[If] … you continue in your faith …
Summary: How should we describe faith? In these days of computers following a map is much different than it used to be. Yet the principles are the same. “Do we trust the map?,” or “Do we trust the computer?,” are both basically the same question.
Paul begins verse twenty-three with “if,” and then adds three conditions:
• If you … continue in your faith.
• If you are … established and firm.
• If you … do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. The context of this verse is rather stark. Paul begins by reminding us that we were God’s enemies. Then he shares the essence of the Gospel message: We have been reconciled with God through Jesus’ death on the cross.
Finally, he says we are presented holy in God’s sight … if … we continue in our faith.
On the face of it, Paul’s statement makes sense.
Suppose we were lost in the woods. After hiking for days, we come across a cabin where we can ask for directions. The person in the cabin gives us a map. If we follow the map, it will lead us through the forest back to civilization.
The wilderness we are in is a big one. If we don’t get to civilization, we will very likely die. Getting home is very important.
Halfway through the forest, we come to an Obstacle not shown on the map. The path is clearly marked on the map, but we have to go to the other side of the Obstacle if we are to follow the map. Going the other direction is a path through the woods. It looks like an easy trail to follow, but it doesn’t follow the map.
What do we do?
Should we take the easy trail or try and find a way about the Obstacle?
(Spoiler alert! The easy trail leads to death, but we don’t know that at the time. Getting around the Obstacle will be hard, but we have to do it to follow the map.)
Faith is like following the map. If we want to get home, we have to follow the path laid out for us. We have to continue in our faith.
Paul has given us a map to following Jesus. Our faith walk is different than following the laws of the Old Covenant. Instead of “do’s and do not’s,” we have Jesus, our living Shepherd.
Application: Follow Jesus!
Food for Thought: What is it like to follow Jesus each day?
So many possible ways to go with this question. I’ll stick with your map/path analogy. The road is narrow and often difficult. But the view at the end is glorious.
Matthew 7: 13 – 14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 7: 24 – 27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
John 14: 6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
James 1: 2 – 4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, a whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything
Thank you, Rich!
I like the “Consider it pure joy … ” part, myself. 🙂
I saw a movie once, I don’t remember which, where a man had to cross a darkness overstretching a dark chasm, with no visible bridge or path. In the movie each time he took a step, and stone would appear under his foot at the exact second he needed it.
Although not quite as unsettling as my analogy, following Jesus each day is a little like that, except, in reality, Jesus has already walked the path. His light guides us as to where to place our foot.
I have heard it said many times “God is always on time.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1: “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven”.
Ecclesiastes 3:11: “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end”.
Isaiah 60:22: “When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen”
Jesus told us in Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
At one point in my walk (I could not give you a date), I discovered the truth of both of these. That when faced with fear and doubt, I cast them aside and trusted in God. And then I was amazed, astounded, overjoyed and grateful as I watched events unfold, people pop out of nowhere, and resolution appear at the exact right time. It didn’t mean that I did nothing, it meant that I prayed about it and followed the Holy Spirits guidance on what I should do. The rest God lined up. Those experience, to me, are the life behind the words in Romans 8:28:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Thank you, Chris!
Romans 8:28 has been my “life verse.” It has kept me going through many dark passages of my own. And yes, God is always there to meet me.
What is it like to follow Jesus each day?
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Jesus clearly tells us! “No one comes to the Father except through me!” Yet we just don’t seem to get it right away. We must each go through a period of time believing WE lead people to our Lord when it is always Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit who knows exactly what the sinner needs to hear, and when he/she needs to hear it.
John 3:29:
The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
John 3:30:
He must increase: I must decrease.
John 30:31;
The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.
Living in, serving Jesus Christ is our source of security, and peace in all circumstances. He is the power and works through believers to accomplish His purposes for all He brings into our lives, He is the power that through the Holy Spirit convicts and empowers others to receive salvation through Him. We are simply the instruments being used in His service, delivering His message to others.
We trust in He who provides our every daily need, and reply “Here I am when He calls!”
Ron,
Thank you so much! You point out that “Jesus Christ is our source of security, and peace in all circumstances.” That is such an important point. Without Christ, life is a swim through an ocean of anxiety. With Jesus, when we turn from our own way and follow him, we find the Peace that passes all understanding. It is not something we can explain, but if you know, you know! 🙂
Agree Jeff,
He is our happy place through all circumstances!
Ron
What is it like to follow Jesus each day?
I wish I knew. I fall short every day, but there’s always tomorrow to try again. I am thankful for His forgiveness.
Oh I don’t know …
That has been my experience, too.
In fact, I don’t know of anyone who follows him perfectly. The fact that we keep our eyes on him is the main thing.
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (John 3:14-15)