Why
Are We Failing the Great Commission?
Chapter Twenty-one
You Know Better
than That!
According
to Hebrews 5:12-14, central to the problems addressed by the epistle to the
Hebrews was the doctrinal ignorance rampant among Jewish believers at this time
period. Although they had made a
profession of faith in Jesus Christ, many were being seduced into returning to
the Mosaic Covenant thereby abandoning their New Covenant responsibilities of
the priesthood of all believers. The
epistle to the Hebrews confronts this inconsistency of Mosaic Covenant Christianity
as equal to “unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6). This
is a very serious situation that would impregnate Christianity with false
doctrines that continue to this day in Replacement Theology.
“12 For when for the time ye ought to be
teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first
principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and
not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is
unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But
strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by
reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).
Jewish believers in the
epistle to the Hebrews are being addressed as hypothetical unbelievers
because their practices of faith in Christ are inconsistent with the necessity
of understanding the “finished” propitiation of God through the crucifixion and
shed Blood of Jesus. This
doctrinal error is posited as “unbelief.”
Therefore, religious practices MUST be consistent with doctrinal truth
or the inconsistencies reveal unbelief and false faith. Such inconsistencies are to be confronted
evangelistically and corrected because such people are still living in unbelief
and therefore still lost in their sins.
The word
“faith” as used in the Bible ALWAYS connects to the PRACTICES OF BELIEFS. Faith NEVER refers to mere beliefs apart from
corresponding practices. This
corruption of the meaning of “faith” is confronted in almost every epistle in
the New Testament. Biblically, the
practices of religion and life MUST be in alignment with the correct
understanding of Bible doctrine. Paul
addresses this definition of “faith” as “doctrine” eight times in I Timothy,
four times in II Timothy, and four times in Titus (16 timers in all three
epistles). These are the three Pastoral
Epistles establishing the correlation between true, Biblical faith with right
doctrine. James’ epistle does the
same.
The problem
addressed in Hebrews 5:12-14 is serious regarding why the Church is failing to
fulfill the Great Commission for two main reasons.
1. The main responsibilities of the new priesthood
of all believers in the New Covenant are to evangelize the lost
bringing them to faith in Christ and to disciple the newly “born again”
believers in knowing and living the Truths of God’s Word.
2. The failure to understand the distinction
between the nature of the unfinished work of redemption in the shadowy
sacrifices of the Mosaic Covenant, at which the Mosaic Covenant merely pointed
its finger, manifested a serious misunderstanding of the “finished” nature
of the New Covenant in the Blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This problem manifests unbelief in the
“finished” work of the propitiation of God and the gift of God-kind
righteousness to the believing sinner. This
failure reproduced itself in generation after generation.
“13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of
his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift {everything
that is good and righteous} is from above, and cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man
be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of
man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with
meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be
ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself,
and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty,
and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of
the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed {James is not referring to
works FOR salvation, but rather the works OF born OUT OF
genuine salvation; Ephesians 2:10}. 26 If
any man among you seem to be religious {appears to be a
practitioner of ‘the faith’}, and bridleth not his tongue, but
deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion {practices of ‘the faith’
thereby revealing genuineness or hypocrisy} is vain {empty
or worthless}. 27 Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father {works OF the genuinely ‘born again’
person} is this {two general examples are given}, To visit {for
the purposes of relieving their distress}the fatherless and widows in their
affliction {distressed condition; repeated many times in the Old Testament
books; Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalm 68:5, 82:3; and Isaiah 1:17. This defines moral responsibilities to those
in need before the eyes of God and before the world.}, and to
keep himself {this defines moral responsibilities for himself
before the eyes of God} unspotted from the world” (James 1:13-27).
This statement and warning of James cannot be over
emphasized; “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is
dead” (James 2:20)? In other words, professed
faith in God’s Words without a corresponding obedience to those Words in the
way we live before God and the world is self-deception in the worst form. Such a person will ultimately discover he was
never truly “born again,” but that discovery will be TOO LATE! This does not imply that someone that was
truly “born again” had somehow lost the gift of salvation. The implication is that their faith was never
in the objective facts of the accomplished “finished” Cross work of Christ
manifested by His resurrection from the dead.
Salvation is a gift and once it is received “through faith,” it is eternally
sure.
The Bible
says, as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he:” (Proverbs 23:7a). God is not talking about what a person
thinks, but the way he thinks.
The way a person thinks will determine what kind of person he
will be. God wants to change the way
we think, not just what we think.
“3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled” (II Corinthians 10:3-6).
