Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
By faith Noah being warned of things not yet seen,
moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by
which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is
according to faith. (Hebrews 11:7)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean
not on your own understanding;
In all your
ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall
direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5,6)
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in
regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which
you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been
set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to
holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6 20-23)
For as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in
all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the law
in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."
Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by
them." (Galatians 3:10-12)
I will stand my watch
And set
myself on the rampart,
And watch
to see what He will say to me,
And what I
will answer when I am corrected.
Then the LORD answered me and said:
"Write
the vision
And make it
plain on tablets,
That he may
run who reads it.
For the
vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the
end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it
tarries, wait for it;
Because it
will surely come,
It will not
tarry.
"Behold the proud,
His soul is
not upright in him;
But the
just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:1-4)
Until the Genesis flood, most Creation Scientists believe
that the world, even in sin, was still a lush garden by modern standards. Could
it be that because of that lush prosperity, idle men had time to promote the sinfulness of the evil desires of
their heart?
In that respect, through the flood, the revelation of sin
in GodÕs creation would forever change. Death would be a much more in your face
probability. With the fall of the canopy of water vapor that protected the
earth from harmful space radiation, our planet has developed a harshness of
climate and of season. With this increase of radiational degradation of the
gene pools, the life span of those born after the flood quickly deteriorates,
from the many hundreds of years of life before the flood, to its present
levels. The terms wilderness and desert come into our vocabulary.
As we have looked at Noah and his time, it strikes me,
just how the parallels of NoahÕs time and ours seem to have much synergy. News
from the stock market and the economies of many countries, has many people
wondering what is going on. But when you realize that Òthe wages of sin is
death,Ó it doesnÕt seem to be that much of a stretch to understand that sin
within companies brings death to those companies.
I have also noticed that in retailing how much of the
sales help you now get many places is based on half truths and outright lies.
Instead of saying ÒI donÕt know,Ó or ÒWe donÕt stock that, but you can get it
over there,Ó you get, ÒWhat you want, they donÕt make yet,Ó or ÒLet me show you
this model, itÕs much better than what you were seeking.Ó
The other Bible verses selected above, while far from
exhaustive, seem to fit within that parallel of two similar economies of self
righteousness, ours, and the one destroyed in the Genesis flood. We have
condemned ourselves unto death,
by our own unrighteousness and unethical conduct. But yet
we fail to really seek the true answer to our demise.
I would like to focus however, on the last line from the
Habakkuk passage, as referenced in Galatians. ÒThe just shall live by faith.Ó
In much, dare I say most of the church today, while they
quote the passage (or the passage in 1 Corinthians 5:7) the readily implied
application is that Òour faith provides our justificationÓ (i.e. our rewards).
We all can live with that kind of religion because it fits within our
understanding of the way things should work. And it sells, just as in the
retail sector.
Above, in both references to the just living by faith,
the faith flows, or follows from the justification of making one just, not the
other way round. Those who understand their justification, are able to live by
faith. This is faith wrought from the unlimited depth of GodÕs grace and
consequently is inexhaustible to those who understand their justification,
which comes ultimately from Christ alone. This takes place in what can best be
described as a desert or a wilderness compared with the pre-flood economy or
the economy proclaimed by our prophets of prosperity (secular and sacred).
Hence, it should logically flow, that if you want to be
used by God, or to even in that context receive a blessing from God related to
His amazing glory, it would behove teachers and students alike to spend much
more time on the study of manÕs justification, by grace in Christ Jesus. Then
the faith will take care of itself because it is through that justification
process that faith is revealed.
Yet, this is also the only process by which you can move
beyond the limits of your own personality into specific gifts, which God may
give you to do, to understand, or to perform. All, by definition and by
empirical evidence far superior to what you could obtain by your own ingenuity.
Our only problem is that it must be done GodÕs way, not our own.
We point to the law however, as a means of our
justification, and we attempt to live by faith. To bargain with God for our
desires, but with God this poker becomes a means of condemnation. Through GodÕs
justification nevertheless, we see that our desire to claim that Mercedes in
Jesus name, is just as sinful as manipulating our companies stock price,
telling a customer a lie, or getting drunk in some low class bar.
