Going Forward, Faith To Faith

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield.  The LORD gives grace and glory..." (Psalm 84:11, HCSB).   "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17, KJV).  

It is commonly said, that people will go anywhere as long as it's forward!  They want a promotion!  Unfortunately, many believers are heavy laden with a backsliding heart and aren't progressing or growing in faith; however, something that is alive grows!  There's a difference between the profession of faith and the reality of faith.  We progress from unbelieving and doubting faith to little faith, saving faith, and then to serving faith.  Maturity is not a given nor a foregone conclusion.  We are to ever increase in our faith as Romans 1:17 says (from faith to faith) and to show it in our lives as fruit (from faithfulness to faithfulness).  We must not divorce these two realities.   These two words are identical in Hebrew (cf. Habakkuk 2:4).  They shall know us by our fruit!

The faith we have is the faith we show and without the evidence of faith to be validated by works, it's spurious, suspect, and even dead.  That kind of faith cannot save us for we are not saved by faith per se, but faith in Christ--it's the object that matters; we don't put faith in faith.  But 2 Cor. 3:18 portrays our faith as having "ever-increasing glory."  Yes, God shares His glory with us and we will be in glory someday (Psalm 84:11).  There must come an awakening in our faith from our spiritual slumber and the day must dawn and the morning star rises in our hearts (cf. 2 Pet. 1:19).

I've heard Christians say that they are "Jesus" to someone and that is not our sanctification, even though God uses us for His glory and we are mere vessels of honor doing His will and work.  NB: We cannot reach somewhat of a "sinless perfection" (cf. Prov. 20:9) or "entire sanctification" (cf. Psalm 119:96) whereby we become Jesus in any sense of the word--we are not commanded to be Jesus, but to obey Him. We cannot save anyone and no one should expect us to save them!  There's only one Savior who alone gets the glory (Soli Deo Gloria!), for "salvation is of the LORD" (cf. Jonah 2:9).

We can be the helping hand of Jesus or His voice, or even the heart of Jesus extending mercy and comfort, but we must be humbled by the fact that we are not worthy of worship and we are not Jesus to anyone despite our do-goodery.  When we preach the gospel, it must be preaching the Word and Christ Jesus as Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 4:5), not preaching ourselves as the center of focus.   Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but of ourselves less.   We think of Jesus, not being so preoccupied with ourselves (cf. Heb. 3:1; 12:1).

Paul was received as if he were Christ Himself, but he wasn't Christ to them  (cf. Gal. 4:14).  He was so humbled that God revealed His Son in him (cf. Gal. 1:16) and, realizing this, he couldn't wait till Christ be formed in them (cf. Gal. 4:19).  When we see Jesus by faith (cf. Heb. 2:9), the eyes of our hearts are opened (cf. Eph. 1:18) and we do see Jesus alive in our brethren and realize that He is using us for His glory and work.  But the temptation is to think that our righteousness or goodness is our gift to God and we are doing it of ourselves.  However, all our righteousness is of God as the source (cf. Isaiah 45:24).  Paul was quite humble:  "For I will not venture to speak of anything except for what Christ has accomplished through me..." (Romans 15:18, ESV; cf. Amos 6:13).  Hosea 14:8 says that our fruit or righteousness comes from Him and comes from the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23).

The logical, applied goal of our faith is a desire to live it out and to complete the mission God gave us in the Lord (cf. Acts 20:24).  "All that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV).  Sanctification is the process of growing in the faith and becoming more Christlike in our demeanor and conduct to show forth the witness of Christ in our lives as a living testimony.  We're all here for a purpose and God has a plan for all of us and will fulfill His will without or with our cooperation (cf. Psalm 57:2; 138:8; Job 23:14).  God even has a purpose for the evildoer! (cf. Proverbs 16:4).  Finding our spiritual gifting is part of the package and we will be as wandering stars without any purpose in life till we recognize how God uses us in the kingdom.

We are to put our faith into practice (cf. 2 Cor. 1:24), translating creeds into deeds to show others the reality of our faith, not just the profession of it. Remembering we are not saved by faith, but by Christ.   Only where our faith is difficult is it worth it; we must realize that it will be done unto us according to our faith (cf. Matt. 9:29).

CAVEATS:  THE LIE OF SATAN IS THAT WE SHALL BE AS GODS; WE ARE TO BECOME GODLY, NOT GODS! A COROLLARY IS THE NEW AGE DECEPTION:  "I'M JESUS; YOU'RE JESUS!" OR WE NEED TO FIND THE GOD WITHIN!      Soli Deo Gloria! 

