Praise God for He Saves and Man Doesn't

Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Acts 11:1-3

The first three verses of Acts 11 should be focused on the glory of God and salvation coming to the home of Cornelius, a Gentile, but instead Peter is met by a group of guys who are more worried about ritualistic laws than God’s glory through the salvation of His peoples. Have you ever found yourself doing this? Have you shifted your focus from God’s glory because you didn’t like the way someone was saved or because you didn’t think a certain person could be saved? We are in a constant state of judging aren’t we? “Well that guy wasn’t regenerated because he has a horrible past, or that girl wasn’t truly transformed because I knew her in high school and there is no way she has repented.” We do this in so many different ways and none of them praise God for His work in the lives of the people around us. When we make these arguments we are attempting to put handcuffs on God. We, in essence, are saying that God cannot or is not powerful enough to save someone who has a checkered past. We are also arguing that we know who should and should not be saved. Do we really want to leave that decision up to fallen men? I would much rather put my trust and hope in the God of the bible, the God who created the universe, the God who formed the mountains, the God who placed the stars in the sky, the God who knows every hair on my head. This is the God we serve.

We spend our time focused on the superficial. Some are consumed with the outer appearance of believers. Men must wear a suit and tie and women must wear long dresses. While others argue that suits are a form of legalism and you should wear skinny jeans and have a chain hooked to your wallet. All of these examples are wrong. We must stop shifting our focus to these meaningless issues. Our point, our focus must stay on the One who saves, the One who calls us. We keep our eyes on God. He sees through our past, through our mistakes, through our tattoos, our suits, our skinny jeans, and our chained wallets. He sees through all of this and focuses on the righteousness given to those whom He has called by our Savior—Jesus. This is why we focus on God’s glory.

We must not follow in the steps of those who criticized Peter. We must not lose sight of God’s glory and His might. We, instead, must stop analyzing the superficial and start setting our sights on the one true God! This frees us up to glorify God in all that we do. This frees us up to worship Him without hesitation or distraction. Salvation can and will come to all different types of people. Salvation can come to those in suits, skinny jeans, long dresses, pants, the rich, the poor, the middle class, the criminals, the valedictorians, the high school dropouts and the list goes on and on. This is why we take heed and do as we are commanded. We go and share the gospel with all types of people because the bible tells us that all types of people—not all people—will be saved. We cannot overlook this wondrous truth. Praise Him for this truth and His work in the lives of so many. I praise Him for the work He continues to do in the lives of screw-ups like myself. I praise Him because He deserves my all.  

He is Our Motivation

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Luke 18:22

This rich ruler was devoted to and focused on a works based salvation model. He walked around with his clipboard so he could award himself a gold star when a “good” deed was performed. I can just imagine the large poster board in his room with a chart full of gold stars. This particular day that chart apparently had filled up so he made his way to Jesus. In his mind he had nothing to fear. He had been great at following rules so surely Jesus would give him a pat on the back and say heaven will welcome you my son. I can picture him taking that chart off the wall and carrying it with him as he approached Jesus. You can hear the excitement and arrogance in his voice when he answers Jesus in verse 21, “All these [commandments] I have kept from my youth.” He says this as he shows his gold star filled chart.

Jesus then drops a bomb on him with verse 22. Think of the immediate shock that must have come over this ruler. “What do you mean I lack something? Have you not seen my chart? It is full of stars, and they are gold!” The ruler’s complete focus was that of works. He believed that his works could save him. Jesus was simply pointing out that apart from the saving grace and mercy of God you have no hope in eternal life. Jesus was screaming, “You think you have it all figured out but You are missing me!!” You can stack up “good” deeds all you want. You can earn as much money as you want. You can go to church as much as you want, but filling up your chart and checking off your boxes mean nothing apart from Him. Do you get that?

Please don’t miss the significance of this verse and others like it. It is easy for us to check off a box and manage our lives. It is easy for us to fill up our charts with gold stars and want to put that in God’s face and say, “see what I have been doing.” Who are you praising and glorifying when you do this? This is nothing more than self-gratification. When we do things like this we are arguing that God needs us. He needs us and our gold stars. We tend to think that, He is sure lucky to have us on His team. This is laughable.

I would encourage you to examine your life and decide where your treasure is found. Are you struggling with a works based philosophy when it comes to your salvation? Please don’t hedge your bets. Stop living with one foot conformed to the world and one foot in the gospel. This is dangerous. We love and keep the commandments because of who He is and what He did, not because of who we are and what we can do. This is why we do good deeds. This is why we go to church. This is why we go to work. We do all this because of Him and His glory. He is our motivation. He is our end. He is our treasure!