Blessed Belief

I wonder what it was that enabled Mary to say to the angel “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 ESV)? How did she develop such a faith in God that allowed her to accept the news, apparently with a glad and sincere heart? It’s not clear how much time passed before verses 46-55 when she praises God in the “Magnificat,” but her words reflect a deep knowledge of the Scriptures. The angel said Mary had “found favor with God.” It seems likely that her knowledge of Scripture had grown into a familiarity with who God is and how He works, so trusting Him was not a big challenge for her. Elizabeth said of Mary, “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished” (1:45). Mary believed and trusted God.

Would I respond in faith to an angelic messenger like that? I think I’d more likely remain silent while wondering whether I was hallucinating or where the hidden camera was. In many ways our media-crazed culture has made us more skeptical. We don’t believe most of what we can see, much less what we can’t see. An angelic visitation might have a greater impact in a third world country. But at the same time, we have one advantage over Mary. We have two millennia of history beyond what Mary knew. We have the evidence of Jesus’s birth, ministry, death, and resurrection, and the subsequent growth of the church to point to God’s power, love, and faithfulness.

Jesus said, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). The author of Hebrews wrote, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

I wish I had the kind of faith that said “Whatever You wish, Lord, no matter what.” Some days I do, but other days I’m inclined to tell God what He should be doing differently. Sometimes it’s easier to believe God for the general idea of salvation than it is to believe for the forgiveness of a particular sin. It’s easier to believe in the concept of sanctification than for the daily power over temptation. It’s easier to believe in God’s provision than to entrust an immediate need to His care. We often believe in theory but not in practice.

When Jesus was presented in the temple Simeon prophesied, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel… and a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:34-35). We aren’t told Mary’s immediate response, but she may have been wondering what she’d gotten herself into. That would certainly stir worry and fear in most of us. But somehow Mary kept believing and treasured up all these unusual events in her heart.

This Christmas as we remember that He is Immanuel, God with us, may we learn to believe Him more fully and trust Him more deeply. 

Mystery Incarnate

In preparation for Christmas I’ve been reading the first few chapters of Luke, and I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. When the angel appears to Zechariah announcing his coming son, Zechariah asks, “How shall I know this?” (I imagine the angel saying “How many angelic messages does it take to convince you?!”) Then after John is born and Zechariah can speak again, part of his prophetic praise includes, “You will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins” (vv. 76-77 ESV). It seems that he learned something about knowing and trusting God during that nine months of silence.

There are plenty of things about God that we’ll never understand in this lifetime, and perhaps not even in eternity. As many have said, if we fully understood God He would not be God. Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!” (Romans 11:33). He often mentioned the mysteries of God. And in Ephesians 3:18-19 he prays that we “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” I take that to mean that we can simply grasp the fact that it’s far beyond our human knowledge and experience, and we accept that by faith.

The mysteries of God are not things that we can logically conclude if we just have enough evidence. It’s not a matter of further research that will reveal the key that unlocks it all. God is so far beyond our realm of understanding that we cannot hope to unravel the mysteries. As C.S. Lewis said, it’s like trying to explain the three dimensions to a two dimensional object. Recently I was imagining how one would try to explain darkness to an atom residing in the center of the sun. (Yes, I have a strange imagination.) While that might be possible, assuming you can find an intelligent atom, God is infinitely further from explanation.

Paul summarizes some of the mystery in 1 Timothy 3:16:

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

As we celebrate the historical event of Jesus’ birth, we shouldn’t forget that the incarnation is a great mystery. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

While a baby in a manger is something we can wrap our minds around, God becoming flesh and then dying for our sins is beyond our full comprehension. Perhaps the most incomprehensible part is that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Why God would love a bunch of sinners enough to send His Son to die for them is beyond me.

Let’s hold onto that mystery this Christmas and throughout the year. May the wonder of it all lead us into true worship!

Daily Revival

I recall a time in college when another Christian college was experiencing a time of revival on their campus. Some of our students organized prayer meetings in hopes that something similar would happen for us. The results were less than stellar and actually created some disturbing scenes due to misguided beliefs and expectations.

Recently I’ve been reading the challenging little book The Calvary Road by Roy Hession. The introduction by Norman Grubb summarizes it well:

“I had regarded revival only from the angle of some longed for, but very rare, sudden outpouring of the Spirit on a company of people… I learned and saw that revival is first personal and immediate. It is the constant experience of any simplest Christian who ‘walks in the light,’ but I saw that walking in the light means an altogether new sensitiveness to sin, a calling things by their proper name of sin, such as pride, hardness, doubt, fear, self-pity, which are often passed over as merely human reaction.”

