“Faith is…” Series - Jeremiah's Vow

“Faith is…” Series, Pt. 4 | Faith is… Proclaiming the Truth of God

¹⁸For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25, ESV)

The Wisdom of a Foolish God

I have always found the statement found here about God’s wisdom to be mind boggling. God in his most “foolish” moment is wiser than all of humanity’s wisdom put together. I know that this is classic Pauline overstatement, and yet I wonder at times if Paul’s intent is to reveal the hubris of the human heart. Too often we think that we have unlocked some secret or hidden nugget of wisdom from God’s treasure trove. I think that this is the danger in attempting to analyze or explain what is only meant to be proclaimed.

I am reminded of Dr. John Piper speaking of the time that he began to understand, too truly grasp what it meant for God to be sovereign.

“As I studied Romans 9 day after day, I began to see a God so majestic and so free and so absolutely sovereign that my analysis merged into worship and the Lord said, in effect, “I will not simply be analyzed, I will be adored. I will not simply be pondered, I will be proclaimed. My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized, it is to be heralded. It is not grist for the mill of controversy, it is gospel for sinners who know that their only hope is the sovereign triumph of God’s grace over their rebellious will.” [Source].

Do you see it. This is what it means that faith is the proclamation of the Truth of God. As we are confronted with the Truth of God, that in Christ we have new life and we who were enemies now have access to the mercy seat of God’s grace, is not something to be merely understood. This truth must be experienced. This is the nature of freedom inducing truth. The truth sets us free. This is what Jesus said, but he never went into the details of why it sets us free or of how the truth sets us free. Jesus simply states that this is the effect of truth in our lives. Why do we fight so hard at times to understand, when what God has asked is for us to enjoy. We want to dissect rather than delight in what has been provided. At the root of this attitude is an ungrateful heart. The American church is so comfortable that it fails to see it’s own tantrums anymore. Only a spoiled child will look at a perfect gift and ask for more.

Paul in his letter to the Roman church says these simple and yet amazing words.

¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:14-17, ESV)

At the heart of the Christian faith is a story that must be told. It is in the telling that new life is born in the hearts and minds of sinners. We should not be surprised by this. Stories stimulate us to think beyond the hear and now. Stories transport us to far away places and help us to consider and contemplate perspectives and possibilities that are difficult, dangerous or even childish.

The Love of God Compels Us

Jesus’ story is the foundational reality of why, if we claim to have become Christ’s, we must be about the proclamation of God’s Truth. Our awareness and growing dependence upon Jesus is what drives us forward in growing boldness. There is something different in us now that we have come to know the Son of God.

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. … ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 18-21, ESV)

Many today do not feel the compelling power of the Gospel. We have grown accustomed to its message. We have lost sight of its purpose. We have looked upon the broken and battered body of the Lamb of God and found it trivial and mundane. The cross is a compelling reality, not because Jesus was nailed to it, but because I wasn’t. He hangs in my place and yours.

Proclamation is the Fruit of Conviction

I think that at the heart of this expression of faith is how little conviction I see in the people of God for the Truth of God. I am not talking about believing that there is a God or even that He has spoken. There are many who have laid claim to truth. The problem for them is that the truth that they claim in not rooted in the character of God. Truth is not always about discovering what is “already there.” This is the fundamental difference between the faith of Jesus and the rest of the religions of the world. Truth is not an idea or a philosophy or a pattern of living. Truth is a person. Jesus is truth because everything that he said and did is true.

Therefore, when we make it our life’s aim to proclaim the story and life of Jesus we are proclaiming the truth of God. There is no higher truth to spread throughout the whole earth. There is no greater endeavor to which we can dedicate our lives. There is no cause more worthy of our best efforts. Truth is not just something for which me must learn to live. Truth must become something for which we are willing to die!

I think of those first few weeks and months as the young church was making sense of what it was going to look like as they obeyed the command of Jesus. There must have been times where they were still wondering how it all was going to pan out. Their only certainty was that their faith was their only hope. Here is how Luke recounts the events in Acts 4.

