If
Abraham, by what he did for
God, got God to approve him, he could certainly
have taken credit for it. But the story we’re
given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What
we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into
what God was doing for him, and that
was the turning point….” Rom. 4:2-3 The Message
That
famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his
children would possess the earth—was not given
because of something Abraham did or would do. It
was based on God’s decision to put everything
together for him, which Abraham then entered
when he believed…. This is why the
fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on
trusting God and his way, and then simply
embracing him and what he does. Rom 4:13-16
The Message
Jesus
answered and said to them, “This
is the work of God, that you believe in Him
whom He has sent.” Jn. 6:29NASB
Today
I am moved to bring light from the Holy Spirit on the
confusing relationship between the concept of “works”
and the concepts of “faith,” “promise” and “covenant.”
The
difficulty is that, like so many things touching
spiritual reality, concepts operate in more than one
dimension of meaning and application. If we do not
understand that a term has different dimensions or how
they apply, we will end up with distorted doctrinal
perception, belief, teaching and practice, entirely
missing the truth of what scripture is trying to teach
us.
The
Competing Meanings of “Works”
Such
confusion is no more clearly encountered than it is
regarding the term “works.” Centuries of
spiritual strife have passed between and within
massive segments of the body of Christ over this one
word in its relationship to faith---what works means
to entering faith and to living by faith.
The
greatest manifestation of strife was seen first in
Martin Luther’s struggle, grounded in the books of
Romans and Ephesians, to divorce works from faith as a
basis for our salvation (“for by grace are you
saved, and not of works”).
Then
the strife later came to opposite life by the
hyper-Pentecostal insistence on the necessity of works
to salvation, based in the books of James, I John and
Revelation (“faith without works is dead…I will
judge every one of you according to your works.”)
Underneath
this macro strife, each believer internally fights out
the conflict, especially under circumstances of
extreme duress:
“Am
I supposed to do something here, or am I supposed to
do nothing? Am I supposed to act in this situation,
or am I supposed to ‘rest’---to ‘let go and let God’---just
pray and believe?”
And
of course a multitude of confusing counselors and even
prophecies are all litigating on opposite sides of
this decision in the courtroom of the heart.
Finally,
to top it all off, Jesus makes His famously
inscrutable statement that conflates the terms “work”
and “faith” together as equals! (“This is the work
of God, that you believe….”)
Huh?
Faith is works and works is faith?? (silent head
scratching going on as flakes of dandruff peel off,
gently falling to the floor…)
&&&&&&&&&&
The
resolution for all this strife is found in discerning
that there are two dimensions of operation to
the term “works.” One dimension is utterly
contrary and opposed to initial faith. The other is
utterly indispensible to activated faith. And we
have to know which is which and when and how each
applies or doesn’t apply if we are to believe aright
concerning our salvation and truly fulfil God’s call
to faith on our lives---especially in the times of
duress that scream for action.
The
Unilateral Promissory Nature of Divine Covenant
To
understand the two dimensions of works, we have to
understand the nature of covenant and
promise in God. Before we can get how works
fall out in the equation, we must get that our
relationship with God is foundationally based and
entered in terms of covenantal promise.
It
is agreed, or must be, not only that our
relationship with God is based on covenantal
promise, but that this covenant is a unilaterally
induced covenant between a benefactor and a
beneficiary of which God is the initiator.
God’s
covenant is not on the level of a “contract between
equals” predicated on mutual performances, such as
in a business contract. The Message Bible makes this
clear:
If
those who get what God gives them only get it by
doing everything they are told to do and filling
out all the right forms properly signed, that
eliminates personal trust completely and turns
the promise into an ironclad contract!
That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business
deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer
and with plenty of fine print only makes sure
that you will never be able to collect. But if
there is no contract in the first place, simply
a promise—and
God’s promise at that—you can’t break it. Rom.
4:13-15 The Message
Truly
this is the fundamentally missing piece behind our
understanding of works. It is the nature of the
covenant we have with God, or more accurately,
that God has with us. It is hard to overstate the
importance of understanding God’s prevenient role in
this type of covenant.
The
reason we are saved is that God pre-determined to
make a beneficent covenant with a certain People,
and we were graced to become part of that People.