The way a person thinks determines how he sees
himself, how he sees other people, and how he sees
life in general. A few good examples
of this are some of the famous painters in history. As we look at their work, we can get a
glimpse into their minds to see the way they think. Vincent van Gogh was a troubled man and his
paintings reflect the way he thought.
His paintings are a continuum of distorted images occupied with the base
things of this world.
Pierre Renoir’s impressionism is that of blended colors
without clear-cut lines and distinctions.
Michelangelo’s art was occupied with the details of muscle, movement,
and body construction. Rembrandt van
Rijn was a portrait artist who painted people in dark shadows and colors. Perhaps he saw the sinister darkness behind
everyone. The works of these men
reflect the way they thought. James says we can also see the way
another believer thinks when we look at his Christian work (how he practices
his Christianity; living faith).
Sometimes the truths of Scripture are viewed as ivory tower ideologies. For people who think this way, the Bible is a
book of things to know, but are so far beyond man’s abilities they could never
be realized. However, God uses the
words of Scripture to detail His expectations for our lives; not in abstract
ideologies, but in practical realities. What
God gives us to know, He expects us to do.
The epistle of James details the practical realities of
the Christian life. These practical
realities define Christianity by what we do (not by what we know). This little epistle takes all the apparent ivory
tower ideologies and translates them into grassroots realisms expressed in
the works of the professing Christian. The
epistle of James takes those truths out of the mind (knowing) and
translates the knowledge into a reality of Christian ministry (doing). Whenever our Christianity fails, it fails
in the transition from knowing to doing. This outcome of false faith
is what defines the corruption of the doctrine of repentance to mean merely a
change of mind.
Pure religion (true living Christianity/faith) is
not expressed in flowery speeches and beautiful words, but in concrete tangible
actions of ministry (James 1:22 & 27).
True Christianity (“the faith;” “pure religion”) is defined
by practice, not knowledge. The
things listed in James 1:26-27 are intended as a few examples. The three things listed in these two verses
are a beginning, not
an end in themselves.
Ø
A professing Christian, who fails to control his
tongue, denies his profession (beliefs) by his practice (vs. 26).
Ø
A professing Christian, who refuses to minister
to other believers in need, denies his profession by his practice (vs. 27a).
Ø
A professing Christian, who fails to live
separated from the world and separated unto God, denies his profession by his
practice (vs. 27b).
Knowers, who are not doers,
deceive themselves about the reality of their Christianity (James 1:22), maybe
even their salvation.
Dr. Bob Jones Sr. once said, “You can’t be religious
without religion; you can’t be Christian without Christ; you can’t deliver the
goods unless you got the goods to deliver.
You can’t get water out of a dry well, so quit putting on.”
If your Christianity is one of knowing without doing,
it is not Christianity at all. If
your Christianity never ministers to your neighbor’s need, it is not
Christianity. If your Christianity never
seeks to bridge the gap between broken relationships and unforgiveness, it is
not Christianity. If your Christianity
is not constantly aware of the lost people around you and does not do
everything possible to personally share the words
of life in the Gospel of Christ with them, it is not Christianity. If any one of these is true of your life,
your Christianity is not real. It is
nothing but a conglomerate of ivory tower
ideologies. If this describes the
reality of any person’s faith, it should be the greatest concern for
every believer-priest.
“Doers of the Word” translate the wonderful truths of God’s Word into
the practice of their lives.
“Doers of the Word” become a vehicle to
transport God’s love, God’s mercy, and God’s grace to the souls and lives of
lost people. This is what defines
“doers of the Word.” It is hands on
Christianity. “Hearers only” are people
with their heads in the work, but not their hearts and hands. God’s Word is an instruction book for
ministry. He never intended for us to know
what He wants without doing what He wants.
Everyone has dreams. Many people can get a vision of what God
wants for their lives. However, every
great Christian became great not because of ideas, dreams, or visions, but
because they did whatever needed to be done to translate their ideas, dreams,
and visions into realities. They were “doers
of the Word”, not mere ideologues.
Modern day Christianity seems content to bask in the glory
of the successes of years gone by while failing to translate their own personal
faith into the practical reality of doing.
Read James 1:21 again; “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and
superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which
is able to save your souls.” The reason
for this duplicity of contradiction between professed faith and living
faith is because the knowledge of the Word of God is head knowledge only. Faith
in God’s Word is not being “engrafted” (integrated) into the practices of life.
This
is to what Christ is referring in Revelation 3:14-19 in His message to the
Laodicean period of Church history.
