ViaCrucis
Confessional Lutheran
- Oct 2, 2011
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Unsurprisingly different Christians are going to have different views of what being a Christian entails. Though the above you've written is something most Christians would arguably agree with.
I'll try to speak specifically from my vantage point as a Lutheran on some of these things.
Lutheranism makes a big deal over what we call the distinction between Law and Gospel. We usually point to a single statement Martin Luther wrote in his Heidelberg Disputation of 1518,
"The Law says 'Do this' and it is never done.
Grace says, 'Trust this' and it is done already."
When we talk about the Law we mean what God commands, such as the 10 Commandments or Christ's commandment that we love our neighbor, love our enemy, etc. And we then tend to speak about "uses" of the Law. Without getting needlessly theological, basically the Law reveals God's expectation out of us as human beings to live good, upright, loving, just lives before God and our fellow man. But the Law also shows us how we fail to be those good, upright, loving, just people we ought to be. Very often we seek ourselves, we pursue our own self-interests at the expense of those around us, we hurt people through our words and our actions. This missing of the mark is what we call "sin". That's actually the literal meaning of "sin" "to miss the mark".
Because of this we would say that if one attempts to live life under the opinion that if they just try hard enough, if they just work harder and harder and harder they can eventually get on God's good side, or be rewarded by God, or earn God's love through personal effort that it will lead them to despair. If we imagine that there is a ladder that we can climb up to God, or live in such a way as to receive God's blessing, we'll soon discover that in our weaknesses and foibles as sinful people that we aren't progressing, and that is despairing and depressing. We probably will start to conclude that God doesn't love us, or can't love us, that we are completely unlovable and undesirable. That's painful, and it's toxic.
Which is why we talk about the Gospel. The Gospel reveals to us the unconditional love and grace of God which He has for all of us through Jesus; that though we are sinners who fail, and fall, and trip up God truly does love us, and cares for us, and meets us right where we are in our brokenness, in our despair, in our pain, in our sin. That Christ came for everyone, in Christ God is for everyone, in Christ God loves everyone, in Christ God desires everyone. That there isn't a ladder of righteousness to climb up to reach God, because God has already come down in Christ to meet us in our unrighteousness, and to give us His righteousness. No, we can't please God by trying hard enough, but we don't have to, God already looks upon us with affection, compassion, and with fatherly love because of Christ.
That opens up a brand new world. Do I give a loaf of bread to my hungry neighbor because that will score me points with God? Or do I give a loaf of bread to my hungry neighbor because my neighbor is hungry? There's a saying we Lutherans sometimes like throw around: God doesn't need our good works, but our neighbor does.
Our position before God is established in Jesus, God loves us, God forgives us, God invites us to be children and friends; so let us trust in God's mercy--God has this worked out already. In light of this, let us freely love one another, let us freely be kind to one another. There are no divine scales, God doesn't have a score board. We aren't winning points or losing poings; we can just try and love our neighbor. And when we fail to do that, there is boundless grace and forgiveness to lift us back up, and we try again. We'll never get it perfectly right, but we don't have to. Your neighbor needs a smile, a loaf of bread, clean clothes, a shoulder to lean on. And Christ invites us to the sort of people who laugh with those who laugh and mourn with those who mourn, to share in the sufferings and joys of our neighbor in love, compassion, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. That is the great calling of the Christian Church, to bear in ourselves the cross and presence of Jesus Christ and the reality of His death and resurrection to a hurting world.
-CryptoLutheran
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