The Need for Apostolic Certitude
Written by Dec 20, 2009, 8:46 pm
5 Comments • Related Topics: eternity, faith
“…. he that has seen Me has seen the Father….” -John 14.9
In the October 30th selection of My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers gives us this awesome thought:
Until we know Jesus, God is a mere abstraction, we cannot have faith in Him; but immediately we hear Jesus say- “he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” we have something that is real, and faith is boundless. Faith is the whole man rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The darkness that marks ‘god-seeking’ cultures is profounder and more tragic than we know. Even in modern evangelicalism, there is enough of a measure of humanistic thought that in most cases believers remain unbroken over the condition of mankind. If one were to survey the nation of India, for instance, and the number of gods or goddesses men pursue there, it would become clear that the whole of the nation is pursuing “God” as a mere abstraction.
Men will spend weeks standing on one leg, days and sometimes months in fasting, whole nights in meditation and reading of ancient texts, or cut and pierce their bodies in numerous ways, just for the positive sense it gives them in knowing that their souls are bent in a spiritual direction. From one village to the next, their deities change name and form, and most of the time there are multiple gods to worship in each household. There is no spiritual stability, no answer to the problem of sin, no consciousness of God’s holiness and love, but instead the bewildering pursuit of the divine in mere abstractions. Paul did not see these kinds of religious pursuits as valid in any way, stating that they were literally worshipping “demons” whether they knew it or not. (1 Cor. 10.20)
We cannot have faith in God until we have seen His Son for who He is, and believed in Him unto salvation. The nations are groping in darkness, incapable of finding anything but false and fading lights, and not until the Church has penetrated their darkness with the light of truth in Christ will they have any hope at all. The darkness is not bound to idolatry in India, but is the plight of mankind in every culture and in every form of life where Christ has not become the center. Across the board men are seeking their gods in abstraction, be they wooden statues or cars, homes and big screen T.V.’s, and only those who have come into communion with the One true God through the Gospel have the unfading hope of true Light. Only we have stability and certitude about eternity, for it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and it is founded upon the revelation that God has given in the Scriptures. Do we dare keep this great light to ourselves?
They must know of His great love. They must know of His power to break the stranglehold of sin and shame. They must know that He has come in the flesh, died, raised, and ascended, and that He’s coming again. They are groping about after “mere abstractions,” when the revelation of God the Father has already been given. They must hear of the Man, Christ Jesus!
How can we live so indifferently, so numbly, so stingily. Have we failed to realize that unless the nations see God through the revelation of the Gospel they will only pursue Him through abstractions, and will fall totally short of the glory of grace altogether? Do we really believe that unless they come into the Gospel they will perish, forever?
We need to be freed from humanistic mixtures and hollow hopes for their progressive improvement, and brought onto the grounds of apostolic certitude. Paul shed blood and tears, took stones in the face and lashes on the back, for the singular purpose of setting forth the Man Christ Jesus to those who were seeking God in mere abstractions. We need the same sight, the same courage, the same burden, the same faith, and the same missionary spirit, or else they perish forever. It’s time to wake up, saints. It’s not a dream. It’s not an option. Woe unto us if we preach not the Gospel.
“If sinners be damned at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. Let them go with our arms around their knees. Let no one go there unwarned or unprayed for.” -Charles Spurgeon
Tags: Bryan Purtle, eternity, evangelism, faith
December 21st 2009 on 12:26 am
Amen, David. Jesus is the EXACT representation and the sole expression of the Father and His nature. HE is the message in living reality.
Coming from the hindu faith, I am well aware of what you say here. In Hinduism, there are millions of gods, each devotee has his or her favorite god or gods. The thing about Hinduism is you can believe anything you want, you just need to be part of the religion. However, what really attracts the western world is the mysticism. Meditation in Hinduism is discovering ones “True Self” which is considered divine.
Like every other Hindu I believed in the re-incarnation of the soul. I strongly believed that a crow that came and sat near my window was my deceased Grandfather. I remember how I’d try talking to this crow as I would to my Granddad and thank him for coming to visit me.
