The Big Picture
- Joe Palmisano
- May 12
- 4 min read
Theme: Stop majoring in minors
One of the most sinister lies ever perpetrated on humanity is the sign above the gate leading into Auschwitz. It is a sign that has saddened and baffled me due to its cruelty and sickening irony.
Above the entryway to the concentration camp are the words, Arbeit macht frei. The same sign stood above the camp at Dachau. It means, "work makes free.” In other words, it will earn your freedom. The sign stays today as a haunting reminder of this lie straight from Satan. The Nazis made the people believe hard work would equal liberation, but the promised "liberation" was horrifying suffering and even death.
Arbeit macht frei. One reason that phrase haunts me is that it is also the spiritual lie of this age, that work will free us from eternal separation from God. It was and is a lie orchestrated by Satan. It is a religious lie. It is a false hope—an impossible dream for many people worldwide, who believe their good works will be significant enough to outweigh their sinful nature, allowing them to stand before God in eternity and say, "You owe me the right to enter into your heaven."
It is the lie that Pastor Dan read about this past Sunday in Romans 9 through 11 and discussed in his lesson. These words in Romans echo the ‘works’ related signs leading into Auschwitz and Dachau, and lead us directly to the same author. “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.” (Romans 9:30-32 NIV).
From the beginning, Satan has planted the deception and used his minions to flesh it out, so that we believe we have the power to work our way to God. This has been the “stumbling stone” of every generation that has walked this earth, and is only moved from the road by Jesus Christ.
We are freed when we trust in the work of Jesus, and imprisoned when we buy into Satan’s deception that we must earn our Salvation.
There is another lesson from Pastor Dan that impacted me. It came in this nugget of gold: “Obedience is more important than knowledge.” As I thought on this axiom, I began to see that obedience is more important because it leads directly to wisdom.
It is purported that Sir Isaac Newton was once asked how he discovered the law of gravity. He replied, "By thinking about it all the time.”
The Psalmist also echoes this as we are given the answer to why obedience is the precursor to wisdom. “You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me. (Psalms 119:4-8 NIV). Further down in Psalm 119 is the result of obedience: “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.” (Psalms 119:97-100 NIV).
BOOM! At the forest level, obedience leads to a deepening wisdom, not of our own, but of God’s wisdom. Sir Isaac Newton and the Psalmist understood that by constantly thinking of something, whether a dilemma or God’s Word to us, knowledge and wisdom will follow. Working at knowledge leads only to knowledge.
Pastor Dan allowed God’s Word to reveal the truth about how the Scriptures lead us to Faith and Obedience and how those lead us to Life and Wisdom. Aren’t you smiling right now?
Scripture: Psalms 119:129-130 NIV
“Your statutes are wonderful; therefore, I obey them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
Prayer:
Lord, I am constantly reminded how simple you have made this for us. You know that we can never find you on our own, and that once we do find you, we will never be able to mature in you and become what you created us to be. Because of that, you have done it all, from our Salvation to our Sanctification and even Wisdom. None of it is of us, and nothing of which we can boast. Thank you, Lord, for that. Thank you, Lord, that we have a Pastor who allows you to guide his words and have him take chances with messages that are uncomfortable and not common. Thank you for giving me such impactful truth from words I have read before but did not see. Amen
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