158 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
158 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
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Observations on Faith
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by John R. Marler
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. We need today to be reminded that the Kingdom of God does
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not consist of rituals, works or any outward observances of any
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kind or manner. The Kingdom of God consists of righteousness,
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peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This kingdom, moreover, is a
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gift of God, not a human accomplishment. Its foundation is the
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vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ on Calvary. It was carried
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forward by the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
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. The disciples before Pentecost were only disciples. They
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tried to follow Jesus and His teachings as best they could, but
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they did not know true faith. It was only at Pentecost that they
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were truly made Apostles. At that time, each of them experienced
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the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At that time,
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each of them was emboldened by the Holy Spirit to bear witness of
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Christ in public. Whereas previously they were disciples of the
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One whom they saw as the Messiah of Israel, now they were
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ambassadors and heralds of the risen Christ. Instead of seeking
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faith that is a dead work of the law, they now had the faith that
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empowers and redeems. Previously they had the faith of servants,
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now they had the faith of sons of the Living God. Previously
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they were plagued by timidity and fearfulness, now they were
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ready to die for the sake of their Master and Savior.
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. Faith includes intellectual assent, but its essence is a
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personal relationship with the Living Savior, Jesus Christ. It
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consists, basically, in a living union with Jesus through the
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Holy Spirit. True faith means being before doing - being in the
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favor of God before doing the will of God. It means being
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grasped by the Spirit of God. It is an opening of our inward
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eyes to the reality of God's incomparable love poured out for
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sinners in the sacrificial life and death of Jesus Christ.
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. Yet, faith is not an almighty action of the Holy Spirit on
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the soul, it is also in our action in the power of the Spirit as
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we are sent forth into the world as witnesses and ambassadors of
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Christ. Faith entails both radical passivity and radical
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activity. Luther once observed: "Faith ... is a living, busy,
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active, mighty thing ... so it is impossible for it not to do
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good works incessantly."
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. The deficiency found in many churches today is an empty
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formalism or barren biblicism, either of which degenerates into
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an oppressive legalism. Other churches that seem more vital are
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plagued by perfectionistic enthusiasm or frenetic activism that
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borders on humanism. What is needed is a recovery - a revival -
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of the depth and breadth of Apostolic faith.
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. A revival must start in the heart of one individual - me.
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Each believer, with God, can work the miracle of revival -
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'Breaking up the fallow ground' only in their own heart and life
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- then God can use that person to spread His revival to the
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world!
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. It is imperative that we bear in mind that Jesus Christ is
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not just a moral ideal or prophetic genius - He is a LIVING
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SAVIOR. He is not simply the human representative of God, but
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God Himself in human flesh. It is not enough to know the
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historical facts about the life of Christ, how He lived and died,
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each person must know that Jesus died for them personally!
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. True faith does not consist of imposing our views on others,
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but in sharing the light given to us. In our evangelistic task
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we must not approach others with any pretension to greater virtue
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or intellectual acumen. Instead, we present ourselves as fellow
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sinners whose eyes have been opened both to the gravity of the
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human predicament and to the reality of God's unconditional grace
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and love. The word that we proclaim stands in judgement over our
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lives as well as the lives of our hearers. We are beggars
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telling others where they can get food. As "fishers of men" we
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are instrumental in advancing the Kingdom of God, but it is not
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through our cleverness that people are won to Jesus Christ; our
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task is simply to let down the net of the Gospel. As the vehicle
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of the Spirit, the Gospel itself brings in souls for the kingdom.
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(Luke 5:2-10)
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. This is not to imply that Christians should never use
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apologetic arguments in defense of the faith, but our purpose in
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doing so is not to induce a decision of faith. (Only the Spirit
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does that through the preaching of the Word.) Rather, our aim is
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to intensify the hunger for faith in the human soul and to help
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those who already believe to better understand their own faith.
