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Christian Chronicles, May 2001 - Volume 4, Issue 67

| The Editor's Pen | Perspectives: Reason vs. Faith | Mid-East Update |
| Fruit of the Vine | Two Kinds of Faith | Knowing the Will of God | The Good Shepherd |
| Faith in the OT and in the NT |

The Editor's Pen

So many Christians ask how they can tell what God’s will is in certain areas of their lives. For a young Christian, it is not always as easy as it is for older, more spiritually mature Christians. While young Christians are often more energetic in their studies and their own personal ministries than the older Christians, they do not have the experience in relating to God that older Christians ought to have. At the same time, many Christians who have long been saved also do not understand what God’s will is. That is, they profess not to know.

This issue of Christian Chronicles will address the walk and responsibility of the Christian insofar as the will of God may be determined. The issue is not difficult or obscure, but simple and straightforward. It is our prayer that we all come away from this study with a better grasp of how to determine what the will of God is for us.

Mid-East Update

Both the bitter rhetoric and the level of violence have escalated in the Middle East of late, as predicted. Religious feelings are being tapped in Syria, where young Assad has said that Israel’s mentality is the same as it was when they crucified Christ and when they attempted to assassinate Mohammed. There is probably some validity to that, insofar as Israel (according to her own prophets) will certainly be in rebellion until they see Him coming whom they have pierced. At the same time, however, that is no reason for the Arab states to presume that Israel should give up land that was given to them in perpetuity by God Himself. There is no real relationship between Israel’s spiritual state and the promises of God. His promises were unconditional and clear: “...In Isaac shall thy seed be called…”(Gen 21:12). And, “...Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated…” (Rom 9:13). There really can be no question as to whom the land belongs.

At the same time that the bitterness is beginning to spew more heavily in the public domain, Israel is sending troops and tanks into Palestinian-held territories. A four month old baby was killed recently as a result of one incursion. Ariel Sharon apologized for her death, but the international outrage has been very vocal. Rarely is mention made of the many and varied Palestinian incursions and acts of terrorism in areas controlled by the Israelis. There seems to be a double standard in the world. In some ways it is similar to the way in which, at least in the Western press, it is only Christianity that is ever criticized or questioned. The world criticizes Israel for defending herself, even as her neighbors become increasingly threatening. Real warfare is now being waged, albeit on a limited scale, and a genuine bloodbath may not be far in the future. It would be politically orchestrated in order to garner public support for a peace agreement.

Fruit of the Vine

Jesus was about to heal two blind men who had followed Him into a house. Before He gave then sight, He asked them if they believed He was able to do so. When they said that they did indeed believe that He had the power to make them able to see, He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith be it unto you” (Mt 9:28-29). It is one of those statements in the Bible that we tend to read right over without giving it much thought. Yet, it was a moment of the greatest importance to every child of God, for it gave us the key to fruitfulness in virtually everything that we do.

We pray for someone to be saved, and we hope that, because we have prayed for it, that it will happen. But in our hearts we do not believe that God will answer our prayer, and so He doesn’t. The key to prayer is to pray believing. James tells us that if we waver, we cannot expect our prayers to be answered. Nevertheless, if when we pray for God to make us fruitful, we can know assuredly that He will do so. Every Christian wants to be a fruitful witness, but not every Christian believes that God can make it so. This, because those Christians are placing their (lack of) faith in their own abilities and not in God.

Perspectives: Reason vs. Faith

Trust in the Lord 
with all thine heart;
And lean not unto
Thine own understanding.
In all thy ways
Acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct
Thy paths. 

(Pro 3:5-6)

Trusting in the Lord is the easiest thing in the world to understand, yet the hardest thing in the world to do. Everywhere we turn in the world, reason rules. Where it does rule, success follows, and where it does not rule, failure is the result. Everything about our lives shouts at us that we must be reasonable. Go along to get along. Do what is sensible. Use common sense. Have we not all been raised on those maxims? And sure enough, worldly success always depends upon adherence to those ideals.

For the Christian, however, there is a problem with that paradigm. Faith rarely follows reason. In fact, stepping out on faith, by the very nature of faith, demands doing what is diametrically opposed to reason. After all, if a thing makes sense, how much faith is necessary? Yet, the central theme of the Bible is that the just shall live by faith. It is easy enough to believe a thing if you can hold it in your hand and turn it over and around and examine it thoroughly. If you can hold it in your hand, you don’t need faith. But faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb 11:1).

