Faith (Monday)—Hebrews 11:1-6

Faith —Hebrews 11:1-6

 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

The Amplified Bible says that God is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. When I first launched into the Christian life, whole-hearted discipleship was the norm. In light of who God is and what Christ had done to rescue me, seeking Him earnestly and diligently made perfect sense and seemed like a manageable cross to carry. Regardless of the actual meaning, in my youth and zeal, I interpreted it like this:

 God is pleased with those who earnestly and diligently seek Him. And, without this kind of faith, pleasing Him is impossible. (Rob’s Erroneous Version)

There was a serious and costly flaw in my interpretation. In the REV, God’s approval rests on the qualitative nature of my seeking. In other words, it is not “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (as the author has said); it is—without earnest and diligent effort, it is impossible to please Him. This is a serious error because it leaves out the full council of scripture, and it is costly because of what is lost in my translation. Allow me to explain and repent.

It is a serious thing to inject effort as a qualifying attribute of faith. It does violence to the very essence of faith. The busy beavers will now rush to James so they can remind me, “But brother you know that faith without works is dead.” “Yes”, I respond, “That is absolutely true, but it is also true that faith based on works is even deader” (intentional bad grammar).

Think about this. How could God’s approval of us be based on even a tiny bit of our earnestness and diligence when we know that it was while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us? When Paul caught the Galatians trafficking in performance-based religion, he called them foolish. In the Amplified Bible, Paul is even more expansive:

O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! (3:1)

Paul lays into the Galatians with a barrage of redundant questions to emphasize his point. Here are the main two:

 Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

 Does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Here is Paul’s point: “Christ (not our earnest and diligent efforts) redeemed us from the curse of the Law (performance-based religion), having become a curse for us…in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

There is also a great cost in thinking as I did—that God is pleased with those who earnestly and diligently seek Him and that without this kind of faith, pleasing Him is impossibleThat cost is rest, the truest indicator that one is living by faith. Rest and performance based works are like oil and water: utterly incompatible. Rest is the qualitative fruit of authentic faith, not the basis of it. Rest takes the whole council of scripture into account and says, “If I think of my works as qualifiers, my earnestness and diligence are as filthy rags to God; rest is trusting there is nothing I can do that will alter God’s acceptance of me as long as I am trusting that His life has become my own; rest is ceasing to work for approval because in Christ I am approved; rest acknowledges that in-Christ it is truly finished! My heart concurs with Paul when he says:

 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:24-25)

Repentance

As my youth and my zeal waned with age, so did my earnestness and diligence. Witnessing, scripture memory, serious bible study all dropped off. In fact, I ended up after years of what I thought of as authentic zeal, exhausted and feeling abandoned by God. I thought (with no small amount of bitterness), “So…this is my reward for diligently seeking you: strained relationships, failing health, financial problems, ministry and vocational disasters?”

So, how was the law (or performance based religion) my tutor? It allowed my earnestness and diligence to run their course. It allowed me to wear myself out. Exhaustion reduced me to a core awareness of my inner poverty—a place where I knew (with deepest conviction) that I could not go one step further in my own strength. There, in the epiphany of my spiritual bankruptcy, He once again found a more teachable me. Where, as a young prodigal, I was found wallowing in a debauchery-based deception, this time He found me wallowing in a religious-based deception.

Whether it is the delusion that joy can be obtained through sensual pleasure or whether it is the other delusion that our efforts can win God’s favor, it’s still darkness. In both cases, we and our fallen reasoning are at the center of our woes. What an absolute joy it has been on both occasions to find that God (while I was yet a lost son of one sort or another) had loved me all along and drawn me to Himself. How powerful it has been to accept by faith, that in His perfect life, He met all the standards of righteousness in my behalf. How healing and empowering it has been to rest in the fact that He became sin – my sin! What a stunning revelation that by enduring the shame and brutality of the cross, He has received the reward of His suffering—you and I, justified by faithqualified by His work to stand blamelessly with boldness and joy before Him now and forevermore.

Father, please break down the strongholds of deception in our hearts that reason falsely, maintaining that we can win your love and approval through our own efforts. Please let our performances exhaust us so that we can transfer all our dependence to You alone. May we enter into the rest You have purchased for us so that we can live out of the abundance of Your life before a world we have helped mislead in our own legalistic deception. Help us to grasp that being whole-hearted has first to do with Your heart, not our own. Amen.

 

Faith (Thursday) – 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

I remember not that long ago when I thought Paul was just speaking figuratively when he said that “indeed in this house we groan“. I just assumed he was describing our spirit’s longing for God. Now, living in a house that is becoming dated, I understand that Paul also probably meant that we literally groan. I now find involuntary sighs and moans coming out of me when I have to move. So now I am saying with Paul, I too am groaning in this house.

I spent the day recently with a man who had been housed in an exceptional body for a half century. It had been graced with good proportions, strength, looks and agility yet it had been stricken with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. What had been an impressive residence was rapidly becoming a shambles. Medical science informs him that in spite of the best applied maintenance, his house was going to crash in on him in the near future.