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We can show the intellectual relevance of our faith by
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argumentation, but faith's concrete relevance to the human
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condition can be grasped only by those whose minds have been
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touched by the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
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. Our witness is not to some "zapping" peak experiences of the
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sacred, but to the incursion of the sacred into the secular which
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we see in Jesus Christ.
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. Our appeal is not to external evidences for the faith but to
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evidences that faith itself provides:
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o The empty tomb.
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o The transformed lives of the disciples.
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o The interior witness of the Holy Spirit.
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. In carrying out the evangelistic mandate, we must bear in
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mind that Holy Scripture is its own best interpreter, that is to
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say, Scripture illumined by the Spirit of God, its author. Holy
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Scripture in the hands of Spirit directed believers is sufficient
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to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up
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against the knowledge of God." (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV)
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. We should never confuse religion with techniques for
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cultivating spirituality or programs of church growth. It is God
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who gives the increase, though it is up to us to plant the seed.
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(1 Corinthians 3:6-7) Our responsibility is to hear the Word and
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then share the Good News. We can serve the Kingdom of God, but
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we cannot build it. The kingdom is a gift from God that can only
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be received with thanksgiving and gratefulness.
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. There is a difference between believing that Christ is the
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Savior of humankind in general and coming to know Him as one's
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own Savior. Faith, understood as an interior awakening to the
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glory and meaning of the cross, is a gift of God. It is a work
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of the Holy Spirit within us. If we do not have this kind of
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faith, let us seek it. Let us pray for it as the Apostles did.
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(Luke 17:5) The key to discipleship is given by our Lord:
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. "Ask, and it will be given you, seek and you will find,
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knock and it will be opened to you." (Mathew 7:7)
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. True faith is inseparable from the experience of divine
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holiness and divine love. Sometimes that experience will take
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dramatic form, such as when the apostle Paul was lifted up into
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the 'third heaven.' (2 Corinthians 12:2) Yet those who have such
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experiences do not dwell on them. People of faith are not
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spiritual exhibitionists, but heralds and ambassadors of the Lord
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Jesus Christ. Living on a 'religious high' is not serving the
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glory of God and advancing his kingdom. John the Baptist
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furnished the model of true spirituality and faith when he
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declared: "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)
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. Humility such as this is an indispensable mark of authentic
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piety. No one can be confronted by the Holy God without having a
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poignant sense of one's own creatureliness and sinfulness.
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(Isaiah 6:1-5) What shows us the depth of our sin and the
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magnitude of God's grace is not just an awareness of God as the
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Holy One, (which all people have to some degree) but the
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knowledge of the Holy Love of God reflected in the life and death
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of Jesus Christ. Humility is the key to the love of other human
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beings for God and for one another. Proud people cannot love,
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because love means to be emptied of self and dedicated to the
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glory of God and the welfare of his creatures.
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. The cardinal evidence of true faith is works of self-giving
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love which are visible to the world as shown in Mathew 7:20, John
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13:35 and other scriptures. Such works, however, are not visible
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to those who do them, for the focus of the faithful doer is never
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on their deeds (to which they are more likely oblivious) but on
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Christ and His great, completed work of Atonement.
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. The essence of true religion, the righteousness of faith, is
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known only to God. True faith will be manifested in fruits, but
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before we can bear fruit we must be rooted in Christ, engrafted
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into Him. We must be born again from above by the Holy Spirit.
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(John 1:12-13, 3:5-8, 1 Peter 1:3)
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. Frank Kafka once wrote: "The fathers of the Church were not
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afraid to go out into the desert because they had a richness in
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their hearts. But we, with richness all around us, are afraid
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because the desert is in our hearts."
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. Let each and every one of us, today, make the commitment to
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be His servant and to seek the knowledge of His Grace and Mercy.
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Let us become the vessels of His workings in this world. Let us
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have the richness in our hearts. Let us have FAITH that will set
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us apart from the world and that will make the world want to know
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more about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
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Computers for Christ
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.W#04? |