THE NEURTAL CAPACITY OF FAITH AS IT RELATES TO MORAL ISSUES
Earlier in this section we looked at several examples of how the neutral capacity of faith was utilized in carrying out some amoral psychical desires of the soul, e.g., the light switch, the chair, etc.
Now, let’s see how the capacity of faith operates in moral issues of the heart or spirit. As a starting point, the scriptures tell us over and over that “God is Love.” The “is” becomes an equal sign: GOD = LOVE. The SPIRIT of GOD is LOVE. The scriptures also inform us that we are created in God’s image. Therefore, we are created with the very center of our existence being that of love. The very fundamental nature or quality of our spirit or heart function is love.
As we have learned, however, in the chapters on the Born-Again Life and Sprit-Filled Life, that love is either pure or perverted. Love of the world, or love of God the Father must dominate the human heart or spirit. And the object of our love will possess us. This love, either pure or perverted is the center of every one of our moral decisions.
It is so very important for us to understand God’s simple plan of salvation. He knows that we were born as sinners – separated from him because the very essence of our spirit is perverted love. He desires for us to be completely restored to Him and be controlled by His Spirit of Pure Love. Thus, the necessity of the Born-Again and Spirit-Filled experience.
In order for the plan of salvation to be perfected in our life, God calls on us to activate our God-given capacity to believe His Word for the promised spiritual restoration – and then, to act upon that belief by confessing our need, turning from our sin, and accepting His gift of eternal life.
Just think of the faith that God has had in us accepting his gift of salvation. He believed so strongly that we would accept His offer of restoration, that He gave His only Son, Jesus to pay the price to make it possible for us to accept His offer of forgiveness, justification, regeneration and adoption; heart purity, heart perfection, infilling and empowering of the Spirit of Pure Love.
He has done this through the death on the cross of his own human body, and now, as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before him with nothing left against you – nothing left that he could even chide you for; the only condition is that you fully believe the Truth, standing in it steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, convinced of the Good News that Jesus died for you, never shifting from trusting him to save you. (Col. 1:22-23 TLB)
For God sent Christ to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath. (Romans 3:25 TLB)
Then what can we boast about doing to earn our salvation? Nothing at all. Why? Because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds; it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in him. So it is that we are saved by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do. (Romans 3:27-28 TLB)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God . . . (Ephes. 2:8 NIV)
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “he who believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:10-11 NIV)
“. . .to open their eyes and turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:18 NIV)
“He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:9 NIV)
GOD WANTS TO STIMULATE OUR FAITH
One of the most beautiful things about God’s simple plan for my life, is the fact that He takes every possible means to help stimulate my faith in Him. God is eager that the “gulf of separation” be bridged and we be redeemed and restored back to Him.
That is the reason for God, himself, entering the human arena by sending His beloved Son to become very much man. God knew when He sent Christ to earth that He was to become the sin sacrifice that God himself had demanded. Yet, Jesus Christ came to earth so that we could experience him with our own personal soul functions of mind, emotions, and will. (I John I:1-3)
Jesus came so we could hear him with our own ears, reason with Him with our intellect, cry with Him when His friend, Lazarus died, be excited with Him when the lame man picked up his bed and walked, and rejoice with Him when Peter, with the eye of faith, finally “saw” that Christ was the Son of God in the flesh.
Why would God do this? Why would Christ go to all this bother?
If faith needs motivation to activate it, then His touchable love would become the motivation. If faith required an object, then He would become the object so that it would be easier for our eye of faith to “see” the possibilities of restoration.
Down through history God has tried to make it easy for people’s faith to bridge the gap between need and actual restoration.
God wants our faith to operate as freely in spiritual matters as it does in normal everyday happenings. When He reveals something to us, He wants us to risk our lives on our belief in Him. He expects those insights to move from intention across the bridge of faith into changed behavior.
Consider the way that God has endeavored to stimulate our faith in Him:
Leading the Children of Israel throughout the Old Testament.
The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, full of grace and truth.
Christ sharing His wisdom and instruction.
Christ’s ministry of miracles and teachings.
Christ’s prophetically foretold death and resurrection (Ps. 22; Isa. 9,11,42,46,53).
Christ’s witnessed appearances after His resurrection (Jn. 20,21 I Cor. 15:5-8).
Christ’s ascension back into heaven (Lk. 24; Acts 1:9-11).
The coming of the promised Holy Spirit (Lk. 24:49; Acts1:8).
The transformed lives of His followers (Book of Acts).
The written records of those transformed followers (Gospels & Epistles).
The miracles we have seen with our own eyes, in our own experiences.
The changed lives which we can point to (including the person there in the mirror).
PERSONAL FAITH FOR DAILY CHRISTIAN LIVING
As strange and wonderful as it may seem, that even with God fulfilling what would appear to be 99% of the deal, yet it still takes our simple faith in accepting Christ’s provision to complete our restoration and to live out a successful Christian life. Without this, there isn’t enough conviction, or sorrow, or tears, or prayers, or resolutions in the whole world to bring us to the enjoyment of receiving the provisions which God has for us. Our capacity of faith still has to be activated. It still takes our “Leap of Faith”
It is important to see that faith cannot save – only God’s grace can do that. But faith is the on-purpose action of the determined individual that actually allows the Holy Spirit to live the life of Jesus Christ through that person to the glory of the Father.
