Jesus Lied?!?

Now before you go get your torches and pitchforks hear me out.  I DO NOT believe that Jesus lied, however, those in this world who believe that it is impossible to get into heaven without doing good works are in effect saying that Jesus lied.  Let's take a look.

Luke 23:39-43 (HCSB)
³⁹ Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at Him: “Aren’t You the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!”
⁴⁰ But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?
⁴¹ We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”
⁴³ And He said to him, “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.”

So here we have it, one final scene just before the death of the Savior.  To paint the scene, he is hanging on the center of three crosses surrounded by two theives, men who deserved punishment for what they had done.  As they are hanging there one of the men begins to insult him, taunting him, tempting Him very similarly to what the Devil tried in the wilderness (ref Matt. 4:5-7; Luke 4:9-12).  The other, seeing through the charade and realizing that Jesus had committed no crime and therefore undeserving of the punishment he was receiving, shows the one requirement for entry into the kingdom of God.  He cries out to the Bright and Morning Star to remember him when He enters His kingdom, literally to fix him in His mind as He enters His Kingdom.

So back to my original statement; Jesus Lied.  Here's the thing, there is so much discussion around what it taked to enter the kingdom.  You must be perfect some say, you must witness some say, you must do this or do that in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven, however, here we have an example so clearly set forth for us that it is impossible to deny.  During the pain and agony of the cross, while he was literally suffocating, Jesus tells this man that today you will be with Me in paradise. Literally, this day you will accompany me into paradise...WOW. How AWESOME is that? Imagine this guy's life, up to this point all we really know is that he was a criminal deserving of the cross.  He has even accepted this fact, yet here he is with the promise of glory, simply because he BELIEVED on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:13 (HCSB)
¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Now, here is the danger that I do not want you to fall into; I do not want you to think that it is okay to live the life of a sinner and then wait till just before you die to give it to Christ, so that you can have the best of both worlds, because here's the thing, you don't know when that moment is coming and the sudden end will leave you in hell because you did not believe.  Accept His gift today, reach out and take the grace offered at the cross, so that you can spend eternity in heaven glorifying the creator.

There are some of you who are reading this thinking that it cannot be that simple, but I assure you it can.  There are some of you reading this who are thinking that if you do not do something to earn your way into heaven you will not get there, but I assure you there is nothing that you can do to earn your salvation, you do not have the capability.  There are some of you who would like to bring up verses like James 2:17 in its traditional translation "faith without works is dead" but for you I would respond that you need to take a deeper look at what that verse, in fact the entire book of James, speaks about.  James is in no way implying a works based religion, what he is providing for us are self-examination points to challenge ourselves with.  I love the HCSB translation of this verse:

James 2:17 (HCSB)
¹⁷ In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

Here is the reality of the whole works discussion.  We hear from people constantly that we are called to serve, called to minister, called to witness, etc. but what many fail to realize is that all of the things we are "called" to do are accomplished, not out of our will, but out of the Father who as Paul says in

Philippians 2:13 (HCSB)
¹³ For it is God who is working in you, ⌊enabling you⌋ both to desire and to work out His good purpose.

in other words, God gives us both the desire to do the works and the ability to do the works, but we will only do the works in response to the gift of grace that was given on the cross.

Think about it this way, without it being a true response to God it is a tedious task that we under take for the simple reason of saying that we did it.  We boast in our arrogance of all that we have accomplished, all of the kingdoms we have built on sand.  However when we do in response to God, we can do firstly more than we can of our own power and secondly we will do out a desire for God to receive the glory.

I invite you to search your heart, your mind, your thoughts, are you working for the right reasons.  One of my favorite quotes from Indiana Jones comes from the third movie "The Last Crusade".  In this scene Indy has just finished pummeling the soldier of the "Cruciformed Sword" trying to force the man to tell him where his father has been taken.  The man pushes back with the first of two quotes that I want to bring out, Indy threatens to kill the man, the man says that they will both die, Indy says fine and then wham the man hits Indy with this question "Dr. Jones, my soul is prepared, How's yours?" This is enough to cause Indy to pause, and agree to let the man go in exchange for the information about Indy's father.  He then gives the second quote "Ask yourself why you seek the cup of Christ, is it for your glory, or His?" WOW there it is in a nutshell.  So my challenge to you today is this:

Why are you doing the things you are doing, are they for your glory, or for His?

My humble thoughts and my View From the Corner...