Believing

I heard an interesting statement on the radio awhile back. A radio announcer said that strong faith in a weak bridge may get you wet, but weak faith in a strong bridge may get you across the river. I’ve heard people say that it doesn’t matter what you believe, what matters is that you believe. I have to disagree. If I believe that I can run my car on water, with no modifications to the engine (and believe me, with the price of gas being what it is, I would like very much to believe that), there is a good chance that I will ruin my vehicle, and a 0% chance that I will get it to run like that, no matter how much I believe it. I think too that some people are confused about what it means to believe. Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In Romans 10:16, though, it says “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” putting obedience and belief on equal footing. The idea here is that, if you believe the Bible, truly believe, then you will obey the gospel. If you don’t believe, then you won’t. You can say that you believe all you want, but as James said, “…shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” In the same chapter, James said that faith without works is dead. Do you think that dead faith will get you anywhere?Many people point out that in Ephesians, we are told that we are saved by grace through faith, not of works lest any man should boast. That is absolutely true, because not one of us could ever do enough good things to earn our way into Heaven. I promise you, though, you will never get into Heaven without doing any good things. Of course, in the very next verse, we are told that we were created unto good works. Do you think God put us here to just do our own thing until He’s ready to call us home and give us a mansion? I have pointed out before, also that we can do nothing of ourselves. Any good that we do, we do only as God moves through us. We may not even be aware of His moving at the time, but if you ever try to do something good without God, you will find yourself in one big mess. It just doesn’t work. We just can’t, no matter how much we would like to, or we think that we should be able to. That’s why Jesus said that we have to abide in the vine. Even the strongest Oak tree cannot bear a single grape of its own strength. I also want to make it clear that there is more to belief than acknowledgement. A lot of people believe that Jesus existed who do not even claim to be Christians. There are also some people who claim to be Christians who don’t seem to have gotten any of their beliefs from the Bible. James said that the devils believe, and tremble. Why do the devils tremble? Because they know that they haven’t obeyed. Some people are willing to acknowledge Christ and don’t even have sense enough to tremble. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Jesus said, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Do you think that you can fool Him into believing that you have accepted Him as Lord of your life, if you can’t do what He asks of us? I realize that some people don’t understand that the term Lord refers to one who has the rule over you. If you confess Jesus as Lord of your life, what you are saying is that he has the right to tell you what to do, and you are willing to do it. So many people claim Jesus as Lord of their life and have no intention of doing anything He asks. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

What Do You Believe?

I have a dimple on my chin, and that sometimes makes it difficult to shave. Most of my face is not a problem, but it's hard to get to the little hairs in my dimple. Some days, I manage to angle the blade just right and trim those bad boys right off, other days, I just can't seem to get them. Several years ago, I had one of those days, and it must have been a particularly bad day (or maybe one of several such days in a row) because I had a number of people comment on it. Towards the end of the day, a friend of mine told me that I had 'dirt' in my dimple. Taking a quick moment to decide whether it was actually worth explaining to him that they were whiskers, and deciding that it was not, I thanked him for pointing it out and started to walk away. He stopped me, and insisted that he was serious. Okay, no problem, thanks, and I started to walk away again. We cycled through this several times, and each time he got louder, and more upset. Meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself, "I'm not arguing with you, why are you arguing with me?" Finally someone else pulled him aside and explained it to him. If I had realized this conversation was going to take so long, I would have explained it to him in the first place.
After awhile, I came to the conclusion that he was arguing with me because the bathroom was in the opposite direction from the direction I kept trying to go each time I thought our conversation was over. Obviously, if I had believed him, I would have gone to the bathroom and washed my face. Of course, I realized that, although he was being honest with me, he really didn't understand the situation. He, meanwhile, is judging my belief by my actions rather than my words. Clearly I didn't believe him, and he didn't understand why not.
I said all of that to say this: Jesus said, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" In today's society, I think that it's because a lot of people don't understand what the word 'lord' means. A lord is someone that is placed over you, one that you must obey. A lot of people call Jesus, Lord, who really just want Him to be their savior. News flash: He won't be your savior, unless you let Him be your Lord, also. If you believe that Jesus is your Lord, you will at least make a good effort to do what He says (you won't always succeed, that is a given, but you have to at least try).
I realize, of course, that this goes back to the question of whether one is saved by faith or by works. It is by faith, there should be no question about that. At the same time though, if your mouth says that you believe, but your actions don't match what you say, what is it that you really believe?

Faith Without Works

'Christianity Today' magazine has an interesting article in it about a 'new perspective' on the writings of Apostle Paul. A lot of this revolves around references in Galatians chapter 2 (and elsewhere) to 'the works of the law.' The 'new perspective' is that, perhaps Paul was only referring to the core aspects of Judaism: Sabbath, circumcision, and food laws; and that he didn't mean that we, as Christians, were absolved of responsibility in doing good works. This has long been a tight-rope act of Christian thinkers. If salvation is a free gift, then can we simply do nothing except mouth the words, 'Jesus is Lord!' and be saved? On the other hand, if works are required, then why does Paul say that 'by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified?' I think you have to look at some of the other things that Paul wrote (and even some other things in the Bible).

For starters, let's look down to verse 21 (still in Galatians chapter 2): "I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." The point here is that Mosaic law tends to be a list of do's and don't's: Do this, don't do that, if you do, then sacrifice two turtledoves... In the next chapter (Galatians 3), in verses 24 and 25, Paul also tells us that the law was a 'schoolmaster' to bring us to Christ--to prepare us for the Messiah--but we are no longer under that schoolmaster. Jesus said that He was here to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). Further on in Galatians (chapter 5), Paul chides the Galatians for trying to live under Mosaic law, and yet live a Christian life. It isn't a matter of measuring oneself against an ancient checklist, it's a matter of walking in the spirit.

But isn't it faith that saves us? Absolutely. But, at the same time, James challenges us to demonstrate faith without works, and even goes on to say that faith without works is dead. Still later in the chapter, he compares faith without works to a body without a spirit. Do you think James meant what he said? Does this disagree with what Paul wrote? Take a look at Hebrews chapter 11. Notice that all through the chapter, faith is linked to works. I want to particularly point out that in verse 17 it makes reference to what many consider to be the ultimate test of faith--Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac. As Christians, we can see that this foreshadowed Christ's crucifixion, but my point is that, for Abraham, it was a test of faith. Did God doubt Abraham's faith? Of course not, God formed Abraham--God knew Abraham's heart better than Abraham himself did. The test was for Abraham; God wanted Abraham to know how much faith he had.

Likewise God tests our faith on a regular basis; not so that He can see how much faith we have, but so that we can see how much faith we, as individuals, have. Many of us fail these tests, and then excuse ourselves by saying, 'Not of works, lest any man should boast,' missing the next verse, which tells us that we are created unto good works. We have become completely oblivious to the fact that while we trust that our faith will save us, we continually fail test after test of our faith. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus told His disciples--the men who would later become known as the Apostles--that they had too much unbelief, and that if they had faith as a grain of mustard seed, they could move mountains. Now, a mustard seed is pretty small, and a mountain is pretty big, and, obviously, if you're trying to move a mountain that God doesn't want moved, you're not going to accomplish much. But my question (and this question is as much to myself as it is to anyone else) is this: What have you done lately, that proves that you believe--even if it only proves it to yourself?