A Crucial Difference . . .

BELIEVING IN JESUS AND BELIEVING JESUS

While reading recently in D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, a very provocative study indeed, I was impressed that the physician-turned-theologian would point to one idea that had influenced him more than any other. When he heard it from someone else, it set him to thinking as hardly anything else ever had. When an author is that turned on to an idea, I can hardly wait for him to tell me what it is, for if it meant that much to him it might to me.

This was the idea: people who believe in Jesus may not really believe Jesus. Lloyd-Jones figured that this applies to many in the modern church, who believe that Jesus is the Christ but do not believe what he said, especially in reference to the promises that he set before God’s children. He was referring especially to Jesus’ words: “So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ (These are the things pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things” (Matt. 6:31-33).

The doctor noted that one might believe in Jesus as the Son of God and still not believe that. We are slow of heart to believe what Jesus says. Even when he says that the Father will take care of us, we go right on worrying about what is going to happen to us, especially in these inflationary times of ours. Even some of us who have not yet missed a meal from want are anxious that the wolf will make his way to our door after all.

His promises are indeed many, and the apostle assures us that there is no uncertain Yes and No when it comes to Jesus: “He is the ‘Yes’ to all of God’s promises” (2 Cor. 1:20). Paul goes on to say that that is why he can say a hearty Amen through Christ to the glory of God. Paul not only believed in Jesus but he also believed him. Peter must have also believed what Jesus said, for he described his promises as great and precious gifts, having the power to deliver us from the world’s lusts and to make us partakers of the divine nature. One can’t say much more than that about promises.

Jesus’ promises should stud the canopy of our lives like diamonds in the sky. We remind ourselves of but a few.

He will come again (Jn. 14:3).

He will give us new bodies (Phil. 3:21).

He will fill us with his Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16).

He will freely give us all things (Rom. 8:32).

He will do more than we can ask or even imagine (Eph. 3:20)

He will work for good in all the things that happen to us (Ro. 8:28).

He will give us the strength to endure any temptation or hardship (1 Cor. 10:13).

“I will never abandon you” (Heb. 13:5).

“My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9).

We have only to believe. His grace does the rest. But to trust his grace is often too much for our sinful pride. We are our own worst enemy, getting in our own way. God asks for us, the whole of our being, but we can hardly turn loose. We have to do it for ourselves, at least in part. While we can hardly admit, we really suppose that we can direct our own way, though, of course, we would like for him to help us along.

Edward John Carnell in The Case for Orthodox Theology makes an important distinction between general faith and vital faith. General faith accepts the evidence that Jesus is the Christ, which we can see in the demons that believed and trembled. John 12:42 assures us that even some of the chief rulers believed on Jesus, but they would not confess him for fear of the Pharisees. This is general faith, which is belief in things or proposition or facts. Vital faith, on the other hand, is trust in a person. The difference is monumental, and when we look into the lives of those of us who profess faith in Jesus today, it is well to ask how much vital faith there really is.

We can believe in the Bible and all that it teaches, and even dedicate ourselves to a study of it, and still have only general faith. We can believe in the church and the facts of the gospel and still not have that faith that is trust in a person, vital faith. Vital faith calls for a commitment that reaches beyond the intellect into the intuitions of the heart. The meaning of the Bible might be grasped by the intellect alone, like geometry or physics; but the meaning of a person remains veiled until the intellect is joined by the yearnings of the heart.

Since this journal has long been concerned for the unity of all believers, it is well to ask in this context if we really believe what Jesus says about unity. It is rather absurd to think of the Churches of Christ today, where I have been nurtured, as a unity movement, which we still claim to be, however lamely. I can only conclude that our people do not really believe Jesus when he prayed to the Father about all believers being one. People who isolate themselves and have nothing to do with other Christians, and label with epithets those who dare to venture into such fellowship, cannot expect to be believed when they say they are interested in Christian unity.

For the moment let your mind’s eye be fixed upon the praying Christ. Hear him as he prays to the Father about you and me, that we will be one, even as he and the Father are one, and that all believers everywhere will be united with us and we with them. In the shadow of the cross he prayed. Do we believe him? Was it an empty petition or but wishful thinking of an idealist? Did he pray in vain? Did the Father hear? Will the Father hearken? Will we go on and on like this, divided and sub-divided, as if Jesus never prayed that prayer?

If we really believe that prayer, we will do something about it. We too will pray that prayer, and we will open our hearts and lives in order to make it come true. We will look for signs of hope in every believer we meet, in every book we read, in every situation where we can serve as peacemaker. We may look for those signs even in a pope’s visit. Jesus prayed that his disciples would love one another even as he loved them, and when that prayer is sufficiently answered the world will be won to God’s story of love. If we believe it, we will be peacemakers, each in his own way, however insignificant it may be. We must behave as people who believe that Jesus’ prayer for unity and love is being realized through them. Then our faith will be vital, not just general.

There is a great blessing in believing. “I will bless you,” God said to Abraham, because the old patriarch believed what God said. “You did not withhold your own son from me.” That faith made Abraham righteous. There never has been anything else that has made any person righteous before God except that person’s faith. But it is real, vital, trusting faith in the Person, not simply in things about the Person. And God always blesses that kind of faith.—the Editor.