1.3 In All Matters Pertaining to Faith and Practice

How are we to understand the relationship between ‘faith’ and ‘practice’? When we read the Gospel accounts we see that, for Jesus, faith is always expressed through our attitudes and actions. Faith appears as a response to revelation that leads to a spoken confession, an appropriation of healing, an act of obedience, of compassion or of mercy. Above all, faith is focussed as a response to the person and ministry of Jesus. In this, we might describe Christian faith as ‘purposeful participation in the life, ministry and victory of Jesus Christ’.

An emphasis on ‘Jesus Christ as the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice’, reminds us that the focus of our faith is to be Jesus Christ and all that He conveys to us, in and through His life, death and resurrection. The focus of faith is not introspective searching for surety. The focus of faith is Jesus Christ Himself and all that He calls us into, in our participation in His life. Our focus is to be on a faith that issues in practices in our life that conform to Christ; and not simply statements of belief or opinion.

Faith

This distinction, between a Christ-centred faith and mere belief, is important. Belief on any matter, in today’s culture, has become privatised and thereby made socially impotent. Shrouded in a secular philosophy that can be both relativistic and nihilistic, belief has become an opinion or perspective hidden in the mind of each person. This fits well where, in the public sphere, acquiescence to political correctness and conformity to the dictates of those in power is demanded of all. Such an anodyne perspective on faith was not always the norm. The earliest extra-biblical accounts of interaction between Christians and political authorities show that it was the refusal of Christians to conform to societal norms, when these norms demanded expression of allegiance that contradicted the authority of Jesus Christ in their lives, that led to the persecution of early Christians. It was seeing the distinctiveness in the lives of Christians, however, that also led to the conversion of many to Christianity. Such was the nature of faith. As the Apostle James states, ‘show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do’ (James 2.8).

It is necessary for us, in our day, to redeem the word ‘faith’ for its full, Biblical usage. We need to separate it from the popular term, ‘belief’. Yes, people may believe what they like; because belief, in the end of the day, is whimsical and fanciful. But faith? Faith is a declaration of conviction and commitment to action. The seeds of faith lead to the fruit of practices expressed in our deeds. This was clear in the thinking of the first Christians where we see, from the book of Acts, how their faith – as with that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself - caused them to speak and act in a way that brought them into conflict with the dominating powers and principalities, the forces that exercised spiritual, social and economic oppression over the culture and context in which they lived.

Faith in Jesus Christ is found in an offering of all that we are to God our Father, to be empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit, that we might be conformed (2 Corinthians 3.18) to the likeness of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Hebrews 1.2). Christian faith, as the Bible understands it, is captured in the acronym, ‘Forsaking All I Take Him’. It is a self-conscious response to the embrace of God our Father’s unfathomable, holy love. As He sweeps us up into His arms, through the workings of the Holy Spirit, He prepares and positions us for our deeper participation in the ministry of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Practice

‘Practice’, as our Declaration of Principle speaks of: what does it entail? Practice is what is expressed out of our faith. Practice springs from convictions formed and rooted within us, through the teaching and promptings of the Holy Spirit. It is what is born in worship, not only in song, but in the expression of the Hebrew Shema in the life of God’s people: that the One God is our God and that we ‘love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and strength’ (Deuteronomy 6.4). Such a ‘practice’ is what arises out of our being engrafted into participation in the life, ministry and victory of Jesus Christ (John 15).

It is important, in all of this, that we distinguish between the necessary evidencing of ‘practice’, as the fruit of faith, from what are termed, ‘works of the Law’. As the Apostle Paul makes clear, when we focus on our own deeds rather than upon Christ’s authority over our lives, we do not make ourselves acceptable to God: works of the law, in terms of our conforming to our own, modified interpretation of God’s will, are futile (Romans 3.27, 9.23; Galatians 2.16, 3.19). Faith that is rooted in Jesus Christ, on the other hand, leads to our participation and fruitfulness in ministry (Galatians 3.5). True faith is moulded in Christ as modelled by Abraham who, as our forefather in faith, invested in God’s covenantal faithfulness. Abraham trusted in what God declared, concerning what would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Romans 4). Faith focusses on the fullness that comes in Jesus Christ.

In All Matters

What of the expression, ‘In all matters’? This tells us that God is interested in what we invest in, participate in and do with our lives. When it comes to the development and exercise of our faith, in the manner of our living, there is no area of our life that is to be outside the jurisdiction of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the essence of our calling, as God’s children. God is moulding and maturing within each one of us an identity that will carry us forward into the New Heavens and New Earth, where we live and minister as the children of God. We will serve Him, as He holds and fashions the Cosmos, in a way He designed us for, as He intended for the first men and women (Genesis 1.26-27).