¹³ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. ¹⁵But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, ¹⁶saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.¹⁷But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” ¹⁸So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, ²⁰for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:13-20, ESV)

What makes this event so amazing is not that they wiped the sweat from their brows and said to themselves, “Glad we dodged a bullet back there!” No, that is not the response of a man or woman that has seen what these disciples have seen. They go to their fellowship and they do what, under different circumstances, would be seen and understood as foolish and careless. They ask for boldness to do it again!

²³When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. … ²⁹And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:23, 29-31, ESV)

Where is this prayer in our churches? We pray for clarity, openness on the part of the hearer and even favor with those whom we will encounter. Why do we think that disciples twenty centuries removed from the events can do better to pray for something that was not even upon the minds of those disciples that were twenty minutes removed from Jesus’ ascension?

We must seek boldness to proclaim the Truth of God, which in the end is Jesus himself.

Prayer:
O God, help that we who are called by the name of your Son would make boldness a virtue of higher regard than comfort, safety or even wisdom. Boldness is what is needed among the lost and the pretentious. Boldness is the antidote to pride because it forces us to trust in you to deliver. I pray for boldness. Grant that I may proclaim Your truth, the message of Jesus the Christ, to a world that prefers to turn a deaf ear to what you have proclaimed in the heavens. The works of your hands are a testimony of your majesty. O that we who are weak, would turn to you and trust in your strength and power before those who portend to be powerful and of high repute. There is no name worthy of our total alligience, but yours. In the name of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus, Amen.

“Faith is…” Series, Pt. 3 | Faith is… Rejoicing in the Mercy of God

⁶ The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

(Psalm 103:6-14, ESV)

Psalm 103 is one of those places in the bible where you are confronted with an unrelenting truth about God. Grace has commonly been defined and understood as God’s unmerited (undeserved) favor from God toward us. Grace is what God gives to us when we don’t deserve it. But, there is something else that happens in that exchange. At the moment of salvation mercy is extended, and mercy is something different all together.

Mercy is different because mercy is what God withholds from us when it is EXACTLY what we deserve. Don’t miss that. There is something that we all are guilty of and should be judged for. No one escapes.

My thought today is that faith is REJOICING in the mercy of God. The first time that I truly understood that God’s mercy was something worth rejoicing in was as I was reading and studying through the apostle John’s first letter. In 1 John 2:1-2 John is trying to help his readers understand the security and comfort that comes from Jesus being our advocate, our lawyer, in God’s court. As I read these words I was struck by the tenderness with which John writes these words.

¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ²He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (ESV)

Right there, in the second verse we find this amazing and revealing reason for our rejoicing. Jesus is our PROPITIATION. This is one of those words that is not used very much any more (if at all). It has been translated “atoning sacrifice” or “the sacrifice for our sins” or some other variation. While this is technically correct there is one significant problem. One of the most important components of what Jesus did for us is missing.

Jesus atones, takes the blemish of my sin from me, by dying. When Jesus was crucified and he was killed, my sins were put on Jesus in such a way that he became guilty FOR my sin–and the sins of the whole world! This is the basic understanding of atoning. Jesus paid the price for my sin. But, the act of propitiation has another idea included. When Jesus atoned for my sin he also gave me something that I could not get for myself.

When Jesus was placed on the cross for my sins, God pronounced his judgment on all sin for all time and unleashed the unrestrained fury of his wrath upon his Son.

When Jesus was placed on the cross for my sins, God pronounced his judgment on all sin for all time and unleashed the unrestrained fury of his wrath upon his Son. God did not hold something back in reserve for us so that He can hold it over us. God has finished punishing sin. What is missing is the application of that punishment to those who never accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. You see, in order for me to receive grace Jesus had to die in my place. In order for me to experience mercy God had to pass my judgement onto Jesus.

God’s wrath has to be appeased. This is why an atoning sacrifice was needed in the first place. Now, this sounds like God has an ego problem. God has to be happy. But, this is the fundamental problem that we have to overcome. The problem is not that God’s ego was bruised by sin. God’s character is what was violated. The demand for punishment is never determined by the offender. Even in our flawed and broken justice system we try to find a punishment that “fits the crime.”

