The Struggle for Faith

The Western church is in decline.

It is hard to imagine anyone disagreeing with that statement. The evidence of our failing condition is overwhelming. Here are two (of many) examples:

• Based on a 2019 Pew Research study, only 69% of Americans identify as Christian – down from 77% ten years earlier.
• In a 2018 Barna Research survey, when asked “Have you heard of the Great Commission?”, only 17% of churchgoers said they had heard of it and could explain its meaning. 51% said they had not heard of the Great Commission at all!!

More than a few well-meaning and conscientious individuals and organizations have offered their opinions on how we might reverse our trending decline. Most of these prescriptions address symptoms, not the source of our unhealthy state (i.e., start teaching the Great Commission). Consequently, much of the Western church seems to have checked into hospice care, rather than pursue the cure for our disease.

To state the obvious, the cure we have been offered is God’s grace. The simplicity of that assertion does not make it any less true – particularly when we understand the meaning of grace. From Blue Letter Bible’s Outline of Biblical Usage, grace (charis) is:

[T]he merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.

Grace is the cure for all that ails us. So, how do we, as leaders, acquire the grace of God for the restoration and transformation of the Western church? How do we participate with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the good work they have committed to accomplish in our midst (Matthew 4:19, Philippians 2:13-14, 2Corinthians 3:18)?

Applying Spiritual Disciplines

Grace is appropriated through faith for the renewing of our minds – that we might be obedient to the faith and experience the perfecting of our faith through the work of grace.

This is not a play on words; it is the way we mature as children of God.

The grace I am thinking of:

• The Father working in us (Philippians 2:13);
• Jesus making us (Matthew 4:19); and,
• The Holy Spirit transforming us (2Corinthians 3:18).

Isn’t it amazing and incredibly encouraging that each person of the Godhead has taken responsibility for our spiritual development and progress!!

So, how do we appropriate this inward grace? We do so by choosing to join the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the work they are doing (note: “choosing” is the operative word).

How does that happen? What can one do to engage in the sanctifying, transforming, and faith-increasing work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? How does one respond to their invitation of a good work, done in us?

We do so by practicing the grace-empowered disciplines God has provided!

For example, we are encouraged by Paul to set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:2). This is a process and a challenge. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God (2Corinthians 3:5). To join in His process for the (re)setting of our mind:

1. We must choose to hear Colossians 3:2 as God’s word for each of His children (Romans 10:17). That requires the disciplines of Bible study and prayer.
2. We must choose obedience to the faith that now resides in our heart (Romans 1:5).
3. We must choose to meditate on His word (another discipline), that faith and desire would increase.
4. We must choose to commit our way to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, trusting them to bring our transformation to pass (Psalm 37:5).
5. We must choose to respond to the Holy Spirit’s prompting when opportunities present themselves for the work of faith (James 2:22).

We must choose! Choosing is a big part of spiritual discipline!

What is this humility you keep talking about?

It seems a bit late in coming, but I finally understand why a song, sermon, act of service, etc. can be humbling to the singer, preacher, etc. It is because these acts of worship are God’s grace and, consequently, greater than the person being used to deliver them. These blest individuals experience God using them as His instruments. His presence and power help them recognize their lack of sufficiency in the good work He is doing.

Oh, if we could only humble ourselves to recognize this about everything we are used to do for God’s kingdom. It is humbling to be His pen. It should be humbling to share a kind word with someone else. I confess: there is too much of me in too much of my life’s work.

Thank God, humility begets humility. There is hope for all of us.

Humility before God is surrender to His reign and control. It is “not I, but Christ who lives in me”. It is denying myself, taking up my cross and following after Christ in sacrificial love.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

The chief requirement for Matthew 5:16 is humility and surrender. Surrender is so much the starting point for every assignment. In most cases, we don’t know the assignment without first surrendering.

The Foundations – The Resurrection of the Dead (Part 2)

In Part One, we explored the importance of Jesus’ resurrection and our participation with Him in it. We discovered that, without His resurrection, our faith is futile (1Corinthians 15:16-17). Why? Because it is by His life, not His death, that we shall be saved (Romans 5:10).

Our participation in Jesus’ resurrection is an elementary principle; easy to understand and believe for those with ears to hear. However, it is not enough to acknowledge and believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. “Faith without works is dead” applies as much to the resurrection as any other faith we claim. We must live out of that resurrected life.

The Resurrected Life

Jesus’ death would have been worthless without His resurrection. The same is true for His disciples. We died with Him. If we are not also resurrected with Him, then we are just dead. By grace, through faith, this is not the case.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by [the] faith [of] the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

In the particular context of this passage, our participation in the crucifixion of Christ accomplished two very important things: It killed our old man; and positioned us to receive the life of Christ.