Moreover, this expression reminds us that there are some matters essential to faith; and others that can be viewed and treated as incidental to our living, within our culture and context. God is interested in honing and cultivating our faith and life-practices into conformity to Christ, whatever the particular culture or context that we find ourselves in. Whether we catch a bus or drive a car, whether we are poor or rich, God is interested in how we engage with our society.

God’s primary interest lies neither in validating nor negating the structures of the society you find yourself embedded in. God is interested in the spread of His Kingdom rule, come in and through Jesus Christ (Mark 1.14-15). God wants you to bring the presence and ministry of Jesus Christ to savour society around you. This is why the Creator Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would comes to you in intensified power, to enable (Luke 4.18-19) you to live in a way that declares and demonstrates the glory of God (Acts 2.11).

Questions for reflection:

·         Is there a difference, in your understanding, between ‘faith’ and ‘belief’?

·         What practices are most important to you, in your Christian life?

·         Which, of your practices, most need further development?

1.2 Is the Sole and Absolute Authority

Before I became a Christian, I viewed authority, in the exercise of it or submission to it, as a means to an end. That changed, once I had began to travel on the path of submitting to Jesus Christ as Lord. Travelling? Yes, for it is not an easy journey for independent-minded people, like me, to make. Authority, in our context and culture, is not a popular word. Where greater democracy is advocated, it is often falsely assumed that the road advocates anarchy: individual self-resolution and personal independence. Rather than building a society where constructive, social responsibility towards others is cultivated, we can find ourselves immersed in increased isolation and trapped by autonomy.

The Bible, throughout its literary breadth and span, recognises authority as a necessary fabric that is woven into life itself. The question it brings to us is, ‘whose authority do we come under?’ The Biblical narratives do not allow us, contrary to the European Enlightenment’s influence on our way of thinking, to perceive people as independent and autonomous agents. Utopian societies, full of material wealth and prosperity for all can be longed for; but there are further, hidden dimensions at work in our lives.  Experiences born out of the pursuit of escape and fantasy, suffocation by popular media, as well as dabbling in horoscopes, spiritualism, occult practices and searching after the sensation of personal enlightenment, tell another story. A society filled with people who display behaviour and demonstrate lives that are desperate to discover significance and purpose, or to numb absence and emptiness, betray the reality that there is another dimension to life that seeks to exercise a destructive authority over us, where there are spiritual entities that want to oppress and diminish us.

The Bible teaches us that there are powers and principalities that would dominate (2 Timothy 2.26) and destroy us (Ephesians 6.12); spiritual forces that both affect and infect lives (James 3.15). Although we can normally neither see nor touch them, domination by exploitative practices that demean and desecrate our humanity, engineered and manipulated by demonic powers, betray their presence. These powers and the environment they generate are an ever present reality – the default setting of life - for people in a world marinated in spiritual darkness. Jesus Christ challenges and overcomes the authority of such darkness (1 John 3.8; Hebrews 2.14-15). Through embracing us, Jesus draws us into a life under His authority. He calls and invites us to inhabit the dimensions of His life and living, that we might belong to and come under the authority of God.

What does it mean, that you and I should come under the authority of God, through Jesus Christ? First, we need to understand that Jesus Christ would liberate us from the control of demonic forces. Jesus calls us to enter into a redefined relationship with God. Through the allegiance of faith, we are able to identify with Jesus Christ as children of our heavenly Father (John 1.12-13). Secondly, it involves turning towards God and away from actions and attitudes associated with the authority of the devil (Luke 4.1-14; 1 John 3.10): an intentional renunciation of practices and perspectives that would defile and destroy us (Galatians 5.16-26; 1 John 5.18-19).

In this sense, our relationship with God is to be modelled on that of Jesus Christ’s relationship with His Heavenly Father. The Father’s love for Jesus is wonderfully expressed towards His Son, when Jesus gives Himself to His Father’s calling upon His life (Mark 1.11). Jesus subsequently makes it clear that all He does is based on His Father’s will. Jesus does only what He sees His Father doing (John 5.19). He understands that His purpose is to do His Father’s will, speaking what Father has taught Him (John 8.28).

This submission to God, as His Father, characterises the life and ministry of Jesus. God wants us to adopt, in our humanity, the same attitude as Jesus Christ (Philippians 2.5ff.). Our lives are to be given over to worship of God in looking for His rule – His Kingdom – to be expressed in and realised through our lives (Matthew 6.9-13). We are to pursue a path that leads towards our words and actions conforming to the express will of God. For this to emerge within our lives, we need to grow in our appreciation of the greatness of God our Father’s love towards us, that He should call us His children (1 John 3.1-3). This cannot simply be a mind exercise. Openness, receptivity and conformity to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit leads us to confess, Abba, Father (Romans 8.15-16; Galatians 4.6). It is a filial relationship that God intends us to experience as well as to own (Romans 5.5, 15.13), a relationship that embraces every aspect of who we are.

