Imitating Abraham's Faith

God's righteousness. We can't buy it. We can't earn it. We certainly don't deserve it. We can only receive it through faith. Period.

It strikes me that this is good news for those of us who acknowledge our brokenness and sinful state.

When we think about God and His righteousness, His holiness, and His standard of perfection, it would be overwhelming if the burden was upon us to climb that mountain of attainment. I believe we know innately that this is something we can't do. It is asking the impossible. It is doomed to fail.

Except God.

Paul wrote the first three chapters of Romans, building a case for our helpless plight in terms of our bondage to sin and our inability to change that. But now we get to the good part.

If I was God and I was looking at the sinful mess that mankind finds himself entangled in, I would probably feel like "they made their bed, so let them lie in it."

If I didn't do that, I would probably give them a list of things they had to do to "earn" righteousness. Here are some things that would make the cut in compiling my list:

1) You must work at the soup kitchen every week for at least four hours.
2) You must give at least half of your money to the church.
3) You must go out witnessing at least six hours a week. (Does that sound familiar?)
4) You must wear clothes and hair styles that make you stand out in the crowd and show how pious you are.
5) You must adopt at least three orphans and take food to at least two widows each week.

Hmm, aren't you glad I'm not God?

Instead of looking good and acting nice and "earning" your righteousness, God offers it as a free gift. Of course it is a good thing to give money, dress modestly, help people, and share the gospel, but that isn't how we "earn" salvation.

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

It kinda takes the pressure off, doesn't it? I cannot earn salvation. I cannot do anything that will help me to measure up. God offers salvation through faith out of His abundant grace and love. Any good that I do is NOT to earn anything. Good works come from a place of already being justified. I do good because I love Him.

So what are your thoughts? Post a comment, please!

Be Faithful

I Thessalonians 5:19-22 "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

We continue our discussion of Paul's instructions to a church that was anticipating the return of Christ. I find it fascinating that the church at Thessalonica may have been experiencing the same issues that we grapple with today.

On Sunday, for comparison, I noted that Paul had been concerned about the worship that was occurring in Corinth. This is evidenced in I Corinthians 11:17 where he told them "In the following directives [those where he talked about the Lord's supper and the spiritual gifts, among other things] I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good."

Wow! Some pretty strong words. The church at Corinth was into the "free flow of the gifts of the Spirit" to the point where it had become unedifying and disorderly. He was telling them to do things in an orderly manner and rein it in a bit. Their meetings were not edifying the members and were downright disrespectful of some. They were out of control in "doing whatever they felt like doing."

Yet in I Thessalonians 5:19 Paul instructs the church, "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt." So which is it? He appears to be telling one group to rein it in, and another one to allow the Spirit to flow.

Perhaps it is best understood in light of his next words of instruction. Verse 20 says, "Test everything." Maybe the problem in Corinth was that the things that were happening in their meetings had not been "tested" to see if they were truly born of the Spirit. When we read the first letter to the Corinthians, it is pretty apparent that the church meetings were out of control. I have to believe that things that are truly of the Spirit of God will be orderly and not chaos-ridden.

So if we examine his exhortation to "not put out the Spirit's fire" and to "test everything," we must conclude that he is not suggesting that they have a "free-for-all" worship style where everyone is doing his thing and promoting himself. He is saying to let the Spirit flow, but make sure that it is of the Spirit and not of the flesh.

We tend to put out the Spirit's fire when we decide for ourselves what is okay and not okay, with no biblical basis. Often it is decided based on our traditions or our comfort zone. What Paul is encouraging is for us to allow the Spirit to do what the Spirit will, making sure that whatever is occurring lines up with the scripture.

A pastor whom I greatly admire once said, "God is God and He can do what He wants." I absolutely agree with that, but with a caution that let's make sure it is born of God; that is, test everything.

Paul's next instruction is so practical, it is almost one of those "no-brainers," yet we human beings somehow manage to mess up even the most basic things, so Paul takes the opportunity once again to remind the church. Verse 21a and 22 say, "Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

Like I said, a no-brainer, right? But seriously, when we examine our lives, are we holding on to the good? How many times each week do we make a choice not to hold on to the good, but instead to follow the lies of satan and compromise that which we say we believe? We must be settled and firm in our faith, and then adhere to it when going through our day. When we give in to temptation, we have (even if momentarily) let go of that which is good.

If we are holding on to the good, it is the best way that I know of to avoid every kind of evil. The two go hand in hand, don't they?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! Please feel free to post a comment!