My brothers and I have very different personalities, and this was obvious from the beginning. For reasons that I will not go into, my middle brother actually got to be the baby of the family (the one who got by on charm). So my youngest brother assumed the role of the middle child: independent, a hustler, not afraid to talk to anyone, or to be different, and always looking for an angle. In short, everything I was not. I was conventional, shy, and afraid to make a mistake. Mom would send us to summer camp with $5.00 for the camp store. I know that does not sound like very much money, but it was a long time ago, so imagine it was enough for the week. I would spend my money by Wednesday and mope around till Saturday, when my parents came back to get me, with nothing in my pocket, wishing I had a few pennies for candy. Dan would come home with $7.50, along with pennants and souvenirs and pockets full of candy. He had a way of making money grow, while I always made it shrink. I am not ashamed to say that I was a little jealous. But, at ten years of age, he was still naive about some things. One day after school, Dan received an envelope in the mail. It looked official, and he was very interested, so, naturally, I was curious. He took it upstairs to open it. When he read the contents, he started jumping up and down and shouting for joy. I had to know what the great news was, so I grabbed the letter and started reading. It was from Publishers Clearing House. He had entered the contest to win the ten million dollar prize. Of course, they didn’t know he was only ten years old. The letter officially informed him of his extreme good fortune:
“YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY WON!”
I could say that I didn’t have the heart to tell him any differently, but, in my role as big brother, it was my obligation to advise him of certain facts. It ruined his day, and I was able to feel older and wiser, in comparison. The lure of easy money is so strong, and I will bet that we have all taken the bait at least a time or two. Who hasn’t been coaxed into a time share sales presentation by the promise of a free boat, only to walk out of the meeting three hours later, clutching an inflatable raft? O.K., maybe you haven’t, but some people have.
Now, if you’ve read this blog before, you might know that I talk, occasionally, about condemnation. What is condemnation? It is the sense of impending punishment, that causes us to believe and do things that don’t make sense, even to us. The Bible tells us that believers in Jesus are free from condemnation. Unfortunately, we willingly take it on, and this applies to all people, church-goers or not. We secretly blame ourselves for a family member’s death or for our parent’s divorce. We doubt that we are deserving of love or forgiveness. We judge our own shortcomings most harshly in other people. We compare ourselves to others, and so we are alternately arrogant or jealous. One of the most pervasive means of manifesting condemnation is (and I guarantee this includes everyone) trying to earn the things that are freely given to us. The people at Publishers Clearing House know this, and they use it to sell magazines. No matter how many times they tell you there is “no purchase necessary,” in order to win the free money, they know that it is almost impossible to not buy magazine subscriptions! Even if you already know that there is “no purchase necessary,” it doesn’t matter. You already know that the odds are against you, but what you are really doing is giving God a chance to shine down some cold hard cash, I mean blessing on you. Instinctively, you know that, if you are actually going to win, you’ve got to tip the scales a little bit in your favor.
This is the point where we get it all wrong. This is where we confuse condemnation with faith. We think that, if God is going to answer our prayers for that miracle that we need, that we have to really pray long and hard. And we have to beg and plead with God for just this one little miracle, and “I promise I’ll go to church every Sunday from now on.” And we have to confess every known sin (and feel really, really sorry for them), and it wouldn’t hurt to fast along with the praying. And we have to believe harder than we ever have, and we have to cast every doubt from our minds. Have you ever tried to get rid of doubt? Do you know what seems to rise up every time we try to get rid of doubt? Doubt! There is nothing wrong with spending time talking with God. But don’t think that God is impressed by religious effort. The only effort needed is the effort to enter into His rest. God won’t start working until you quit working and start resting. O.K., wait a minute. What does it mean to enter into His rest? It means to quit trying to earn what God wants to freely give you, and just start believing that He wants to freely give it to you. Some of you are so full of condemnation that you don’t think He wants to give you anything. You’ve never asked God for anything, because that would be selfish.
