Fair Trade

A few years ago I had a passion for drag racing, some might even have accused me of having an addiction to drag racing. My first race car I spent a lot of time making it look good. It had a beautiful blue paint job, but it was an all steel car and it didn't take me long to figure out the cheapest way to go fast was to get lighter. I found on the internet a car that had a light weight aftermarket frame, most of the steel had been replaced with fiberglass. It was much lighter, but it was a basket case. I contacted the owner and worked out a deal that we considered a “Fair Trade.” I had to delivery my car to him and we traded even up. The car was a project for sure! More pieces of the car came back in the bed of my pickup than did on my car trailer. I left home with a car that looked like it could have been in a car show and came home with a basket case. When I asked my wife to steer the car while I pushed it into the garage she looked at me and said, “you mean it doesn't run?” I said no, but it is going to run soon and it is going to be fast. I don't think My wife thought I made a very “Fair Trade.” So many people today go to church, they sing songs, they hear sermons, they attend a bible study, they take a class, they are a church member, they have been baptized, check, check, and check! And yet, they are not going to heaven.

 Matthew 7:21-23 ESV “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Many people are so wrapped up in religious activities they become like the pharisees of Jesus day. They get focused on all the good things that they do and they never really deal with the sins in their life. Whenever they see something wrong in their life instead or really examining it, instead of really repenting and dealing with it they find something right in their life and they make a “Fair Trade.” You think to yourself, my sins can't be that bad. I know that sometimes I lust, sometimes I am jealous, sometimes I hold a grudge against my brother but, I go to Sunday School and Church, I even serve as a teacher. At least I am not like my neighbor Joe, who gets drunk every night, or like that guy down the street that won't even darken the doors of the church. Instead of really evaluating your life with real integrity you are always trying to trade your good deeds in place of your bad deeds. You believe your good works outweighs your bad works. Your like the fool who built his house on the sand.

 Matthew 7: 24-27 ESV “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

There are many people that are fixated on religious activities. They are active members of a church. They even support the church financially. The bottom line is this. All your religious activity. All your good deeds will not make you righteous enough to enter the kingdom of heaven. You must place confess your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ! Repent don't trade!

 Matthew 7: 13-14 ESV Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.