So, what then is the proper punishment for offending an eternal, holy and pure God? Is it not an eternal, profane and despicable hell? When my simple sensibilities are wounded, I want retribution. But, when God is the one offended, somehow God should not seek recompense. Why? God is gracious, some will say. God is good, others will argue. God is love, comes the reply. But, God’s goodness, grace and love are expressions of another more basic reality of God’s being–God is holy.

Worship is the only proper response to Jesus being our propitiation.

Jesus stands between me and a holy God and he received and endured the full thrust of God’s wrath. When this truth penetrates your mind and touches your soul…you will be changed. You can not continue living and working and attending church as if what Jesus did was just something to be thankful for. No, worship is the only proper response to Jesus being our propitiation.

Only when we appreciate what God should have done too us because of our sin will we rejoice in God’s mercy toward us. When we can understand how bad our sin really is we will begin to see that mercy is also a form of grace. Only a loving and gracious God could withhold his well deserved day in court and extend mercy.

Faith is rejoicing in the Mercy of God. Have you stopped to give God thanks today? Do not miss another chance to do it.

“Faith Is…” Series, Pt. 2 | Faith Is… Living in the Grace of God

¹¹ … for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11b-13, ESV)

As I thought about this statement — “Faith Is… Living in the Grace of God” — I could have said “by” or “with”, but I have found that my greatest challenge to being a Christian and living out the convictions and beliefs that I now hold is living IN the grace of God. The idea that I have in mind is that the grace of God is now the atmosphere that we exist in. God’s grace is not something we have, it’s something we are in. We are IN God’s grace. That is why there ought to be comfort and assurance in our relationship with God. Paul says it this way in Colossians:

³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3, ESV)

I have read this passage many times and I still can hardly believe that it says what it says. I know that there are some who have asserted that a person’s salvation can be “lost”. I understand the theological and volitional reasons for this way of thinking, but there is a small (and by “small” I really mean insurmountably huge) problem. This verse says that when we have received salvation, the life that we had died and our new life is not really given to us for safe-keeping. No, our salvation is such a precious gift, that God has kept it in as safe a place as he can imagine, in himself. And if that wasn’t enough he has left our salvation in the capable hands of the one who purchased it.

Peter, who among all the disciples understood that if it were up to him he would have been lost and completely cut off from Jesus, shared this understanding of what salvation looks like.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5, ESV)

This is why faith is living IN the grace of God. When we are exercising the kind of faith that the Bible is talking about, we are saying to the world that our trust and confidence is not in us, but in God. We are not interested in what is happening around us. We are not trying to do anything other than living in what God has purchased, and is now keeping for us.

That God does not trust me with my own salvation is not an insult to to me. It is a reason for hope, confidence, and rejoicing. We have to stop trying to earn what is already ours. Learn to live in the Grace of God. We are talking about a COMPLETED work of salvation. Just because we have not reached the end of the road, does not mean that God has changed his mind about what he has promised and done in our lives.

“Faith Is…” Series, Pt. 1 | Faith Is… Seeing the Works of God

¹ As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:1-5)

Too often I find myself wanting to have an explanation for something so that MY life will continue to make sense. I don’t like it when my view of the world doesn’t work out just how I wanted. This may be the problem. God doesn’t owe me an explanation for anything. God tells Job just as much when Job worked up the nerve to tell God what he thought about what had happened to him (Job 38-41).

So many times we can look at the events of our lives and believe that there is a randomness to a vast majority of what happens in our lives. This would be an unfortunate tragedy. While we may not understand why something happened, we are not left to fend for ourselves regarding what God is going to do with what happens.

The events of John 9 are interesting, provocative and even confounding. A man is born blind. We take that for granted in our day, but during Jesus’ time, this was understood as an unmistakable sign that someone had sinned. The commonly held belief was that only someone guilty of some transgression would have the misfortune of being born without sight. What is striking is the assumption that the man was capable of being guilty of sin before he was born! This is seen in the question that the Pharisees ask in verse 2. So, what does Jesus do?

Does he agree with the assumption that sin was the reason for this man’s deformity? No.