Reincarnation and the ‘caste systems’ in India are closely linked to each other. If a person leads a bad life, he is re-born into a lower caste, and those of the higher caste look down on him; however, if the person leads a good life, he is reborn into a higher caste.
According to Hindusim, people are re-incarnated so that those who die can continue to seek pleasure in this world, which is not possible without a body. However, every person at one point of time comes to realize that none of the worldly pleasures are lasting, and true pleasure comes only as a result of one seeking his true self or ‘atman’ which is considered divine. When all worldly desire has vanished, the person is said to have attained ‘moksha’ or salvation.
So here we are put into this seemingly endless cycle of transmigration of the soul…and we are to save ourselves by searching for this divine self that is within us. But come to think about it…what caused man to be “bad” or fall away from the “good”? What caused man-kind to have to seek this true and divine self?
There’s no explanation to it. The Bible gives us the why, and the solution: JESUS, the message!
December 21st 2009 on 8:21 am
Thanks for sharing that Sid, and giving us some insight into your background in Hinduism.
However, I must point out Bryan wrote this article, not David
This was an excellent article Bryan! I’m positive that if the Lord tarries and the world carries on for another 150 years, people will have compiled your writings to make a “My Utmost For His Highest” of YOUR writings! You write excellent stuff and I enjoy reading it.
December 21st 2009 on 10:20 am
Re; evangelism. Just recognize this; it is NOT you who brings a person to Jesus Christ. It is God himself. You are just a tool in the hands of God. Put your efforts in perspective. There is nothing you can do to “increase your conversion success rate”. God converts a person if HE WILLS IT. So, what then? So, DO preach the Gospel and live your life as a testament to your faith in Jesus Christ so that you will not need to tell someone you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. They will already know.
PaulFan´s last blog ..Augustine – On Self Worth
December 21st 2009 on 12:56 pm
St. Francis of Assisi coined the phrase, “Preach the Gospel, and if necessary use words.”
I have heard it quoted since I was a new believer, and I appreciate the heart of it, namely, that we ought to have a character and quality of faith that is itself a witness to the resurrection of Christ.
However, I have always thought the statement was insufficient in light of the apostolic epistles, and the great commission itself. It is true that there are men who preach that are simply an annoyance, or a “noisy gong and a clanging cymbal.” Often men have thought that by many words they were fulfilling the great commission, and just as often have they been mistaken. But that does not negate the call to speak of Him in witness. Many have settled into a mode of life wherein they never speak of Him to others, and this is a stagnant place that He has never intended us to live in.
I feel that many American’s have utilized Assisi’s quote to justify their unwillingness to speak of Christ to those who are lost. “I’ll just be a kind person, with slightly higher morals, and hopefully they’ll notice the difference and deal with it on their own time.” While there is a life of abiding in Christ that is much better than mechanical witnessing, that abiding life will invariably lead to speaking or preaching to those who are bound in sin and darkness.
This idea of witness by character alone is terribly unfortunate, for we have been called to penetrate the darkness with the glorious light of the Gospel, which includes the character of Christ being exhibited in our lives, but it cannot be limited to that. Very simply, Jesus calls us also to speak of Him as well.
As to the idea that “God converts a person if HE WILLS IT,” I would simply turn to Paul’s commissioning from the Lord Himself. He told Paul that He was sending him to the Jews and Gentiles, “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26.18)
In my understanding of Scripture, He wills all men to be saved, but all do not receive His kind intentions; hence, in the last analysis, their experience is eternal judgment. It is our calling as the Church, much in alignment with the Spirit of Paul’s commissioning, to live and speak in such a way as to open wide the gate for all who would come to Him.
Any idea of the faith that decreases the reality of that holy occupation militates against the Spirit of NT Christianity. May the Lord have for Himself a people abiding in His life and character by the power of grace, setting Him forth in the earth through all our living and speaking.
December 26th 2009 on 4:19 am
It’s foolishness and absolutely unscriptural to think that preaching is unnecessary.
Romans 10:13″Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f]
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Our lives must bear witness to the Scriptures, but it is not a replacement for preaching the Gospel.
Sidharth