Meditation On The Word, "Faith" - Part I....

Romans 4: 7 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

There are a few things I have been learning recently about the word “faith” that have added a spark of motivation to my prayer life. To communicate what I am only beginning to understand and experience is a bit of a literary challenge because, as is often the case with spiritual things, knowledge and revelation sometimes – oftentimes – precede experience. Experience is the edifice that rests upon the foundation of truth. Experience is the goal of faith, the finished structure of faith. But, even absent of a lot of experiences, I risk relaying to you some of the foundational truths relative to the word “faith” that I believe are the substructure to future great experiences and adventures with God.

Let’s begin with the word itself – faith. In the Greek, the word generally translated as faith is: pistis. Literally translated it means: firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing. Paul almost spelled this literal definition out in Romans 10:17a “Consequently, faith comes from hearing…”

There is a subtle point that needs to be made after reading the above verse and I do so by way of a question: “Faith in what?” It is a good question. The point of faith as it is described in Scripture is to always bring together two things about Jesus/God; namely, His ability and His nature. Simply put, faith brings us to a person. Abraham’s faith (See: Romans 4:7 above) did not rest so much in God’s promise, it rested in God. The promises that flowed from God were a given, a done deal, if Abraham trusted the God from whom the promises flowed.

Think about it this way. If I were to tell my one of my children that I would like to send him or her a check for a billion dollars - which would speak to the natural generosity of my nature as a father - the process would be thwarted because of my lack of ability to cover that check. That is nature without ability. One of the most obvious names that I can come up with who could cover a check of that magnitude would be Bill Gates. At last count he could do that at least 38 times. But, while Bill might have the ability, it is not in his nature to send out a random check for a billion dollars to a child who isn’t his own. That is ability without nature.

You see, a faith in God that doesn’t take into account His nature (i.e. personality, character, etc.) is mere agnosticism - which basically admits that God can do things – but that He is not all that interested. On the other hand, faith that doesn’t take into account His ability is mere religion - what Scripture refers to as a form of Godliness that denies His power. Neither is good. Both are inadequate.

True faith is the wonderful discovery that in the person of Jesus Christ, we find the perfect balance of both ability and nature. It is because of who He is that He does what He does. That is why intimate relationship with Him is the foundation of all that follows as a believer. As we fall in love with Him and make personal discoveries of His nature we cannot help but come into contact with truth about His unlimited abilities.

There is one stumbling block that can obscure our faith at this point and it is a very common one which receives the full support of hell. The stumbling block is this: To turn our attention from His nature and His ability to our nature and our ability. When we gaze at our nature we see a spotty record of a few successes and a laundry list of many, many failures. And, when we consider our abilities, we see some pretty well-defined limits in regard to our energies, our money, our patience, our love – you name it. Discouragement is the fruit of self-faith.

You can always tell which faith a person is operating from based not just on their response to big events, but more telling, how they operate in the mundane affairs of everyday life – the burnt toast, the bills, the interruptions, the rock chip on the new windshield, being slighted, the surly waitress, and the various temptations that slide in and out view. A person living from a place of abundance in Him is immunized against a reactionary lifestyle to the common. Conversely, a person who has himself or herself as the primary object of faith will grow increasingly jaded, cynical, offended, grouchy, self-absorbed and alienated – from both God and people.

So, to know Him – to really get to know Him – to keep Jesus as the object of our affections is the way home. It is the way of the spontaneously supernatural, and it is the way of prosperity of body, soul and spirit. More to come…

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part V (Finis)

“Chronological snobbery is self-defeating, for the more up-to-date the look is, the sooner it will be dated. If you take your stand on the prevalent view, how long do you suppose it will prevail? All you can really say about my taste is that it is old fashioned; yours will soon be the same.” -C.S. Lewis, "An Experiment In Criticism "

We come today to the final installment of this series of essays entitled: Bible Bingo & Other Stuff. If you have not had a chance to read this series from the beginning, go back a bit on this blog site. There is a certain, non-linear logic to all of what we have been discussing. But, if you’re too engaged to do so – allow me a moment to summarize.