This was a People of God’s choosing, and not of
the People’s choosing. It was a unilateral
choice.
This
is clearly seen behind the first covenant, ie, the
Old Covenant. In fulfillment of His original
covenant with Abraham, God reached out across the
centuries to initiate extension of that covenant
with the children of Israel. They did not choose to
enter into this covenant! They did not even know who
God was. God chose to reveal Himself to Israel and
then beneficently chose to “enter into Covenant”
with them as “His People.”
Israel
was in bondage and God offered to set them free from
that bondage into a covenantal relationship with
Himself as their only God and provider. In this He
promised to be their Keeper. And in this, He was
persuading them of who He was as the God of their
forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and thus as
the only One who could and should truly be theirs.
The
Lord and a Baby Girl
To
get an idea of this unilateral beneficency, we need
only read Ezekiel 16:4-14 (yes, it’s a bit long, but
you’ve got to read it to really get the true picture
of this covenant):
4 As
for your birth, on
the day you were born your navel cord was not
cut, nor were you washed with water for
cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or
even wrapped in cloths.5 No
eye looked with pity on you to do any of these
things for you, to have compassion on you.
Rather you were thrown out into the open
field, for
you were abhorred on the day you were born.
6 “When
I passed by you and saw you squirming in your
blood, I said to you while you were in
your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while
you were in
your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I made
you numerous
like plants of the field. Then you grew up,
became tall and reached the age for fine
ornaments; your breasts
were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you
were naked and bare.
8 “Then
I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you
were at the time for love; so I spread
My skirt over you and covered your nakedness.
I also swore
to you and entered
into a covenant with you so that you became
Mine,”
declares the Lord God. 9 “Then
I bathed you with water, washed off your blood
from you and anointed
you with oil. 10 I
also clothed you with embroidered
cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your
feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and
covered you with silk. 11 I
adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on
your hands and a necklace
around your neck. 12 I
also put a ring
in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful
crown on your head.13 Thus
you were adorned with gold
and silver, and your dress was of fine linen,
silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine
flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly
beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 Then
your fame
went forth among the nations on account of
your beauty, for it was perfect
because of My splendor which I bestowed on
you,” declares the Lord God.
Notice
how there is nothing about this covenant involving
the response of the woman, the acceptance by the
woman, the “choosing” of the Lord by the woman.
Nothing!
This
is what I mean by a unilateral beneficent covenant.
God initiated a covenant of love which the People
were neither capable of knowing, or perceiving, or
accepting or rejecting. They were clueless
from the beginning and helpless throughout!
The
New (Unilateral) Covenant
Once
we understand this, we then need to understand that
what is true of the foundations of the Old Covenant
is true of the New Covenant. The New Covenant
is not a transaction between mature godlike
partners! It is a unilateral beneficent covenant
between God and the helpless, initiated by God
alone. It is not about two equals who find each
other and fall in love. It is not about two equals
in business who sign a contract based on
performances.
This
is the significance behind Jesus’ statement “You
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you;”
and likewise behind Paul’s statement, “For
while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a
righteous man; though perhaps for the good man
someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
This
is the problem with the common evangelical
understanding of the New Covenant. Evangelism tends
to preach the invitation into the New Covenant as a
covenant between equals. God makes an “offer” and
you “decide” whether you will “take” it or “leave”
it like a business deal offered on “free will.” And
given the irreverent society in which we now live,
even that contract has been dumbed down to the level
of an agreement between “chums” and “pals.” (How
much “new birth” do you think is really taking place
in such an “agreement” with that view of God?)
If
you understand the picture from Ezekiel 16, then you
understand that free will has nothing to do with it
and rational persuasion by apologetics has nothing
to do with it because your dead spirit is in no
shape to know what is going on much less make a
decision about anything. And God is certainly no
“chum.”
The
true call of evangelism is simply the spreading
forth of a word from the Divine Living One that
finds an unspeakably sourced response of conviction
from a dead heart made momentarily conscious by the
Holy Spirit that inexplicably finds the baby-like
grace to say, “Yes, I hear Your Voice, take me, I
want to live and not die. Whatever you say…..”
