Faithful on Fridays Blog

Watered-down Faith

If you watch any Christian TV you’re sure to often find the word faith used in abundance. Granted, faith in God through Jesus Christ is what sets our belief system apart from other religions but have you ever tried to define it? After checking the Hebrew I found nine different words that are translated faith or believe. Well, I’ve done the groundwork for you so here are the Cliff Notes.

Faith is believing, no surprise there, but not just believing a fact like the sun rising every day; it’s believing God by trusting in His love toward you. It’s the assurance that He has the strong arms of a loving parent always present to give you support. You can depend on it: that’s faith.

And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. Ps. 9:10

I think in today’s world this word has lost some of its meaning. It’s become watered-down and lifeless; let’s add more life with some shades of meaning. Faith is the certainty that God will do what He says He’ll do. We can have confidence that whatever we are going through He’ll get us to the other side. In fact, one of the Hebrew words has safety and security attached to it; faith gives us that assurance.

Another aspect of faith or trust is the idea of rolling oneself onto the Lord. I’m sure you’ve heard people say, “I’ve just given it to the Lord,” but Biblical faith is more than that. Trusting God with a difficult situation means you’ve rolled the disappointment, the worry, the frustration, or the fear onto the Lord. Have you ever tried rolling a snowball? You push and push on your own until it gets bigger and bigger, then you can’t push anymore. It’s true faith when you give one last heave and roll it onto God. You decide to trust Him with confident expectation and wait patiently for His promises to be fulfilled.

Do you have anything today that you are believing and trusting God to do for you? He’ll be there for support as you endure the wait. You can be confident when what you are trusting Him to do is promised in His Word; search the scriptures for your promise. Move away from the lower story, material things and into the upper story, spiritual realities: peace, joy, hope, belief or just plain help. Have faith, my friends, as you roll your fear, your worry, your frustrations, your anger, your confusion, or your ‘anything’ onto the Lord. That’s kingdom living and that’s the good life; it’s based on faith and it’s not watered-down.

Let’s try to live like Father Abraham who, “never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. Romans 4:20, 21 NLT

The great thing about the Cross is that it’s temporary. Yes, We need to be reminded of that place of death but there’s more, a future with Him.

And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal. 2:20b

I now live. Every day I spend on this earth I live through Him and for Him. My desire is no longer self but a transformation has occurred: it’s now what He wants. Christ now lives in me and His Presence infuses me with strength to please Him. Spiritual empowerment is the only way to accomplish God’s will in my life, without it I’m confused and under condemnation.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Rom. 7:15, 18

Agreed. We have zero ability in ourselves to maintain right living, however, it’s Christ in us that’s gives us the power to live in righteousness.

We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Rom. 6:6-7

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3:3

Now, that’s good news! We are no longer slaves to the old life of sin and pleasing self but have been delivered into a new life in Christ. So …. I don’t sin anymore? No, but you’re now empowered to make right decisions so choose wisely.

The point is this: If you’re truly a believer in Jesus Christ then your life is different. You think differently, you talk differently, and you behave differently than the world. With the Spirit’s empowerment you can now align yourself with God every day. Why not begin each day in His Presence being renewed and empowered by His Spirit?

… and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. Col. 3:10

The Cross, therefore, stands as a bastion, a stronghold depicting our spiritual position and authority to walk in Kingdom Principles: love, forgiveness, joy, a pure heart, to name a few. We can now truthfully declare, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Yes, as Paul said, we die daily, but as Jesus reassured us,

If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. Mark 8:34-35

Tested Faith

Years ago I listened to a Bible teacher who said, “When you encounter a frustration in life, use it as an opportunity to practice the fruit of the Spirit, especially patience.” I agree, but I think James took it even farther. He said,

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4

Are you kidding? Who ever said, “Oh, I’m overjoyed in my dysfunctional marriage,” or “I have so much joy as I watch my child suffer.” Of course, that’s ludicrous but what’s God trying to convey to us? Consider this: how about using this faith-testing situation to develop your joy in God’s greatness? How about pausing for a moment and thanking God for the opportunity to have your faith strengthened? You know, God considers endurance training valuable to our spiritual life or He wouldn’t allow it. As children of God, nothing can ever confront us unless it has passed through the hands of the Father.

