Substance vs Form

Sometimes I hear mixed messages from Christians. I hear them seeming to say that being a Christian is all about faith in what Jesus has done for them. At other times it seems like they think of their faith in Christ as something they do. Sin is spoken of in behavioral terms. I've heard children taught that "even if they only sinned once, they would be deserving of judgment and condemnation to hell." I think this leads children to the erroneous notion that it could be possible to sin only once. They might think to themselves, "wow, I could be leading a perfect life, slip up once when I'm 82 years old, and go to hell as a result." Their focus, naturally turns to that "one sin" that could trip them up. I think conveying the idea that someone could only sin once, even if it is only slightly implied, is completely wrong. Why? Because the actions we call sin are actually manifestations of something deeper, something that we Christians call "the sinful nature".

Thinking that someone could sin just once is analogous to thinking that a diseased tree could produce just one bad fruit. If a tree is diseased, all of its fruit will be diseased. The presence of any action of sin indicates a sinful heart. If the heart is sinful, then that life will be permeated by sin. Just like a diseased apple tree may have some apples that look normal and yet aren't, a sinful human may have some actions that appear to be free from sin and yet aren't. For example, you might see someone helping a blind person cross a street. What could possibly be sinful about that? Obviously it isn't wrong to help blind people cross streets. In this case, as in many others, the action is not what is sinful. Then how does the analogy of the diseased tree hold up here? Isn't helping someone cross the street kind of like the so-called diseased tree producing good apples? If so, then couldn't it be argued that the diseased tree may not be irreparably diseased? Perhaps the diseased tree is only partly diseased. Maybe there's hope that with some tender loving care in the form of cultivation, fertilizer, water, or pruning that the tree could be redeemed. After all, it does have a trunk, roots, branches, and leaves. the necessary ingredients are there. It's just sick. Maybe that is also the case with human beings. If they could possibly only sin once, many of their other actions being deemed free of sin; if they can be partly good then, with a little work, why can't they be brought into a sin free condition?

Let's look back at that diseased tree. Upon closer inspection by a trained inspector, the tree is actually found to have no roots! Yikes! The tree is dead, and there's no cure for that disease! Well then, how the heck did it produce any fruit, even if it only looked like good fruit? Upon closer inspection, the fruit is found to be fake! Someone glued plastic fruit on this tree! Wow...from a distance that tree had the appearance of being a healthy tree. But a trained inspector, one who knows to check the roots, shows us that it's not only unhealthy, but is in fact, dead.

Back to the good Samaritan helping the blind person cross the street. The act, at least, is "good fruit" isn't it? Just as determining the true condition of the tree and its fruit required the services of a good tree inspector, so the accurate analysis of man's actions, including his motives (the "roots"), requires the "services" of a good inspector. The Bible tells us who that "good inspector" is. It tells us that when He "inspects" man's deeds, that He's going to look at more than the external actions. He's going to inspect motives too. The Bible tells us ahead of time what He's going to find on the day that He does that "inspection". The day, by the way, is the day that the Bible calls The Day of Judgment. The Bible tells us that even man's "righteous deeds" are as filthy rags in God's sight. He sees into the depths of the hearts of men where He finds them as rebels, sitting on a throne and wearing a crown and robes that are much too big. He finds them "large and in charge" of their lives, without any perceived need of help. "No crutch for me, thank you. Crutches are for weaklings. I'm strong, my life is rich, I can pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I'm basically good at heart anyway." But He sees them living their lives out of self interest, perhaps out of a desire to be noticed, or to produce in others (or even in themselves) a higher opinion of themselves, or to justify feeling superior or "looking down" on others. Their motives may even be to justify themselves by doing good deeds to "balance out" areas in their lives where they see moral deficiencies. These are speculations. I'm sure there will be plenty of surprises on the Day of Judgment. But the Bible is clear that all of mankind is in the same rebellious condition. It actually describes this condition as being "dead" in sin.

So what hope is there? In the case of the dead tree, apart from miraculous intervention, there is no hope. It's only good for firewood. But in our case, there is hope. It isn't a hope that we can be fixed or cured, because our condition is every bit as bad as the tree's. We're dead to the core, at the root. The only hope we have is the miraculous intervention that only Jesus can perform. Our first concern is that coming day of judgment. The Bible tells us that Jesus took our condition upon Himself and underwent the judgment that would otherwise have resulted in our condemnation. As our willing substitute He became, in God's view, sin for us, and was judged on the cross for that sin. And He can also do something else that we  need and cannot do for ourselves, He can inject LIFE into us! The Bible tells us that the Life He can inject is nothing other than Himself! That He actually lives within believers and becomes, in them, the life that they lacked!

This is what it means to be a Christian. To recognize your helpless and dire condition and your need for God's miraculous intervention, and to look to Jesus for what He has done and will do for anyone who looks to Him for salvation.