The Focus of Our Faith

There are two important aspects of our faith I want to discuss. First I want to discuss the importance of having a clear focus from the right position. Then I want to address the object of our faith, i.e., the question of which aspect of our faith deserves the most attention.

AN UNCLEAR FOCUS FROM THE WRONG POSITION

Some readers are old enough to remember those old fashioned slide projectors. Before the days of digital cameras, families would go on vacation and take a camera and several rolls of film to document their travels. After they got home, they would get their photos made into a hundred or more slides and invite their friends and relatives to come to their home. There they would force their unfortunate guests to watch their boring slide presentation while they droned on and on about the places they had visited.

Often the first slide projected onto the screen would be inserted upside down, or sideways, or backwards. Sometimes the image would be out of focus and blurry. When those things happened, the slide had to be removed and put into the correct position, so the viewers would not get a false impression of right and left, or of up and down, or of front and back. Then the lens of the projector had to be carefully turned to bring the image into focus, so the viewers were not getting a fuzzy, distorted view of reality.

What do these things have to do with the focus of our faith? Everything. If you are trying to view spiritual truth from an upside down, sideways, or backward position, you will get a false impression of right and left, and of up and down, and of front and back.

To see what is right and left (i.e., what is right and what is wrong), what is up and down (i.e., what is from above and what is from below), and what is front and back (i.e, what is first in importance and what is last), you need to be in the right position, spiritually speaking. That position is true humility before Almighty God, a humility that acknowledges that God is sovereign. He has the right to declare what is right and what is wrong, what is from above and what is from below, what is first in importance and what is last. He does not need our approval and He is not obligated to explain His reasons for His decrees and decisions and declarations.

If you are trying to look at spiritual truth from any other position, you will be deceived. You will be eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, deciding for yourself what is good and what is evil, what is from above and what is from below, what is first and what is last in importance. You will be usurping God’s authority.

THE RIGHT POSITION BUT OUT OF FOCUS

Some Bible believers are truly humble before God. They would not dream of usurping God’s authority. They themselves are in the right position, spiritually speaking. Their heart is humble and in the right place. However, their “lens” is in the wrong position, and it gives them a fuzzy, distorted perception of spiritual truth.

By that, I mean that they are viewing the Scriptures through the lens of their own personal experience as a 21st century American Christian who goes to a typical mainstream American church that teaches typical evangelical doctrines. If the Scriptures are viewed through the lens of their personal church experience as a 21st century Christian, then some (though certainly not all) Bible truths will be blurry, distorted, and out of focus, because the lens is in the wrong position. The lens needs a slight adjustment to bring things clearly into focus. The lens needs to be adjusted by viewing the Scriptures through the eyes of the people who lived in Bible times. How would those people have understood the text? When that question is answered, it helps us know how to understand the text.

THE LENS OF WISHFUL THINKING

Looking at the Scriptures through the lens of one’s own personal experience as a 21st century American Christian is bad enough. But something far worse and far more dangerous is viewing the Scriptures through the lens of your own personal theological preferences and wishes. This will lead to “private interpretation,” something that Peter warns us to avoid (2 Pet. 1:20).

What is private interpretation, and how does it happen? It is interpreting a verse without taking into consideration everything the Bible says about the topic being studied. It happens like this. A Christian reads a Bible truth that is plainly and clearly stated in the inspired Scriptures. But the Christian does not like what it says. The Bible’s declaration is clear enough, but it does not seem fair and right to the Christian. It contradicts what he personally believes. It does not match up with his theological preferences and wishes.

So the Christian looks for some way to twist the words and phrases and thereby explain away the clear, simple meaning of the text. Liberal theologians have been doing this for centuries. In today’s modern internet age, a Christian does not need to be a seminary-educated liberal theologian to do it. Like the “resurcher” in the cartoon on the previous page, he can just go online and ask Professor Google to direct him to an article or a video that will provide him with the private interpretation that he seeks, an interpretation that will not threaten his personal theological preferences and wishes.

Make sure you are viewing the Scriptures from the right position by humbling yourself in God’s Presence. Make sure you are not viewing the Scriptures through the lens of your own personal experiences or your personal theological preferences and wishes. Ask the Holy Spirit to put you in the right position and adjust the lens so you can see the simple, uncluttered, clear meaning of the inspired text.

THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH: WHICH ASPECT DESERVES THE MOST ATTENTION?

There are many aspects of our faith. We should love all aspects of our faith, but which aspect do you love the most? What excites you and thrills you the most?

The thing that thrills me the most is knowing the Person of God and experiencing His Presence. Of course the thought of eternal life thrills me, but eternal life is far more than endless existence in a pain-free Paradise. Eternal life is knowing God, as it is written, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

Can you think of anything more thrilling than knowing God? Neither wisdom, nor might, nor riches can compare to knowing God, as it is written, “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the LORD” (Jer. 9:23).

