Grace Classics: Escape to Reality Greatest Hits, Volume 2 (4 page)

Two men go to see the doctor. The
first is suffering from advanced cancer and needs a life-saving intervention.
The second is completely healthy and is going for a routine check-up. The
doctor is a perfect physician and prescribes the appropriate medication in each
case.

However,
the pharmacist bungles the prescriptions and gives each man the other’s
medicine. The man with cancer is given multivitamins and told to exercise daily,
while the healthy man is given an extensive course of chemotherapy.
Unsurprisingly, the sick man dies from taking the wrong pills while the healthy
man suffers unnecessarily.

In this
parable the perfect physician represents Jesus. Jesus knows our every need and
always prescribes the perfect medicine.

For the
self-righteous person that medicine might be a judicious application of the
law. The law is good if used properly and its purpose is to break our pride,
silence our self-righteousness, and reveal our need for a Savior. Ultimately
the law is meant to lead us to Jesus so that we may receive the gift of his
righteousness (Galatians 3:24, Romans 5:17).

But the
law is of no use to the saint who has already been set free from the cancer of
sin. The ritualistic observance of regulations does nothing to promote godly
living and enslaves the free (Colossians 2:23). The best medicine for saints is
a healthy dose of God’s grace supplemented with the daily exercise of faith.

In the
parable the confused pharmacist represents the preacher (or writer!) who
mistakenly gives grace to the self-righteous and law to saints. The result is
that both will be made worse off. The self-righteous unbeliever will be led to
believe that all is well even as death reaches for him, while the saint will be
led to believe that eternity hinges on his ability to deliver a good
performance for Jesus. Instead of walking in the freedom that Christ brings, he
will come under guilt and condemnation as he strives, and fails, to live at
Christ’s level. He will be miserable and his hair will fall out from stress.

The
Bible is a repository of life-saving medicine, but confused preachers sometimes
mix up the medicine. With the best of intentions they do more harm than good.

An example from Peter

Let me give you an example from
the three chapters of 2nd Peter. In chapter 1 Peter expounds on the
forgiveness, grace and power that come from God. In chapter 2 Peter warns the
church about the false prophets and false teachers who are “among you” (v.1).
What do these guys look like? Peter says they are those who follow the way of
Balaam (v.15), are “slaves of depravity” (v.19), and who know about Jesus but
“never stop sinning” (v.14). In short they are sinners who know about the things
of God (like Balaam did), who are acquainted with the “way of righteousness,”
but they’ve turned their backs on it (v.21) and so remain under condemnation
(v.3). Peter distinguishes these “unrighteous” men from the “godly men that God
rescues from trials” (v.9).

In
chapter 3 Peter turns his attention back to the saints four times referring to
them as his “dear friends.” If chapter 2 is full of fury at the ungodly
infiltrating positions of leadership within the church, chapter 3 contains
fatherly exhortations for the saints.

Problems
arise when the medicine-dispensers confuse the dear friends of chapter 3 with the
slaves of depravity of chapter 2. Harsh, condemning words meant for the self
righteous are spoken over those whom Christ calls righteous. Instead of being
warned about the dangers of listening to false teachers and prophets, the saints
are treated as if they were false themselves. Like the healthy man in the
parable, they are given medicine that is not meant for them and the result is
they are left in a worse position than when they came in.

An example from Jude

Like Peter, Jude similarly draws a
line between “godless men” who deny Jesus Christ as Lord and his “dear friends”
who are loved and kept by Jesus. It’s important to note that both types of
people can be found attending church meetings for Jude says of these godless
men that they have “slipped in among you” (v.4).

Again,
in the hands of a confused preacher, Jude’s warning
for
the saints can
be twisted into a warning
to
the saints. But Jude’s message is “woe to
them
”
(v.11), not “woe to you.” Jude’s medicine of rebuke is specifically for the godless
Christ-denier who remains under condemnation, not the saint who is justified by
Jesus.

