Gospel

The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, But his favor is like dew on the grass. (Proverbs 19:12)

The Trump haters are in high dudgeon and they may just succeed in giving us one of the best presidents we've had in decades. Years ago, a friend said it's more important you have the right enemies than the right friends. Trump seems almost a genius in choosing his enemies. The pretty girls and boys of Hollywood. The drug-addled, sexually debauched music stars. The intellectually debauched talking heads of the media. All the Demoncrats united in their three-legged platform of grand theft from future generations, sodomy, and the slaughter of one-quarter of our nation's babies. Some gang, huh? 

So I think we've hit the Thomas principle. You remember what they tried to do to Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings? Attack a man relentlessly, trying to keep him out of office, and if he gets the position, you've succeeded in making him your implacable foe. It's bad enough when he becomes a sitting and sitting and sitting and sitting justice of the Supreme Court, but watch out when he's inaugurated the forty-fifth president of these United States...

When we look at Denny Hastert, we see a man we're relieved to hear was the longest-running Speaker of the House. Bumbling, always a smile, self-deprecating; he's a man so he's not Hillary; he's adipose and frumpy so he's not Cruz; there's not a macho bone in his body so he's not The Donald. It's icing on the cake that he's a Wheaton alum, his base is Joliet (Joliet?), and his springboard into politics was the office of a high school wrestling coach. It's all good, right? Very, very good.

So what's the angle?

Some would accuse the man asking that question of being cynical. Those "some" would likely be good church-going citizens whose Christian faith goes as deep as "judge not" and "love always expects the best." These "some" sit under preachers whose sermon every week tells them "you're much worse than you could ever know, but God's grace is much deeper than you could ever imagine" as a way of reassuring them their sin doesn't matter because... Ta-da-da-dum! Jesus did it all! It's all of grace! Just believe the Gospel and everything you've ever done and do still today will never matter. Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only the grace of God will last.

Here's where it gets interesting. The FBI announces they've caught Speaker Hastert in a money laundering scheme. When they question him, he claims his former high school student is extorting him. Who would doubt it? After all, this is frumpy, bumbling, self-deprecating, tubby-cute Speaker Hastert. He'd never lie, but he'd make a great mark for a greedy fraudster. Denny would pay up to avoid public scandal—he's from Joliet and unassuming. He doesn't care about money. He'd let them have whatever they demanded and keep quiet.

But it wasn't Denny's Senior Pastor who decided whether his story of being falsely accused and extorted was true. It was the FBI. And like forensic accountants, FBI men and women don't believe ingenuousness is next to godliness. They think it's sloth and they know if they give in to this weakness, they'll be useless in protecting...

This guy comes up to Jesus and asks him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus' initial response is sort of a shock: "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone." He does not say this as though to contrast Himself with God, but rather to make a point about man vs God, generally. Nobody is good. Only God is good. This is a huge hint to help us understand where Jesus is going with the next part of his answer: "You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’"

Now let's be honest. This isn't anything like the answer you were expecting, is it? This guy just wants to know how to be saved. In our thinking Jesus is supposed to share the Gospel now. This man is open to instruction now in a way he might never be again. His question was like a giant lob in slow-pitch softball, just waiting for Jesus to connect with "the Gospel bat." All Jesus needed to do to make us happy was tell him to "believe" or maybe "repent and believe." Instead, Jesus whips out a can of law, and starts laying it on thick. Murder. Adultery. Theft. Lying.

If somebody did that today, we'd tell them it was a terrible waste of an excellent opportunity to share the Gospel. But we don't really feel free to do that with Jesus. So what do we make of this, and how do we apply it as we seek to learn from Jesus and become more like Him? Before we can answer that, we should probably read the rest of the story.

The man responds to Jesus with, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." Then it says, "Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him..." (Here we all breathe a sigh of relief. Aha! Here comes the good news, right?) "...and said to him, 'One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'"

Did you catch that? Jesus felt love for him. So He... gave him more law. Ugh. Jesus just doesn't seem to have the same "gospel centered” message we have, does He? But wait. It gets worse. The story continues: "at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property."

Here was a man who wanted to know how to be saved. He asked Jesus how to be saved. Jesus' answer was, "keep the law." When the guy says he's been keeping it, Jesus shows him where he hasn’t been, and how to change it. Jesus discourages the man so much with all the talk of the law that the man walks away sad.

There are a few choices for how to understand this:

If you wonder, yes, Mary Lee and I approve of it. No, it's not a Satanic holiday—unless we abandon it to them.

Rather, it may be the best night of the year to do door-to-door church invitations since almost everyone has their door open and welcomes you. Take a child with you. This is what the congregation I served did back in Wisconsin. It led to a man confessing faith in Jesus Christ and becoming a part of the church. The most unlikely man in the world. A real sinner.

Claim costumes and pumpkins and leaves and candy for Christ and His Kingdom!

Unless you're a food Scrooge and want to use your child to alienate people.

In his own eyes, every man is righteous.

Recently, my wife was having dinner with a large group celebrating the birthday of a dear woman who had reached her ninety-seventh year. One of the men at the table proposed they sing "Happy Birthday," but there was a fly in the ointment: a woman in their group voiced disapproval of such an intrusion in the privacy of others.

Another man at the table responded, "Oh, come on; all of us would be happy to hear a table singing 'Happy Birthday'!" Seeing she'd lost the battle, the table began to sing while the objector got up and walked away. One celebrant announced to the others in the restaurant, "She's ninety-seven!", so of course the whole restaurant joined in the happy chorus. It was very sweet.

When the song was over, the objector returned to the table and my wife asked, "I guess you were making yourself scarce?"

She replied, "I have high morals and I take them very seriously."

This isn't an article on ethnic or regional differences in conviviality...

Humble sweet testimony to our Lord Jesus Christ (added since Bill Mouser's comment below: But if you note the reader will notice there's no mention of Jesus, he may well ask why is said the above and I'll respond, dumb me!)...