Works
in a Unilateral Covenant
From
this description of the unilateral beneficent
covenant, we are given our understanding of the
first dimension of the word “works”
pertaining to salvation. We now come to understand
that as a unilateral covenant, the covenant of
salvation is truly a “Work” only of God. We
are not “co-equals” in this dimension of work, and
it is impossible for us to approach this covenant as
a co-equal “worker” on the level of a bilateral
contract. As Bob Mumford has rightly observed, “you
did not bring anything to the table!”
As
a unilateral promise of betrothal, entry into this
covenant is by invitation only, cannot be earned and
it cannot be met by a reciprocal promise of
performance by an equal. And by the way…while we are
at it…let’s observe right here and now that this is
and has historically been the only
legitimate meaning of the term “unconditional
love.”
The
unconditionality of God’s love refers only to the
fact that His covenant is sovereignly unilateral.
It has nothing to do with later expectations inside
the faith. God could not require you to bring
anything to the table because you were dead in the
first place and had nothing to offer. (Imagine the
Lord in Ezekiel 16 telling the babe on the ground, “OK,
here is what you have to do before I will save you
from your own blood.”)
Faith
vs. Human Work: Approaching a Unilateral
Covenant
Once
we understand the unilateral beneficent nature of
the covenant, its promise, and therefore of the
one-sided “work” pertaining to its entrance,
we then understand what “faith” means
opposite to this concept of work. Faith is the only
means by which we are able to enter into this
covenant, not work.
So
what is faith then?
Faith
is simply the operative word that describes the receptivity
of the spirit in a man quickened to conviction
by the Holy Spirit to hear and respond to the Voice
of invitation by the Beneficent One. Faith is just
the spirit-to-spirit transaction in which
the quickened spirit’s “yes” rises in
response to the Unilateral Proposal.
Faith
says, “Yes, I receive your beneficent proposal,
my Lord, and all the promise that goes with that
at the mere expense of the lifeless path I have
been on.” That’s it. That is all!
There is no more to it than that. This is the sum
nature of saving faith in relation to our entrance
into the New Birth through the New Covenant.
So
when it comes to entering the Covenant of Promise,
God does the only Work there is. God proposes to us
in our helplessness, and we find the momentary
illumination to say yes, and that is it.
What
about John the Baptist’s “Requirement of Works to
be Saved”?
In
view of this discussion of works and the unilateral
covenant, some would point out, “But did not John
the Baptist require works as proof of repentance
in order to be saved?”
This
appears to be a fair question, but it is a mistaken
question based on a false syllogism which is in turn
based on a false equation. The syllogism goes like
this.
·
Repentance
(a turning of the heart) is required to be saved.
·
John
required proof of repentance (works) before he
would baptize men.
·
Therefore,
proof or repentance (works) is required to be
saved.
This
syllogism is false because it is based on an
unspoken false equation created between the second
and third points. The false equation is that baptism
equals salvation. In the extreme, a second false
premise equates repentance with salvation.
If
John’s baptizing saved the people from their sins
and especially if repentance equaled salvation, then
this syllogism would be entirely correct and it
would be right to conclude that works of repentance
are required to be saved. This would then mean that
the New Covenant is a bilateral covenant between
equals based on mutual performance contrary to
everything taught by Paul.
But
John’s baptism did not save anyone. It was a sign of
heart preparedness for the coming of the Kingdom
through the Messiah. And he particularly wanted
evidence from the people that they were real about
the call to that preparedness.
But
John’s actions did not set the bar for anyone’s
salvation. John had no authority to set such a
bar or to declare anyone saved. The only one who
could do that was Messiah. It was Messiah’s covenant
after all, not John’s.
When
Messiah came, he stated no recorded requirement of
works before his disciples baptized anyone, but more
importantly, made all declarations of salvation to
people based only on their faith without any
specific regard to any demonstrated performance of
anything, including baptism. For more detail
on this, see the treatise By Blood and Water: The True Story
and Meaning of Christian Baptism.
So
no, therefore, John’s refusal to baptize some
Pharisees apart from their demonstration of associated
works fitting their repentance in no way contradicts
the overarching truth of the unilateral nature of the
New Covenant entered by helpless faith
alone.
