Last week we looked at the unquestionable and unavoidable claims of Christ…today I want to address a concern that often arises from the sidelines of such claims…
Is one way to God really fair?
It’s a big world…with many following religious traditions within their own culture…isn’t Christianity a bit too narrow-minded…exclusive? What about those who have never heard of Christ? Is it fair that those who live in certain times and places apart from hearing such good news about a savior should be condemned? These are not just the questions of resistant hearts but of faithful hearts as well.
I believe such questions reflect a natural and reasonable concern for fairness. Regardless of how true the claims of the Gospel may be, if they don’t seem fair…its hard for me to give myself to them…to Him.
Yet I also believe such questions are laid upon a backdrop of contemporary assumptions and misconceptions which can misguide our whole perception of fairness in relationship to God. I want to consider what the Gospel declares of God’ love for the world…in all its diversity…and help us to think clearly about the question of fairness.
…An appropriate starting place is that which the Apostle Paul declared as he entered the great city of Athens…stepping out of the Middle Eastern world into the mother city of the Western world.
Acts 17:22-31
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28’For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ’We are his offspring.’
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 man’s design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For 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 all men by raising him from the dead."
Paul is addressing those of great religious and philosophical thought.
Implicit in Paul’s message…and even more explicitly from other portions of Scripture, there are particular points regarding the Gospel that help us to see the issue of fairness more clearly.
1. GOD IS THE PERSONAL CREATOR OF ALL AND DESIRES ALL TO KNOW HIM.
· In our current recognition and respect for being multi-cultural…and concerns for ethnocentrism…Paul reminds us that God is the most multicultural of all! His work is not an “East versus West” thing. God in his sovereignty chose a people…Israel…reflecting neither far East or West as we know it today, …but the Middle East. Began from the fringes, calling out a people who at that time were obscure…outsiders of world power…and in doing so he was preparing to “bless all nations” (nation is Greek “ethnos” i.e. ethnicities)
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (world =cosmos)
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
In this light, just as God is multi cultural…so are we to be, I have no desire to defend “Christianity” in all its Western clothing. There is much that would offend is all in terms of human practice. Rather the question must remain that of Christ’s uniqueness in the world.
…Paul goes on to describe our sin of essentially creating God in our own image.
2. OUR SIN IS ESSENTIALLY ONE OF REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR CREATOR GOD.
Romans 1:20, 25
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse…. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.
We have separated ourselves from our life source;…that is why Scripture declares that “the wages of our sin is death… the natural consequences of our autonomy is separation from our life giver… which is death. It may be helpful to understand that this is not the result of a punitive law but of natural law.
· Our sin is the continuation of standing on our own merits rather than surrendering to God’s mercy….that is what we do, Paul says, when we continue to depend on “man’s design and skill” (verse 29, Acts 17)
· As a result, while we are “while we are wonderfully made” (Psalm 119) we bear the burden of our wrong…a wrong reflected in both our nature and our eventual actions.
This doesn’t imply we are all equally evil in our behavior. God’s Word is full of distinguishing the types of behavior that are most utterly evil. Rather it simply reminds us, as Scripture says, that “WE ALL FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” We were once creatures simply enjoying our relationship with our Creator…BUT WE TRIED TO GO OUT ON OUR OWN…APART FROM HIM…and our nature is now that of “sheep gone astray”… We simply don’t seek God clearly any longer on our own; our best attempts are by nature still limited and centered in our own thoughts…as Paul describes.
There lies the limitation of religious thought, not that religious ideas and thoughts lack virtue; but they fall short of knowing God in His fullness.
Religions are commonly said to have two dimensions, ethical and theological. There is much to be respected and valued in the ethics and virtues of religious traditions
· Buddhists…sense of surrender
· Muslims…devotion and discipline
· Nature American spirituality in its respect for Creation.
