homeier@aero.ARPA (Peter Homeier) (10/10/85)
[...] [this line is thrown in the teeth of any line-eaters around!] "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." (Acts 16:31) To become saved, to move from this world system of darkness into the light and fellowship of the kingdom of God requires faith. It is not something that can be established by good deeds, however noble and sacrificial. (Romans 3:20) It is not something that can be achieved just by intellectual study and rationalization. (1 Corinthians 1:20) Nor is it something that comes purely as an emotional experience. This is not to say that there will not be righteous acts of love, powerful and cogent reasonings about God, or deep-felt emotions caught up with the whole experience of salvation. But the key is faith. This is what opens the door to the kingdom. But in this society, faith is not well understood. In the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews faith is defined for us: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ... But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Romans 11:1,6) Faith is what is required for salvation, not works. Church attendance, Bible study, giving to feed hungry people, even missionary work is worthless for achieving salvation. None of us is good enough to earn it. It can only be aquired through faith in Jesus. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, that none may boast." Faith is not just believing that God is. There is also required a concommittent alignment with Him. For "Even the demons believe-- and tremble!". (James 2:19) Real faith always yields some action. That action may not be immediate, but it will always occur, just as true love always finds some action to express itself. Faith continues to do the good thing even though there is no visible guarantee that it will be rewarded. Faith is trusting God that what He said in His Word, He will do, and acting upon that faith, even when everything and everyone around is telling you the opposite. Faith cannot be reached by a purely intellectual argument. God desires people to come to Him by faith, and so He made such a foolish thing as faith to be the doorway to the Kingdom. "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:21-25) This should not be taken to imply that faith is irrational or counter- rational. Rather, faith is beyond rationality, being a perception of truth beyond the range of proof. Since we are dealing with truth, clearly all of it must be consistent! When we can understand and deal with things on a rational basis, fine. God gave us our minds. But we must not limit God to what we can conceive Him to be. God is far, far more than we understand. Faith does not come from ourselves, but rather it is itself a gift from God. Faith is not a work that we do, as if we could by some passion of fervor and intensity achieve enough faith to ask for people to be healed or mountains to be moved. But faith is something that we grow in over time, walking in the faith that we have been given up to now. This is not to say that people are not responsible for not believing; they cannot say, "Well, I guess God just never gave me the gift of faith, so I am excused for not accepting Christ!". Ask for faith, and God will give it to you. Faith is not a work. It is the easiest thing in the world. A little baby can have enough faith to accept Jesus as Lord. But we adults have to make it a big process, when really it is very simple. Just think of how a little child has faith in Jesus. That is how you should have faith. "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3) Often people feel like they wish they had more faith than they do. That is a good wish! When the disciples asked Jesus, "Increase our faith," he responded by encouraging them to seek faith by telling them that if they had only faith as big as a mustard seed (an extremely minute seed!) then they would literally be able to say to a mountain, "Be lifted up, and be thrown into the sea!" and the mountain would obey them. There is an enourmous reservoir of power available to people who will pray believing. One excellent way to increase in faith is to do a lot of Bible study. "So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." In seeing the faith of the other great men in the Bible, our own faith is strengthened. In seeing the great deeds of God and the love He bears towards us, we are encouraged to trust Him and believe Him that He is able to do all He has promised. Now whatever level of faith the Lord has given to you, walk in it! Exercise your faith. For example, pray for things, like the healing of ill people you know, trusting the promise that says "by His stripes we are healed.". When difficult decisions come up in your life, ask the Lord what you should do, and wait for His answer. He will answer you. It will not be in the way you expect, but if you are really willing to hear Him and obey Him, then He will show you His will. If you believe in Him, then wait and listen until He answers. DO NOT rush off, grabbing things back into your own hands, thinking that God has forgotten you! When it is time, He will do what he has promised. But faith waits patiently. I don't mean that one should take this to absurd limits, like not making a decision that must be made today because you didn't hear anything from the Lord. But there will be opportunities for you to give decisions over to the Lord, and when you do what He says to do, everything will flow and work with infinitely greater success than if you had done it on your own