Tag Archives: Faith

Live What You Believe

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“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
(John 11:25–26)

Dear Friends,

If you’ve ever shaken a bottle of soda then felt the pressure building up inside, that’s a little like what my life had become lately.  Since the Memorial Day floods here in Cherokee this spring, I feel like I’ve gone from one crisis to the next, from one major event to another.  Without any time to breathe or even think, all of this busyness was taking its toll.  My sermon preparation had become mechanical, my prayer life was withering, and I dreaded writing this weekly update because it required me to sit and think.

Last week I was blessed to be able to take some time for reading and spiritual refreshment and renewal.  This wasn’t a vacation, it was dedicated time away from the needs of the church (preaching, teaching, visitation, administration), and focusing on my relationship with God.  I had a stack of books on Pastoral Ministry that I wanted to read, and I got through those; but more importantly, I needed the time to examine my heart, time to come under God’s hand of correction and consolation.

One of the things that this week showed me was that I was having a hard time actually trusting God.  My God had become too small.

I saw this primarily as I reflected on the time leading up to our mission trip to Haiti.  I knew God could provide, that God could open the doors for the mission to be a great success, that God could guard and guide our team.  But I had a hard time trusting that God would.  I had to have everything planned down to the last detail.  I felt, in my moments of heightened self-importance, that I was the one responsible, I was the one in charge, and that the success of the mission rested entirely upon my shoulders.  I knew God could do it, but why bother Him when I can take care of it myself?

Friends, that’s not a good place for anyone, let alone a pastor, to be in.

One of the books I read during my Sabbatical Week was Kent Hughes’ “Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome.”  It is an excellent book, one that I would recommend for every pastor, and every church member to read (it’s got a great chapter on how the congregation can really help their pastor).  In the book, I came across this:

What you believe about Christ is everything.  If you believe that he is Creator of everything, every cosmic speck across trillions of light years of trackless space, the Creator of the textures and shapes and colors which dazzle our eyes; if you believe that he is the Sustainer of all creation, the force presently holding the atoms of your body and this universe together, and that without him all would dissolve; if you believe that he is the Goal of everything, that all creation is moving toward him; if you further believe that his God is the Lover of your soul – then you believe in the God that “is,”  you believe that the God of the Holy Scriptures exists!

Hughes, Kent & Barbara, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome. (Crossway: Wheaton, Ill; 2008) Pg 68.

The hard question that we must ask then is this: “Do you believe what you believe?”  So often what we believe gets stuck up in our heads so that it becomes nothing more than just a block of knowledge that has no real impact on our lives.  The faith of the church is reduced to mere doctrine that has little bearing on how we live.  For many of us, the reality of the things we believe about God fades, the implications of His existence are overshadowed by the fears of our anxious hearts.

I had the opportunity to take a long hard look at my life and ask myself some important questions, questions I think are helpful for each of us to ask:

  • Do I believe that God can take care of me?
  • Do I believe that He loves me?
  • Do I believing that He rewards, that He is morally active on the part of those who seek Him?

Ask yourself these questions, and answer them honestly.

Whatever crisis you are facing this week, whatever trials (at work or at home); Isn’t your God big enough to handle it?  Has He not shown you in the cross of Christ how much He loves you?  Has He not promised that if you seek Him first in your life, all these other things will be given unto you?

Through all of this I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from the Heidelberg Catechism which says,

I trust in God so completely that I have no doubt that he will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul. Moreover, whatever evil he sends upon me in this troubled life he will turn to my good, for he is able to do it, being almighty God, and is determined to do it, being a faithful Father.

God is able and willing to provide your every need.  Live like you believe it.

SDG

Full of the Holy Spirit and Faith

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“he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith…”
(Acts 11:24)

I want this passage engraved on my tombstone.

I know it’s too early to think about that sort of thing, but since I am turning 40 in a couple of weeks, one might as well begin thinking about the inevitable.

All kidding aside, wouldn’t we all want this said about us at the end of our lives?  This passage comes from Luke’s description in Acts of the growing church in Antioch.  Believers who fled persecution in Jerusalem had assembled in Antioch, a predominately Hellenist (read Greek, or non-Jewish) community.  We read in Acts 11 that “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”  When news of this tremendous growth reached Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to teach and encourage the believers there, and while Barnabas was there, God continued to prosper and grow the church.  Barnabas rejoiced when we saw the grace of God present in Antioch, and he exhorted them all “to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.”  Then we are given a clue as to the success of Barnabus’ ministry, “he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”

That Barnabas was a good man has been previously established in the book of Acts.  We first read of Barnabas in Acts 4:36-37.  There we find a man called Joseph, whom the disciples called Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement,” who, with many other believers, sold his property and gave the money to the poor.

This is the kind of guy people want to be around.  He was an encourager, building up others, helping equip and strengthen them for service.  And he was generous and charitable, considering the needs of others before his own.  This characterizes Barnabas as a “good man.”

But, as Matthew  Henry notes, “the goodness of his natural disposition would not have qualified him for this service if he had not been full of the Holy Spirit.”  That is a phrase that is worth considering.  It’s used to describe only two other people in the New Testament, Jesus, just after his baptism in Luke 4, and Stephen, when he was selected as a Deacon in Acts 6, and as he was martyred in Acts 7.

So what does it mean to be full of the Holy Spirit?  It think that first we must remember that it is the Holy Spirit who awakens us to the gospel, who convicts us of our sin, and who leads us unto a saving knowledge of our savior Jesus Christ.  One cannot be a believer, one cannot be saved, unless the Spirit has first come and given life.  There is no such thing as life in Christ apart from the Holy Spirit – for it is the Spirit who gives life (John 6:63).

But there is a sense in which, once quickened by the Spirit from death unto life, the Holy Spirit may also fill individuals with power and equip them for ministry.  It was this outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that filled the disciples and enabled them to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation to the nations gathered in Jerusalem.  It was this outpouring of the Holy Spirit that strengthened Stephen to boldly proclaim the risen Christ even as he was being killed. It is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that equips and gifts the Church for ministry (1 Corinthians 12).  When the Holy Spirit fills a person, the result is a dramatic and mighty demonstration of God’s saving power.

Inwardly, the fullness of the Holy Spirit must also imply the crucifixion of the spirit of flesh.  Paul writes in Romans 8 that “the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus…” that we “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit…” and “you, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.”  To be full of the Spirit is to live according to the Spirit, to seek the leading of the Spirit, through the Word of God (read and proclaimed), and through prayer.  It is following the lead of God’s Holy Spirit in every decision, every action, every word – placing yourself captive to the sovereign and gracious power of God’s Holy Spirit.

And, of course, Barnabas was a man of faith.  He knew and trusted the power of God for salvation.  He could give his possessions knowing his life was secure in the hands of his Provider.  He could encourage others to faithfulness because he knew that Christ was the Faithful One.  Again, Matthew Henry writes, “He was full of faith, full of the grace of faith, and full of the fruits of that faith that works by love.”

If you try to make a name for yourself, you will probably lose it.  But if you live selflessly, living by faith, living in the fullness of God’s Spirit, God will let the quality of your character be known.  “Seek first the Kingdom of God,” Jesus said, “and all these things will be added unto you.”  Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.  Can the same be said of you?  It is my prayer that it be said of me.