Knowing God! Experiencing the Presence and the Person of God in my daily life thrills me and excites me more than anything else in the world.

One day many years ago, I was praying as I walked along a road. I was around 23 years old at the time, still fairly new in the faith. I was so thankful that God had revealed Himself to me. I was thrilled and full of gratitude to God for making Himself so very real to me.

As I marveled at the thought of the reality of God that I was experiencing at that moment, another thought came to me. I wonder if God will always seem so real to me, I asked myself. Will I still believe in God this strongly when I am an old man of 40 years old?

Well, I am now threescore and fourteen years old. (That’s 74 for those of you who are not good at math.) I now believe in God more strongly than I did at 23. God is even more real to me now than He was over half a century ago.

The reason for this ongoing and continually growing sense of the reality of the Presence of the Lord in my life is because my primary focus has been on the Person of the Lord rather than on information about Him.

Theological information about God is important, of course. The Lord points me to other various aspects of our faith as I need them, but He does so in a way that they all end up pointing me back to Him and to the preeminent importance of knowing Him and enjoying His Presence. Listen to what the late David Wilkerson wrote:

“Decades ago, I thought the key was simply learning more theology. I studied the Puritan writers, the life of John Wesley and others, and New Covenant theology. I reexamined justification, sanctification, reconciliation and other deep doctrines. I was continually looking for something that would draw my heart closer to the Lord.... I never did find what I needed in books or in theological depths. In fact, the more books I read, the more I realized there are endless interpretations of theological matters and endlessly differing views. Finally, I saw that it all comes down to this: Keep yourself in the presence of the Lord. When you are full of Jesus, the smoke clears out; and when the fire of his holiness is in you, everything of Satan melts and perishes.” (World Challenge newsletter, 1/16/23)

Knowing theological information is important, but our faith consists of more than a long list of facts about God. Our faith also consists of more than a long list of rules to obey. The rules are very important, because if we disobey God’s commandments, there will be negative consequences. But our faith consists of more than just obeying our heavenly Father’s commandments.

As an earthly father, I established rules for my family and I expected my children to obey those rules. But I wanted more from my children than just cold, sterile, mechanical obedience. I wanted my children to spend time with me and to enjoy being in my presence. Our heavenly Father likewise wants more than cold, sterile, mechanical obedience. He wants His children to spend time with Him and to experience the joy and the pleasure of His company. As David said, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

I am not minimizing the importance of any aspect of our faith. I love to study and do the Torah. But I do not worship the Torah written on the skins of dead animals; I worship the One who was the living flesh and blood embodiment of the Torah. I love the land of Israel. But I do not worship the land of Israel; I worship the God of Israel, the One to whom the land belongs. I love to study Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic. But I do not worship the biblical languages; I worship the God who reveals Himself through those languages. I love the Sabbath. But I do not worship the Sabbath of the Lord; I worship the Lord of the Sabbath. I love to celebrate the Feasts of the LORD, which are a shadow of the Messiah. But I do not worship the shadows; I worship the Messiah, who is the substance that casts the shadows. I love the Bible. But I do not worship the ink and paper and leather cover of the Bible; I worship the One to whom the Bible points, just as the Magi did not worship the star of Bethlehem, but worshipped the One to whom the star pointed.

All the aspects of our faith listed in the above paragraph (and others) are important, but the primary purpose of all those things is to sharpen and hone our knowledge of the Person of the Lord Himself.

“Christ is the end of the law” (Rom. 10:4). The Greek word translated “end” in this verse is telos, which means the goal, the target. All the many aspects of our faith derive their purpose and their importance from the fact that they are the means to direct us to the telos, the target, the goal of knowing the Person of the Messiah.

Although the great majority of Jewish rabbis do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, even they understand that Messiah is the telos, the goal, as it is written in the Talmud, “All the prophets prophesied not but of the days of the Messiah” (Sanh. 99a) and “The world was not created but only for the Messiah” (Sanh. 98b).

The main topic of our faith is knowing the Lord. All other aspects of our faith are subtopics. If any of those subtopics are taking your focus away from knowing the Person of the Messiah Yeshua, then you are too focused on those things.

Do you remember what happened to that brass serpent that Moses made? The making of that brass serpent was ordained by God, and it was used by God to bring healing to His people. (See Numbers 21:4-9). But centuries later that brass serpent had to be destroyed. Good King Hezekiah broke it in pieces and called it Nehushtan, a worthless piece of brass. Why? Because “the children of Israel did burn incense unto it” (2 Kings 18:4).

If focusing too much attention on some aspect of your faith causes you to lose sight of knowing the Person of the Lord, you might be burning incense to a brass serpent. Your obsession with your pet doctrine, even if it is a correct doctrine, will become Nehushtan, a worthless piece of brass. You will become “as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1).

