Key Verse: "Woe
to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and
you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them."
Luke 11:46
There was a
man, who has since passed, who attended our former church in Maine. When asked if he
would be in Heaven when he died, he would always answer, "I hope so."
I would then walk him through the gospel and the joy of the assurance of
salvation because of Jesus and not because of works. This man would always
agree with everything I said, and I would assure him, then
you will be in Heaven. But then, I would end the conversation with the
same question we began with, "Are you going to Heaven?" Sadly, even
after all that, the man would give the same reply, "I hope so."
Having the
knowledge is far different from believing it, living it, and inviting others to
join it. Sadly, probably many of the leadership in Jesus’ day, if you could get
them into a one on one conversation, would answer very much the same as the man
from our church.
This is the
problem with believing that you have to earn your way to Heaven by your
behavior, or through good works. You just never know if you will make the cut.
Even the Pharisees weren't certain that they would make it to Heaven. They knew
that, through their disciplined lives, they were doing better than the common
Jew, so they believed that their chance of being first in line was better than
most, but there was no assurance of salvation.
In Matthew, Jesus continues, "You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,
and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you
are." (Matt. 23:15B) Jesus is referring here to the fact that the religion
of Judaism was spreading throughout the known world. What we refer to as,
"The Old Testament," had been translated into Greek, known as the
"Septuagint," and many Greeks, who were fascinated by many religions
were converting. However, once converted, because they were still physically
Gentile, their burden of following the law was even heavier because they were
not God's chosen, they had chosen God and, according to the Pharisees, any slip
could send them back to eternity in hell, where Pagans belong.
Grace was not
understood. It took Paul, a Pharisee converted to Christ himself, to make it
clear to both the Jews and the Gentiles that "it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not
by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to
do." (Ephesians
2:8-10)
"The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no
trouble to it." (Proverbs
10:22) Salvation from the Lord is a blessing, not a burden. We rest in the
assurance of our relationship with Jesus, not on our works. Our good deeds are
done in gratitude for God's gift to us, but not to earn our place in Heaven.
Christ did that with His blood. Hallelujah! Woe, (or whoa!), to anyone who makes belief in
Christ more burdensome than that.
Hymn: At the Cross
"At the Cross" Hillsong
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