CHALLENGE 1: ALL-IN

Part C - Paid in Full

Peace Child

Canadians Don and Carol Richardson, along with their seven-month-old son, went as missionaries to the Sawi Tribe in West Papua, Indonesia (then known as Dutch New Guinea). When they arrived in 1962, the tribe had virtually no contact with the world beyond their island home. Years later Richardson shared the story of their work with the Sawi in a book called Peace Child (Regal Books, 1975). Their story then was made into a movie. 

The Sawi were fierce, cannibalistic headhunters. Their culture valued deception as one of the chief virtues. Consequently, they became experts at deceiving other tribes by building friendships and leading them to believe the Sawi were trustworthy. But after convincing the other tribe that they desired peace, the Sawi would attack. The victory banquet that followed featured those they had deceived and killed as the main course.

After adjusting to life in the village, becoming fluent in the Sawi language, and building relationships with leaders of the tribe, Richardson shared the gospel story of Jesus with them. Shockingly, the Sawi were captivated by Judas, but not the least bit impressed by Jesus. From their perspective, Judas was their hero because through deception he became one of the twelve disciples—those closest to Jesus. They admired Judas because they presumed he had cleverly lured Jesus into a trap that led to his disgraceful death by crucifixion. 

After years of frustrating efforts to encourage the Sawi to trust in Jesus, the Richardsons became discouraged and decided to return to Canada. Their failure was complete. Not even one member of the tribe had become a follower of Jesus. But before they finished packing, they witnessed another bloody battle between the Sawi tribe and the Haenam tribe. 

Watching the senseless carnage strengthened the Richardson’s resolve to return home to Canada. Their mission appeared hopeless. The Sawi leaders, however, pleaded with the missionary family to stay, partly because Don had freely shared his steel tools with them. They promised to make real peace with the Haenam, but Richardson assumed they were empty words, just another deception. 

As the missionary family made final preparations to leave, an ancient ceremony unfolded before their eyes. They watched as the two warring tribes gathered and faced each other. Then the chief of the Sawi tribe approached his wife. She screamed in anguish as her husband took their six-month old son from her arms and lifted him high in the air for all to see. Then he presented the baby to the chief of the Haenam tribe. The leader of Haenam people accepted the baby, meaning he would raise him as his own son. He was the “Peace Child.” As long as the child lived, there would be peace between the tribes. 

Something clicked for Richardson. Later, he termed this a “redemptive analogy.” It worked in this way: If a father would give his own son to his enemies, that father could be trusted. The missionary then explained to the Sawi people that God had sent his own Son to live with his enemies. Jesus was God’s Peace Child. That analogy enabled the Sawi people to understand and receive the gospel as good news. They embraced it enthusiastically and in the years that followed the Sawi became a Christian tribe. 

A Modern Parallel 

The Sawi had valued deception which prevented them from embracing the gospel as good news. Yet when they realized Jesus was God’s Peace Child, they eagerly went all-in for Jesus. The old description of them as being fierce, cannibalistic headhunters no longer was accurate. The gospel soon transformed both individuals and the tribal culture that had shaped them. 

Like the Sawi people prior to the Peace Child, those nurtured in and by our Western Culture find it increasingly difficult to understand, let alone believe, the gospel. Many now associate the gospel with social injustice, racism, hatred, oppression, and evil. Consequently, those shaped by this post-modern, post-Christian culture, and especially those embracing extreme individualism, find it nearly impossible to trust in the God revealed through Jesus and through the Bible. 

Before a person can go all-in for Jesus, she or he must trust God enough to leap into the outstretched arms of Jesus. It’s a leap of faith into the arms of God, not a blind leap into the unknown. For those in the Sawi Tribe, recognizing Jesus as both God’s Son and God’s Peace Child, assured them that God the Father was trustworthy. Only when they saw God through that lens were they able to go all-in for Jesus. You must be convinced that God is trustworthy to go all-in for Jesus. To be convinced that God is trustworthy and keeps his promises is the essence of faith, saving faith, a faith that frees you to go all-in for Jesus. 

