What Is The Faith?

I had some thoughts swimming around in my head today (that happens occasionally) so I decided to share them here.

Consider the following:

A man is out in the middle of a lake, drowning.  He’s been struggling for some time but the fight is almost over.

Someone manages to reach him by boat and toss him a flotation device.  The drowning man, not wanting to breathe in the water and sink down to the bottom in death, throws himself desperately onto the flotation device and takes hold of it for all he’s worth, wrapping his arms around it and hanging on, until he can be safely brought into the boat and then to shore.

This was not a mental or intellectual exercise.  When he saw the life-preserver hit the water, he didn’t pause and think, “Hmmmm, I think that’s a life-preserver.  I’ve never needed one, but I’ve heard that they can save a drowning person.  I think I’ll try and get to it and see if what I’ve heard is true.”

The faith is a lot like this scenario, or, at least, should be.

If we understand the gospel in a true and right way, we should understand that we, individually, and mankind as a whole desperately need two things.

First, we need deliverance from the consequences, or penalty, of sin.  Second is deliverance from the power, or control, of sin.  Unfortunately, in our day and age, both of these desperate needs have been watered down, among unbelievers and among Christians.

Generally, if the gospel is preached at all, we hear something like, “Oh, everybody’s a sinner.  We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  If you will accept Jesus, your sins can be forgiven and you can know you’re going to heaven.  Would you like to pray the Sinner’s Prayer with me?”

Most people know that they have done one,  two or more really bad,  rotten things in their lives, so occasionally, someone will go along with this and then, maybe, start being a Church-goer.

Very few are convinced that they are filthy, rotten sinners through and through; that even the “good” things they do are tainted with selfishness, arrogance, pride, or desire for recognition, and that the judgment and wrath of an awesome, holy God hang over their heads like a sword about to fall.  People see themselves, perhaps, as having sinned, but they rarely see themselves as sinners by nature, their very beings permeated with it.

So people, if they come to the Lord at all, “accept” Jesus, or “let Him” into their hearts, or “make a decision” for Christ, since He’s standing outside the door, forlorn and knocking, and just wants to come in.  It makes sense to let Him in, doesn’t it, in light of the wonderful benefits we receive for doing so?

But how many come, in fear and trembling, knowing they are vile, filthy criminals who have mocked, disobeyed in countless ways, and offended God, the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe?  How many come, knowing they are, deservedly, rushing headlong toward judgment and wrath?

Then there’s the matter of our desperate need to be freed from the power of sin, and things get even worse at this point.  At this point, we hear stuff like, “We’re all just poor, wretched sinners saved by grace, and we will sin in thought, word and deed every day until the Lord returns, or we die and go the heaven.  Praise God for His grace!”

This idea is commonly taught and professed in countless Churches, by multitudes of believers, despite the fact that it blatantly contradicts the Word of God, and cheapens the gospel immeasurably.

Scripture says things like:

“He (God) has made Him (Jesus), who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”- 2 Corinthians 5:21

and:

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us…  You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”- Hebrews 12:1, 4

and:

“I write these things to you, that you sin not.  And if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”- 1 John 2:1

and lots more along similar lines.

God, in His love and mercy, has cleansed and forgiven us of our multitudes of sins, at phenomenal cost, so that He might bring us into His family and conform us to the image of His glorious Son.  This is an awesome, amazing gospel.

What have we done with it, for the most part?  We have cheapened it, degraded it and watered it down.

Why did Jesus tell us things like,”You have heard that it was said by them of old, You shall not commit adultery; but I say unto you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart?”

Why did He immediately follow that by saying,”If your right eye offends you (causes you to sin), pluck it out, and cast it from you; for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell?”

I am convinced the reason is that God hates sin, and sin in our lives is to be taken extremely seriously.

Instead, we come to Him from the start with a cheapened, watered-down understanding of the vileness and wretchedness of sin, and just how full of sin we are… and, we go so far as to make grace a license for sin by contradicting His word and saying we will sin every day in thought, word and deed, and teaching that the gospel and grace of Almighty God has not the power to free us from the clutches of sin.  What a fearful situation this is.

Why am I writing all this?

The Lord has been dealing with me, and it hasn’t been pleasant or enjoyable.

Have you ever been in a supermarket or department store, and seen and/or heard a young child crying and whining loudly, on and on and on?  You know the child is not in pain or fearful, but he or she is blubbering away endlessly.  It rubs your nerves raw.

Why is he/she doing that?

The simple reason is they are not getting what they want;  not getting his or her way, so, the child will work hard at making everyone else miserable, too.

I am seeing that the whining, crying child in the supermarket is me, and a lot of other Christians.  I’m not saying the child is you.  Only the Lord, and perhaps you, know that.  I’m saying the child is me, and others.

Of course, my fussing and whining is much more subtle than that of the child, but, the child is me, and maybe you.

Let’s not forget that the essence of sin is self, and what self wants, and how and when.  Sinful thoughts, plans and acts are all rooted right there, in my self.

It’s becoming very clear to me that self is the driving, motivating force behind almost everything (and perhaps literally everything) I do, think and strive for… even the “good”, spiritual stuff.  It’s at the heart of my desires, my changing moods, my apathy, my lovelessness (although it can look like love at times), my dissatisfaction with this thing or that, my laziness, my unwillingness to stick my neck out, my crabbiness and much, much more.  I won’t put you to sleep with an endless list.

I must come to understand sin… come face to face with what it’s really all about… and perhaps you do, too.

It’s not all about forgiveness of some vague “sins” and a ticket on the heaven-bound train to glory.  God is not pleased and content to “see” me or to “count” me as pure, holy and righteous.  Yes, that’s square one, but it is certainly not the end of the road; the goal.

He intends for me to see that my life, even at its religious best, is still far off the mark, and that only through the vital union He’s provided with His Son in death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and being seated in Him at the Father’s right hand is there a genuine hope of glory.  I must know that I can’t be like Jesus or imitate Him.  Only Jesus in me can be Him.  The scripture calls it, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Until I see reality and sin for what it truly is, and truly take hold, by faith, of all He is and has done,  the best I can expect is more miles on the Christian treadmill-merry-go-round, along with multitudes of other “believers”.

That is not a thrilling prospect.

~ by endtimedisciples on January 18, 2009.