Repentance
and faith. Oil and vinegar. Or bread and butter? Either way, the two go
together. Yet where repentance is both a turning away and a turning towards
God, faith takes our relationship with God to another level. In faith, we enter
into a positive response to Jesus. Whether as in the meeting of Simon the
fisherman on the banks of the Galilee, of Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road,
an Ethiopian eunuch on a chariot or the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos.
Faith involves a response to a revelation and realisation of Jesus Christ, with
further entry into a relationship that reorientates and motivates us, moving us
forward into the plans and purposes of God.
Faith
in Jesus Christ is more than acceptance or subscription to an idea or a folio
of facts. Jesus Christ is a person, not
a proposition. Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord is deeply interpersonal, different
from acceptance of an object or the adoption of a concept. It is different,
too, because of His nature, because of the unique identity He presents to us,
both as a human being and as the One, Creator God. He is able, because of the
humanity that He shares with us, to draw us into Himself. This is more than the action of an avatar, a
passing visitation by a god come in human form. It is the very appearance of
God in our humanity. The Incarnation, the enfleshment of the Word of God, the
Father’s Son, was not just a passing fancy or a temporary state adopted by the
Christ. His humanity is now permanent, conjoined to His Deity. There is, in the
Heavens, One who became like us – in every way except in sin (Hebrews 4.15) - so that we might become
like Him, children of God for all eternity. He shared in our humanity and dealt
with our sin and its consequence so that we, in turn, might become in Him the
righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5.21).
What
are the implications of this, for the further development and better practice
of our faith? We noted, at the outset of our pastoral commentary, that we are
called to look to Jesus Christ as the real person that He is. What we hold to builds on the foundation of entering and
possessing a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Likewise, in reflecting on
our dependency on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we observed that the Holy
Spirit’s presence is neither abstract nor theoretical: His presence is to be experienced by and
among us. So it is, as we look together at the Holy Scriptures, that we begin
to apprehend the way, the truth and the life that is there for us, in Jesus
Christ. We noted that the relationship that God calls us into is not a detached
one, where we approach Him from far off. It is a filial relationship
that God intends us to experience as well as to believe in, a relationship that
embraces every aspect of who we are. Our faith involves a purposeful entering
into participation in the life, ministry and victory of Jesus Christ. In this,
our faith expresses a baptist tradition that pursues non-conformity to the
values, virtues and convictions held to by wider society, because the
relationship of primary importance to the person of Christian faith is our
relationship with Jesus.
This
reorientation that faith requires is not only towards the humanity of Jesus.
Certainly, on the one hand, we are called to a path where there is a humbling
of self, to obedience and service of our Heavenly Father. In this, we are
called to conform to the humanity of Jesus Christ. At the same time, we are
already lifted, through the power of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, into a
dimension of living that is to be characterised and vitalised by an intensified
presence and activity of the Holy Spirit at work, in and through our lives.
Faith is the currency of the Kingdom – the reign – of God, where the Heavens
herald into our present existence a renewal and a revival of all life. In this,
faith opens to us new experience and awareness, a foretaste and an anticipation
of all that is to come in the New Heavens and the New Earth, that Jesus Christ
heralds in.
Such faith is organic, growing through what we
apprehend, not limited by what we cannot comprehend. It demands of us humility
and a deeper growth into a fuller relationship with this person, Jesus Christ.
He calls us to ‘share His yoke’, to team with Him, learn from Him and serve in
His name. This faith involves the mystery of knowing, not fully knowing, always
growing in intimacy and resonance with the one we love. It is like marriage. It
has seasons of change, yet always maturing as we seek to keep focus on the one
we want to hold constant in love. Always it is faith in Jesus. Sometimes it can
aspire to be as the faith of Jesus. Such faith is built on the faithfulness of
Jesus, the faithfulness of God.
Questions
for reflection:
·
What circumstances most make your faith in
Jesus Christ ‘come alive’ for you?
·
In what ways does your faith lead you to
behave in ways that do not conform to our culture’s expectations?
·
What are the biggest challenges, for you, of
living with Faith in Jesus?
