Come As You Are

But don't stay that way

"Self-portrait with parsley" by quinn.anya is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Today, let’s start with a definition. If I’d been more on top of my game, it would have been in the lesson along with Encumbrance and Entangle.

Inscrutable

[ in-skroo-tuh-buhl ]
adjective

1. Incapable of being investigated, analyzed, or scrutinized; impenetrable.

Synonyms: undiscoverable, inexplicable, incomprehensible, hidden

Antonyms: comprehensible

2. Not easily understood; mysterious; unfathomable:

an inscrutable smile.

3. Incapable of being seen through physically; physically impenetrable:

the inscrutable depths of the ocean.

That’s talking about us understanding God’s ability to understand things. That word was from the first scripture from the lesson on Sunday. Let’s look at that.

²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
²⁹He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.
³⁰Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,
³¹Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:28–31 (NASB95)

The point in verse 28 is that we simply cannot understand all that God is. We can’t understand how He does things, why, or what His complete larger picture ideas are. What we can work to understand is what we’ve been told about Him in the Bible. Scripture is not only our manual for life, but our manual for trying to come to terms with what and who God is. Because God is so much larger, bigger, capable, etc, He is outside human understanding. The creation, us, is limited in its understanding by the definition of the Creator. Essentially, men and women can't put God inside a human-made box. He is undiscoverable, inexplicable, incomprehensible, hidden, or inscrutable.

That wasn’t my intention for Monday Morning, but it’s what got the ball rolling.

My intention for Monday Morning was and is to investigate where the phrase “Come as you are” is in scripture. Before we dig into what scripture has to say, let’s look at the implications of that phrase. There’s a human message contained in it, too.

The phrase “come as you are” implies something. It implies I don’t need to change. The phrase implies I am “good enough” just as I am. The truth is far from that. However, there are also other implications. That phrase also implies I don’t need to change before I can come to God. It also implies I don’t need to wait for that one more thing to be done or be added or subtracted to me before I come to God. Both of those are right and good, but the first one is not.

The idea that I can come to God just as I am, that I don’t need to make myself presentable before coming to God, is wholly and completely correct. There are no prerequisites, things we need to have done or accomplished before we turn our lives over to Him and become followers of Jesus. God wants everyone, wherever they are in life, to turn to Him through His Son. It is what the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was meant to do: to open that path for all humanity. In other words, come as you are to God right now by confessing faith in Jesus.

That does not mean once I have confessed faith in Jesus, that I can stay the way I came to God. That is just as incorrect as the first part was correct. I cannot continue to remain doing, saying, and believing all the things contrary to God’s ways once I come to God and tell Him I’m willing to follow His Son.

I looked for scripture that claims to be come and stay as you are to Jesus. I couldn’t find any. I did find a bunch implying God wants all people to come to Him. That implication is there in the phrases of some scripture listing a few conditions, but the omission of a situation doesn’t mean that particular situation or sin isn’t welcome. It means limited space and time to write, and limited the list to what was given. Let’s look at a few of those scripture before we dig into a specific situation that illustrates how God does want us to come to Him and what to do after we have confessed Jesus as our Lord. For these scripture and with the idea of saving space and time, I’m only listing a single verse. Feel free to dig deeper on any of these as the Spirit leads you.

²⁸“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 (NASB95)

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
Revelation 22:17 (NASB95)

¹⁸“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 (NASB95)

³⁷“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
John 6:37 (NASB95)

⁸Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8 (NASB95)

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NASB95)

⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NASB95)

¹“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.
Isaiah 55:1 (NASB95)

⁶For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 (NASB95)

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23 (NASB95)

Now, let’s look at a story most have heard, but usually gets retold a little out of context or with the ending left off.

The woman at the well is often used as an example people like to throw out when they feel as though they are being judged harshly or incorrectly. However, some of those people use only the first half of that story because it supports what they want to believe, namely that they don’t have to give up or change the thing about themselves that others say God doesn’t like. Those people like to use the first half where Jesus refuses to throw stones to hurt the adulterous woman, but they conveniently leave off the last thing Jesus says to her. Let’s refresh our minds about this scripture before we discuss it.

¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
²Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.
³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court,
⁴they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
⁵“Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?”
⁶They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
⁷But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
⁸Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
⁹When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.
¹⁰Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”
¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
John 8:1–11 (NASB95)

Yes, the woman “came as she was”. How was that? The crowd caught her, a married woman, having sex with a man who was not her husband. Someone who is married and has sexual relations with someone who is not their spouse is the textbook definition of adultery. They accused her of this sin, and she did not deny it, so we will assume she was, in fact, guilty. The point is, she came before Jesus, “as she was,” caught in the midst of her sin. Now, let’s look at what Jesus did.

Jesus didn’t defend her actions, nor did He suggest she wasn’t guilty. What Jesus did was bring those accusatory people into the realization that they were just as sinful, but in different ways. Jesus also didn’t send the woman away, nor did He require her to do anything beyond simply standing there. Jesus took her the way she was, the way she came to Him.

Now, let’s look at what Jesus required of the woman brought before Him. What did Jesus say to her? “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” These instructions people leave off this story when they bring it up, often times. Why? Because this story gets used more frequently to condemn people for their judgment, not because the thing they’ve said God doesn’t like is wrong. The story doesn’t say the judgment was bad about the adulterous woman. In fact, no one in that story refutes the charge as false, so the judgment that God doesn’t like adultery and, in fact, calls for the stoning death of a woman caught in it is never disputed. Jesus Himself doesn’t dispute that either. What Jesus does is not levy the punishment called for against the accused woman. He is merciful, but He doesn’t clear her of the charge. What He does is much more than just forgive her of that one offense. His instructions aren’t even to go and not commit adultery anymore. What does Jesus tell her to do?

“From now on sin no more.” All sin, not just the sin of adultery. From now on, don’t do anything God doesn’t like anymore. The Christian world has a single word for that. That word is repent. Turn from the things in your life that God doesn’t like and do them no more. That’s why people leave that last bit off this story, because we all do things God doesn’t like, and some of them we want to keep doing. We don’t want to be reminded that God doesn’t like them and we shouldn’t do them if we are followers of Jesus, so we conveniently leave that piece off.

We don’t want to be told we have to do work, but Jesus has just that in store for us. Yes, come to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit just as you are, right now, but don’t stay that way. God doesn’t want us to continue to walk in the ways of the World. He wants us to reflect His better way of living to the world around us. In so doing, we become a lamp that lights the path out of the darkness for someone else. In that, there can be no higher calling than helping someone else step out of the darkness and into the light of life that is the love of Jesus Christ. God bless and Godspeed.

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