faith for faith

The life of a Christian must be to the world an odd existence. For the Christian life, when lived properly, is a life that is lived backwards rather than forwards. For while the rest of the world attempts to live life to its fullest at the present time (or as the old Latin phrase puts it, carpe diem), the Christian lives his life in the light of his future Hope, namely that Day when his faith shall become sight and when he receives his glorified body and lives forever in the splendor and the joy of the glory of his God. It is what Mark Driscoll labeled it, reverse engineering, for our lives here on this earth are to be “engineered” in such a fashion that our blessed Hope is demonstrated and fulfilled by our lives.

The apostle Paul puts it this way: “In this hope [viz. the redemption of our bodies] we were saved” (Rm. 8:24). For the salvation of our Gospel is laid in store for us in Eternity, when we who bear the curse of Adam shall be ridden of our dead bodies and rise as Christ rose by the glory of the Father (cf. Rm. 6:4). This is the glorious Promise and Hope that our God has granted to us, and it is a Promise and Hope that transforms our lives here upon this planet.

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Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Rm. 14:20-23).

Having been raised in a traditional and oftentimes legalistic Southern Baptist setting, I have heard time and time again the verses referenced above used to prohibit the practice of almost anything under the sun. Most often, the verses of the apostle are used as an argument against the drinking of alcohol, but their uses have extended to such matters as watching R-rated movies, listening to secular music, and anything that any particular soul might view as unclean. For this reason many in the church have done precisely what the Pharisees of old had done, namely they have placed around the law a hedge that would act as a safety buffer to prevent them from doing anything that might make a brother stumble. And while such a practice can certainly be done in a godly and loving manner, more often than not those who construct such hedges around the law seek to impose those hedges on everyone in the church, thereby making themselves legalists and enforcers of a law that is not God’s law.

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I am not a worrier. When it comes to sinful deficiencies, an anxious heart is not one of my natural vices. I do not claim this boastfully, for I know that my lack an anxiety comes more from my natural disposition toward apathy than it does from my faith in God. For in my life thus far, I have lived my life with little care about the particulars of my future and have self-righteously chalked my lack of planning to my trust in the sovereignty of God. And while it is indeed true that “The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Prov. 16:9), God, in a demonstration of the greatness of his power, has chosen to allow men to plan their steps and yet sovereignly ordains and orchestrates all things pertaining to humanity through the wills of men.

Yet the Scripture’s unabashed proclamation of God’s meticulous sovereignty and his great power are never presented as justification for a “que sera, sera” attitude toward life. Proverbs 16 exists as a demonstration of this, holding together that which cannot be comprehended by the human mind, namely that a godly man plans and commits his steps to the Lord, yet the Lord has already established his steps. The apostle Paul puts it this way: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12, 13). Therefore we are to work, for God is working in us.

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“Actions speak louder than words.” It is an old axiom that rings true no matter what culture or religion one finds himself in. And when a particular group trumpets a mantra over and over again for decades, people do actually look to see if that group’s actions line up with that which it trumpets.

For Southern Baptists, the final words of Christ and its implications have been the words that the denomination has trumpeted for decades: “Go and make disciples”; “Go and preach to a lost world”; “Bring the Word of salvation to the Nations.” All of which are true and good words, but do the lives of those who preach those words line up with what they claim is their heart’s desire?

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Early one Sunday morning, a solemn Southern Baptist pastor cuts through the freshly paved parking lot that surrounds his recently constructed church building. He slowly passes the new church building, which his church had named, “The Campus of the Martyrs,” in honor of those who had given their lives for the sake of the Gospel around the world. For a moment, he meditates on the plight of those around the world who do not share the freedom that he and his people do in America, and he laments that more cannot be done for the sake of the lost world. As he laments, he cuts through the wrong way of the deserted one-way street that separates the new building from old one, and finds that his solemnity is momentarily eased by the wonderful thought that because of the new building he now only has to preach one service on Sunday instead of two. “What a blessing!” he exclaims in his heart. “Now I have an extra hour on Sunday afternoons to spend with my family.”

His jubilation is interrupted as his eyes are cast down at the passenger seat of his Lincoln Navigator at a report from the International Mission Board that he has decided to share with his church that morning. He first heard the terrible report at a meeting that was held in the newly constructed foreign missions building at the Southern Baptist seminary that lies just few miles from his home. As he looked at the report, a plethora of images rushed through his mind as he recalled the announcement by the representative of the Board that no new missionaries would be sent out because of the lack of American giving. He recalls the huge, golden globe surrounded by fine mahogany that that acts as the centerpiece of the great building as a reminder of the world that has yet to hear Christ. He thinks upon the Great Commission passage from the Gospel of Matthew that is upon the wall across from the globe, that in gold-fashioned letters proclaims the heart of Southern Baptists to all who come in. And then he thinks upon the great number of flat-screen televisions that fill the whole of the building that incessantly flash the names of people groups in the world that have yet to hear the Gospel.

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The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s (Rm. 14:6-8).

In Christian practice there exists two categories–that which is doctrine and that which is opinion. And though these two categories exist and have existed since the creation and more so since Christ fulfilled the ceremonial and civil requirements of the Law, their ends have ever been the same, namely to glorify God. Therefore whether one submits to doctrine or whether one submits to a certain opinion, it is to be done for the sake of the glory of God alone lest that which is not sin become sin.

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What is the love of God? Is it a feeling? Is it an action? Is it directed toward all people equally, or is set upon a particular people? Is it based upon conditions, or is it unconditional? Is it free, or is it costly? All these questions must be considered when one speaks about the love of God.

The apostle John makes the declaration in his first letter that “God is love” (1Jn. 4:8). This declaration is an important one, for many have formed opinions about God based upon it. What this declaration is not, contrary to popular opinion, is a definition of God. For a definition by its very nature places precise parameters around that which is finite, and since God is infinite, he cannot be defined. Thus the statement, “God is love,” is a commentary upon the nature of love rather than upon the nature of God. Therefore love, as does everything else, finds its true identity in God alone.

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As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand (Rm. 14:1-4).

What is an opinion? An opinion is a belief or conviction that does not have substantial support. When spoken of with regard to the church, it is a matter that is more often than not rooted in a particular culture and that has found its way into Christian practice but does not have Scriptural mandate. The examples of opinions are many, and it is opinions, not biblical doctrine, that has caused the most divisions within the church.

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How long, O Lord; how long must I wait for thee?
I have sought thee with my whole heart,
And my heart is wearied by thy pursuit;
I have looked about me, and I see myself alone;
Thy enemies look with contempt upon me,
And those who bear thy name jeer and detest me;
I am a fool to those who hate thee,
And a mad man and a rebel to those who claim allegiance to thee;
All have despised me, and all have desired my ruin;
I am alone.

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The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Rm. 8:16, 17).

K. P. Yohannan made a simple yet profound statement regarding suffering in the life of the Christian. He said that we as Christians are to seek actively our cross and carry it, for no one is going to throw it upon us; we ourselves must pick up the cross of suffering, deny ourselves, and follow Christ. And we must do it, for the cross we are to pick up is not icing on the cake of Christianity or a merit badge for the holier among us, but it is essential and salvific, for we, as the apostle declares in his letter to the Romans, will not be glorified with Christ apart from suffering with him.

For all who have been baptized into Christ share completely in his identity. For they who were baptized into him were baptized into his death in order that they might also share in his resurrection. And as Christ’s life and death did not come apart from suffering, so our lives and deaths (if we are indeed followers of Christ) shall not come apart from suffering with him.

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