The world was divided—
And still is today—
By the announcement
That God expects something
Of the humans here.
Most deny it—
In part or on the whole—
With many being willing only
To admit that “faith” is required,
But flatly refusing the
Obedience and righteousness
That were preached along with it,
And others going so far in their dodging
As to deny the very existence of God.
But all of this,
Whether in the churches or out,
Is but a ploy to escape the responsibility
That can only be avoided until death,
And after that, is simply out of our hands.
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Paul. Acts 17:29-31. NIV
To repent is to change one’s mind. And this mind-changing was not to be some minimal token gesture, but a wholesale reform of the thinking life of the person. The first and greatest commandment smashes the idea that proper religion can be only outward, while the mind of the worshiper remains his own private business, for it says:
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Jesus. Mark 12:29b-31. NIV
And this wasn’t just some lofty hyperbole; he really meant it, as did also his apostles who taught after him:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Paul. Romans 12:1-2. ESV
The turning over of one’s mind to God, along with one’s body, is the fullness of what God requires of man. Some, trying to avoid the full commitment, will run their religion such that they’re willing to do some of the outward things, but still reserve their inward minds for themselves. Meanwhile, others, still dodging, will run their religion in their minds, while granting their body certain indulgences in sin. But both are cheats, for Jesus demands our all.
Another cheat is seen in those who pretend that the indwelling Holy Spirit has itself filled them with all that Jesus requires, and that they themselves are passively equipped by such for pleasing God, while not having to do anything of their own power to please him.
But again, all this is a dodge. It’s game-playing by which they deceive themselves, and hope that God is also being fooled by them, and will not notice their unwillingness to give themselves over fully.
And this is the news that has divided the world, showing what kind of people we are by how we react to it. And so few among us have ever grasped that we have the sort of God who would have ever done the following:
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
2 Chronicles 16:9. NIV
But deep down in his heart, even the “worthless servant” in Jesus’ parable knew better than to serve so stingily as he did. And when finally confronted, he admitted as much:
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
Matthew 25:24-30. NIV
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
This man knew—which fact is attested to by the man, and is not contradicted by the master. Yet he did not do what would be pleasing to a master of the sort he knew he had. Instead, he made some token effort—as if to be able to say someday, “at least I didn’t do nothing.” But this was a miscalculation, and it backfired. It did not please the master, just as the man should have known it would not. And the master makes this very clear in the end by rejecting that man, calling him “worthless”.
This is the gospel that was preached in the First Century, and that had been foretold in part all along from the beginning. And God, in his grand patience, had put up with all manner of sin and error from this world all along, but it was only to be for a time. When finally it was time for Jesus to come, God would put his foot down and say “Enough!” Hence, the statement from Paul with which I began:
30 “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Paul. Acts 17:30. NIV
And he will see which of us have taken this to heart, and which have tried to pretend the terms into something easier for us. Many, even among the churched, will think it too great a demand, and will count the burden of obedience too much to be carried. But those who think so are simply not listening to Jesus:
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus. Matthew 11:29-30. NIV
So the problem is not that his demands are impossible to meet; it’s that so many are simply unwilling to be yoked and instructed—unwilling to pull any load at all—unwilling to meet the expectations of the One who created them. And even though a few are willing, there are a great many today trying to renegotiate the terms in their minds, obeying this part but not the other, changing their minds on this, but not on that. Where God demands all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, they hold back a good part of that, using it to pretend a different religion than the one Jesus actually taught.
And the more I think about this, I wonder why they don’t just go all out and declare themselves atheists, and God nonexistent. But I suppose that something that bold requires some daring that not everyone has. The rest, then, resort to sandbagging—to faking it. But they have to shut down their minds, and give no thought to what the outcome of this will be. Otherwise, how could they not be proactive and repent, giving their whole selves over to God?
The gospel is only truly good news to those who love righteousness. To everybody else, it’s bad news. And this news, now nearly 2,000 years old, has divided the world ever since it was proclaimed.
Don’t be fooled by the millions that try to stand in the middle with their token efforts. That is not the true religion, no matter how popular it is and how many institutions spring up to bring it to market.
