Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “The Roots of Abraham”. A really marvelous lesson on those early days of Abraham. And the key idea in this lesson is “faith”. Abraham “believed (had faith) in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Faith, belief, trust. The only proper response from sinful man to the promises of God. Trust God.
Such an easy thing to say. “I trust you, God”. But what are you trusting Him about? Are you trusting Him to give you eternal life just because you say the words, “I trust you”? Is saying the words enough, without a life that testifies to that trust? Is faith in God just a proclamation that enables you to go on living a life of sin? I hope that is not your idea. In our memory text from Hebrews 11:8, it states that Abraham’s faith led him to obey. And isn’t that more in-line with what “faith” really is? True “faith” leads you to follow, not just say the words.
Jesus uses an interesting story to draw this conclusion. “A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” (Matthew 21:28-31). Evidently, the son who eventually did “go”. So with us. If we profess faith, but do not follow, then it is not faith at all. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). But not only that, “he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).
What a mess of “true faith” popular Christianity has made. As if faith is merely having faith in Christ’s “merits”. What has any of us to do with Christ’s merits if we do not have faith enough in Him to follow Him? As James so succinctly states, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). So it is, for Abraham and for all of us.
Remember, faith is not some mental exercise. The faith that we are to have, is not faith in some “plan of salvation”. We are not to merely have faith in Christ’s “merits”. We are to have faith in a Person. And this faith/ trust comes only as we experience a relationship with that Divine Person. Faith, trust, belief must center on a person. And this faith cannot come by some proclamation, by some command or by some mere mental acknowledgement. It must come as we get to know and to love our Savior and God. It’s really a simple concept. Faith, based on a sustained and growing love-relationship with our “Father”, our “Brother”, our “Husband”.
“Works” rightfully understood establishes our “faith”. And it is not just “works”. Because “the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). So the “righteousness that is in accordance with faith” is what Abraham exhibited. A love for God and a deep abiding trust in Him demonstrated in His life. Even love for “the Babel Coalition” (Quarterly for Wednesday, May 4).
As we study, let us never forget this grand and glorious motive of love that motivates our God and all who have true faith in Him. “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3). Commandment keeping and love are not antithetical. True love is true commandment keeping. True faith is true commandment keeping. True faith is seen in true love.
Works to earn salvation is foolishness and destroys us. Works that spring from our faith in God, and love for Him and our fellowman, establishes our faith. It all depends on the motive… as always.
With brotherly love,
Jim