| The Christian Life | August 1945 |
A Christian Necessity
Faith, the Gift of God
“And shall God in any wise execute the vindication of His chosen ones? … I tell you He will execute their vindication quickly! Nevertheless though the Son of man do come will He, after all, find this faith on the earth?”—Luke 18:7,8, Rotherham
ONE of the great tests on the Christian church from the days of the apostles until now has been faith. Jesus said that if one possessed faith, even as little as a grain of mustard seed, he could move mountains. (Matt. 17:20) The trial of our faith is one of the important things which the Apostle Paul continually points out as a great test of Christian character. James says that it develops patience, and his idea of patience is not mere quiescence, a static condition; nor is it fatalism, which placidly disposes of all problems on the easy assumption that what will be, will be.—James 1:3
Faith, according to the scriptural viewpoint is a vital, living thing which develops and increases through exercise, and manifests itself in activity. Faith, says Paul, has substance, it is the evidence or conviction of things which cannot be detected by the use of the natural senses alone.—Heb. 11:1
One of the first things in which the true Christian manifests faith is in the existence of God. No man has seen God at any time, yet Jesus said to Philip, “He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Jesus is an actual character of history. He doesn’t have to be imagined. He lived here on earth; men saw Him and touched Him. They heard His words; they witnessed His miracles. Jesus, the Son of God, the “express image of the Father’s person,” was known of men and could be believed in by men. Yet few indeed, even in the days of His flesh, accepted Him for what He claimed to be.—Heb. 1:3
Most people living on the earth today exercise faith in some manner, although many deny it and scoff at the idea that they have faith in anything. One such hard-headed agnostic continually scoffed at the idea of the Christian God, and declared on all possible occasions that he had faith in nothing but what he could apprehend through his five natural senses. He claimed that apart from the evidence of physical senses all other things were nonsense.
Upon one such occasion when he was making his usual argument against the existence of God, a listener quietly interposed the suggestion that the agnostic gentlemen exercised a very considerable degree of faith every day of his life in something which could never be revealed through any physical sense. The agnostic scoffingly demanded proof of such a statement. He was asked the simple question, “Who is your father?” The question baffled him, and he was unable to answer.
How could he answer? For no man may know of his own knowledge, who his father is. He accepts a certain man as his father because of faith in the integrity of his mother. So the questioner pointed out, and went on to show that in like manner many have been convinced of the existence of a Heavenly Father because of the evidence produced by their mother—the earth.
The Psalmist continually sings of the marvelous works of God as evidenced in the earth which He had created, and in the heavens which He had ordained. To him the mighty example of nature spoke continually of a God whose wisdom transcended that of all His creatures. And many of the world’s greatest scientists, in the final analysis, have been compelled to agree with David. None but God could have done this!
The great advances in all the fields of science in the past century and a half stem from the original thinking of intelligent men of the past. With an ever increasing understanding of the forces of nature have come many mechanical devices designed to utilize some of these forces and to overcome others. When Sir Isaac Newton advanced what he termed “the law of gravitation,” it opened the way for still further thought and investigation and had a profound influence upon those who were interested in mechanics. Unquestionably the rapid strides that have been made in the science of aeronautics can be traceable to the stimuli of thought as a result of Newton’s findings.
Superficial thinkers would have us believe that all natural laws are the result of blind chance. What amazing chance it must have been that arranged the great interrelated forces in such a remarkable manner that a multitudinous universe of stars, planets and satellites may function in harmonious relation one to another and without mishap. We cannot begin to contemplate the result of any possible dislocation or failure of any one of these integral parts harmoniously to continue in its proper sphere of operation. What a catastrophe would be the result of such a mishap!
The Psalmist expressed the proper viewpoint when he wrote of the glories of the heavens: “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained.” And again, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork,”—Psalm 8:3; 19:1
Mankind, with great inventiveness, has made much use of the known natural forces, such as the power of steam and electricity, and yet the greatest geniuses of this or any other day admit that they have by no means exhausted the possibilities of the utilization of these and other energies. And when we think of the great strides that have already been made in this connection, it should make us all pause to reflect upon the majesty and greatness of the God who made all these things possible for us to enjoy. And how much richer and more abundant will be the lives of those who are brought forth to the full clear light of the glorious new day now only dawning.
Heat and cold are natural forces. Everyone is aware of this fact. Scientists and inventors have made use of these opposing factors in various ways. They understand to some extent their effects on various substances, and harness these cosmic energies as the servants of their wills. And yet, if it were not for certain strange departures from the general action of these forces, life would have vanished from the earth ages ago; in fact, earth today would be merely an ice-bound mass rolling lifeless through space.
Heat generally expands, and cold generally contracts matter. Yet in the case of the action of freezing cold on water the effect is to expand it instead of to contract it. Consider what that departure from the general effect has meant to this earth! Through expansion, ice becomes lighter than the water from which it is made. Were it to follow the customary law of nature and contract with freezing, the ice would be heavier than the unfrozen water, and cause it to sink to the river bottoms, so that as a consequence our rivers would become solid ice, which even the summer heat would not dissolve.