The Apostle Peter was somewhat of a pioneer in matters of everyday Christian faith among the disciples. It is interesting to watch Peter develop and learn. It is so easy to identify with Peter in his “Faith Walk” episodes with Christ.
Christ had allowed Peter to “see” some extraordinary possibilities through faith and then Christ encouraged Peter into a growth experience. Peter had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing – not just a few fish – but nothing! Christ very simply told Peter to launch on out where the water was deeper and let down his nets. He assured Peter that if he did, he would be successful in bringing in a large number of fish.
Now, Peter did the normal, natural thing in response to outside instruction. He began to filter the new information through his psychical function and weigh it for validity.
He ran it through his intellect, “I already know there aren’t any fish out there. I was just out there twenty minutes ago. I know what I am doing. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.”
He ran it through his emotions, “Man, as tired as I am, I don’t need someone telling me how to fish. What will my partners think? They are professional fishermen too. They’ll think I am goofy.”
He ran it through his will, “What am I going to do – stay here or go out like He told me to?”
Peter struggled, he hesitated, then plunged:
“Sir . . . we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, we’ll try it again.” And this time their nets were so full that they began to tear! . . . and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. (Luke 5:5-7 TLB)
Peter began to see that when you believe in what Christ says so much that you act on it, the results of that obedience will sometimes even counteract nature itself. That certainly was the case in Peter’s next learning installment.
While out in a boat in the middle of a severe storm, Peter saw Christ walking on the water toward their boat. Peter, this time, didn’t even wait for Christ’s instructions or invitation. Peter called out to Christ, “Lord, if that is you . . . tell me to come to you on the water.” (Matt 14:28)
Can you imagine the smile on Christ’s face in response to hearing those words of faith in the middle of that storm, coming from the lips of his sincere student of faith? “Come,” he said to Peter, and Peter got out and walked!
Peter’s faith actually affected his behavior.
Now, it’s true that when faced by a huge wave, Peter transferred his faith back to the already known fact that people naturally sink in water. It is also true, that he got a good dunking for his daring. He gained, however, something more priceless than any of his more cautious stay-in-the-boat buddies. He gained an experiential knowledge of how everyday Christian faith operates. He was able to experience that amazing truth in the only way truth can really be known -- by trying it out for yourself.
The capacity to believe and then to act upon that belief is truly a phenomenal capacity. In order to get from point “A” to point “B” we must believe that we can get there, and then start out. If we don’t start out, we won’t arrive. If we don’t believe – we won’t start out. That seems pretty simple.
But it is at that point that the subject of faith gets a little knotty, because the converse of that equation is not necessarily so. Even though we won’t arrive if we don’t start and we won’t start if we don’t believe, yet, just because we believe and start it doesn’t necessarily follow that we will arrive if we are incorrect in our belief or misguided in our start.
And in moral or spiritual matters that is exactly where Satan loves to get us off track. He is a specialist at perverting the faith capacity.
I remember very well an elderly Christian man who announced to everyone in the church that he had faith that God was going to heal his wife who was terminally ill of cancer. He said it, he believed it, and acted accordingly – but his wife died within two months. The man left the church and was angry with God for the rest of his bitter life. What a tragedy!
Without a clear understanding of the capacity of faith, and how it relates to moral and spiritual matters, he was left to live with Satan’s conclusion that either his faith was flawed or God was not faithful. Neither conclusion is true.
John gives us a clear insight into the matter when he states:
And we are sure of this, that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything I line with his will. And if we really know he is listening when we talk to him and make our requests, then we can be sure that he will answer us. (I John 5:14-15 TLB)
FAITH AS IT RELATES TO GOD’S WILL
There is no way to constructively deal with the subject of faith, as it relates to moral or spiritual matters, without first coming to grips with the subject of God’s Will. We will be dedicating an entire section to the subject of “God’s Will” later in this series, but I feel it is proper to do a little forecasting on the subject at this point.
John, in the scripture quoted above, implies that it must become the normal occurrence for us to ask according to God’s Will. Whether we live a life of frustration and continual disappointment and eventual defeat, or a victorious life of achievement depends completely upon the motivation of our faith, i.e., our spirit, and the object of our faith, i.e., either our will or God’s Will.
Christ Himself said:
My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me and from finishing his work. (John 4:34 TLB)
The Psalmist declared:
I delight to do your will, my God, for your law is written upon my heart. (Ps. 40:8 TLB)
One of my favorite authors through the years, has been Oswald Chambers. In his book, “My Utmost for His Highest” he explains how your faith, as it relates to moral or spiritual matters, is not based on any of God’s blessings or the clever performing talents we may possess, but rather, it is based on a Person, Jesus Christ, and His Will, whether we ever receive any blessing or not:
Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but robust, vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. You cannot see Him just now, you cannot understand what He is doing, but you know HIM. Shipwreck occurs where there is not that mental poise which comes from being established on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the heroic effort in your life, you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God.
