It's amazing the people you can learn from, isn't it? I've learned from the pious and impious, from saints and sinners. And from a thief I learned that you can't always tell those two categories of people apart. In fact, the dying thief in Luke 23(MSG) has taught me several surprising things. Jesus was crucified between two thieves, who were also strung up by the Romans for capital punishment.
39 One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!”
40-41 But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”
43 He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise."
In just a handful of verses, here are a few things I've learned from the thief on the cross:
You don't need to say the "Sinner's Prayer" to be saved. You know, it's only been for the past several generations that Christians have been "led to Christ" with a "sinner's prayer." I've heard many preachers say that unless you can point to a specific time and date that you "got saved" (meaning that you said a prayer asking God to forgive your sins and asking Jesus into your heart) that you probably aren't saved. The famous Chick tracts offer the following prayer of salvation: "Dear God, I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ shed His precious blood and died for my sin. I am willing to turn from sin. I now invite Christ to come into my heart and life as my personal Saviour." But for most of the history of Christianity, there was no such magic prayer that saves you. The thief on the cross certainly never prayed such a prayer, and yet Jesus promised him paradise.
You don't need to be baptized to be saved. Many will quote Mark 16:16 (NIV) to say that baptism is necessary for salvation. Here, Jesus says, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." But here, the mention of baptism is descriptive rather than prescriptive. This means that Jesus expects that saved people will be baptized, not that baptism determines whether or not you are saved. While Christians should want to be baptized, the lack of baptism wwon't condemn them. It's belief that's key here, not water baptism. The thief on the cross was never baptized, yet Jesus promised him paradise.
You don't need to do good works to be saved. Some believe that you're saved by doing good works. I once knew a man who wasn't particularly loving, didn't care for church, never read the Bible, and never prayed. Yet he thought he would earn "brownie points" with God for doing good things. Yes, it's a popular belief that we are saved by grace + good works. But Jesus' promise to the thief on the cross is clear that we are saved by grace through faith. All it takes is a small amount of faith to receive that gift. The thief on the cross never had time to repent of his sins, turn his life around, and live righteously--and yet Jesus promised him paradise.
You don't need to have a highly developed theology to be saved. If we're saved by grace through faith, the question follows: How much faith do you need? Or, how much do you need to understand? From the thief on the cross, I learned that saving faith doesn't need to be complicated. It doesn't need to be well-informed. It doesn't need to be highly developed theology. Simply by asking Jesus to remember him, and recognizing Jesus' sovreignty--that was enough. While Christians ought to desire spiritual growth, saving faith is like a seed that moves mountains of sin. It doesn't take much--it simply takes a "yes" spoken to God.
Being saved doesn't save you from the consequences of your actions. If he'd wanted to, Jesus could have told the dying thief, "Now that you've spoken in faith, I'll rescue you from that cross and give you a long life." But he didn't do that. Harsh and unjust though the Roman sentence of crucifixion was for someone who was a common thief and not a murderer, Jesus did not commute his sentence. Often, Christians believe that because God has forgiven their sins, they should escape the earthly consequences. But God generally leaves consequences to the courts--or to the circumstances of everyday life. Sometimes this is so we can learn lessons. Sometimes it's so justice can be done. Sometimes it's simply because every action has an equal and opposite reaction--called a consequence. God has set certain natural laws in place, and doesn't generally break them without enormous cause. So if you're saved, congratulations! Welcome to eternal life! But don't expect God to rescue you from the consequences of your actions--maybe God is going to let you suffer those for a very good reason.
Saints and sinners look alike. Hanging between two thieves, only Jesus can discern the hearts of those crucified near him. From down here on the ground, the thief on Jesus' right and the thief on Jesus' left seem very much the same. It's easy for us to judge people withough knowing what's inside them. From the thieves on the cross, I learned to withhold judgment and let God be God.
If you pay attention, you can learn a lot from a thief. For that matter, you can learn a lot from everybody that God puts in your path. Let's be careful not to judge too quickly before we let them teach us. The lessons we learn may just be surprising.
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