The
punch-line of Jude’s letter is one of the clearest assurances a Christian can
have that they are righteous, sanctified and kept safe by Jesus:

To him
who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious
presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory,
majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages,
now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:24–25)

A word after

“Paul, are you saying we should
give the law to sinners? I thought we were supposed to tell them the good
news!” I totally agree. We are to proclaim the good news of God’s love and
grace to the nations. But not everyone will receive it. Those who are smug in
their self-righteousness or hardened by sin may not be receptive to the good news
of God’s grace. In such cases, the law may serve a purpose, as Paul explains in
1 Timothy 1:8–11. The law is good for breaking the hard heart of the proud so
that it may become receptive to grace.

We are
not in the business of dividing people into camps, yet Peter seems to do
exactly this in the second chapter of his letter. So do the other apostles when
they distinguish
us
(e.g., dear friends, saints, beloved) from
them
(the unrighteous, slaves of depravity, etc.). Surely God loves the whole world
and Jesus died for everyone, but not everyone loves Jesus, hence these
distinctions. People divide themselves by their response to grace. Peter is
just telling it like it is.

But what
does it mean to “leave the straight way and wander off” as these false prophets
did (2 Peter 2:15). In what sense did they “know about the way of righteousness?”
Is Peter saying they were once saved but fell from their secure position? Not
at all. He is simply saying that they had heard about Jesus (v.20) but rejected
him. They remained unrepentant and unchanged by grace.

Note the
strong language that Peter uses to describe these false prophets. He says they are
still living in the dog-eat-dog world of ungrace (v.22). They are “brute
beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed” (v.12).
Peter is not describing saints but unrighteous men (v.9) who deny Jesus (v.1),
follow Balaam (v.15), remain slaves to depravity (v.19) and who never stop
sinning (v.14). I don’t believe Peter hates these guys, but he surely hates
their antichrist message and damaging influence.

Peter’s
words for them should not scare you. You don’t follow Balaam and you have not
denied Jesus. Indeed, you are his living, shining testimony of grace.

The entire Bible is good for you,
but you won’t get much out of it unless you know Jesus Christ. To understand
the written word, you need to know the Living Word. Try to read the Bible
without an appreciation of Jesus—who he is and what he has done—and you may end
up taking someone else’s medicine. Some verses will appear to contradict others
and you will get confused.

Today I
want to look at a man who believed that God gives us good gifts only to take
them away again. You can probably guess that I’m talking about Job. Job had
this one really bad week when his livestock were stolen, his servants were
slain, and his kids were killed when a house fell on them. For some reason, Job
thought God was behind his loss for he said:

The Lord
gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. (Job
1:21)

If there was ever a scripture that
has led to some screwy notions about God’s character, it’s this one. Anyone who
has suffered loss has probably heard this verse. It’s often quoted at funerals.
We even sing songs about it. For some strange reason people seem to find
comfort in believing that God is responsible for their loss.

Now
don’t get me wrong—I love Job’s attitude. He’s saying that whatever happens in
life, he’s going to praise the name of the Lord. But Job still said some dumb
things about God. By his own admission he spoke of things he did not understand
(see Job 42:3).

But the
question stands: Does God give and take away?

Any
picture we have of God needs to be informed by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the
“radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3).
To get a good understanding of God’s character, we need to look to Jesus, not
Job. Can you imagine Jesus stealing or killing? Of course not. So how is it
that some people think that God was responsible for Job’s loss?

“But
Paul, it’s in the Bible, it’s right there in black and white—‘the Lord gave and
the Lord has taken away’.” Let me put it to you like this. If you want the best
insight into God’s character, are you better off looking at Jesus, who said
“anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), or Job, who by his
own admission, did not really know him (see Job 42:5)? It seems obvious that
Jesus is the better choice.

Jesus
came to reveal God the great giver (see John 3:16). Have you been given
something good? Then see God as your source. He gave it to you:

Every
good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)

But what if you have suffered
loss, like Job? He lost his health, his wealth, and his family. The temptation
may be to blame God for your loss, as if God had a change of heart. But God is
not fickle. He does not change like shifting shadows. He is an extraordinary
giver who never takes back his gifts.

God’s
gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.
(Romans 11:29, MSG)

So if God is doing the giving, who
is doing the taking? Jesus tells us:

The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

We ought not to be confused about
these two different roles. One is a giver, the other is a taker. If you have
been given something good, then give thanks to God. But if you’ve been robbed,
don’t blame God. He is not behind your loss.

