Lon’s Blog

I had an interesting theological discussion with my four-year-old son Isaiah this week.  He is at that inquisitive age where everything about God is mystical and intriguing to him.  It’s a fun, if not challenging, time to be his father!  I was outside shoveling snow in our walkway, when he appeared at the door and shouted out the following question that was burning in his mind:  ”Dad, can God swim?”

After a quick chuckle to myself, I answered Isaiah’s question by saying that God can do anything He wants to do  (I resisted the temptation to mention that, given the chance to swim, Jesus chose to walk on water instead! (Matt. 14:22-33)).  The testimony of scripture is that God is all-powerful. This is based on what God does and what He says about Himself.  In fact, one of the most prevalent names for God in scripture is The Almighty (One).

The thing is, Isaiah asks these types of questions all the time.  Despite telling him many times that God is our Creator, that He is all-powerful and all-knowing and that He can “do anything that He wants to do,” Isaiah keeps asking me questions about what specific things God can do.  It is as if he is struggling with the concept of a God who can do all things, and he needs constant reassurances that there are not some things that I haven’t thought of that God can’t do.  I think he has figured out that humans have lots of limitations, and, because that is the only point of reference for his four-year-old mind, he is seeking to figure out if God has any of those same limitations.

This interchange with Isaiah gave me pause to wonder if these types of qualifying questions about God are normal for all children. I guess they are.  I’ve gotten some similar questions from my other three kids.  And then it occurred to me that these types of questions may actually be normal for us adults, too. The only difference is that ours are cloaked in more
sophisticated terms!

It was then that I had one of those “aha!” moments.  Through Isaiah, God taught me in earnest a concept that for years I’ve “known” only in my head. And that “newfound” concept is this: belief in God is not just a matter of acquiring knowledge and believing, but it is a journey of acquiring faith through experience.  If having faith in God was simply a cerebral exercise, we could simply be told the facts about God (such as His omnipotence), and go about our merry lives trusting that He’s got ALL things in control.  That would be so easy!

Unfortunately, that’s not usually how it works.  Faith is a journey of sweat and blood and tears. Faith takes work.  It seems that faith comes by hearing God’s Word, putting that faith to the test, and then finding out that God is exactly Who He says He is.  Then we learn something “in earnest” about God, and can build from that foundational point in future when our faith is tested by a different or greater challenge.

In the example of Jesus walking on the water that I alluded to earlier, the disciples had a nascent belief that Christ could “do all things,” but they were clearly shocked to see Him walk on water!  Afterwards, their surprise at additional miracles seems to indicate that they had put into their spiritual memory banks only that “Jesus can walk on water” rather than
learning that Jesus could “do all things.”   It took all of Jesus’ miracles and teaching, and then rising from the dead, before Thomas could get the whole picture and worship at Jesus’ feet, saying “My Lord and my God” and before Peter could be transformed from one who in fear denied Christ three times to one who boldly preached Christ in open, public defiance of the public authorities and led the early church during it’s vulnerable infancy.

A journey of hear-see-believe is the most common process, but Jesus does tell us that there is a better way.  It is those who believe before seeing who are most blessed.  He said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).”

Apparently, it is possible for us to trust God before we have seen Him pass each and every test in every category in our lives.  It seems that we can see God work in one area, and apply that faith in God to other areas of our lives.  Hebrews 12:1 says, “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we
cannot yet see (NLT).”

So, how can we acquire this kind of faith that involves believing before seeing?  I think there are a three obvious keys.  First, we need to remember the work of God in our life.  To do this, we need to record our prayers and struggles mentally, or even better, in a journal of some kind so that when God answers prayer - when He proves He is Who He says He is - we can see it clearly, and remember it in the future.  Secondly, we need to flood our minds with God’s Word, and cut back on the mental junk food that this world puts out (Ps. 1:1-2, Rom. 12:2). He actually commanded Israel to do these two steps on many occasions after the Exodus. One example is Deut 6:6-9,20-21:  6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your
forehead.  9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates… 20 “When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances, which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 tell him [of the great and mighty acts the Lord performed for you in Egypt].”

The final key is to be in community with other believers, so that you can see the way that God proves Himself Almighty in their lives. In this way, our faith grows from the victories we see in other people’s lives.

So, can God swim?  Yes, if He wished to do so, He certainly could.  But don’t bother asking Isaiah that question. He’s got that one down, and is one step further along in the journey to understanding  that God can do anything He wants to do.  As we help Isaiah sow God’s word into His life and observe and remember the awesome activity of God around Him - and we do this ourselves - our faith journey will take us all into a deeper assurance that God is in control, and that we can trust Him with our very lives.  Let’s go swimming!

On the journey with you,

Lon

Last week one thing we talked about in our service was the tendency of modern preaching and witnessing to skip the issue of judgment, sin, and hell.  We noted that it was the hallmark of the prophets, the Apostles, of John the Baptist, and of Jesus.  I came across a quote in an email this week that I wanted to share with you all.  It reminds me that this is not so much an issue with “modern preaching,” because it was written over 100 years ago by Charles Spurgeon, who is considered the greatest preacher of our modern times.  He once wrote:

“It is absolutely necessary to the preaching of the gospel of Christ that men be warned as to what will happen if they continue in their sins…You are too delicate to tell the man that he is ill!  You hope to heal the sick without their knowing it.  You therefore flatter them;
and what happens?  They laugh at you; they dance upon their own graves.  At last they die!  Your delicacy is cruelty; your flatteries
are poisons; you are a murderer.  Shall we keep men in a fool’s paradise? Shall we lull them into soft slumbers from which they will awake in Hell?” - C.H. Spurgeon, bold mine

When the “gospel” is presented without a clear presentation of the law, sin, judgment, and hell, the requisite repentance necessary for true conversion is rarely present.  The result then, can be “false converts” who think they are saved, but are not. Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but [only]the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  I don’t want to be any part of someone facing Jesus and hearing these words!

Sorry this is heavy, but I am reminded this week that as a follower of Christ, it is not mine to pick and choose which parts of the Gospel that I like or think I should talk about. As a Jesus-disciple, I do what my Master did, and must model what I say on what He said.  That being the case, mentioning sin, judgment, and their solution: repentance and faith in Christ, are my only option.  It’s an issue of obedience to Christ, and also an issue of ethics.  If the dam of judgment is about to burst, I must warn the people in the valley below it!  And, as I said Sunday, we must all do this truth-telling in love, never in a judgmental way, because all of us are saved only by His grace!

In Him,

Lon