All that matters is results. If you promise a thing, you must deliver a thing, or your promise is worth little. With humanity, we are used to disappointment. We promise outcomes, and make commitments, and over time we deliver almost none of it. It jades the thinking, until the cynic expects nothing, and is usually not disappointed. But where a matter of salvation is concerned, it is an all-or-nothing game. Being “better” sounds good. Being better perhaps avoids some of the pain that being worse brings with it. But none of us are looking for a heaven filled with “better” people. We are looking for a heaven filled with people who no longer even consider killing, or stealing, or lying about it. We are looking for a heaven where we can have absolute trust in our neighbors, not have to lock the door, re-rig up the security system, consider moving to a better subdivision, and train the dogs for protection (again).
A heaven where just one unapologetic sinner gets in, is a heaven where the crime rate will never be zero. And it is not even about the apologetic aspect of sinning. The fact that the killer feels bad about killing does not stop the pain he causes. Heaven is not supposed to be about a criminal justice system, nor is it a place for rehabilitation. The rehabilitation is (or should be) happening now. Now is the time for a prep, in order to be able to re-enter that Garden of Eden without fear. Now is the time, for us to be getting made ready for a bite from the tree of life. If I am that sinner, that somehow slips into heaven, I will mess it up from everybody. When I get there, it will only have been from the mercy of God. A mercy that does not end with forgiveness but with reformation until I am something entirely different than I am today. Something else, and something better. But not just better, better is not enough, something perfect. For without perfection, how will I ever be ready?
Jesus did not die, just to forgive “some” of our sins. Nor is Jesus content to just leave us in the lives of sin we have figured out how to live. Forgiveness is a baseline He offers, a ground zero from which to build. But mercy cannot look at someone in pain and just leave them there. Mercy was meant for something more. We were meant for something more. Not just life after death, but real “life” even when we are surrounded by death. Perfection then is not a pre-requisite, it is the result of a continued encounter with Jesus Christ. Perfection slips up on you unannounced while you were paying attention to Jesus. You cannot explain how it comes. You can explain from where and why. It comes because Jesus wants it for you, and creates it within you. It is Jesus who changes how you think, as soon, and as much as you let Him do it. It is Jesus that changes how you love, and who you love. It is Jesus who brings passion for others, and a seeming disinterest in yourself. “You” becomes less and less of a priority to you. “Others” become more and more of a passion for how you live.
It may not be instantaneous. But it is certain. And its results are demonstrable over time. So what is the difference between stupid faith, ridiculous faith, and saving faith? Consider the end of Matthew’s snippets in act three beginning in chapter nine picking up in verse 23 saying … “And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, [verse 24] He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.” Jesus arrives and affirms the reason the angel had to guard the Tree of Life so many millennia ago. The girl who is dead, is sleeping the sleep of death. Consider for a moment that if the girl had died, and her ‘immortal’ soul simply is freed from her body, and went to heaven; then why on earth would you pull her out of perfection and back to the hell that is our world. Her perfect character would revert to her sinful one (or at least expose her to daily risks of reversion). Even with the love of her father, her life would be full of hardship. The leadership of the Temple were now certainly out to get her father, for declaring for Christ, they would not simply ignore a risen example of Jesus’ authority over life itself.
If her character had been made perfect in order to enter heaven, then pulling her back would now do what, undo that reformation? Imagine the unkindness of pulling her back. If she died and went to a hell of fire and flame, then by Jesus offering her a chance no one else down there gets, is that not completely unfair? In either scenario, the interests of the girl are not served, only the selfishness of the love of her father. But, if she did sleep the sleep of death, and knows nothing; if all she does is rot in the earth unaware of time or consciousness; then pulling her back does her no detriment to her. That act restores the love of her father without causing the girl undo harm. The sleep of death we practice each night is the state from which we will all one day be called.
Consider too, the audience for what is about to happen. There is a large crowd still following Jesus eager to know if this request is going to be honored. His disciples are there every bit as curious. But the mourning party at the home is not curious, or amused. They are there to perform a time-honored tradition of showing proper respect for the dead (who if you are a Sadducee are not ever coming back). History supports the side of the mourners. Once you die, you die. There are no second chances. So to end this funeral tradition early is like slapping the family of this little girl in the face and stating we don’t care about your pain. But Jesus is consumed with our pain. He is not looking to exacerbate it, He is looking to extinguish it. The mourners don’t see it. So when He states she is just sleeping, they change their wailing to laughing Him to scorn.
And here is where only results matter. Matthew continues in verse 25 saying … “But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. [verse 26] And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.” Jesus brought life to one who was dead. There was certainty of her death. The mourners knew it. The father knew it before he left to get Jesus. The only thing that mattered here was saving faith. The kind of faith that saves from death, that conquers death. It either happened or it didn’t. Your Bible is either real or it is not. But if Jesus is real. And if your Bible is real. Then what happened is real. Death was conquered by life that ONLY Jesus could, and did bring. This is true of our physical condition. This is true of our spiritual condition. We need not fear sneaking into heaven as the last sinner God pities. We will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, in a moment. And we will enter it with no thought of sin ever again. Our choice will be made. The same choice we make today. To trust Jesus Christ more than we trust ourselves.
In order to save us, only results matter. Jesus is our results. He brings them, or creates, or inspires them, or they simply do not occur. We do nothing, but have faith in Him to save us, from … ourselves. Whether that seems stupid, or ridiculous, or the sensible way that humanity will be saved, is immaterial. It is how it happens. Or it does not happen at all. In a game when all that matter are results. I know of no other way than the one Jesus offers us all, it is ALL or Nothing …
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