Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

It’s not enough to only introduce someone to Jesus. We also have a responsibility to care for that person until he or she is strong enough to walk with Him on their own. So many obstacles and dangers confront every new believer that without proper care their new faith can be badly damaged or even extinguished. They immediately face pressures from their own flesh, temptations from the enemy, persecution from those who oppose their faith and even deception from false teachers who quickly recognize a vulnerable mind. In other words, that person is suddenly subjected to a very cruel environment which could overwhelm any one of us unless we have someone to watch out for us. A new believer needs someone to pray for them, someone to model how this walk with Jesus really works, and maybe even someone to take them in if they have been abandoned by others. If left alone, if there is no one to coach, no one to pray, no one to patiently help as they struggle to grow, what began as a beautiful birth can be lost. Their new faith which started out pure can end up so distorted it’s not a saving faith anymore. Unchecked flesh can produce so much bondage and shame that all confidence is gone; unanswered questions can allow doubt to grow until God is viewed with suspicion, not trust.

There are people who misunderstand Paul’s teachings about works vs. faith. They interpret him to mean that humans have no part to play in their own salvation. They think the word “works” means every form of human activity. So they conclude that in order to avoid trying to earn our salvation humans must remain totally passive in the process. But Paul’s warnings about “works” were aimed at people who were trying to earn eternal life by obeying all the rules in the Bible. His point was to tell them that they must receive God’s gift of righteousness by faith because no one can live a life good enough to earn it. He was trying to stop people from attempting self-righteousness, not demand they become passive. 

The question that confronts most of us when we pray is not whether we believe God can help us but whether He will. We wonder if it’s His plan. We wonder if we have enough faith. We wonder if we might have done something wrong in the past that will block His answer. In fact so many uncertainties rush through our mind that even when we ask for help we assume there’s probably some reason He won’t. Our faith that He can is so undermined by our doubt that He will that we function like those who have no faith at all. Believing that God can do miracles becomes meaningless if I have no expectancy that He will. And it’s this issue of expecting a miracle that Jesus deals with in His disciples in this lesson. 

The biblical feast of Passover is based on the death of a lamb. It remembers the night in which God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. It’s a deeply spiritual ceremony, and every part is full of prophetic meaning. But the two most essential elements are the blood and flesh of the lamb. The lamb’s blood was smeared on the doorposts and lintel (top crossbeam of a door), and the lamb’s body was roasted whole and eaten. As centuries passed the meal came to include a cup of red wine that above all other meanings was meant to remember the lamb’s blood. It had protected each household from the angel of death who swept through Egypt that night. When the angel saw the blood he passed over that house.

This amazing event is full of spiritual lessons, but here’s the one we want to focus on today: This was a test. Jesus used this event to test His disciples which means, of course, He’ll test us too. He wanted to see how they would respond, or maybe we should say, He wanted them to see how they would respond. What would they do when following God got them into a situation where the need far out weighed the resources available? Would they trust Him to provide, or would they become overwhelmed and turn back? The decision these disciples were being forced to make is the threshold to spiritual fruitfulness. God’s plans are always bigger than our resources… much bigger. And when we arrive at that moment of realization that what He’s asking us to do is impossible, we are being tested. Will we take what little we have, place it in His hands and then move forward, or will we turn back believing that what He’s asking can’t be done?

Would you recognize God if you met Him? How would you know it was Him? And no, we’re not talking about things like a long white heard or brilliant light or voice like thunder. If God became a man, a normal appearing man, would you or I be able to tell that it was Him? What sort of person would He be? What qualities would you expect to find? This is the question that Jesus was asking these leaders. Here was a group of people who read the Bible… a lot, but in spite of all that reading they hadn’t met the God who wrote the Bible. When they read it they saw a book full of rules. So when they actually met God’s Son, someone who was exactly like His Father, they didn’t recognize Him. In fact, they didn’t like Him. 

Everyone is glad to have God’s help when they need it. No one minds a “helper-God” who can be called on in time of need. When people discuss whether or not God exists, they’re usually talking about a particular kind of God, rather than the possibility that there is a spiritual being somewhere. What people don’t like is a moral God, particularly one who will hold us accountable for our actions. That’s the kind of God “atheists” don’t believe in. If you ask an atheist why they don’t believe, very shortly they’ll launch into a list of accusations against God. How could He allow such evil and suffering? And sooner or later they’ll get to their main point: They can’t possibly believe in a God who would send people to hell. 

You and I have been invited into a relationship with the One who created heaven and earth (Ps 8), with the One who formed us in our mother’s womb and knows our thoughts before there is a word on our tongue (Ps 139), with the One who understands the deepest groanings in the human heart (Ro 8:26-27). We’ve been offered the opportunity to consult with Him before we make decisions, to heed His warnings that there is danger ahead, and to be given wisdom to solve the most difficult problem or heal the most troubled relationship. 

Faith is a choice, not a feeling. It’s not the ability to talk myself into believing that something has already happened. It’s choosing to believe something will happen because God said it would. There are certain people with very energetic personalities for whom faith seems to come easily, but I don’t think a person needs such a personality to please God. Because faith is a choice, not a feeling. It’s a decision, not an emotion, which means it’s possible for anyone to have faith. We need only to listen to Him and then do what we would do if what He said were true. 

People generally come to God for one of two reasons: either their life has ended up in shambles and they’re left with no other option, or they find themselves in a situation where the presence of the Holy Spirit becomes so strong that their resistance and confusion melt away and they rush into God’s arms. In other words most people turn to God either because they’re desperate or because they’ve been awakened by the power of the Holy Spirit.