We examine our lives closely, examining our options and trying to come to an understanding of what the most profitable course of action might be in a given situation. And then we take that course of action, and the results are vastly different from what we imagined they might be. God does expect us to use our minds in our decision-making processes. More, however, He expects us to relate to Him in every decision. Too often, we examine our options from a very temporal perspective, not even considering the eternal aspect of anything. We worry that a work-related decision might cost us that next promotion, or that it might thrust us far into the limelight, where we may shine.

In the end, we cannot see tomorrow, and our judgments can never be trusted. However, our God has promised that if we but acknowledge His hand in the affairs of our lives, He will direct our steps.

What an important and powerful statement that is. If a Christian merely acknowledges that God’s hand is upon him, God will certainly direct his steps, not in such a way as to make him seem secure according to reason, but in such a way as to make him absolutely secure, despite what reason tells him. Our God is trustworthy, and we need not ever lean on our understanding in matters that seem ambiguous.

Two Kinds of Faith

There are two kinds of faith, saving faith and living faith. Actually, there is only one “kind” of faith, but it operates in two distinct ways. One is imparted, the other is received. Saving faith is given to us. It is implanted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, so that we are not “responsible” to believe, but that it is “given to us” to believe the gospel. If we were not numbered among the elect, even if we heard the gospel a thousand times, we still would not believe. We do not choose to be saved, but God saves us. Saving faith is that certainty in the heart that the work that Jesus did on the cross is sufficient to atone for each and every sin that we have committed or will yet commit. It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Our faith forms the substance of our salvation, though it is not “our” faith, but trust in the Word of God that God Himself implants in our hearts. We have nothing whatever to do with our salvation, but we have very much indeed to do with our walk as Christians.

Whenever we speak of the Christian walk and responsibility, the thing that jumps most quickly into the minds and hearts of Christians is some moral issue. Whatever sin is prevalent in their lives comes into their minds and they feel guilty. But the Christian walk and responsibility really has little to do with sin. We are told in four places in the Bible that the just shall live by faith. The issue is not how good we are, but how faithful we are. Jesus settled the sin question once and for all at Calvary, but as we walk in faith, our lives become blessed. Many Christians think that blessing has to do with material acquisitions or emotional gratification. It has nothing at all to do with anything either material or emotional. Blessing has to do with our state of mind. It is not dependent upon the objective circumstances of our lives, but upon the way we view those circumstances. When we trust God, we are content and satisfied. When we do not trust God, we view our circumstances and find them wanting in some way or in some area.

Saving faith is given to us. In a sense, it may even be said that our salvation is not of our volition, but of God’s election (Let us walk carefully here!). Living faith, on the other hand, is available to us one hundred percent of the time, though we do not always avail ourselves of it.

In every circumstance of our lives, God makes available to us that faith which is necessary to consider a crisis a blessing, and to accept blessings with a certain equanimity of emotion. That is, as we walk by faith, that living faith, we are neither terribly upset by crises nor overly elated by windfalls.

It is that living faith which is most in view in this issue of Christian Chronicles. We presume that most of our subscribers already know the grace of God, and mention salvation in this issue only in order to clarify in your own ministries the distinction between saving faith and that faith that should characterize our daily lives.

It is frequently difficult to grasp that faith when we most need it. Take the average lottery winner. He might thank God very soon after he wins, but then, when he begins to plan his spending, even if he also gives some to God’s work on earth, he sinks down into a pit of gluttony and lust when he begins to plan his use of the rest of it.

Or the converse is also true. When sudden and calamitous tragedy strikes, we might turn to God tearfully, but we soon settle into managing our affairs ourselves, without much reference to God except where we can gain no foothold on control. In our most panicky moments, we turn to Him, but while we are just gliding along, we tend to forget God.

When the Bible says that the just shall live by faith, it takes into account that saving faith that is imparted to us, but it also means so much more than merely that. It implies a life whose eyes and heart are constantly on God, trusting Him to guide our footsteps from beginning to end, leading us to fruitfulness and blessing now, and reward hereafter. We are saved by faith that is imparted, and are privileged to avail ourselves of living faith every day of our lives.