Return
on Investment: Spirit-Activated Works in the
Unilateral Covenant
But
here now is where it becomes amazingly tricky and
confusing. Because as soon as we are quickened to
utter that spirit-faith “yes” to God in our state of
abject helplessness, and as soon as we receive our
“freed will” to move forward into this new eternal
life, a whole ‘nother dimension of the word “works”
immediately comes into view inside of this New
Covenant---and it comes with an expectation laid
upon us going forward!
Once
we have been quickened to new life, faith becomes ours
as an enduring possession of life force capable
of ongoing responsiveness to new authority.
This responsiveness to the continuing revelation of
God’s promises directed by his authoritative Voice becomes
the new “work” we are not only enabled to
perform but are expected to perform in
thankful return for God’s investment in our salvation.
It is our “reasonable service” (Rom. 6
&12).
God
did not save us as bleeding babes to leave us as
bleeding babes, but in order to invest Himself
into us unto our growth into eventual marriage
partnership with Him. Thus on this investment
there is an expectation of return in the form
of ongoing responsiveness from within our
freed hearts to continue saying yes to
His developing destiny in us by our actions guided and
enabled by His now indwelling Holy Spirit.
It
is our constant spirit-inspired action through
responsive obedience to the convicting, prompting,
guiding, leading and enabling of His indwelling Spirit
that defines the second dimension of “works”
for which we are fully and entirely accountable
once inside the Covenant, and which indeed forms the
basis on which we will be judged at the end of our
growing season in this life.
Union
of Faith and Works: Inside the Unilateral
Covenant
It
is here that the terms “works” and “faith”
are no longer opposite, but they intersect and
are superimposed! Our work from
henceforth within the capacity of our newly imparted
spirit life is to continually respond in spirit-based
action to the Father’s indwelling Spirit, to His voice
and to His commands---commands that are commensurate
with entrance into His ongoing Work toward fulfillment
of His complete Promise destiny for our lives.
God’s
Promise is not just to save us “from our blood,” but
to raise us into responsible adult companionship with
and for His Son as brothers (“sons”) and as one
corporate Bride. And so there is an abiding personal
dimension to His Beneficent Promise within the
Covenant, one that covers every detail and facet of
inner design according to who He planted Himself
within us to be and to become. We are seeds of
Promised Unique Destiny waiting to be worked out under
the sun of mortality until we can be harvested to
glory where He and we reap the full reward of our
Union in Him.
Throughout
this continuing salvation of soul, our faith is made
to keep saying yes through all action
necessary to fulfil that implantation of Divine
Destiny. We say yes to every sub conviction
and yearning within His great Covenantal Promise to
bring us up into His Image. And we say yes to
every command requiring response on our part necessary
toward that fulfillment—whether we see how it fits
with the promise or do not, whether it is joyful to us
or difficult to us. But this is our new “work.”
This
second dimension work is the “good works” for
which we were created in Christ Jesus. It is the “fruit”
expected to come forth through our reborn lives as we
abide in Him. It is that which has to be “worked
out” with fear and trembling in the remaining
salvation of our soul. And it is the “works” on
which basis He will judge us at the end, as well as
those both James and John expect us to demonstrate as
proof of our new faith nature.
This
is the “work of faith” we are completely
capable of fulfilling because He has given us His
Spirit to be able to do so as we continuously yield to
His very own revelation and empowerment within us. In
that sense, it is but our saying yes to His
work within us (Christ in us, laboring through
us). This work also is the easy yoke and the
light burden we are to carry on in our discipleship.
The
Work of Faith: “Entering into God’s Work”
This
brings us back to Abraham. In the Message version of
Romans 4, Paul describes Abraham’s work of faith as
Abraham’s entering into and embracing
of God’s work through him and for him. It is again a
work of response that begins in the faith of the heart
that believes in the revealed Promise of God’s Work.
The
Promise was constructed entirely and only on that
which God alone could do. As the unilaterally
initiated Covenant of Beneficence, that is what made
it God’s Work alone. But in the responsiveness
to the Promise, there is that which Abraham was yet
expected to do once his heart had been quickened to
faith, beginning by the saying “yes” from the
heart.
“Yes,
I believe you are able to do this.” That was His
first new “work” of faith. And that was all
that was or could be “required” for entrance into
the Covenant. It was not his work, but rather his
entrance into God’s Work, as the scripture has said.
