I recently wrote about an aspect of the Mosaic Law, the laws written for the Jewish people, and how it was performance-based. Deuteronomy chapter 28 outlines the blessings and the curses of the law. In other words, your actions determine whether you are blessed or cursed. Many people today, including the Jewish leaders during the time of Jesus, associated being in right standing with God, a.k.a righteous, with keeping the law.
We found out through the Apostle Paul’s writings in Romans 3:20
For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
I want to expand upon this mentality of having to perform because it still exists today and wraps itself in different forms.
This mentality I’m talking about is the ideal we have to perform, or you could say be a good person to be in right standing with God. Many people believe if you do good, behave yourself, don’t lie, cheat, cuss, help the poor, etc. God will welcome you into heaven. This is simply not the case. The Bible very clearly states that it is through Faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved and made righteous.
Ephesians 2:8-9
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
So, we must dispel this notion that we can show up to heaven with our long list of good deeds and think we will be accepted. Trust me, it will not go well with you. Remember, Salvation is not a reward for our good deeds but a gift from God.
Another area where this performance-based mentality creeps in, similar to what we have previously mentioned, is the belief that we must clean up ourselves to come to God. If this were the case, then answer this question,
Do you clean up before taking a shower, or do you take a shower to get cleaned up?
Obviously, the answer is the latter. We come to God, and He cleans us up. Too many people put their faith and trust in themselves, thinking they must clean up their lives for God to accept them. This is absolutely false! For us to be in right standing with God, it is vital that we go to Him and allow Him to work and change ourselves.
Philippians 2:13
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
I’ve written about this previously, and I’ll leave a link below, but a true change in our lives occurs when God starts working in you, changing your desires, and granting you the power to do what pleases him.
Lastly, and this is a major one, is the notion that somehow we must maintain our salvation through our own performance. I want you to listen to me very closely: righteousness and holiness are not obtained through our human efforts! You’re probably thinking I am going off the deep end, but hear me out. Just because you don’t drink alcohol, cuss, smoke cigarettes, or, let’s say, you go to church, serve in many areas in the church, and give offerings; these acts don’t make you righteous or holy in God’s sight.
Colossians 1:22
Yet now he (God) has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
By believing in Jesus Christ, God has reconciled you to himself, and because of this reconciliation, God has declared you holy and blameless, and you stand before God without a single fault! This will not happen in the future, but it is now by believing in Jesus Christ. You are not holy because you are a good and upstanding Christian. You are holy because God made you holy and blameless. This is what I call our stance before God. Some of you may be saying, I don’t feel holy and blameless, or I still sometimes fall into sin. First off, it is not based on our feelings, and secondly, God isn’t finished with us. This is what I call our status. As I mentioned in Philippians 2:13, God is working and will continue to work in us until our status meets our standing in Christ Jesus. Think of it this way. If you have been following Jesus for any length of time, your desires to live rightly should have changed in this time. Why do you think that is? And don’t you dare say it’s because of my good living.
There is one thing that will prevent this from becoming a reality in your life, and that is unbelief. You don’t believe God has made you holy and righteous even tho I just showed you in scripture. Most Christians would rather believe and put their faith in their performance to determine their standing before God. I’ve said this before, but it is worth repeating: Your beliefs influence your actions.
In the Old Testament, under the Mosaic law, it was all about our ability to change, and as you can see, this mentality still exists today. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out our flesh is weak. You could be the most strong-willed person, full of discipline, but still fail in living a holy and blameless life. After the cross, God stepped in, and because of the sacrifice Jesus made, God made us holy, blameless, and righteous in His sight, and through the inner working of the Holy Spirit, God is changing our desires and giving us the power to what pleases Him. If only you would believe.
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