power. Read in Hebrews chapter 11 for the great roll call of the heroes of the faith. "And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness werre made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again." (v 32-35) But now note how the tone changes: "And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth." (v 35-38) This shows one of the deepest mysteries of faith. As the first half of the scripture shows, many times we achieve great visible victories through faith in God, as Daniel was saved in the lion's den. But there is another level of maturity, when God appears to withdraw His protection, allowing terrible sorrows to come upon His beloved children, when it appears that there is no comfort or peace from Him, when the world feels as empty and drear as if there were no God. But this is for our good that He allows this, that He might build our faith in times of darkness, stress, and trouble. He wants us to believe in Him even when we cannot see His salvation anywhere at hand. He will take us right up to the brink of Hell, and we may even topple in. But God has not sent us in without an example. Jesus also endured the Cross, when everything around said that God had forgotten Him, abandoned Him to an ignominious death. He could have taken things into His own hands, summoning legions of angels and coming down from the cross. But Jesus maintained His faith in the Father, even to death. And because He did, God raised Him from the dead. "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2) -- Peter Homeier ______ Arpanet: homeier@aerospace / o \_/ UUCP: ..!ihnp4!trwrb!aero!homeier \___)__/ \ The Aerospace Corporation, M1-108 El Segundo, CA 90245
coryb@hammer.UUCP (Cory Barker) (10/14/85)
Peter, I really enjoyed your article and found much good information therein, but there is one thing that I do not understand. If there are no works that we must do to be saved then how is it determined who is saved and who is not saved? As you say, we must believe in Christ to be saved. I however would have to classify believing in Christ as a work. Perhaps you could clarify what you understand to be a work. Faith is a gift from God but to receive that gift we must do something like ask for it or read the scriptures. Please understand that I do not wish to disagree with you just to be disagreeable but what you are saying just does not make sense to me. Also be assured that I believe that Jesus Christ atoned for my sins and if he had not done so then all the works in the world could not save me. Cory Barker
charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips) (10/16/85)
>As you say, we must believe in Christ to be saved. >I however would have to classify believing in Christ as a work. >Perhaps you could clarify what you understand to be a work. >Faith is a gift from God but to receive that gift we must >do something like ask for it or read the scriptures. >[Cory Barker] Lutherans hold that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, and that works have no part in it. Because of our strong insistence on *faith alone*, we hold that faith cannot be construed as a work by which we merit salvation. The Catechism states, in answer to the question, "How does the Holy Spirit create faith in us?" that God gives us faith "through the preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments." The Augsburg Confession states: "To obtain such faith, God has instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, he works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear the Gospel." We must believe to be saved, but God Himself is the one who gives us the faith so that we can believe. charli
homeier@aero.ARPA (Peter Homeier) (10/17/85)
In article <1562@hammer.UUCP> coryb@hammer.UUCP (Cory Barker) writes: > >Peter, I really enjoyed your article and found much good >information therein, but there is one thing that I do not >understand. > >If there are no works that we must do to be saved then >how is it determined who is saved and who is not saved? >As you say, we must believe in Christ to be saved. >I however would have to classify believing in Christ as a work. >Perhaps you could clarify what you understand to be a work. >Faith is a gift from God but to receive that gift we must >do something like ask for it or read the scriptures. > >Please understand that I do not wish to disagree with you >just to be disagreeable but what you are saying just does >not make sense to me. Also be assured that I believe that >Jesus Christ atoned for my sins and if he had not done so >then all the works in the world could not save me. > >Cory Barker Cory, I am glad to have this opportunity to clarify what I was talking about. Thanks for bringing it up, since it really is quite important. The scripture I based that point on was in Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." The point here is that it is God's grace, working in His sovereign love, that gives us the faith to believe. Our action in this is simply to accept that grace and that faith, that is, to believe. That is why people speak of making a decision for Christ. When someone *decides* to accept Jesus, the Lord is at that time giving faith to that person so that they can believe. I am not sure I completely understand all of what occurs here, but I think it may be related to the "leap of faith" that goes beyond what one knows to be provably true to believe in Jesus. So the only thing that we really have that we can say we gave to the Lord that was wholly ours is our wills. And those we need to lay down to Him