The Hall of Faith

I have touched on what hope for salvation means in terms of being united within faith, hope, and love in the Kingdom. But soon after I've finished I started recognizing how people desire to be unified to faith, but go about it in different approaches. What does faith mean in terms of the unification of the Kingdom?

We see in Hebrews 11, faith is defined:

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for

and certain of what we do not see."

-Hebrews 11:1

"And without faith it is impossible to please

God, because anyone who comes to Him

must believe that He exists and that He

rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

-Hebrews 11:6

And then the rest of Hebrews 11 goes on to be what I call, "The Hall of Faith" or brief descriptions of Old Testament heroes in the faith. Now let me introduce one of my life verses to pull out a point.

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in 

a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

Then, whether I come and see you or only

hear about you in my absence,

I will know that you stand firm in one Spirit,

contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel."

-Philippians 1:27

Now let me shift back to Hebrews 11.

"All these people were still living by faith when

they died. They did not receive the things

promised . . ."

-Hebrews 11:13

"These were all commended for their faith,

yet none of them received what had been

promised."

-Hebrews 11:39

Why am I pulling out all these scriptures? Well, these scriptures seems to look at faith from two opposite ends of the same spectrum. Hebrews looks at a faith in God to deliver the Messiah and Philippians looks at faith in the Gospel of the promised Messiah. The people in "The Hall of Faith" were looking forward to the cross, and we're looking back at it. What I have observed as of late is that people either abide with Old Testament faith and describe their faith as a faith in God or they abide with New Testament faith and describe their faith as a faith in the Gospel of Christ. What some people have failed to realize is that Old Testament faith and New Testament faith are the same thing because we can see God's glory in the Gospel! They are not two different faiths in light of us receiving what was promised, but rather the same faith in the glory and power of God because it is seen in the Gospel.

God's glory is to be recognized in the Gospel.

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out

of the darkness,' made his light shine in our

hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the

glory of God in the face of Christ."

-2 Corinthians 4:6

I have witnessed an ignorance of God's glory in the Gospel. And with this ignorance, followed up a belittling of the Gospel. Let me ask this question: if you have faith in the Gospel but fail to see God's glory in it, then what does the death of Jesus Christ serve for you? Was it ultimately to glorify God or just a death? It was a death to point to the glory of our Father! But ignorance of this can lead to a belittling of the Gospel.

Think about it like this: creation was meant to glorify God (Psalm 57:5, Psalm 57:11, 1 Chron. 16:35, Luke 2:14, 1 Cor. 10:31, Eph. 1:14, Philippians 4:20, 1 Thess. 2:12, etc. etc.). And then, we see that faith in Jesus Christ brings glory to God (Rom. 15:17, Rom. 16:27, Philippians 1:11, Philippians 2:11, Philippians 4:19, Heb. 1:3, 1 Peter 4:11, Jude 1:25, etc. etc.). Therefore, the Gospel is not meant to be belittled because if our lives are meant to glorify God then a true belief in the Gospel serves that. 

If the Gospel is belittled by people, then it becomes malleable to human standards. In their ignorance of God's glory in the Gospel, people make it about their own glory. But it was never our glory to own (Isaiah 42:8). 

In 1 Peter 4:17 and 2 Thess. 1:8 it says "obey the Gospel." I believe people distort this. They believe the Gospel is then something that man has to do rather than about what God has done for us. We know this is a lie because the Gospel is about God's glory and power, not man's (1 Cor. 2:5, Gal. 1:11). People transform the Gospel to be about their lives, and therefore fail to live in line with the truth of the Gospel (Gal. 2:14). 

But how do we live in line with how the Gospel was presented to us? In other words, how was the Gospel presented to us?

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling

among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of

the One and Only, who came from the Father,

full of grace and truth."

-John 1:14

"For the law was given through Moses;

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

-John 1:17

The Gospel was presented to us in the fullness of grace and truth. The Gospel requires us to live in line with it with grace and truth.

People who transform the Gospel into being all about truth have a legalistic approach to the Gospel. They realize it's call to action but they transform it into being about working to maintain a relationship with God. Their response to the Gospel is to be justified by their works rather than their faith. That is why when they do something wrong they feel distant from God and go rushing back to repentance. They are blinded to believe their works keeps their relationship with God.

People who transform the Gospel into being all about grace fail to live a life in response to it. They decide whats wrong and right for them. I like to call these people "Buffet Christians," or people who pick and choose the rules they like and don't like. They believe that God accepts them no matter what they do and then fail to realize that the Gospel calls to live a life in response to it. 

Jesus Christ was FULL of grace and truth. And we are called to follow the fullness of Christ (Col. 2:6-10). Therefore, we live in line with the Gospel by following the fullness of grace and truth to which is was presented to us rather than depending on our human traditions to tell us how to live in line with the Gospel (Col. 2:8). 

