Co-heirs with Christ, or "Throw the Hamburger Away"

Have you ever been to a restaurant that has pictures on the menu? I was at a place (that will remain unnamed) recently, and I had the strangest experience. There was this amazing picture of a hamburger. This baby looked like they managed to stuff the whole cow into the burger. The vegetables were clearly grown on the slopes of Mount Olympus, and I would have bet that the bread was baked somewhere nearby. The French fries were the size of small children and soda was streaming out of a cup like only high-fructose corn syrup can. This burger literally looked like it could make dreams come true. Logically, a friend of mine ordered it. 

Much to our horror, this…thing…arrived. A pathetic, squishy little sandwich was staring back up at her from the table. For all we know, someone on staff accidentally stepped on it on the way out of the kitchen. What happened? How could the restaurant present something so false to its customers? What was going on?

But do you know what the craziest thing of all is?

She ate the dumb thing. No protests, no running up to the counter and demanding everything she’d been promised in the picture. No asking for money back. Nothing! She just... quietly... ate it and then left.

Friends, that is what the church does every Sunday. 

***

Romans 8:17: “Now if we are children,

 then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,

if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that

 we may also share in his glory.”

This verse has literally blown my whole life apart in the last several weeks. I think this may be one of the most important statements of the entire New Testament. Obviously, the message of salvation (the gospel) is of primary importance. But I believe this verse is the heart and goal of salvation.

Read it through again. Heirs of God. Co-heirs with Christ.

Good grief!

We read these incredible verses about a passionate and romantic rescue from sin by the God who has pursued us in His insatiable love since before the foundations of the earth, who destined us to be his very Bride, who is the personification of grace and the source of all power. For most of us, these are all things we profess to believe!

...and yet, somehow, we have the audacity to sit quietly in pews wondering if maybe, just maybe, the old guy in the sky really cares about helping us out at work. We have the audacity to think that because we sing extra pretty, maybe his pride will be satiated for a while and he’ll leave us alone. We have the audacity to profess a Bible full of miraculous works and at the same time live our lives like God isn’t moving.

Based on what we see in so many “churches” week in and week out, would you consider it worth it to give up your child?

I wouldn’t give up my cat. I’m not kidding.

Well, church, I’ve got news for you. According to the verse we just read in Romans 8, you’re an heir. I believe the Holy Spirit has a message for you. And he sent me on assignment to write it down.

Congratulations, dear reader.

There has been a death in your family.

You were included in the will.

Your inheritance includes, but is not limited to:

-righteousness before God. (Philippians 3:8-10)

-all spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3)

-everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1)

-the indwelling of the Almighty (John 14:20)

-divine provision of all earthly needs (Matthew 6)

-accompanying signs of your belief including, but not limited to: new tongues, healing the   sick, casting out demons (Mark 16:7)

Actually, there’s a whole lot more to the will. You see, the will is rather long. Some call it the “Bible”.

Brothers and sisters, where did we lose our way? I am serious. If I read in the pages of my Bible that I we are co-heirs with Christ, than the shivering and anemic body we call “the church” is a heresy, at best. We proclaim a God who gives us peace and we live lives of anxiety. We proclaim a God who gives us wisdom and yet we would rather ask our financial adviser than him. We proclaim forgiveness of sins and then slander other brothers and sisters on the basis of their sins. We proclaim righteousness and act like on the Cross were not enough–as though somehow, it hadn’t totally rid of us of sin; as though we weren’t really welcome to come “boldly before the throne.” And what is most heartbreaking to me (and, I think, to God) we proclaim the God of love but live our lives as though he did not care about us. How can we call ourselves children of God if won’t let him be our Father? Whatever happened to the glorious gathering of the saints, the beauty of a community of people that come together not because it’s Sunday but because they cannot wait to have a party at Dad’s house?

Seriously!

 

We pray like He’s bored and needs us to keep talking in order to not fall asleep. We sing like He’s some kind of ego-maniac that needs us to exalt Him in order to not feel self-conscious. We preach as though He were not wise or eloquent enough to speak for Himself. (How many sermons do we hear, week after week, trying to excuse his Word and delving into what “the Hebrew really means” in order to explain why you’ll never understand your Bible without a Master’s degree?)  We gather “in His Name” but spend our time largely unaware of His presence. And we treat those few brave souls who claim to have heard from Him like they belong in a room with padded walls. We confuse the Holy Spirit for Casper–we cry out for his presence and then promptly call Ghost Busters when he makes Himself known to us.

