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
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