What Hope Do We Have?

Feb 1, 2012 by admin    No Comments    Posted under: Blog Archive

Religion excels at one thing, condemnation.

If we are giving credit where credit is due, then the Religious Leaders in Jesus’ day had one thing right, all the people Jesus spent time with were sinners. However, what they overlooked was the fact that they were sinners also. The Religious Leaders were clouded by their self-righteousness, too self-assured in their own good deeds, to see their sins.

All major religions in some form or another identify a problem. Whether it is that we are not reaching our fullest potential, we are polluting creation, God is not pleased with us, or that our miss-deeds are sending us to Hell. Something, somewhere is not right, and there is something we need to do to fix it. The message of religion across the board is condemnation. Religion calls us to conform to its specific structure, way, or teaching, because the way we were doing things is not working, it is not making us happy, it is not making us better, creation is being destroyed, or it is not pleasing God. The consequences may not always be as terrifying as Hell, but it’s still at best a rebuke on the way we live.

Yet, Jesus’ message was a message of hope, not condemnation. Where religion had condemned everyone, Jesus extended grace, forgiveness, and hope.

I think we all recognize that we are not perfect, but that we are at least good people. We reject condemnation, and yet crave grace. We use phrases like, “we’re just human” to express the common flaws we all have, and the desire for acceptance in spite of them. Often our common imperfections provide us hope that at least we all are in the same boat together.

Religion, at times, tries to offer new hope to its followers by changing their doctrine.

• “______________” use to be wrong, but now its acceptable.
• If you are a “_______________” you’re no longer considered a sinner.

The strange thing is that Jesus offers real hope and also expanded the list of things that offend God. Jesus at one point says, “Unless you do far better than the Pharisees [Religious Leaders] in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom” Matthew 5:20 (MSG). Jesus is not lowering the bar here, he’s raising it to an unattainable level. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew ch5-7) Jesus says things like,

“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder.”

and,

“You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed.”

By these statements Jesus does not make righteous living more obtainable, but out of reach. And if he were to end the conversation here all he would have done was condemn more people, but Jesus’ message does not end here. Jesus offers complete forgiveness, restoration, and grace. The hope of Jesus’ message is even though we are all sinners, even though we have all hurt others and been hurt by others, we can freely come and be accepted, cleansed, and made new in God through faith in Jesus.

The hope we have is not in our ability to obtain righteousness, but in Jesus’ grace, which he generously gives to those who seek him.

The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24.) Religion can only show us how much grace we need. However, it can never actually offer us grace. Religion when it’s working best only shows us when and where we are not measuring up. For the Apostle Paul the Jewish law could only lead one to realize the need for the grace of Jesus. The Law did not actually justify us, forgive us, or cleanse us. In fact, it did the opposite. It cast light upon our life, leaving a shadow of shortcomings. Jesus is the only one who offers grace. This is why Jesus is angered by the Religious Leaders. Jesus not only pointed out their unrighteousness, he also offered everyone else a place at the God’s table, a place that only the religious thought they had obtained by strictly following their religious practices.

Admittedly, as a Christian, we fail at offering a message of hope. We excel at condemnation rather than hope. And for all those who have been wounded by the condemning words of Christians without ever hearing the Hope of Jesus I AM SORRY.

People are in need of hope. Religion condemns, but Jesus offers hope through his grace. There will be times when we fail to proclaim hope, and we will need to repent. Times when we need to ask forgiveness of those we wounded with our words and our actions. However, our intention is to always offer hope, rather than condemnation, to extend generous grace to everyone, because we have received this same generous grace that cover our sins from Jesus.

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