A Good Walk Shared

Mark Twain is reported to have said that the game of golf is “a good walk spoiled.” John Feinstein wrote a book about golf and gave it that title. This piece is not about golf. It’s about walking.

Our progress through life is like a journey on foot, a long walk, a pilgrimage. It is one in which we may walk in the company of God himself. This is a word picture that is used frequently in the Bible. “Noah . . . walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9, NIV).

The Old Testament has well over 200 references to walking. Some of these refer literally to walking from one place to another. Most of them, however, are figurative uses of the word “walk” as a metaphor for living life. “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the way of the wicked’ (Psalm 1:1, NIV). Sometimes contemporary versions of the Bible translate the word “walk” as “live” or “behave.” “Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live” (or walk, Exodus 18:20, NIV).

This lifelong walk is seen as a purposeful, resolute trek, with God as a faithful guide and companion on the journey.

For the people of Israel, this was serious business. This meant that they were to walk (live) in accordance with God’s laws. “You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules, and keep my statutes, and walk in them. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:3-4, ESV).

Living this way was for their protection from tyranny, disease, and moral confusion. Living this way insured civil order, happy homes, and economic justice. This was called “walking in God’s ways.” (This phrase is used repeatedly in the Old Testament to illustrate how the Israelites were to walk in the direction and on the path that the Lord God had chosen for them as his people.)

Living (walking) this (in his) way also insured that the Lord himself would accompany them on their journey. “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 26:12-13, NIV).

In my hikes on the Appalachian Trail, I relied upon white blazes (two inches wide by six inches) painted on trees, rocks, or fence posts to mark the trail. These markers, usually about a quarter mile apart, are for hikers’ guidance and safety, to help them stay on the path. That was the function of God’s law for Israel. His “way” for them to walk was always good. “Teach them the good way in which they should walk” (1 Kings 8:36, ESV).

Like warning signals, the Lord also issued cautionary words to inform his people of the consequences of resisting his will. It was a dangerous thing to oppose the Living God. In Leviticus 26, he gave his people a litany of terrible things that might happen to them if they “walk contrary to” his way.

The worst result would be this: “If you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I will discipline you sevenfold for your sins” (Leviticus 26:27-28, ESV). Those words are more stark and disturbing then a bomb scare or a tornado warning.

It is better to walk with God.

His presence is wisdom. “For wisdom will enter your heart . . . Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous” (Proverbs 2:10, 20, NIV).

His presence is guidance. “Whether you turn to the right hand or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it'” (Isaiah 30: 21, NIV).

His presence is peace.  “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4, NIV).

His presence is blessing. “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him” (Psalm 128:1, NIV). 

All these advantages, and more, were true of Abraham, to whom the Lord said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1, NIV). He was later able to testify of “The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully” (Genesis 24:40, NIV). This meant that every step Abraham took through life, he was conscious of God’s presence. He experienced the Lord close at hand in personal fellowship.

Is this a possibility for us today? If the Old Testament is foundational to our understanding of the New, then surely the theme of walking with God will be expanded and explained more fully there. In the weeks to come we will examine some New Testament passages that show us how to walk through life in fellowship with God.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

Abraham’s Faith, and Ours

The preacher was sincere and well-intentioned. He was passionate in his presentation. He fervently appealed to his congregation to fully surrender themselves to God, to renounce the world and its attractions, and to be willing to pay the price and count the cost of what it means to follow Jesus.

As I listened, I could not help but wonder whether he was calling the congregation to salvation or to discipleship. He seemed to blend the two themes together in a mishmash of duty, good works, obedience and faithfulness to Christ. It almost seemed he believed in salvation by works.

I sat there wondering: “If my obedience to Christ and good works are essential to salvation, how could I ever be sure that I am saved? How could I know if I had done enough? What good works could ever help me achieve eternal life? How could I know if I am as fully surrendered to the Lord as the preacher wants me to be?”

Then I remembered Abraham. He was the great patriarch of the Hebrew nation, He was, by any standard, an example of good works and faithfulness to God. He left his home in Chaldea in response to God’s call.  He worshipped God among the idol-worshipping Canaanites. He submitted to the rite of circumcision as a sign of his covenant faithfulness to God. He was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac in obedience to God’s command.

But Abraham was not justified by his good works. In his letter to the Romans, Paul used the ancient story of Abraham as an illustration of the fact that people are justified by faith alone. He quoted Genesis 15:6 to emphasize that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3).

“Credited” is a word taken from the business world. It is a financial term which could be used to refer to wages that are earned, or to a gift that is applied to an account freely, without a cost. Paul used the word to teach that justification before God is a gift of grace, not an earned wage. This leaves no room for boasting (v. 2).

Thus, Abraham is a pattern of faith for all of us. He believed God. That is what faith is. In the Greek language of the New Testament, the words translated “faith” and “belief” are the same word. They both mean the same thing: to take people at their word, to have confidence in the reliability of a person, an idea or a thing, to trust, to accept as true. Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith in God and his trustworthy word.

This means that everyone who, like Abraham, believes the promise of the gospel, is pronounced righteous because of the death of Christ and his resurrection. We are told in some of Paul’s other writings that Jesus was made sin for us “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus has “become for us . . . our righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Those who believe the gospel are said to be given “the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:9).

Abraham was declared righteous by faith alone. His faith was in the power and character of God, not in his own works. In the same way,  we who trust in Jesus for salvation are saved by faith, not our attempts at doing good. I am aware every day that my assurance of salvation cannot be based upon the fervency of my faith, or on the depth of my surrender, or on the extent of my obedience. All of these are faulty, and weak.

I am encouraged by what I read in Romans 4. “However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Salvation is either a reward for works or a gift through grace; it cannot be both. Abraham’s life is a testimony to us that people are justified by faith, not by works.

Good works and faithfulness to God are evidence of our faith to other people (James 2:14-26). The preacher’s exhortations to self-denial and faithfulness were appropriate if they were a call to obedient discipleship. The Bible teaches that there will be rewards for believers who serve Christ in this life. But if the call to obedient service is mistaken as a condition for receiving salvation, the result is confusion.

Romans 4 and the story of Abraham are in the Bible for me, and for you. We are to trust the same God who was faithful to keep his promise to Abraham. “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:23-25).

Warren Wiersbe summarized the message of Romans 4 very well. Justification is by faith, not works. It is by grace, not law. And justification is by resurrection power, not human effort.

Pastor Randy Faulkner