Faith Is Action
“You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many. Matthew 25:23
Faithful – God gives. That is an essential part of the foundation of Christian thought. God, the Sovereign Master of the universe, gives. He determines the distribution of assets. They are His, not ours. He determines the degree of obligation. They are His rules, not ours. But above all else, God gives. He liberally supplies what each of us needs in order to fulfill the purposes of our lives. We are slaves, it is true, but we serve a wonderfully benevolent King who makes each of us an object of His concern.
What does it mean to be faithful to such a Master? You can see from the parable that faithfulness has nothing to do with a careful examination of the relationship between slave and King. To be faithful is to act on behalf of the Master for His benefit and glory. In fact, in the parable, the Master gives no instructions at all about how His slaves are to treat His possessions. They are more or less free to do what they will. But those who are faithful know the character of the one they serve, and as a result, they put to use what He entrusts to them in order to increase the Master’s influence. In other words, their faithfulness means they act as if they were the Master.
The familiar word pistos is given an action-oriented context in this parable. My faith in the Master is converted into my actions on His behalf. To be faithful is to exercise my duty toward the Master. It is to reliably perform what is expected of me. My theology might be a mess. My doctrines might be confused. My grip on biblical translation and interpretation might be slipping. But it doesn’t matter. I am called to execute my duty toward the one who redeemed me regardless of my ability to articulate the nuances of the circumstances. My wife knows if I am faithful by how I act toward her in relation to my vows. She does not have to consult the marriage license to determine if she is correct.
I am sure you’re convinced. The Spirit guarantees conviction and assistance in these matters. But notice the reward for this fidelity. It’s not a gold brick driveway to my mansion in heaven. I don’t even get a bonus jewel in my crown. What do I receive for this display of faithful action? More responsibility over more of His assets. I am rewarded with the opportunity to display even greater faithfulness. In other words, the reward of faith is faith multiplied. The joy I feel for standing firmly on the foundation of the character of my Master is increased by giving me more ground to stand on. As I learn to be attentive of the expectation of the Master in small things, He rewards me by allowing me to learn to be attentive in bigger things. There is no retirement plan in this process. There is only the continual development of faith; the process of engaging greater expectations.
Is that the heaven you look forward to? Is that what you are preparing for in your acts of faithfulness? Does this help you see why the chain of faith will never end?
Topical Index: faithful, pistos, parable, responsibility, reward, Matthew 25:23
“My faith in the Master is converted into my actions on His behalf. To be faithful is to exercise my duty toward the Master. It is to reliably perform what is expected of me.”
Hi Skip et al,
I have a question about “The Difference” that seems related to the theme of “Faith in Action.”
As I understand it, I will be rewarded for my Faith in Action; for acting as if I were the Master, and for defending His interests as though they were my own – with more responsibility.
In the process of waging this “holy war,” I could come under fire from the enemies of the Master and end up feeling a lot like the Sacrificial Lamb; at least metaphorically speaking.
But the objective of my endeavor would not be to become a Sacrificial Lamb; I would always prefer a “bloodless” victory or a peaceful resolution.
Which brings me to The Difference.
I understand that the Master “died so I could endure the agony of redemption …. to show me the way through the pain.”
But I can also understand: As Albert King used to say, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
Maybe I’m missing something?
Thanks,
Mike
I love that Albert King lyric. I’ll have to find a clip to put up on the web. I actually used in some years ago in a TW about heaven. And that might be the point. When our focus is on getting to heaven, we think about all the good “stuff” we will have there. But we don’t want to die to have it. Dying is painful (usually) and terminal (always) and therefore is feared by those who have the shortsighted view of Greek metaphysics. So, we do everything possible to stay alive. As Albert says, we all want a better place but we don’t want to pay the price.
Yeshua changes our perspective on dying, but that doesn’t mean He lets us go on thinking heaven is clouds, angels and lounging. In fact, His view of heaven (as nebulous as it is) sounds a lot like ahav (the Hebrew word for WORK and WORSHIP). Heaven is the place where God’s presence is a tangible reality and I do what I was designed to do. (I just hope it includes playing the blues). Heaven is the place where I faithfully exercise my duty without interference from the yetzer ha’ra, where I worship without a second agenda. That is the reward – to be welcomed in His presence without a hint of guiltiness.
But before I get there, there will be suffering. The Christian is called to suffer. Yes, that’s right. We are not here to obtain the “good” life. We are to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and the way to paradise goes through the cross. Just remember that the purpose of suffering is not spiritual attainment. It is redemptive activity on behalf of someone else. Suffering is not the goal. It is the consequence of being the Lord’s hands and feet in a world that hates Him. “You will have troubles,” He said. That’s a promise with a purpose.
Thanks Skip. Perfectly clear.
Hello!!!
What is the real cause of our suffering??? Isn’t it our egoism?? I know a lot of faithful christians that from our perspective don’t suffer. If we identify suffering as something that comes from outside we miss the real issue. We suffer because our egoistic nature. Everyday we must take OUR cross (not Yeshua’s cross). We must learn to deal with our nature and this cause an indescribable sense of pain, of suffering.
Blessings from HaShem to everybody!!!
Hi Ismael,
I agree that the ego can cause us a lot of self-inflicted suffering.
But real suffering also comes from external events such as the loss of a job, a friend, or a loved one, not to mention disease and a myriad other things 🙂
The ego can also be thought of in good ways such as the internal “adult” that must manage the demands of our internal “child” and “parent,” both of which can be good or bad things.
One of my favorite books is called Ego and Archetype by E F Edinger whose main thesis is that our lives are basically comprised of two phases.
In the first phase, we learn to build up our ego to survive in life and society; the second phase is about the emergence of our true Self (God) and the tearing down our false self (Ego).
Edinger was an MD and Jungian psyhcologist at Yale for many years and wrote a number of great books on Jewish/Eastern, Greek, and contemporary literature, philosophy, and religion.
He considered Jesus Christ to be the archetype for the modern world.
I like Jung’s idea of the collective unconscious and archetypes. But I think Yeshua is a bit more than that. Nevertheless, you might consider how this version of ego contrasts with the Jewish idea of the yetzer ha’ra. Essential for life. Double-edged sword. Brings disaster and slavery if not domesticated, and contrary to most psychology, is not controlled by education.
Hi Skip,
I didn’t mean to reduce Christianity to Jungian psychology; for me they are two different, but related, things (spirit vrs mind?).
I added the bit about Jesus to suggest that this “philosophy” is not necessarily incompatible with Christianity IMO.
Edinger “opened up” a lot of biblical and Greek texts that were relatively incomprehensible or not very meaningful to me in the past.
But he also taught me a lot about the Bible and Moby Dick a couple of years ago and I thought I knew MD pretty well 🙂