Yesterday as I was doing my “Honey Do List” I turned on the television and did something I rarely do; while I was working I listened to some TV preachers in the background. As I listened I found myself deeply grieved. These are good people who obviously love God and want to help others. But here’s the irony, so many of the facts they expressed were actually correct, but at the end of the process, even with the right information, they still unintentionally led the listener down the wrong path.
I’m not saying it was doctrinal error or something that would lead people to Hell, but I am saying it would lead people to struggle with superfluous issues. It would lead them to ask the wrong questions, focus on the wrong issues, and completely miss the heart connection God desires. Remember, that which is true is no longer truth when it is presented in a way that misrepresents or undermines the character and motives of God. Our perception of His character and motives is the basis of our faith. And without faith it is impossible to please God. All He wants is our trust in who He has revealed Himself to be! This perception creates our “faith paradigm.”
There are certain core issues and beliefs that shape our paradigm; therefore, they predetermine our perception of truth. As Jesus said it, they affect the way we “read” Scripture. In other words, they affect the way we perceive God and interpret truth. We actually discuss this at length in my new series: Jesus According to Scripture. These core beliefs determine our concept of God and it is our concept of God that determines our interpretation of Scripture. Before we ever get to the place of interpreting Scripture and deciphering the “deep truths” we must resolve the core beliefs that determine our concepts.
For most of you this is so foundational that it may seem a waste of time to revisit these issues. But the reality is, even when we start out with our core beliefs on track we sometimes change them in response to disappointment, personal failure, or outside influence. Due to our inability to do much without turning it into a dead ceremony the western Church has not been effective at keeping us attached to our core concepts.
In the Old Testament the feasts were designed to stir people’s memories of what God had done in the past and stir our hope of what He promised for the future. A unique benefit of ceremonies (if they didn’t become totally religious) was their ability to keep our core beliefs centered around truth as God revealed it. New Covenant believers don’t seem to have many things they do to accomplish those same goals. The ceremonies we have are done with no emphasis on believing and connecting from the heart, so they are perceived as meaningless. Without ways to keep our hearts attached to truth we easily drift from the simplicity of our faith.
Among the many interesting traditions done when observing the Passover lamb was to eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The blood of the first Passover lamb was sprinkled on the doorposts and tops of the doors. When the angel went throughout Egypt pouring out wrath the children of Israel who trusted and obeyed God were delivered from it. This is a type of we who believe on Jesus being delivered from wrath. Eating the lamb with unleavened bread symbolized the desire and intention to separate oneself from the world’s system (Egypt) and its destruction. The eating of bitter herbs with the Passover reminded them of the oppression and bitterness of life in Egypt (sin & the world). While there are many other factors that were brought to mind when they ate the Passover lamb, they would at least turn their minds and hearts back to where they came from and what God had done for them!
It is good to remember where we came from lest in our hearts we lose touch with what we have in Jesus and how it came about. Like the foundational doctrines of the New Covenant, however, we can’t make the past the focus of our relationship, but we can never lose touch with the past and cast it away. We have to move ahead, always building on the foundation of faith and the simplicity of where and how we began this journey with God. When we first came to Jesus we had our first love and our works. It’s amazing how much fruit was brought forth in our life with so little knowledge.
In the beginning our beliefs were more conceptual that doctrinal. Most of us heard and believed some small aspect of the gospel. More than anything we believed that a God who would accept us as we were and forgive us obviously loved us, so we trusted Him. Trust in God’s love was the primary basis for all that occurred in our early walk. All the change in our behavior and desire to serve were the good works that emerged from love and appreciation. It was all pure and simple!
In time, instead of our simple concepts being the basis from which we interpreted the information we read and heard, our intellectual understanding began to reshape our concept. This occurred when we began attending church or Bible studies. It was during that same time period that we began to lose the simple joy of our salvation, prayer got complicated, and nothing was as easy as it was in the beginning. We attempted to replace what we had with legalism (dead works) or information (revelation/mysticism).
The problem with legalism, mysticism, or any other work of the flesh is it is all based on natural, physiological, phenomenon (carnal). Anything that excites the mind or body to the degree that it releases hormones (feelings of pleasure and ecstasy) works through the addiction processes. In order to have the feeling you had the first time you must have more stimulation. You find yourself having to do greater works to feel righteous or you need a new, deeper revelation to feel spiritual. Like all addictions this process always ends in self-destruction.
As we have discussed in the past, faith is as simple as trust. Trust, however, has various components. For example: what do I know about the other person’s character? Have they proven themselves dependable in the past, or what are my personal struggles with trust? Many issues factor into being willing to trust. When it gets down to it, biblical faith is based on what I know and trust about God’s character and motives.
The reason our faith was so simple and workable in the beginning was more of a heart issue than anything else. It focused more on the fact that we trusted God’s love for us. We really didn’t know about His character. Knowing His love was enough! We trusted what we knew. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Faith works by love.” When we know God loves us we trust Him! This is why love builds up and knowledge puffs up. Faith is trust in His love; ego is faith in our knowledge.
We tend to blame our negative experience on church because that is usually when and where our internal shift took place. Honestly, it was probably more about our culture than it was church. In church we started learning information (knowledge). As Gentiles it is our culture to shape our concepts from our information rather than interpret our information from our concepts. Thus, over time we move away from a heart connection to God to an intellectual connection. We want to trust what we know instead of the God we know! When faith, immovable trust in the character and nature of God, is not the root of our relationship even when we get the facts right we still end up with beliefs that fail to produce life.
Remember this, both information and concepts are important. Unless, however, we interpret information from our concepts the information can lead away from the truth. That’s why Jesus had to come and show us what God’s Word looked like when it was applied from the character and motive of love. No one had seen the Word, commandments, etc. interpreted from the motive of love. That is why people to this day see the commandments as a bad thing. Their beliefs are driven by their intellect; they are not interpreting the Word from God’s motive and character. When we sort all of this out it seems pretty complicated, but all of these pieces become incredibly easy when our goal is to simply trust God instead of creating a doctrinal position we trust. No matter what you read in the Word or what you hear preached, the one question we need to use as our filter is: “What will this look like if I apply this from God’s definition of love?”
I don’t know how long God will keep me on this path but until He leads me in another direction I want to influence you to return to your roots, the simplicity of your faith. I want to play a role in reconnecting you to your first love and your first faith. This month’s series, Jesus According to Scripture will be a powerful tool in helping you along this journey.
I also want to invite you to join me this year July 17th – July 19th in Huntsville, Alabama for World Changers Weekend 2015! The theme this year is, Falling in Love with Jesus Again. I am already looking forward to our time of worship, ministry, fellowship, and the Word. You’ll be hearing from some of our regulars along with a few new voices. I know it’s going to be a great investment in your life. I’ll be sharing more on this next week. Be sure to watch your email or your mobile device; I don’t want you to miss this! I also want to encourage you to bring your friends and/or family. Even though this is for our World Changers Family, I want it to also create an opportunity for you to reach out to the people you love!
Thank you for your friendship and thank you for sharing in this calling to Change the way the world sees God!
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