i just finished tonight's blog entry, but i had to respond to something i heard taught in a church today.

Well, it's about SUBMISSION. In the Bible, there's this really strong message about submitting to God and fearing God. When this church's teacher got to a part about that, he told us that submission meant "being willing to follow God's leadership in our lives" and "following His guidelines".



Well, that sounded fine and left no one very offended. It seems reasonable for God to ask us, for our own good and ultimate enjoyment, to adhere to some guidelines.



The problem? There are no guidelines. Just commands to obey commands and reminders to live by the commands... And the promise of reward and punishment at the Throne... In fact, the Great Commission in Matthew 28 tells us to "...[teach] them to obey all that [Jesus]commanded [us]."



So what's the problem with just saying it? Why not just say, "God commands that we obey His commands? If we don't, we're walking under the shadow of Judgment and we definitely don't love Him"?



In fact, this church just finished a series on a touchy topic that peaked the interest of a lot of people in town. I was amazed that the issue of judgment, righteousness and self-control were all couched in self-interest terminology.

There was this appeal that "all of this is for your ultimate enjoyment". But That's just not how the Bible plays it. The Bible uncompromisingly sets God as Father and Boss of the Universe and tells us to line up or get whacked, then allows us to do so under a covenant of love and mercy. There's Punishment involved. And repentance is a flight from judgment... and Christians, once saved, are told to live in Holy Fear!!!



So why all this muck? How amazing is grace, if it has not taught our hearts to fear?



Lew