I’m starting to feel like a broken record here...

Make up your mind, church.

Either God loves you or He doesn’t.

Either His salvation was enough or it isn’t.

Either you have been set free or you haven’t.

Either the Bible is the truth or it isn’t.

Either God’s promises are true or they aren’t.

You cannot live in an in-between world. That is why God describes Himself as an “all-consuming fire.” He gives you absolutely everything. And believe me, He expects everything in return. 

That is precisely what “joint heir” or “co-heir” means.

God used legal terminology in our verse from Romans 8 for a reason. You see, under the law, whenever there was a situation of a “joint heir,” a very specific legal document had to be drafted. It was the inheritance, and it required two parties to put their mark upon it. Until both heirs’ marks were present, neither could receive his portion. (Don’t believe me? Dude, even Spurgeon preached this one. Google it.)

Do you grasp the significance here?

Unless you stand up and accept your rights as an heir–put your mark on the line–Christ himself cannot take his inheritance. You get it all or nothing, and so does he. The scandal! The unthinkable degradation of deity! That God would lay his riches aside until we were willing to partner with Him! It’s disgusting! Nauseating! What kind of a God have we?

Why, God? Why? Why would you give up your son for the church? WHY? 

I would like to submit something to you. Take it as you like it:

God did not give up His one and only Son, his dearly beloved, so that you and I could get together once a week, clap our hands, and go home. God gave up his son so that he could dive headfirst into the lake of fire and pull us out. He came to seek and to save us, who were lost. Grace grabbed a hold of us and dragged us, kicking and screaming, out of our old lives. We fought him–oh, how many of us are honest enough to admit that we used to like sinning?! But still he held us. We kicked and bit like wild animals, but still he held us. Then, in a blinding moment, we were brought before the judgment seat to receive sentencing. All of our sins were listed before us and we realized we were trapped. Judgment was upon us. Then, something unexpected happened. The Son stood up before his father and accepted our punishment. We watched as he was the one dragged back to the lake of fire to take our place. And as we sat there confused and utterly dumfounded, we heard the gasps of angels who could not understand what was happening, either. God? Crucified? For... them? 

Because, you see, a will is not legally binding until its author has died.

     

So, based on the finished work of Christ, the Will of God from before the foundations of the earth is now legally binding in your life—both on heaven and earth, for there is nowhere where God’s Word is not the final one. God paid for the promises of the Bible with his own blood. His crazy, passionate, and illogical love for you is written all over every single page. God doesn’t want you to just be his slave–he wants you to be his heir. That’s how we got the family name–CHRISTians. That’s how we can boldly say that we are “hidden in Christ.” 

God gave up his son so that you could be his Bride. So that you could personally and intimately know him. So that you could let him show off in your life–in miracles, in provision, in peace, in the fruits of the Spirit, in the love he would shower upon you. And, if I may be so bold, the kind of halfhearted Christianity at work in most “churches” is more of a slap in the face to the love of the Father than we really understand. Think about it this way: if he promised you peace, your anxiety and stress and worry is just another way of saying He’s a liar.  

                                                                          

Church, I dare you.

I dare you to devour every page of your Bible as if it were your very own inheritance.

I dare you to believe that God told the truth when he said he loved you.

I dare you to go through every day as if church—the “called out ones”—was your identity, 

not an address.

I dare you to stop sniveling on the ground in front of the throne and take your rightful place alongside Christ.

I dare you to stop maligning the finished work of Christ by claiming the identity of a “sinner” when God’s word says we were made righteous in Christ.

I dare you to be everything that God says you are.

I dare us all to take back “church” and make the gathering of the saints something worth dying for.

But most importantly, I dare you to do something really scary: let God loose. Let him prove his promises to you. Let him keep his Word to you. Let him answer for himself. In his time. In his way.

***

It’s about time we took the nasty, squishy hamburgers we’ve been calling “church” and threw them in the garbage can, anyway.