God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us’ now He wants us to venture our all I abandoned confidence on Him. (Chambers p. 129)
Faith by its very nature must be tried, and the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character has to be cleared in our own minds.
Faith in the Bible is faith in God against everything that contradicts Him – I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do. ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him – this is the most sublime utterance of faith in the whole of the Bible. (ibid., p. 305)
Our faith for daily Christian living must start with the surrender of our life in an attitude of childlike trust to the Will of God.
You may feel at this point, “Well, that is a “cop-out”! You have just watered down the certainty of faith by saying that I have to ask for things within God’s Will. Perhaps I want something for myself. Besides, how can I know God’s Will?”
The apostle Paul, in I Corinthians, explains:
But the spiritual man has insight into everything, and that bothers and baffle the man of the man of the world, who can’t understand him at all. How could he? For certainly he has never been one to know the Lord’s thoughts or to discuss them with him or to move the hands of God by prayer. But strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ. (I Cor. 2:15-16 TLB)
In the two previous chapters we learned that the thrilling characteristic of the Spirit-Filled Life is that there is certainty of actually having the spoken Word of God, the “Logos,” i.e., Jesus Christ, through the means of the Holy Spirit, dwelling inside of us.
The reason we can know His Will is because we can know Him, the true motivation and object of our faith . . .a Person:
For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him and then helping you do what he wants. (Phil. 2:13 TLB)
Paul states in Romans 10:17: “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” That living Word of God in your heart will help you know what things you should ask for in faith. It is no wonder that Christ felt comfortable in telling His Disciples that if they would ask for anything the He would have asked for they would see it come to pass!
In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask him for anything using my name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. Yes, ask anything, using my name, and I will do it! (John 14:12-14 TLB)
That was not a carte blanche offer to any pagan to pick up and use out of context. It is not an invitation to engage in name-dropping. He was specifically instructing them to ask for things within the scope of His Will, and the Father would honor their faith by giving them the God-centered desires of their hearts. The same is true with Christ’s words in John’s Gospel:
“. . . I appointed you to go and produce lovely fruit always, so that no matter what you ask for from the Father, using my name, he will give it to you. (John 15:16 TLB)
For you to yield to Satan’s temptation to pervert the basis of your faith by using Jesus’ name for something outside of His Will, could cause you to be charged with having uttered a forgery! For Christ even said to not put God to a foolish test (Matt. 4:7), and the foolish test would certainly be the presumption of trying to apply faith in a moral or spiritual matter to something outside the scope of God’s Will.
MY FAVORITE FUNCTIONAL DEFINATION OF FAITH
At the beginning of this section, we used an operative definition of the word “Faith”:
THE CAPACITY TO BELIEVE AND THEN ACT UPON THAT BELIEF.
We saw how this capacity is utilized in virtually every aspect of our lives. We also learned how God is eager for us to have this phenomenon of faith to operate as freely in spiritual matters as it does in the normal everyday happenings, such as getting into an elevator or flying in an airplane.
We even went further and investigated how this capacity of faith relates to God’s Will being realized through our own individual lives -- day by day. Now, we are ready to consider a simple, functional definition of “Faith”:
FAITH IS BEING SO CONVINCED OF GOD’S PLAN
THAT I WAIVE ALL MY OWN PERSONAL RIGHTS
IN FAVOR OF PURSUING HIS WILL.
Let’s examine this simple definition: The word “waive” simply means to surrender one thing in favor of another. What is meant by the phrase, “personal rights”? Do you have rights of your own?
Those functions of your soul are your personal rights. Review the familiar diagram below:
Your Mind: Your right to reason something out.
Your Emotions: Your right to do something or do nothing, based upon how you feel about it.
Your Will: Your right to pass judgement on a set of facts – and choose.
Those are God-given rights. They are covered under your “free moral agency” agreement. And in order to make faith for daily Christian living an exciting, fulfilling experience, you have the privilege of waiving those rights in an on-purpose act of worship, thereby, allowing God’s plan and His Will to work out through you as He desires.
Just think of the possibilities of God’s Will being unhindered as He works out His Plan and Ministry through your life! That should open your “eyes of faith” to some brand-new horizons!
Oswald Chambers states that when you are in a right relationship like that with Almighty God, “He will tax the remotest star or the sand on the seashore, in order to see to it that you have all you need to accomplish His Will.” That is the kind of faith that is available to you for your daily Christian “faith walk”.
So now, since we have been made right in “God’s sight by faith in his promises, we can have real peace with him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. For because of our faith he has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be.
We can rejoice, too when we run into problems and trials, for we know they are good for us – they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us . . . (Romans 5:1-5 TLB)
That is the quality of faith that was the hallmark of the patriarchs listed in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. They were so convinced of God’s Plan that they courageously and joyfully waived all of their personal rights in favor of pursuing God’s Will to be worked out unhindered in their lives. It was that quality of faith that was the dynamic of all they did . . . it was the center of their very attitudes and actions. That is the quality of faith that God is eager to have become the hallmark of our lives.
Next Week: Obedience Part 1: The Importance of Obedience