The Author and Perfecter of our Faith

The internet has brought upon us a completely different age of interconnectedness. Whereas the average person used to only be exposed to the thoughts of our family, friends, community, along with the regulated thoughts of the nation as a whole we are now consistently brought into the thoughts of the entire world.

We are exposed to people who practice different religions along with those who hold objections to the Christian faith. We are not only exposed to the people themselves we are confronted with their offenses to Christianity.

As such this generation is undergoing a very present test of faith. The test while being difficult is actually a blessing for those who endure. Overall it is a pruning of the vine of the Church as a whole (John 15). God is cutting us down to the place where we are most bare so that we can produce greater fruit in the future.

This pruning has been difficult as we have experienced dear friends walk away from the faith. Our hearts echo the words of David who laments the falling away of a friend with whom he he took sweet counsel together with but has now turned against God (Psalm 55:14).

Yet this trial is ultimately God shaking everything that can be shaken and causing us to discover that which is unshakable (Hebrews 12:25-28).

Offenses Must Come

The existence of false ideologies and religions has always been a mystery to me and one to which I've devoted much thought.  Jesus is the exact representation of the Father's Nature (Hebrews 1:3) so in other words if we want to know how God thinks about a subject then we need to look no further than Jesus' life.  And we know in the Gospels that Jesus declared that the Triune God was very concerned with His lost children (see Luke 16) and that He was very passionate about recovering them.

Paul expounds on this truth by declaring in 1 Timothy 2:4 that God "desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."  If there was every any question as to what God's heart is in regards to people knowing Him it should be settled - God desires that every person know Him.  And due to this when we do evangelism and pray for the salvation of our unbelieving family and friends we know that we are acting and praying in accordance with the Will of God.

With that in view we come to one of the most mysterious and illuminating passages in all of Scripture - Matthew 18:7.  This verse comes in the context of Jesus discussing the beauty of child-like faith and the terrible judgement that will be given to those who cause people to fall away from God.  And in it Jesus says,

Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

-Matthew 18:7

The word "inevitable" in the Greek is anagke which is defined as "necessity, imposed either by the circumstances, or by law of duty regarding to one's advantage, custom, argument."  Perhaps the word "necessary" could be used in its place.  Which would then make for the phrase "It is necessary that stumbling blocks come."

The gravity of a phrase like this is pretty profound.  Here we see Jesus, the One who is known for His undeterred Love for all mankind, for His passion that lost souls would come into His fold, who ultimately laid down His life so that we could come in - declaring that things that make  people fall away from God “MUST come.”

Its a statement that can be easily overlooked but if one gives it deep consideration we will find that Jesus is presenting an understanding of the world where the existence of unchristian and anti-Christian beliefs are not only allowed but are actually necessary.

No explanation is given as to why they are necessary but I find comfort as I consider this truth in the midst of our world where offenses to God and the Gospel abound.

They are regrettable and cause us sadness because they result in people walking away from God but in the end we look to Heaven and we rest in faith that God in His infinite Wisdom has a pattern and a plan in place for producing the thing that He is looking for from His people. We don’t understand everything that is out there but we rest in the knowledge that He is somehow guiding history to His ends.

The Unshakeable Kingdom

With that in mind we see both that the present testing of the Church is not new and is to be understood as a necessary part of life in this world.  God isn't shocked that there are people and movements that are against Him and His Word.  As such we must understand that when we are personally confronted with these stumbling blocks and when we find that they are challenging our own faith that we should see it as an indicator that the footing of our relationship with God is being revealed to be on ground that can be shaken and we need to pursue a stronger foundation - one that is built on God Himself.

Hebrews 12:2 describes Jesus as the "Author and Perfecter" of our faith.  Our faith in God was not meant to be based on how we were raised, the pretexts and accepted values of our culture or even our understanding of philosophy or science.  All of those things can have merit and can help to point us to God if done rightly, but they are ultimately unstable.  Not everyone was raised in a Christian home, society doesn't always agree with the precepts of Scripture and philosophy can be twisted in a way that makes it anti-Christ in nature.  What we ultimately need is a foundation that is based on God Himself.

Where our faith is not only initiated by God but is upheld and perfected by Him as well.  This is ground that cannot be shaken because it is built upon the very Rock of Jesus Christ.  And it is why the answer in this age of unprecedented attack against Christianity is to "fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith".

Amen.