God Without Religion_ Can It Really Be This Simple_ - Andrew Farley [64]
There’s only one problem with all of this—it’s just not true. The word rewards (plural) is absent from any New Testament letter. The Epistles tell us there’s a reward (singular), a prize (singular), a crown of life (singular)—all seeming to refer to the same thing: eternal life with Jesus. This is very different from the idea that we are collecting Divine Dollars to fund our mansion expansion.
God: An Equal Opportunity Employer
In Matthew 20, Jesus tells the story of a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay each of them a denarius and sent them off to work. About the third hour, he saw others and hired them. About the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he hired some more. Then, even at the eleventh hour, he hired more workers.
When evening came, the foreman called all the workers together to pay them. The workers hired at the last minute were paid first—one denarius. When the others saw this, you can imagine what they thought: “We’re really going to score!” But it turns out that all the workers got paid the same, regardless of when they started. Those who had been working since early in the morning started grumbling, “This isn’t fair! We’ve been working all day!” Then the landowner fired back, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” (v. 15).
Jesus’s parable is a picture of the kingdom of God—we all get paid the same. So why are we adding an s to the biblical word reward and then going through life trying to collect tokens for Heaven’s Gift Shop? Paul reminds us that everything is absolutely dung next to knowing Jesus (Phil. 3:8). If that’s true, why do we expect the “reward,” the “prize,” the “crown of life” to be anything other than knowing him?
Religion tells us we’ll be judged for our sins and collect rewards for our good deeds. God tells us that Jesus was punished for our sins and that knowing Jesus himself is our great reward. One idea leads to walking on eggshells and doing good things to collect heavenly loot. The other idea leads to gratefulness for God’s grace and a new ambition in life—to know Jesus.
Which do you believe is the truth that sets us free?
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Okay, maybe we Christians aren’t judged after we die, but God still punishes us with earthly consequences, doesn’t he?”
To discuss this one, I’d like to take you to the theater.
A Day at Ragtown
Chip and Glenn Polk founded Ragtown Gospel Theater in Post, Texas. Chip is a gifted playwright, and his brother Glenn is an incredible actor. They’re the perfect duo to operate a world-class theater. During their first year, Glenn was the one and only actor, and he put on incredible individual performances as Peter the Rock, Judas Iscariot, and other characters. But as the years went by, Chip decided to start writing more complex works that required elaborate sets and additional cast members.
Imagine I invite you to Ragtown Gospel Theater for one of their performances. Let’s say there are five or six main actors, and the play is called Magdalene. After the roar of applause, the standing ovation, and the drop of the final curtain, I ask you what you thought of the performance.
“Glenn was fantastic!” you exclaim.
“He sure was! What’d you think of the girl who played Magdalene?” I ask.
Looking a bit confused, you reply, “Yeah, that Glenn sure is an incredible actor.”
Now puzzled myself, I ask, “But what did you think of the other actors?”
“What other actors?” you respond in a surprised tone. “I didn’t see any others.”
Theater of Life
I paint this silly scenario to make a point about how we Christians can go through life attributing everything to God, the Master Thespian. But not everything we see should be attributed to his actions.
There are other actors in the theater of life.
Although it’s simplest to blame God for everything that hits us, it’s important to recognize the roles played by other actors—the world, the flesh, and the devil. It’s especially important if we’re going to get our belief system straight about the Christian’s freedom from judgment