"WANTED: Construction Workers. No experience necessary. FAITH a MUST!!!" (Psalm 11:3, Matthew 9:18-38, with an emphasis on vs.38)
We live in a world where the foundation of biblical truth, the Gospel, is considered outdated, unnecessary, and even without merit. So, I was particularly struck by Psalm 11:3 today, "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous DO?" In our world the foundations of God's word are under attack in an attempt to destroy it. What can we do to uphold it and show it's relevance in a world that considers it irrelevant?
I believe the answer is found in Matthew 9. Christ lived, he walked this earth as a man during a time when the truths of God's word had been severally muddled and overshadowed by rituals, earthly morals that suited man, and a disregard for true spiritual holiness. The foundations of God's truth had been compromised, and compromise can lead to destruction. But during his life, Christ, encountered many different people and he looked beyond their shortcomings, weaknesses, and flaws and saw their hearts and showed them grace, the heart of the gospel. In Matthew 9 he encounters the dead, the diseased and the physically limited and he healed each of them because of....FAITH IN ACTION!
What can the righteous, those who love the lord, DO when the foundation of truth is being destroyed? First, have faith. Faith can cause those who are blind to the truth to see. Those who are ailing from sin can be healed. Even those who seem dead spiritually can be brought to life. It is Christ who will work in us, administer grace through us, when we choose to have faith in Him! The definition of faith is, complete trust or confidence in someone or something. When we have faith in God we are putting our complete trust and confidence in him. We are saying that he is enough. We are saying that he can handle it. We are saying that we will let him work through us in whatever way he sees fit in order to bring healing to the needy. It is Christ who can mend the cracks if we choose to first trust him before telling others they need to.
After all of these examples of faith in action and healing by grace, Christ then bring it all together and tells his disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the LORD of the harvest, therefore to send out WORKERS into HIS harvest field." We may look at the world today and not see a thriving healthy harvest field. We may look at the world and it may seem dead, diseased, and lacking (like the people in Matthew 9) but that is not what God sees. No, he is looking and he sees a ripe and ready harvest field and he desires us to GO in as workers, IN FAITH as the faithful, and to be a light of grace for him to use to help restore the foundations of truth in the lives of those he has been preparing. The people in Matthew 9 who were healed all displayed faith in ACTION. When we trust we take steps of FAITH, we act, we move, we GO forward in the confidence of the one who commissioned us in Matthew 9. First we have faith, second we move to action (go) in that faith, third we continue to trust that God will work and we continue to go until he calls us home. For now we are called to the same harvest field that Christ himself walked amongst. Salvation is of the lord and it is given by grace through FAITH (Eph 2:8-9). What an honor we are called to go and be a part of.
How do we go and live out our faith? We need to believe the truths of the gospel for our lives and then trust the Lord completely by loving all people in our harvest field paths, living in joy despite our circumstances, being peace makers in a world so divided, bearing with others who might grate on our last nerve, showing kindness to both the deserving as well as undeserving, being people of honor with a goodness that stems from the truth of God's word, displaying gentleness towards others especially those full of wrath, and not giving into our desires to be right or for our wants to be greater than someone else's needs (Gal 5:22-23). In faith we need to go into the harvest field and reflect the character of Christ in our lives so that when people see us living out the truths and foundations of the Gospel then healing can take places in their lives. Why should they think the foundations of the Gospel will have any sturdiness for their lives if we are living as if it doesn't in our own?
What a challenge, what a blessing we are called to be a part of. Are you willing to be a WORKER in GOD'S harvest field? Pray for strengthened faith, the ability to trust the Lord with complete confidence, and courage to go and live our lives with the faith we profess. Let the holy spirit fill us with faith daily so that we each can go out and live as an instrument of grace and bring the healing that our world, God's harvest field, needs.
Further reading on the topic if you desire: James 2:14-26
No comments:
Post a Comment