every day, in countless ways. But the faith that we have in Him did not come from our inner strength or determination, as someone trying to grit his teeth and by sheer energy shouting "I *will* believe! I *will* believe!" That is obviously ridiculous. When you believe something, there is no straining or striving. You just believe it. If faith were something that you could indeed aquire by inner strength then there would be some people who would not be able, by reason of weakness of character, to believe. Also, those who were able by their strength, to have the faith to believe, would be able to chuckle to themselves, "Well, I really have done pretty well here, haven't I? Here I have gone and made this truly splendid display of show-stopping faith. My, I am impressive, aren't I? What a pity that poor slob over there can't believe. Perhaps if I showed off a bit more, he might take my course in 'Faith-building: How You Too Can Inherit the Kingdom, by rigorous discipline and exercise.'." They could say that they had done something that made them worthy of being saved, whereas actually we have done nothing worthy of salvation, but must lean wholly on Jesus as our redemption. The point is that we are completely lost without Him. There is nothing that we can do, no matter how fine and noble it may appear that can in any way pay off the enourmous debt of our sin. Only by trusting in Jesus and His dying for us can we be relieved of that incredible burden. Now 'works' is a word that is commonly used to denote those things that are done, for example, building a house, getting a Master's degree, writing a program, preaching, reading the Bible, saving someone from drowning, etc. The Bible encourages us to praise God for His great works, including the Creation of the world, and us in it (!), His sending Jesus to die for us, His raising Jesus from the dead, healing people, saving souls, etc. Many of these things are good. Under the Mosaic Law, the Jews thought that they could get to heaven by works, i.e., by obeying the Ten Commandments. But Jesus told us that we could by no means enter Heaven unless we were perfect in our observance of the Law. Since no one can possibly be perfect, this means that only by having Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to us by faith in Him can we be saved from judgement. For God has decreed that for whoever would accept Jesus as Lord, He will consider Jesus's sacrifice as complete payment of that person's sins. Then since all of our sins are paid for, we appear as sinless, perfect saints in the eyes of God. This is what I meant by this faith is not a work. We can't make faith, we must receive it. We ask Jesus to come in, and we are given the faith to believe in Him. We can't congratulate ourselves that we did anything that encouraged God to save us, He just saved us by working in our hearts knowledge of our need of Him, and bringing us to the point where we decided to accept Him. All we did was decide. I suppose you could call that decision a work. Fine, but the faith was still a gift, as the verse quoted above said. Now, we can indeed ask for faith, and that prayer is a work, but then the faith that we receive is still a gift, not in any sense "earned" by our prayer, only *released* to us by the prayer, as unlocking the front door lets the morning sunshine and warm air in. I can see that I am beginning to run on, so I think I will stop here. Please tell me how this strikes you, Cory, or if what I am trying to express is still not being said clearly. Or if I didn't really answer what you were asking about, then tell me. I don't feel that I have the ultimate answers here, anyways. If what I say has value to you, if it helps you in some way, then I'm happy. I certainly don't think that everything that I write is perfect. Sincerely, your brother, Peter -- Peter Homeier ______ Arpanet: homeier@aerospace / o \_/ UUCP: ..!ihnp4!trwrb!aero!homeier \___)__/ \ The Aerospace Corporation, M1-108 El Segundo, CA 90245
jordan@noscvax.UUCP (Martin C. Jordan) (10/18/85)
In article <1562@hammer.UUCP> coryb@hammer.UUCP (Cory Barker) writes: > >Peter, I really enjoyed your article and found much good >information therein, but there is one thing that I do not >understand. > >If there are no works that we must do to be saved then >how is it determined who is saved and who is not saved? >As you say, we must believe in Christ to be saved. >I however would have to classify believing in Christ as a work. >Perhaps you could clarify what you understand to be a work. >Faith is a gift from God but to receive that gift we must >do something like ask for it or read the scriptures. > >Please understand that I do not wish to disagree with you >just to be disagreeable but what you are saying just does >not make sense to me. Also be assured that I believe that >Jesus Christ atoned for my sins and if he had not done so >then all the works in the world could not save me. > >Cory Barker Would you not agree that a present becomes a gift ONLY after you have received it? You may have many presents around the Christmas tree, but they don't become gifts until AFTER you have acted and opened them. Similarly, you have to "receive" Christ in order to experience God's gift of salvation. Also, the idea of "works" means that I must fulfill a certain set of criteria (doing good, pasiing out 5000 leaflets, or such like). God's gift comes with no strings attached at all. Simply receive it, and don't look upon getting presents as work or Santa may bypass your house this year :-). Regards, Martin Jordan