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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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The dream that human beings, without God, could “create a perfect social order through . . . science, technology and bureaucracy” has ended! We now live in what’s called a postmodern society. Australian social researcher Richard Eckersley comments: “Its danger is an ‘anything-goes’ morality, a belief that values are just a matter of personal opinion, and that one set of values is not better or worse than another. Values cease to require any external validation, or to have any authority or reference beyond the individual and the moment” (Family Matters).
Let’s explore how sinners, in this postmodern society, can find values and meaning through connection with God.
Romans 3:27, 28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (v 27).
Faith is the hand that reaches out to receive the gift. It’s not doing, but receiving.
Galatians 2:16 “A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.” (Repeated three times in this verse.)
If you lived in an underground cavern with no light, eyes would be of no value. Eyes are only useful if there’s something to see; just so with faith. Everyone has faith. We wouldn’t travel on a plane if we didn’t have faith in the pilot or in the mechanical reliability of the plane. We wouldn’t do anything if we didn’t have some faith.
The value of faith, as with sight, is in its object. The object of saving faith is Jesus. The question isn’t “Do I have enough faith?” but “Is Jesus great enough and gracious enough for me to rely on?” and “Can I trust Him?” The answer is always yes.
John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”
Eternal life is ours now when we accept and trust in Jesus.
Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Titus 3:5-8 “[God] saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy . . . having been justified by his grace . . . so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.”
James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? . . . Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
“It has been said that separating faith and works is like separating the heat and light from a candle. You know both are produced by the candle. You know they are not the same thing. You also know you cannot separate them,” says Robert Shannon (1000 Windows).
Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”
This is not a contradiction. While we’re saved by faith in Jesus alone, what we do (our lifestyle) reveals what we believe. If we’re trusting in Jesus, our lives will show it. We may not practise what we profess, but we always practise what we believe. Paul talks of “obedience that comes from faith” (Romans 1:5). It is always the response of faith in Jesus.
Charles Blondin began his career as an acrobat when he was about six years old. He quickly won acclaim for his daring performances.
Outstanding among his hazardous feats were his exhibitions, in 1859 and 1860, on a 335 metre-long tightrope, stretched 50 metres above Niagara Falls. Blondin varied his act, crossing the falls blindfolded, with a man on his back, and even on stilts.
The story is told of him asking the crowd before one of his Niagara Falls crossings, “Who believes I can walk across blindfolded, wheeling a wheelbarrow?”
“I believe that you can do it,” said one man.
Articles of interest:
“All right,” said Blondin, “then, get in the barrow!” The story goes that the man declined, his faith unrealised.
That’s the real test of faith! True faith always leads to action—placing your life in Someone else’s hands, and climbing into His wheelbarrow!
Extract from Signs of the Times, November 2004.
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