Faith and the prize set before us.

[nikolai_42]

This is a genuine question that has confounded me for such a long time. I have yet to be in a church that effectively teaches and expresses the interplay of faith and running the race for a specific goal set before us. To win a race. Instead, the churches seem to teach/preach one or the other. Either run a race to become righteous - and the preaching stresses the effort of man. Even if not in word, at the very least in spirit. But then (and these seem to be in more abundance these days) there are the churches that teach faith in God. Full stop. This faith is unquestioning (I agree that this is what Paul preaches), this faith is persevering (absolutely). But this faith doesn't have a specific goal that one is to run for (???). Why? Because most such churches are (sorry to be so blunt, but it is true as far as I can see) like the Pharisees who, as Jesus said, travel over land and sea to make a single convert and in the end make him or her twice a son of hell. Why? Peter explains that such people are so because once they are presented with the truth, they are not encouraged to persevere in all things, through all things TOWARDS A GOAL. They are possibly exhorted to press on, they are possibly supported by a group of believers, they may even be given teaching/preaching or some verses, but the main focus of the church is the expansion of her numbers. And it is at the expense of the existing members because those who are already 'in' are left behind in preference for fresh blood. The church becomes a backslidden institution writ large. A spiritually weak, lax, childish church that never grows. And if something doesn't grow - it dies.

 So my question goes to the goal IN COMBINATION WITH faith. People say faith is the substance of things not seen - which is true - but something must be hoped for, must be the goal. And while it is true that it is only obtained in Christ and through faith in Him, the fact remains that the church in general has become either aimless or faithless.

 Why is it nearly impossible to find brethren who have a goal (and this is critical) GIVEN THEM THROUGH CHRIST, BY FAITH IN HIM and who are pursuing HIM (the goal being Him) in ALL THINGS wherever He goes (which is not the popular place - it is "without the camp" where the bodies are burned) but in FAITH THAT THE GOAL THAT CHRIST IS AND HAS GIVEN THEM IS PROVIDED FOR? Where is that church? Why did Paul see it and the church lose sight of it?

 

[nikolai_42]

An added brief thought. I was reading I Corinthians 4 this morning and came across Paul's injunction to the Corinthians not to put men above other men (i.e. not to esteem men higher than other men, thereby putting them on a pedestal) because all the counsels of the heart (which is wicked above all things, who can know it?) will be brought to light to the praise of God. And anything ANY man has that is to the praise of God, is from God:

" And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
...
Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you."
I Corinthians 4:6,7

But look at the coming of Paul to sort the matter out. As an approved apostle of God, he knows the bar by which the Kingdom is measured. And in putting men above other men (in estimation, because of their words), the church does stray. Indeed, Paul says:

" Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."
I Corinthians 4:18-20

WHAM! Paul hits them with the idea that a man's faith is not in what he knows, but in the fruit that it bears! The man's relation to the Kingdom of God is KNOWN by the power he exhibits. Not the power for fleshly means, to be a spectacle, but power to do good in all circumstances unto the praise of God by men who see the good works of that one who is of the Kingdom. Compare that passage on your own, with 2 Corinthians 3 regarding the spirit and the letter (the law)....

We are enjoined to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. But these are mere feel-good words that many can take (and have taken) lightly because there is no outward way to guage where ones eyes are - but the fruit is the best way to guage that. Yet one can have powerful, flowery, even life-giving words, yet they are not actions. I get a mere inkling of a sense of Paul's cry amidst the church when he says:

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."
Philippians 3:10

While he had seen far more than I, was likely far closer to His Lord than I, and far wiser in the things of the Spirit than I am, I can sense his cry of longing for the joining to His Saviour! The cry of a dilapitated body carrying a mighty spirit! But even HE didn't know Christ the way he should. The church in Laodicea (Rev 3) thought they had all they needed, yet the apostle - the chief of sinners - had the Spirit of Christ, was poor in spirit, and cried out to know Him more and more. There was no settling in Him! There was no object short of the Lord Himself - BUT IN THAT OBJECT THERE WAS A PERFECT GOAL. A GOAL HE COULD STRIVE FOR EVEN KNOWING IT WAS NOT ATTAINABLE IN HIMSELF.

