Obey him

At my Sunday Bible Study, we worked over these two verses, which speak of Jesus:

Hebrews 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

Obviously, verse eight is a bit of a puzzle (how can Jesus, the perfect image of God, be deficient in any way, such that he needs to learn obedience?), but I want to focus on verse nine.  Most of my contemporaries either grew up in or are familiar with Protestant theology, with its focus on salvation through faith. Having grown up Lutheran, I am very familiar with the idea of Sola fide - that salvation is through faith alone. These verses are often used for justification of this position:

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Yet here, in Hebrews 5:9, it says that Jesus is the source of salvation for all who obey him. (Incidentally, this verse is to me evidence that the writer of Hebrews was not Paul.) Though not a necessary interpretation, one possible interpretation of this verse is that obeying Jesus is a prerequisite for salvation.

If so, what obedience is needed for salvation?  Is it the Law? Is it the Greatest Commandment? Well, I immediately thought about what Jesus said in John 15:

John 15:10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. [...] 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

So, to put it together, Jesus is our source of salvation if we obey his command to love one another.  Note that he is speaking to believers, so I think that it is reasonable to say that his command is to especially, if not exclusively, love other believers.

If this is so, think of how critical it is that we love each other.  It is the foundation of our relationship with God. Our very salvation depends upon it!  And yet, how often do we sacrifice love to other things, like moral standards, perfect theology, or even our own comfort.  Don't we judge and hold ourselves apart from those who have publickly sinned or whose theology we find flawed?  Think of how many times you have heard or read vitriolic criticism of a prominent or famous person from someone not personally acquainted with that person.  Do a Google or YouTube search of Benny Hinn, or Rick Warren, or other prominent Christians, and you will find pages dedicated to their faults and failings.  Is this loving? Is this how we should treat other believers? Is this how we want to be treated? Jesus gives very specific instructions on how to deal with other Christians who have sinned:

Matthew 18:15 "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (NAS)

If we think someone has sinned, Jesus wants us to try and settle it quietly between us first.  To do otherwise isn't obeying Jesus guidelines for how we are to treat each other, and so I think that this means that our actions are unloving.

Are we putting our salvation in jeopardy if we don't follow this model for dealing with the sins of other believers?

How important is it to love other believers - is it necessary for salvation?

The Persecuted Church

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

I have a vision of a woman. She is in a cell. The cell is about 4' by 6', made of block walls. The walls are smooth and painted white. The long walls are plain and unadorned. On one short wall, very high up, is a window. The window is small and covered by a grate, but it lets in some air, light, and, occasionally, rain. On the opposite wall is a steel door. There is a slot in the door near the floor for food to be passed through, and a slot higher up for observation. The woman is afraid of the door. The door does not represent freedom for the woman. The door represents pain, sorrow, and degradation. When she leaves through the door is also when she is most aware of the suffering of her fellow prisoners. She does not like when that door opens.

The floor of the cell is wet, and dirty. Besides the woman, the cell contains a mattress along one wall, a bucket in the corner, and a porcelain bowl from her last meal. The woman is kneeling on the mattress. The sun is shining through the window onto her. Though the air is crisp, her clothes are thin, summer-weight.

The woman's hands are clasped. Her head is bowed. She has been praying. It has been some days since they last opened the door, and she thinks it likely that they will come for her today. She stops her quiet prayer. She throws up her hands and begins to sing to God. She worships him, thanking him for his gift of eternal life and for the sacrifice of Jesus. She recommits her heart to him, declaring that she relies on his mercy and believes in his justice.

She continues to sing, as she hears the sound of booted feet walking in the hall.

---

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, and I am so humbled and honored to be counted a brother to those who are imprisoned, beaten, harassed, shunned and otherwise injured and yet who continue to praise God in such circumstances. This praise is especially sweet and significant to God, given as it is in great faith and, sometimes, at much personal cost. And I feel for those who fail in these times, who fall away or who don't stand up for the faith and who feel ashamed of their failure. We owe such brothers and sisters a debt of love and of prayer.

Faith teaching, part 3

Here are the earlier parts of this teaching:

Faith teaching part 2
Faith teaching part 1

OK, so back to this verse:

Hebrews 11:6 And 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. (NIV)

We are talking about the type of faith that pleases God. Moreover, the type of faith that is necessary if we are to please God. We talked about the first aspect of this faith, which I termed the He can aspect of faith.

The second aspect of the faith that pleases God is to believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. This is an interesting contrast to the first characteristic of faith. The first aspect of faith talked about is belief in who God is. This second aspect talks about what God does. And of all the various activities that God engages in - creating, loving, judging, etc. - faith is the belief that he rewards.

Interesting word, reward. A reward is not an unmerited gift; it is a prize for having done something. In English the word is often used when the thing given is out of proportion to the actual work done, as in "a reward of $1000 will be given for any information leading to the capture of this dangerous criminal." However, in Greek, the word connotes being paid wages for doing work. There is a sense of duty in the giving, of obligation; that the reward given is in proportion to the work done. An amazing thing, this: to be paid wages for earnestly seeking God.

It reminds me of another verse, originally found in Genesis 15:6, but quoted three times in the New Testament. I'll quote it from Romans, because I'm allowed:

Romans 4:3: ...Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. (NIV)

Similar to Hebrews 11:6, a reward (credit) is given for belief. This word translated credited connotes in both the Hebrew and the Greek the ideas of calculating and counting. Again, there is the idea that there is a fair exchange here - on one side, the belief, and on the other, what is rewarded or credited. This is astounding, that one can receive a reward from God just for believing, and it is treated as his or her due to receive it! For this is what Paul goes on to say in Romans chapter 4:

4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Some people would say that God is obligated by the rules of the spiritual realm to credit our faith as righteousness. I don't like to think of it this way, because this makes God subordinate to what He has created. Instead, I believe that He has obligated Himself to repay our belief.

