Salvation and Righteousness

I apologize for not writing much in the past week--in between moving Alison back to school and being in the Valley of Dry Reading Bones, I haven't had the time or inclination to write. Before I get to today's topic, I wanted to share an article published in Saturday's Wall Street Journal on the circumstances leading up to the publishing of the King James Bible in 1611. You can find it at this link, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Ezekiel 33:12 states:

The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it. The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness.

This is a common discussion point amongst Christians--when exactly does a person "lose" his/her righteousness? If we were Christian at one point, will that protect us? If we were baptized, are we "inoculated" against hell? This verse seems answers those questions clearly. What's the point of being prepared for Christ's return if we can just knock it out some time in our lives and then just say to Christ "Hey, I took care of that years ago."

The most common refrain in the business world is "What have you done for me lately," and to repurpose it for Christianity works well. Just as our boss isn't impressed with the outstanding job we did five years ago, God won't accept "Well, I was a Christian once, but..." as an excuse. Ezekiel 33:12-20 makes it clear that we need to continue on the proper path for our entire lives. It also makes it abundantly clear that for those of us who have stumbled along the way, if we come to our senses and repent, we can be saved. This ties in nicely with one of  my least favorite parables, the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16, p1395). I say I don't like it because it offends my business sensibilities, and the socialists of the world seem to point to this in some perverted way to imply that workers are being oppressed. Of course, all this ignores the purpose of the parable--all the workers were paid the same wage, which is salvation. Salvation is salvation--it matters not when we were saved, only THAT we were. 

Again, recall the timing of Ezekiel's writing--600 years before the birth of Christ. The people of Judah DID think they obtained their righteousness from many sources--heritage, law and ritual observance, divine right. We've had other occasions before, but this is another instance where God is preparing the people for a time when the rules are going to change. For us today, it needs to give us a sense of urgency, particularly with those people who have fallen away. If you were unsure as to their eternal fate before, these words of Ezekiel should tell you all you need to know and give you all the reasons to have conversations with these people SOONER rather than later.

Scott