Coffee With The Lord

We tend to look at the people listed Hebrews 11 – the great “Faith Chapter” – as those who lived above failure. They did great things “by faith” and could not have ever sinned. But that will NOT stand up to scrutiny – the record of their lives proves otherwise!

Abraham (also called Abram) – the “father of faith” is a case in point. I read a chapter today during “coffee with the Lord” that includes both the positive outcome of faith and a faith-failure (Genesis 12)…

First the positive: the spiritual outcome of faith in

Abram/Abraham’s life and experience! It has been an example for all believers through the centuries! AUTHENTIC FAITH LEADS TO/RESULTS IN OBEDIENCE! When God spoke to Abraham and challenged him to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to a land that I will show you… Abraham went as the Lord told him.” And his “faith-obedience was “counted to him as righteousness” by God! (Genesis 15:6) That is why, I believe, that Apostle Paul spoke of “the obedience of faith” in Romans 1:5 and 16:26 (at the very beginning and the very end of Romans). Authentic faith leads to and results in obedience!!

However, the tragedy is, Abram’s faith-obedience was short-lived! In the same chapter (Genesis 12:10-20), rather than trusting God to protect him, Abraham arranged for Sarai to tell a half-truth and thus jeopardized her sexual purity. As a consequence, a pagan king ended up rebuking Abram, the same guy had a reputation of reverencing and trusting God!

So what’s the deal? … Faith leads to obedience and results in God counting us righteous (i.e. it results in something called “justification”), but those who have demonstrated “faith-obedience” and experienced “justification by faith” sometimes have “faith struggles” and fail! What should they do? They should acknowledge their failure (it’s called “confession of sin”) and ask God to forgive them (check out 1 John 1:8-9)… AND HE WILL!

Our culture honors and awards entrepreneurs! Probably you’ve heard someone say, “I tell you what I’m going to do…!” and then identify a “glorious plan” they intend to fulfill in the future.

The tragedy is, often the element of God’s will and direction are missing from many of those conversations! It’s often only about “my will” – “my dreams” – “my effort and initiative!”

This morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord” I read an account in Scripture that highlights an early attempt at “doing something big” without taking God into account… It’s the story in Genesis of “the Tower of Babel” (Genesis 11:1-9)

These verses reveal the independent human response to God’s command in Genesis 9: 7 following the flood when God said, “Be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it!”

The human inclination was to “build” and “make a name for ourselves!” The entrepreneurial impulse – the expression of human initiative – can run counter to God’s direction and often issues from pride. At Babel It was motivated by mere human reasoning… “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

We must beware when human initiative and aspiration are self-focused rather than an obedient response to God’s will!

In James 4:13-15 the sad results of this attitude are directly addressed!

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. INSTEAD YOU OUGHT TO SAY, “IF THE LORD WILLS, WE WILL LIVE AND DO THIS OR THAT.”

Initiative and an entrepreneurial spirit are to be valued! But to use the imagery of my ranch background, the “wild horse” of an entrepreneurial impulse must learn to “take the bridle” of God’s will or its is dangerous! I’ve got to remember God can mess up my best laid plans if they ignore His will and purposes! I’ve got to remember what happened at Babel!

This morning I read one powerful passage in the Bible during my time of “Coffee with the Lord – Romans 3:9-20!

In it Apostle Paul, a Pharisee and Old Testament scholar, pulls together a large quantity of Old Testament texts (Psalm 51:4; 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Psalm 5:9; 140:3; 10:7; Isaiah 59:7-8; and Psalm 36:1) to make an important and irrefutable point… “Both Jews and Greeks” (if you please, ALL OF US – ALL HUMANKIND) ARE SINNERS in need of a Savior!  Here’s what he said, inspired by the Holy Spirit… “That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God!”  Not encouraging… quite an indictment – but absolutely true and accurate!  Creates a huge dilemma!  What can be done?  We can’t save ourselves – we can’t make ourselves “righteous” (self-righteousness is a sin of terrible pride)!

But praise God for the very next passage!!!  Since “There is no difference; and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (…ALL CAN BE) JUSTIFIED [MADE RIGHT WITH GOD] FREELY BY GOD’S GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS!” (3:23-24) Praise the Lord!