He also points out that revival is not really the conversion of non-believers, because one must already have the new life before that life can be revived in them. So events that we might be inclined to call revivals are more often crusades. Churches holding “revival” services need to be clear as to what their expectations really are.

In one way, it takes some of the pressure off of an event if we realize that revival is not often a “sudden outpouring” and major change in the lives of a group. But that pressure instead is found in a constant nudging of the Holy Spirit redirecting lives day after day. The weekly routine of preaching, teaching, Bible study, worship, and prayer is most often the method by which the Holy Spirit revives the people of God. Those are the tools through which sin is revealed and confessed. If a person gets to the point of needing a sudden outpouring of the Spirit to cause them to change, they have probably been ignoring the Spirit and allowing sin to build up for quite some time. Thankfully God can still work and change lives in any condition, but how much better would it be to cultivate this daily sensitivity to sin and responsiveness to the Spirit?

Hession makes a couple comments that are particularly convicting:

“Anything that springs from self, however small it may be, is sin. Self-energy or self-complacency in service is sin. Self-pity in trials or difficulties, self-seeking in business or Christian work, self-indulgence in one’s spare time, sensitiveness, touchiness, resentment and self-defence when we are hurt or injured by others, self-consciousness, reserve, worry, fear, all spring from self and all are sin and make our cups unclean.” (13)

“Such a walk in the light cannot but discover sin increasingly in our lives, and we shall see things to be sin which we never through to be such before.” (19)

Most church members probably don’t have a problem with the “big” sins like murder or adultery, but we all have issues with pride and self-seeking. I’ve become increasingly aware of the selfish motivations in my life and how that hinders me from truly loving others as I should. Hession presses the point a little further when he writes:

“That means we are not going to hide our inner selves from those with whom we ought to be in fellowship; we are not going to window dress and put on appearances; nor are we going to whitewash and excuse ourselves. We are going to be honest about ourselves with them. We are willing to give up our spiritual privacy, pocket our pride and risk our reputations for the sake of being open and transparent with our brethren in Christ.” (20)

Fear of vulnerability is probably the greatest hindrance to spiritual growth for a lot of Christians. By keeping ourselves at a safe distance we not only lose fellowship, we also refuse to let anyone speak into our lives with correction or encouragement, and we miss the opportunity to do the same for others. “There is no doubt that we need each other desperately. There are blind spots in all our lives that we shall never see, unless we are prepared for another to be God’s channel to us” (50).

I want to have this experience of daily revival—walking in “newness of life” as Paul said in Romans 6:4, being aware that His mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentation 3:22-23), and having fellowship with one another as with Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7). No one needs to wait for once a year revival services, or even once a week revivifying, because we have daily access to God, His Word, and one another.

“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!” –Psalm 105:4 ESV

Sacrificial Living

“Cheap worship is an oxymoron. It doesn’t exist” (Good to Great in God’s Eyes, by Chip Ingram). This comment, along with his discussion of Romans 12:1, got me thinking about sacrifice. Paul wrote “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (ESV). I have to admit that when I’ve read that verse in the past, I’ve unconsciously read “present your bodies, which is your spiritual worship,” and left out the part about sacrifice.

So I wondered, what have I really sacrificed? I’ve given time, but not sacrificially. I’ve given money, but it’s not a sacrifice when I have plenty. I’ve given up certain forms of entertainment, but it’s no sacrifice. Most of us will never be called to sacrifice our lives in martyrdom, but we are called to sacrifice our priorities for the love of God.

As I considered further, it occurred to me that sacrifice is a matter of perspective. If you’d told me 20 or 30 years ago how I’d be using my time, money, and energy today, I would have thought myself crazy to be giving up so much for the call of God—working for a Christian organization, giving x amount to the church, using time in study and service. But because it has been a gradual shift in my priorities, I’ve never considered it a real sacrifice. God has been kind to lead me one small step at a time. Many others have had to dive right into the deep end of faithful living. I’ve seen more significant changes in the past year, so I wonder if there is some bigger step of faith on the horizon that God is nudging me toward.

Ingram uses the analogy of a blank check, signing our lives over to God to use as He desires. He writes:

“It’s true that the sacrifices involved are very real, but it’s also true that the benefits are worth the costs. Jesus promised great rewards, both in this age and the age to come, for those who surrender everything to him (Mark 10:29-30). God never uses a blank check selfishly. He always takes care of the one who signed it.”