And this entirely explains why Jesus said as the first
step of doing the works of God, “This
is the work of God, that you believe in Him
whom He has sent.”
Now the equation of faith and works makes sense. (No
more head scratching.)
But
expressing heart faith is only the beginning of his
new work. Abraham’s newly quickened faith into God’s
Work was then ongoingly evidenced by His obedience to
God’s living Voice en route to and in apprenticeship
of God’s sovereign work toward the ultimate fulfilling
of the Promise.
Abraham
believed the Promise by obeying the command to leave
Ur. He believed the Promise by continuing to practice
procreation. And He ultimately believed the Promise by
obeying the command to offer up His only Son. And this
now is the very point about works that James makes.
2:21 Was
not Abraham our father justified by works when he
offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You
see that faith
was working with his works, and as
a result of the works,
faith was perfected;23 and
the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And
Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him
as righteousness,”
and he was called the
friend of God.24 You see
that a man is justified by works and not by faith
alone.
In
all these responses of faith, Abraham was simply
“entering into” God’s Work of promise on his behalf.
And it is to be the same for us.
The
Work of Faith: The Work of an Apprentice, Not a
Contractor
Let’s
keep straight about this. This second dimension work
of faith we have been describing is all
Spirit-propulsed work once we are inside the
Covenant. It is not the foundational Work that
only God does and can do to initiate the Covenant.
But
even as a Spirit-propulsed work inside the Covenant,
the work of faith is not a work that is somehow
independently calling to the man as a co-equal
laborer. Once inside the Covenant and working by
responsive faith, we never are to imagine ourselves in
the role of a co-equal independent contractor
where we are “doing half” and God is “doing half” the
work. We never assume the position of entering a
performance based two-party business
contract!
Rather,
the work of faith remains the dependent work of an
apprentice within God’s Work of Promise. This is
so vitally important to remember and the place where
as growing disciples we are so easily led astray as we
flex our faith muscles.
The
work of faith never becomes “our work.” We never own
any of the work. We are always watching Another do His
Work while allowing His Spirit to participate in
that work through us however He wills us to be
engaged to whatever degree. He retains all ownership
of the Work.
-
Laboring
Toward Complete
Sonship
So
what are we seeing here? We are seeing that once God’s
Work of Unilateral Promise has been entered into by
the spirit transaction of faith apart from any
contractually performable work, then the newly
quickened heart with its new acquired aptitude and
propensity for believing and obeying now works in
tandem with God’s sovereign Work as the Lord now
grows the apprenticeship with His new friend and son.
The
two “works” are “working side by side”---God’s
sovereign Work of Promise, and the son’s responsive
work of believing obedience, embracing the promises,
obeying the commands within the Promise. The son’s
work is truly therefore an entering into the Father’s
Work.
And
is not this how Jesus described His working
relationship with His Father? He said, “My Father
works, and I work also.” That is the
apprenticeship of the growing faith work modeled for
us.
Consider:
Jesus was born as a helpless babe by the sovereign
will of the Father. He had nothing to do with that. No
work involved on His part! But as He grew “in stature
and wisdom,” He apprenticed in belief and obedience
with the Father’s Work, and never went off to do His
own thing.
So
here again we see the two dimensions of works, how
they intersect and how they do not. And it patterns
for us how we too are born again by the will of the
Father without our works, while growing to apprentice
in the Father’s work by our works.
Does
this make sense? Can we discern these dimensions of
work now in relation to faith? Does this solve the
riddle and remove the cause for strife?
The
Work of Faith: Sowing, not Earning
We
have repeatedly stated as has Brother Earls how
important the typology of harvest is to understanding
God’s kingdom ways. It is the same and no less here.
When
we consider a farmer, a farmer sows and plants in
faith, but he cannot earn the increase of what
he has sown. A farmer does not enter into a contract
with the ground and say, “OK, I will put this many
seeds into you and water you, and you perform and
give me this much back out of you.” Nor can he
even speak to the Lord this way. Rather, a farmer
simply plants in faith. And He waits on God
for the increase according to God’s sovereign design
and intent.
“Planting
in faith” thus precisely describes the work of faith
inside the Covenant. You plant, but you cannot control
the outcome of what is reaped. Yet you must plant for
there to be an increase at all. Thus it is with every
action in the work of faith.
