Believe it or not, this is not a rabbit trail..this is important to our study.
I want to discuss for a moment the words "faith" and "confidence" which I believe are essential to this and every study of God's Word; essential to our spiritual growth which then affects every relationship we have as well.
Faith happens when we are drawn by the Holy Spirit to receive the things of God. It happens because the Holy Spirit has taken the blinders of sin's deception off of our eyes, and we can see. He has taken the sin-initiated stoppers out of our ears and now we can hear. Faith begins with God; it is one of His gifts to us.
But faith does have substance. There is some-thing that we trust or some-one. In our case, we trust in Jesus to have been alive and to have risen from the dead by the power of God.
Let's look at the disciples for a moment. When Jesus called them, they left everything to follow Him. They didn't go follow Him for no reason...it was because they were called. They heard the words that He spoke to them, such as, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." There was some substance that drew them to "trust" or "have faith" in what He was saying to them. There was Jesus in the flesh talking to them, but the power of the Holy Spirit opened their eyes to see and their ears to hear Him.
So do we do the same. We have come to trust in Jesus because we have been called by God to "hear" the Word, and so we have faith to follow. Our faith is not blind; we have been given eyes to see. And what we see, that we once could not see, is the truth of God's Word.
And our faith is not stupid. By that, I mean, we don't have to become "dumbed-down" to have faith. We do not have to forsake intelligence in order to believe. In fact, I think we have to be "smart" enough to know that we are sinners who need a Savior. I think that is a very intelligent and necessary observation.
But once we have come to trust in the Word of God, aka Jesus Christ, then we are gifted over and over again with little confidences which build our faith. Those little confidences come in a variety of ways and all of these have substance as well.
I observe the little ways He protects me. I observe how He is always there to comfort me and to push me another step closer into His image. I observe how much He truly loves me, even at those moments when I have messed up and am not feeling so loving towards myself. All these things build confidence in the object of my faith, which is God the Father, and Jesus, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, the teacher of all that I have learned about God.
I also observe the spiritual family, aka my church, that He has provided for me. I observe their willingness to draw closer to God, their willingness to serve God, their willingness to love one another even when it is sometimes a little difficult. I haven't always been in a church such as mine. I haven't always had the confidence in a church, such as I have in mine. Oh, we make our share of mistakes, and we are still learning and still growing, but we are earnest in pursuing the Lord. The confidence I have in my church and in the elders of my church and the brothers and sisters in my church, (which is confidence built by increased knowledge of who they are and how much they strive to be godly) also builds confidence in the object of my faith which is the Lord.
Then there is the Word of God. From this I draw the most confidence about the object of my faith which is Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I love the Word. I love to get into the Word because it is through the Word that I most clearly see God. I don't mean I have perfect eyesight, not yet. But the more I study, the more clearly I can see, until eventually, I will be able to see with 20/20 vision, which should be about the time Jesus returns! When I study the Word, I dissect it. I look at each word. Then I look at the sentence. Then I ask God questions about it (called prayer). And sometimes He answers me right away. Other times the answer is slow in coming. And in some cases, I already know, I am not going to get that answer until the Lord returns. But I still study, I still dissect, I still question (which has nothing to with doubting, do not misunderstand me please...it is just about understanding better than I currently do. And God allows me to question for the sake of learning and growing...how else do we grow actually?) In every way, the Word builds confidence in the object of my faith which is my Father in heaven, for I am His child and can go to Him with any question or any request and know that He will never tell me that "children are to be seen and not heard."
The disciples walked with Jesus for 3-1/2 years during which time He did things that built confidence in the object of the disciples' faith: Jesus - the Word made flesh.
Why am I saying all of this?
Because we are never to say "It's enough, God. It's enough that I know you exist. It's enough that I know I have salvation. I don't need to know anything else."
The Israelites did that at Mount Sinai. They said, "It's enough, Moses! We don't want to hear the voice of God anymore! It scares us! You talk to him Moses! You tell us what God says, but we don't need to hear it for ourselves from the mouth of God! It is too hard a thing for us to do!" (seriously para-phrased, of course.)
Most of those same Israelites died in the desert, never reaching the promised land. They didn't want to know too much about God. They wanted to know just enough...or what they thought was sufficient. And then they rested on that little bit. And then they died.
Building confidence, as we will experience, I hope, during this study, for the things of God, will happen, not because we set aside our curiosity or intelligence and become "dumbed-down" enough to trust in God. Sure, we have to have faith as little children to come to God, but faith, once we have been given it by God and chosen to receive it is the foundation upon which is built, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, all that transforms us into the image of God. God, and His image-bearers, are not "dumbed-down." They have the highest standards of excellence to attain to. God's standards! We are not to stop at faith alone! Faith is the beginning. Without faith we will not endure to the end. But in addition to our faith, there is work to be done in the middle.
What is it that Peter tells us?
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus, our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:2-8
Why didn't Peter just tell us to believe? And leave it at that?
Because the Lord has higher expectation from us than to come to faith and then sit back and rest on our salvation (which is self-focused) rather than move on towards the things that He desires for us (which are others-focused); such as virtue and knowledge and temperance and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness and charity.
Now relate all that I have said to the marriage covenant. What we perceive faith to be and to not be, and whether or not we choose to "grow" in the Word as a result, will have great impact on marriage as well as all other relationships.