The barriers to faith in Western culture are not new. God provided for Adam’s and Eve’s every need. They lived in paradise, were free, with only one restriction. God told them not to eat the fruit from one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All the other food, including every other kind of fruit, could be eaten. God did not force them to obey by building a fence around that tree, but he clearly warned them if they ate its fruit, they would die. He defined the offense and its penalty. But the serpent showed up and implied that God was not trustworthy. The Creator was not concerned for their well-being but was manipulating them for his selfish ends. The father of lies then promised if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would become like God, knowing good and evil. The first couple believed the lie that God was neither good nor trustworthy. Every human being since then has reaped the terrible consequences of their choice.

As you consider going all-in for Jesus, you face a similar dilemma. You must decide if God is trustworthy. You must also decide whether “Is God just?” It would be irresponsible and borderline insanity to go all-in for Jesus, if God is not both just and trustworthy. To do so would be reckless. 

Is God Just? 

The world is filled with injustice. I remember being disciplined for disobedience as a child, and becoming angry and indignant, believing the punishment was unfair. We all have experienced injustice, or at least something that we think is injustice. And what happens on the individual level also happens on a wider scale. Wars, famines, genocide, slavery, poverty, racism, discrimination, bribes, theft, financial scams, and countless other injustices occur regularly and have become almost normative. The list is endless. Even as I write this someone, somewhere, is plotting a crooked scheme (Isa 32:7), bribe, or crime. Yet the source of injustice is not found in God, but sinful humanity. We will either blame all injustice on God because he did not prevent it and has not stopped it, or look to him as the ultimate solution who will bring justice and punish injustice. 

The Bible is unequivocal on this issue; from Genesis to Revelation the Scriptures emphatically teach that God is just and loves justice. He hates injustice and will hold people accountable for any injustice they cause or tolerate. Love of justice is one of God’s attributes. It’s part of who he is. The Sawi valued deception, God values justice. To accuse God of injustice is not only preposterous, it impugns and slanders God’s name. A list of all the biblical citations that speak of God being just and loving justice would require dozens of pages. I recently read the Psalms and Proverbs and complied a seven-page list of verses that spoke of God being just and expecting his people to act in just ways. But the supreme demonstration of God’s just nature is the cross on which Jesus bled and died. 

A Forensic Approach 

The cross is the decisive event in God’s redemptive plan. If God is just and we are sinners, then God must either find us guilty and punish us, or find us not guilty and justify us. Justification is a forensic term, meaning it is used in legal proceedings. The Bible sometimes uses forensic terminology because God is both the final Judge and Jury, and his judgments are final. There is no higher court to appeal his decisions. But God is also righteous (meaning he always does the right thing), which necessitates being both impartial and fair in his judgments. As Judge, he alone decides who is condemned and who is justified. Notice the words justified or justification begin with “just,” which means conforming to legal standards. There can be no justice without standards. Neither God nor his standards change. The issue is not whether God loves you, he does, but whether you measure up to his standards. 

To be justified is God’s verdict that a person is innocent of wrong-doing (violating God’s standards) and therefore righteous (right with God). However, as we’ve repeatedly seen in the first two parts of Challenge1, our greatest problem is that we are sinners (have violated God’s standards) and therefore are guilty. The legal penalty for sin is death (Gen 2:16-17, Rom 6:23). It’s a capital offense. Justice is decided by the facts, and it’s the facts that convict us. Good intentions and excuses are irrelevant. Only the facts matter. As Part A indicated, the Scriptures are crystal clear, “everyone has sinned” (Rom 3:23). That includes you and me. 

Religion addresses a particularly important question: “How do we get right with God?” What must we do in order for God to accept us? But in the first two chapters of Romans, the Apostle Paul repeatedly shows there is nothing we can do to merit or earn God’s approval. This shocking news appears to extinguish any hope of pleasing God. Obeying the law (God’s standards) cannot save us because none of us have done that perfectly. Obeying God 95% of the time does not reach the standard. God does not grade on the curve. 

Furthermore, Paul states that those of us who have not learned God’s standards will not be judged by those standards, but by our own personal standards that we judge others by. This means every person has an internal moral compass telling them there is a right and wrong. We are all moral beings and make moral decisions. Consequently, even if we do not know God’s standards, we still make moral judgments about others based on own standards. Yet, without a single exception, people who are not familiar with God’s standards, always violate the standards by which they have judged others.  

