January 7th, 2013
Hebrews 11:6-12:2 - "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." ... "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
When I look at this list of horrible things unbelievers have done to God's people, my initial response tends to be fright. As I read this and hear about other various ways Christians in the past have been murdered, it terrifies me. Paul was believed to have been crucified upside-down, the reformers were burned at the stake by Catholic "Christians" , and Egyptian moslums publicly display videos of people being brutalized in the streets put to festive music. I heard a retelling from Paul Washer about a Christian man in Russia (I think it was Russia) who was attemptedly brainwashed to recant his beliefs. After he finally cracked he was let out of prison and he roamed the streets saying "I am Peter! I am Judas!" The list goes on of all the horrible things people do to Christians and it's just sickening. I remember back in 2010 (or maybe it was early 2011), I went through a period of time where it just felt like all I could expect to see was doom. Fairly regularly my mind was plagued with imaginings of what people might try to do to me or my friends, and I was thinking to myself subconsciously "What will they do to me? Yes I know God is strong, but Peter denied Christ 3 times! Will I be able to stand firm and not deny Christ? I don't think I can do it!"
It may seem like a legitmate thing to ask the question "Will I be able to stand firm?" Questions like that put on a disguise of wisdom, but in all seriousness I believe that kind of question is nothing more than a veiled self-confidence and doubt of God's faithfulness. During that time of stress I felt like I was being a coward if I tried to block those worrisome thoughts out of my mind. It seemed to me like I should be thinking about those kinds of things, as though God's point in telling me about tribulation was to test me to see how much I could handle. It seemed like I was supposed to incline my ear to persecution horror stories so as to build up calaces, that way I could endure anything that may happen down the road. After all, to be forewarned is to be forearmed, right?
It turns out that I was completely wrong to think like that, and I'm glad I was wrong! God tells us these things not to challenge our faith, as if we have to prove to Him and to ourselves that we will stay faithful. Of course not! The reason He tells us the gruesome details of these things through Scripture and providence, is not to scare us, but on the contrary to comfort and encourage us. All through Hebrews 11 the apostle has been stressing to his readers that it is by faith we are made spiritually alive in Christ, and it is by faith that we persevere to the end. Note that he was speaking to Jewish believers who were being persecuted and tempted to go back to Judaism. If the apostle wanted his Jewish brothers and sisters to stand firm, it wouldn't make any sense to start telling them horror stories just to freak them out. If nothing else, it would seem pretty insensitive to just be like "Hey, you think you've got it bad; tough! Look what these guys went through. Be glad you're not them!" or "Look at this list of things other brothers and sisters have suffered; think you can handle this, or are you going to chicken out now?" Consider that portion of verse 39; "all these through faith, having obtained a good testimony through faith..." They obtained a good testimony. If they had given up, they would have forfeited that good testimony, and instead would have been written off as apostates.
The writer later goes on in verse 1 of chapter 12 to point to them and say essentially "Look at all these Old Testament examples and all of the other countless saints who persevered by faith. God kept all of them firm, so why should we fear that He won't keep us?" He says "Therefore, since we are surrounded..." As my youth leader would say "What is it there for?" "Therefore"; In other words, "For this reason". "We have sufficient and virtually innumerable examples of God's faithfulness presented before us, so for this reason let's all peservere too; because we should, and because we know that by faith we will." This faith the writer speaks of is not some sort of "name it and claim it" Santa Clause kind of faith, with no credible evidence to speak for itself. This faith is arguably reasonable, and one cannot object to it's saving, sanctifying, and persevering power.
In verse 2 we are reminded of what this living faith is. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ and His work of redemption He accomplished on Calvary. This is where our faith lies, and this is what we need to focus on. We don't focus on how firm we are, or how strongly we believe (though we ought to examine ourselves), but we look "unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." As cannot be stressed enough, he is the author AND finisher of our faith. He has promised that He will complete the work He began in us (Phillipians 1:6), and He is God. He never lies. The apostle continues; "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God".
This is important; How was it that Jesus was able to endure that cross? How was He able to despise the shame and not turn back? Was it by human power that He withstood it all? Of course it wasn't. While His human nature contained not even a trace sin, it wasn't because He was just that strong in and of Himself apart from the rest of the Trinity. He was able to stand by the strength of the same power that raised Him from the dead. He endured the cross because He was filled with the Holy Spirit to an unlimited extent (John 3:31-36). Think about it, He was sustained and resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also dwells in the hearts of His people. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit is the power that began our new life in Christ, raising us from spiritual deadness! Can you honestly say in good conscience, that you raised yourself from the dead? Did you free yourself from the bondage of sin? Had it been by our own power that we must be saved, we wouldn't be saved at all. This is good news; the Holy Spirit sustained Christ through His sufferings and death, raised Him from the dead, regenerated us to spiritual life (something we cannot do), and sanctifies us (which we cannot, and would not do), and has promised to resurrect us bodily at the last day (which again, we cannot do).