But we sing lovely songs and pray lovely prayers and have good thoughts about ourselves in church because, after all, we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ! We have been given grace unto salvation! So why strive? We have it. How much more like Laodicea do we need to be before we cry out for a move of the spirit in power! A move like the layman's revival of days gone by!?!

Hundreds of people who had always spent their nights in the gates of hell came to the prayer meetings that had begun in the evenings. Thousands forsook crime and became devoted follows of Christ. Crime and vice drastically declined. Wealthy people generously helped the poor whom they regarded as their brothers and sisters.

Ships coming into New York harbor came under the power of God's presence. On one ship a captain and thirty men were converted to Christ before the ship docked. Four sailors knelt for prayer down in the depths of the battleship North Carolina anchored in the harbor. They began to sing and their ungodly shipmates came running down to make fun, but the power of God gripped them and they humbly knelt in repentance.
(from http://www.gospelcom.net/bpf/docs/layman.shtml )

But today we call revival a move of the Spirit that makes us speak in tongues, laugh hysterically or wander around as though drunk! But in Jesus' day, the one thing that got the religious of the day upset, the one thing that was the truly divine about His ministry was that He had POWER to forgive sins! THAT is power.

And then, beyond that, the church needs to be a place for growth in the things of Christ. Not a place where we go to hear more words! It is (and always was) to be a place of vital fellowship where a new living-out of Christ in His own was to be evidenced! Speaking to one another in spiritual psalms and hymns, bringing new Words of life from the Master Himself! But instead, we heap to ourselves teachers who tickle the ears, who tell us what we want to hear...maybe even telling us what we don't want to hear - BUT NEVER ENTERING IN TO THE THINGS OF GOD PERSONALLY. There is no vision, no goal, and as the proverb says:

"Where there is no vision, the people perish..."
Proverbs 29:18

 

[Revelationz]

Strange you should post this, N_42, it seems to be that which the Lord quickened in the gathering of our 'little flock' today. Read Zechariah Chapter 3. After Joshua had his dirty rags replaced with fine clothes and a new turban, (salvation from unrighteousness), the Lord offered him a place with those who had cleaned him up. They are not identified as angels, these others, but somehow are a group of the angel of the Lord's associates. (I believe this 'angel' was Christ Himself). The basis of his qualification for memebership in this group was this: "If you will walk in my ways, and if you will perform my service, then you will also govern my house, and also have charge of my courts, and I will grant you free access among those who are standing here."

This was an opportunity for Joshua to join a group of governors, who worked closely with the Lord himself. Note that this was not a question of salvation (which was a settled issue, as indicated by the change of garments), but an "If A and B then C"-type of obedience relationship. Nor was it mandatory that Joshua follow along, but that he had a precious opportunity to join a special group.

Note also Verse 8: "Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are symbolic of things to come ..."

Read the words of Jesus, again and again and again, words like 'blessed are they who do what I say." Not believe, but believe and do. So calcified has the contention regarding 'salvation by faith/works' become, that those who are saved and cleansed through faith can ignore the awsome opportunity to attain to what Paul called "a better (!!!!!) resurrection"...."...the prize of the high calling...". So satisafaction with the knowledge of the good (salvation through faith), can, through apathy or ignorance, cloud the desire for all of the best.

Membership in this group is very selective, of course.  You have to be like the Lord: meek and lowly of heart, a servant of all.  There's a fairly short line-up to join it.  Two of Jesus's disciples have already asked for the two chief seats, one on Christ's left and on on his right.  I gather the positions may yet be open, at least the announcement that they're filled has yet to be made.... 

Why is this so?  Why is the lineup to join so short? There is a catch to it, this little thing about dying daily......after such a long time, I have only begun to see that such a thing is even possible

 

And look at the parable of the dishonest steward.  Jesus counsels us to use disappearing money in such a way that others will receive us into their eternal habitations (note the plural).  Does that not suggest that the scope of our area of welcome in the Kingdom will be determined by how others receive us there?  And will not that reception be determined by how we loved and received them on this earth?  Makes you think that bigger our hearts here, the bigger our scope of activity there, the 'better' our resurrection.

 

....gives a body pause.......   

 

[nikolai_42]

Revelationz,

Thank you for your response. There is much to consider there. I shall look into Zechariah 3 again.