Faith - Jeremiah's Vow

The Beautiful Lightness of God’s Commands

When we are able to see God’s words as if for the first time, there is a freshness to them, and a refreshing by them, that we can experience.

My Bible reading group has been reading through 1 John this week. There have been several times this week where I have felt as if I was seeing these words for the first time. It has been refreshing and convicting.

When we are able to see God’s words as if for the first time, there is a freshness to them, and a refreshing by them, that we can experience. I was really made away of the way that John calls us to a deep and consistent obedience of God’s commands. God has said so much, more than we can every really accomplish. But, we are called to obey each and every one of these commands. Not just the ones that are easy, but especially the ones that are hard.

This is where the conviction comes in. I was convicted by the fact of how easy it is for me rely on my own strength, my own abilities and wisdom, to accomplish what can only be done by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The call of God to obey his commands is not made to the fallen sinner. It is made to the redeemed and Spirit-filled saint.

Are all people under the burden of the commands of God? Are all people, whether saved or lost, responsible conform their lives to the reality of a living God? Yes, on both counts. The issue is that the weight of this reality will feel differently. Or at least it should. This is what I was convicted of this week. I had lost sight of the lightness of God’s commands because I had not really been relying on God’s enabling power like I should have.

Let’s stop a moment and look and what John said:

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3 ESV)

His commands are NOT burdensome. I really had to stop and take that one in this week.

If you are feeling the weight of God’s commands in your life, it may be time to stop and do a check on your obedience. When we are living out the reality of the Gospel in our lives by trusting in the enabling power of God’s Spirit, we are living on our own power. Every single time we do this we are doomed to reach the end of our own strength faster than we want to believe. We are not able to obey God on our own. And the truth of it is we are not supposed to do.

The primary reason the commands of God are not burdensome is because the one who bore our burdens has told us that our yoke is in reality his yoke, and that his yoke is easy. And his burden is light (Matthew 11:30). We need to stop pretending that we having this life all figured out. We need to stop trying to squeeze joy out of every cell of our bodies.

Joy is not something that we can manufacture in our own abilities. Joy is the byproduct of our souls rejoicing in the wonder, beauty, and power of the Gospel. That is where joy is found. And the way we tap into that fountain of joy is by trusting in God to give us the power and the will and the strength to do his will. That is the attitude of a child of God.

Look at what the apostle Paul said to the Philippians about their obedience.

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV, emphasis added)

If we have to muster up the strength to keep our obeying the commands of God, we are seeking for help from the wrong place. Of that there can be no doubt.

4 Steps to Achieving an Increase in Faith

**This was orginally a sermon [Original title: Why the Mustard Seed?] and was first given in May of 2005. It has been updated here.

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

⁷ “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? ⁸ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:5-10 ESV, emphasis added)

Continue reading “4 Steps to Achieving an Increase in Faith”

What if Jesus walked into your town?

Jesus in Your Town
While this question is one that could occupy a conversation for a few hours. What I wonder if it a worthy enough question to challenge us to reevaluate the way that we go about the practice of our faith. The clip below is from a movie called “Joshua”. This is a play on the fact that Jesus’ name is derived from the older Jewish name of Joshua. So the essence of the movie is this: If Jesus walked into town what would He do? How would He act? What would be the response of the people? This is one of the best modern adaptations of the life of Jesus I have ever come across. (I don’t mean to overstate the movie.)

There is one scene in particular that gets me every time. Joshua comes across a camp meeting and walks in just as the evangelist is about the pray. Joshua doesn’t join in. He actually interrupts the meeting and causes a scene. The evangelist is dumbstruck. He doesn’t know what to do. Joshua tells him, “You know, you don’t have to do it this way.” Joshua tells him, “I know you’d like to have the faith to talk to these people. But you don’t know what faith is.”

While the caricature is awful, the perception that it portrays is not that far off the mark. This is how many in the world view the church and it’s bag of “party tricks”. Some charlatans bilking the faithful for their own gain. Others teaching doctrines that are not sound and therefore misleading those hungry for God, His presence and power in their lives. But the clip provides a couple of twists. First, Joshua reveals that the true intention of the evangelist (in this case) is to do what is right. He genuinely desires to help those that have come to the meeting. But he doesn’t know what or how he is supposed to do it. The second is that Joshua speaks the truth and it activates the faith of the people. The truth creates an awkward scene, but a healing actually takes place.

The Cost of Healing on the Healer
This is one of the best depictions of what Jesus’ miracles of healing must have looked like. The transfer of divine power through the human agent is an awesome burden. It has helped to see why Jesus spent so much time praying. It cost Him so much to heal those that were hurting. Healing wasn’t easy because it taxed the limits of the human experience. Jesus accepted the cost of not only bring our salvation through his death, but He also accepted the personal, physical and spiritual cost of touching those around Him with the power of God’s mercy.

This scene in particular reminds me of the woman with the hemorrhage problem in Mark 5:25-34. The story tells us that Jesus “perceiv[ed] in Himself that power had gone out from Him.” I don’t know what that must have looked like, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something like it is shown here.