Humans can
be spectacularly slow learners. From the beginning of history the devil has
been trying to steal or ruin everything God has ever given us and yet there are
still some who think that God is the thief! God gave us authority over a planet
and the devil took it. God gave us freedom and the devil somehow got us to swap
that for slavery. God gave us eternal life, health and glory, and we lost it
all. But thank God for Jesus who took back what the devil stole!

Jesus
came to reveal a generous Father and to destroy the work of the thief (1 John
3:8). Jesus came that we might have life to the full, not to the half.

If you
think that God gives and takes away, then you have more faith in karma than
grace. Karma says that what goes around comes around. If you’re healthy now,
you’ll be sick tomorrow. If you’re prospering now, poverty’s waiting around the
next corner. Trust in karma and you won’t be surprised when disappointments and
hardships come. You’ll just throw in the towel and say, “I knew it was too good
to last.”

The
world works according to the principle of give and take, but God just gives.
The only thing he’ll take off you—if you let him—is your sin, your shame, your
sickness, your worries and your fears. He takes away those things that harm us
and only gives us good things that bless us.

Are you a Job or a David?

Like Job, David was also robbed
(see 1 Samuel 30:1–5). And like Job, David was greatly distressed and
surrounded by faithless friends with bad advice. But unlike Job, David did a
Jesusy-thing and took back what was stolen.

Why did
David fight while Job quit? We are told that David “encouraged himself in the
Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6). In his pain David considered God’s goodness and
realized that God was not behind his loss. He understood that it was not God’s
will for him to suffer, so he fought back and prevailed.

I wish I
could go back in time and get to Job before his friends did. I would say, “Job,
God didn’t kill your kids! He didn’t steal your livelihood and make you sick.
You’ve been robbed. Don’t sit there in the ashes and cry about it, get up and
fight! Are you a warrior or a weakling? Are you a victor or a victim?”

The
church will never see victory if we think God is behind our suffering. If we
think God is robbing us we won’t even resist. We’ll let the thief waltz in and
plunder our families all the while singing “He gives and takes away.” Funny,
but I can’t imagine Jesus or David doing that.

For too
long we have been incapacitated by uncertainty which is really just another
name for unbelief. If you are uncertain who is behind your suffering don’t look
to Job. Instead look to Jesus who was never confused about who was giving and
who was taking.

A word after

Without a doubt, this is the most polarizing
article I have ever written. Readers either loved or hated it. Those who hated
it typically did so for one of four reasons.

(1)
  
“Paul, how can you say Job spoke out of line? Job was a
saint!” Hey, I’m just agreeing with God and Elihu (Job 38:2, 32:12). Even Job
came to realize that he had spoken inappropriately (Job 42:3). I’m not
condemning Job for what he said in his hour of grief. I’m marveling at the
mercy of God who intervened and helped Job to change his tune. I’m in awe at
the way God’s grace turns our laments into praise.

(2)
  
“Job is an example for us to follow.” Not when he’s going
the wrong way. Job was fearful, superstitious, self-righteous, bitter, and had
a death wish. Why would you want to follow him? Follow Jesus!

(3)
  
“Job 1:8 says the whole thing was a set-up. God gave Satan
permission.” Read that passage in a literal translation and you will find it
says no such thing:

And
Jehovah saith unto the Adversary, “Hast thou set thy heart against my servant
Job because there is none like him in the land, a man perfect and upright,
fearing God, and turning aside from evil?” (Job 1:8, YLT)

Satan
came gunning for Job. Why didn’t God stop him? We might also ask why God doesn’t
stop earthquakes or famines or wars. Not everything that happens is God’s will.
Satan went for Job because he could. When God said, “All that he has is in thy
power” (Job 1:12), he wasn’t handing Job over to Satan—God doesn’t do deals
with the devil. He was simply stating a fact (see 1 John 5:19). If Satan had to
ask permission, he wouldn’t be a thief would he?

(4)
  
“God is sovereign. God ‘allowed’ Satan to do it.” Contrary
to the modern sovereignty teaching, God is
not
in control of everything
that happens to you (again, see 1 John 5:19). Fatalism says that God is
responsible for everything that happens, but the gospel declares that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). There is a
difference. Jesus taught us to pray, “Let your will be done on earth as it is
in heaven.” Why would we need to pray that if God’s will was already being
done?