This is our third time featuring the writing of Chuck Larsen, a retired U.S. pastor, and this time it’s a double-header! As usual, click the links in the articles to read them where they appeared first. Also, Chuck is also in the middle of an ongoing series on marriage which may be timely for some readers here.
Assurance And Security
Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. – Hebrews 10:22-23 NLT
I remember being asked on numerous occasions if a person can be saved and still entertain some uncertainty. This question rightly deals with the difference between assurance and security. The Reformers did their best to focus on the difference. Biblical assurance (certitudo), they claimed, was against all human effort or feeling. Luther argued that his security was based on something outside himself. He did not rely on his own goodness or powers, experience, or anything else to save him but solely on the promises of God. He argued that God cannot lie and will never deceive us. We, therefore, have full assurance of our eternal destiny.”[1]
Yet, in my practical day-to-day life, I have to agree with those who say that assurance is the subjective side of the issue and security (or eternal security) is the objective side of the issue. That’s to say that assurance has to do with how one feels and is related to sense experience regarding salvation, while the issue of security relates to the biblical fact or truth or reality concerning the issue.
We learn that obedience to God’s instructions in our day to day lives is one way to build assurance into our lives. The New Testament assures us of this truth, but it also reminds me that sometimes “our conscience condemns us” (1 John 3:20) when God does not. There seem to be times when a person can be truly secure but not feel that way.
I remember the illustration that was used about the two passengers on a plane. One was comfortable and relaxed and, read a novel and enjoyed his meal. He was comfortable and confident that he’d get to where he was going. The other gripped the armrest with all his might, sweated, imagined terrible crashes, and just worried about a safe arrival. The plane landed as scheduled. The first passenger was secure and assured. The second was just as secure but had no assurance, yet he too, arrived safely at the destination. The security on the flight did not have anything to do with how the individuals felt about it. It was solely dependent upon the worthiness of the vessel and those in charge of it just as our salvation is. Yet a person may be on the plane (believing that Jesus died for them), and because of the weakness of our flesh, still do not feel like it all the time.
The New Testament is clear about God’s desire for all His believing children to not only have the security of their eternal destiny established firmly in their minds but to live each day with that sense of deep assurance that should come from that doctrine. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says, “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope unto the end.” Hebrews 10:22-23 adds, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith … Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.”
[1] Lochman, Jan Mili, and Manfred Marquardt. 1999–2003. “Assurance of Salvation.” In The Encyclopedia of Christianity, 1:146–47. Grand Rapids, MI; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill.
Leadership
As kids, my brother and I would really enjoy the nights my parents would go out and leave us in the care of our older sister. She had no sway over us, and we’d pretend that we’d listen to her, but we had no intention of doing so. We could hardly wait for the folks to finish dressing and give us our last instructions before they left. When the folks left, we did our thing. We raided the ice box. If it were during the Christmas holidays, we’d look all through their bedroom for hidden presents. We’d often find them. We’d stay up way past our bedtime watching TV shows that we weren’t supposed to watch or that were on after our bedtime. It would drive our sister crazy, but she would actually participate in some of the shenanigans with us. She had the same inclinations that we had.
I was reminded of these childhood experiences when I read Judges 8:33. It says, “As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and worshipped pagan gods.” The wording almost makes it sound like the people were simply waiting for him to get out of the way so they could do what was always in their hearts. Gideon failed to establish any real, lasting reform in the nation. He changed their behavior in his presence, but he didn’t change their hearts.
Someone once suggested that the true test of successful leadership is what happens when the leader moves on. If this is true, then Moses was a failure. Joshua was a failure, and Gideon was a failure. Jackman suggests why Gideon failed.
Gideon was unable to change the heart of the nation because his own heart had not changed. When we first met him, he was an idol worshiper, and although he did not apparently return to the cult of Baal, nevertheless, the end of his life sees him barely holding on in a situation where the wheel has virtually turned full circle. It is the sad downward spiral of Judges, once again.
It was not in Gideon’s heart. In many ways, he continued to live his life as a worshipper of Baal while publicly professing to believe in Yahweh. Any such hypocrisy leads directly to failure. It might accomplish something on the outside, on a temporary basis, but there is truly no substantial change. In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior.” He goes on to say, “It is revival without reformation, without repentance.” It seems like this describes Gideon’s judgeship. May God keep it from describing ours!
Someone said, “Leaders challenge the process, inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, model the way through actions, and encourage the heart.”[1] Jesus once informed his followers that “All authority of Heaven and on earth has been given to me” by the Father. But He humbly washed his disciple’s feet. Faust writes, “He taught with incredible insight, yet he allowed people to question him. He accepted people just as they were, but he also inspired them to become better than they were. He led by example. He practiced what he preached. Jesus recruited, trained, equipped, and unleashed a little band of committed men and women who literally changed the world. Two thousand years later, the world still feels the influence of Jesus’ leadership.”[2]
[1] Sailer, William, J. Creighton Christman, David C. Greulich, Harold P. Scanlin, Stephen J. Lennox, and Phillip Guistwite. 2012. Religious and Theological Abstracts. Myerstown, PA: Religious and Theological Abstracts.
[2] Faust, David. 2004. 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Unquenchable Faith. 3:16 Bible Commentary Series. Joplin, MO: HeartSpring Publishing.
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