An answer to Dale Gamble

I’m encouraged by the way folks are grappling with the hard sayings of Jesus we’re discussing in our current sermon series. Dale Gamble left a comment/question on my blog this morning and I figured it might be helpful for others to read over my shoulder as I respond. Thanks, Dale, for the excellent questions. I’ll post Dale’s questions and then my response.

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Hi Stephen — I’m really enjoying this particular sermon series! I had a few questions related to yesterday’s sermon. Incidentally, this topic (getting whatever you pray for if only you have enough faith) came up in our small group, and I used the very same excerpt from Huck Finn in our discussion.

1. You cited CS Lewis, among others, that faith was a gift from God, and not something that we could produce on our own as a force of will. Why then does Jesus often chide his followers for their lack of faith, and wonder if any faith will be found when he returns? (Matt 14:31, Mark 4:40, Luke 18:8 as examples). Are you saying there are two types or levels of faith — one sufficient for salvation that we’re responsible for (though Paul argues that this faith is still a gift from God, which would seem to contradict Jesus in the passages cited) and one ‘jumbo’ faith that can move mountains?

2. You’ve alluded several times to the passage where many of Jesus’ followers left him after hearing his hard sayings. How do we reconcile Paul’s instruction not to be stumbling blocks with Jesus’ own actions?

Posted by Dale Gamble Aug 23, 07:44 AM

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Hi Dale,

I’m glad the current sermon series has been helpful. I’m realizing it is a serious challenge for the preacher to group five hard sayings back-to-back in a sermon series! I have really needed to search the Scriptures and wrestle with Jesus’ words over the last few weeks. I pray that the things I say will reflect a deep reverence for all Jesus’ words and a serious engagement with the Scriptures.

Your questions are excellent and I’ll take them in order.

My basic point in Sunday’s sermon was that there are two kinds of good, biblical praying corresponding to two types of good, biblical faith.

One type of prayer is a Matthew 21.21-22 prayer. This prayer flows from a faith given to us by God as he reveals to us that he is going to act in a particular way. We become convinced of how he will act and we then pray with full assurance that he will do a particular thing. That seems to be what Jesus is talking about in Mark 11.24: ‘Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’ Jesus is not talking here about a general trust in God – about a prayer that says, ‘I think you’ll give me what I ask, or something better.’ He’s saying we should believe God for a particular thing. There is evidence in a couple other Bible passages for this kind of prayer flowing from this kind of faith. One is 1 Corinthians 12.9, where Paul says that the Spirit gives ‘faith’ to certain Christians. One commentator on this passage says this: ‘Since “faith”…is not given to everyone, it must refer to a special endowment and not saving trust that is required of all Christians.’ I agree. And so do many of the major commentators. James 5.15 also talks about this extraordinary prayer flowing from extraordinary faith: ‘And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.’ I think both Paul and James learned about this kind of extraordinary prayer and extraordinary faith from Jesus (either directly from him, or indirectly, as they heard about his teaching).

But there is another kind of good, biblical prayer in the Bible. That’s the kind Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew 6.10: ‘…your will be done…’ This is the way Jesus himself prayed in Matthew 26.39: ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’ Of course, this kind of prayer is also flowing from faith. After all, Jesus himself prayed it! But this faith is not assurance that God will act in a particular way. It can’t be, because God said ‘no’ to Jesus’ request to let the cup of suffering pass from him! Rather, this kind of biblical prayer trusts God himself, rather than trusting God for a particular outcome. It is not a passive prayer. It can cry out to God passionately to do a particular thing, like I did as a young boy every day for years, asking God to deliver my father out of his wheelchair. But the crucial difference in this kind of praying is that, because God hasn’t revealed that he will do a particular thing, this kind of prayer and this kind of faith says, at the end of the day, ‘I don’t ultimately know, God, what your will is. And I submit to you fully and ask you do to your will, because I trust in you.’ This kind of praying understands that God can use suffering for his glory. He doesn’t always deliver us from suffering. He hasn’t delivered my father from his wheelchair.

