Too Good to Be True?

Too Good To Be True?--July 27, 2016

"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began--in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior, To Titus, my loyal child in the faith we share: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior." [Titus 1:1-4]

I'll be the first to admit it: the Christian message (what we sometimes call "the Gospel") sounds too good to be true.

Right?  I mean honestly, if we take the notion of God's grace seriously, it sure sounds like God is giving away the farm for free.  And it turns out there is a reason for this:  God is giving away the farm for free.

That sounds like there should be a catch in there.  Life beyond the power of death--for free?  (Yes!)  Belonging where before I was estranged and cast out--without strings? (You got it!)  God, the very maker of the universe, absorbing the sickness of my own heart, and bearing it all the way to death... even though I am this tiny speck on a tiny blue ball in the infinite vast blackness of space?  (Exactly--hit the nail on the head!) All of God's own infinite life, given to us, beyond our deserving, while God takes the old record that had stood against us and nails it to the cross?  (Well.... yeah.) Sounds too good to be true.

That's why it is so critical that we be clear--as these verses from the lesser-known letter to Titus make plain--that even if the gospel sounds too good to be true, the God who promises it never lies.  Without knowing that, the message of grace seems precariously uncertain--we would be left wondering, "Is it all just wishful thinking?  Is God just saying what we want to hear?  Is this all just smoke and mirrors?"  Without that confident assurance, we are left wondering if there is a loophole or fine print--if really and truly, God doesn't lie... or cleverly omit facts... or gloss over unpleasant details with glittering generalities.  Without the assurance that God really is reliable and does not lie, we'll always be left wondering if we've been hoodwinked by believing God's promises.

We are, after all, surrounded by the makers of bad promises.  It is the calling card of candidates--to promise fixes for all of our problems in vague slogans and wishful thinking, but to be light on specifics, or have an "out" if it turns out they can't deliver on their commitments in the end.  It is the way politicians use meaningless words and offer nebulous policy ideas to talk big while leaving themselves wiggle room so they can't be held accountable. It is the way of vendors and sales reps at work--assuring us that the new product will work so much better, or that they can save us big in the long run, only to leave us disappointed with buyers' remorse.  It's the way friends and family members all make big offers of support in one moment... but can become forgetful about actually living up to their assurances of help through a hard time.  We know, in other words, what it is like to have someone make us big promises, and to discover, to our chagrin, that they really were too good to be true.

And that's why it is critical for us to know that the real and living God does not make such empty promises--because God does not lie.  That's the foundation of believing the news of grace is NOT just wishful thinking, but an ironclad promise.  That means, too, that we need to be crystal clear that the nature of God's promises are not in the same ballpark--not even in the same solar system--as the loophole-riddled empty-word promises of campaign slogans and flaky friends.  We need to be clear that we can see through the puffed up rhetoric of election-season and that we know that they are not reliable in the way that God's promises are.  And that's why we had also be crystal clear to the rest of the watching world that no candidate, no campaign, and no political party, gets the right to claim it is "God's chosen" party, candidate, or campaign--because they will at some point all have to break or water down their promises... and God never will.  It's an affront to God's faithfulness and loyalty to drag God's always-sure, always-truthful promises into association with any one candidate or program or party.  So, if we want the world around us to know why we can believe God's promises when we have been let down by so many other promisers before, we need to commit from the outset that we are not, not, not going to label anybody as "God's candidate" or "God's party."  That's bad press for God, who never lies, and whose promises never have to be walked back.

Today, focus on the unchanging, unflinching, unbreakable promises of God, and let it sink in that because God doesn't lie, you and I can believe the news of grace that otherwise would sound... too good to be true.

Lord Jesus, give us the deep confidence in your truthfulness so that we can swim in your deep grace.