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BRAVER THAN LIONS
Sam Stringer
Oct 17, 2024
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might
be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:17-18
Years ago, amongst the vast array of jobs I have held, I was a real estate appraiser for the local
county assessor’s office (taxes, yay). Many of my days were spent going to rural properties and
identifying the buildings or marking down building removals, assessing the conditions of the
structures and addressing any potential upgrades that may have been done. Essentially, my job
was to make sure that what was existent on the field was reconciled with our office’s records for
the appropriate information relative to annual property taxes.
Occasionally, I would come upon properties that were still being taxed in disproportion to the
conditions, because those properties were what we called “condemned.” A condemned property
was unlivable, unusable, potentially dangerous to go into, and their purpose had come and
gone. Not everyone tears down old junky houses; some of those are just becoming part of the
natural landscape, ignored and slowly collapsing over time. My point here is that me labeling
them as “condemned” for record purposes did not make them condemned! They were that way
before I got there, and I simply clarified their condition back to the office.
Jesus came and He offered life to all who would believe in Him. When Christ offers us
forgiveness of sins, it is inevitable in the offer that we are labeled as sinners, and not just
sinners, but sinners who are condemned, facing God’s eternal wrath and without any hope if left
to ourselves. The Bible does not equivocate with the sinfulness of humanity or the
righteousness of God. All too many people find that label of “sinner” to be quite repulsive. Jesus
bringing light into the world and offering life to the sinful, which are all of us, is not an act of
punishment but a mission of mercy.
Mercy: how could we describe that? Think of a young child who kicked their ball into the street
and who chased the ball to go fetch it, but while their focus was entirely on the ball, a semi-truck
was heading their way. A cruel parent with no love for the child might let them get hit, but a
merciful and loving parent would grab them or push them out of the way. That child might kick
and scream in anger for the parent’s actions, but mom or dad does not care because that kid
was going to get killed. God, in His mercy, knows exactly what we are heading for: the terrors of
that place, the incessant anguish that all will endure in Hell forever. In His mercy, He sent His
Son to not only avert us from this tragedy through faith, but also to become aware of the sinners
that we are. We were the ones taking ourselves to our own demise. We don’t just need saved
from Hell, we need saved from ourselves. The disconnect many make is that the thought of
eternal damnation in Hell seems far too extreme and unloving, but this comes from a poor
understanding of both sin and holiness.
If you ever talk to anyone about Jesus in evangelism, remember mercy. Mercy may be rejected
but pushing it away doesn’t make it any less an act of mercy. Telling others that they need
Christ, that they’re sinners, that they stand under God’s judgment and so forth is not demeaning
but revealing. Now, we must watch that we are loving and kind in speaking those kinds of hard
truths, but if our “love” has no place for shedding light on what many would rather ignore, we
have lost our love. The people around you and the person you looked at in the mirror this
morning: they need Jesus, period.
Perhaps it will give you a bit more hope today to consider that mercy is not in itself an act of
condemnation but rather a revelation of pre-existent condemnation, and in this understanding,
you may be even slightly more encouraged in being braver than lions with the Gospel to those
around you. I repeat, the Gospel is not an act of condemnation but an exposure of
condemnation. If you’re not careful, the pushback may convince you that you weren’t acting in
love and mercy, but were just being a “party-pooper,” and that’s just not true when eternity is on
the line. Be blessed, and if you’re a believer in Jesus today, be thankful for the love and mercy
of God towards you!
Sam Stringer
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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