My observation is that many people – many Christians - are unsure about the measure of God their Father’s love for them. It is one thing to know your Father loves you. It is quite another matter to accept and embrace the fact that His other children are valued no more than you. You are not an unwanted child or an afterthought. He does not prefer others to you: you matter! For all Christians, there will be something grasped of God’s forgiveness and mercy expressed through the sacrifice of Jesus at the Cross. But the unsurpassable love of Father? An awareness and conscious experience of that love? The realisation that God’s compassion, care and concern towards you is unqualified and unlimited? God knows that a knowledge of God’s love and its purifying power will come through mentally appreciating and processing that fact; but He also wants you to have an experiential encounter with the Holy Spirit, penetrating deep within you, birthing affective awareness and appreciation of His Holy love filling you throughout. This is the birthright of every Christian. God wants it for you. And you need to look for and want it from Him (Luke 11.13).

We cannot stop even there. There is something else that needs to be noted regarding Father’s love and authority. A failure to see and understand what follows here may rob us, causing us to fall short of appreciating the full extent of Father’s love. It is simply this: God has a family of children that He loves, each and every one. For each person, God has a complete an unending love. He loves and cares for each one, each person in your life that is around you, desiring to shape us together as His people. God knows and utterly loves you and each person around you. He wants to shape and mould us as a people together to bear His presence, to be the Body of Christ on Earth.

The purposefulness of God, as narrated in the Old Testament, testifies to this. God’s concern is with the holy integrity of Israel, a people of different tribes and traits, yet with one common identity.  God calls out and shapes a people to belong to Him: to be true to Him, conformed to His Law and reflecting His character and goodness. God’s concern is not simply for single persons, living in isolation, but for the structure and wellbeing of human society. Where God’s loving authority is responded to. He sees and values each person; but He also sees and cares about the relationships that exist between us as people. His desire is for the construction and maintenance of a society that reflects His nature: that nature which is made known to us in and through the person, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God is concerned in shaping in us a life, whereby faith and practice are integrally expressed through the Body of Christ, the church.


Questions for reflection:


• How has your life-experience shaped your attitude towards ‘authority’?
• In what ways, so far, have you experienced God’s authority exercised in your life?
• In what ways might you deepen and enrich your appreciation of God’s caring authority exercised in your life?

1.1 That the Lord Jesus Christ our God and Saviour

How real is your Jesus? Coming to a realisation that Jesus Christ is a real person, with whom we can have a vital and dynamic relationship, is essential for a life of meaningful faith. This is the most significant milestone on a road marked by turning to God, repentance and willing enrolment as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Throughout a Christian’s life, enjoyment of this relationship is designed to be a fountainhead of joy and hope, awe and wonder. 

It never ceases to amaze me, however, as to how quickly I can fall out of a meaningful relationship with Jesus. How easily I can replace the real Jesus with a golden calf, called by His name. It’s not that I mean it to happen. For me, it can come about through any number of reasons: busyness or a failure to prioritise time apart with the Master; disappointments that cool my ‘first love’. Distance appears. And distance can affect any relationship badly. A numbing, a cauterising of love and longing sets in.  And the reality of love, intense and shared, becomes but a memory. Yes, still a Saviour. Yet no longer a personal, deeply known Lord. In reflecting on the opening words of the Declaration of Principle, let’s explore this relationship more fully.

God made us for intimacy with Himself. We see this in the story of God’s intended relationship with humanity, in the opening chapters of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis. It’s there in the way the great leaders of God’s people – Noah, Abram, Moses - are treated by God and relate back to God. Above all, we see God’s pursuit of a holy intimacy with humanity in His Word becoming a human Being, in Jesus Christ. It is this relationship of intimacy, lost through human sin, that Jesus Christ restores for us: a relationship of intimacy between mankind and God. And it is this relationship that God wants you and I to grow in. Jesus Christ came in our humanity to embrace everything that we are. It is because of Jesus Christ that we can see and understand what a mature and fully developed human being, in relationship with God, looks like; and how that might begin to be formed and shaped within us. So it is that the Apostle Paul, in describing Jesus Christ’s coming among us, repeats, in emphasis, both Christ’s coming ‘in the likeness of men’ and His ‘appearance as a man’ (Philippians 2.7-8), Jesus Christ meets with us as a real, human person.