How fortunate, too, that antimony among the minerals is an exception to this law of nature also! Because of this exception it is impossible for us to secure clear-cut edges on our printing types by the mixing of this metal, which contracts, with other metals, which expand under heat.
Did blind chance, when bringing the forces of heat and cold into existence, reason these differences? Or were these variations the result of the wisdom of an intelligent Mind which designed them to do specific things in certain predetermined ways? Rational thinking can come to but one conclusion, and that is the latter.
Not to labor this argument unduly, let us pose a question. If blind chance brought these natural forces—heat, cold, magnetism, electronic, centrifugal, centripetal and other forces—out of, let us suppose, an original state of chaos, then could we have an assurance that such chance, being blind and not subject to superior control, some time might not fail to function in an orderly fashion and thus revert to that original state of chaos?
But we know better than that. We can see how these various forces even though seemingly in conflict with each other are brought into a condition of harmonious operation. Throughout nature and the entire universe, we see order and effective control of all the varied and sundry forces. Even the power of what we call friction, which ordinarily acts as resistance, is brought into useful employ. We learn that this earth is constantly being bombarded from without by meteorites and were it not for the friction generated by earth’s atmosphere, dissolving them into ineffectual gases, no one would be safe. As it is, occasionally one or more of them succeed in reaching the earth’s surface without doing serious damage. Who would venture to assert that this happens without superior control? Remember, too, that friction which works against all moving objects brought into contact with each other, was the means by which early man started fires to create warmth for himself. We might multiply examples of the utility to which the forces of nature have been applied by intelligent manipulation.
Consider, too, what might be the serious consequences were not the gravitational pull of the earth greater than the forces opposing it, such as radiation pressure—centrifugal force, as it is sometimes called, the power that would throw off into space any detached object. While Prof. Einstein’s theory of relativity may render void much of Sir Isaac Newton’s law of gravity, nevertheless we know that the earth’s pull has much to do with the stability and balance of things upon this planet, Earth. Whether we call it the center of gravity or the “center of mass” as some are inclined to do who find fault with the use of the term “gravity,” all who have given this and kindred scientific subjects any serious thought are aware of its existence and power.
These and scores of other examples demonstrate the existence of a directing Mind and Personality greater than the laws which control the forces of nature. From time immemorial all tribes and nations of mankind have used some form of expression of reverence for a creator, a God, whom they have adored as the Giver and Supporter of life.
Only those who assume a superior intelligence to that of the Creator, and generally those enjoying the advantage of so-called higher education, have attempted to deny His existence. Truly, as the Psalmist declares, it is a fool who says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psa. 14:1) And Solomon, the wise man, adds his word, “The fear [reverence] of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Prov. 1:7) And again, “A dullard delighteth not in understanding, in nothing save the exposing of his own heart.”—Prov. 18:2, Rotherham
Perhaps in many hearts the first glimmering of faith in a Creator has come from observation of the things which He has created. Such faith, weak as it at first may be, was a gift of God; for it was engendered by the things which He gave for man’s enjoyment and edification. But God expects more from His creatures than a mere acceptance that He “is.” The Apostle Paul tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”—Heb. 11:6
The pleasing of God is man’s everlasting work, and should be His eternal pleasure; for the creature is not greater than the Creator. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.”—Rev. 4:11
God, we are told in the divine record, created heaven and earth and mankind to fill the earth, then ceased from creative work, and rested. After long years, one more creative act is being performed through the instrumentality of His Son, His active Agent in all work of creation. This is the development of the “new creation.” “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [a new creation, Diaglott]; old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new.”—II Cor. 5:17
The experience of coming into Christ is a tremendous test of faith. It is seldom done in the heat and fervor of an emotional upset, or through the false excitement of the so-called “revival” spirit. Conversion of such a nature seldom lasts; for it is largely founded on emotion, sentiment, feeling, no doubt with a worthy objective, but ill adapted to stand the long-drawn-out waiting time for His appearing.
The faith of the Christian must be exercised in many ways. Few humble, honest and. sincere people have difficulty in recognizing themselves as sinners in the eyes of God. Few but will recognize the application to themselves of the universal condemnation in Adam’s sin and sentence; for all are the children of one human father and his disobedience to God’s righteous law brought disaster upon him and his unborn children. Few, therefore, but will recognize the need of help in getting rid of Adamic condemnation, and that help is provided by the sinless Jesus.
Unfortunately, unworthy exponents of the Christian faith have become dazzled by visions of earthly elevation and places of power. Millions of people calling themselves Christians have become the measuring stick of the success of the earthly church called by His name.
In the search for some formula to attract the crowds, therefore, every means has been pressed into service to compel as wide an acceptance of the name of Christ as possible. Civil law was enlisted on the side of the church to facilitate mass conversion from heathendom. This was followed by the tortures of the Inquisition to force the non-converted into the fold of the mother church, and through fear to keep them there.