They have each looked deeply into creation and the notion of God and called forth positive qualities in our human nature; but all are left trying to find the sacrificial path to satisfy our sin and separation from God…whether through a path of continued reincarnation…or offering sacrifices. (v 30-31)
3. CHRIST HAS COME AS THE ULTIMATE AND UNIQUE WAY OF RECONCILIATION.
As John described…”the Word of God became flesh”… “the light of the world”, came uniquely expressed as the Son of God…so that we again might become children of God.
· He alone “paid the debt. ”The Good News of the Gospel is not about a new religious system based on the assumption that we can work our way to God;…but rather a complete atoning for our sins, a profound and powerful sacrifice…which, cancels the debt…providing forgiveness and freedom from the condemnation and shame which every honest soul knows within…destroying the power of death that marks our lives separated from God.
· This is why Jesus never declared a new religion or religious system; he never said “this is the way,” but rather "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
· And those who understood could declare, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
As much as the idea of trying to reduce Christ into merely another religious teacher may appeal to our notion of fairness, of open-mindedness, or our desire to be eclectic…it simply misses the whole picture.
To do so completely ignores the claims and contradictions that lie between them. In the name of respecting all religions, we actually would be respecting none.
More importantly in doing so we would simply be putting ourselves at the center of the picture, rather than receiving and responding to what God did. This is precisely what God will hold us responsible for.
4. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WE KNOW OF GOD, AND IN PARTICULAR, OF THE SAVIOR AND SAVING WORK OF CHRIST.
Paul declared to those in Athens as he does to us today, that just as Christ is God’s ultimate and unique expression of saving grace, so our response to Him stands as our ultimate judgment before God…described by Christ in the Gospel of John (12:44-50).
….Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." (John 12:44-50)
Romans 2:6-8, 16
God "will give to each person according to what he has done." 7To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger…. This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”
This of course raises the question “What of those who never hear of Christ?”
If we’re able to see that our respect for cultures doesn’t mean presuming that all religious ideas can save us from the deep need they point to. And that Christ is unique as God’s response to our need. It is only natural to wonder about those who have never heard of Christ.
It is a question of “What of ….?”
· What of those who lived and died before Christ?
· What of children who died too young to have fully developed their own understanding and choices in life?
· What of those throughout history and even now to whom the Good News of forgiveness through Christ has never been proclaimed?
It’s a question thoughtful people and theologians have sought light on for centuries and beyond the limits of our time to fully address today. Let me offer a brief response.
· We know that all are accountable to what is known of God through creation itself.
· We know that those prior to Christ who were responsive to God were saved by faith; not works, but faith in His promises… such as Abraham.
· Regarding children, it has been recognized throughout most of church history, that God’s Word implies that responsibility involves accountability – a decision of adult nature, and that it is fitting to presume there is an age of accountability. Christ in particular made unique pronouncements regarding children and the innocence of the state.
So how might we see the unique provision of Christ at work with any broader provision of saving faith?
Some suggest some form of a chance to respond to Christ after death…. A chance for those who never had the chance to respond before. While this is an appealing way to imagine justice, I simply see no hint of this in what God has revealed in Scripture. In the Book of Hebrews we read, “it is appointed once for man to die and then to face judgment.”
> God’s Word points to our responsibility lying in this life !
Some point to the responsibility of responding to the light of truth that each has been given; that Christ will justly judge the response and repentance of those who turn towards God’s mercy outside of the knowledge of his saving work on the cross.
I see far more basis for such thought; perhaps even hinted at in our texts from Romans…
God "will give to each person according to what he has done…. God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ.”
While we may speculate upon the mystery of God’s justice, our responsibility lies in the clear mandate and mission we have received.
The Gospel is unparallel, but never unfair.
The reality which God puts before us is not that of God playing hide and seek behind a variety of religious traditions…rather it’s a picture of we having hidden ourselves from Him…and now unable to find our way back.
But He has come for us. And our destiny lies in our response.