For instance, another driver may suddenly cut you off without signaling by abruptly changing lanes in heavy traffic. You are forced to lock up your brakes and swerve to avoid a collision. In your mind that driver literally crossed the line and committed an offense. But sometime later, you cut off another driver without signaling, doing the very thing you judged the previous driver for doing. Thus, you are doubly guilty. You committed what you believe to be a specific driving offense which also makes you a hypocrite because you judged others for committing the same offense. Acting religious, having good intentions, or being sincere or spiritual does not nullify our sin. The uncomfortable truth is we cannot justify ourselves before a fair and impartial Judge. We are all guilty and without excuse. 

Justified by Grace through Faith 

The good news is that God does what we cannot do for ourselves. Through Jesus, God is able to justify you—find you “not guilty” or justified of not violating his standards. He does so without undermining justice. This is the heart of the gospel. Paul, after showing that no one can make themselves righteous in God’s eyes (save themselves) in the first two chapters of Romans, begins in the third chapter to explain how God remains just without convicting us: 

²¹ But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. ²² We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 

²³ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. ²⁴ Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. ²⁵ For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood…. ²⁶ God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. 

²⁷ Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. ²⁸ So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. 

³⁰ There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.
Romans 3:21-25a, 26b-28, 30 

The verb “made right” (verse 25) literally means “justified”. To be justified is to be declared not guilty and righteous by the ultimate Judge. Reread this passage and note each time made right is used and who is acting to make sinners right with God. 

God the Judge became fully human in Jesus, “in every way like us” (Heb 2:17), “yet was without sin” (Heb 4:15, NIV). He never violated a single standard of God’s. Being sinless, he alone was qualified to pay the penalty for our sin by dying. Viewing the gospel through a forensic lens, it becomes a story of the Judge (or the Judge’s Son) paying the penalty for those guilty of a capital crime. It is shocking news, but never-the-less true. God, the perfect Judge, suffers and dies via his Son to save the guilty. Justification is an undeserved and priceless gift. 

This gift (Jesus paying the penalty for our sin on the cross) is a gift of grace (unmerited) and received by faith alone. Yet faith is never alone. Faith is more than giving intellectual assent to this proposition. Real faith is made visible and confirmed by going all-in for Jesus. Paul says it even more succinctly in Ephesians: 

⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed [faith/trust]. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8 

A man, who was both wealthy and religious, came to Jesus seeking affirmation that his spiritual piety guaranteed his salvation. But Jesus told the man, “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor…. Then come, follow me” (Mk 10:21). The man went away sad. Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God” (10:25). His astonished disciples exclaimed, “Then who in the world can be saved?” (10:26) Jesus replied, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” 

Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that it is impossible for anyone to save themselves. That would require perfection. But God does the impossible by making a way for us to be saved/ justified, without lowering his standards nor compromising justice. The Judge refuses to ignore or excuse our transgressions. That would be unjust. Instead, the Judge pays the penalty (death) justice requires. Next he credits our sins to Jesus’ account (the cross), and credits Jesus’ righteousness (sinlessness) to our accounts. Thus, God is just, merciful, righteous, loving, and forgiving simultaneously. His true nature is revealed. The Judge pays the fine for our crimes. The question the disciples asked was, “Who in the world can be saved?” Jesus replied, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” 

Paid in Full 

According to John’s Gospel, Jesus’ last words before he died were “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). It’s actually one word in Greek, tetelestai. It’s a word with a range of meanings. It can signify the successful end to an arduous goal. A person might use it if he or she had climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest or when a person reached their goal of becoming a heart surgeon. Tetelestai means more than just “I survived.” It means “I did exactly what I set out to do.” Jesus completed his mission by dying on the cross for our sins. 

But tetelestai is also used in more mundane ways, especially in conducting business. Archaeologists have uncovered another common usage of tetelestai when digging in two-thousand-year-old garbage dumps. Ancient financial receipts and documents confirmed a pattern. In ancient times when a promissory note was paid, the one holding the note wrote “tetelestai” across it. A deed to property did not become official until it was dated, signed, and the clerk who witnessed the transaction wrote “tetelestai” across the deed. Likewise, when someone had paid off a debt, the creditor wrote “tetelestai” on the certificate of debt signifying that it was “PAID IN FULL.” 

