I AM ... so you don't have to be ... part 2

I was talking with my husband yesterday as we drove to a friend's farm about 45 minutes away. I was telling him about some of the blogs I have visited recently and some of the things I have posted (that I know no one is reading right now, but maybe I'll figure out how to drive traffic here sometime down the road ...)

We got onto the topic of Lisa's, the Baptist pastor's wife, Bible Study, "I AM so you don't have to be." He says he never learned anything in Sunday School or church growing up -- not that he wasn't listening, nothing was actually taught. So, most things are new to him. This is interesting, because he often brings fresh insight to a verse or scripture passage that I have been familiar with for years, with an already preconceived notion of what it is about. He may see it in a totally different way.

In this case, it was not a totally different way, but he brought one more insight to it that I hadn't yet considered:

When I told him about how the second "I Am" of God's reply to Moses ("I Am that I AM") is considered to be a blank that you can fill in with anything and everything that you need, he asked, "Is that like, 'I AM perfect so you don't need to be'?"

So often Christians get so hung up on what is proper behavior that we forget that we are all sinners, perfection is impossible and as James says, being guilty of breaking one Law makes us guilty of the entire Law. Therefore, we are no better than anyone we wish to judge or condemn for a lifestyle choice or behavior pattern with which we do not agree. We must avoid any thinking that there is some sort of hierarchy among sins, that one is worse than another: that being a homosexual is worse than being greedy or a gossip.

To say that the only difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that Christians are forgiven is actually not true. When Jesus spoke from the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."

This was presented to me, in the church where I grew up, as referring to the soldiers who were at His feet gambling over his robe. Yet, one evening my husband happened to catch a snippet of a program as he surfed the many channels on cable. He paused at a program on the Catholic Channel and heard that when Jesus prayed that, He was asking for forgiveness for all people, for all time -- those who had already lived, those who were alive then, and those who were yet to be born. He asked me later, "Does that include Judas and Pilate?" And the answer is yes.

Everyone was forgiven.

About 15 years ago I took a summer school class with a neighbor / friend / distant cousin. She needed a cultural studies course to get her AA in early childhood development. I was just taking classes for the fun of it, mostly art courses. We took a world religions course. One assignment was to do a 10 minute presentation to the class on some aspect of world religion. I chose to do my presentation on some aspect of being an Anabaptist (what Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites are).

I lived about 3 hours from Lancaster County, PA. And I had heard that the Mennonite Information Center had built a Tabernacle Reproduction. I asked my mom to go along for the day and we took a Saturday trip to The People's Place (an Amish information center with an awesome bookstore on Anabaptist topics). There I got a couple of books to help with my research for the presentation. We then visited Yoder's fabric store and then went to visit the Tabernacle reproduction since we were in the area already.

It was an amazing presentation. The older woman, Mary, that gave the talk about the Tabernacle and all the symbolism there gave so much information, it was hard to take it all in. We visited a few other times on later trips to the area, but discovered that if there was a child in the tour group, the presentation was dumbed down and all the symbolism was left out. I would love to get all that information again, though, somehow.

The one thing that stood out in my mind the most was that on the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies, he had to go through many rituals of purification first. This is a symbol of the perfection of our High Priest who is in Heaven now, Jesus Christ.

Then he would take the Blood of the Sacrifice and pour it on the Mercy Seat, a section of the lid of the Ark of the Covenant that was between the two images of the cherubim. Beneath this lid, inside the Ark, were the stone tablets of the Law. When the Blood was poured out, The Law was covered. God did not see the Law and sins were forgiven.

The symbolism for us to know is that our High Priest, Jesus, poured out His own Blood and has covered the Law. Those of us who under the Blood, are under an umbrella, of sorts, of grace and mercy. The Law is covered for everyone, whether you believe or not.

When you choose to embrace Law again in your life, you step out from under the umbrella of grace, the covering of grace, and are now subject to all of the demands of the Law. You are condemned by the Law, and only made acceptable under grace.

Beware, then, any force that wants to lead you into a pasture of legalism, even the tame suggestion that you tithe. Grace is not a license to behave abominably; it is an invitation to be ruled by what James calls the "Royal Law" -- Love God; Love your neighbor as yourself.

We all fail. We all fall short, even of that rule that can sum up the whole of the Law, for Love does no harm. But God is merciful, God gives grace.

What sets a Christian apart from those who do not believe? Just that: belief.

Not, however, what I found on a church website yesterday -- that the Bible is true and inerrant, that the world was created in 6 days, that Jesus was born and lived and died and was resurrected, that the Holy Spirit will descend on you and let you speak in tongues if you ask Him for that spiritual gift, that the rapture is coming soon.

These are things that a church will put into their statement of "What We Believe" to help people decide if this is the church they want to attend. These things do not belong in the prayer to "accept Jesus as your Savior." Believing these things will not "save" you.

You see, the devil knows that Jesus was born, lived, died and was resurrected.

So, what are we to believe? What is our faith to be in (you know, the verse that says we are saved by faith, but faith in what?)?

Two things:

That Jesus' death for my sins is enough. There is nothing I can do to be any more saved than I am. Therefore, trying to add to what He has already done, even in an attempt to be a "good Christian" (because good Christians just don't so certain things, you know), is stepping outside of belief and faith.

And that God said it, so I believe it. My faith, for instance, in reference to "if you have the faith of a mustard seed," is not in "Is my faith as big as a mustard seed?" nor "Is my faith as big as a mustard seed's?" But is my faith like the mustard seed's? It may be tiny but God has said it will become this mighty plant, it trusts God that He is telling the truth and so begins to grow. Nike said it, "Just do it!" And trust the God who said it will be.

P.S. God says, "I AM so you don't have to be." He is perfect, and by covering the Law, we are seen as perfect, already, in His eyes. It can't get any better than that!