Yet Jesus Christ is so much more than just a special person, with whom we can develop a relationship. Awesome and awe inspiring, He is the key to the Universe. Through Him the Cosmos came into being: for Him the Cosmos was fashioned (Colossians 1.16). He brings meaning and definition to everything. He is Supreme, the Son in whom God our heavenly Father, the source of our salvation, has fully invested Himself (Hebrews 5.9).  It is through Jesus Christ that the majesty and beauty of God, in all His holy love, compassion and mercy, is revealed to us.

In this manner our Declaration of Principle begins. It builds on the foundation of entering and possessing a deeply personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not ideas or developed doctrines about Him. But an understanding of life that acknowledges Jesus Christ as a real person, with whom we are to enter into and develop real relationship. 

How, though, do we do this? How can we have relationship with someone we neither see nor touch? The people of Israel, in their desert wanderings, gathered around the Tabernacle. Then when settled in their land, it was to the Temple in Jerusalem, built by Solomon, that God’s people came to worship Him. Herein lies a clue to two truths we need to hold before us, in growing and developing in our relationship with and knowing of God. 

Firstly, God wants us to invite Him into our lives. It really is that simple! At a personal level, it starts when we invite Jesus to take His rightful place, at the centre of who we are. To bring our lives, His and ours, together. This is an invitation, for each of us, to personally respond to. It is also an invitation for us when we gather together, in Jesus’ name. Jesus declares that, when people gather together in His name, He is present among them (Matthew 18.20). The presence of Jesus is to be recognised when people gather in His name: mindful, focussed and seeking after Jesus Christ and what He stands for. 

Secondly, Jesus explains how this could be: that He would send another, the Holy Spirit, to be with us and guide us (John 14.16-18). The Holy Spirit, who gives life and form to God’s Creation, takes and shapes us, that we might come to bear and exhibit the distinctive mark, the imprint, of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1.14). The Holy Spirit’s presence is neither abstract nor theoretical:  His presence is to be experienced by us (John 7.38-39) and found among us (Acts 1.5).

God calls us to intimacy with Jesus Christ. He reveals Himself, the source of our being, the One to whom we owe loyalty and worship. He is our basis for life and living. Through participation in a life that is fashioned from His life, ministry, death and resurrection, we grow and mature as God’s children, refashioned and refined in this life, prepared for all eternity. This means that we need to spend time, drawing apart and drawing close to Him. We need to develop perspectives and practices that will allow us convey and demonstrate His presence and love to others.  This will always be something for us to grow further into, as He grasps us in the wonder of fellowship with God. He embraces us in the holy love of God, that we might minister His presence to others. 

Pursuing such intimacy with God will challenge and change our priorities. It will shape the type and manner of relationships we establish, develop and pursue with each other, as well as with other people. As Jesus Christ draws us into deeper relationship with Himself, the types of relationship we  look to have with other people changes. Righteousness, honesty, acceptance, forgiveness and reconciliation become norms that we will be drawn to and learn to long for, as we seek to embody and enact the pleasure and purposes of God our Father.

This is the life that is rooted in Jesus Christ. This relationship will bring an ongoing change in us: the transformation of our humanity to become more holy, more like Jesus. Whilst the fullness of revelation from God comes through Jesus Christ, our comprehension of that revelation is, for now, yet incomplete. We do not each begin with the ability to comprehend all that is true: rather, we begin by apprehending the way, the truth and the life that is made known to us through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s Lordship over and in our lives is something that needs to develop and grow in us, whilst our sense of autonomy and independence from God decreases. Sin involves separation: separation from full and meaningful intimacy with God and, consequently, from other people. God does not want any of us to be isolated or marginalised. He wants us to come into life, life in all its fullness.

It is with the recognition of such awesome life and mercy, abundant in Jesus Christ, that our Declaration of Principle begins.

Questions for reflection:

• When did you first become aware that there is a real Jesus Christ, with whom you can have a personal relationship?

• When do you find the best time, to take time to be with Jesus?

• Have you ever felt your ‘love grow cold’? How did you come to know Him better, again?

A Pastoral Commentary

This week, I begin the serialisation of an offering: a pastoral commentary on our Declaration of Principle, of the Baptist Union of Scotland.This will be posted on a weekly basis and will invite thought and reflection on the foundation, in Jesus Christ, that gives our Union of Churches focus, purpose and meaning.

It follows on and can be read with a Devotional Commentary, an illustrated text of which can be downloaded from our Baptist Union of Scotland website, at https://www.scottishbaptist.com/declaration-of-principle/

The first post will appear tomorrow. I pray that you might find it useful.