License to Sin
The books of 2 Peter and Jude focus on an insidious teaching that had found its way into the early Christian community. False teachers sought to teach early Christians that God’s grace provides covering for believers to commit every kind of sin without reproach from God. In so doing, they falsely appeared to extol the great value of God’s atoning power over all our sins. In reality they were simply seeking a license to sin, to do as they pleased and, in effect, to be their own god.
Underneath this bargaining arrangement lies another belief. That belief is the strong hunch that God must be holding out on us. That God is not to be trusted and that we will miss out on good things if we were to ever actually submit and surrender to His divine plan for each of us.
Human control is a funny thing. We believe we are in control when we have the freedom to put ourselves into bondage. What an odd thought. And put ourselves into bondage we do. Whether it’s the freedom to engage in sexual sin, the right to sin against our brothers and sisters, the arrogance to sin against God – whatever the sin might be. We press on, even gleefully, into sin only to find that we are in the worst kind of bondage with no way out. At such times, our burden is not easy and our yoke is not light.
Living in such a way reminds me of “sowing skimpily”. Galations 6:7-9 talks about how we reap what we sow. In fact, the very act of obedience to God, of surrendering to Jesus Christ, of submitting to the Holy Spirit is what sets us free. We reap what we sow and it is both a present and future reward to us.
At the bottom of page 303 (Messiah), Paul urged the early Christians to “grow in the (actual) grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” To know God, to taste and see that He really is good, to experience His peace that passes all understanding, cures us from wanting to be at the bargaining table with Him. Instead, we know the truth of Proverbs 10:22…
“The blessing of the Lord makes us rich (in every good thing), and there is no sorrow added.”
The goodness, grace and mercy of God deserves nothing less than our full devotion, our full trust as we allow ourselves to fall into His arms, to enter into His plans with confidence. Let’s throw all caution to the wind and claim Him - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - as our one and only plan. He is our Plan A, Plan B and our Plan C and without Him we have no other plan. No bargaining, no holding back.