Metanoia 4
Resume of the Whole Bible in
6 Words
Message of Every Page of the Bible
Jesus Saves... to do Good Works
What about the Indians, and the Jews and Muslims?
God wants everybody to go to eternal heaven
Every human being wants to be full of joy and love and peace... but we often choose the wrong approach: We look for it in pleasures, and we may end up being a prostitute, or a drug addict... we look for it in power or riches or honor, and we may end up in being greedy or worried or selfishly proud, afraid to live and to die...
Metanoia... we all want to change, to be transformed, to live happy on earth and for ever and ever... but it is not easy... and here comes God Himself to the rescue.
God puts it very easy!:
The message of God in every page of the Bible can be resumed in three words: Trust in God, in the Old Testament, Faith in Christ in the New.
It is so easy and simple and so great that it amazes us, we can't believe it... so easy?...
Yes, God is always with you, to love you, to help you... not the President of the Nation or a millionaire, but God Himself, who is the owner of all the money of the world and has all the power... remember Metanoia 1?...
Adam and Eve did not trust in God but in the serpent, and they die.
David trusted God and he conquered Goliath, Goliath trusted in himself and he was defeated and die... Abraham trusted God to the point of getting ready to kill his son, and he became the father of many nations...
Noah and Moses and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets and all the heroes of Hebrews 11 lived trusting in God... and they succeeded.
In the New Testament, Faith in Christ is the essence of every page, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. (John 3:36)... only the Gospel of John mentions 92 times the word "believe" or "faith".
But there is a problem: The whole Bible is
resumed in Love by Jesus and Paul, not in Faith to God but in Love to your
neighbor:
- In everything, do to others what you would have them do
to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Mt.7:12).
- The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love
your neighbor as yourself. (Gal.5:14)... Just in 5 Words!
The Bible puts so much emphasis in this "love your neighbor" that simply states: If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1Jn.4:20)... and of course, the first step to "love god" is "to trust in God", and obey His commandments all along the Bible...
So, can Faith and Love be reconciled?:
It is easy in the Bible!
"Faith" is a "gift" of God, a "charisma"... like your hands or your face, or the Bible, or the Church... all are "gifts" of God...
It is a most wonderful gift, the greatest treasure on earth, able to fill us with the love of God...
Jesus Christ Himself comes freely into you, just by faith, and then you can love and do good deeds, and not you, but Jesus who is in you!... (Gal.2:20, Jn.15)...
In Christianity, faith is the foundation of the building, love is the building itself, and hope is the windows of that building, to receive fresh air and light and warmth... (1Cor.13:13, Gal.5:5-6).
- We all want to love, the priest and the
prostitute, the mechanic and the house wife, and the artist, and the athlete and
the politician... you and I... all!... we are all made like God!.. immortal like
God, made to love, because God is love (Gen.1:26-27, 1Jn.4:8,16).
- But since Adam we all love ourselves, and that's Selfishness, which is
exactly the opposite of Love.
- But if Jesus is in me, then I am going to love, and not me but Jesus who
lives in me, who is going to use my hands to give bread and water to the needy,
and my feet to visit the sick or the one in prison, and my heart to love and to
be generous and understanding, and my brain to teach and help any one... and not
me, but Jesus who lives in me, which is the essence of Christianity, the Gospel
of the free gift of Grace (Gal.2:20).
Jesus Saves:
Still more: Every human, since Adam, have the necessary faith, because God wants everybody to be saved, to live with love and joy on earth and to be happy for ever and ever (Rom.12:3, 1Tim.2:4).
You have all the faith you will ever need... but you have to use it... pride and selfishness are your major enemies, yourself!
We all need metanoia!...to transform ourselves into jewels of joy and love and peace... but it is not easy... and here comes God again to the rescue... it is your great chance, For God so loved the world (you!) that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him (you!) shall not perish but have eternal life. (Jn.3:16)... "have", now on earth!... the same life of love and joy and peace he will have in Heaven.
A life on earth without fear to nothing and to nobody, because Jesus, God Himself is with you, in you!... and a glorious life that nothing and nobody can take away, neither sickness nor failures, neither Satan nor the bad friends, nor the rebel son nor the bad spouse... (Rom.8:35-39).
Just a little humility and realize that you are not perfect, that you are a sinner, that you are going to die, that you can't make it by yourself... and believe in Jesus... and, if you believe in Him, do as you do with your Doctor, do what He orders! (Jn.14:13,23):
What He orders is simple, very easy, inexpensive: Just get baptized in His Church (Mt.28:19, Mc.16:16)... and immediately all your sins are forgiven, your soul is pure and immaculate, and start to do good deeds... and you can!, because Jesus is in you, and the Father Himself and the Holy Spirit... you become a temple of God, a tabernacle of Jesus... (Jn.14:23,17, 1Cor.3:16, 6:19).
And Jesus Saves to do good deeds now on earth, those the Father has prepared for you since all the eternity, to live on earth the glorious adventure of being a Christian, a temple of God:
8For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9not by works, so that no one can boast.
10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Eph.2:8-10).
The Gospel of Grace through faith is "to do Good Works"... Yes, that's what it says in verse 10:
A Christian is another Christ walking on earth to live and do the same works Jesus did:
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal.2:20, Jn.14:23).