The sacrifices we are called to make are going to look different for each believer. For some it may mean going to an unknown land; for others it means staying home. For some it may mean giving up a job; for others it means staying in the same job. For some it may mean remaining single and celibate; for others it means raising a family. For some it may mean giving money to support a ministry need; for others it may mean giving time and energy. What is a sacrifice for me may not look like a sacrifice to someone else, and vice versa. We are in no position to judge what others should or shouldn’t do to follow God’s call.

I would challenge each of us to think through what we are doing or not doing in response to our love for God and our desire to worship Him with our whole being. Is there some piece we’re holding back out of fear, pride, or selfishness?

• Fear says “I might not have enough.” Faith says “God will provide.” (Philippians 4:19)
• Pride says “My time is too valuable to do that.” Humility says “I delight to do Your will, O Lord.” (Psalm 40:8)
• Selfishness says “I have the right to use my things as I want.” Generosity says “What do I have that didn’t come from God?” (1 Chronicles 29:14)

May God be gracious in leading us in steps of obedience, and merciful when we find it hard to follow!

Think

This Sunday in Sunday school we were talking about learning as a spiritual discipline, then this week I’ve been reading a few books that go along well with that theme: Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, by John Piper; Good to Great in God’s Eyes, by Chip Ingram; and If I Had Lunch with C.S. Lewis, by Alister McGrath. Piper makes the following comment in regard to “anti-intellectual impulses” within the church:

“If we were to succeed in raising a generation of people who give up serious, faithful, coherent thinking, we will have raised a generation incapable of reading the Bible… The problem with those who debunk the gift of thinking as a way of knowing God is that they do not spell out clearly what the alternative is. The reason is that there isn’t one. If we abandon thinking, we abandon the Bible, and if we abandon the Bible we abandon God” (123).

Ingram urges believers to “think great thoughts” and “read great books” that help us to understand Scripture, meditate on it, and apply it to our lives. One author quoted by McGrath wrote of C.S. Lewis, “Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.”

It seems in many churches that members don’t feel any need for spiritual nourishment outside of an hour or two on Sunday morning. Something I listened to recently (I forget who it was) made the claim that churchgoers are receiving too many messages with no chance to apply them. Maybe that was true when the primary social activities of a community revolved around the church—Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday night, etc. Barna Research states, “Regular attenders used to be people who went to church three or more weekends each month—or even several times a week. Now people who show up once every four to six weeks consider themselves regular churchgoers.”

So I doubt that these folks are hearing too many messages for them to apply. I believe the real problem is that people don’t want to have to think. They want to be spoon-fed a simple message that does not challenge them to consider how they should respond. They will forget the message as soon as they leave the pew, and won’t think about their faith until the next Sunday morning when they decide whether to go to church or not.

That’s a mindset I can’t really understand. In addition to being raised in the church, I’ve spent about 9 years in formal education at Christian colleges and seminaries, and much of my free time since then has been spent in reading and study of a wide variety of Christian books. The more I read and learn, the more I want to learn and the more I want to truly know God. I shared this quote recently on Facebook:

“A real Christian’s hunger may begin slowly, but it will grow over time, so that by the end of life a real Christian is hungrier than ever for God. By contrast, someone who is not real may have hunger that starts off strong, but it will diminish over time, so that eventually this person is less hungry for God, if at all” (Todd Wilson, Real Christian).

I’m afraid that’s what has happened to a lot of church members. At one time they realized a need for God, but they haven’t fed that need with the solid food of the Word and have gradually lost interest. Apathy has set in and they are satisfied with occasional appearances at church services to maintain the illusion of real faith. I wonder how many will hear those terrifying words, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23). I don’t want that to happen to any of the people I love. I want us all to be confident that He knows us and that we are seeking to know Him as well as we are humanly able.

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." –Matthew 12:30 ESV

Be Yourself

We hear a lot about the two-way battle between flesh and spirit, particularly in the New Testament letters. I’ve been noticing lately, however, that it sometimes seems like a three-way battle. There’s the outer self that everyone knows and sees. Then there’s the inner self with all its secrets, sins, and hidden motives that few people, if any, ever know about. And finally there is the spiritual self that is defined by how God sees us in Christ. Certainly that third “self” is the one we want to live out, though it takes a lifetime of learning how to do so. In the meantime, we have to wrestle with how to integrate the spiritual reality with how we see ourselves and how we present ourselves to the world.

