The one right thing to Be - Chambers, Oswald
Believe also in me. ( john 14:1)
We do not now use the old evangelical phrase a believer, we are apt to think we have something better, but we cannot have. A believer in Jesus Christ is a phrase that embraces the whole of Christianity. The history of the word is interesting, but what will hold our attention now by the aid of the holy spirit is the vital experimental meaning of the phrase a believer in Jesus Christ. To believe in Jesus means much more than the experience of salvation in any form, it entails a mental and moral commitment to our lord Jesus Christs view of god and man, of sin and the devil, and of the scriptures.
Belief and the scriptures and they are they which testify of me. ( john 5:39) for had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. ( john 5:46) how much intellectual impertinence there is to-day among many Christians relative to the scriptures, because they forget that to believe also in Jesus
Means that they are committed beforehand to his attitude to the bible. He said that he was the con- text of the scriptures, . . . They are they which testify of me. We hear much about key words to the scriptures, but there is only one key word to the scriptures for a believer, and that is our lord Jesus Christ himself. All the intellectual arrogance about the bible is a clear proof of disbelief in Jesus. How many Sunday school teachers to-day believe as Jesus believed in the old testament? How many have suc- cumbed to the insolence of intellectual partisanship about the person of our lord and his limitations, and say airily, of course, there is no such thing as demon possession or hell, and no such being as the devil. To believe also in Jesus means that we submit our intelligence to him as he submitted his intelligence to his father. This does not mean that we do not exercise our reason, but it does mean that we exercise it in submission to reason incarnate. Beware of interpreters of the scriptures who take any other context than our lord Jesus Christ.
Belief and the saviour
Dost thou believe on the son of god? ( john 9:35)
The number of insidious and beautiful writers and speakers to-day whose final net result will be found to be anti-Christ, is truly alarming. The writers i mean are those who examine psychologically the person of our lord on the ground of facts discoverable in unregenerate human consciousness, and effectually dissolve away the person of Jesus Christ so marvellously revealed in the new testament. John writes of this very spirit of mind and emphasises it as anti-christevery spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of god: and every spirit which annulleth Jesus [RV mg] is not of god (1 john 4:23). To believe our lords consciousness about himself commits us to accept him as gods last endless word. That does not mean that god is not still speaking, but it does mean that he is not saying anything different from this is my beloved son: hear him.
To be a believer in Jesus Christ means that we realise that what Jesus said to Thomas is truei am the way, the truth, and the life, not the road we leave behind as we travel, but the way itself. By believing, we enter into that rest of peace, holiness and eternal life. Let us maintain ourselves abiding in him.
Belief and the spirit
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: of sin, because they believe not on me. ( john 16:89
Sin is not measured by a creed or a constitution or a society, but by a person. The gospels were not writ- ten to prove anything, they were written to confirm in belief those who were already Christians by means of the death and resurrection of our lord Jesus Christ, and their theological meaning. The holy spirit in the mighty phases of initial quickening in spiritual regeneration (see john 20:22; Luke 11:13) and of the baptism (see acts 1:8), does one thing only, viz. Glorify Jesus. A great and glorious fact to believe in Jesus Christ is to receive god, who is described to the believer as eternal life. Eternal life is not a gift from god, but the gift of god, that is, god himself (see john 6:47; 17:23; Romans 6:23).
Belief in service
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ( john 7:38)
How anxious we are to serve god and our fellow men to-day! Jesus our lord says we must pay attention to the source belief in him, and he will look after the outflow. He has promised that there shall be rivers of living water, but we must not look at the outflow, nor rejoice in successful service. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). The source, belief in Jesus, is the thing to heed; and through that famous, for-ever binding commission, believers in Jesus are to make disciples go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Are we doing it? The great pente costal phrase, witnesses unto me is the same thing stated for all believers in unforgettable words, witnesses not so much of what Jesus can do, but witnesses unto him, a delight to his own heart, . . . When he shall come to be glorified in his saints. May god save us from christian service which is nothing more than the reaction of a disappointed, crushed heart, seeking surcease from sorrow in social service. Christian service is the vital, unconscious result of the life of a believer in Jesus. We have much need to bear in mind pauls warning, but i fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). Pentecost makes bond slaves for Jesus Christ our lord, not supernatural manifestations that glorify men. The christian church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. The one right thing to be is a believer in Jesus.