I know that you get squeamish from talk of getting things from God. Has it ever occurred to you that God might want to do good things for you? Have you considered that God might love you, and He might actually want you to be happy. It is human impulse to see God as harsh and demanding. The ancient Sumerians believed that the gods made humans so they would do their work. Sounds familiar. The Egyptians supposedly had a worship ritual that involved bread and wine, just like Christianity; except the gods were the ones who got to eat the bread and drink the wine! We think we are showing God the proper reverence by not asking for anything for ourselves, and we turn up our noses at people who are “believing God for a miracle.” What we are really doing is denying the Father/child relationship that God wants to have with us, and insisting on a master/servant relationship. We are actually insulting God when we see Him as small, weak, and unable or unwilling to help his own children.
O.K. Lets say you are with me so far. You might say, “That sounds great, but I have prayed for things in the past, and they didn’t happen.” So lets get even more basic. What is the one thing that God wants from you? Get ready for this:
He wants you to believe Him.
“But what about holiness? What about loving others, and being good?” Nope. He wants you to believe Him. The Bible says,
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3).
What did God say, that we need to believe? He said He has already done everything for you. It happened when He sent Jesus. When you think you need to supplement your faith in what Jesus did with your own holiness, love, or goodness, you are not believing God. But, wait. Aren’t those things important? Those things are the fruit of your faith, not the root. They are the output, not the input; the effect, not the cause. Get it? When you believe God, those other things happen effortlessly. God is the supplier of all that you need for life and godliness. What about the verse that says, “faith without works is dead?” Don’t we need to add some good works in there to sort of prove our faith? Once again, the verse (James 2:20) is talking about the result of faith. It can be tricky to understand. The works that James is talking about are what happens naturally when you believe. They should not be confused with good things we do to earn credit.
Lets play a game that I will call “Faith or No Faith.” Using the Publishers Clearing House example, suppose I believe I will win the prize money, so I enter the contest. Faith or no faith? Faith (maybe misdirected faith, I admit). Entering the contest was a simple act of faith that was the natural result of believing I would win. Now, suppose I buy magazine subscriptions, thinking it will increase my chances of winning. Faith or no faith? No faith. I have just added works to my faith. I tried to earn it. What if I believed I would win, but didn’t enter the contest? No faith. That is the “faith without works is dead” option. Lets try another example. I just went to New Zealand to preach. My friend invited me to preach at his church’s family camp. I bought a ticket to Auckland, and when I arrived I went to the airport McDonalds to meet my friend. Faith or no faith? Faith. Buying the ticket and traveling to New Zealand could be called an act of faith. I was counting on the trustworthiness of my friend to meet me on the other side of the world. What if my friend had been late to meet me, and I started walking from the airport toward downtown Auckland? Faith or no faith? No faith. Fear that he might not be there caused me to take matters into my own hands (or feet, in this case). What if I had believed he would meet me, but I failed to buy a ticket or to get on the plane? No faith. “This is the faith without works is dead” option, again. Mark Batterson, in The Circle Maker, wrote about the time his church was praying for a drummer for their worship team. No drummer appeared, and the Lord seemed to be asking Mark if they had bought a drum set? They went out and bought a drum set. The next Sunday, they had their drummer. Can you see how the buying of the drum set was the natural result of the prayer of faith? Can you also see how someone else might be talked into buying something to “achieve” an answer to prayer? A few years ago, my daughter believed that she needed to move sixty miles south to our house, so we could help her with Ashton, and she could eventually go to school. But, she had no job prospects in our town. When she asked me for advice, I just suggested she move in the direction of faith. So, she went in to her boss to leave notice. When she told them what she was going to do, they offered her a job in our area. And It was a promotion!
I hope this has helped you to understand the difference between works and faith that results in action. “But, what are the things that God has freely given me?” you ask. You ask really good questions. I will try to answer that next time.