FAITH BUILT ON EMULATING CHRIST

It is sobering to know that our Christianity continues on an increasing evolution with different versions of beliefs and practices with much departure from the faith of those of our forerunners. This evolution has seen many differences in expressions of faith to a point of confusion for so many people who have not come to a grasp of what truly being a faithful follower of Christ is all about.

Picture Credit: churchplanting.com

Stating the obvious, it is as though within the movement, some people are proclaiming Christ as their servant as opposed to being His bond servants. For many, Christ  today is a problem fixer, a dispenser of blessings, destiny accomplisher, debt payer, disease healer, difference maker, match maker to mention but a few. And so it is as though those who keep their spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, giving and tithing, bible study and so forth are very important persons in the first class of Christ’s priority seats. Many have also embraced the glory of Christ minus the Cross of following Him. They have been given a faith that runs on the fuel of overnight prayers, prolonged dry fasting, sacrificial seed sowing and glued commitments to the teachings of their ‘spiritual father’. Whereas it may be an overstatement to generalize on this matter, it is still a persisting fact that many are building faiths on shaky foundations. A clear evidence for this shakiness is in the walk of faith of some in good and bad times especially in the times of testing and temptation. Close glance at the walk of faith of many people indicate desperate need for reforms and redemption, healing and restoration. It is not uncommon today to see believers living in complacency, tolerance to evil, syncretistic, always unashamed to trade positions for convenience as opposed to the glory of Christ their Lord.  

"Many have embraced the glory of Christ minus the Cross of following Him"

There are as well many faithful followers whose increasing hardships and trials have silenced them and brought coldness to their faith. The realities of life, struggles with sicknesses, poverty, diseases, persecutions, losses and grieves that don’t seem to depart, frustrations of life have made many weary of doing good and living faithfully in the hope the gospel reveals in Christ Jesus.  Many unfortunately to the shipwreck of their faith have forfeited their inheritance rights of Son-ship, embracing the pleasures of the world, surrendering to the pressures of the prevailing circumstances hence departed from their hope of salvation. A third category are on the fence, undecided about their faith and have become cynical, complacent, clumsy and quite frankly careless and treat their callings with contempt, irreverence and familiarity to God that lacks fear of Him, thus placing their eternal destiny on a probability scale.

I believe what  Christians need to do in view of God’s promised coming Kingdom is to take a long look on Christ to get encouragement to emulate Him, so as to endure discipline and suffering as legitimate Sons by the grace of God. And to truly audit their faith and beliefs especially the assumptions they have built their faiths on which is crucial in helping them avoid a shipwreck of their faith. 

"A Close glance at the walk of faith of many people indicate desperate need for reforms and redemption, healing and restoration"

There is therefore no better chapter that can best help us to see  deeply into Christ and closely into examples of those who have gone before than Hebrews 12:1-29;

Three lessons that reveal a faith built on emulating Christ from Hebrews 12:1-29

• 1    Firstly, Faith that emulates Christ is one that endures oppositions, hardships and perseveres through the discipline of resisting sin at all cost

In the section of verses 1-11, we see the author of Hebrews calling his audience to run with perseverance the marked out race before them, fixing their eyes on Christ alone who is the author and perfecter of their faith and to endure in the discipline of resisting sin as God’s legitimate children in hope of the harvest of righteousness and peace. Like the many men and women of faith in chapter 11, we live in times of tough opposition to the faith. We see the society increasingly sidelining Christ and his Church, we see many persecuted for their faith and many quite hated in families for their strong stands for Christ. Many for the sake of following Christ have ended up on the streets and homeless, hungry and destitute in the world. But beneath all the opposition and hardship continues the insidious power of sin in our flesh that is at a constant warfare with us and plotting to snuff out the light of righteousness in us.

Beloved, it is through these tremendous oppositions and hardships that, our fight of faith requires the tenacity to endure oppositions and hardships. If Christ resisted and struggled to resist sin and sinful men to the point of shedding his blood, so must we who have been called to follow in his steps. The issue for us then is not to ignore problems, or pretent all is well, or get so fixed in pushing God to fixing the issues but also to seek God's sovereign grace through the trials of life. Ours is not a dare but a command to suffer for what is good. Peter told his audience whom he addressed as exiles in the world to follow in the example of Christ;

He writes “To this you have been called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (1Peter 2:21)

"If Christ resisted and struggled to resist sin and sinful men to the point of shedding his own blood, so must we who have been called to follow in his steps"

 

•       Secondly, Faith that emulates Christ is also one that holds fast to the promised inheritance by the grace of God

In the sections of verses 12-17, the author called his audience to practical lives of making level paths for their feet by striving for peace with men, living in holiness with God and fully embracing the grace of God, resisting sexual immorality and godlessness so that they may not sell their inheritance right like Esau did and never recovered it even though he sort it with all he got.

