Imagine that you are standing on a diving board on a hot day. It's a high dive. You look down and see fog beneath you. A reliable person who you know is trustworthy tells you that a refreshing pool of water is below. He assures you that you will enjoy the water tremendously if you jump into it. You jump and you hit the water. It was just as you had been told. Wonderful.
Think about that scenario a moment. Was it your decision to jump that caused the water to be real? Did it come into being when you jumped? The fact is that the water was there whether you jumped or not. You didn't make it materialize by believing it was there and by throwing yourself off the diving board. Your action only allowed you to experience it. The water was real all along, but it became real to you when you jumped into it.
Here's the comparison: What Jesus Christ did for humanity is real. It isn't a person's faith that makes it become real. It was real before you and I believed and would have been real if we had never believed. Believing enables us to experience the reality of His finished work. It doesn't make His work real.
Existential thought in the Christian world suggests that our sins are forgiven when we believe; that we are reconciled to God when we believe; that all the things associated with our salvation happen because we believe. The problem is that this view puts the cart before the horse. We believe because it is already true. It doesn't become true when we believe! Our faith simply allows us to experience a reality that already exists.
With all our talk about the centrality of the cross, the way we often teach the gospel suggests that what is really central in our understanding is our profession of faith. The truth is that it all happened at the cross. When Jesus said, "It is finished," He meant it. He didn't mean He was waiting for us to finish it by anything we do.
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Until we jump we won't ever get wet. But the water is there. We don't create by our faith. We just get to enjoy it when we take the plunge.
i forgive people when i forgive them, not when they believe i forgive them. forgiveness is something that happens inside of me; it has nothing to do with their choice.
ReplyDeletebut i have intimate relationship with people only when they want to have intimate relationship with me, not when i want it to happen. intimate relationship is something that happens between us; it has everything to do with their choice.
Thanks, Steve. Great example. How do you handle knowing you are a Christian since you invited Jesus in and have seen all He has done for you but yet the enemy is continually telling you that you have blown it too many times or you are not spending enough time with God and He will be displeased with you. I am a PK, love the Lord and have been a Bible teacher for thirty years and yet the enemy continues to come back and torment me with those thoughts and fears. My head knows better so why is this happening. I rebuke satan out loud like the Bible says. I'd like it if you don't mind to write me a note privately if you have time. (karenking@sc.rr.com) Thanks so much. I am a good friend of Barbie Eslin. She tells me I was raised too legalistically because I grew up in the South and I think that is true. I also tend to see God the way I saw my earthly father and though he has changed greatly, I never seemed to please him when growing up although I never got in trouble and made all A's. You know, I could probably answer this real well for someone else. I just need to know how to STOP in my own life. I'd appreciate a private answer IF you have time. Thanks, Steve!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Karen..you see, I know all the things I should have done and all the things I've done wrong and I just don't ever seem to measure up in my own mind even when I see God using me greatly in other people's lives. That makes me feel like a hypocrite even though I believe and have experience everything I am telling them about God and His faithfulness, grace and mercy. I do have your book and am beginning to read it.
So true! I love this-- "We believe because it is already true. It doesn't become true when we believe! Our faith simply allows us to experience a reality that already exists."
ReplyDeleteI spent so many years trying to use my faith to make something happen. My relationship with God changed when I realized my faith is just trusting what Jesus already made happen.
Thanks!
Amen.. o that our little brains would shatter and our minds blown apart so that we may experience and enjoy what we have been given by Jesus which is true and already in us...
ReplyDelete"We believe because it is already true."
ReplyDeleteThank God my faith does not shape the Kingdom! It would be so limited!
Great word!
As usual, your metaphors are eloquent. It isn't my faith that makes God real ... although ... that is approximately what I used to believe. That belief falls in the category described by Mark Twain: "It’s not what you don’t know that kills you, it’s what you know for sure that ain’t true." I've written a blog on this called "What I Knew For Sure": http://preview.tinyurl.com/2atyjwc
ReplyDeleteWalt