2010-06-25
Good Morning Treasured Ones,
After our exhaustive study of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, from MT 5-7, we are going through an examination of the status of our own faith. We began by looking at the question: Can a person know for certain that he will possess the Kingdom? Then, we looked at whether or not the Lord knows those who are His. And then, we began looking into whether we are personally committed to Christ. It is clear that being born into a Christian family doesn’t guarantee that a person will become a committed believer. It’s a fact that each of us, whether or not we are from Christian families, must undergo a conversion to real faith in Christ.
In our Sunday school class, we got into a very interesting discussion of the difference between how Baptists and Lutherans deal with this issue. Baptists believe that both the believer and God have a part in whether or not one comes to faith. That is the believer makes a decision to believe, and God, through the Atonement of Christ, makes it possible by bringing faith to him, by means of the Holy Spirit. Lutherans, on the other hand, make it clear that God and God alone, through His grace, makes it possible for the believer to come to faith. My own approach is to look to the Scriptures to clarify this question. First there is the very familiar, JN 3: 16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” It is clear that neither denomination agrees with the Catholic point of view that grace and works are necessary for salvation. Boiling this issue down to its bare-bones basics, one can say that FAITH + NOTHING = SALVATION for both Baptists and Lutherans. The next step is to look at EPH 2: 8-10 for further clarification. “For it is through grace that you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has already prepared in advance for us to do.” This is very detailed in revealing, as I understand it, that our works have nothing to do with our salvation, but are a natural outgrowth of our salvation. Also, it’s clear to me that God’ workmanship and His grace that brought us to faith. Now, the obvious question is: how is this done. RO 12: 2 gives us some insight in addition to those created in Christ Jesus. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve of what God’s will is-His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” Yes, to my understanding, God has used His supernatural power to renew us inwardly by the complete transformation of our minds-our ways of seeing things, our openness to His attitudes, and our entire perspective. He also by virtue of this workmanship of His has changed our demeanors as well.
While we won’t make Lutherans into Baptists or vice versa, there is on basic truth that God would have us make a part of our lives. He would have us refuse to be prejudiced, remember that His will is to build His church as described in EPH 2: 20-22, and never do or say anything that would damage the faith of another [RO 14: 13]. Yes, we are really one in the Body of Christ! Note EPH 2: 20-22, “You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the Cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself. He is the One Who hold the whole building together and make it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with all the others into a place where God lives through His Spirit.” We must never forget that we all believe in the same God, and that Christ gave His life on the cross for the salvation of ALL who believe, not just those in one single denomination. I know in my heart that God never intended His church, His very bride getting sanctified [prepared] for the wedding with the Bridegroom [Christ], to be divided into all these denominations. But since this has happened, our faith must overcome the sinful desire to have prejudice against those with whom we disagree. This fits into our examination of faith when we openly and honestly tackle answering the question: Am I prejudiced against any other Judeo-Christian denomination or individuals within it?
Last week we understood, by reading MT 27: 3-5, that God does send sinners who refuse to repent to hell. In order for Him to demonstrate His righteousness, God must draw the line at how much disobedience and disrespect He will endure [RO 3: 26]. Otherwise, we would have no way to know that there is a line and that a lifestyle of bad behavior and attitudes will lead to negative consequences in the eternal sense of our lives. On the other hand, those with a lifestyle of obeying God faithfully will discover that there are rewards for righteous living. MT 5: 3, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” We learn in PS 146: 8, “The Lord loves the righteous.” The righteous are rewarded as “living memorials,” reveals PS 92: 15 in the amplified Bible, “To show that the Lord is upright and faithful to His promises; He is my Rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” PR 10: 7, “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked with rot.” Remember Christ’s words in MT 7: 23? “Then I will say them , ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you wicked people!” We are each being asked to take our own stand for the Lord Jesus, no matter what the immediate consequences may be. If our stand is for Him, then we can trust He will see us to heaven and allow us that blissful eternal fellowship with Him that He has promised. Remember RO 8: 29, that Christ was raised to heaven as the “First among many brothers.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne humbled by the great sacrifice of Your Son on the cross and with hearts open to learning Your will for us. After a long and detailed study of His Sermon on the Mount, we are now engaging in an examination of our own individual heart-attitudes-basically the status of our faith. We ask that You know how grateful we are for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, Who gives us the courage and ability to submit ourselves to such an important test. PS 139: 1-4, “Lord, You have examined me and you know me. You know everything I do; from far away You understand all my thoughts. You see me, whether I am working or resting; You know all my actions. Even before I speak You know what I will say.” We are stunned when we think that before we pray, You know already for what we will pray. You know our motives and our methods-everything about us. We have been commanded, in 2 COR 10: 3-5, to deal with spiritual warfare thusly, “It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.” You will see us, if we are faithful, dressed in God’s full armor [EPH 6: 10-18], fully engaged in battling against the devil and his helpers. And yes, Dearest Abba, we understand that nothing can be hidden from You [HE 4 :13], and that You alone know the full extent of our faith. We pledge before You to continue examining our own faithfulness and obedience to You with honesty and openness. We stand without guilt and fright, knowing Your loving nature and willingness to assist us in this difficult examination, so that we can be perfected and one day, glorified by You. We praise and thank You with ever fiber of our being. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Next Week: We will continue our examination of faith with learning about the essential character of the true believer, which is obedience to God. I see the number of my note pages getting down to very few left for this series and look back on this last 1 ½ years of messages with awe for God. I’m not capable alone of doing such a study, but with the Holy Spirit feeding me important things to say, this effort is coming to a close and another will begin. We must look at PS 81: 10 both literally and figuratively. “I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth, and I will feed you.” And wow! How He has been feeding us! We are blessed to live in a county built on personal freedom and democracy. We are not going hungry, despite the awful economic struggles that have been happening in the last five years. Moreover and of greatest importance, we, who have opened our hearts to Him, are being fed spiritually every day by the Holy Spirit. Whatever challenges that befall us, if we are willing to keep our faith in the Lord Jesus strong, we will emerge from our trials with the greatest rewards in heaven that mankind can be given. We will “share in God’s glory and be joint heirs to His Kingdom [COL 3: 4; RO 8: 17]. For what more could we ask? God deserves our praise and thanks forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15