Let me provide an interim post here ... a "placeholder" if you will until this weekend, when I can think about how to respond to you more fully.
The preacher who said, "Don't worry about the things you don't undertand; worry about the things you do understand," did not mean that we are to cease the pursuit of deeper understanding. What I know he meant -- and I know this because that quote was part of a larger taped message where he expanded on what he had just said -- was this: in his role as a pastor of a church with some 4,000 members, he weekly fields calls from parishioners who are stymied by some passage or another in the Bible. He said he finds these people will get themselves all tied in knots; so much so that they lose sight of the bigger picture.
His message is, I think, a good one: (paraphrased) "Look, you have a lifetime and beyond to delve into those mysteries of the Bible. Before you dedicate your full energy to those pursuits, make certain you have the basics locked down. " And by that I'm sure he meant very fundamental issues of our being aware of our hopelessness absent God's saving Grace, and pathway to Grace God has granted us; namely through faith in the saving works of his Son, Jesus the Christ.
Notes: two, actually:
- Heard a pretty good analogy of the difference between Grace and Faith today: imagine you're in the third-floor window of a burning building. Below you is a circle of firemen, holding a stout net. They are encouraging you to jump; to throw yourself out to be saved. The firemen and the net is what saves you. That is Grace. Your having trusted that the firemen and the net would indeed save you is what enabled you to jump. That trust is faith. Faith doesn't itself save (other people have jumped, trusting in things other than strong firemen and a stout net ... and they died); Grace (God's forgiveness of your sins) is what saves. But absent trust that Grace does indeed save, we would never exercise the jump.
- I have picked up a trend in the various sermons and radio programs I listen to, and the trend seems to be this: there seems to be a renewed emphasis on an understanding of Grace. I think that's because there's a "works-righteousness" creeping into the Christian faith -- that is, that salvation is something we earn by good works. That would lead a good many seeking people to stop short of a true, trusting faith in Christ and try -- desperately, and ultimately unsuccessfully -- to rely on themselves through their acts of kindness and humility for their salvation. I undertand the temptation, but the Christian faith is fundamentally unique in that we can't earn our way; that salvation is entirely enabled through Grace, and Grace alone.
Grace and peace, brother!
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