Oct 10 2008
Swimming Without Getting Wet
There seems, at times, to be many paradoxical situations within the Bible and as I was reading this past week, I hit on Romans 1:1 which has Paul noting that he was, “separated unto the gospel.” I looked at this for some time considering how it is that in one instance we are called to be separate from the world, and in another, called to go into the world. This reminded me of the time my father told me that it was alright for me to go swimming, and then added, “…as long as you don’t get wet!”
Our lives in Christ consist of 4 phases, some relatively short and others ongoing. There is an offer of grace made to us; our acceptance of that offer; the public statement of our faith in Christ, and then, the actions that follow. The over-riding desire of the true Christian is to be rightly related to Jesus Christ. This is the only way that we can be sure that we have the salvation that comes through faith in Christ; that we have within us the peace of God. The first thing on this list is out of our hands entirely, the next can be extremely fast, or painfully slow depending on the degree of brokenness required to humble ourselves. Number 3 is generally quick but number4, here’s where we spend the bulk of our time; in fact, the remainder of our earthly lives.
“No man can come to me, [Christ], except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” John 6:44. Before we can hear the call of God we must have our ears opened and our hearts softened. This is not merely a New Testament occurrence, the prophets of old speak of this calling as well. Jer. 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…” This says that the prophet Jeremiah was called to be set apart before he was even born; and this represents a sovereign calling. There is a call placed upon all of us, at the time when we have the ability, (by God’s grace), to respond to the message. We may have had it presented to us a thousand times before, but the one time when we actually hear it; this is the time that it can be considered, “our personal call.” This is the offer of God’s grace to us, specifically.
To accept the offer takes but an instant. This is a one-time thing and it is our saving moment. This is the instant that our sins are removed and the righteousness of Christ is apportioned to our accounts. There may be a considerable amount of time between the offer and our acceptance, but the pivotal moment is just that, a pivotal moment. In this single flash, we give our lives to Christ. The public statement of our commitment to Christ is usually quick to follow on the heels of accepting the offer of grace. We are excited to have this new life and present ourselves for baptism soon afterwards.
We spend the remainder of our lives producing the fruit of our faith. This is the fourth area; one that requires the most attention, and guidance. Now that we find ourselves in Christ, are made new creations, what comes next? Here’s the paradox; 2 Cor. 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord…,” and Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’” On the one hand we are told to, “come out,” while on the other we are told to, “go into.” Swim, but don’t get wet!
This is an example of the need to interpret Scripture by using Scripture. The paradox clears a bit when we bring in John 15:19, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” We are in the world, but not, “OF,” the world. The desire of our hearts is not to be the chasing after of worldly things but the pursuit of eternal things, in this way we are to be separate from the world. But the world needs to hear the message of Christ, and so we are called to go into the world. “But what can I do?” you may ask. “I have my faith and therefore I will wait on the Lord to change those that he aims to reach.” We can not sit idly by, waiting for the changes to occur, we are the hands and feet of Christ! We must engage the world for His sake.
C.H. Spurgeon writes, “Now if Christ is to be glorified, he must be glorified by you; if his kingdom is to come, it must come through you. God works, but God works by means. He worketh in you, ‘to will and to do of his own good pleasure.’ Souls are to be saved but they are not saved without instruments.” God may have actions planned but we must be attentive to that plan and do our parts in allowing it to come to fruition. God may desire that we lose weight, (and as much as I might wish it were so), we can not sit on the sofa and just wait for the pounds to fall off. In like manner, if we have been entrusted with the truth of the kingdom of God, we can not sit idly by as the world stumbles it’s way down the path to Hell and not bother to raise a warning.
We don’t need to be extraordinary people, only people who are willing to allow God to do extraordinary things through us. Look at the account of Gideon; Judges 6:15 tells us that he was from a poor family and among them, he was the least. Still, God thought of Gideon as, “a mighty man of valor.” Though Gideon asked twice for permission to test God, he was found to be useful to the work of the Lord. He amassed an army to carry out the dictates of God, but God thinned the ranks in order that no one would mistake the victory to come as the conquest of a man. It was God’s battle, and God was to receive the glory in the victory.
You probably know the details, how they crept down to the Midian camp with trumpets and lights concealed in pitchers. How, on command, they blew the trumpets and broke the containers allowing their lights to be seen thereby throwing the Midianites into a confused panic where they turned on one another. But have you ever related this to our own walks of faith? There is a template here that shows us the unfolding of faith.
First, they lit their lamps and let them burn inside the pitchers. This can be likened to our faith in the sacrifice of Christ where we accept the salvation by faith, receive the gift of grace from the hand of God, and keep it burning in our hearts. But at this point, it benefits only us. It can not light our paths in the world very well, nor be useful to others.
When we come forward and proclaim Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour, then we are encouraging others and, in essence, we are breaking our pitchers and blowing our trumpets. We are saying to the world, “This is my faith and this is where I stand.” We glorify Christ by accepting the sacrifice He made at Calvary, and receiving His mantle of righteousness. Sadly, this is also the stage where too many stop. They have accepted the gift, are assured of salvation, and then sit down quietly to let everyone else figure it out for themselves. If Gideon’s army, (if you can call 300 men an army), had stopped with breaking pitchers and blowing trumpets it would have only amounted to announcing their presence and providing enough light for their own slaughter; but that was not where they stopped. They DID something. They gave out a cry, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
If we have the spark of Christ in our hearts, that’s good; if we proclaim our faith before the believers, that’s better; if we then take that faith and put it into action, that’s benefiting the kingdom of God. “Freely you have received, freely give.” That is our marching order. There are thousands of ways to take your faith in Jesus Christ and give it, “shoe leather.” Volunteer at a retirement home or a shelter, visit a shut-in, offer to teach a Sunday school class, start an adult Bible study in your home, start a Christ centered website and write to reach the masses and encourage the faithful. Smile at a child or help a harried mother with her packages in the parking lot, it doesn’t cost much and it makes an undeniable statement of faith before the world.
A man had a load of plywood on a tractor and as he turned a corner, the stack shifted and slid off on the side of the road. Just as this happened, a truck came over the hill and saw what had happened. The driver went right on by but in a moment, he was back offering to help re-stack the load. The driver explained that he couldn’t stop sooner because the hills made it unsafe, but he turned around to come back and help an elderly farmer recover his load. Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, that’s putting, “shoe leather,” on your faith and it is proof to all the world that you live your life…
All for the Glory of Christ