From the Desk of Steve Shultz:
Days ago, a man contacted me about how God had used an article I wrote in 2002, to teach and encourage him. He had specifically mentioned how this article had impacted him.
This caused me to look up this article and read what it was that moved this man. I'll let you, the reader, discover for yourself what he discovered.
And while you read this, please take note of how God uses such "signs" (literally and figuratively) to prophesy and teach others in the Kingdom. First the "sign", then the Spirit breathes on the sign, and then the impact to lives of people around the world.
Enjoy,
Steve Shultz
Article originally posted on April 20, 2002:
As I was driving one day years ago, I saw this on the marquee of a church, "GOD GRADES ON THE CROSS, NOT ON THE CURVE."
Such a simple truth. And such a relief!
You know how it was in school. Everyone liked it when the teacher graded on the curve, especially in the hard subjects. It helped you to appear "better" or "smarter" than you really were when teachers graded like that. But of course, while it helped the grades to look better, you always knew you were falling far short of the ideal.
Never been graded on the curve? Instead of an "A" being given to those who received 90% or more correct answers, the teacher changed the rules. He (or she) graded "on the curve" which meant they would grade from the top STUDENT in the class, rather than from total-points-possible.
In very difficult subjects, the top student might have missed 10. So the top score was "minus 10." And that set the new bar. From there, those who got 90% of the top student's score now received an "A" and so forth. This allowed many students to preserve their grade point average and their dignity.
My wife had a chemistry class in high school. Their rules were different. Their top student, who later became a doctor, always made the other students mad. In the most difficult class in school he would regularly get 99%! Forget grading on the curve! It didn't help. So the teacher would have to give him an "A" and throw out that score and start grading on the curve by the second best student – who would be many points below the top guy.
God's Standard is Not the Top-Performing Disciple
I'm relieved that God doesn't score us that way. Look, we already too easily compare ourselves with others. The last thing we need (or could take) is the LORD grading us by comparing us to "the best student – the best disciple" or the second best disciple, or ANY disciple – for that matter.
Actually, God grades only on perfection – the perfection of THE CROSS.
In Christ, we are all graded on THE CROSS! Jesus got an "A+" with about 100 TRILLION extra credit points – enough to secure an A+ for every man, woman and child, past, present, and future who chooses to graduate and join Jesus. THE CROSS paid for it all – all our sins, all our shortcomings, all our mistakes, all our attitudes, all our judgments.
It doesn't depend on whether I've had a bad-hair day or a bad-Christian day. The CROSS paid for it all. The reason this is good to know is this: As soon as I work on and fix every relationship in my life, confess every known sin in my life, and make sure I'm walking in Holiness – as surely as I've done all those things, I'll need to confess and fix a whole new string of things tomorrow. Someone will get hurt at what I say, without me intending it. Even if I'm faultless in the thing (and whoever is faultless?) it is still my responsibility to bring restoration and that is always going to involve confession, humbling myself – the works. Sound familiar?
Thank You Jesus, that You did it ALL!
Jesus' Sacrifice Can Never Be Improved Upon By My Obedience
Just before Jesus breathed His last on the CROSS, He said, "It is finished." As He was saying this, the Priest in Jerusalem, as part of the Passover Ceremonies was saying, "It is finished." The words, in their complete meaning, are best translated, "PAID IN FULL!" That means nothing else is DUE to be paid.
Perhaps it was at that precise moment of Jesus' declaring man's sin "PAID FOR IN FULL" that satan realized what he'd done by instigating Jesus' crucifixion! But if it wasn't at that moment, satan was about to UNDERSTAND it at the very NEXT MOMENT! Something was about to happen that would shock the local residents.
It Doesn't Get More Powerful Than This!
I find it very interesting to note that Jesus' DEATH ON THE CROSS was so complete that it was IMPOSSIBLE for death itself to have complete hold in the earth FOR ONE EXTRA SECOND. There was only one death that ever caused INSTANTANEOUS LIFE!
"What?" you ask. "How could a death cause INSTANTANEOUS LIFE?"
Here is how Scripture describes it – and look for the words, "AT THAT MOMENT." It may change how you view everything from this point on!
Matthew 27:50-53 "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His Spirit. AT THE MOMENT the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open AND THE BODIES OF MANY HOLY PEOPLE WHO HAD DIED WERE RAISED TO LIFE. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people."
Jesus hadn't even been resurrected yet! In fact, He hadn't been taken down from the Cross and buried yet! "AT THAT MOMENT" – the moment Jesus died, the earth could no longer hold many of the dead. It was simply impossible for all the dead to stay dead. IN THAT ONE MOMENT, we received LIFE. All of us. Life in place of death. LIFE in place of sin. LIFE where we could not produce life. LIFE where we could not even make our relationships work. He brought INSTANTANEOUS LIFE at the MOMENT of His death.
This is because JESUS GRADED ALL WHO HAD RECEIVED OR WOULD RECEIVE HIM – ON THE CROSS!
The Cross of Jesus Still Causes Life!
Now if one person "got it," it was the Apostle Paul.
He came to understand how well we are provided for through the DEATH of Jesus. He "got it" – that if we were COMPLETELY reconciled to GOD THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON (as evidenced by the Saints of old literally jumping out of their graves at the point of Christ's death) – if we were completely reconciled by His death – HOW MUCH MORE do we not have to be concerned about how we are going to make it in this life – how we are going to be graded by God. Paul was trying to make a point of this in Romans 5:10:
"For if, WHEN WE WERE [STILL] GOD'S ENEMIES, we were reconciled to Him THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, HOW MUCH MORE, HAVING BEEN RECONCILED, shall we be saved through His life!"
"But What If God is Mad at Me?"
God gives you a PERFECT GRADE because of the Cross (since you received Christ and His death). So why are you so concerned, having received a perfect grade – whether God is mad at you because you once again blew it?
If you received an A+ in Heaven based on the CROSS ALONE, such that Resurrection Life now flows through you – "HOW MUCH MORE" then will your life be taken care of, filled, provided for, encouraged, restored, and forever saved THROUGH HIS LIFE!
So, the next time you buy a cross to wear as a ring on your finger or to put around your neck or to hang as a decoration on the wall – remember that cross represents INSTANTANEOUS LIFE to you. No matter what it looks like, Jesus' death has brought RESURRECTION LIFE TO YOU!
Romans 6:10-11 "For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Blessings,
Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News
http://www.elijahlist.com