The "works" are so important that the Final Judgment of God of any person will be done according to his "works", because "works" is the only measure of true "faith":
Good Works: They are the basics of our own happiness on earth, the way we can make others happy, and, most important, a reason we will go either to eternal Heaven or Hell.
6
God "will give to each person according to what he has done."... 11For God does not show favoritism. (Rom.2:5-11)Yes, according to the works done!... and God does not have favoritism, He will judge the Christian by the same measure He will judge the Hindu or the Jew, by his works!.
In Revelation 20, the Great White Throne of Judgment, the same measure of works will be used:
The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. (Rev.20:12, 11-15).
In Mat.25, the Last Judgment of each person, God will not ask: Were you a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist?... No!... he will say to anyone: Come to Heaven! because you did good deeds... or go to Hell!, because you did bad deeds!. Read the whole statement in Mat.25:31-46, one of the greatest pages of the Bible.
God had not Discrimination, He judges everybody with the same measure of love, For God does not show favoritism. (Rom.2:11).
To be a Christian is like the son of a King: He is a Prince, freely, not because he is handsome or because he has done good deeds, but just because he is the son of the King, freely, a gift... but if that Prince does bad things, he will be a bad Prince, and it is a shame, because as a Prince he had the opportunity to do many good things... the same goes for a "Christian": He has received more good things than a Prince, and if he does bad works it is a shame, and he will go to a worse Hell than an Indian who does bad works, but who never even heard about Jesus, nor had the Bible for guidance, nor the maternal care of the Church...
The "faith" is a "gift", a "charisma"... like your hands or your face, or the Bible, or the Church... all are "gifts" of God... and you do not go to Heaven because of the "gifts" you received, but because of the "fruits"... because of the "works" you did using your hands, and your heart, and your Christian faith, and the knowledge of the Bible, and the maternal care of the Church...
... True faith always brings good works, and joy, like the lighted wood always gives light and heat... but, of course, there is also "false faith", the faith that is good for nothing, say Jesus and Paul, or the faith of the Devil, says James (Matt.7:21-23, 1Cor.13:1-3, Jam.2:18-20).
... Paul is specific on this issue: "If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing" (1Cor.13:1-3)... nothing!... faith without works is the faith of the Devil!... the Devil believes, but trembles, he knows about the Bible more that all humans put together... the Devil knows about Christ, but he can't be another Christ, and because he "knows" and he "is not", that's why he is the Devil, and the Christian who knows about Christ but he is not another Christ is like the Devil... it is "to be", not just "to know", the essence of being a Christian (James 2:18-20).
What about those born before Christ:
Can a Jew go to Heaven?: Sure!... Jesus himself says that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Prophets of the Old Testament are in Heaven already (Matt.8:11, Lk.13:28)...
The difference between the Old and the New Testament is that in the Old God was "with His people", to help them, to care for them, to guide them... in the New, God is "inside every Christian"... and, of course, in the Old Testament were missing the Blood of Christ, the redemption of the sins.
Can an Indian or a Muslim or a Hindu go to Heaven?...Sure!... in God there is no partiality... a South-American Indian born 5,000 years ago who did good works in life, is now in Heaven, as Abraham or Isaac, or a good Muslim, or a good Hindu who never even heard about Jesus... all of them by the merits of the Blood of Christ who paid for the sins of every men and women born before or after Christ... His Blood has retroactive value.
The Atheists?: They have "no excuse", says Paul, because since the creation of the world God has shown to them his eternal power and divine nature, in Rom.1:18-24... Psalms 14 and 53 call them "fools"... and Job says to them: "ask the beasts!, and they will teach you"... who made the feathers of the birds, or the eyes of an insect, or the lungs of the fish...? (Job 12:7-9).
Can a Christian go to Hell?: Sure!... Jesus is scary when He talks about this in the Sermon of the Mountain: "many" who look good Christians, who made prophecies in the name of Jesus, and who healed the sick and cast out demons in the name o Jesus, will go to Hell! (Matt.7:21-24).
God wants everybody in Heaven:
"God desires everyone to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1Tim.2:4)... God wants every man and woman to go to Heaven... this is the God of the Bible!: He wants every man and woman, before and after Christ, to go to Heaven... every Indian who lived 3,000 years ago had all he needed to know God, and to go to Heaven... every Hindu or Jew woman who lived 2,000 years before Christ is a treasure to God, and God gave her all she needed to reach Heaven... and Jesus Christ died for her!...
A severe warning from God:
Here the Bible is really scary: If you believe in Jesus, you "have" now the same glorious life of eternity... but if you heard about Jesus Christ, if you know about Him, and you don't believe in Him, not only you are not saved, but God's wrath remains with you, right now, on earth:.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him (Jn.3:36).
We really need metanoia, a change of heart and, literally, change of mind, and we can't do it by ourselves... but God, our Father, comes to the rescue, we have to allow the grace of God to enter into our lives and teach us how to see ourselves and how to come to the true self.
I know there are many questions: I am a Christian, I have been baptized... but... but... but... I am not a Christian,,,
Next chapter tries to answer
some of these questions... for now, just Metanoia!
Quotations: NIV at the Bible Gateway
Continuation:
Metanoia 4b
Metanoia 5