All the things the Holy Spirit does are things that are beyond our capability. Yet, He sustained our Savior through the unimaginably horrific things He suffered, so what can possibly keep Him from sustaining us? Yes, we are weak, but He is strong! The whole focus is not on "will I stay faithful", but "He is faithful". If we have the same Spirit living in us that sustained Christ through suffering the full consumation of the wrath of both God and men, there is absolutely no reason that we should have to bring our peseverance into question. He will keep us through. If He didn't, then Jesus would have been lying when He said "out of all the Father has given the Son, He will lose none" (John 6:35-40). He will not ever lie, because that is completely contrary to His nature. He is immutably righteous, and He existed before there was any such a thing as sin. The devil was a created being (though he wasn't evil initially [Isaiah 14:12-15]). All angels are created beings. It was created beings who rebelled against an eternal, uncreated God. He existed before there ever was any evil, and He was immutable then just as He is now. He will never lie, and He will preserve us; garunteed. This doesn't negate our responsibility to obey Him, but it does secure that all those who have true faith in Him will stand firm. After all, since we know this to be true, shouldn't it cause us to be grateful to Him and desirous to persevere?
According the Macarthur Study Bible, "the joy that was set before Him" was "the joy of accomplishing the Father's will and exaltation". Now of course all bible commentaries themselves are not inspired, but I do think that John Macarthur's interpretation is undoubtedly valid here. Jesus's motivation was not first and foremost man-centered. It can be easy to hear the words "redemption" and "salvation" etc. and the first things that come to mind are what God has done for man. Yes, God has done this great work to our benifit, but we are not the center of the universe. We are not His motivation for anything He does. The point and purpose of redemption, salvation, sancification, and man's existence entirely, with everything else you can name, is to fulfill the will of God and glorify Him. Of course it's not as though He is some heavenly utilitarian, who doesn't care for His people or His creation. He's not like "I don't care what happens to my people, so long as I am glorified". He does care for His people. After all, we are still alive, aren't we? He has purchased salvation for us all who believe, so when we die, we will be with Him. Of course He cares for His people! However, man's chief end is to glorify God, not vise/versa. Man exists to serve God, not God exists to serve man. This is among many things, perhaps the most fundamental element of Jesus's mindset that we should apply to ourselves; that everything in our lives is to be theocentric: God-centered.
Not only did Christ stay firm and faithful through it all by the power of the Holy Spirit, but He was able to "despise the shame". According to Dictionary.com this verb means "to regard with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain; scorn; loathe." To scorn something means to hold it in contempt, or to mock it. Going from that point of view, it's sort of an irony; Christ mocked the shame. He was put to public shame and mocked by men, but He made a mockery of the very mocking he recieved! It could be put like this: In the world's eyes His death was a such a disgrace that sinful man cruelly and unsympathetically laughed at Him. To the world it looked like a hopeless defeat. Yet, in reality He made the very shame and disgrace an object of ridicule in that, so far from being defeated by sinful man, the world, and Satan, His death was the victory over man's sin, the world, and Satan! Ridicule is described as "action intended to cause contemptuous laughter at a person or thing; derision". He made the ridicule He recieved, the object of ridicule in the end! Isn't it rather laughable to think that all His enemies thought they won, when in reality they just accidentally handed him the victory on a silver plate?
As God would providentially have it, a short time ago I was at a bible study with some friends, and I think the evening lesson would be perfect to interject here! We were in Phillipians 4:4-9. In verse 4 we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord always. After that command, the apostle Paul gives us instruction on how we can rejoice in all times. In verse 6 we are commanded to be anxious for nothing, but to pray at all times with thanksgiving. Axiety is the polar opposite and enemy of joy. First things first, in order to rejoice we must kill anxiety. Next, we have our prescription for battling anxiety; Prayer with thanksgiving. Prayer that is in accordance with the revealed will of God, brings peace of mind. A prayer of "I want You to do my will because You are able" is not the kind of prayer being prescribed. There's that qualifying word; thanksgiving. This prayer being prescribed is the kind of prayer that focuses on all God has done for us, and for you as an individual. As you focus more and the more on what He has done and what He has promised, the easier it can be for you to surrender your will to His. The more we understand how undeserving we are, the more grateful and content we ought to be.
Lastly, in verse 8 we get our final command. Meditate on good things. I recently read Pilgrim's Progress for school, and I was impressed with the scene where Christian and Faithful (or maybe it was Hopeful) meet Ignorance. Ignorance believed he was in God's favor, because his heart told him so. His heart told him "good things" about himself, but then as Christian and Faithful continue the conversation they pointed this out; thinking positive, is not thinking good. I can think I am a good person, living a good life, but that doesn't make those thoughts good. John Bunyan explained (and he didn't invent this, but only reiterated it) that meditating on good things means to meditate on things biblical; to adopt a mindset consistent with God's thoughts. In other words, if your thinking is positive, but does not align with Scripture, you are not thinking good thoughts. To think I am a good person, is a bad thought. That is because that thought is not biblical. Therefore, meditating on good things as God commands us to, doesn't mean "think positive", but "think biblically". So then, we could say that Paul was in essence saying "adjust your focus to be in line with the Bible."
It goes like this:
1. Rejoice. Kill anxiety.
2. In order to kill anxiety, pray with a thankful attitude.
3. Adjust your focus biblically. This is the result of a thankful prayer.
It goes both ways too, because as you adjust your focus to be in line with God's Word, then you can know how to properly pray, which in turn kills anxiety, and then comes rejoicing! You could say it works in a very circular manner. No matter which you start with (rejoicing, or refocusing) you should inevitably arrive at the other. Pretty cool, huh?
Oh yes, and in case you were wondering whatever became of the Christian in Russia who went through all the brainwashing; God restored him, and he continued sharing the gospel with others! Yet again, God was and always will be faithful.
Photography: Stephanie DeFoyd
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