Skip to main content

Thoughts on Vindication

To be vindicated means to be proven right.  People can be vindicated from wrongful accusations or from denial of rights.  Everyone wants to be right and correct in what they believe and what they do.  For those who knowingly do wrong, they want to avoid getting caught.

For the Christian, it became a dangerous and delicate move to stand for our own rights or to prove ourselves right, even when we are standing for the absolute truth of Scripture.  This is because in modern society, if I prove myself right against some accusation, then I am also proving the accuser wrong.  Proving people, ideas political positions, ethic groups, sexual orientation right or wrong is what today’s most political climate is all about.  The result, as both sides claim, is dividing, not uniting.  If believers in Christ are divided over political rightness, then the kingdom of God suffers and Christ is not glorified.  If, however, people who follow Christ can stop seeking vindication, then unity in the body of Christ will increase and others will see how we love each other, even in this climate.

Ultimately, everyone who has ever been will stand before Christ.  From the baby that was aborted to the person who lived to 115 years of age, everyone will stand before Christ.  There is a teaching today that says we will gain vindication at that time, if we believe in Christ.  Those who believe this say that Christ will examine our works and declare us righteous at that time.  Justification will be bestowed and we will be vindicated.

Considering this view, I find a few things wrong.  First, I have no righteousness of my own.  I never have and I never will.  I have no works, that are mine, that would withstand any judgement.  I was desperately wicked before Christ saved me and I remain, in my being, totally depraved.  Second, when people are truly saved is that the righteousness of Christ is placed on them.  It is imputed to them and placed a like a robe.  God sees the righteousness of Christ and at the moment of salvation, believers are fully and completely justified.

At the end of time, Christ will not need to examine anything concerning me, because I will be there out of no work of my own.  Christ will not have to “See” or “learn” or “discover” anything.  If anyone is vindicated at that time, It would be Christ who is proven right by the salvation of the elect, not losing a single one.

So people can spend their lives proving themselves right and seeking vindication on this earth.  However, without Christ we are nothing, have nothing and nothing good lives in us.  So it is better to love one another, support the rights of one another, spend our time proving one another right and in that way build the unity and community of God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering the Franklin Day Planner

This week I have been rereading Hyrum Smith's book "The 10 Natural Laws of Productivity and Happiness." This book was written in the late 1980s and I remember reading it for the first time when I was working at Seagate Technologies, after my time in the Air Force. The core tool talked about in the book is the Franklin Day Planner . I remembering having one such planner, long before smart phones and Palm devices. Mine was a leather bound loose-leaf binder with calendar and note pages in it. I kept my daily tasks list and appointments in that binder, which became a record of my work history at Seagate and beyond. The Day Planner binders, pages and supplies were sold at a store called Franklin Quest , which was located at Valco Mall in Sunnyvale. At that time, I was a computer programmer. I was able to keep a record of all request for software, who made the request and when and what the requirements were. It seemed that I was the only one keeping a record of this b...
Post a Comment
Read more

What do I preach?

I preach the Word of God.  The style I use is called expositional exegetical .  I draw the meaning out of the Scripture and explain it.  I believe this is the only approved type of preaching.  To preach events out of the newspaper or the latest psychology fad does nothing to edify the saints or glorify God and certainly it does not contain the power to save. The context for my preaching is that I preach through books of the Bible.  Most recently I have been preaching through the gospel of John.  I started in John 1:1 and last Sunday I preached through John 21:15-17.  Charles Spurgeon preached through the entire Bible, but did not take the verses in order.  He bounced around, and got through the entire Bible. One of the most popular styles of preaching in large churches or churches that want to be large is a style called “topical.”  Traditionally topical preaching takes a topic that is from the news or something that the pastor is reading....
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on God Speaking

God speaks.  Not often, in an audible voice from the sky, but he does speak.  In the Bible he spoke with a voice, he showed pictures and visions and dreams to people.  Today people speak of impressions in their spirit or mind, which was not talked about in the Bible. Today, I believe that people claim God speaks much more than he does.  The primary reason I say this is that God does not need to speak at all.  God has said all that is needed in his Word, the Bible.  We have everything that is required for life and godliness in the pages of our Bibles.  Bibles are not hard to get, except in anti-God countries, yet we still manage to smuggle them into every country and people group.   For those that claim God is a veritable chatterbox I have to wonder what value that brings to their life.  People who claim to hear God’s voice all the time do not seem to have greater biblical understanding.  In fact, people who hear God’s voice all ...
Post a Comment
Read more