We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

—Romans 15:1-7 (TNIV)

Today Paul continues his discussion of how “strong” Christians should behave toward their “weaker” brothers and sisters in Christ. Note that Paul here identifies himself with “strong” Christians, and urges his fellow brothers and sisters to bear with the failings of the weak. Paul surely cannot be talking about sins here. Instead, the context of chapter 14 suggests that he is talking about those matters on which Scripture is silent (and sin is definitely not a matter on which Scripture is silent).

Paul’s faith in Christ is shining through magnificently again in this advice. “Be like your Master is toward you,” he says. “Build them up, don’t tear them down. Resist your innately proud urge to look down at your nose on your brothers and sisters because you must remember that Jesus bore the hostility of humans so that we can all live forever with God.”

Then Paul also reminds us that Scripture is written, in part, to encourage us as we bear one another’s burdens. This business of humility and having to live in a broken world can be a real drag at times and Paul’s faith leads him to remind us one of the reasons why we read Scripture. It is God’s voice reminding us that a better time is coming. “Hang on,” God constantly reminds us in Scripture. “Don’t lose heart and don’t lose hope. I’ve saved you from your sin and when life beats you up so badly that you forget this, then read my word so that your heart can be refreshed and you can be reminded of your sure and certain hope that is so wondrously expressed in my Son’s death on the cross.”

So here we see two other ways in which faith manifests itself in action: forbearance, patience, and reading Scripture for encouragement to be reminded of our hope that is in Christ.

God, we believe, accepts us, accepts all men, unconditionally, warts and all. Laughter is the purest from of our response to God’s acceptance of us. For when I laugh at myself I accept myself and when I laugh at other people in genuine mirth I accept them. Self-acceptance in laughter is the very opposite of self-satisfaction or pride. For in laughter I accept myself not because I am some sort of super-person, but precisely because I am not. There is nothing funny about a super-person. There is everything funny about a man who thinks he is. In laughing at my own claims to importance or regard I receive myself in a sort of loving forgiveness which is an echo of God’s forgiveness of me. In much conventional contrition there is a selfishness and pride which are scarcely hidden. In our desperate self-concern we blame ourselves for not being the super-persons we think we really are. But in laughter we sit light to ourselves. That is why laughter is the purest form of our response to God.

—H.A. Williams, Tensions

Do you see faith manifesting itself here in Williams’ piece? For those of us who can laugh at ourselves in a self-deprecating manner, Williams argues that this is our faith shining through. Why? Because it reflects our faith that God accepts us, warts and all. Our self-deprecating laughter also reflects a genuine understanding of the human condition. When we laugh at ourselves, we acknowledge that we are the “cracked pots” we really are and tacitly acknowledge we need God’s help if we are to become the kind of persons he created us to be.

The first entry unto God, good Christian people, is through faith; whereby we are justified before God. There is one faith which in scripture is called a dead faith, which brings forth no good works, but is idle, barren and unfruitful. It consists only in believing the Word of God, that it is true. And this is not properly called faith. Another faith there is in scripture, which as the other faith is called dead faith, so this may be called a quick or lively faith. And this is not only the common belief of the articles of our faith [of the Anglican Church], but it is also a sure trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and a steadfast hope of all good things to be received at God’s hand. This is the true, lively, and unfeigned Christian faith, and is not in the mouth and outward profession only, but it lives and stirs inwardly in the heart. And this faith is not without hope and trust in God, nor without the love of God and of our neighbors, nor without the fear of God, nor without the desire to hear God’s word, and to follow the same in eschewing evil and doing gladly all good works.

—Homily on Faith

Here we see the author and architect of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer remind us in a concise but comprehensive way that faith must lead to works.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed from all our infirmities and know you in the power of his unending life; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

When we look at the cross we see the justice, love, wisdom and power of God. It is not easy to decide which is the most luminously revealed, whether the justice of God in judging sin, or the love of God in bearing the judgment in our place, or the wisdom of God in perfectly combining the two, or the power of God in saving those who believe. For the cross is equally an act, and therefore a demonstration, of God’s justice, love, wisdom and power.  The cross assures us that this God is the reality within, behind and beyond the universe.

—Dr. John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ 226.