Almost with his last dying breath, Jesus declared “IT IS FINISHED” because he had successfully completed his mission. His mission required him to pay the full legal penalty for our sin: a horrible death on a cross. No further payment will ever be needed because his final words also mean “PAID IN FULL”. That is supremely good news. Those who dare believe this marvelous truth are declared to be justified by God, meaning the Judge has declared we are innocent (righteous). God did what we could not do for ourselves. And from start to finish, it is God’s gift. We don’t deserve it and can only receive it through faith, believing Jesus paid our debt in full. 

Is God just? Is God trustworthy? Jesus answered those questions on the cross with a resounding “Yes!” written in his own blood. He went all-in for you on the cross, an eloquent expression of his unconditional and unending love for you. He is worthy of your trust. 

THINKING IT THROUGH

“I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws." Psalm 119:59 

 THE TRUTH: Jesus went all-in for me on the cross. 

YOUR CHALLENGE: Will I go all-in for Jesus? 

Each part of every four-part challenge concludes with a “Thinking it Through” segment which consists of a list of Scriptures related to the topic being considered, questions for group discussion and personal reflection, and notes. Each of the twelve challenges will end with an exercise to guide you through the process of naming lies, believing the truth, and clarifying the personal implications and applications of the truth to your life. Truth, if believed, must be lived, and living the truth brings personal transformation (Kingdom living). Please consider this section as a tool to help you to understand the truth, not as a test or as busy work. 

Related Scriptures

John 3:16-17 ¹⁶ For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 ⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 

1 Timothy 1:15 ¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 

Romans 1:16-17 ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. ¹⁷ This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 

Romans 3:22, 30 ²² We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

³⁰ There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 

Romans 4:1-5 ¹ Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? ² If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. ³ For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” ⁴ When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. ⁵ But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. 

Romans 4:16 ¹⁶ So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. 

Romans 4:20-22 ²⁰ Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. ²¹ He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. ²² And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 

Romans 10:17 ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. 

Philippians 3:9 ⁹ I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 

Deuteronomy 32:4 ⁴ He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!

John 1:12 ¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 

Galatians 3:13 ¹³ But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 

Deuteronomy 21:23 ²³ The body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession. 

Nahum 1:3 ³ The Lord is slow to get angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished. 

Proverbs 17:15; 18:5: 20:23

¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent — both are detestable to the Lord,

⁵ It is not right to acquit the guilty or deny justice to the innocent.

²³ The Lord detests double standards; he is not pleased by dishonest scales. 

Psalm 50:6 ⁶ Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God himself will be the judge.

Questions 

You are encouraged to use these questions for group discussion or personal reflection. Respond to the questions that are most relevant or interesting to you (I urge you to write your responses in a journal or notebook). 

1. How is God’s just nature supremely revealed by the cross on which Jesus bled and died? 

2. In Parts A and B of Challenge 1, God’s love was obvious. Yet in Part C, God’s love was less visible because in legal proceedings, the judge’s love for the defendant is irrelevant. Justice is the quest for what is true, right, and fair. However, God’s love is still present in the forensic (legal) framework used in Part C. How does God’s love become visible in Part C? 

3. Occasionally we hear the phrase “justice is blind.” What does this phrase mean? God is far from blind. He sees what humans cannot see. He sees what is in our hearts – including our intentions, motivations, desires, — the very thoughts that drive our actions. Knowing this, King David still said, “let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands” (1 Chron 21:13). If you could choose, would you prefer to be judged by God or other human beings? Explain your reasons for choosing that option. 

4. Part C is an examination of what “justification by faith” means. In a single paragraph explain in your own words the meaning of “justification by faith.” Compare and contrast the faith of Abraham (Gen 22:1-13) with that of Thomas (Jn 20:24-29). 

5. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1, NIV). Five verses later, Hebrews states, 6 “and it is impossible to please God without faith.” And a literal translation of 2 Cor 5:6 (NIV) declares, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Explain the role of faith (as you understand it at this time) in the Jesus Way of living. 