Rick Warren commented, “The upcoming generation places a great value on authenticity. But it’s important to see that you’re not authentic until you can publicly admit how inauthentic you are most of the time” (http://www.desiringgod.org/conference-messages/the-battle-for-your-mind). How closely does our self-perception match the public persona? And how well do those agree with God’s view of us? I’ve long been fascinated by the definition of “integrity” as being unity or wholeness. It’s more than just morality; it’s having a unified personality, free from distortion.

Todd Wilson wrote the following, an excerpt from his book Real Christian as shared on http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/what-does-it-mean-to-be-real:

“Real Christians are new creatures. Physically, they won’t look different than others, at least not in the way they dress or keep their hair. Yet real Christians are radically changed—they’ve experienced a new birth, received a new heart, and enjoy new desires. Which makes them altogether new people who live new lives

“And it shows. If you’re real, it will reveal itself in your life. Real Christians bear the marks of authentic faith in ways that can be seen, heard, and felt. When you know what you’re looking for, you can see the marks of real in their lives—and in your own.”

The challenge, as I see it, is that we don’t even recognize how inauthentic we really are at times. After all, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). Not only do we fail to understand the true motives of our hearts, but pride keeps us from being open and honest before others. Then to top it off, we often forget or don’t know how to live out our true identity in Christ. I wish I had six easy steps to authentic Christian living, but I think we’re all still trying to figure out this life. As many have said, the first step is realizing we have a problem.

A local church had the following on their marquis for some time: “You only become yourself by God's power.” He’s the one who created us in His image, and He’s also the one who has re-created us in Christ. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 2:20, and Romans 6:4.) He’s the one who knows us intimately and loves us intensely. And He’s the only one who can transform us inside and out to reflect His glory.

Todd Wilson comments, “Wholeness is one of the marks of a real Christian, because when you’re real, you’ve received not half of Christ but the whole Christ… Every grace that is his is now ours, the fullness of his life within us. Everything we see in him, we will see ever increasingly in us” (115-116).

I want that to be my experience day by day, having a unified personality that increasingly reflects the mind of Christ in my perspective of God, myself, and others.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” –Galatians 2:20

Working or Abiding?

I’ve written before both about abiding in Christ and the Fruit of the Spirit, but I had kind of an “Aha” moment recently as I started reading True Community by Jerry Bridges. Sometimes just a simple rephrasing makes an old truth more clear. He quotes Robert Haldane’s Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans:

“It is impossible that the streams can be dried up when the fountain continues to flow, and it is equally impossible for the members not to share in the same holiness which dwells so abundantly in the Head. As the branch, when united to the living vine, necessarily partakes of its life and fatness, so the sinner, when united to Christ, must receive an abundant supply of sanctifying grace out of His immeasurable fullness.”

Or as John recorded Jesus saying, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (15:5 ESV).

I don’t think I’d considered before the fact that the branches must bear fruit if they are attached to the Vine. It is now part of our new nature, the life blood flowing in us, to bear the fruit that the Vine creates. (However, it is possible for people to only look like they are attached to the Vine and not really be saved and thus not bear fruit.) Those who are attached will be compelled to bear fruit. That may not be their own priority to begin with, but the Vinedresser will keep pruning away all lesser desires.

I really have no choice in whether I will bear fruit or what that fruit will look like. All of that is determined by my Father. I also can’t make it happen any faster or through some easier process. (I’m not sure I can even slow it down if God has His way.) It will grow when and how He desires. It is rather a relief to know He’s got it all in hand. I am confident that I am indeed connected to the life of the Vine because of what He has already done in and through me in recent months and years. And that knowledge leads to further confidence that He will complete His fruit-bearing work in me and gives me greater faith and hope.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think I’ve always tried to make abiding too complicated, too much my own work. The fact is, I am in the Vine and nothing can now change that. Fruit is both the proof of what God has done to graft me in and the ongoing evidence of what He is doing. It has nothing to do with how good I am at being a branch. If it depended on me, I’d be lopping myself off the Vine every day. To quote Dr. Bob Mayer’s message in our office chapel service today, “Think how liberating that can be—God’s work does not depend on you… Nothing happens apart from the sovereign care of God.”

I hope and pray that this lesson won’t soon be forgotten in the busyness of perfectionism!

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…” –John 15:16