In
this arrangement, you see, there is a holy barrier
between the cause and effect of the farmer’s
work and his result. That holy barrier is what
separates the acceptable work of faith from the
unacceptable work of barter contract that would seek
to earn God’s blessing as a co-equal.
God’s
blessing cannot be earned by bilateral contract
performance, though it must be responded to in faith
action within the unilateral Covenant. That is what
the motif of harvest is all about. It perfectly
explains the relationship of works to faith.
Israel’s
Interior Legal Contract, the Church’s Interior Faith
Indenture and the Remaining Hope for Total
Liberation
Once
Israel was brought into the Unilateral Covenant of
Beneficence through Abraham, Israel was expected to
respond in obedience to an inferior interior
subcontract called “the Law of Moses.” But the Law
itself, being in the nature of a contract, was
incapable of being kept. God knew this. And Paul
explains why that was instituted, though it was of a
great futility to both God and Israel.
Romans
8 explains the large principle that the creation
itself was made subject to futility in hope of the
liberation to come by the manifestation of the sons of
God. This very principle had already been
prophetically played out in Israel. Israel was made
subject to the futility of keeping the Law, God
Himself subjecting Himself to the pain of that
futility, all in the hope of a coming liberation
through the manifestation of the original Son of
God to come. That is God’s way. And who may
argue with it?
In
the New Covenant, innate legal futility has been
replaced with total faith by the Spirit without Law,
albeit still under the futility of mortality.
We don’t have to keep the futile law anymore. We only
have to endeavor to live in faith response to the many
promises and commands of God’s own Voice to our
hearts. That is exceedingly wonderful compared to what
went before. We enter straight into God’s work of
overriding Promise on our way to growth into ultimate
Union with Him—available now to Jew and Gentile alike.
No legal contract involved!
But
still as noted, even we yet groan under the futility
of mortality, awaiting our complete redemption. And we
all feel this keenly and deeply. Under the futility of
mortality, we have nevertheless succeeded at
duplicating all the errors Israel committed trying to
keep the subcontractual Law. Because of this, we see
that under both Old and New Covenants, we have all
been kept under a certain futility, producing
two ages of unbelief, that He might eventually have
mercy on all through the Liberation of All the Sons to
come.
Nevertheless,
despite the futilities of both interior arrangements
under the two covenants, we don’t want to lose sight
of the essential Promissory nature of the Unilateral
Beneficent Covenant that was extended through Abraham
first to Israel, and then to all the Church, with the
relationship of faith to both. His Covenant is not
undone by our failures under the futilities as would
be the case if we were under a legal contract.
Reconciling
the Faith versus Works Tension in the Body
We
have now before us the understanding about “works”
that reconciles the conflicts producing strife in the
body and strife within ourselves relative to our
faith.
As
far as church strife goes, we have learned on one hand
that we cannot work bilaterally with God as an equal
to enter Covenant with Him. We cannot bargain or earn
anything. The Covenant and our first capacity to enter
it are God’s Work alone. It is a purely beneficent
covenant.
This
means that all who teach we must bring some kind of
work or evidence of worthiness other than a
surrendered heart to the covenantal table of faith for
salvation or that salvation even depends on a
contractual decision of any kind are in
error.
On
the other hand, we have also learned that once enabled
into the Covenant and bestowed its capacity for
ongoing participation in God’s promise through
obedience to his Voice, we are absolutely under
obligation because of God’s investment in us to do the
works inspired by faith, and on this we will be
judged. (Such judgment will prove whether we truly and
ultimately were His by New Birth.)
Faith
not resulting in works is indeed dead and cannot save.
God expects fruit from all that He plants, otherwise
it is not His planting and will be torched. This means
that all who teach an initial profession of faith is
forever sufficient to assure one of his salvation
without further evidence of faith work are in
error.
This
is all the body of Christ needs to understand to
reconcile the strife over works and faith in our
salvation.
Reconciling
the Faith versus Works Tension within Ourselves
As
far as personal issues as believers goes, we learn
that whether we are to be acting or resting in any
situation is a matter of sensing the Spirit’s guidance
and direction. It is that simple. It’s not about
whether we are laboring or not. It is not about what
others think we should be doing, what a prophecy tells
us we should be doing, what scripture outlines as a
general rule of practice, or even necessarily what our
fallible conscience tells us we should be doing. It is
about whether we are responding to the Spirit
behind our labor or our inaction.
