As Murray moves toward the
conclusion of his Introduction, he asks the reader to consider the relationship
of the book of Hebrews to the church of his day. As we read what Murray writes,
we can decide if our own day is similar to Murray’s day.
“In the Christian Church of our
day the number of members is very large, whose experience corresponds exactly
with that which the Epistle pictures…How many Christians are there yet who, after the profession of faith in Christ, come to a
standstill…So many rest contented with the thought that their sins are
pardoned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a personal
attachment to Christ as the Leader, or of a faith that lives in the invisible
and walks with God…
“But [the Epistle] is a glass
too, thank God, in which we can also see the glory of Jesus on the throne of
heaven, in the power that can make our heart and life heavenly too…It is Jesus
Christ we must know better. It is He who lives today in heaven, who can lead us
into the heavenly sanctuary, and keep us there, who can give heaven into our
heart and life. The knowledge of Jesus in His heavenly glory and His saving
power; it is this our Churches and our Christians need.” Andrew Murray
It has been said that it is hard to
argue with success. Yet, what is success? Is not success reaching our goal? But
then what is our goal? What are our goals?
Paul writes that he and his
associates want to “present every man complete in Christ” (Col. 2:28). In
Romans 8:29 we see that it is our Father’s purpose that we might be “conformed
to the image of His Son.” In Ephesians 4:11 – 16 we see that we, as a people, as
the Body of Christ, are to grow to become “a mature [corporate] man, to the
measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
Yet perhaps our own notions of
success cloud the Biblical vision of our calling and destiny. Don’t we tend to
look at numbers, whether numbers of people or amounts of money? Don’t we
measure success in terms of how large something is, of how much we’ve
accumulated, of how we measure up according to the values of society? It is hard to argue with success because
success looks so good, it feels so good.
Consider Christ’s words to the
Christians in Laodicea (Rev. 3:17 - 18), “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have
become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from
Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that
you may cloth yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be
revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.”
Or again consider these words of
Christ to the Christians in Sardis, “I know your deeds, that you have a name
that you are alive, but you are dead” (Rev. 3:1).
The church in Sardis had a good
reputation, a good name; but it was dead. The church in Laodicea considered
itself rich and wealthy and in need of nothing, yet in the eyes of Christ it was
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Christ argues with
success, Christ argues with how things appear to the natural eye, Christ argues
with numbers, He argues with natural estimates of wealth.
This is a hard truth for those of us
in the West to assimilate for it is contrary to the ethos of our consumeristic self
- centered culture, including our church culture.
In Murray’s day there were many
professing Christians who “after the profession of faith in Christ, come to
a standstill…So many rest contented with the thought that their sins are
pardoned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a
personal attachment to Christ as the Leader, or of a faith that lives in the
invisible and walks with God…”
Is this true in our day?
Could it be that our emphasis on a “profession
of faith” is misplaced? Could it be that what passes today for a “profession of
faith” is no more than seed falling on rocky ground where it does not have much
soil, and that it immediately springs up but does not last? (Mark 4:5 -6).
If we hear the call of Jesus Christ to
deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him; if we hear His call to
lose our lives for His sake and the Gospel’s (Mark 8:34 – 80) – does this really
sound like a call to utter a simple “profession of faith” and go our merry
way?
Yes, of course those who “call on
the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21), but the context of Acts 2,
Romans 10, and Joel 2 is certainly of a weightier gravity than what we
typically consider a “profession of faith.” Peter, Paul, and Joel are calling
for an “all – in” repentance and commitment to the True and Living God, with
Peter pleading (Acts 2:24), “Be saved (escape!) from this perverse generation!”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke of “cheap
grace,” a grace that doesn’t cost anyone anything. Jesus Christ paid a terrible
and glorious price so that we might receive grace and mercy, and when we are
touched by His grace and mercy, when we come into a relationship with Him – it will
cost us our lives…let us make no mistake about it.
How do I know that I have received the
costly grace of Jesus Christ? How do I know that I have, in some small measure,
appreciated and apprehended the glorious and costly grace that Christ paid an
unfathomable price to give me? One way I know is that it begins to cost me
something to submit to the working of His grace in me and through me – for the
working of that grace will lead me to lose my life for His sake and the Gospel’s.
It cost Jesus Christ His life to give me grace and mercy, it will cost me my life,
my soul, in surrender to Him and death to myself, to allow that grace to work
within me and through me.
Is this what we see today when we
speak of professions of faith? Is this what we truly see?
Jesus says, “Enter through the
narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and
the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it”
(Matthew 7:13 – 14).
May I gently ask myself, and may I
ask you, “Which does our contemporary practice of “profession of faith” most
resemble, the preaching of a wide gate or a small gate, a broad way or a narrow
way?” If the discipleship of the Bible is our standard of measurement,
what shall be our answer?
O how we need so desperately to know
Jesus, to live in vital and vibrant relationship with Him, that our faith may
be anchored in the invisible ascended Christ and that we might live in God and
in Divine community with one another.
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