Faith is Nonsense

Faith is Nonsense

I’ve heard that some believers mess up from time to time. None of you who are reading this, I’m sure, but in faraway lands. I’ve heard there are believers in faraway lands who struggle with their behavior. I’m told that, on occasion, some Christians actually behave so badly that just by looking you couldn’t tell them from any sinner in the world.

Believers like these are often tempted to think to themselves, “I am a failure; I keep sinning; my thought-life is black, black, black; I don’t control my emotions. Therefore, I must be bad, I must be out of fellowship with God, I deserve punishment, and I need to set things right.”

So, what do they do? They punish themselves, and sometimes those closest to them as well. After all, someone has to pay!

Like most things we struggle with, this type of thinking stems from believing something that looks like it’s true, but really isn’t.

Things appear true to us when they make sense to us based on what we have been taught, how we were raised, or what the rest of the world says. They look true when they fit with what we see, feel, and experience.

This is why spiritual truths often seem like nonsense to people.
They don’t appeal to the senses; they are literally non-sense.

This is one of the ideas we can take from 1 Corinthians 1:27 and 2:14. The first reads, “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.” And the second says, “But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (NASB 2020)

Some have called this “the upside-down Kingdom”, but it is more accurate to say that we live in an upside-down world. The Kingdom of God is right-side up.

Faith is not about what seems right to our senses or what everyone else thinks.
Truth is defined by God, not by our senses, not the world, and not popular opinion.
In this way, faith is nonsense.

Here is what God says is true: 1 John 4:17 “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world.” (NASB 2020)

It is hard to take a statement like that, “as He is, we also are in this world”, at face value. It can be difficult to simply believe that God meant what He said. It’s more sensible to think that if we act poorly, we need to pay for it. That has been drilled into our heads since we were very young. It makes more sense that our fellowship with God should be broken when we mess up.

There are several ways to look at the error in belief that causes us to think that when we mess up, we lose fellowship with God and need to be punished. But I think that perhaps the core of the problem has to do with an incomplete understanding of what happened at the cross.

It is not uncommon to hear teaching that goes something like this:
“After you are born again you have a Spiritual nature (the new creature), but you didn’t lose your old “sinful nature”. Your old nature is at war with your new nature and you have to walk uprightly and make sure the new nature wins.”

Or you might have heard:
“It’s like two dogs, a good dog and a bad dog. The one you feed is the one that will be stronger.” This leaves us to think, “I guess if I find myself struggling with sin I have only myself to blame and I am destined for the fire because I fed the wrong dog.” Never mind that I am Abba’s child.

Or maybe you’ve heard:
“Once you are saved, God will begin chipping away all the parts of you that don’t look like Jesus.” Boy that sure sounds painful. It certainly makes me blanch when I think of loving and trusting a God who sounds a lot like Michelangelo.

None of this sounds to me like the God who is Love.

We are told in James 1:17 that “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (NASB 2020)

In Matthew 7:11 Jesus says, “So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (NASB 2020)

Romans 11:29 goes on saying, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (NASB)

From passages like these we discover that our Father, who is Love and who never changes, gives good, perfect, and irrevocable gifts. John told us that we are as He is in this world. We are not people who are divided against ourselves. We do not have two natures warring within us. Our old nature died, according to Romans 6:6.

We are one spirit with the holy God of the universe (see 1 Corinthians 6:17). That means we must be holy too.

We have seen that our relationship with God by faith is not about our senses or what the world says it should be about.

We have also seen that we have only one nature within us. It is God’s nature. It is what we inherited from our Father when we were reborn.

Now let’s take a look at what happened at the cross that gives us freedom from sin, freedom from guilt, and freedom from condemnation—and all without feeding any dogs.

We will look at Colossians 2:4 and6-19. Notice in these passages that Paul realizes that there are many persuasive speakers who sound really great to our fleshly ears; who are very sensible; but who are not accurately representing the Gospel.

Remember, “gospel” means good news, and there is no bad news in the good news.

Colossians 2:4–7 “I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. For even though I am absent in body, I am nevertheless with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your orderly manner and the stability of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” (NASB 2020)

Walk by grace; through faith; not by works; remember it is He who works in you both to want and to do godly things (see Philippians 2:13).

The thought continues in Colossians 2:8 where we read, “See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ.” (NASB 2020)

Philosophy is appealing, and it feels good to reason everything out in our minds. It feels dangerous to us to go against long-established traditions. And the basic principles of the world often seem to make more sense than believing that Christ means exactly what He says.

Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (NASB 2020). This sounds a lot like “as He is, so are we in this world” (see 1 John 4:17). From His fullness, Father has filled us to the full measure of His never-ending, superabundant, ever increasing, grace.