Does Jesus change the conversation toward the good that will come from this man’s handicap? No.

Does Jesus attempt to console the man, telling him that things will be better in the New Jerusalem? No.

Jesus takes a completely different approach. Jesus says that the reason the man was born blind was so God’s works would be seen in the man! The blindness was a part of God’s purpose for this man so that others might see God’s work in the world, through the Son, for the world. We have to be careful to not take statements like this and make it “easier” for us to believe that bad things happen because God is somehow missing in action. I am not attributing evil to God. There are just times when I find myself wondering if having a God who knows and controls everything is better than having a God who can’t? You see, if evil is a part of God’s purpose then EVERYTHING becomes a part of God’s purposes because he has taken its presence and effects into account.

The way that Jesus answers the question about the reason for the man’s blindness reveals that sin, while important, is not a blip on God’s radar for why he does what he does. God is more interested in his works being seen than in our sin! Why is that? It is so because God knows that if His works are seen, His glory will be known, and his name will grow in fame among the whole world.

Faith is seeing the works of God and putting your trust and confidence in God–not losing faith in God–because of everything that happens. Faith requires a new “seeing”. We must look for the works of God which are all around us.

If anybody saw the works of God that day, it was the man who had never seen anything at all! And his testimony was one of faith, boldness and assurance.

“Faith Is…”: Investigating What It Means To Believe

Over the next several weeks we will look at what faith is. But before we can get there we have to make sure that we understand what faith is not. There are three specific and important truths we have to understand about faith. We will talk about them in this introduction.

Faith is NOT blind Trust

One of the most common definitions of faith is that it is trusting or believing something that you cannot know for sure. It is often described as a blind leap, or just a leap of faith. But, there is one fundamental problem with this approach. It is not based on anything found in scripture. Faith, the faith that the bible describes, is grounded in something very real and more certain than our very lives. Biblical faith is undeniably tied to the character and nature of God.

The writer of Hebrews makes this statement when describing what God did to give Abraham confidence in what He was going to do.

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself… (Hebrews 6:13, ESV)

When oaths were made during Abraham’s time the object you swore by was an object that was greater than you. So, If I wanted prove my commitment I would say something like, “I swear by Mt. Everest that I will fulfill my part of the deal.” But, what does God swear by? Well, there is nothing greater than Him so he swore by Himself. His character would serve as the basis for Abraham’s confidence. Abraham’s faith in God was not a blind trust in something unknown. Abraham’s trust and our trust is based on someone who is sure and that we can have confidence in.

Faith is NOT an occasional practice

My faith, your faith, is not something I DO. My faith is someone I AM. The difference between these two positions cannot be exaggerated or over-stated. Until we make this switch in the way that we think about what it means to have faith we will fail to understand why our faith “doesn’t work.”

Paul made this incredible claim about what it means to live a totally committed life for God in Christ. He says it in his letter to the Galatian church.

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

Who’s life was Paul living? When was he living that life? Only on Sundays? I don’t think so. Life is lived EVERY day. The life I now live… is not an occasional life. If my faith is going to be what the bible describes I have to see that my life has been replaced with His. And, Jesus is not interested in only living through us once a week.

Faith is NOT produced from within

What I mean by this is that faith is not something that exists independent of an object of faith. I can’t just walk around having faith. Faith is always aimed at something outside of me. When we talk about faith we are talking about having faith “in” something.

⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9, ESV)

Peter helps us to understand that faith, if it’s going to be properly called faith, must have an object. What is the “outcome of your faith”? It is salvation. But, the question that we have to answer is what is that faith holding onto? Peter tells us in verse 8. The faith that results in our salvation comes because we trust the one we “have not seen” and yet love. Jesus is the object of our faith.

Everything that Jesus did, said and continues to do through His disciples become the reason that we are compelled to consider Jesus. We are acted upon by God’s grace, God’s people and God’s word. And, as these and other expressions of God’s goodness in my life are seen and felt I am drawn to God.

If we are going to know what faith is we have to know what it is not. As we journey together over the next several weeks remember that faith is more than you ever imagined, not less.