When such methods still failed in their purpose, the church and its various branches sought compromise after compromise to find a new formula which the masses would be willing to accept, and, added to the easing of doctrinal restrictions, came a grist of added inducements—clubs, young people’s rallies, suppers, picnics, gambling games in church parlors—and a still further easing of the requirements of knowledge and belief, until today one may call himself a Christian and know nothing of Christ other than His name. How true is the apostle’s forecast, “that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”—II Tim. 3:1-5
Redemption through the shed blood of Christ has become almost anathema to the larger denominational churches. They can, however, still corral members through substitutionary sacrifices of the Mass, or even through the repetition of the simple shibboleth, “The fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man.”
Many churches today ask rather less of their flocks than does the Rotary Club of its members, “He profits most who serves best,” for the church expects little of personal service from its members. Its principle is, “Give us your money and we’ll buy the needed services”—from minister, choir-singers and musicians, publicity director, etc.
The truly consecrated child of God, intent on serving faithfully, sometimes finds difficulty in reconciling the ease of such lip-service to God with what he believes to be the requirements of the Christian life: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, your reasonable service.”—Rom. 12:1
Paul, the understanding explainer of the puzzling aspects of the Christian life, places the matter thus: “I therefore … beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; … till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, … that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”—Eph. 4:1,2,13-15
Continuity of purpose, continuing to “run with patience the race” “for the prize of the high calling of God,” is evidence of growth in faith—the faith that is the hallmark of a member of the new creation which God purposed as a signal favor to those members of His human creation capable of exercising faith in the divine plan and being faithful thereto.—Heb. 12:1; Phil. 3:14
But faith has strange meanings to the minds of some saints. Stubbornness is sometimes mistaken for determination, and credulity for faith; for one may be set and determined along wrong lines, and by such misinterpretation, become confirmed in error.
Much trial and difficulty has come to the truly consecrated children of God in recent years through too great emphasis being placed on the question of one’s loyalties. Loyalty to manmade and man-directed organizations has been made a requisite of Christian belief, and in the closed minds of many, blind, abject loyalty of this nature has replaced faith in the redeeming power of Christ. “Thus saith the Lord” has been replaced by “thus saith the organization” or “thus saith brother so-and-so” and it is made to appear that “faith” in such authority will be counted unto the believer for righteousness.
How grave is that danger when we consider the case of those who came—as told in the parable—to the Lord and said, “Look what great things we have done in Thy name,” and He replied, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” The things done in His name were not the things done by His command.—Matt. 7:22,23
Others, again, believe that unswerving faith in a system of chronology which they imagine foretells the exact time of their glorification will gain them the Kingdom. Yet many crowns have been lost because the race was run with patience up to a predetermined date, and because the winning flag did not go down at the precise moment decided upon, the pace slackened and finally the runner stopped. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.”—Matt. 10:22; 24:13
The faith of some is shaken because of the falling away of others whom they have grown to love and respect. They see once zealous brethren apparently tire of the steady endurance required; they see them drift after strange gods, looking for newer and more exciting truths (?) to replace the older, well-worn understanding, and they say, “if brother so-and-so, who is much better versed in the Scriptures than I, finds the old paths no longer interesting, then surely I need no longer “press toward the mark.” (Phil. 3:1.4) Misplaced faith in others can be misleading and can result in spiritual disaster. There is one source of inspiration, no matter how much help may be obtained through others, and that is by “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.”—Heb. 12:2
With many, faith has been translated into adherence to a party or to an organization which, through loud-swelling self-praise has denominated itself the Lord’s only channel of knowledge and instruction. Such was, and still is, the character of the Roman Catholic Church, replacing the inspired Scriptures with its own system of ritual and worship, and Christ with its own pope. It took into its keeping the consciences of its adherents, and denied to all the right of personal investigation of its claims, and access to the inspired Word.
Similarly, the claims of modern imitators of that church; blind, unreasoning faith in them can lead only to spiritual sloth and ultimate spiritual death; for true “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Rom. 10:17) Much danger, our Lord pointed out, was to come in the latter days from the teaching of false Christs; from delusions spread among the flock which might deceive, if possible, the very elect; from the spirit of the world creeping in because the coming of the Lord might seem to be delayed.
It would appear that the patience of faith might be one of the last great tests on the church; that self-inflicted disappointments would try the patience of the saints almost to the breaking point. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”—Heb. 10:35-37
At no time has God left His people without instruction and guidance if they have been willing to bestir themselves to find it. But all too often the desire for ease and comfort, the fear of criticism, the wish to avoid controversy, has prevented His people from getting the full advantage of the Father’s provision for them. Consider Christ’s words, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matt. 18:20) Thus, when meetings of the consecrated saints are arranged, and it is possible, even at the expense of some personal comfort, for one of His children to be there, that is where Christ is, and that is where His blessing is to be obtained.
Those who, today, hold up the torch of His teaching in the world are those who have a complete and abiding faith in the truth of His Word. Paul says, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ … written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.”—II Cor. 3:2,3
To know Him and to have faith in His plan of salvation for both the church and the world, is to preach His gospel in our daily lives, to “do with our might what our hands find to do,” for “faith without works is dead.” Thus do we demonstrate that the gift of God, this knowledge of His plan and purpose, this “faith once delivered unto the saints,” in the sureness of His word is, in our hands, put to good service and is an assurance of ultimate victory. “For … this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”—I John 5:4