The Election

The Checklist predominates a majority of what we do in the church, especially who we allow to be our leadership, or even attenders of our churches. I know this because I have often been asked why some people are allowed to go to church even though they ‘look like that.’

Individuals wearing ‘improper’ clothing are shunned by long time members of a church, individuals with tattoos and body piercings are asked to leave a service, girls who become pregnant outside of marriage are not offered showers, or children whose parents aren’t married being told to leave Wednesday night activities; each of these have actually happened in churches where I served. Hearts broken, lives crushed, and opportunities for the gospel message squandered, all in the pursuit of a church that ‘looks right.’

I have seen deacons, elders, lay leaders, and even pastors elected to positions of authority purely based on the fact that they fulfill enough of the Checklist to get by in spite of neglecting the gospel ministry altogether.

Attendance

Being Well Spoken

Giving of Money

Being Well Known

Legacies

Dressing Well

Keeping it Like it Was

Being Nice to Everybody

Saying the Right Things

Loving Hymns

Being Old

Etc.

Each of these has become the standards to which we aspire, and when we reach these, we are then eligible to take hold of any power that remains unclaimed.

After a recent discussion about the lackadaisical attitude presented by a group of Deacons at my church, I asked why Deacons that haven’t attended our church for years, nor have displayed themselves worthy of the title were allowed to remain as members of that group. The candid response that followed nearly left me speechless, “Because he’s never been divorced.”

Wow!

We have begun electing people to positions of authority based on a man-made standard, to pursue a man-made agenda, by way of a man-made system of church government, in hopes of erecting a man-made alter to ourselves; an idol of indescribable earthly wealth; whose foundation is the bones of those who do not live up to the standard. Yet, with all its glory, is nothing but a whitewashed tomb, filled with death and decay.

I do not say these things to be cruel. I only say them so that we may start at the same place. A place where the man-made agenda is set aside for that of the Master. A place where all have sinned and fallen short of His standard, and where our greatest achievements are but filthy rags in His sight. A place where, if we are willing, we might sit at the table of the Almighty King…crippled…yet called sons and daughters of the Most High God!

Law of Hate

So much of what is proclaimed as “Christian Values” are little more deep-seated hate wrapped up in new, shiny package. We attempt to justify our hate of some people, people groups, lifestyles, religions, and even denominations by declaring that we are fighting against the enemy of God. We assume that because they do not look or act like us, we have the right to destroy them in order that God be praised exclusively. The problem with such a view of the world is that it is NO WHERE IN THE BIBLE. Jesus came that we might have life.

Have we forgotten that scripture say in Romans 5:8;
‘but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,’

or do we just believe that such a statement was only made about people who look, talk, and act like we do?

I am sickened by the idea that churches today have traded the gospel of redemption for one of bigotry and hate, believing that the Lord is pleased when they shun a Muslim in the grocery store, gossip about their drunken neighbor, publicly chastise the non-believer for their lifestyle, or reject an invitation to a program at another church because their music is too ________________???

If we take part in that type of lifestyle, we are attempting to control the blood of the Sacrificial Lamb who was slain for all who would believe. We are attempting to place judgment where Jesus offered life. We are attempting to shut up the floodgates of Heaven that the Lord has opened, all the while slapping the hand of the Father and scolding him for loving these who are, in our eyes, unlovable.

But if we would just read the scriptures with new eyes…with eyes that are open to the truth, we would find that the Holy Spirit has delivered us from the poison of Hate. He has offered us the freedom of the redemption in the EXACT same way that he offered it to those around us…even those who are at this moment, enemies of the one who died to save them.

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11

May the Lord move upon you, and may he press upon you the grace and mercy that only he can give; and if you do not know the nature of the deliverance he offers I pray that you would come to know Him today.

Illegal Substitution

At any moment, worship can be given to something or someone that is not deserving of that affection. The only one who is deserving of our worship is the One who gives us life, and who has created all that exists. Such an individual must be made the focus of our worship and adoration, and must be the pinnacle of what we hope for.

Legalism is the most complex system of idolatry of which I am aware because the deceiver has crafted this process to be similar in many ways to authentic relationship with Jesus. The primary differentiation is the fact that Legalism worships the Law and the observation of that Law, whereas Christianity exists to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ and the freedom that can only come from the blood that only He could have shed. The remission of sin is only possible with the shedding of blood. Therefore, even the most complete observation of the Law falls critically short of the supreme goal of salvation. Without the shedding of blood, there can be no Salvation.

The Law has evolved throughout history and has taken many forms of deception; none more cancerous than the attempt to combine Christianity with the observation of the law from which Jesus saved us. The differing tenants of each create opposition to one another, as well as force followers down starkly differing paths. Far more important than the observation of the Law is the fulfillment of the Law.

Matthew 5:17-20

¹⁷ "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

There is a distinct difference between abolishing the law and fulfilling it. The substance of what remains is reverence rather than worship. There was a distinct purpose for the law in the beginning, and that was to illustrate to the fullest extent the need for our Savior who is Jesus Christ. Without such an illustration, it is impossible to truly capture the depravity of our own existence. However, if we attempt to worship the law subsequent to that awesome sacrifice, we rob Jesus of the finality of His death, and replace our inheritance of freedom with the chains of slavery.

It is irrelevant to whom or what we are enslaved, Christ did not die to offer us death, but to deliver us into life. Giving worship and adoration to anything short of Jesus will ensure that we will fall incredibly short of the life that possibly awaits us.

Introduction

Checklist Jesus is my second major project. It is the fundamental gathering of the lessons that I have attempted to teach my students and churches over the majority of my ministry.

Our discipleship is the pursuit of the Nature of the Son Jesus Christ, as well as the purification of ourselves through the blood of His sacrifice through the washing of the church with the Word; it is the preparation of each one of us to meet the groom, and to be joined to him without fault, but with great joy!

There is not a Christian that I know that did not spend a majority of their formative years in the church with the oppressive idea that they must perform a laundry list of activities in order to be a “good Christian.” I say oppressive because the nature of the Law is oppressive. The law is the system of our religious organization that requires and restricts the movement, life, and worship of the believer. So much of church, and/or the activity of its members falls under one of two umbrella; Religion or Relationship.

Religion being the pursuit of perfection by our own merit, and Relationship being the only available response after we realize the awesome nature of the one who came to save us, and who gave himself for us that we might have life.

May you be blessed, and may the Kingdom grow as we walk together on this journey.