We may search so far and reason so long of faith and grace, as that we may lose not only them but even our reason too, and sooner become mad than good.

—John Donne, Sermon on John 1:8

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother or sister for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed are those who do not condemn themselves by what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

—Romans 14:13-23 (TNIV)

Here we have another textbook example of faith leading to right works. Paul continues to talk to the strong Christians about how to behave themselves around “weaker” Christians, those whose faith did not yet allow them to partake of the wonderful freedom that is in Christ, at least in dietary customs and habits.

“Don’t offend your weaker brothers and sisters,” says Paul. “Why? Because this is the Lord’s will for you. Remember that you were bought at a terrible price. So were your weaker brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember you don’t have a snowflake’s chance on water to live forever in God’s direct Presence without the blood of Christ shed for you. You didn’t earn it nor do you deserve it. It was God’s wondrous grace and mind-blowing love for you that caused him to give you this great gift in his Son. So act like you believe it. Act because you believe it.”

Could Paul empirically prove any of this? Nope. Nor did he feel the need to do so because empirical proof is not the ruler and arbiter of all things (or of anything for that matter). Empiricism has its place but not in “proving” the work of the cross. That requires faith and faith always manifests itself in works. This doesn’t mean we check our minds or reason at the door (to the contrary, our minds and reason help us to make sense of the content of the Gospel). It simply means we use the right tools for the right contexts.

There is wonderful power in the cross of Christ. It has power to wake the dullest conscience and melt the hardest heart; to cleanse the unclean; to reconcile him who is afar off and restore him to fellowship with God; to redeem the prisoner from his bondage and lift the pauper from the dunghill; to break down the barriers which divide men from one another; to transform our wayward characters into the image of Christ and finally make us fit to stand in white robes before the throne of God.

— Dr. John R.W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait 102.

Grant, O God, That we may never lose the way through our self-will, and so end up in the far countries of the soul; that we may never abandon the struggle, but that we may endure to the end, and so be saved; that we may never drop out of the race, but that we may ever press forward to the goal of our high calling; that we may never choose the cheap and passing things, and let go the precious things that last forever; that we may never take the easy way, and so leave the right way; that we may never forget that sweat is the price of all things, and that without the cross, there cannot be the crown.

So keep us and strengthen us by your grace that no disobedience and no weakness and no failure may stop us from entering into the blessedness which awaits those who are faithful in all the changes and chances of life down even to the gates of death; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

—William Barclay, Prayers for the Christian Year

Here we see another beautiful example of faith manifesting itself in works. In Barclay’s prayer, perseverance is the key. We struggle, we endure, we fight our sinful nature and the temptations of this life. If we endure to the end, we will be saved. This is not a theology of works-righteousness or a theology of salvation by perseverance. It is a theology of faith that leads to perseverance because we believe the promise of the cross. Our faith leads us to understand that Jesus calls us to be like him, and we acknowledge that this is difficult to impossible without the help of his Holy Spirit living and abiding in us.

Notice too how this should direct our praying. We pray first and foremost because we believe he hears us and will answer us (faith expressed in action). Therefore we pray for him to be present in us to help us persevere and to overcome, to transform us into his very likeness. Faith always manifests itself in works.

Five times in one brief paragraph (Rom. 5:1-11) Paul repeats the preposition ‘through’ in relation to Jesus Christ. It is through the death of Christ that we were reconciled to God. So it is through Christ that we have received our reconciliation, that we have obtained access into the state of grace, that we enjoy peace with God, and that we rejoice in God. Reconciliation, access, peace and joy – these are all blessings which become ours only through the finished sacrifice and the present mediation of Jesus Christ. No wonder our prayers are offered to God through him, for there is no other way to the Father except through his Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Jn. 14:6).

—Dr. John R.W. Stott, Life in Christ 18.

Let Us Plead for Faith Alone

Let us plead for faith alone,
faith which by our works is shown;
God it is who justifies,
only faith the grace applies.

Active faith that lives within,
conquers hell and death and sin,
hallows whom it first made whole,
forms the Savior in the soul.

Let us for this faith contend,
sure salvation is the end;
heaven already is begun,
everlasting life is won.

Only let us persevere
till we see our Lord appear,
never from the Rock remove,
saved by faith which works by love.

—Charles Wesley, 385