You may not understand that concept and you may not like it, but it’s the truth. God’s desire is for us to depend on Him for everything and when you can’t change your circumstances you have no choice as a Christian except to trust Him to do the heavy lifting. Do you want to grow in faith? Is it your desire to be complete in this life, lacking nothing? Then allow God to complete His work in you by letting endurance, through testing, come into your life with a spirit of joy, not joy in the ugly circumstances but joy and peace in what He’s bringing about in your life.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1 Peter 1:5-7 NLT

If you have no other reason to be happy today, be happy that Jesus is returning to this earth to rule and reign as the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords. And the best part? You, as a Christ-follower, will be following Him into His renewed kingdom. Consider that this week, especially if your circumstances seem bleak. He has a future planned and you’re a part of it!

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who Promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

The Cross speaks of many things to many people so let’s contemplate another aspect of this image. When Jesus willingly became a curse, He was made sin, took a stand, and paid full price to redeem us. If that wasn’t enough we’re reminded by Paul that,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Gal. 2:20a

In some mysterious way that Cross represents Jesus’ crucifixion and mine as well. I participated in His death; I am joined there together with Him and I can answer the question posed in the old hymn, Were you there when they crucified my Lord? with a resounding “Yes, I was there!”

Not only co-crucifixion but let’s continue further. When He was buried, I was buried along with Him, mysterious and deeply spiritual but true, nonetheless. We often stay in the lower story, meditating on the real event that happened 2,000 years ago, however, the upper story causes us to stand in the truth that we died as well.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Rom. 6:3-4

We are in partnership, co-operation, with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection which gives us right standing with the Father to walk in His victorious life. We are gifted with power to turn from sin and walk in righteousness,

… always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 2 Cor. 4:10

Oh, this affects my everyday life? It most certainly does.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Cor. 5:14-15

The last, celebrated event is the ascension of Christ. Did we participate in that as well?

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:1

If Jesus ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God, where are we? Remaining in the upper story, that mysterious and spiritual realm,

… even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus … Eph. 2:5-6

That’s your position with Christ, not fully realized but at His return it’ll be the lower and upper story complete; that’s what we envision at the Cross.

Where Are You?

I think communication was God’s idea from the beginning. Think about it; we have the spoken word and the written word, God spoke the world into existence and Jesus is named The Word. God is all about personal relationship with Him through communication. I’ve viewed ancient hieroglyphics in Arizona, ancient scrolls in Israel, and I’ve read about the many alphabets that were created all in the name of communication. We live for our cell phones, texting, email, Facebook, and now Twitter.

Why is that? Maybe it’s because God’s idea was communication; it’s how we develop relationships. Now, I grant you, verbal, face-to-face communication is the best but sometimes in our busy lives we have to resort to other forms. Welcome to Faithful on Fridays! This is my first post in 2011.

God’s reason for communication was based on His desire to intimately commune with mankind. Do you remember the story in Gen. 3:9? If you don’t have it memorized (smile), let me remind you. God, Adam, and Eve were walking and talking in the Garden. Temptation was eventually presented to them through a serpent and they fell for it. Now, you might think that God would break off all communication with them since they had disobeyed Him but He didn’t. He said to them, in the midst of their sin, “Where are you?” You have to know that God knew where they were: He’s God. It reminds me of playing hide and seek with my grandchildren. They run and hide and I search for them, knowing where they are. I call out to them, “Where are you?” and they answer, “Here I am, Mi Mi!” We delight in finding each other.

God is speaking to you today. “I know where you are right now, you’re never out of My sight. Your situation is temporary; it will change.” Life always changes, that’s good. He says, “Trust Me, talk to Me about your hopes, your fears, your dreams. I’m waiting for you.”

Paul said it well,

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of the darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6

The privilege is ours, communicating with the God of the universe. Our hearts are being drawn by God every day to spend time with Him, to be in His presence, to get to know Him in a deeper way. The face of Jesus Christ is another way of saying the presence of God and it’s dependent on your discipline of making time in your busy schedule to sit with Him. Aren’t all relationships like that? Time, that four-letter word, is a gift. Can you begin with 15 minutes in your day to be in God’s presence?

You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Ps. 16:11

Notice the Crucified Christ in the upright, vertical position? Interesting, because the root word for cross means to stand; He’s not literally standing, the lower story, He’s spiritually standing in order to receive God’s judgment on our behalf. Jesus is making a stand for us: He stands before the god of this world and the God of all creation.

The Old Testament gives a foreshadow of this stand recorded in Num. 21: Nehushtan.

As Moses led God’s people to the Promised Land they became impatient and complaining, speaking against him and God. Bad idea. Consequently, the LORD terrorized them with fiery serpents serving as judgment. What was the result? Repentance and prayer.

Nehushtan was God’s answer to Moses.

“Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze pole and live. Num. 21:8-9

The bronze serpent represented the bite of sin as it hung on the vertical stand, yet a simple gaze in faith brought healing. Sounds too simple, doesn’t it? Yet Jesus referred to this foreshadow in John 3:14:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That anyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

How can focusing on a snake bring healing, it sounds counterproductive. We saw last week that Jesus became sin (2 Cor. 21) on the cross in order for us to stand in His righteousness; He took His stand and we take ours. We, also, focus on that cross and realize that one act of mercy brought us healing: spirit, soul, and body.

Satan understood the concept of standing indicated authority. During the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness he took Him to Jerusalem, supernaturally, and stood him on the pinnacle of the temple.

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down …” Matt. 4:5b

Jesus answered Satan that it’s unwise to test God; I wonder if He was thinking that one day everyone will ‘stand before the Son of Man’ (Luke 21:36b) as He taught in Matt. 25:31-34:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place (stand) the sheep on His right but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

The Cross is the reminder that Jesus took a stand for us and now we are Spirit-empowered to stand in faith as His sheep on the right side.

Finding Jesus in Malachi

“The British are coming!” That was the cry of proclamation from Paul Revere during the American Revolution which warned colonial leaders that British soldiers were approaching. Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, had a similar assignment. His name means ‘my messenger’ and he joins the company of prophets sent by God to communicate with His people. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for messenger corresponds with the New Testament word apostle or angel: messengers of God.

The timing of Malachi is vital to understanding his message. He’s the last of the prophets whose focus was not only the refrain ‘repent and return’ but also sets the stage for the Messiah. There will be silence from God for 400 years and the Jewish people needed the words of these promises to sustain them in their long wait.

Where do we find Jesus in this book? First of all, Malachi alerts us to another messenger, one who will prepare the way (3:1) for Messiah. You may recognize that description as John the Baptist. He used that word messenger yet again but this time he is referring to the Messenger of the Covenant: Messiah, Jesus Christ. That divine messenger will renew the covenant that God made with Abraham in Gen. 12 and 17 which included all those who share that faith:

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13 ESV

Jesus’ first coming, to renew God’s covenant with Jew and Gentile alike, will be followed by His Second Coming on ‘the day’ when He will appear as Judge for unbelievers but for His chosen, His elect, He will arise like the sun and bring healing to the righteous (4:2). That’s a promise we can count on.

Malachi begins his message declaring God’s love for His elect and proceeds to instruct the people how to honor Him by living in righteousness. It’s no different for us today; we need constant reminders to live a blameless life in honor of God. If we’re followers of Christ then our desire is to serve Him (3:16-18). We need this message too.

This last book is a bridge for us into the New Testament when a virgin will conceive and bring forth a Savior. The 400 years are completed and John the Baptist, in the spirit of Elijah, cries out:

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. John 1:29, 34

Malachi’s message should have the same response from believers as Paul Revere’s was to the colonists; we grab our spiritual weapons and fight against our spiritual enemy for our liberty. We carry the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and we’re ready and eager for His return.

In many ways we have lost our Judeo-Christian heritage because, first of all, we don’t understand the Old Testament and, therefore, don’t see the divine connections to the New. That’s the purpose of Bible teachers, so allow me to make draw those lines for you as we focus on the Cross of Christ.

My first question was, “Why a cross?” As I traveled back into the scriptures I found the first mention of a cross in Dt. 21:22-23a.

And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.

This is an obvious foreshadow of the Cross of Messiah (Christ): a hanged man is cursed. Notice the process of the death penalty; he was killed first (usually by strangulation), hung on the tree, and finally buried the same day. Why the hanging if he was already dead? It was a Jewish law, given by God through Moses, to intensify the judgment of death and bring disgrace and shame. Jews never executed men on a tree as a punishment, but as a sign.

Peter reminds us of this sign, an upright stake in the ground, with a curse attached to it and connects Jesus to our sin nature.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, … 1 Peter 2:24a

Paul mentioned this curse five times in Gal. 3, reminding us that the Cross of Christ brings us the promised Holy Spirit. What is this curse and how is it tied to the Spirit of Christ? The Greek word for curse indicates a declaration of condemnation brought down from God; the result was bondage, slavery, and powerlessness: the opposite of blessing.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Gal. 3:13-14

Let me connect the dots. Jesus came down from His throne to become the proclamation of a curse from His Father due to our sin nature. Without Jesus we’re in bondage to that fallen nature, destined to slavery, and rendered powerless to get free. When we come to faith the Holy Spirit loosens the chains and sets us free. We live in righteousness and blessings, not curses, because of the Cross of Christ.

For our sake He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

The cross is the sign that reminds us of the shame and disgrace of sin but also the freedom we have in Him.