I began with the simple contention that we all seek the miraculous in our lives. I have affirmed that this is a good thing because the early church prayed for God to extend His hand to perform signs and wonders. It follows then that any prayer lifted up to God carries within it the hope of Divine intervention, which is, by definition, a miracle. Who would waste time praying that God would just stay put? (Actually, now that I think about it, some actually do pray along those lines. That stripe of theology prays for strength to endure the ravages and attacks of Satan and his destroying and corrupting ways. I suppose we all need that – but I think it is more biblical and more kingdom advancing to cry out to God that He show up and change and fix and heal those things – that His kingdom and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. John described Jesus' ministry like this: “The Son of man came to destroy the works of the devil.” It would seem to follow then that our lives are to pick up where Jesus left off – stirring up a holy anger and contending against the destruction of the destroyer – not merely enduring as passive victims subject to the whims of the enemy of our soul – and other's souls.)

I would like to round off the discussion with a few more thoughts as it relates to the American Church and her fascination, allegiance, and dependence on forms and methodologies rather than the supernatural power of God. Let me relate a simple story that illustrates this point.

This past weekend I found myself in a local hardware store. I bumped into a dear brother in Christ who had been preaching in view of a call as Pastor to a certain, small, fundamentalist type of church. I thought it odd when he told me of his invitation to go there and speak, inasmuch that he is of the charismatic persuasion. In other words, he believes in all of the gifts of the spirit. This little church was started by a bigger church as a “mission”. The bigger church does not believe at all in the gifts of the Spirit. That is their form. It is called dispensationalism. After three successful weeks of preaching and a great response from the congregation, the larger church caught wind of it and said that unless he gave up his beliefs in the gifts of the Spirit and only preached from the King James Version of the Bible, he was not a good candidate to become Pastor of the mission.

I share that story to underscore a point. The fundamentalist church had a certain philosophy, a certain methodology; a certain form that they thought was exactly the right one delivered from heaven to get the job done. Every denomination and every individual church – even this ministry – carries the same blindness to one extent or another. That is why I am somewhat suspicious of too eager a commitment and excitement for a “new” way of doing things. A lot of movements become engrossed in tinkering with form. And, as history has shown time and time again, the fascination with form can actually crowd God right out of the organization - whose original stated purpose was, in fact, to bring Him glory.

In the ponderous Russian novel, The Brothers Karamazov, there is a telling discussion that takes place between two of the Karamazov brothers – one (Ivan) is a product of the age of enlightenment who is, at best, an agnostic. The other brother (Alyosha) is a Christian. Ivan tells Alyosha that he desires to share with him a short story that he has written, entitled “The Grand Inquisitor.” The story is set in Seville, Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. The Grand Inquisitor is the man in charge of rooting out heretics and burning them. Into this story, Jesus appears on the streets of Seville and begins to re-enact his miraculous ministry on earth. The Grand Inquisitor has Jesus arrested, thrown in jail, and lets him know – in no uncertain terms – that tomorrow he will have Jesus burned at the stake. His reasoning for this egregious act is that the church has finally figured things out. The Grand Inquisitor tells Jesus that the church no longer needs him and that once they kill him, they do not want him to return. Jesus sits silently throughout this story.

The point that Dostoevsky makes by including this short story in the middle of his novel is to point a rightful finger of accusation at the church. The church has become accustomed to the trendy, to the newest model of ministry, to the latest, most relevant and most "effective" form. One church growth publication even published a newsletter with this unfortunate title: “What’s Hot & What’s Not!” The publication was simply ga-ga over cushioned chairs and hostile toward church pews. This "revelation" was supposed to help the church reach the lost! Paul, having been raised and educated in a system and form that was devoid of power said it this way: “…having a form of godliness, but denying its power.” (II Tim 3:5) We could easily stop at the word “form” in this passage and leap right over to the phrase: “but denying its power.” A reliance on form, rather than the miraculous, supernatural power of God’s Spirit, drains the church of her greatest weapon in this supernatural battle in which we find ourselves.

And so, I wrap things up with this passage: “So now the Lord says, ‘Stop right where you are! Look for the ancient and godly paths, and walk in them.” Jeremiah 6:16. The ancient paths for the church where we must return are those elemental acts and stories found in the gospels and in the Book of Acts. Simple people – some of whom were disparaged as unlearned and ignorant men – matched the words of their witness with the power of God. This is what they cried out for and God answered. No method, no form, no system that we can come up with can equal the persuasive power of God working through humble and obedient hearts. It wins hearts and minds whenever and wherever it is tried. We cannot improve upon God’s method, God’s form, or God’s system. People in this post-modern culture are not so much asking “if” there is a God; they are asking whether or not our God is the real deal. We owe them the real time revelation of a loving God who has commissioned us to announce and bring forth His kingdom on this earth in all of its glory, grace, love and power.