It All Depends On Christ, Not On Us

 We are saved, not because of anything that we did or will do, but solely on the merits of what Jesus Christ did for us. Jesus lived the life laid out for him by God before the worlds were even created. God orchestrated the plan to bring Christ into the world and to bring him to the cross and to fulfill the promise with an empty tomb. We are saved only because we choose to believe that this story is true.

So why do we feel in our church that it is up to us to do everything? God's hands are evidently tied so that He cannot do anything unless we are doing everything first. And churches with their pastors who have become leadership churches are the worst at telling the rest of us how we, if we work harder, can be just like them.

I find that when we work like it all depends on us God watches from afar waiting for us to collapse in exhaustion and thereby getting out of the way so that He can do what really needs to be done. 

God is god. He is not a capitalist or a conservative. He is not a socialist or a communist. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. His will is being done whether we do anything or not. History did not end with the cross. Just because the Bible ends in ancient times does not mean that God is not busy right up to this present moment. 

Unfortunately for us much of the New Testament was written by a hard driven type A personality. Thanks to Paul we are not a Jewish sect like the Pharisees. But thanks to Paul some men read his words as a mandate to work our fingers to the bone to make sure that God will be pleased with us. 

God is pleased with us when we just believe. God loves us even when we do not love Him. Jesus is unique and you will never be the Christ no matter how you live or what you do how what sacrifices you make. 

One final word. Pastors think that we come to church to hear them teach and preach. We come to church to see family and friends and to worship our God. We come to listen and we hope that we hear something that will help us where we are right now. Most people who leave our churches do not go to the bars or to the clubs. They find a church where they can serve the Lord without the constant pressure of be more, do more, it all depends on me theology.