A fourth purpose that the Lord has in sending trails is to call us to a greater realization of our eternal hope. To state it more simply, trials make us long for heaven. Consider the death of a loved one who was a believer. If that most precious of persons (spouse, child, some other relative or close friend) is called to heaven, and you are open and accepting of God's sovereignty, you will invariably focus your heart and mind on eternal things. You will quickly develop a disengaged, disinterested relationship with this passing world. Romans 8:18-24 beautifully supports this thought:
For I consider that sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God...the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved.
The Apostle Paul lends further support to this premise in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, where he draws upon his own experiences and summarizes the results of his trials:
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day...while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
In 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, Paul adds:
We know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; in as much as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked...being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord -- for we walk by faith not by sight -- we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Even apart from the context of trials and sufferings, Paul exhorts us to set our mind "on the things above" (Colossians 3:1-2).
The Lesson of First Love
God also uses trials and sufferings for the very important purpose of showing us what we really love. That was part of the Lord's test for Abraham at Moriah. The big question Abraham had to answer was Do you love your son Isaac more than God or do you love God more than Isaac? In that situation the answer was crucial because God was prepared to remove Isaac from Abraham if that would have given God first place in Abraham's life:
The Lord also tests us to show us the object of our first love (Deut. 13:3; see also 6:5; Matt. 22:36-37). Jesus brings this matter of first love into sharp focus: "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).
That is an extremely harsh statement if you take it at face value. But Jesus is not saying you should hate everyone including yourself; He is saying believers must love God and Christ so much that, by comparison, they will seem to hate themselves and their families. If Christians are not willing to put even their closest self-interests far below Christ's interests, that reveals their lack of supreme love to God and that they are not worthy to be called Christ's disciples.
Therefore, if you want to be completely obedient to Christ, there will be times you need to push aside any and all appeals from family members that would keep you from giving first priority to Him. God might call upon you to make that most difficult of choices to test your loyalty. He wants you to pass the test even as Abraham did, and thereby prove that He is your first love.
(from The Power of Suffering, John MacArthur, Jr.)
Showing posts with label glory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glory. Show all posts
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
What Is Faith?
Faith, like love, is both simple and complex. Therefore, it can be difficult to explain or easily misunderstood. The irony of the Faith Movement is that the faith it stresses is not biblical faith. What is faith? In essence, faith is simply trust. We all know what trust is: a boy with his father, a patient with his/her physician, a friend with a friend, etc. Thus, we may define faith as a loving self-commitment towards and trust in God, leading to personal surrender to Him in all affairs of life and appropriate conduct inspired by this surrender.
In the New Testament the most characteristic construction of the verb pisteuein (faith) denotes "an absolute transference of trust from ourselves to another, a complete self-surrender to God."
Despite what the Faith teachers claim, however, power does not reside in faith; it resides in God who sovereignly blesses a believer's faith according to His purposes (Psalm 62:11): "Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth ..." (Psalm 135:6) "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3).
This is the basic problem with the Faith Movement -- not that its adherents lack faith, but that their faith is often misplaced or inaccurately applied. For example, they may stress "having faith in their faith" more than trusting in God. As Charles Spurgeon stated in All of Grace, "faith is not blind -- it begins with knowledge; it is not speculative -- it believes facts of which it is certain are true -- it is not unpractical or romantic -- faith trusts wholly and stakes its very destiny on the truth of revelation."
But obviously, one cannot trust in God if one does not know Him. Just as obviously, one cannot trust what God says if one has wrongly interpreted the Bible. In order to know God and trust Him wholly, one must have accurate knowledge of who He is and what He has said.
In essence, to trust God is to trust God in all situations; it is not to attempt to manipulate God to fulfil our own will in life or escape from life's difficulties. In fact, problems and setbacks are an inevitable result of true faith. In a sinful, unbelieving world it could hardly be any other way. This is why the Bible promises godly Christians that persecution and all sorts of difficulties will be their lot in life (e.g., 2 Timothy 3:12).
The apostle Peter tells us that "suffer grief in all kinds of trials." But He also encourages us with a specific reason these trials have come: "These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold...-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7, NIV). Further, the Bible teaches, "Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God..." (Jeremiah 42:6). "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9). Thus, in all circumstances we are to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is faith.
(from The Facts on the Faith Movement by John Ankerberg & John Weldon)
In the New Testament the most characteristic construction of the verb pisteuein (faith) denotes "an absolute transference of trust from ourselves to another, a complete self-surrender to God."
Despite what the Faith teachers claim, however, power does not reside in faith; it resides in God who sovereignly blesses a believer's faith according to His purposes (Psalm 62:11): "Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth ..." (Psalm 135:6) "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3).
This is the basic problem with the Faith Movement -- not that its adherents lack faith, but that their faith is often misplaced or inaccurately applied. For example, they may stress "having faith in their faith" more than trusting in God. As Charles Spurgeon stated in All of Grace, "faith is not blind -- it begins with knowledge; it is not speculative -- it believes facts of which it is certain are true -- it is not unpractical or romantic -- faith trusts wholly and stakes its very destiny on the truth of revelation."
But obviously, one cannot trust in God if one does not know Him. Just as obviously, one cannot trust what God says if one has wrongly interpreted the Bible. In order to know God and trust Him wholly, one must have accurate knowledge of who He is and what He has said.
In essence, to trust God is to trust God in all situations; it is not to attempt to manipulate God to fulfil our own will in life or escape from life's difficulties. In fact, problems and setbacks are an inevitable result of true faith. In a sinful, unbelieving world it could hardly be any other way. This is why the Bible promises godly Christians that persecution and all sorts of difficulties will be their lot in life (e.g., 2 Timothy 3:12).
The apostle Peter tells us that "suffer grief in all kinds of trials." But He also encourages us with a specific reason these trials have come: "These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold...-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7, NIV). Further, the Bible teaches, "Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God..." (Jeremiah 42:6). "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9). Thus, in all circumstances we are to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is faith.
(from The Facts on the Faith Movement by John Ankerberg & John Weldon)
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