I want to discuss for a moment the words "faith" and "confidence" which I believe are essential to this and every study of God's Word; essential to our spiritual growth which then affects every relationship we have as well.
Faith happens when we are drawn by the Holy Spirit to receive the things of God. It happens because the Holy Spirit has taken the blinders of sin's deception off of our eyes, and we can see. He has taken the sin-initiated stoppers out of our ears and now we can hear. Faith begins with God; it is one of His gifts to us.
But faith does have substance. There is some-thing that we trust or some-one. In our case, we trust in Jesus to have been alive and to have risen from the dead by the power of God.
Let's look at the disciples for a moment. When Jesus called them, they left everything to follow Him. They didn't go follow Him for no reason...it was because they were called. They heard the words that He spoke to them, such as, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." There was some substance that drew them to "trust" or "have faith" in what He was saying to them. There was Jesus in the flesh talking to them, but the power of the Holy Spirit opened their eyes to see and their ears to hear Him.
So do we do the same. We have come to trust in Jesus because we have been called by God to "hear" the Word, and so we have faith to follow. Our faith is not blind; we have been given eyes to see. And what we see, that we once could not see, is the truth of God's Word.
And our faith is not stupid. By that, I mean, we don't have to become "dumbed-down" to have faith. We do not have to forsake intelligence in order to believe. In fact, I think we have to be "smart" enough to know that we are sinners who need a Savior. I think that is a very intelligent and necessary observation.
But once we have come to trust in the Word of God, aka Jesus Christ, then we are gifted over and over again with little confidences which build our faith. Those little confidences come in a variety of ways and all of these have substance as well.
I observe the little ways He protects me. I observe how He is always there to comfort me and to push me another step closer into His image. I observe how much He truly loves me, even at those moments when I have messed up and am not feeling so loving towards myself. All these things build confidence in the object of my faith, which is God the Father, and Jesus, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, the teacher of all that I have learned about God.
I also observe the spiritual family, aka my church, that He has provided for me. I observe their willingness to draw closer to God, their willingness to serve God, their willingness to love one another even when it is sometimes a little difficult. I haven't always been in a church such as mine. I haven't always had the confidence in a church, such as I have in mine. Oh, we make our share of mistakes, and we are still learning and still growing, but we are earnest in pursuing the Lord. The confidence I have in my church and in the elders of my church and the brothers and sisters in my church, (which is confidence built by increased knowledge of who they are and how much they strive to be godly) also builds confidence in the object of my faith which is the Lord.
Then there is the Word of God. From this I draw the most confidence about the object of my faith which is Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I love the Word. I love to get into the Word because it is through the Word that I most clearly see God. I don't mean I have perfect eyesight, not yet. But the more I study, the more clearly I can see, until eventually, I will be able to see with 20/20 vision, which should be about the time Jesus returns! When I study the Word, I dissect it. I look at each word. Then I look at the sentence. Then I ask God questions about it (called prayer). And sometimes He answers me right away. Other times the answer is slow in coming. And in some cases, I already know, I am not going to get that answer until the Lord returns. But I still study, I still dissect, I still question (which has nothing to with doubting, do not misunderstand me please...it is just about understanding better than I currently do. And God allows me to question for the sake of learning and growing...how else do we grow actually?) In every way, the Word builds confidence in the object of my faith which is my Father in heaven, for I am His child and can go to Him with any question or any request and know that He will never tell me that "children are to be seen and not heard."
The disciples walked with Jesus for 3-1/2 years during which time He did things that built confidence in the object of the disciples' faith: Jesus - the Word made flesh.
Why am I saying all of this?
Because we are never to say "It's enough, God. It's enough that I know you exist. It's enough that I know I have salvation. I don't need to know anything else."
The Israelites did that at Mount Sinai. They said, "It's enough, Moses! We don't want to hear the voice of God anymore! It scares us! You talk to him Moses! You tell us what God says, but we don't need to hear it for ourselves from the mouth of God! It is too hard a thing for us to do!" (seriously para-phrased, of course.)
Most of those same Israelites died in the desert, never reaching the promised land. They didn't want to know too much about God. They wanted to know just enough...or what they thought was sufficient. And then they rested on that little bit. And then they died.
Building confidence, as we will experience, I hope, during this study, for the things of God, will happen, not because we set aside our curiosity or intelligence and become "dumbed-down" enough to trust in God. Sure, we have to have faith as little children to come to God, but faith, once we have been given it by God and chosen to receive it is the foundation upon which is built, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, all that transforms us into the image of God. God, and His image-bearers, are not "dumbed-down." They have the highest standards of excellence to attain to. God's standards! We are not to stop at faith alone! Faith is the beginning. Without faith we will not endure to the end. But in addition to our faith, there is work to be done in the middle.
What is it that Peter tells us?
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus, our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:2-8
Why didn't Peter just tell us to believe? And leave it at that?
Because the Lord has higher expectation from us than to come to faith and then sit back and rest on our salvation (which is self-focused) rather than move on towards the things that He desires for us (which are others-focused); such as virtue and knowledge and temperance and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness and charity.
Now relate all that I have said to the marriage covenant. What we perceive faith to be and to not be, and whether or not we choose to "grow" in the Word as a result, will have great impact on marriage as well as all other relationships.
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