Knowing the Will of God

Some Christians complain that the Old Testament prophets had it much easier than we do today. God gave them visible signs so that they could know what His will was. He often spoke to them in a voice that could be heard. Many times, He appeared to them in the form of the Angel of the Lord. Their faith did not need to be as strong as the Christian’s faith, because theirs was based upon sight, things they had seen God do. He gave them victories in the face of terrible odds. He gave them bread from heaven (not the true Bread from heaven); he parted the Red Sea, and gave them water to drink from the rock in their desert wanderings in the Sinai Peninsula (a flow of water sufficient to quench the thirst of something in the neighborhood of two million people, and all their livestock, and to accommodate their need for various cleansings). He foretold many things that would both bless and befall His chosen people. They had it all in writing. Black and white. Their faith was based upon things they had seen and heard and touched. At first glance, it would seem that the Old Testament saints did have it better. Let us, however, take a bit of a closer look.

The Old Testament saints had the law and the prophets. We have the indwelling Spirit of God. Their understanding was limited to whatever they were able to extrapolate from the writings of the prophets and patriarchs. We have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). They had tablets of stone, whereas righteousness is written in our hearts (2 Cor 3:2-28; Eph 6:6; cp. Heb 3:10). Paul said to the church at Rome that the law of Moses is a portrayal of the very righteousness of God Himself (Rom 3:21-22), and that His righteousness is imputed to our accounts by faith. The Old Testament saints did indeed have a more visible walk with God, but certainly it cannot be said that their walk with God was closer than ours, for we are in Christ and He is in us (Jn 6:56).

Far more often than we ought, ministers of the gospel hear these words tumbling from the troubled lips of Christians: “Oh, if I could only know what God’s will is in this…” The answer is simple to say, but much more difficult to apprehend. The answer is, “God’s will is your faith.” That is, God does not always expect us to understand where He is leading us. He seldom gives us any clear direction before the time that it is actually needed. God would have us be patient, trusting Him to lead us, to direct our paths. We want to make our decisions weeks, months, and sometimes even years before it is time for a decision to be made. There is nothing wrong with a bit of planning and execution, but there is more to be said for trusting that God will lead when the time comes for action. We often make one set of plans for our lives, and even might have two or three alternate sets lurking in the backs of our minds. What we find is that our lives do not go as we had planned unless we are so rigid as to deny God the right to lead us at all. A life of faith is often a varied life, a life of diversity and opportunity, a life that is centered around fruitfulness and one whose end is not a hole in the ground, but an eternal estate. Those whose lives are rigidly ordered are lives that are filled with crises rather than opportunities; frustrations rather than blessings; hay, wood and stubble rather than gold, silver and precious stones. Those whose lives are eternally oriented are blessed and content, rich and rewarding, regardless the objective circumstances that surround them.

The fact of the matter is, more often than not, when a troubled Christian is seeking God’s will, it is not about a career move or a life decision, but it is when he is engaged in some behavior that he knows to be wrong, but feels unable to resist. If we are great rationalizers, the devil is greater. We find ourselves deceived into some pattern of sin before we even realize it, and we cannot understand quite how we got there. We stand before the mirror of our souls and say to ourselves, “I wonder what God would have me do…” Oh, so very disingenuous we are! We do not deceive God, or those close to us who observe us, but we very carefully deceive ourselves. In fact, we always know precisely what the will of God is when the issue is sin in our lives, but we persuade ourselves that if we act perplexed about it, perhaps we can find a way to rationalize what we are doing so that we can prolong the activity just a bit longer. Are we perverse? Decidedly. The greatest miracle of them all is that God could love such devious creatures as His children.

Of course, we are fallen creatures. Since Adam fell, everyone who has followed in the pathways of humanity, save One, has been a fallen creature. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. It is enough to tear down the confidence of the greatest saint when he sees how easily the devil can deceive him and lead him astray. Take heart, Christian! Bear in mind that the devil led both Adam and Eve astray, and they were not even fallen beings, but perfect in every way, without even so much as the knowledge of evil. If he could lead such perfect and holy people into sin, it is no trouble at all for him to lead us there also. Satan has had thousands of years to perfect his trickery, and to study the heart and motivations of men and women, and he has reduced his skills to the finest razor’s edge of perfection. Yes, he is able to lead us astray, but God is also able to guide us back into His sheepfold and restore us to full fellowship with Himself.

