Posts: Objectives of the Faithful

Objectives of the Faithful

For many church-goers, the objective is to “go to heaven.” Certainly, spending eternity with God and His family is a by-product of faith, just as good works must be a by-product of faith. But if one’s objective, rather than a pleasant but unintended result, is to go to heaven, love of others takes a back seat to one’s personal agenda. In contrast, Paul even wished that he might be accursed if unbelieving Jews could be saved (Romans 9:3). God’s brand of love is a gift to the faithful (Romans 5:5), so is required.

Many church-goers assume that God’s purpose for creation was to have other beings to glorify Him. Although speaking of God’s character (glorifying God) is a natural outgrowth of knowing God, imagining that God would create for the purpose of self-promotion flies in the face of God’s humility as demonstrated by Jesus. Rather, God’s purpose is a big family that lasts.

Many church-goers assume that God’s purpose behind creation was to be loved and have other beings to love. Although this idea is pleasant, the central focus of the Bible, trust, is overlooked. One can love, do what is best for others, without trusting them, just as parents love children who have chosen a bad path. Trust is necessary for an enduring, mutual relationship. Love is an essential expression of the trustworthy.

Many church-goers have the idea that forgiveness and justification are the same. However, “forgive” gives the picture of “push aside.” To forgive a person means to push the wrong out of the line of sight, no longer standing in the way of the relationship. Justification, as the root word implies, has to do with satisfying justice. The faithful are made right with justice because Jesus paid the debt. God made the distinction clear in Exodus 34:7, “…forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but by no means clearing the guilty…”

Many churches focus on the importance of Jesus paying our debt to justice. Although that is essential, justification just gets us even. Faith (expressing itself through love) puts us in the black. God’s forgiveness pushes to one side the bad choices we still make so the family atmosphere can continue. Mercy describes God’s compulsion to fix what ails us through the power of the Spirit. His grace is why He doesn’t give up on us after so many failures.

For the first 280 years of the church, Christians were persecuted in various ways ranging from execution to imprisonment to loss of property to slander. These affronts were not systematic but sporadic because Christians were generally poor so the oppressors bore the cost of this political and social suppression without tangible benefits. The Christians never rebelled, fought back, or staged a protest. Instead, they supported, comforted, and built up one another. The Christians had joy; the opposition slowly degraded themselves. Eventually, Constantine realized that this long-standing practice was not cost effective and was hurting the type of citizens he should rather promote. Christianity was decriminalized in 313 AD. Unfortunately, within a short period, Christianity became fashionable. As the fashionable began to outnumber the faithful, this new version of Christianity adopted the same practices as their former oppressors.

Many churches focus on righteousness, good behavior. Although this should be a by-product of our desire to give God a good day and the impact that our behavior has on the believability of the Gospel, bad behavior has already been accounted in the sacrifice of Jesus. The right-and-wrong system has been paid up permanently. We have no need of silly pseudo-logic about being continuously cleansed or masked by being in Christ. The price of admission is mutual trust and selfless love. If we have those, behavior takes care of itself.

Have you known anyone who appeared to have faith, but not love? The gospels describe the Pharisees in this way (Luke 11:42, John 5:39 – 47). However, for the faithful in the Christian era, the first listed fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22). God promised to fill their hearts with His brand of love (Romans 5:5). If we find ourselves focused on setting rules but overlooking people, pray for the Spirit. The resolution is miraculous.

Goals keep us focused; a lack of goals usually results in nothing. Goals in the kingdom of God can be a good thing, but also can lead to legalism. If the goal has a minimum requirement, try again. If the goal can be reached by human achievement, try again. In the church, every goal must include an essential contribution from the Spirit.

“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise out of the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22) Many modern translations, without linguistic support, have changed it to “the promise by faith in Jesus Christ,” which results in redundancy in the sentence. More importantly, the faith of Jesus set the promise of the indwelling Spirit in motion, not our inconsistent faith. Jesus walked by faith, not by sight.

“In whom [Jesus] we have boldness and access with confidence through the faith of Him.” (Ephesians 3:12) Many modern translations, without linguistic support, have changed this to “through faith in Him.” Do the faithful have boldness and confident access as a result of their own faith or that of Jesus?

“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” (James 2:1) The context addresses the common human failing of giving greater honor and attention to the wealthy while dismissing the poor. Another interesting facet is the cure: to hold the faith of our Lord. Our objective is to have the same faith as Jesus had, which is how to make problem behaviors go away.

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15 – 16) Holiness combines several ideas about God: breath-taking, consistent, devoted to only the best. Christians, as temples of the Holy Spirit, are to inspire the observer through strength of character, commitment to godly principles, and doing what is best for others. The faithful are not frequent failures but monuments to overcoming through the power of God.

“Whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is made consistent in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:5 – 6) The faithful, through the power of God, are able to love in the same way that Jesus loved. The life-management skills of Jesus are not beyond our grasp.

“But we all, with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) The “unveiled face” is a comparison to Moses, who veiled his face so that the fading of his glowing face would be hidden. In contrast, the faithful parade the character traits of God (His glory) all the time. We can check our miraculous transformation in the mirror every day.

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15) In Paul’s day, some Jewish Christians wanted non-Jewish Christians to follow Jewish ways. In every era, the faithful have often unintentionally mixed culture with the gospel to make it more acceptable to outsiders. When the line between culture and Bible gets blurred, an odd mixture is carried by missionaries into new cultures. The point is to be a new creation, a reflection of Jesus, through the power of the Spirit. The rest is convenience.

“Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4) One of the facets of baptism is one’s commitment to a promise from God. The illustration is that the old person dies and a new person is resurrected. By participating, one is declaring confidence in the power of God to make the transformation happen. Continuing to excuse ourselves announces that God has no such power.

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:22 – 24) The original readers, presumably still breathing, were already in the company of angels, in the presence of God. Think as a spirit.

Heaven has not always been a great place. In the past, Satan had free access (Job 1:6 – 12, 21:1 – 8, Zechariah 3:1 – 2, Revelation 12:9 – 10). After Jesus went home, Satan and his minions were exiled (Revelation 12:7 – 17) and Jesus cleaned the place up (Hebrews 9:11 – 12). The present heaven has been repaired, in which faithful spirits (both physically living and physically dead), angels, and God dwell (Hebrews 12:22 – 24). But it gets better…

At Judgment, a “new heaven and new earth” will be revealed, which is mentioned three times in the Old Testament and four times in the New. The faithful, physically living and physically dead, will receive new, spiritual bodies of unknown composition (1 Corinthians 15:35 – 58). But if the faithful already are “seated in heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:6) where Jesus is (Ephesians 1:20), why would God provide everything new? The Bible doesn’t say. I suggest that God’s level of detail demanded something better than repaired and cleaned.

Many picture heaven as an extended vacation. Some insist that the eternal inhabitants will have work to do, mostly praising God. I think those pictures miss the point of creation: a big family that will last. On earth, our extended faith family is disrupted repeatedly from without and within. Those brief times on earth when we revel in the family dynamic, peaceful yet intense, consumed yet individual, victorious yet humble, will merge into a continuous thread of joy.

In the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) When Jesus said this, Satan and his angels still had free access to heaven. They were not exiled until Jesus went home. So, Jesus was setting the bar a bit low, not that everything that happened on earth would be to God’s liking, but that earth would work at least as well as it did in heaven at that time. God definitely was in charge, but plenty of evil spirits were in the mix.

1 Corinthians 5:9 – 13 addresses the company Christians should keep. If all badly behaved persons were to be avoided, “you would need to go out of the world.” Certainly, “bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) But, there is a practical limit. The behaviorally challenged need the gospel, and they are not likely to come looking for it. On the other hand, Paul reminded the Christians of Corinth that they were not to hang out with poorly behaved church folks. Somehow, we seem to have gotten that backwards.

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” (Colossians 4:5 – 6) The faithful should seem gracious, witty, and wise to the outsider. Yet, less flattering descriptions often are mentioned by outsiders of Christians and their gatherings. Or, the meeting is merely entertaining but not substantive. The recommended qualities are not an atmosphere to be produced, but a set of traits which you are.

“For it is the God…who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) The faithful should know and have absorbed the character of God as it was demonstrated in the life of Jesus. Like a flashlight on a strange and dark path, this light allows outsiders to avoid pitfalls, survive calamities, and reach desirable destinations.

“…that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:10 – 11) Jesus’ life was hard: poor, misunderstood, persecuted, maligned, mistreated. Yet, He was gracious and loving throughout. Paul highlighted this as the desired evangelistic style. We must not appeal with promises of health and wealth. Rather, we demonstrate how to overcome ourselves and the hazards of life through the power of the Spirit into a life of joy.

Someone convicted of a crime receives a sentence which, on our legal, human scale, theoretically “pays the debt to society.” However, the effects of the crime are not reversed, only partially compensated. Further, the ex-con faces a life of discrimination, barred from many jobs, from voting, and from free association. Jesus’ sacrifice paid our debt to justice. Our faith pushes aside the future repercussions. God may be expected to distrust us after our many failures. Forgiveness pushes that potential distrust to the side so that we may enjoy a relationship of mutual trust and mutual selflessness.

