Now faith is the substance of things hoped
fo,r the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is that little five letter word upon which the sum total of
Christianity rests. We are so quick to point to this passage and then quickly
move on to bigger and better things. Many times I have written in this letter
that salvation is based on faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone.
I'm sure some of you are so tired of hearing it from me that you just think,
well there goes Jerry again. Perhaps, you also have some not to kind thoughts,
but you are too kind not to forward them to me. More of you realize that it
probably would not do any good, so you just bite your tongue and pray for me.
For a couple of years I had a song recorded by Kathy Mattea, that followed
my message on my telephone answering machine. In order not to have listen to
the song and the short little message following you had to hit the pound key.
The song is called "The Cape" was written by Guy Clark, Susanna Clark
& Jim Janosky.
Eight
years old with a floursack cape tied all around his neck.
He climbed up on the garage, he's figurin' what the heck.
Well,
he screwed his courage up so tight that the whole thing come unwound.
He got a running start and bless his heart, he's headed for the ground.
Chorus:
Well (yes) he's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith.
Spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape.
Now
he's all grown up with a floursack cape tied all around his dreams.
And he's full of spit and vinegar and he's bustin' at the seams.
Well,
he licked his finger and he checked the wind, it's gonna be do or die.
He wasn't scared of nothin' boys, he was pretty sure he could fly.
(Repeat
Chorus)
Now
he's old and grey with a floursack cape tied all around his head.
He's still jumpin off the garage and will be till he's dead.
All
these years the people said he was actin' like a kid.
He did not know he could not fly, so he did!
(Repeat
Chorus twice)
If the church only had the faith in her Lord that this guy had in his cape
the church and world would not be in the shape they are today. Much of the so
called church today believes in the heretical teaching, that faith is a force.
This teaching is loosely based on eastern religious metaphysics, but on closer
examination it is even heretical to those teachings. In true eastern thought
the force exists outside the individual, and it is the individual's objective
to become alined with the force, good or bad, black or white, ying or yang.
True faith is based upon on object. It might be considered childish to have
a faith based on a flour sack. But it is really stupid to have a faith based on
nothing but your own selfish self.
"But I have faith in Jesus!" The question is then, is this Jesus,
the Christ of the Bible, or just some Jesus, the creation of your own sinful
imagination, or of your church or denomination? Is He the Christ, the risen
Messiah, eternal Word, Creator of the universe, or is he just your best buddy.
Is he a product of your systematic theology, or is he an objective of a faith
that allows you to walk beyond your own vision, or any vision you may have been
taught, by any John, Peter, Paul, Martin, or Chuck.
You may be the best of the best, in whatever field that God has put and
gifted you in. John, Paul, Peter, Martin and Chuck may fight to line up to see
who is first to kiss your feet. But do you truly know the Jesus Christ, who is
able to vaporize your fame and fortune into not carbon dioxide and water, but
vaporize it all into nothingness. Does the opportunity to kiss his feet seem
totally inadequate, for the blessings you have been given.
Do you understand that this Jesus came to this earth and took your sin upon
himself, so that in him, you are forever holy in the presence of God the
Father. By his sacrifice, your sins are not covered by his blood, but are
removed forever. Not only that, you have been adopted as eternal sons and
daughters of God.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen. Most of the time we look at this
passage and think of material stuff. But it is really much deeper. For things
include all of creation, but also objects in existence before time began. To
paraphrase this eternally, Now faith is the
substance of God, for it is the objective evidence of not visibly seeing him.
Taken in that context, we see that all the stuff flows out of faith in the
substance of God, that we cannot see or touch. Unless you have that faith given
to you, the whole concept looks as ridiculous as trying to fly off the garage
with a floursack for a cape. Understanding that depth allows us not only to fly
one day, but to be recreated into his image, not as eternal Lord of Glory for
we all seek that promotion, but as the servant who came to suffer and to die,
for your sins and mine. To the extent we understand that lot, to serve with him
in that calling, do we truly have the opportunity to understand eternal wisdom
and to put down our legalistic tendencies, rules, and law making and to live
within a diverse wisdom that accompanies prudence as a virtue.
May God grant us the faith to truly understand the richness of our heritage
as a member of God's eternal covenant community. Amen
Over the last few days I believe that one of the doors the Lord had closed,
may have been one of those sacrificing of Isaac type of tests. If that is true,
then when the door finally opens it will add greatly to my spiritual and
emotional stability, perhaps also to the cash flow. The question now is what
steps do I take and when. I feel that my first priority is to get over and
situated in the new location and then build everything around that. Last week I
finished collecting all the stuff I think I might need so I was just about to
take a deep breath and make my running start. However since we are all (and
especially me) way to full of spit and vinegar
and bustin' at the seams, it would seem that the prudent thing to do
is check the wind again, and not try to leap off on presumption. In any event I
would definitely covet your prayers.
There remains also the concept on how to pay for this endeavor long term,
while trying to develop an infrastructure focused on missions work. The whole
internet potential seems to be limited by only what God would like to do, and
getting the time to trace down and close the appropriate leads. As with all
work that leads to setting priorities. Pray for my discernment of God's
priorities which may not be my own.