What is Faith in Christ?

Biblical faith is not:

• wishful thinking
• hope
• a blind leap
• trying to be good
• doing good things
• believing despite the evidence otherwise
• courage to take a risk

However, biblical faith is:

• a reasonable trust and confidence

This trust and confidence is manifest in actions. If I believe my car can get me to work safely, I will get in it, turn it on, and drive to work expecting to get there. In fact, I would rarely think about it, because I have good reasons to believe it will get me there safely.

But, when the car has not been performing well, and I have good reason to believe it would be dangerous to drive, I will develop a reasonable doubt. And the reasonable doubt may cause me not to trust my car to get me to work safely. So, if I refuse to drive it, that will be a wise decision. However, if I drive it anyway, it will be a foolish decision. No amount of hoping will change the car's condition.

Faith in Christ

When we say we have faith in Christ, what do we really mean? Are we hoping he can save us? Are we expecting him to fix our lives? Are we believing the biblical information about him? Are we doing good works as an act of faith? What are we doing when we have faith in Christ?

I will submit to you that it is possible to do good works, believe the information, and have some expectations of him without really having faith in him. Faith means we trust the information is true, and thus we have full confidence and trust in Christ to do what he says, the way he says.

We are confident in who he is and what he is capable of. We obey him, because we know who he is, and what he wants. We've vetted other people's opinions about him, because we know that pleasing him is what really matters. We do good works because we know what pleases him, and we want to do so—not to simply appear righteous. We also try to persuade men, because we know why Jesus came and what the goal really is. Our love is tempered by serious self-examination and comparison to the Word of God, not by worldly expectations. We have settled the matter of the Bible's role in our lives.

Our love must be sincere, because God sees our hearts. Our service must be pure, because he who searches all things knows why we do what we do. Our love for God must be genuine, because there is no gain for hollow people-pleasing. Are we to be perfect? No, because the sacrifice of Christ makes us perfect. But we care enough to seek excellence because he is trustworthy, he is worthy, and we confidently trust him.…

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Salvation Lite: Less Filling, But Tastes Great

There was an interesting blog post in John Alan Turner's blog. In the post he examined the role salvation plays in the world, in the church, and in God's ultimate plan for mankind and His kingdom. Then he asked the question, "Why in the world do you think we so often reduce (salvation) to being let off the hook for our sins?" I thought about it briefly and responded:

Maybe because we really don’t understand salvation.

In 2 Peter 1:3-11, Peter makes the case that the salvation we have is glorious, and worthy of our allegiance and effort. And if we are not growing in Christlike character, we have forgotten that we have been cleansed from our past sins. We just don’t get it.

It’s easier to talk about salvation as fire insurance, because most in pop-Christianity don’t want to bother with true discipleship.

I really believe that the salvation message is often reduced to "once saved, always saved." And what I mean is that people just want to know the minimum entrance requirements, then they go on to live their lives. Maybe they do "Christian" things, but they have little interest in true growth.

Seems that way to me. What do you think?…

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Growth Versus Growth

In an article by Peter Drucker (Managing Oneself, Harvard Business Review, January 2005) Peter makes an interesting point about personal values. He uses the example of two "successful" churches
and how they have differing values concerning what constitutes "success":

"Value conflicts are not limited to business organizations. One of the fastest growing pastoral churches in the United States measures success by the number of new parishioners. Its leadership believes that what matters is how many newcomers join the congregation. The Good Lord will then minister to their spiritual needs or at least to the needs of a sufficient percentage. Another pastoral, evangelical church believes that what matters is people's spiritual growth. The church eases out newcomers who join but do not enter into its spiritual life."

He goes on to evaluate each stance:

"…this is not a matter of numbers. At first glance, it appears that the second church grows more slowly. But it retains a far larger proportion of newcomers than the first one does. Its growth, in other words, is more solid. This is also not a theological problem, or only secondarily so. It is a problem about values. In a public debate, one pastor argued, 'Unless you first come to church, you will never find the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven.' 'No,' answered the other. 'Until you first look for the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven, you don't belong in church.'"

Peter goes on to explain that neither values are particularly wrong, but that they fit with each organization's value system in how they operate. The church that just wants to reach the lost, will tend to focus on that more than the spiritual needs of it's members, while the church that really wants maturing disciples of Christ will focus their efforts on that more than trying to bring in people who will be indifferent to spiritual growth.

What's interesting is that the church that focused more on spiritual health and growth had a more long-term approach to soul-winning than the former church. Yet was growing in more new members than the other church. Following, the church that spent time soul-winning actually did mature members who really wanted it. They both were effective. They just had a different value system.

Why some churches fail when valuing either position.

The problem with some churches isn't an either/or issue. I've seen churches who focus squarely on growth, even to the detriment of sound doctrine. They grow fast sometimes, but die just as fast. They seem to just run out of gas. Then I've been around churches that focus on the spiritual growth of its members to the detriment of clear purpose. Instead of creating an atmosphere of discerning, serving, disciples of Christ, they invent a club atmosphere. And these churches don't really grow. They just stagnate. Doctrines and decisions become a matter of taste and comfort for the existing members, rather than become the challenging soil of deep transformation.

Do who you are well, in the will of Christ, and you will have an attractive church. In fact, you will probably attract the right people to your church. Remember, Jesus not only bid people to follow him, but he dared people to follow him and he prequalified people to follow him. Churches can do all these things at differing degrees, depending on the personality of each church. But, to do any of them without understanding is sin.

Where am I in all this?

The real issue here is where I, as an individual, fit it? Does the church I belong to not only teach sound doctrine, but do my values fit with theirs. Otherwise, I will find myself frustrated and constantly working against the grain. This doesn't mean that either of us are working against God's will (though that can be possible too), but that God may want me elsewhere where my talents, experiences, and values will be a better fit. This may sound sort of individualistic, but this is a very real issue sometimes. Even in the early church, not everyone worked well together all the time, and sometimes unpleasant adjustments had to be made. But, God grew the church anyway and His work was getting done.

What do you think?
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