Faith is the result of the Gospel. This is our response to the Gospel. We are justified by faith (Romans 5:1) but what faith is not justified by action (James 2:17)?

How do we know Noah was faithful? He built an ark! How do we know Abraham and Sarah were faithful? Sarah had a baby when she was past age! How do we know Abraham was once again faithful? He offered up this son as a sacrifice! How do we know Moses was faithful? He led his people out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea! How do we know David was faithful? He killed Goliath!

How do we know you are faithful?

Therefore, our response to the Gospel should be faith justified by action. Now this action is not law, but a preaching of the Gospel for which we received salvation. We are called and COMPELLED to preach the Gospel (Mark 13:10, Mark 16:15, 1 Cor. 9:16).

We are called to join "The Hall of Faith" in Heaven by perfecting faith in our acknowledgement and spreading of the Gospel (Hebrews 11:40). Let us keep in line with the Gospel which was presented to us and not present a Gospel based on human traditions (Gal. 1:6-10). Let our action that justifies our faith acknowledge what it means to keep in line with grace and truth to the Gospel. Let us recognize it's value and therefore, let our lives testify to the Gospel so we can join "The Hall of Faith."

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,

continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him,

strengthened in the faith as you were taught,

and overflowing with thankfulness."

-Colossians 2:6-7

Marathon

"Make every effort to live in peace with all men

and to be holy;

Without holiness no one will see the Lord."

-Hebrews 12:14

This is such a strong statement. No one will see the Lord without being holy? Well what does it even mean to be holy?

RC Sproul puts it in good terms. He says that the primary meaning of holy means "separate." It is from an ancient word meaning "to cut" or "separate."

With holy in this regard, we can easily say that we are holy because through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior we are set apart from sinful ways. We have been made dead to sin but alive in Christ (Romans 6:11). But how much of our lives is a testament to the fact that we have been set apart? I mean, is faith alone enough? A lot of us say that since we have confessed belief in Jesus Christ we now have an inheritance in Heaven and this is backed up in scripture in Ephesians 1:11-14. It says that the Holy Spirit we received when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior is our deposit to guarantee us a spot in Heaven. BUT, has anyone stopped to think of a Heaven without seeing our Father? John Piper asks the question, who would be fine with a Heaven without Jesus or God? I mean, look at it this way: Matthew 10:32 says, 'Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven.' And if Jesus is the Judge in Heaven to if we see the Father (John 5:22), then do we give room for Jesus to say that we haven't acknowledged Him through our actions here on Earth and as a result we will not see the Lord?
James 2:17 says, 'Faith without action is dead.' What does this 'action' mean?

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me,

if only I may finish the race and complete the task

the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying

to the gospel of God's grace.

-Acts 20:24

The task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. What is the gospel of God's grace? Titus 3:4-7 says that we as sinners have been justified by God's grace which is the fact that he sent his Son to die for us. What does it mean to testify to this? It means to live up to our faith in Jesus Christ. It means to back up our belief in him through our actions so that our faith is not dead. It means to truly be holy because we have been set apart by God's grace and it is our task to testify to this through our lives. 

Looking at the task in this light, what does this mean about the race? What is the race in relation to being holy? Because it is our calling and task to be holy (Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:29, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Peter 1:16, etc. etc.) the race is therefore our SANCTIFICATION. 

This race first starts when we first receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15) and is completed in Heaven when we receive the goal of our faith (1 Peter 1:9). Therefore, salvation is a process (1 Cor. 1:18, Romans 5:9, 1 Peter 2:2). It saddens me when people fail to see their salvation in this light. There are some people who believe they should do nothing with their salvation that they receive when they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior because in Heaven they will receive their new bodies in which complete and full salvation will be made possible. This is a false-contentment in the complacency of their faith, which is wrong because we were meant to be running! I mean, the race is marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1) because we were called to be holy! And we were called to be holy because in light of the price paid for our redemption it only makes sense (1 Peter 1:18-19)! 

If salvation is a process then shouldn't Heaven only be a continuation for how we chose to live our lives here on earth? Shouldn't we work on sanctifying ourselves because we seek to perfect our salvation? I mean, on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10), right?
How do we even go about the race of sanctification though? Thankfully, we don't do it alone. When we professed our faith in Jesus Christ we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). And through the gift of the Holy Spirit and faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ we are already being sanctified (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). But as we discussed before, a faith without action is dead. What does this mean in us already being sanctified by the Holy Spirit? Just as we are called to be holy we are called to self-discipline ourselves to be holy (1 Cor. 9:24-27, 1 Timothy 4:7) which means to make sure we are living our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27). All this to say, we should be running the race. I mean, what athlete stops running in middle of a marathon? For us, stopping in middle of the race is detrimental. Hebrews 6:11-12 says that we need to make our hope for salvation sure by not becoming lazy. When we become lazy during the race we give ourselves the opportunity for Satan (as Graham Cook puts it) to drag us out of our standing and into our state (or to put in simpler terms, how we were before we were saved) (James 1:14). Therefore, let us keep running towards the goal of our faith, the complete salvation of our soul (1 Peter 1:9). 
We should become righteous because we have been declared righteous in our acceptance of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Therefore, we all should be unified in the sense that we all should be running the race of sanctification towards our inheritance in Heaven instead of becoming lazy because this is not living a holy life like we are called to live because we have been set apart by the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
Imagine the glory of seeing the Lord in Heaven because we have lived holy lives and saying to him, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). And then we will receive a crown of righteousness that any victor should.  