What
is the Spirit saying to the inner man? Does He require
our participation or not? Is He confirming a course
harmonious with conscience, scripture and counsel of
others, or is He carrying us somehow beyond it?
This
is something He as the Advocate of Truth is
responsible to argue clearly and cogently before the
courtroom of our heart, so that we can trust that
whether we act or don’t, we are responding to what we
have heard in faith, or have committed to the Lord
based on best intent and understanding where we seem
unable to hear clearly. That is all that matters.
Faith
is our only work behind whatever else appears to be
our labor or our inaction.
Our
difficulty here is that often as earnest disciples, we
still remain prone in the flesh to fall into a
contractual mindset, expecting God to bless us
immediately or in a certain way because we did thus
and so in strict obedience to His Voice. We responded
to His promise. Or we responded to His command. But we
don’t see it come forth the way we expect and so we
say,
“How
come? I fulfilled my part of the covenant? Why
aren’t you fulfilling yours, God? Are you not
faithful? Or did I do something to displease you?”
God
does not want us to keep giving into that “earning
discipleship” mindset where we lose sight of the
unilateral promissory nature of His covenant and
revert to a bilateral contractual mindset where
fulfillments depend on our “perfect performance.” (I
know that I am certainly prone to this.)
We
have to stay with a mind in which we are simply and
confidently “planting” and “watering” our actions in
response to the Spirit each day. And then we have to
wait on Him for the increase to be reaped in faith,
whether near term or far term, whether through lush
rainy season or harsh dry season under the sun of
tribulation.
We
must remember that only He gives the increase, because
this is not our work, but rather we are entered
into His Work, and that is all. We must see all
as His Work in our lives, and not succumb to the
contract mentality. This is why the wage earners in
the parable of the workers had such a hard time. They
were focused on their labor contract and comparing it
to that of others, instead of focusing on having
entered into His labor.
Anyway,
in the course of the long wait for a return on a
lifetime of faith, I have to preach this to myself.
And I am sharing this “selfie” with all of you.
Prayer
Father,
help us to know and keep straight the difference
between your Sovereign Unilateral Work of Covenant
Promise, and our responsive work of faith--- first
through believing, and then acting on your promises
and orders as Your apprentices.
Deliver
us from fatalistic complacence in approaching our
discipleship, failing through fear to sow our faith
at risk into your revealed promises and commands.
But also deliver us from feverish enslavement to
contractually earning the fulfilments to your
promises by faithful obedience after we have braved
fear to act on them.
In
all things, please forgive us for continuing to
misunderstand the Beneficent Design of your Covenant
with us. We could not earn our way into relationship
with You, and we cannot earn our way into
maintaining relationship with you through “our”
discipleship.
Help
us to always keep before us our sense of entrance
only into Your Promissory Work in our lives, with
Thanksgiving in all things, no matter what dashed
hopes and expectations we must endure under our
remaining mortality.
We
look forward with hope to however you will cause
faith to be reaped now in the land of the living,
and with greater hope to our liberation into the
glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Thank
you for calling us out of Babylon and into
Immortality. All is of Your Benevolent Hand
In
Jesus’ Name.
Important
Takeaways
Here
are some concluding key takeaways from this lesson
that may revolutionize our understanding as we keep
walking out our faith in Christ:
1.
God’s
covenant with us is one of unilateral beneficence in
view of our helplessness. We bring nothing to the
table. We do not come as co-equals to a bilateral
exchange. We only respond as helpless babes from a
heart-quickened faith to say yes to His benevolence.
2.
God’s
covenant is based in Christ’s death on terms of a life
destiny Promise that He wants to work out in our
lives. He is not just saving us from our sins to then
leave us to aimlessly obey our way through this life
til death.
3.
Once
inside His covenant, our faith work is only to enter
into His Work for us as apprentices through spirit
responsiveness to His sub-promises and commands. We do
not have an independent work or detached calling
identified by “our name” or for which we are
responsible; and maturing in discipleship never means
we presumptuously revert to the role of a bilateral
contractor.
Selah.
Blessings
to all the Royal Priesthood,
Part
II
