OKAY, SO WHICH GOD IS IT?

I don't plan to use this blog each week to regurgitate the previous Sunday's Christian Living Academy class.  However... something came out of our class last week that is so important I can't let it go without commenting here.  The class was "Who is God?"

When we were looking at the character of God a number of traits came up, including a couple pairings that seem at first to be totally incompatible.  We clearly see a Holy God who can't tolerate sin and whose justice demands that payment be made for sin.  On the other hand we see a loving God who wants more than anything to show us mercy.  So how does that work?  

Some people focus on the holy / just characteristics of God.  That gives us an image of a mean vengeful God who is just waiting to hammer us when we step over the line.  More often these days people focus primarily on the love and mercy of God.  That leads to picturing God as a kindly grandfather who winks at our "indiscretions".  He's the Santa Claus God who loves us so much He couldn't bring Himself to leave a lump of coal in our stocking.

Neither of these images is really God.  So what is the truth?

God has not changed.  He is and always will be a holy God who cannot allow sin in his presence.  He is a just God who requires a price for sin, and the price is death.  He said to Adam and Eve, if you eat that fruit you will die, and that's exactly what happened. The wages of sin is still death (Romans 3:23).

Yet even in the garden of Eden, in His love and mercy God was putting into place a plan where the price could be paid for us.  At unimaginable cost to Himself, He created a plan where our sins could be removed and we could stand righteous before Him in heaven one day.  That plan of course was for Jesus' to take our sin on Himself.

The real issue is our response.  If God is so holy and so just that the penalty for sin is death, what does that mean to the way we live?  If God loves us so much that He allowed His own Son to take that penalty of death for us, what should our response be?

This is the heart of the Gospel, but I'm really writing at this moment to Christians who have already accepted that sacrifice.  And the question for us is how should our behaviour, our lifestyle, our choices, and our priorities reflect the fact that a holy God loved so much He put the penalty for our sin onto His Son?  Should we just say "thanks" and go merrily on our way doing what feels good in the moment?  Or knowing the price and the pain caused by our sin, should we resolve to please God to the best of our ability, seeking His help every day?

God is not a grandfather who winks and smiles at our sin.  Did He love us enough to make a way for us?  Absolutely!  Does that mean we have a license to do anything we feel like?  Absolutely not!  Look at these verses from 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NLT).

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.  For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”   

Or check out these verses from 1 Thessalonians 4:7 - 8

God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. 

Here's a question for every Christian.  Is my heart's desire to please God, or to see how much I can get away with while still being a Christian?  This is a struggle for many in a day when God's standards and the world's standards are becoming farther and farther apart.

Consider this.  Jesus died... because of God's holiness and justice.  Jesus died... because of God's mercy and love.