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared

to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly

passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives

in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious 

appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who

gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and 

to purify for himself a people that are his very own,

eager to do what is good."

-Titus 2:11-14

Identity

What do you choose to identify yourself as on this earth? It absolutely blows my mind when people ask others what they do or who they are and they choose to identify themselves by earthly standards. For instance, people define themselves as being part of a group or being involved in some certain activity. People define themselves as singer, actor, lawyer, filmmaker, cashier, homeless, careless, busy, stressed, teacher, student, writer, reader, idealist, leader, etc. etc. But as people define themselves they are not too quick to have the first thing they identify themselves as Christians. I'm not saying that everyone does that. I've met many people who the first thing they identified themselves as are Christians. But sadly, I've met many people who don't identify themselves as that first. I believe a lot with this flaw has to do with people not owning up to their identity in Christ. 
God should be the first and the most important thing we identify ourselves with. Why? Because He was there since the beginning.
He was there when He knit us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13). I mean, our lives were intended to be a reflection of Him! We were created in His image in the very beginning (Genesis 1:27)! Well what happened to our identity in the beginning? The answer is that Adam and Eve went through a major identity crisis in the garden. They ate the fruit and they realized they were naked (Genesis 3:7). And then they hid from the Lord because they were afraid! By eating the fruit they separated themselves from the idea of being in a holy relationship with our Creator! Talk about a major identity crisis! But because of this, at least in one point in our lives we have fallen victim to this same identity crisis. We were being ruled by spirits of flesh and soul rather than the Holy Spirit. 
But there is beauty behind all of this and that is that we have been redeemed. 

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come!"

-2 Corinthians 5:17

When we accepted Christ we died to sin and became alive in Him (Romans 6:11)! We have been given life through the Holy Spirit (John 6:63). Therefore, since we live by the Spirit we are not a victim to the laws of sin and death (Romans 8:2). We are not chained to death but rather chained to the heavens and eternity (Romans 6:18). What does this mean? This means we have FREEDOM.

Since we have been saved, the Spirit abides within us. Our bodies are a temple to the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16). And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17). So we have freedom in the Lord! We were always intended to have this freedom within us. This is made apparent in creation when God told Adam that he was FREE to eat from any tree in the garden (Genesis 2:16). God always intended for us to realize that we have freedom in Him but because of Adam and Eve's major identity crisis we have been separated from that. 

Therefore, why do we as people act like we don't have an identity with Christ? Why don't we own up to our identity? We are FREE but if we really acknowledged our identity with Christ, then we would live lives that only affirmed our freedom. A lot of us fall victim to the identity crisis of Adam and Eve when we give more importance to stress, work, circumstances, etc. etc. We fail to acknowledge that we are not mastered by anything on this earth because the only thing we are mastered by is God! We are His slaves, not slaves to anything else (Romans 6:18)! 

Our identity is by the Holy Spirit. 

I have a vision that we as people can live like a dove. I pray that we as people can just fly out and do the Lord's work amongst this earth and keep returning back to the Father (Gen. 8:8-12) because our identity is in Him. Now we see that in the baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit was manifested in the form of a dove (Matthew 3:16). So we see that living like a dove has so much more significance to us! My prayer is that we can be like the dove: full of the Holy Spirit, glorifying the Lord throughout the earth, and returning back to the Lord  because our identity is in Him. 

Recognizing our identity in Christ is CRUCIAL.

It is my hope that with this blog, people will not get a glimpse of "my" intellect or wisdom, but rather people can get a glimpse of how the Holy Spirit has given me power and not only me but has given power to His people to carry out His work on this earth being full of the Spirit! For the Spirit gives us power (Acts 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:7). Recognizing our identity with Christ is POWER. It is FREEDOM. It is living our life out as God intended for it to be lived.

Let us not neglect the Holy Spirit alive within us. Let us realize that because of the Holy Spirit we have been given life. Let us realize that because there is ONE SPIRIT and that since the Holy Spirit is alive within ALL OF US that we can be unified through the acknowledgement of our identity, which is the Holy Spirit.  Let us live our lives out like we firmly believe we are of the Spirit and that we have freedom because of this.

"Since we live by the Spirit,

let us keep in step with the Spirit."

-Galatians 5:25