It is a common error for people to think of Christians as those in society
who are ‘nice people’. I remember a colleague at work who would have nothing
to do with the notion of born-again Christians being the only people God
would accept into heaven. In support of his view he gave the example of
his father who he said had been a loving, kind man who was always well-mannered
and would go to great lengths to help others. Being a shining example of
a Christian gentleman, God could do nothing else but tell St. Peter to
open the pearly gates and accept his father into heaven, or so he claimed.
I am not decrying the example my colleague’s father set in his life. I
have watched friends and relations live with the same sense of love and
commitment to other people, whatever the cost to themselves, and I have
struggled to find those same qualities within myself. To my shame I fail
this test, and doubly so because I am a born-again Christian and Christ
would have us live this kind of life to exemplify our faith before the
watching world. What these remarkable people are doing is hearing Christ’s
teaching on treating others as themselves (Matthew 7:12) and putting it
into practice. We can do nothing but heap praises upon them and follow
their example as best we can.
But...(there is always a but, and it’s a big one, which is why it’s at
the beginning of a paragraph)...when questioned by the Pharisee about the
greatest commandment, Jesus put the injunction about others second. Our
Lord’s reply started like this, “The most important commandment is this;
‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength’” (Mark 12:29-30). So, our relationships with others are only
half the story. Before them comes our relationship with God.
In the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments are split into two major categories:
the first four deal with our relationship with God and the remaining six
with our relations to other people. This order of priority is there to
teach us something. And that is, being right with God is what comes
first - it’s this which saves. A person’s good works should flow from this
relationship. Good works, the expenditure of oneself in the service of
others has no power to save. If that was the case, then you can imagine
the queues of people demanding salvation as of right - their wages for
a life lived in a selfless manner. And you can imagine the anguish and
outrage when they are reminded that all those little sins in their life
demand the death penalty, that in fact it is death that is the real wages
they are due from a just God.
It is much better we disabuse people of their wishful thinking in this
world, before it’s too late to seek God’s grace. So next time someone brushes
aside faith in Jesus as the only justification for eternal life, gently
but firmly remind them that they have overlooked half the picture, and
really important half at that!