There is something about knowing that the whole Deity dwells in you in the person of the Holy Spirit and that the solution to the wars around you in part is already deposited in you, guaranteeing victory at every endeavor. However, the problem in knowing this fact of faith in Christ but not living it out in the daily walk of faith is that, the hypocrisy breading from disobedience and presumptuous sinful living soon drowns the truth we know and throws us back into the panic and scramble for worldly things.

The solution God has given you and me is grace. God gives grace to us to fight against wrangles, conflicts with men, unholiness before Him, and the idolatry of sexual immorality that priorities earthly things and short term pleasures at the expense of the eternal promises of God. That is why the Hebrew author calls us to strengthen out feeble arms and weak knees and make straight paths in our walk of righteousness so that we may not be stumbling blocks to our own destiny and that of others following us but causers of healing to the struggling. This is a call to the big picture of our lives, the price that awaits us and all those faithfully looking to His return.

Apostle Paul writes;

“Do you not know that in a race all runners run but only one gets the price? Run in such a way as to get the price. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly, I do not fight like a man beating the air. No I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself might not be disqualified for the price”. (1Corinthians 9:24-27)

"Ours is not a dare but a command to suffer for what is good

• Thirdly, Faith that emulates Christ is one that does everything for the glory of God

In this section of verses 18-29, the audience was called to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe who in contrast to the fearsome display of power and glory on Mt Sinai, has demonstrated love and grace to bring his beloved into His heavenly Kingdom; a Mt Zion of his coming unshakable Kingdom.

God remains the consuming fire who deserves our reverential fear and worship. His demonstration of power and glory through the giving of the Law and the fearsome voice caused fear that kept the people away from his presence. But that was only the beginning of better things to come. He later established his temple in Jerusalem; the Mt Zion place of union, fellowship and communion with his people through mediators- the priests and the prophets who offered sacrifices and administered the word of God to the people and the celebrations of worship of God for the great works he has done. There is yet another better promise of God in the coming heavenly Mt Zion, where the assembly of joyful angels, the righteous made perfect in the new covenant through Christ will bring the highest level of gratitude and glory, reverence and awe to our God, and satisfaction to all our longings.

Friends, the glory of God is his renown, his fame, his reputation that make reverence and awe a default response to his sovereign goodness. If we know that Christ is God’s final and ultimate demonstration of love, wisdom, power and sovereign grace, then we will glorify God from knowledge and understanding and our worship will be authentic. Ironically D.A Carson defines worship as the celebration of the worth-ship of God and the glorification of his name. If he is worthy of worship then he is also worthy of celebration of his worth!  This beloved is what faith that emulates Christ calls us to do.

“And without this faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists  and that he rewards those who diligently seek him”(Hebrews 11:6)

"The glory of God is his renown, his fame, his reputation that make reverence and awe a default response to his sovereign goodness"

Friends, what is the long look into the word of God revealing to you about your kind of faith? Is your faith built on following in the examples of Christ and others who have gone before? Is it enduring in hardship, opposition and the temptation to give into sin? Is it founded on the promises of eternal rewards only found in Christ? And is it inclined to doing everything to the glory of God, for God’s worship alone? Whatever your answers are, we all have the challenge to make every effort to endure discipline, walk uprightly, and protect our dear inheritance rights, and always aiming to over flow with thanksgiving, reverential awe and worship of God in view of the harvest of righteousness and peace in the coming Unshakable Kingdom. So then we must persevere and resist through all obstacles, challenges, difficulties, oppressions and injustices and hold tight to the promised inheritance that is ours as legitimate children of God bought by the precious blood, and strive to remain vessels of worship to the glory of God. Being diligent to imitate and emulate good examples of leaders and believers who have gone before us. As the author exhorts; “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yester and today and forever”. (Hebrews13:7-8)  Amen

Article by Solomon Nyakuni