How can we possibly remain enslaved to the power of sin?
How can we possibly remain enslaved to the desires of the flesh?
We cannot.

Colossians 2:10–11 says some very interesting things. Let’s read that. “and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (NASB 2020).

Something remarkable and interesting is going on here. Circumcision was a sign that Israel belonged to God. But Jesus did not circumcise our physical bodies, instead, He removed “the body of the flesh.” Some translations render this, “the putting off of the sinful nature.” The Greek here is “the (soma) of the (sarx).” The word (soma) means body. It speaks of substance. The word (sarx), while it does have to do with the body, speaks of something else here. Since our physical bodies remain unchanged when we are made new creatures in Christ, what is removed here must involve something else.

Let’s go further.

Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (NASB 2020)

Who do you bury?
Dead people.
Ergo, Colossians 2:13 “And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, (sarx) He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings” (NASB 2020).

He forgave us ALL—not just those that occurred before we were reborn. All sins, past present and future.

Colossians 2:14 “having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (NASB 2020)

What was that certificate of debt? It was the “ministry of death and condemnation, written and engraved on stones” (see 2 Corinthians 3:7 & 9).

Continuing on in Colossians 2:15–17 we see that “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day—things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” (NASB 2020)

These religious observances were a shadow, but the body, the reality, the substance, is Jesus. It is always and only all about our wonderful Lord and King Jesus—what He did and who He is.

Now let’s finish up with Colossians 2:18–19 “Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding firmly to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.” (NASB 2020)

The Head, from whom the entire body, supplied and held together by joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Notice here how our freedom is a reward, or prize, and that it is Jesus, God, the Head who holds everything together and causes growth and increase.

We aren’t in there anywhere except on the receiving side being rewarded with freedom because of what He did for us! Now let’s look at what Paul told the Romans about what Jesus did for us all.

Romans 6:1–3 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” (NASB 2020)

Sounds a lot like what we read in Colossians chapter 2, doesn’t it? When we were immersed into Christ, we were immersed into His death.

Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.” (NASB 2020)

Once again we see that we were buried with Him. In case there is any question, verse 5 clears it right up.

Romans 6:5 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (NASB 2020).

Now here comes the really great part. How did we get dead so that we could be buried with Him?

Romans 6:6 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin” (NASB 2020).

Our old self—our old Adamic nature—was crucified with Christ on the cross! That’s real freedom; that’s a real prize. This is good news. There is only one nature in us. We are in Christ, not in Adam.

The Bible talks about someone having been in the loins of their ancestor. This is the reason that Adam’s sin was inherited by all of us. He was what theologians call our “federal head”. That fancy term just means that Adam was our ultimate father and we inherited all that we are from him because without his seed, we would not be here.

So it is with Jesus now! We were crucified with Him and then raised with Him to a new life. So, we are dead to sin—dead to Adam and his nature—and alive to Christ—alive to His righteous, holy, fully-accepted-nature. We inherited all that we are from Him because His seed is in us and without His seed, we would not be here!

Watch…

Romans 6:7 “for the one who has died is freed from sin.” (NASB 2020)

Sin; not sins. Singular, not plural. We are freed from what bound us—the power of sin. Genesis 4:7 says “sin is at your door.” Sin desired to have Cain. This is the Power of sin, not your sinful acts.

Let’s read Romans 6:8–11 “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (NASB 2020)

There is a lot to chew on there, but Paul is more succinct in Colossians 3:3, saying, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (NASB 2020)

That’s good news no matter where you are from. Let’s keep digging.

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (NASB 2020)

That sounds like a real exchange of lives. The change was complete in every respect. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” His Life is being lived in and through us.

Now we can jump back into Romans 6:12 “Therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts” (NASB 2020).

Well great, Paul. How are we supposed to keep that from happening?

Galatians 5:16 to the rescue. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (NASB 2020) Okay, so we should walk by the Spirit, but how is that accomplished?

Romans 6:13 “and do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your body’s parts as instruments of righteousness for God.” (NASB 2020)

Notice that Paul is appealing to who we are—those who are alive from the dead--not to rules we should follow. Walk in the Spirit—walk by faith instead of walking according to the flesh and being driven by your senses, by what seems most gratifying from an earthy perspective. Instead, behave as those who are alive from the dead. Behave like who you have become.

Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.” (NASB 2020)

Sin does not enslave you because you are under grace.
Sin cannot enslave you because you are under grace.
Sin is not your master because you are under grace.
The power of sin is not the boss of you.

Just to wrap this up since it is already several days long, we’ll jump down to Romans 6:17–18 where we find, “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.” (NASB 2020)

Here is the difference between religious law and grace. Under the law, sin enslaves you and your feigned obedience comes from duty or fear. Under grace, you are free, and you obey from the heart.