Primer On Mariology

"God in heaven appoints each man's work" (cf. John 3:27, NLT).
"But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus..." (Acts 20:24, NLT).  
"Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined"(Isaiah 1:1, NLT)

Mariolatry is the excessive veneration, worship, or idolizing of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.  This is prevalent in the Roman Catholic persuasion.  Let's explore Mariology and not split hairs nor nitpick with our Catholic friends, who declared us Protestants to be heretics at the Counter-Reformation known as the Council of Trent (1545-1563). But we disagree, we dissent, we protest!  It is also referred to as the hyper-elevation of Mary into sainthood or canonization.  They actually believe she can hear their prayers!

It should be pointed out that idolatry is placing anyone in God's place or position, for He alone is worthy of our adoration and worship.  Mariolatry has gotten to near cult status, and she is even considered a Mediatrix or Co-Mediator with Christ.  But Protestants know that there is only one mediator between God and man, the God-man Jesus Christ. 

Mary, for real, knew she was a sinner but the servant of the Lord in need of salvation, for she addressed God Most High as her Savior.  She knew that true greatness, despite the fact that she had found favor in God's eyes, was because of grace and God must be given the glory--she had faith; and saw herself as the humble servant of the Lord willing to do the "impossible," which she knew could be done in the Lord.  "With God nothing shall be impossible" (cf. Matt. 19:26).

One is reminded of Paul saying in Romans 15:18 that he would "not venture to speak of anything but what Christ had done through" him.  We can do nothing of ourselves as Jesus said in John 15:5 ("apart from Me you can do nothing").  All our fruits are from Him!  (cf. Hosea 14:8).  We may think we have accomplished a lot or achieved greatness but it is nothing and we owe it to God who is working through us as vessels of honor (cf. Amos 6:13).  In fact, all that we've done in the Lord has been in His power and enabling ("... all we have accomplished is really from you" according to Isaiah 26:12, NLT).

Mary has been elevated to the stature of Mother of God, even Mother of the Church, and also given some divine status as the source of grace rather than the receiver of it, being full of grace.  Catholics actually believe that salvation is through the church and that veneration of Mary is essential to their dogma (they see faith as acquiescence with church dogma).  I find it blasphemous to name the name of Mary in the Rosary and relegate as some kind of luck or magic charm to invoke God's favor.  We have the privilege of going directly to the Father in prayer and need not go through her or any saint.  This is called the invocation of saints (prayers to saints who are canonized by the Pope). It is taught dogmatically that no one comes to Jesus except through Mary.  

Obeisance to Mary is encouraged in this spirit of veneration.  It is amazing how Mariolatry has progressed so that they actually believe she was even born without sin (re the "Immaculate Conception of Mary") and that she didn't die but was ascended into heaven (re the "Assumption of Mary").  But the error seems to originate from the understanding that Mary stayed a virgin (correct nomenclature is perpetual virginity) even after Christ was born and that she is the source or conduit of grace rather than recipient and vessel.  But there are several references to Jesus having four brothers proving the normalcy of her womanhood (two brothers wrote epistles: Jude and James).

All in all, Mary was "startled" (we should be too at this biological anomaly!) at the news that the Lord was with her and that she was blessed among women; in the Magnificat (song of Mary), she sang that her soul does glorify the Lord.  It is amazing at her humility since this type of greeting would go to most people's heads and she kept things in perspective.  She was the maidservant of the Lord par excellence in God's eyes and we must see this in the light of God's economy in which the way up is down!  Humility comes before honor!  She knew full well too much pride destroys you.  And she didn't have low self-esteem, just high God-esteem!   She first humbled herself and became a maidservant; she didn't decide to exalt herself, though she is to be highly honored or favored among women.  NB: Jesus referred to her as "woman" on the cross.  He didn't exalt her but commended her to the aegis of  John.  

Note also that she never forgot who she was: the Lord's servant!  As it says in Isaiah 51:1 that we should never forget our roots, "the rock from which we were hewn, the quarry from which we were dug."  That's all we are no matter how noble or ignoble a task He gives us. She found out that with God we can accomplish the impossible and by consequence, we should attempt to walk on water, move mountains, and attempt great things in faith, expecting greater results.

In application, we should never idolize someone in God's place, not even hero-worship (no one is perfect or great but God who is manifest and personified in Christ for us to see in the flesh), and we all can come to the realization that God is pleased with us and will work the impossible in our humble lives if we are obedient and willing.  Never forget that you are specifically, uniquely designed for a special anointing and calling of God and we should not be disobedient to the heavenly vision, eager to complete our mission as a man or woman on a mission par excellence.   Soli Deo Gloria!