TRUST IN JESUS AND SOMETHING ADDITIONAL TO JESUS?

We must trust in our Lord alone (Psalm 62). Consequently, He must reign supreme in our lives (Matthew 6:33). But what does it mean to trust in our Savior alone and to derive our fundamental identity in Him alone? It certainly cannot come from our political and social affiliations, right? However, one young pastor took it a step further citing:

•    Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?…Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? (Galatians 3:3, 5)

Besides, by adding to Jesus through trusting in our good deeds for salvation is a refusal to trust in Christ alone and to even depart from Him:

•    …I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision [to also trust in our performance according to the Law], Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:2–4; Luke 17:10)

This raises the question: “Is our identity in Christ simply a matter of “trusting” Him, or does it also include a determination to turn from our sins (repentance) and to follow Him?” Certainly, trusting/believing in Jesus and what He accomplished for us on the Cross is the ground-zero, the soil from which all else grows!

However, trusting in Jesus also implies doing what He tells us to do. It is like trusting in your doctor. If you truly trust in him, you will do what he tells you to do. If you refuse, it means you don’t trust in him. Likewise, if we trust in the Lord, we will try to do what He tells us to do, at least to repentant to try our best to turn from our sins. This is also part of who we are in Christ. To refuse to repent means that we do not have a saving faith. It is to say, “I can run my own life better than Christ can!”

However, the pastor continued to argue that trusting in our political and social affiliations becomes a matter of adding to our identity in Christ and not trusting Him alone. While it is true that our good deeds will not earn us the love and salvation of our Savior, yet they are evidence that that we do have a saving faith. Consequently, to live like the devil is to share in his ultimate fate:

•    Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19–21)

A lack of repentance betrays a lack of saving faith. Also, knowing to do good, when it is in our power and to refuse to do it is sin (James 4:17). Therefore, even though the Book of Galatians warns against trusting in our good deeds to earn anything good from the Lord, it teaches a lot about the need to follow Jesus’ moral teachings:

•    Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

This isn’t optional! To belong to Christ requires us to say “no” to sin:

•    And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:24–25)

Following Christ is not an add-on. It is part of the gift of salvation. Let’s return to the question of political and moral involvement. We shouldn’t identify so strongly with political party that we compromise our primary focus—serving Christ and loving others. There is nothing wrong with championing those causes that coincide with our Christian identity. Besides, we are to be the light to the world by pursuing the good and exposing evil (Ephesians 5:11).

Instead, by divorcing the Church’s spiritual life from the political/moral arena is to declare that the Church is irrelevant regarding resisting genocide, slavery, kidnapping, the murder of the unborn, and many other forms of evil. It also serves to make Christians cynical about their church and leadership.