OK, so back to Hebrews. What is the reward given for belief? I think that there are many rewards, but the big one, the ultimate one, the one that really matters is given at the end of Hebrews 10:

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (my emphasis)

This actually comes right before the "faith chapter" of Hebrews 11. We believe and are saved. The reward of our belief is to be saved. Lest there be any confusion over what it means to be saved, the New American Standard renders "saved" as "preserving of the soul." The reward of God, given to those who earnestly seek him, is that their soul may be saved to eternal life, that they may survive the great judgment that is coming and escape death.

Now here is another cool part. In the New Testament, God reveals a new name for Himself. It is the name of his son, who is God in the flesh. That name is Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name "Yehoshua" (English "Joshua"), which means "Yahweh is salvation." More loosely, it might be said to mean "He saves," as from Matthew 1:21:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

Above, we saw that salvation is our reward, so to say "He rewards" is similar to saying "He saves." So, in this verse of Hebrews 11:6, we have both of the personal names of God: Yahweh ("He is") and Jesus ("He saves"). Isn't that cool? Faith, then, is believing in the two major revelations of God's personal nature - that He is, and that He saves.

Finally, I want to talk more about this idea that rewarding is something God does. Because rewarding is something that God does, it is connected to the will or desire of God. He is not compelled to do anything; He is God! So God wants to save; God wants to reward. This concept was very important to my growth in faith, that I am pleasing to God when I believe that he wants to reward me. This shatters the idea that it is godly or holy to shrink away from God's provision, to say "oh no, God, you are so very busy, don't bother with poor lil ole me." I can ask God for what I need not only because He can give me what I need, but because He wants to give me what I need - and it pleases Him when I adopt this attitude! Part of the faith that pleases God is the belief that he wants to reward those who earnestly seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6 And 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.

So, finally, let me say that I think of these two portions of faith in this way: Faith is belief that God can, and that God wants to.

Application

I have found that when I lack faith for something, I can usually trace it to having a deficiency in one of these two aspects of faith. Either I am believing that God can't act (He isn't powerful enough, or He is prevented from acting, etc.), or that He doesn't want to. Knowing this allows me to focus in on the specific beliefs that I need to correct. I can then challenge those thoughts and feelings with what I know about God from the Bible.

For example, suppose that I have trouble believing that God will save someone that I am praying for. When I examine my thoughts, I find that I am failing to believe that God can. I am, instead, believing that God cannot violate that person's free will to ignore God. However, I know that God turned the heart of Saul of Tarsus, who was very much against Jesus. My friend is not that hardened against God, so certainly God can turn their heart to Him.

Or suppose that I am praying for my healing, and I find myself lacking in faith. In looking more closely at my attitudes, I discover that I feel that God doesn't want to heal me. Maybe I feel that He can't be bothered with my sickness because it is small compared to others, or that he considers my physical health a less important thing than my spiritual health.

But this isn't what the Bible says. The Bible says that Jesus healed a lot. In fact, the Bible says in several places (for example, Matthew 4:24, 12:15, and 14:36) that Jesus healed all that came to him - regardless of how big or small their illness. Also, in James Chapter 5 the author commands that the sick should be prayed over, and they will get well. James, who comes across as a pretty tough character in his letter, didn't offer up any nonsense about how the sick should be content to stay sick. Clearly, God wants us to be healed.

So, my charge to you is to examine your faith, to see if it is lacking in either of these areas. If it is, convince your heart from the Bible, or through the ministry of the Body of Christ, that God can and that God wants to.

Faith teaching

I've had a teaching running through my mind for several months now. I know that it is a "teaching" and not a meditation because I think about it when I hear other people teach. It's like someone else using their teaching gift activates this teaching in my spirit, and I think about and ponder it and imagine how I would preach it. It makes it difficult to focus on what other people teach. On the other hand, it makes listening to teachings very enjoyable, because this teaching really revs up my spirit.

It's about faith. See, for a long time I didn't really understand faith. The word faith is thrown around within the church, until it seems to mean many things, so for a long time it wasn't really something I felt I understood.

The classic definition for faith - or at least, the one I heard all the time as a young believer - comes from Hebrews 11:1. Here it is in the Revised Standard Version, which is how I learned it:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Let's see, I said to myself. Assurance means to be reassured that something is true, right? Hmm, what are "things hoped for"? "Conviction of things not seen" - what does that mean? How does all this relate to having faith for healing and that God will make everything work out?

So, this verse didn't really make much sense to me for a long time.

The verse that I like as a definition of faith is just five verses later: Hebrews 11:6. This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible:

And 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. (NIV)

This verse defines what faith is. Moreover, it defines a specific kind of faith: the kind that pleases God. I don't know about you, but if I'm going to bother with faith, this is the kind that I want to bother with - the kind that pleases God. Note, also, the converse: if you don't have this faith, you are not pleasing to God. In fact, this verse says that if you don't have faith it is impossible to please God. Gotta get me some faith, then!

Note also the God-centric nature of faith. Faith is not defined as that which allows us to get what we want, or to gain heavenly riches, or to overcome obstacles. No, faith is that which allows us to please God. Faith also allows a person to come to God. Faith in Christian circles is sometimes talked about almost as if it were an entity in and of itself. "You gotta have faith to push on through." "Exercise your faith to make it strong." Nice ideas, but the Biblical view of faith is properly focused on God. Faith is a means to get to God; faith is the way to please God. God is the center point and object of faith.

I'm going to end here for now and pick up the rest of this later.