The unique thing about this man was his eyes. They were bright, joyful eyes betraying a gentleness of spirit that is rare in men. As its peaceful occupant, I believe he was looking out of the windows of the ruined home with the gleam of anticipation.

I thought this man was invited to the retreat I was hosting for encouragement in his illness. I didn’t know he was going to become my mentor who would display as only he could what Paul was trying to get across in this passage. I think my new friend and brother knew (along with Paul)….

that when the earthly tent which had been his house is torn down, he would have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Indeed in his house he groaned, longing to be clothed with his dwelling from heaven. He was anticipating with increasing clarity that his mortality will be swallowed up by life. He knew that God was preparing him for this very purpose and had given him the Holy Spirit as a pledge.

Consequently this man was 

ogood courage, knowing that while he is at home in this body he is absent from the Lord. He was walking by faith, not by sight. It was his ambition, whether he was in this house or had moved out, to be pleasing to the Father. He knew he must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that he may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

This man was doing good – fulfilling his call as never before, as the light of the world. Christ was shining brightly from him in what some might say was his darkest hour. Those eyes betrayed a hope (even a hunger) for things unseen yet eternal. No one needed to teach this man to number his days that he might present to God a heart of wisdom. His body was all the reminder he needed. This saint is walking by faith.

Father, I pray in behalf of this man that you would guard everything that has been decreed and bestowed from heaven for him. May your mercies flood his life. May joy in increasing measure be the strength of his life. Thank you that he is not waisting his sorrows and is radiating an infectious hope to those nearest him.  May these next chapters of his life be those of a man who has reached his stride and is pressing on toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ. All to your glory Lord. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Faith (Wednesday) – Hebrews 11:29-40

Hebrews 11:29-40

We seem to have progressed in our spiritual lives where the scriptures are very much of secondary or tertiary importance. The list of primary sources of our inspiration are varied but they include, personal prophetic words, corporate prophecies, books by prophetically oriented authors, music,  more books, DVD’s, conferences and especially Pastor’s Sunday preaching. (Note: I am including myself here.)

There is nothing wrong with any of these except that, in themselves, they are not immediately personal. They are someone else’s light. They are someone else’s meal that they have chewed on and then regurgitated for our benefit. How are we to have a personal relationship with God if all we do is listen to others and quote what they have to say? What is our Lord saying to us? We are not told to give an account of the hope that is in them. We are told to give an account of the hope that is in us. I recommend you ask Pastor about this.

It was Hebrews 11 that prompted that mini-tirade. When I hear the Body of Christ at-large talk about faith, I get the distinct impression that the views of some of our inspirational substitutes have elbowed out what the scriptures have to say about it. On Monday we read Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” The problem reveals itself in what we expect as our reward. Come, let us think together.

Should we calibrate our expectations to be sword-wielders – those who, by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts ofrighteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight?  

Or, should we adjust our visions to include the possibility that we might be sword-victims – those who may be

tortured, experience mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment, those who may be stoned, sawn in two, tempted, put to death with the sword who went about poorly clothed, destitute, afflicted and ill-treated? 

Do I need to tell you which of these two is the more prominent vision being cast by our many and varied sources of inspiration? But… let’s keep it personal. What do you think? Are we to wield the sword or become its victims? 

The truth is that faith has never beed an either/or situation.  Either or both of these radically different experiences may be encountered as we walk by faith. In fact the scriptures tell us that all these,(implying “both” groups) have gained approval through their faith, and …they did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better…..”

It seems that we should come to agreement about what is the better part that something better that is foundational to both of these valid yet varied experiences with God. We need to come to agreement about what that better part actually is if without faith (which includes that  something without which) it is impossible to please Him. It would seem very wise to come to God as He actually is (rather than how we have reshaped Him to our fancy). It seems wise that we should believe that He is (as He has revealed Himself to us in scripture) and that He rewards those who seek Him (not with one or the other guaranteed outcomes but rather with that better part).

None of the people listed in Hebrews 11 calibrated their expectations as we western Christians have. What then was the better part they were looking forward to?  We can work toward that answer but we have to keep in mind that the lens they were looking through did not allow for a clear and closeup view, rather….

They saw it (i.e.; the better part) way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. They were homesick…… They could have gone back (to reclaim some earthly predictability and security) any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that— a heaven country. (MSG)

Our heroes of faith do have a common denominator that transcends their earthly experience. It is a better plan because all our gains are stored in a place where moth and rust will not destroy – a place where no thief can access. All of Hebrews mighty men of faith died having never seen their reward. We are more fortunate. We know from Paul (and hopefully our own experience) that the reward is Christ HImself.  Even though Moses couldn’t quite make Him out he had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. Even though he couldn’t imagine what he would go through, as a result of walking by faith, Noah became intimate with God. What each of the heroes sought was restored union with God through Christ. Astonishing; Jesus Himself is our reward. Jesus is God’s better plan for us.

