Our Declaration of Dependence

      Within our current world, we are hearing a lot of terms being thrown around right now.  Things like "critical race theory", "white privilege" and "social justice" are the latest buzz words to describe our problems.  However, as a person who likes simplicity, I have found a way in which we need to look at things from the big picture given to us in the Bible.  There are just two kingdoms:  the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of heaven.  This world system in which we live is a fallen one that has rejected God and His commandments.  It is under the rule and dominion of Satan...the Father of lies who gained control by the fall of Adam.  Romans 5:12 says:  "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned..."  So in this world system, we are all sinners having received this nature from our ancestor Adam.  This is really a great equalizer in that none of us escape the condemnation of God.  We often wonder where all the hate, anger, murder, and lying comes from; yet, the Bible plainly tells us that we are slaves to sin.

     By contrast, the Kingdom of God offers forgiveness to the sinner through the righteous, perfect life of Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay for all our sins, past, present and future.  We did nothing to deserve this, and there are no works that we could do to earn this.  It is a free gift offered to all that will repent of their sins (that is turn away from their sins) and believe in Jesus Christ.  The Bible refers to Jesus Christ as the second Adam because He came to do what Adam could not do and that is to keep the Law perfectly.  He offered Himself as a sacrifice in our place to take away the guilt, shame and horror of our sin.  Verse 1 of chapter 8 in Romans is what I call our Declaration of Dependence:  "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  We are dependent on the sacrifice of Christ, but we are free from sin and death.  Gone is the condemnation, guilt and shame we were under.  Now, the question is:  which kingdom do you want to live in?

     Our world system looks at how we interact with one another without considering God.  We try to fix things with laws and philosophies.  In fact, Karl Marx tried to fix society by creating a government that replaced God in meeting the needs of all the people.  All would be equal, and it would be a worker's paradise with no one more wealthy than another.  However, a government without God and without changed hearts freed from sin cannot produce a paradise only a tyranny.  For those of us who have lived a long life, we have seen the results of such oppressive rules leading to the deaths of all those who disagreed with this system.  Man without God cannot correct or address the issues that divide us.

     On the other hand, the Kingdom of God offers us freedom in Christ to be all that we were designed to be.  The first thing we all need is peace with God.  Romans 5:1 tells us:  "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..."  This is the most important thing for us to have because then, we can be at peace with one another in the love of our Lord.  Paul's letter to the Church in Galatia says it well (chapter 3:26-28):  "..for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for y
ou are all one in Christ Jesus."  In Christ, we are united and able to love one another.

     This present world system, without God, is under the rule and dominion of Satan.  It tries to fix relationships and inequities with laws and regulations that weigh us down.  The Good News is that as believers in Christ we have been set free from condemnation.  This allows us, in turn, to tell others about the freedom we can experience in the Lord.  We are the salt and light in an otherwise darkened world.  Likewise, we are to live out our commitment to Christ by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.  In Christ, there is no "white privilege", discrimination or hatred.  We were all created equal in the eyes of our Lord and He sent us the remedy for all the ills of society in the person of Jesus Christ.  This is the message we need to carry to others so they can be set free too.  The world system offers no answers because it is bound up in sin.  Only the Kingdom of God can change hearts and heal the brokenhearted by the blood of Christ.  We are not condemned in Him!  Hallelujah!  Selah!