Thinking Like a Christian

A series of Scripture meditations on what the Bible teaches about the Christian life.

by Pastor Pete Beck III

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Two Sides of the Coin

O LORD our God, you answered them. They found you to be a forgiving God, but also one who punished their sinful deeds. Psalms 99:8 (NET1)

Many doctrinal errors result from overemphasis of one aspect of truth at the expense of another. The Bible often juxtaposes seemingly irreconcilable truths in order to make us trust in God and not in our own understanding. Humans, on the other hand, love to engage in the process of trying to break things down into into their simplest components in order to "get a handle" on them. For example, the Bible teaches that people have spirits, souls and bodies. That is a useful thing in helping us understand who we are and how salvation works, but try separating them for real. You will end up dead. In Christ, grace and truth have come together. One breaks them apart at his or her own peril. The psalmist tells us:

Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Psalms 85:10 (NASB)

In the above verse, the Spirit of God inspired the author to give us two sets of seemingly opposed aspects of God's character that have been linked together in Christ. God's faithful covenant love motivated Him to be loyal to his people while truth required Him to address their innate sinfulness. Righteousness required God to punish his people for their sins; whereas, peace is the fruit of having been made right with God. Only in Christ could these opposing forces meet and coexist. Jesus became our substitute by taking upon Himself the righteous judgment of God on our behalf so that we could enjoy the peace of God.

 

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET1)

 

One cannot separate righteousness and peace because both are parts of the blessing we have in Christ. He could not become your peace without receiving your judgment. You only have peace because you have received Christ's righteousness as a gift. Christ could not give you his righteousness without becoming your sin.

 

Likewise, we dare not separate the two aspects of our relationship with God spelled out in our opening verse from Psalm 99. God forgives us completely, but our sins still have consequences. God forgives his children completely, but he still disciplines us for our sins as He finds necessary. Before Christ, people received the just punishment for their sins; but now, since Christ has already received the punishment, God disciplines us as His dearly loved children. He is teaching us to obey so that things will go well with us. Punishment is no longer part of the equation, but that discipline is nothing to be lightly esteemed. God's dealings with his blood bought children can be quite severe.

 

When we believers engage in sin, several things are at stake. First, we reap what we sow. God wants us to reap blessings, not the ugly ramifications of sin; so, he disciplines us to that we can be blessed. Secondly, our sins hurt other people. No one lives in a vacuum. Your actions and attitudes affect more people than you realize. So God disciplines us to protect others and spread the blessing. Thirdly, our sins mar our testimony and that of the gospel itself. When we profess that Christ is our Savior and continue to sin, we announce to everyone who is observing our lives that the cross of Christ is ineffective and that being a follower of Christ makes no practical difference. God will discipline the believer so that our lives can line up with the gospel and our testimony have integrity.

 

So, the next time you are tempted to sin and find your resolve to be faithful to God is flagging, consider that God is not only forgiving but that sin always has undesired consequences. The fear of the Lord is your best safeguard in times of temptation. Let the Lord make that a strong area of your life by often reminding yourself of these things.

 

And have you forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons? “My son, do not scorn the Lord’s discipline or give up when he corrects you. 6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.” 7 Endure your suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you do not experience discipline, something all sons have shared in, then you are illegitimate and are not sons. 9 Besides, we have experienced discipline from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life? 10 For they disciplined us for a little while as seemed good to them, but he does so for our benefit, that we may share his holiness. 11 Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it. Hebrews 12:5-11 (NET1)

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