Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
…
 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

• John 6:28-29, 60-69

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

• Matthew 22:34-40

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

• 1 John 4:9-11

“It is tough to define what not being good enough means. It is the work of the evil one that has us focusing on not being good enough and the outcome of our flawed nature to try to address our less than perfect life with a truth that is based solely on how we cope with our inability to be perfect. Satan loves to torment the Christ follower with the truth but only gains ground when that truth is viewed through his lens. What if we looked at life through the lens of God’s truth, the reality of who we are and God’s desire for us as His children?”

• Dave Peever, Better Version of You (post on his blogsite, live4him.ca)

I have been working on various blogs lately and all the research runs together as one big mash of things.

But it seems that in many of the Old Testament prophecies the people who listen to the prophet, which seems to be just a few, all say “What must I do?”  You have the prophets tell you that you are about to go into exile, but then a remnant will return, and they will follow God’s Law.  They will not sin.

So, they ask, “What must we do?”

And is that not how the Pharisees and Sadducees gained a foothold.  They dreamed up a bunch of rules that they could follow, and they taught in the synagogues to follow their rules and we will maintain our kingdom here forever.  So strong was their hold on the people that conquerors like the Romans had a nice working relationship with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests.  This may have even involved money changing hands, at least favors.

So, it mattered not what the Old Testament Scriptures really said, as long as they followed a bunch of made-up rules.  God said that He would not support a nation that did not worship properly, thus we need to follow the rules.

But God wanted the people to have a heart for worshipping.  Were there rules?  Yes, but the rules in Exodus, Leviticus, and a few in Numbers are more than enough rules.  Many are repeated in Deuteronomy as a reminder.  Why create additional rules to look more religious and pious and holier-than-thou?

It wasn’t that the Pharisees and Sadducees had it all wrong.  They read the Scriptures and saw a lasting kingdom being promised to Israel if we can become good rule followers.

They were in a “What Must We do?” frame of mind.

Then Jesus comes along and battles against them.  They had to fight back.  The Scriptures told them that following rules was the important thing and this new upstart is not doing it right.

Thinking of that, when my wife died, my son who called her 3-4 times each week would call me to try to make sense out of the battles he faced as a schoolteacher in public elementary school.  With no one else to turn to, I was the person to call.  The first couple of times he called, he hung up fairly quickly.  Then, I asked him why he did not want to talk so much.  He said, “I would call Mom and I would give her a fifteen-minute summary of my day.  Then, for over an hour I never had to say another word.  She would talk about everything under the sun, and I felt warm, comforted, loved.  If I wanted to say something, she never gave me a chance.  She kept talking.  I try to do the same thing with you, but you don’t do it right.”

That was the Pharisee and Sadducee attitude toward Jesus.  Jesus did not do it right.  Jesus broke some of their made-up rules.  Jesus focused on a loving relationship with everyone He met.  And when the crowds grew bigger, when Jesus’ miracles got bigger, when more people were being fed physically and spiritually, they got scared and had to get rid of the guy who “did not do it right.”

But are we much different today?  All I get from people is “What must I do?”  Rev. Peever’s post title was a “Better Version of You.”  People then worry if they have done enough to be better than the other guy.  My wife often said, “Christians sin, but they should sin less.”  But as she grew wiser with more Bible study and prayer, she did not say that anymore.  We cannot compare.  We just love one another, and let God …

All of that is a comparison, but when we compare ourselves to God, we will never measure up.  There can be no attitude of working our way to the pearly gates and then wondering if we did enough.

We do nothing.  God does the heavy lifting.  He convicts us of our sin.  He enters our heart when we quit fighting Him.  Note: There are no inhabitants of Heaven that do not wish to be in God’s presence.  God does not force Himself on anyone.

So, what must we do?  We let God work within us and we love one another.  It is so simple that most who hear it, reject it.  But although simple, it is so hard, God must do it through us.  As my mother would always chide me about the simplest of things, “You can’t even get that right.”  But God already knows, and He works within me to make me right with Him, so that I can be pure in heart when I reach the pearly gates.  And that is nothing that I could possibly do.  It is all God, a God who is Love.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.