No 'if/then' Statements With God

I am about to start ranting and raving again --- just wanting you to be warned! It surprises me that no matter how many times people hear that God loves them, God forgives them and that there is nothing they can do to earn God's favor, someone will say or write or intimate that we need to get right with God. Unbelievable that people can't fathom that the mercy of God is a free gift -- a gift for us, given on a cross. So, here I go, I am here to proclaim there are no 'if/then' statements with God.

There is no qualifier to God's love. Statements like -- 'If' I preach well, 'then' God will love me. 'If' I am a good parent, 'then' God will forgive all the things I did as a teenager. 'If' I behave and follow the Ten Commandments, 'then' I will earn my place in heaven -- are fatally flawed; they imply we can begin to get it right. They imply that we have to bargain with God, perform correctly, or as some would say "to hell we will go." I say, "Nonsense."

What is it about us human beings that think we can even begin to get anything right? Haven't we learned by now that everything we do is hopelessly flawed? Or as Luther would say, "we are saint and sinner at the same time." Yes, we try to get things right. Yes, we try to do the best we can, but inevitable we fail. If I had to depend on my abilities, I would just have to crawl into a hole and wither away -- straight to hell I would go. There are so many things in which I fail.

Now I like to think I am a good preacher, but I am horrible at remembering. I like to think I am a nice person, yet, I can't seem to get along with my own mother. I believe I am a fairly good cook, but my son doesn't follow my advice at all. I try to be a good pastor, but I make mistakes and disappoint people constantly.

I am flawed; I cannot count on my wisdom, my intelligence, my ability to get me through life unscathed. And even if I do manage to get a few things right, there is no reward from God. The reward was secured -- the gift was given -- even before I began to try. This gift has always been mine and can never be taken away.

Scripture proclaims in the 2nd chapter of Ephesians: "for by grace you have been saved and this is not your own doing. . ." Let's read it again in other translations: “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved, through faith. It is not your own doing but God’s gift." (Good News for Modern Men) “You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.” (Contemporary English Version)

The Message by Eugene Peterson states -- "Now God has us where God wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all God's idea, and all God's work. All we [can] do is trust God enough to let God do it. It's gift start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does the making and saving. God creates each of us in Christ Jesus to join God in the work God does, the good work God has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."

Same message, different words --  there is nothing we can do to get right with God; Jesus the Christ has already done it. And yet, we do works, of course, but they do not make us right with God. The works we do are our response to what God has already done--response to the gift already given. Get it?