Am I Going to Heaven or Not?

READ: Romans 3:21-31

Scripture often reveals truth in stark contrast to what we hear about Christianity. Such is the case today.

Ever hear that good people go to Heaven and bad people go to Hell? Big problem: There are no good people. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All deserve to be punished, yet all are freely justified by Christ’s sacrificial atonement. Does that mean all are going to Heaven? No. Only those who accept this atonement Christ freely offers are saved; without it, any one of us would be going to Hell. No wonder Paul instructs us not to boast in our good works, but to boast only in the cross of Christ!

So, then, if it’s not what you do, but what you believe, is God’s grace a free pass to sin? Little problem: Definitions. Believe doesn’t mean profess as true; it means accept as true. And if we accept something as true, we act on it. So to believe in Christ is to obey his teaching - all of it! Hence the conclusion in James 2:14-26: Faith without works is dead.

But I thought the New Covenant of God’s grace replaced the Old Covenant of the Mosaic Law? Nope. As it turns out, we don’t nullify the law by faith, we uphold the law. By believing in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit he gives, we live according to the moral law God gave Moses. When we fail, the sacrifice of Christ atones for us, but by the Spirit we are assured of God’s final victory: not only our freedom from the penalty of sin, but our freedom from the power and presence of sin as well.

Even Family Relationships Can Be Restored

Families are a social structure that God has given us for love, growth and protection. Next to our relationship with Jesus Christ, the relationships with our family members are perhaps the most important ones we have.

 

We tend to be ourselves with our family. There is no need to put on the veneer of respectability that we might to other people. Our families know our strengths and our faults. Yet our families love us and we them.

 

But being ourselves means that we might bruise a relationship.

 

Perhaps you said something you later regretted.  Maybe you were a bit too nosy. You may have even eaten the last vanilla cream donut in the dozen.

 

Perhaps you angered somebody and there was an argument. With the help of God, you probably were able to patch things up.

But that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes things are just too vicious to fix easily.

 

Today’s reading is Genesis 38:12-30. Judah had a messed up family. Two of his sons were put to death because they did not find favor in the eyes of the Lord. Judah had a widowed daughter-in-law, Tamar, whom he was to have his third son marry, as Mosaic Law dictated.

 

Judah discouraged – rather, he sabotaged – the marriage.

 

But it gets worse. Judah’s later actions had him directly violate another family provision in the Mosaic Law. Judah raised a sinful family, and Judah himself was guilty of severe sin. His family was really messed up.

 

In spite of our sins, Jesus has the power to restore us. Because of our faith in him, our sins, no matter how egregious, are forgiven. This is great news.

 

Jesus restores our relationship with God. But what about the family members we sinned against? He can’t restore our relationship with them, can he?

 

The story continues. Judah’s and Tamar’s child, Perez, is a direct ancestor of Jesus. That makes sinful Judah a direct ancestor of Jesus.

 

Jesus’ family tree not only consists of Judah, but it consists of other less-than-righteous people. In fact, Jesus’ ancestors, like us, are sinners. Jesus knows what it is like to have sinners in the family. He knows how to restore relationships.

 

With his help, even family relationships can be restored.