The issue is not whether we will sin. This may come as a shock to some, but it is absolutely true that no Christian is above any sin. There is no sin which any of us will not commit, given the right circumstances. Well, there is one sin. In all the realm of sinfulness, there is one sin that will certainly condemn its every practitioner, and that is the sin of unbelief. And that is the only sin of which no Christian will ever be guilty. The devil is able to make anyone commit any sin, but he is completely unable to cause any regenerated saint to cease believing that Jesus died for his sins. Oh, he works on Christians in that area, and especially young Christians, those who have been saved only a short time. They often waver, their faith lacking the strength of experience, but God will not let them be finally persuaded that Jesus’ blood did not atone for their sins.

The Christian who says that he is seeking God’s will while he is caught in the cords of some sin is merely deceiving himself. He is not seeking God’s will, but his own, and pretending to seek God’s will so that he can continue in his sin. However, not everyone who claims to be seeking God’s will is attempting to cover up some sin.

There are situations in our lives when we genuinely are at a loss as to which path to follow, whether it be in our homes or families, our careers, our avocations, our ministries, our education, our finances, or whatever other area of our lives that might be presenting us with a choice. When we turn to God for guidance in the temporal affairs of our lives, we have a tendency to want an answer within a few seconds of finishing our prayers. Even when the decision must not be made for a long time, we want to know where we are going and what we will be doing, where, with whom, for how long, and whether or not our desires will be met.

If we could know all these things, if we could have an absolute certainty about them, then what need would we have for faith? It isn’t that God wants to keep us on the edges of our seats, but that He wants us to sit back and relax, trusting that when the time comes to make a decision, we will know what that decision must be. Ah, but that is the rub, isn’t it? It is one thing to understand what our options are, and to study those options carefully. God expects that of us. We are to be good stewards, not only of our possessions, but of our lives as well. However, it is quite another thing to understand what our options are, and then to sit back and not worry over which one we shall choose before the time comes to choose. The person who worries over every little detail, attempting to solve every problem in advance, even though it may not even arise, who frets and sweats over which way he is going to have to go six months from now, is not living by faith.

When one focuses his emotions and energies primarily on the things of this world — the courses and possessions that he must steward before the grave claims him — he finds that his treasures are earthly, his hopes are earthly, and nothing is very satisfying. But the Christian who looks beyond the grave to his eternal estate sees his earthly problems and decisions recede into the real insignificance that actually characterizes them, despite his personal frenzy over them. The one who has a proper understanding of who and what he is because he is a child of God, this one leads a tranquil life, even amid the greatest of turmoils swirling about him. A life of faith is calm, not anxious; secure, not worried; patient, not frenetic.

Knowing the will of God is simple. It is as simple as waiting. It is as simple as trusting that when you need to know what to do, He will lead you in the correct course. Sometimes we do not do as we are led, not because God has not led us, but because we approach the decisions of our lives with preconceived notions of what the outcome should be. Even when we go traipsing off after our own wills, there is the certain knowledge in our hearts what God’s will is. It is always the path that is a path of peace of mind, even though the outward circumstance might seem filled with trials. We always know where God would have us go, but we do not always want to go there, and so we listen as the devil raises doubts in our minds and hearts. Often, it is not even a doubt that the devil presents us with, but a diversion.

God’s Word is the lamp that lights our paths. We often need to step back from the details of our decisions and see the bigger picture. Which pathway is more congruous with spirituality and fruitfulness. Too often indeed, we choose those paths which are the most rewarding temporally, without reference to any eternal values or rewards. That is where we go astray. It is not because God does not lead, but because we do not follow. We want to order our lives in accordance with the values of the world, to achieve as much earthly success as we can, to lay up the preponderance of our treasures here, and so we turn away from a more spiritual path in pursuit of the deceitfulness of riches. For the Christian, success is not measured in dollars and cents, in rubles, marks or francs; it is measured in heavenly treasure. That is where God would lead each of us, and where, if our priorities are properly established, our hearts will seek to go. It is altogether too easy, when caught up in the thousand details of some life decision, to lose sight of the big picture — Why am I here? What is my purpose? How will this decision affect my own personal ministry? Those are the questions one must answer if he wishes to know the will of God in anything.