This should bring Christianity to focus on our
evangelism. Why do people come to the Lord? Ultimately, it is to be free of the
condemnation of GodÕs judgment on our individual sin. ÒIf we were to die
tonight without GodÕs grace provided in the atonement of Jesus Christ, we would
spend eternity in hell.Ó
However, most, if not all, confronted with this stark
option are not going to die tonight. They are just going to be damn mad that
someone was too self righteous in their Christianity to show them the love of
God truly present in His gift of grace. The modern church tosses a seed of
hope, as we hurry along the highway of our own demise. It has little chance of
maturing into a healthy plant. However, if we spend the time to produce healthy
soil, seeds planted in that ground have a good chance of producing a healthy
life in Christ Jesus, surrounded by others in a productive field.
The gospel, that will change a personÕs life for eternity
is not subject to our desire for a one call close. Marketers have learned it
doesnÕt sell cars, long distance services, and the Seattle Times (the Times, at
least in this house). But this seeking of immediate gain, or justification,
just has with many retailing efforts, must die a prolonged and painful death.
Seems, as we would say today, that Noah got no decisions
for Christ, or at least those who stuck with him to the end, except within his
family. His ministry was a failure in the eyes of the world around him. But
then again, perhaps he didnÕt preach a message they wanted to hear. But through
NoahÕs message that world was condemned and ultimately perished.
So no matter your gospel message that you proclaim, how
will it stand the rains of judgment, on you, your family, and the world that
surrounds? Anything other than, ÒThe just shall live by his faith,Ó will one
day be swept away, and your concept of an earthly paradise will be lost in the
consequence.
For until Noah entered the ark, and the doors were
closed, there was time for repentance from teaching our own message, that fills
our coffers, sells our books, buys our stock, and destroys our hope for
eternity's paradise, or a paradise restored.
Finally, yesterday I received the number from the IRS so
I can open a bank account for my motherÕs estate and pay off most of the bills.
Now, most of what remains just needs to continue through time, until it can all
be wrapped up in a couple of months.
I have been convicted these last days, on wanting to
understand how God is going to work as the future unfolds. It is not that I
donÕt have enough to do every day, it is just I want to see the immediate big
picture, to help God out so to speak. Actually the problem is with my faith,
that ability to live beyond the seen and take it as fact.
However, I do feel to leave the past behind and to focus
upon the path ahead I need to make some changes in my life and ministry. Some of
that relates to the continuing need to get rid of stuff that no longer is
needed, or in many cases desired, that is probably a full time job. Also, this
week I hope to form a new organization with the state called the ÒLeadership
Creation Institute.Ó This would fit well with the web site, and would allow for
some tangible developmental plans and funding to take place.
When Rob Dingman was over from London this summer he
spoke about how he was given the technology to provide video teaching. For
those of you who know Rob this is much more sophisticated than just standing in
front of a camera and preaching. It must include an understanding of its
effectiveness as a means God would provide to make His word more relevant to
those who have never heard or understood. Rob is quite gifted in understanding
the oneness that teaching must have with the delivery system.
For my own part, I have been noticing the ineffectiveness
of our worldly educational system to provide adequate educational opportunity,
some of which is referenced above. Also for the development of continuing
opportunities to grow in the grace of God within the church. Beginning with
home schoolers today and continuing through graduate education, there does not
seem to be a means to challenge and yet provide life opportunities for service
to the rest of mankind not hindered by the dragging influence of societyÕs
imposed limitations.
For example, to someone interested in helping people, it
would be quite difficult to progress in Psychology beyond a certain level, when
those educated and controlling the
field have for their patron saints, an atheist (Sigmund Freud) and a shaman
(Carl Gustav Jung).
After the Reformation, western society was transformed by
a renewal of thought provided by followers of the rediscovered reformation
fundamental of justification by faith. This same principle has the potential to
reshape society today with video, internet, and related technology. This can be
done through bypassing the conventional educational structure and provide an
educational challenge of living beyond the control of a worldly system, that is
showing pronounced symptoms of rapid demise.
To that end, I have purchased a consumer video camera and
other needed things to learn some of that technology and will upgrade as my
education progresses, funds, and time permits.
Please intercede for this step of faith and direction,
not only for me, but for the body of Christ as a whole.