We tend to stress our trust of God, acting on that which He promised without being able to see exactly how the promise works. But He must trust us as well, setting aside well-deserved distrust. This is the heart of forgiveness.

“I believed and therefore I spoke” (2 Corinthians 4:13 quoting Psalm 116:10) Of what should the faithful speak? In this context, the common sense of truth is contrasted with the nonsense of the world. The power to overcome is offered to the powerless. A new perspective is drawn for those who live in misery. Graciousness spills over the rejected. Hope gives purpose. Trust yields confidence. Love compels. The faithful have more good news than they can contain.

“Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” (2 Corinthians 5:11) The context reveals that the fear felt by the faithful is for outsiders, not for themselves. First, the faithful are confident. Second, the faithful do not think in terms of themselves but of others. Third, the faithful genuinely care what might happen to others, so they constantly find new ways to present the message to break through barriers. Those who curse the darkness are not lights.

“The love of Christ compels us.” (2 Corinthians 5:14) Paul concludes that “those who live should no longer live for themselves.” In the midst of this discourse on evangelism, the faithful find their response to the confusion and self-centeredness that dominates the world. Trust God; love people. Trust the promises God has published, not what we wish at the moment. Be selfless toward others, giving them what they need, not what they wish.

“In all things we commend ourselves as servants of God…” (2 Corinthians 6:4) Paul followed that beginning with a list of more than 25 ways, some pleasant, some not. Of course, the faithful are compelled by the love of God to communicate the simple truth about why creation happened and how we can participate in it. But the facts are not the only message. Handling adversity, being gracious under fire, and understanding life make the story believable.

“As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, up to salvation.” (1 Peter 2:2) Faithful people must grow. Stagnation is not an option. As a point of comparison, a typical public school year requires approximately 1000 instructional hours. Regular church-goers get 25 to 150 hours of instruction per year. Rising above a grade-school understanding will require a significant additional time commitment plus homework.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18) Not only are the faithful to grow in knowledge, but also in being transformed into His gracious nature. But many fail repeatedly despite sincere efforts. In addition to pursuing growth by traditional education, the faithful must engage the Spirit of God that dwells in them for the promised character development.

“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causing the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:15 – 16) Among the faithful, each one has a different function, each being essential for the health of the body. No one may choose to be passive. Rather, everyone builds up the others because that is what is best for them.

“If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:19 – 20) This chapter illustrates that the church was designed to be composed of many different types of people who merged their different talents and gifts into a cohesive unit. After rebelling against an authority-driven unity, the church has fallen into the other ditch of fragmentation based on personal preference. What we need is to learn from what each group has done well to resynchronize the whole.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” (Hebrews 5:12 – 14) Every faithful person is expected to grow. Every faithful person is expected to teach. God has promised the ability if we will just take advantage of the power of the Spirit. To be faithful, one must do so.

“Having left the beginning teachings about the Christ, let us go into consistency…” (Hebrews 6:1) The examples of “beginner” teachings that follow represent the vast majority of all church teaching. The faithful must grow, becoming consistent across all of life as Jesus illustrated in the Sermon on the Mount. We do not reach an arbitrary minimum requirement of acceptability. Rather we trust that the Spirit will provide the power to overcome ourselves as we do what is best for others.

“A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition… (2 Timothy 2:24 – 25) Gentle, patient, uncontentious, humble teaching is a requirement for all the faithful. All of those traits and the ability to teach are promised through the indwelling Spirit. Faith that this will happen is required.

2 Corinthians 4 – 5 outlines a responsibility that all the faithful share: evangelism. Citing a few prominent lines, “We do not lose heart…We do not preach ourselves but Christ…We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the power may be of God and not of us…We also believe and therefore speak…We walk by faith, not by sight…Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…The love of Christ compels us…We are ambassadors for Christ.”

“Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.’ (2 Timothy 2:2) Every Christian should teach in such a way that every student becomes a teacher. We cannot stop after reaching some arbitrary benchmark. Those who claim that teaching is not their gift have missed the point of the indwelling Spirit who is given to all the faithful. Plus, the gospel is not rocket science. Those who make Christianity complicated do not understand it.

Avoid speculation and complication (1 Timothy 1:3 – 11, 6:4, 6:20, 2 Timothy 2:16, 4:4, Titus 3:9). “The end of what is enjoined is love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.” God has promised that both the Old and New Testaments are within the intellectual grasp of ordinary people (Deuteronomy 30:11 – 14, Romans 10:6 – 8). If the explanation sounds complicated, it’s probably wrong.