TIME IN HIS PRESENCE

I believe the reason some people do not want to spend much time worshipping, praising, and praying in the Presence of the Lord is because they cannot see Him. They are like Philip, who said to Yeshua, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us” (John 14:8). Philip wanted a visible manifestation of the Father, but a visible manifestation of the Father was standing right in front of him. “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Like Philip, many disciples today miss the obvious. Even though we do not see the same visible flesh and blood manifestation of the Father in the Person of Yeshua that Philip and the other disciples saw, we can see and experience manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Yeshua spoke about things that we can expect the Holy Spirit to do:

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth... But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you... Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 14:26 & 16:13f).

These are some of the things we should expect the Holy Spirit to do in our lives. Do you experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit? Do you sense His abiding with you? Does the Holy Spirit teach you and guide you and bring things to your remembrance? Does the Spirit show you things to come? If this is not your experience, it should be.

WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

Sometimes people ask, “What is the Holy Spirit?” My short simple answer is that the Holy Spirit is the invisible Presence of the Lord Himself, as it is written, “Now the Lord is that Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17).

If you want a more detailed definition of the Spirit, consider the fact that the Hebrew and Greek words for “spirit” (Hebrew ruach; Greek pneuma) also mean “wind.” Then consider the fact that wind is simply the movement of air. Air itself is invisible, just as the Holy Spirit is invisible.

Sometimes people say, “Wow, look outside! Do you see that wind?”

“Yes, I see that wind!”

No, you don’t. You do not see the wind. The wind itself is invisible. What you see is evidence of the wind moving. In the same way, you cannot see the Spirit of God; you can only see the evidence of the Spirit moving. This truth is eloquently expressed in an old poem by Christina Rossetti:

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves

hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down

their heads,

The wind is passing by.

Now reread that poem and substitute “Spirit” for “wind,” “people” for “leaves,” and “congregations” for “trees.”

THE HOLY SPIRIT: GOD ON THE MOVE

The very first thing the Bible tells us about the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit moves. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:1f).

The ruach, the wind, is the movement of air. If there is no movement of air, there is no wind, no ruach. If the ruach ha-kodesh, the Holy Spirit, is not moving in your life, then where is the Spirit?

The Spirit is not stationary. The Spirit moves. The Holy Spirit is God on the move. The Spirit is the invisible Presence of the Lord that animates our faith and makes it alive and real to us. “He [the Spirit] shall not speak of Himself... He shall glorify Me [Yeshua].” It is the moving of the Spirit that causes all those other aspects of our faith to point us to Yeshua, to focus our attention on Him, so that we will be transfigured from glory to glory as we gaze upon the glory of the Lord.

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:17f).

BORN OF THE SPIRIT & LED BY THE SPIRIT

In John 3:5-7 Yeshua spoke about the need to be born of the Spirit. Born again believers are familiar with this passage, but I think many believers miss an important truth stated in the very next verse:

“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth....”

The word listeth does not mean “to make a list,” as in “My wife listeth the items she needeth before she driveth to Costco.” The word listeth is Old English for “wants, wills, chooses.” In other words, the Spirit moves whenever, wherever, and however God wants. This means the Spirit is sometimes unpredictable, like the wind.

Most believers realize this, but the thing that many miss is the importance of what Yeshua said at the end of this statement: “So is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

Are you born of the Spirit? If so, are you predictable or unpredictable? Of course we should be predictable in some areas. Our moral behavior, our character, our trustworthiness, our loyalty, etc. should not be unpredictable. But if we are born of the Spirit, we should be led by the Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). If you are led by the unpredictable Spirit of God, then you should expect the unexpected to sometimes happen, because the Spirit bloweth where it listeth, not where you listeth. The moving of the Spirit is as unpredictable as the wind, and so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

It’s okay to make plans, but don’t assume that the Spirit will never change your plans, or even change your theology if your theology is flawed. The Lord might surprise you.

The Lord surprised a lot of people in the 1970s, when multitudes of young people, many of them fun-loving lazy hippies, were awakened, converted, and transformed into zealous evangelists. In spite of our flaws, God used young people from my generation to bring many lost sinners to the Lord and to awaken many sleeping saints in the church. That was unexpected.

I could tell lots of exciting stories about things the Holy Spirit did in the 1970s, and I do tell some in my book My Back Pages. But I don’t want to spend my time reminiscing and pining for the past. That’s like trying to eat yesterday’s manna. Old manna breeds worms and stinks. I don’t want to just tell stories about things that happened 40 or 50 years ago. Rather than pining for the glories of the past, I want to help make some new stories happen, so our children and grandchildren will have some stories to tell 40 or 50 years from now, if the Lord has not returned before then.

“He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Yeshua” (Rev. 22:20).

| DB