellowship and good-standing relationship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we are self-deceived. Conviction of sin is good; it’s part of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The Christian walk is a process; we are made holy in our standing before God instantly, but becoming holy in conduct and character is a process – most certainly – as we put off the characteristics of the old self and begin to identify with the new self, being made in the image of its Creator as we become sanctified through our relationship with Him.

Unfortunately, I think Satan took this instance of conviction and totally warped it into something not among God’s purposes. He brought guilt, and with it, doubt.

One of the things that totally separates the Christian faith from all the religions of the world is the concept of grace. We don’t have to do anything. Doing good, rather than bad, will not get us any closer to heaven. It will not buy us in. It will not get us through the gate. And that’s the beauty of this grace. The endless mercy of God is something to ever be thankful for. We could never meet a standard where our good and bad deeds are weighed in scale against each other because we could never do enough good! Paul would tell the Ephesian believers that by grace they were saved through faith, and not by themselves – it is a gift from God! And it is not by works – nobody can boast! The same is true for Christians today; it is by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ! Through Him we have been made alive, our old self having been crucified in his death and our new life having been raised with Him!

The beauty of the Gospel is that the work has been done by, through and in Christ. But like all of the religions throughout the world, we sometimes go crawling back to the idea that our works save us. I think this is partially what my mind got distracted by. When I became disgusted with my sin I became disgusted with myself and began to think of myself as falling short of the mark and not worthy of the mercy and grace of God. Truth be told, there is no merit within us that deserves the grace and mercy of God. However, for a moment I began to doubt this thing called salvation because I didn’t feel like I was truly living the new life to its fullest and doing “good”.

What is good? Does God systematically categorize certain actions or truths as being good or bad in an arbitrary fashion? It seems to me that good is good not because God calls it good but because it is consistent with who He is. Good is good because it flows out of His character; evil is evil because it does comes from the world, from Satan, and from our sin nature.

I cannot expect to live a perfect life this side of heaven, but I believe Satan used this moment of conviction to bring me down, and for a moment I let his lies sink in and permeate my thoughts. It is true that we are not deserving of God’s grace and His endless mercy, but it is also true that we will not be perfect and flawless even in this new life characterized by His grace and mercy. He does, however, expect us to continue growing and seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated. The following passages have been very helpful to me as my mind wonders if I believe what I say I believe.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, {being} more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9 NASB)

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. (1 Peter 5:6-10 NASB)

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. (1 John 3:19-24 NIV)

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:12-17 NAB)

When I look at the mountains and the grass of the fields, and when I consider the great things around me from the stars in the sky and the irreducible complexities of things such as the human eye or a mouse scurrying through foliage, I can’t help but ascribe these things to the glory of God. I can see His handiwork in everything that I see and cannot doubt the existence of God. When I think about Jesus and his disciple I also believe. His disciples, who would become the leaders and evangelists of His church and later die for his name’s sake, would not die for a lie. Who gains from having an empty tomb and a stolen body? Not the Romans, and certainly not the Pharisees or Jewish religious leaders, and certainly not disciples considering their ultimate persecution and death. Apologetics has much to teach us concerning the historical and plain logical viability of our Gospel accounts. I believe in Christ and I believe in God and the absolute and complete inerrancy of His revelation to us in His Word. I think the concept that I have struggled with is in regards to my living, my way of life. I struggle understanding if I really believe what I say I believe, and if I do, why don’t I live more like it? I found myself scared of hell and ashamed.

In partial answer to my question, I think I’m living the life God would have me live more than I ever have before. Am I perfect? Not at all! Otherwise this would all be academic. My life is as messy as the next guy’s. So why do I find myself shrinking in guilt and shame when I consider my sin? Because, at least for a moment, I believed a lie. God does call me to live a holy life and walk worthy of the calling with which I’ve been called, as He calls you as well, but in my new life with Christ that sin will not condemn me to hell nor will it make me any less saved than I am now. It may disrupt growth or cause a stinking stagnancy, but my hope in heaven need not be destroyed. My hope is sure and a certain thing. The writer of Hebrews would put it this way:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:1-6)

All of the people he would subsequently message had their hope fixed on God, recognizing that they were citizens of a “city not made with hands” or a “city that is yet to come”. This is the byline that you’ll see at the top of my website.

Praise be to God for his endless mercy and for the fact that nothing that I do will remove me from His firm grasp! I am thankful for my faith, as small as it feels at times! I am thankful that God showed us love even when we were His enemies and that Christ’s death and resurrection and God’s graciousness are more than enough to give me firm conviction that my hope is secure in Him, my Rock!

This song is by Matt Boswell, has been of great comfort to me today as I’ve listened to it. I highly recommend it, as well as the whole album called “Vintage”. It’s available on iTunes. Much the album’s lyrics captures many of the truths and ideas that I’ve written tonight and it was very encouraging to me. This is his song, “The Endless Mercy of God.”

Verse 1:
The endless mercy of God will ever
Be my ground secure
God unchanging will be my rock
Whom eternity assures

Chorus:
The endless mercy of our God, The endless mercy of our God
Forevermore shall endure, the endless mercy of our God

Verse 2:
The endless mercy of God displayed
Upon the cross so vile
The wrath of God there satisfied
And man be reconciled

Verse 3:
The endless mercy of God
The Holy Spirit hath he sealed
And written there in ink that ne’er shall
Fade nor be concealed

And so I hope that as I think upon these things and come to grasp what it means to be a Christian that I’ll take times when I am convicted and understand them for what they are, not a guilty sentence of condemnation but a chance to change my ways and become more like Christ. If “Christian” means “Christ-like”, then to be a Christian is to be ever-changing as we become more and more like Him. I think at this point I’m more discontent than anything, not discontent in the sense of unhappiness with what I have but in the sense of my walk. I’m frustrated that I have not grown as much as I feel I should have at this point and that I’ve wasted many hours and days not really living for him.

The Apostle John says that we can have assurance that we have relationship with God and that we are in fellowship with Him (notice the distinction between the two) by three things: Our love for other people, what we believe and say about Jesus, and our righteousness (or lack thereof). This doesn’t mean we aren’t Christians if we struggle to love other people or make mistakes and sin (because we all do!) but rather we can have more and more visible assurance by looking at our lives and seeing these fruits in our life!

I thank God for His Word and my prayer is that I will not doubt, but rather instead understand God’s amazing grace and the calling to which I have been called! May my faith be firmly established, rooted in Him, and ever growing in the knowledge of Christ! And may I put feet to what I believe; may it change me! And may it change you as well! Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. I would appreciate your prayers and please let me know how I can pray for you (but you may want to just talk to me about that or email it to me; don’t put it in the comments! )

-in HIS strength,
Stephen
Ezra 7:10