How can a professing Christian determine if he is just a hearer
only or a doer? To whom
are you reaching out to minister and what are you doing to accomplish the Great
Commission? Is there real and tangible
evidence of concrete spiritual growth and change in your life? Is it measured by what you have learned
(knowledge) or by what you have learned to do (doing)? If there is no measurable spiritual growth,
determined by personal ministry and practical faith (work), your Christianity
is merely intellectual. In other more
direct words, your faith not Biblical faith.
Real Christian faith is always a working, practicing
faith (doing). The word faith
never separates beliefs from practice.
The word faith means we practice what we believe. This is always the meaning of faith in Hebrew
and the Old Testament. For instance, if
you believe all mankind is condemned to an eternal hell, real faith compels you
act (“works,” James 2:14-20) upon that
belief. If your professed Christianity
(“faith”) does not act upon your belief, your professed faith is “dead, being
alone” (James 2:17 &20).
When it comes to the real Christian faith, there is no such
thing as an armchair Christian.
Real Christian faith does not allow for spectators. In real Christianity, everyone must be a
participant. Stop praying for a burden
for people and begin to do what God tells you to do. When you begin to do the work of the
ministry, you will have a burden for people.
How then do we escape this façade of image over
substance; the pursuit of knowledge without an equal effort at living what we
learn? Here we enter the spiritual
struggle common to all true believers with the desire to live for the Lord and
produce fruit for the Lord – PRACTICAL SANCTIFICATION.
The greatest enemy of the believer is not Satan. He is the Destroyer and the accuser of the
brethren, but he is not the believer’s greatest enemy. The believer’s greatest enemy is his own
fallen, corrupted sin nature, the OLD MAN.
The “old man” can never be spiritual.
The “old man” can never be righteous because he is conceived a sinner
and is born a sinner. The “old man” can
never be anything but a sinner. Being
“born again” adds the Holy Spirit’s Person to the believer’s body thereby
enabling that believer to live righteously and obey God’s Word. The Bible word for this enabling of the
indwelling Spirit is “fellowship.” “Fellowship”
with God empowers the “born again” believer through yielding to the indwelling
Spirit of God and is the ONLY solution to carnality! To KNOW this truth and not DO THIS TRUTH, is
pure self-deception.
“14 For we know that the law
is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15
For that which I {want to} do I {the ‘old man’ or sin nature} allow
not: for what I {the new ‘born again’ man} would, that do I{the new
‘born again’ man} not; but what I{the new ‘born again’ man} hate,
that do I {the ‘old man’ or sin nature}. 16
If then I {the new ‘born again’ man} do that which I {the new ‘born
again’ man} would not, I {the new ‘born again’ man} consent unto the
law that it is good. 17 Now then it is
no more I {the new ‘born again’ man} that do it, but sin {the ‘old
man’ or sin nature} that dwelleth in me. 18
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to
will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find
not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but
the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now
if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin {the ‘old man’
or sin nature} that dwelleth in me. 21 I
find then a law {a spiritually governing principle}, that, when I
would do good, evil is present with me. 22
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? 25 I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but
with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).
Escaping the facade of image over substance and the
pursuit of knowledge without an equal effort at living what we learn is more than a very difficult endeavor. It
is an impossible endeavor apart from the enabling grace of God. We cannot do this is our own strength. This is a supernatural work requiring
supernatural abilities. We must be
constantly cognizant of that fact.
“2 Grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our
Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust” (II Peter 1:2-4).
The essential truth of the supernatural
enabling (grace) of a “born again” believer through total surrender to Christ permeates
God’s instruction to believers in the epistle of James about living the
Christian life and producing God-kind righteousness and spiritual fruit through
our lives. Since the Scriptures are
redundant with this truth, it must be a truth of which most Christians are
ignorant. Or, this is a truth most
Christians simply ignore.
Therefore, we have two probable problems for
why we fail to escape the façade of image over substance and the pursuit
of knowledge without an equal effort at living what we learn.
Ø The image we project to others about our Christianity is more important
to us than the reality of our Christianity.
Ø Impressing people with what we know is
more important to us than actual fruit being produced to the glory of God
through the truths that we live and proclaim.
This brings us to the
place of an honest evaluation of our Christian lives before God. It is a critical evaluation in that apart
from it our lives will never escape the façade of image over
substance and the pursuit of knowledge without an equal effort at living what
we learn. Unless we are brutally
honest with ourselves about image over substance and knowledge over living
truth, we will be doomed to live our lives in the shadows of spiritual
obscurity and fruitlessness.
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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