A person as a plan? A person as a reward? Yes! The first part of Hebrews 12 elaborates…

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. …… For consider Jesus who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (MSG)

Father, strip our visions of Christianity bare of notions that perpetuate our vicarious Christian experience. Wean us from our dependencies on food gleaned by others. Kick us out of our comfortable nests of dependency and teach us to find our own wings to fly with. May we truly mount up with the wings of eagles so that it may be said of us as well, “These are those of which the world is not worthy and when they have died they will still go on speaking. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faith (Monday) – Hebrews 11:1-6

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

The Amplified Bible says that God is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. When I first launched out into the Christian life it was into a context where nothing but whole-hearted discipleship was the norm. In light of who God is and what Christ had done to rescue me, seeking Him earnestly and diligently made perfect sense and seemed a manageable cross to carry.  Just how I managed I can only speculate but in spite of how this verse actually reads, I, in my youth and zeal, interpreted it like this;

God is pleased with those who earnestly and diligently seek Him. And, without this kind of faith, pleasing Him is impossible. (REV – Rob’s Erroneous Version)

There was a serious and costly flaw in my interpretation. In the REV, God’s approval rests on the qualitative nature of my seeking. In other words it is not; without faith it is impossible to please Him (as the author has said) it is; without earnest and diligent effort that it is impossible to please Him.  This is a serious error because it leaves out the full-council of scripture and it is costly because of what is lost in my translation. Allow me to explain and repent.

It is a serious thing to inject effort as a qualifying attribute to faith. It does violence to the very essence of the concept of faith. I know some busy beavers who will rush to James now so they can remind me, “But brother you know that faith without works is dead.” “Yes”, I respond, “That is absolutely true but it is also true that faith based on works is even deader.” (intentional bad grammar)

Think about this. How could God’s approval of us be based on even a tiny bit of our earnestness and diligence when we know that while we were yet sinners Jesus died for us? When Paul caught the Galatians trafficking in this kind of compliance / performance- based religion, he called them foolish. Actually (if you read the Amplified Bible) Paul is a bit more descriptive….

           O you poor and unreflecting and thoughtless and silly and senseless Galatians!  

A useful acronym to recall this serious state of the heart is (PUTSS). Sorry. I am being silly now but this was serious business to Paul. He lays into the Galatian PUTSS with a barrage of redundant questions to emphasize his point. Here are the main two;

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Here is Paul’s point; Christ (not our earnest and diligent efforts) redeemed us from the curse of the Law (compliance / performance-based religion), having become a curse for us…..in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith

There is also a great cost in thinking as I did – that God is pleased with those who earnestly and diligently seek Him and that without this kind of faith, pleasing Him is impossible. That cost is rest, the truest indicator, far above works, (sorry James) that one is living by faith. Rest and works are like oil and water; they are utterly incompatible. Rest is the qualitative fruit of authentic faith not the basis of it. Rest takes the whole council of scripture into account and says, “If I think of my works as qualifiers, my earnestness and diligence are as filthy rags to God. Rest is trusting that there is nothing I can do that will alter God’s acceptance of me as long as I am trusting that His life has become my own. Rest is ceasing to work for approval because in Christ I am approved. Rest acknowledges that in-Christ IT IS (truly) FINISHED!

I can only concur with Paul when he says….

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatans 3:24-25)

Repentance

As my youth and my zeal waned with age, I so did my earnestness and diligence. Witnessing, scripture memory, serious bible study all dropped off. In fact, I ended up after years of what I thought of as authentic zeal, feeling somewhat abandoned by God. I thought (with no small amount of bitterness), “So…THIS is my reward for diligently seeking you; strained relationships, failing health, financial problems, ministry and vocational disasters?!

So, how was the law (or performance / compliance – based religion) my tutor? It allowed my earnestness and diligence to run their course. It allowed me to wear myself out. Exhaustion reduced me to a core awareness of my inner poverty – a place where I knew (with deepest conviction) that I cannot go one step further in my own strength. There in the epiphany of my spiritual bankruptcy He once again found a more teachable me. Where, as a young prodigal, I was found wallowing in a debauchery-based deception; this time He found me wallowing in a religious-based deception.

Whether it is the delusion that joy can be obtained through sensual pleasure or whether it is the other delusion that our efforts can win God’s favor, it’s still darkness; where we and our fallen reasoning are at the center of our woes. What an absolute joy it has been on both occasions to find that God (while I was yet a lost son of one sort or another) had been loving me all along and drawing me to Himself. How powerful it has been to accept by faith, resting in the fact, that He became sin (my sin) and that in His perfect life He met all the standards of righteous compliance. What a stunning revelation that by enduring the shame and brutality of the Cross He has received the reward of His suffering – Rob (and hopefully you) who are now justified by faith – qualified by His work (not our own) to stand blamelessly with boldness and joy before Him now and forevermore.

Father, please break down the strongholds of deception in our hearts that reason falsely, maintaining that we can win your love and approval through our own efforts. Please let our performances exhaust us so that we can transfer all our dependencies to You alone. May we enter into the rest You have purchased for us so that we can live out of the abundance of Your life before a world we have helped mislead in our own deception. Help us to grasp that being whole-hearted has first to do with Your heart, not our own. Amen.