6. Why can’t God simply ignore, overlook, or excuse our sins? 

7. Our forgiveness, justification, and salvation totally depend on what God has done. We merely respond to what God has done by believing and receiving. This is an important distinctive of the Christian faith. Why is this important? 

8. One of the last things Jesus said on the cross can be translated as “It is finished” or “paid in full.” Explain what each translation means and then whether you think Jesus intended one specific meaning or both meanings?

Notes 

The OT is written in Hebrew. Until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1940’s and 1950’s, our oldest Hebrew manuscripts of OT Scriptures were traced back to the tenth century after Christ. Consequently, it was difficult to determine whether our oldest manuscripts were accurate copies of the original manuscripts which reached back several centuries before the birth of Christ. It was a significant problem. Perhaps there were errors or changes made by the scribes that copied them over the centuries or there could have been parts that had been lost. There was no way to determine whether the tenth century manuscripts accurately reflected the ancient originals. 

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls contained two complete manuscripts of the book of Isaiah in Hebrew that are radiocarbon dated at least two centuries before Christ that are almost identical to those dated a millennium later. It confirms the accuracy of the tenth century copies, and the trustworthiness of the ancient scribal system of preserving the accuracy of the scriptural manuscripts through the centuries. It was a huge task. The “great Isaiah Scroll” which is at least 2,200 years old (found by shepherds in 1946) contains the entire book of Isaiah. The scroll is written on 17 sheets of parchment about 24 feet in length, 10 to 11 inches high, and contains 54 columns of text. Apart from a few spelling errors, it is identical to the tenth century manuscripts. 

But there is another OT textual tradition that is called the Septuagint. It is a translation of the OT into Greek that was done in Alexandria (Egypt) about 280-270 BC. The diaspora or dispersion of Israelites (described in OT and other historical documents) by that time, left more Jews living in Alexandria than Jews living in Jerusalem. Consequently, many of those living among the Gentiles in other nations, were no longer fluent in Hebrew. Since Greek was the closest thing to a universal language at that time, the Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated the OT Hebrew text into Greek. The Septuagint is abbreviated LXX (Roman numerals for 70) because of the fascinating tradition which says that each of seventy scribes translated the entire Hebrew OT into Greek. They were astonished when they compared those seventy new Greek manuscripts and found they were identical. The LXX and the Dead Sea Scrolls are very similar (much like modern translations translate the Greek or Hebrew just a little differently). 

With this linguistic background we can confidently affirm Chapter 53 of Isaiah was written at least two centuries before Jesus was born. Yet it accurately predicts and poignantly describes the crucifixion of Jesus. It underlines the importance of the cross and illustrates why we can trust that the Scriptures are the Word of God. Between the Ancient Dead Sea Scrolls and from numerous LXX manuscripts, we can be confident our modern English translations are authentic and accurate. 

Thoughts on Going All-in for Jesus

Sometimes people are reluctant or fearful of making a wholehearted commitment to go all-in for Jesus. They may be drawn to him and appreciate his teaching, yet they hesitate to make that commitment. They may be very moral and nice people and even attend church regularly. But they just can’t seem to leave their comfort zones to jump into the strong and loving arms of Jesus. I have heard such people called mugwumps because they are stuck on the spiritual fence. Their mugs are on one side of the fence and wumps are on the other side. If you self-identify as a mugwump, fearful of leaving your comfort zone, I urge you to get off the fence and take the leap of faith into the arms of Jesus. You won’t regret it.

Loving God, I still have questions and doubts, but I don’t want to say “no” to your love any longer. Please forgive my self-centeredness and attempts to run my own life. I believe your way is best, not mine. Thank you for your “all-in” love for me which seems too good to be true. Yet I need and crave your love, even though I don’t deserve it. I surrender to you unconditionally, without consciously holding back anything or any part of my life from you. I give you my life, my strengths and weaknesses, my successes and failures, my joy and pain, my limitations and dreams, my needs and wants, and all of my relationships. I am “all-in” for Jesus. From this moment on, Jesus leads, and I will do my best to follow. Thank you Lord for your loving guidance. Amen.

Copyright © 2024 Don Waite

All rights reserved.

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