Hindrances to Full Faith (3)

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace…Romans 4.16

How?
For all his focusing on the promises of God and refusing to languish in his limitations, Abraham still struggled at times to walk by faith rather than sight.

God had spoken an enormous promise to him – precious and very great, as Peter would describe it (2 Pet. 1.4) – and it must have boggled his mind as he pondered the question, “How? How will it be that I and Sarah shall have a child?”

We’re the same way. We read the precious and very great promises of God in Scripture and we think, “Man, how am I ever going to realize that?” Nothing in our experience makes us think God can do all that He has promised. Our own level of ability certainly doesn’t augur well for it, and there are just so many other distractions, leaving many of us to believe these promises must be for when we get to heaven.

Still, something in us wants to have a go at them. We know our lives are supposed to be full and abundant in Jesus Christ. We believe we can have more joy and power and fullness and boldness than what we have ever known before.

We just don’t see how it’s going to be possible.

Plan B?
Abraham went through the same struggle. His response, after much waiting, was to suggest to God an alternate plan, a different way of getting to the promises of God other than the one God had indicated.

God had said that Abraham would have a son. In Genesis 15 God reiterated the promise. But Abraham didn’t have a son, and the prospects weren’t good. So Abraham suggested that his servant, Eliezer of Damascus, would have to do instead. That was the best Abraham could think of as a way of realizing what God had promised.

God, however, declined to change His plan. Again, two chapters later, when Abraham had fathered a son by Sarah’s maidservant, God again came to him and promised a son. Abraham readily offered Ishmael as the candidate. God again said, “No.” God makes the promises, and God determines the way those promises are to be achieved. He is not interested in our alternative plans or good ideas, and, as long as we insist on living by these, we’ll never realize all that God has in store for us.

His way, or ours?
For example, God promises a harvest of souls as we go, like Jesus to seek and save the lost, bearing witness by our lives and words “as we are going” through our everyday lives.

That sounds a little risky.

So, instead, we propose to doll up our churches all contemporary-like, take out an ad in the paper, hire a billboard, and put up a spiffy marquis out front, hoping the lost will come inside and have a look, and then maybe, you know, stick around. That’s not God’s way, but we persuade ourselves it’s the best we can do to realize what God has promised. But He is not going to fulfill His promise on our terms.

Or the Lord Jesus declares that He will build His Church, grow it in unity and maturity so that it becomes the joy of our communities and refracts the beauty of the Lord into every area of life (Eph. 4.11-16; Ps. 48.1, 2). And He declares that He will do this as pastors and teachers shepherd the flock of God, outfitting them for ministry as a way of life (1 Pet. 5.1-3).

Yeah, well, that sounds a little old fashioned and un-hip. So, instead, we devise all kinds of cool programs with snappy names, open up a coffee bar in the narthex of our church, set up lots of teams and boards and committees, raise a budget and improve our facilities, tweak our worship all glitzy and contemporary, and then expect the Lord to bless.

He won’t, not in the full faith way He intends, not as long as we hinder full faith by resorting to our own plans and ideas, rather than His.

We do this all the time. Do we really think we know better than the Lord how to realize what He has promised? Are we so arrogant as to suggest that our plans are better than His, our programs can outperform His simple but proven disciple-making guidelines, or that we can do His work toward His promises however we think is best?

We’re fools if we do, and we’ll never gain the promises of God, and never attain to full faith in the Lord, until we walk by faith and seek His ends in His ways.

For reflection
1.  How confident are you that the ministries and programs your church uses are squarely based in Biblical teaching?

2.  In your own life, what is your approach to carrying out the mandate of Matthew 28.18-20

3.  Why should we think we’re free to seek God’s promises and do God’s work in anything other than God’s way?

Next steps: How can we know when we’re trying to do the Lord’s work our way instead of His? Ask a pastor or church leader about this.

T. M. Moore

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This week’s ReVision study is Part 6 of a 10-part series, “Full Faith.” You can download “Hindrances to Full Faith” as a free PDF, prepared for personal or group study. Simply click here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.