Unbroken Fellowship With God

Now the question might arise: “Why would God not want us to confess our sins to Him? After all, we do make mistakes!” The answer is simple: Because walking around the whole day remembering all the bad things we have done will not bring us closer to God! Jesus already paid the full price so that we could have unbroken fellowship with the Father. This means that when we make a mistake, it does not break our fellowship or right standing with God. Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we would never have to experience that!

Some may argue: “But I want to be genuine with God and talk to Him about all my mistakes.” Well if people believe they need to be “genuine” with God about their mistakes, then to be really genuine they should rather act in faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). How much faith does it take to look at our mistakes and feel miserable about them? None. On the other hand, it takes faith to believe we are forgiven, loved, holy, perfect and righteous, even after we have just messed up…

There is however nothing wrong with confiding in our loving Father about our struggles. He understands us better than anybody else. But it’s all about our motives. When we mess up, do we run to Him feeling guilty and condemned like a murderer about to be condemned to retribution? Or do we ask Him for wisdom in overcoming the habits of our unrenewed minds, knowing we stand completely forgiven and holy in His sight? Begin to see yourself as God see you perfect, blameless, holy, righteous. When God looks at you He see you IN CHRIST, and nothing more nothing less. When you change the way to see yourselves you will begin to start to enjoy the abundant life God has for you all along.

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

In Luke 15 and 16, Jesus tells five parables in a row. The first three are about lost things; a sheep, a coin, and a son. The last two are about lost lives; a shrewd manager loses his livelihood and a rich man loses his life.

1. Story of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7)

2. Story of the lost son (Luke 15:8-10)

3. Story of the lost coin (Luke 15:11-32)

4. Story of the lost job (Luke 16:1-13)

5. Story of the lost life (Luke 16:19-31)

I hope you know these parables are stories, not documentaries. They’re illustrative, not descriptive. Yet many people, including respected Bible teachers, consider the last story as some sort of Discovery Channel special. They treat the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as the Wikipedia entry for Hell. It isn’t. It’s a story and like all of Jesus’ stories it contains a powerful message.

If you’ve forgotten, the story is about a rich guy who dies and ends up in torment in Hades where he has a conversation with Abraham about sending warnings to his five living brothers. It’s gripping stuff! It would make a great movie. But as I say, it is not the Wikipedia entry for Hell.

There are three takeaways from this story, two of which are probably wrong.

Takeaway #1: Hell is a place of eternal conscious torment

“The rich man is in agony. Jesus is telling us that Hell is a place where sinners will suffer eternal conscious torment.” Except this story isn’t about Hell at all, but Hades. Different place.

In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. (Luke 16:23)

Jesus did speak about Hell from time to time (and we would do well to heed what he says about it), but not in Luke 16. This is a story about Hades, the abode of the dead. Hades is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Sheol, which is sometimes translated as “the grave” or “the depths.” Don’t ask me if Hades/Sheol is a real place – I’ve never been there – but the Jews certainly thought it was.

Sidebar: The KJV (along with older versions of the NIV) translates Hades as Hell but as I explain elsewhere, the meaning of the English word Hell has changed since the KJV was translated. Hades is not Hell. In Jewish culture, it’s the place people go when they die. This leads to the second takeaway that is probably wrong.

Takeaway #2: Hades has two compartments – smoking and non-smoking

In the story, the rich man is in the bad part of Hades, but Abraham is in the good part and so is Lazarus. From this some have concluded that Hades has two compartments, and the good part is called “Abraham’s Bosom.” This is a little weird because the Bible says a lot about Hades/Sheol and nowhere else is there any mention of different neighborhoods.

But that’s not the only weird thing Jesus says about Hades in this story:

The Jews understood Hades to be a place of silence (Ps 31:17, 115:17), yet in Jesus’ story the rich man chats with Abraham like it’s the most natural thing in the world.The Jews knew Hades as a place where the dead make no plans (Ecc 9:10), yet in the story the rich man is scheming like there’s no tomorrow.

In the Bible, Hades/Sheol is described as a dark, quiet place. There’s no talking, no scheming, and certainly no torment. In the hundred or so scriptures that describe Hades/Sheol, fire is never mentioned. Yet in Jesus’ story the rich man is in fiery torment. It’s odd. It doesn’t fit. It’s like hearing about an Eskimo getting heat stroke.

These deliberately messed-up details reinforce that Jesus is telling a story. The details are merely the scenery for the play. They’re not that important. What isimportant is the conversation that takes place between the rich man and Abraham.

Why am I saying this? Because there is a treasure in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, but if you think Jesus is giving us a Wikipedia entry for Hades or Hell, you’ll miss it. This leads me to the third takeaway, which is the one that actually matters.

