Before I begin this post, I want to make it clear that a person's salvation is not based on their good works or on obeying the Ten Commandments, etc. God's law (the Ten Commandments) was given to show us that we all are sinners - deserving of God's wrath and judgment because of our sin and rebellion against Him.
As Christians who have repented of our sin and given our lives over to the lordship and control of Jesus Christ, we now obey the Ten Commandments as well as other commandments given in the Bible because of our love for Him and for the suffering, punishment, and death He took in our place on the cross. It is now our life's purpose to live our lives to bring glory to God.
However, if as New Testament Christians we say we no longer have to obey God's commands (which is lawless grace, by the way!) - then what is left? Christian Humanism! We are now people who say we are Christians, BUT we live for ourselves and what makes us happy! If it doesn't make ME happy or it interferes with MY life and the plans I have made for MY life - then I just don't have to obey what God is telling ME to do. Christian Humanism!
Let's take God's fourth commandment for example in Exodus 20:8-10: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work...." Here God says, "Don't forget the Sabbath day. Don't forget to keep it holy (set apart from the rest of the world)."
Every Sabbath day (Saturday) we drive to church, we pass churches that are closed. Why? They have chosen to forget God's holy day, the Sabbath! Christians have chosen instead to work on that day or to make others work on that day by going to malls, restaurants, ball games, etc. etc. If you read the rest of Exodus 20:10 it says we are not to make anyone else work on that day as well.
So how does Humanism fit into all of this? Christians today are choosing to make themselves happy instead of making God happy. It's when "my happiness is more important than God's happiness". When we make God the means to our happiness instead of making Him the end, we are practicing Humanism. Somehow our happiness becomes more important to us than our holiness and obedience before God.
As one of the old ministers on the Revival Hymn said, "It's not what you are going to get out of God - it's what He is going to get out of you"! As Christians, our only reason for being is the glory of God!
2 comments:
Are you able to believe that putting yourself under the obligation to keep the Sabbath could be because of being influenced by humanism. After a decade of keeping it, I entered into Messiah's rest.
This is in response to Anonymous on July 12, 2014. First of all, I don't quite understand what you mean about "putting myself under the obligation to keep the
Sabbath". When I made the choice to give my LIFE to Jesus Christ (Who is God Almighty in the flesh), I also made the choice to OBEY Him and His commandments (all 10 of them - not just 9). I was a Sunday Christian for 54 years until God Himself asked me one morning in bed - the following question: "So, when did I (God) move the Sabbath Day to Sunday?" Well, I had never even thought about that so I went to my computer and "Googled" it. I found out the history and decided that day to follow God in the light He had just showed me. The only obligation I'm under is to hear God's voice and out of love for Him - to obey and follow Him with all of my body, soul, and spirit. The Sabbath Day is something I look forward to with JOY every week. I'm sorry it felt like an obligation to you.
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