For the Christian who rarely prays, and even more infrequently picks up his Bible, the will of God is obscure indeed, but for the Christian who communes with God daily, and whose Bible is dog-eared and worn, ah, for that one the will of God is always obvious. Even that Christian will be an incorrigible sinner, an inveterate rebel, finding himself caught up in compromising situations more often than he likes, but he will move forward inexorably in his temporal life toward an eternal reward and a position in the kingdom of God that is commensurate, not with morality, but with faithful service. The issue is never how “good” the Christian has been, but is ever how faithfully he has served. No one can ask his preacher what God’s will is and expect an accurate answer. Rather, the answer to understanding God’s will is found in a close walk with God on a daily basis. It is found in the depths of God’s Word, in the great harmony of doctrine that guides our steps aright, and in an ever-deepening communion with the great God who has made us His children.

The Good Shepherd

With everything we read about faithfulness, it is important that we remember to keep the Object of that faith ever before us, for the power of faith lies, not in our believing, but in Christ whom we have believed. In designating Himself as the Good Shepherd, our Lord takes upon Himself all of the responsibilities belonging to that name and because of who He is, this life of faith is one of peace and victory.

Everywhere, that which is required of a steward is that he be found faithful (cp. 1 Cor 4:2), “For the just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17). and “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col 2:6). Being faithful is steadily trusting in Him who has laid down His life for the sheep and promised them that He will guide and protect them forever.

In Ezekiel 34, we find God sending a message to the unfaithful shepherds of Israel. “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them” (Ezek 34:1-4).

The truth is, when we become faithless and doubtful because of circumstances in this world we are indeed ascribing to our Lord the qualities of a bad shepherd, which He, in Ezekiel, so scathingly condemns. What else can it mean when Christians say that they are beset by enemies on every side but He does not deliver them; that when they find themselves in dark places, He does not come to their rescue; that when they cry to Him for spiritual strength, He does not strengthen them; or, being in need of spiritual food, He does not feed them? It is in all our doubt (which is the opposite of faith) that we become weak and powerless for the object of our faith becomes something else altogether. The fact is, if any of us, Christ’s sheep, find ourselves in poor condition, there are only two possible reasons. He is a bad Shepherd or we have not believed in His care and have been too ashamed or too afraid to trust ourselves to it.

If our faith were but more simple,
We would take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all gladness
In the sunshine of our Lord.

Hannah Smith responds to this old hymn saying:

Our part is simply to trust and it is very uncomplicated when the One who we are trusting is indeed the Good Shepherd. The fact is, we judge our circumstances by our desires, and not by any objective understanding of the will of God for our lives. We want this, that or the other, and become frustrated children when we do not receive the objects of our desires, when, if we viewed our lives from an eternal perspective rather than temporal, we might seek and find opportunities and blessings in the circumstances in which we are surrounded. When our hearts are ordered aright, we are in tune with the object of our faith, we find contentment and service, leading to blessing today and reward at the judgment seat of Christ.

Faith in the OT and in the NT

The word (noun) “faith” is found in the Old Testament only twice (Deut 32:20, Hab 2:4). The verb form “to believe” is found less than thirty times. Yet, in the New Testament, those forms of the word are found nearly 500 times. (Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1963, Merrill C. Tenney, Editor) There is a reason for this.

The OT does not present the doctrine of faith like the NT does. Rather, it gives us illustrations of the life of faith. The OT sets forth the lives of the Israeli people as lives of faith. Their trust in the words of the prophets was generated by the visible actions of God in their history. We have seen Israel go out to conquer their enemies in the face of horrific odds; seen them perform the seemingly impossible, as in the destruction of Jericho; observed their faithful compliance with the ceremonial laws, trusting in God to use that compliance to atone for their sins; and in many other ways we have seen Israel exemplify a life of faith.

The NT supplies the theology behind a life of faith, as based upon the completed work of Christ on the cross. While the OT Jews did not fully understand the significance of the sacrifices they performed under the Law of Moses, we see that significance to be so that we might fully understand the significance of the greater sacrifice of the Son of God at Calvary. Their faith was anticipatory, though they did not know precisely what they were anticipating. Their sacrifices foreshadowed that which would come later. Our faith looks back upon a completed redemption.

The Jews had visible and historic bases for their faith, but they had little theological understanding. Today, we have the understanding that makes our faith easier than theirs, and a life of unbelief even more reprehensible.

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