The basic problem of the prosperity gospel I was warning people about in the sermon is that it recognizes only one kind of prayer and one kind of faith as biblical: the Matthew 21 kind of prayer and faith. It says we must always pray in full assurance, we must always speak ‘positive’ words to ourselves, we must always name it and claim it. The prosperity gospel ignores the other kind of praying – the Matthew 6 and Matthew 26 kind. The clear proof that the prosperity gospel makes this mistake is that when a prayer isn’t answered, they say, ‘That’s because there was a lack of faith somewhere!’ But that would only be true if there is just one kind of good praying – the Matthew 21 kind. If the other kind of praying (‘not as I will, but as you will’) is valid, as it clearly is, then God may choose not to answer our prayers (at least as we asked them) for his own sovereign purposes, not because of a lack of faith on our part. In fact, this is crystal clear in 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul’s thorn in the flesh (whatever it is) is not removed not because of a lack of faith on Paul’s part but because of God’s desire to see his power magnified in Paul’s weakness!

The prosperity gospel gets another big thing wrong in interpreting Matthew 21.21-22. It reads into these verses requests for cars, homes, wage raises, all kinds of luxuries that Jesus was not thinking about in this context of teaching and empowering his disciples for radical, effective, and incredibly costly Kingdom expansion (for the cost, see especially Matthew 23.34-36 and Matthew 24.9). Someone came up after the service yesterday and told me that he’s experienced a couple times the extraordinary kind of faith Jesus talks about in Matthew 21.21-22, and both times God granted this faith regarding something he was going to do for another person! It didn’t have anything to do with getting rich.

Dale, your question leads me to clarify a bit what I said in the sermon. I don’t think I said it well enough on one point. The difference between these two types of faith and prayer is NOT that one is a gift and the other is not. All our faith is a gift from God. That includes the saving faith that every person must have in order to become a Christian. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2.8 that salvation by grace through faith is a gift of God and not our own doing. That includes the faith. It is a gift from God. Paul says in Philippians 1.29 that it has been granted to us (by God) that we should believe in Christ. This is clear also in the story of Lydia in Acts 16.14. Paul speaks the gospel and, ‘The Lord opened [Lydia’s] heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.’ There are many, many other Bible passages that show that faith in the sense of trusting God is a gift from God. So, the difference between the two types of faith I was talking about is not that one is a gift and the other is not. They’re both gifts. The difference is that the Matthew 21-type of prayer flowing from faith can only come when God reveals to us that he is going to do a particular thing and invites us to believe him for that particular thing (Mark 11.24). Our saving faith and our general trust in God through all of life rests not in this kind of special work of God, but in an even greater source – the trustworthiness of God’s character. That’s what Jesus was resting in when he submitted himself to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Dale, your question as to why Jesus calls for faith if faith is in fact a gift is important. I think it’s because we’re responsible to believe in God and worship God even if we’re unable on our own to do so. The reason we’re unable (we’re ‘dead’ according to Ephesians 2) apart from God’s grace to believe in him is not an innocent reason. It’s because of the fall of Adam and Eve and because of our own sinful rebellion against God. The gospel call comes to everyone everywhere: ‘repent and believe.’ But God must do a life-giving work of regeneration in us before we can obey that call (John 3; Ephesians 2).

To sum up: I think the Bible teaches there are a couple kinds of faith.

There is a general, saving faith in the character of God and his provision of salvation through Jesus Christ. This faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2.8). It is a responsibility of everyone everywhere. This is the faith that takes us through a life of ups and downs.

There is a special faith sometimes granted by God that is an assurance that he will do a particular thing (Mark 11.24; 1 Corinthians 12.9; James 5.15). This faith is also a gift from God. And when God grants it to us we are responsible to accept it and believe that he will do what he has said he will do.

Both faiths are a gift from God. We are responsible for both faiths. But they are not the same. One is the faith of all Christians. The other is a faith granted by God in only some circumstances.

As to your second question regarding stumbling blocks…Paul does tell Christians not to put stumbling blocks in the way of other Christians (Romans 14.13; 1 Corinthians 8.9) and there he’s talking about not leading other Christians into actions that defile their consciences. But Paul himself says that he preaches Christ crucified, which is a stumbling block to Jews (1 Corinthians 1.23). Here’s how I put those things together. The only stumbling block we should put in the way of others is gospel truth. People must be confronted with the gospel, even if they stumble over it and despise it. We’re not to compromise on God’s truth. But we shouldn’t be putting up unnecessary stumbling blocks through our own selfish preferences or actions. All of the hard sayings of Jesus – the ones that make people stumble – are truth claims and gospel claims. The fault lies with those who stumble, not with Jesus.

Thanks again for your questions, Dale, I hope this is helpful for you and for others who are reading along,

Stephen

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Aug 23, 11:05 AM