PART 1
ETHICS UNDERTHE CROSS
THE WRONG AND THE RIGHT REASON
Our study is about how God uses suffering to improve our character and virtue. But the first question we need to answer is: What is a good person in God’s eyes? What does it take to do good?
Acts 5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Q: Why was what Ananias and Sapphira did immoral? Their actions certainly looked moral. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Genesis 4 Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
Q: Why was Abel’s sacrifice morally acceptable, but not Cain’s? Both actions certainly looked moral. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________
2
WHAT IS GOOD IN GOD’S SITE?
The account of Ananias and Sapphira show us that a person’s motivation is important to God. And the account of Cain and Abel show us clearly that faith is necessary for an action to be considered righteous in God’s eyes. Scripture teaches this clearly:
Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”
Romans 4 [selected] 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness…” [Genesis 15:6] 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” [Psalm 32:1,2]
Based on the passages above, we can draw the following conclusions and principles: Both the _________________ as well as the _________________ itself makes an act moral or immoral.
The right motivation is entirely beyond us because of sin. The action might _________________ moral, but a perfect motivation is _________________.
In God’s eyes, only an action prompted by _________________ is a moral act. And this is because it is _________________ as righteous, not _________________ righteous.
The Christian’s goal, then, is to not only _________________ the right action, but act from the right _________________: a faith which sees our actions as worthless apart from grace, and as valuable to God only as thanksgiving, not as merit. The goal of the Christian is the cultivation of a _________________ completely _________________ on God’s grace.
Anything God _________________ that makes us _________________ dependent on God’s grace and mercy, then, is good. Sometimes this looks evil, but from God’s perspective, it becomes good for us. (For example, consider Job)
THE UGLY CROSS IS BEAUTIFUL
God does not exclude himself from this: On the cross he suffered the sins of all mankind, experiencing hell. But God underwent this for our eternal good, turning the cross from something ugly and evil to behold into something beautiful and good. This is why the cross is a stumbling block.