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Just Believe?

By Michael Didier

When most people think about the church they visualize state corporations, complete with non profit status, licensed agents for the state called pastors, children, teen and adult ministries, Sunday services, praise and worship teams (some even paid professionals) and much, much more. This little building does not have any of the above accouterments, it has no occupancy permit, no running water, no toilet, no board of directors, no licensed pastor and no special groups except the precious souls that come to share the word with one another. They all come with a psalm, or a hymn or a word of encouragement. The humbleness of their gathering place make little difference to them for they know who the Church is and what it is not.  

When speaking with people about the “Church” the most frequent questions I hear are: “What church?,” “Whose church?,” “Does everyone at your church believe the way you do?” These questions are really the wrong questions to ask to identify the Church; for the Church is not a place, but rather, a people.

When Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, he did not write to a group in a specific building, but rather a group of the “called out” ones within a huge land mass. So, let me reassert, the Church is not a place but instead a people “which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.”⁵ Moses said in Exodus 33:16, “so shall we be separated (Called out), I and your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” “You (God’s people) have declared the LORD this day to be your God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: And the LORD has declared you this day to be his peculiar people, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments.” This previous passage in Deuteronomy 26:17-18 is where Peter found these words, ”But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises (keep His ways) of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”⁶

The Church believes and obeys the Lord!

Whenever I lead someone to the Father I like to use this verse in Romans. “That if you shalt confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shalt be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”⁷ Paul says that we must believe and make Jesus Lord. Have we made Him Lord? Do we have “other masters”⁸ “other gods before Him?”⁹

For years I prayed for “the blessings” found in Deuteronomy 28 for myself and my family: but on a closer look at the “prerequisites” for receiving these blessings I found that I fell very short. Moses said, “And it shall come to pass, if you shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God.”¹⁰ The downside of not “diligently” obeying Him begins 13 verses later. “But it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day; that all these curses shall come upon you, and overtake you.”¹¹ As I began to read about His ways, the ways He expects His people to live there lives, I began to realize that I had fallen far short of His expectations for my life.

Micah 6:8 says, that the Father “has showed you, O man, what is good; and what doth the  LORD (YHWH) require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” “Walk Humbly with your God?” What does that mean? Could it be that Micah had read the “Torah,” the “law,” the “owners manual,” the first five books of the Bible that describes how His people are to conduct their lives? In it Moses wrote, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD you God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?”¹²

For our good?

Did you hear that? The Father loves His people! His “laws” are not meant to torment us, but they are in fact “for our good.” His “ways” are the rock that His people build there lives on and He says they are ‘for our good’. If He is right, perhaps we should look as some His commandments, statutes, and judgments and see for ourselves.

Let us look at a few of His commandments. The 6^th says, “you shalt not kill ”¹³ and the 8^th says, “you shalt not steal.”¹⁴ It does not take much faith to believe those are “for our good,” so we should keep those! The 4^th commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day (Saturday)  is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shalt not do any work....”¹⁵ This commandment could take much more faith, depending on what one does for a living. Of course, He did say it is “for our good.” Could it really be so? Can we trust Him to meet our needs? Will we seem odd to others if we obey Him? “They” might not like us, could this really be “for our good”? He did say one verse earlier, I am “showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”¹⁶ Has he changed His mind?

How about His statutes and judgments, could they be “for our good?” “You shalt not defraud your neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning.”¹⁷ Those two sound like they are ”for our good.” How about the statute which says, “You shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shalt love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”¹⁸ Oh-yah, Jesus said that one, it must be for our good.

“You shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”¹⁹ An abomination, God really does not like that. It must be “for our good.” So how come people think it is ok? Check this one out. “When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he has taken.”²⁰ Wow, that statute sounds very good. Let’s keep it!

“And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations (that is a long time), and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined: That you may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.”²¹ Oh my, can this really be for my good? People will think I am strange. Is this why we are called a “peculiar people?”²² Couldn’t I just wear a cross? How about a “What would Jesus do?” pin? “What would He do?” I’m sure He would obey His Father. “Well, alright Father, but that will take a lot of faith on my part. I’ll remember that you said, ‘Hearken unto me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear  not the reproach of men, neither be you afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.’”²³

If we are to be obedient to His ways, some of His commandments require more faith than others. It really is not for us to decide which of His ways are for are good and which are not. The Father says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; ... Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”²⁴ If He is Lord, He decides! We just obey.

But we have Jesus!

Of course, Jesus kept the “law,” the Father’s “way,” the “narrow way”²⁵ perfectly! Which is why John when he saw Jesus said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.”²⁶ And, because of that sacrifice we, the people of God, no longer have to keep His commandments. Right!? Er, well, let’s take a look at some of the words of the Lamb.

Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Until heaven and earth pass away (we are still here), one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”²⁷ I want to be called great, and I want that for you also!

When Jesus finished speaking about entering through the “strait gate” and following the “narrow way,”²⁸ He stated, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing.”²⁹ He stated you would ”know them by their fruits...Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.”³⁰ Jeremiah talks about this fruit also. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”³¹

At the start of this chapter I mentioned that one of the most frequent questions I am asked is, “is everyone at your church like you?” Like Jesus I must answer, “whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”³² “Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And I will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”³³ His kids obey Him!

The Father says in Malachi “For I am the LORD, I change not.”³⁴ and Jesus said, “I and My Father are One.”³⁵ That is a lot of capital letters! It must be true. Jesus is the Word made flesh,³⁶  who showed us what it looks like to keep the Father’s ways. Paul exhorts us to “Imitate me, even as I imitate Christ.”³⁷

Jesus said, “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, is he that loves me.”³⁸ “He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” And “If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.”³⁹ And, finally “If you love me, keep my commandments.”⁴⁰

In Acts we read, “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey him.”⁴¹ Do we want the fullness of His power manifested in our lives? Then we must obey Him.

Saved by our works?

Can we obey all His commandments, statutes, judgments and ordinances perfectly? NOT A CHANCE! But, can we begin to learn them, and honor our Father by incorporating His ways into our lives? Can we begin the journey that He has for His pilgrims, His strangers on the earth? Can we begin to “sanctify ourselves, and be holy; for I am holy.”⁴² Can we like newborn babes begin to “desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby: If truly you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”⁴³ OF COURSE we can begin! We must! “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law dies without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto (insulted) the Spirit of grace?”⁴⁴ What did we repent of anyway? Not keeping His commandments. Right!? Shall we continue in disobedience? God forbid!

The disciple John said this. He who says, “I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keeps his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that says he abides in him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked.”⁴⁵ And, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (burdensome).”⁴⁶

John, again in Revelation, writes “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”⁴⁷ “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”⁴⁸ And again, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”⁴⁹

The Church has faith with works!

I remember when my precious daughter was led to her heavenly Father at 7 or 8 years of age by my dear wife. She cried each evening for many days; Something was missing, there must be something more! Her life had not changed significantly, she had always been a loving obedient young lady. What was missing? I believe now that she knew that there had to be something more than just believing, and that the missing component was doing. “But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ... he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”⁵⁰

This brings us back to where we began. “Repent and believe in the gospel,”⁵¹ “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and ... believe.”⁵² In our Father’s kingdom, believing and doing always go together because we love Him and want to obey Him.

Take His yoke upon you dear brothers, sisters, sons and daughter, learn from Him; His yoke is easy and His burden is light. You will find rest for your souls.⁵³ Find out what your Father in Heaven requires of you. Learn His ways, seek Him with all your heart, soul and strength. He knows what is good for His people, those who “declare the LORD this day to be their God.”⁵⁴

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” ⁵⁵