Takeaway #3: God’s grace is greater than death

This story makes a lot more sense if you’re Jewish, for Jesus is alluding to a Psalm that would’ve been familiar to his listeners. It’s Psalm 49 and as we look at bits of it below, think of the rich, dead man in Jesus’ story.

Hear this, all ye peoples; Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, both low and high, Rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and… I will incline mine ear to a parable. (v.1-4, ASV)

Like Jesus, the Psalm-writer has a story to tell. Here it is:

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him… The fool and the brutish alike perish, and leave their wealth to others. (v.6-10, ASV)

Despite all his money, the rich man couldn’t save himself or his brothers from death.

Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means… (Psa 49:7-8, MSG)

The one who trusts in himself and his money is a fool. Money can’t save you, for everybody dies in the end.

People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves… (Psa 49:12-13, NIV)

The rich build edifices and fund charities in the hope that their name will live on, but what good is that when you’re dead?

They are appointed as a flock for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd… And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume… (v.14 ASV)

The rich, along with everyone else, are herded like sheep to Sheol. Their fine houses, luxury cars and Botox treatments don’t last. Nothing remains.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For he will receive me. Selah. (v.15 ASV)

“Now, let me tell you some good news,” says the Psalm-writer. “God’s grace is greater than the grave. God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.”

Grace greater than the grave

This is wonderful news for those who trust in the Lord and it’s a heady warning for those who trust in themselves. The final verses of Psalm 49 help us interpret Jesus’ parable:

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him… A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (v.16-17, 20 NIV)

In this life it’s easy to be distracted by wealth and comfort, but those things are deadweights if they distract you from God. Whatever you have, you can’t take it with you. If you think your money can save you, says the Psalm-writer, you’re as dumb as a beast.

Heed the Psalm and the parable and you won’t be seduced by the transient comforts of life. You’ll understand that only God can redeem us from the grave.

That’s a life-saving takeaway, right there, yet there’s even more to this parable than that.

Open Access to God

We were created by God to be His children and enjoy unbroken fellowship and intimacy with Him.

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.”Ephesians 1: 4-8 (NLT)

Mankind lost relationship with the Heavenly Father through first Adam, but is restored back to fellowship through last Adam –Jesus Christ “ And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”Romans 5: 16 (NLT)

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”Romans 3: 23-24 
Before the fall, Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the evening in fellowship. Then, when Adam sinned against God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it brought death to mankind’s relationship with God. 

Man was cut off from intimacy with God and unable to be in God’s presence because of sinfulness. No matter how hard man tries in himself he can never make himself worthy to be in God’s presence, or restore himself back into right relationship with God. The role of the law covenant was to reveal to mankind how futile it is to try and relate to God through our own self-righteousness.
It’s only by receiving the gift of righteousness that we are restored back to that high place of close relationship with God. 

We can now enjoy intimate fellowship with him! Now our relationship with God is not based on our imperfect performance or our self-righteousness, but on the perfect righteousness that we have in Christ. We have peace with God and open access to Him “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”Romans 5: 1-2 

 We have peace with God. There are no obstacles in the way to us drawing near to him. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”Hebrews 4: 16 (NLT) 

You couldn’t be any closer to God! “For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”Ephesians 2: 6 (NLT)

 You are always close to God! You are united with Christ and sit with him in heavenly places, and can enjoy unbroken access to perfect intimacy with him 24 hours a day. Sin cannot break your fellowship with God anymore! In the New Covenant now, even if you mess up and sin, it doesn’t cut you off from God or break your access to him, in any way! In the Old Covenant it did. That’s because the Old Covenant was a covenant cut between God and man. It was a covenant, where your relationship with God and the blessings or punishment you’d receive from him, were all based on your keeping of the law of God.
If you kept the law you would be blessed, and if you broke it you would be cursed. The problem is, because of man’s fallen state, it is impossible for anyone to perfectly keep the high standards of God’s law. 

Man is always going to fall short, and therefore, suffer the consequences. One of the consequences is broken fellowship with God. But the New Covenant is a covenant that God didn’t make with man, but between the Father and the Son, Jesus. That’s why it’s not reliant on our performance but on Christ’s perfect performance. God brought us into Christ and that’s how we come into this New Covenant. This is a much better arrangement! 

The good news is that now God relates to you through Christ’s perfect righteousness in you, and not your performance, whether good or bad! Therefore, you can have perfect and unbroken fellowship with God 24/ 7.

The proof of this is that the Holy Spirit does not leave you when you sin. If your sin made you unholy, the Holy Spirit would have to leave until you were made holy again. Then you’d have to be re-baptized in the Holy Spirit. This would have to happen every time you sinned! No, Jesus said in John 14: 16 that the Holy Spirit will never leave you. This demonstrates that we don’t have to be fearful ever again of being separated from the love of God but can walk in boldness in our relationship with him no matter what! 

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.”Romans 8: 15–17 (NLT)

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us... 38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-34,38,39 (NLT)