Romans 14:23 - A Rule of Life

An Altar is BuiltOver a year ago, I was given this great idea in prayer for a way to illustrate what God really did for us when he sacrificed his son to give us the ability to be restored.  My son is Isaac and there is a great song on A City on a Hill CD called "Holy is the Lord" that is about Abraham's blind faith that trusted but asked for another way when he was told to sacrifice his son to God (you know the story).  The song communciates extreme emotion of Abraham and the story.  So the idea was to have Ike help me build the altar and then for him to lay down on it as we prayed for "another way."  We waited for over a year before God gave me permission to use the idea and gave Isaac the courage.

Isaac did great in what he described as his "first sermon" and I was destroyed emotionally.  The combination of the story acted out with my son on the altar and God's Spirit moving ministered to me probably more than to all the people.  I was humbled at my emotion over a play.  What must this have been like for God?  How must Jesus have felt?  The sacrifice was incredible.  How did a mortal man like Abraham even approach this type of sacrifice.  There were so many lessons but one new strong reminder was spoken to my heart on that morning.

Abraham must have really been sure that he had heard from God.  I have heard many theories - from the most common (e.g. Abraham knew God would provide a solution so that His perfectness would not be contradicted by His most recent command) to the most ludicrous (e.g. Leonard Sweet's presumptions based on suppositions - he really messed up a great book with this unsupportable analysis).  Regardless of the thoughts or explanations, there is no way that Abraham could have carried out this task without being absolutely sure.  Oh, I know, some would say he was surely insane - but he was sure even if they could be right.  God, however, did not credit Abraham's actions to insanity (nor did he chastize Abraham).  God credited Abraham with faith for the action of carrying his son up the mountain as commanded.

I have written for the last few days about topics that require us to be personally sure of our actions to the point that we know that under God's accountability we are right.  When the Christian leader really wants to walk with God and lead others, he (or she) will find that he is alone.  You simply cannot get others to justify your actions even if they agree with them or vote on them.  The Christian leader is wholly accountable for the way in which they lead the people.  God is clear throughout the New Testament of how horrible it will be for the leader who causes his people to stray or who strays himself.  Misleading the people does not just involve teaching some errant doctrine of Christ (obviously horrible) but even the actions that seem less horrible like: leading the congregation to take sides; playing politics; teaching them to gossip; not teaching them to pray; letting humanism slip in; building a building too soon; putting a growth plan in place that is not annointed by God; letting the wrong person teach; and so much more.

The Christian leader needs to be absolutely sure that what he is doing is what God wants done.  The leader should be willing to be tarred and feathered, nailed to a cross in the front yard and disavowed by his association for each and every action (this is the type of persecution that Peter said is honorable - suffering for the will of God not for stupidity). 

So how do you get that sure?  I have found that it involves three things:  1) Shutting up; 2) Sacrificing all of your thoughts (and the common sense of the people); 3) and, knowing God's voice.  All of these are summed up in what I call the Romans 14:23 Rule - when in doubt, don't.  The verse says "if you can't do it in faith, then it is sin to you (even if you get the action right!).  The Romans 14:23 Rule is a call to being sure of your actions.  It is a call to being able to stand before God, your family, your people and the church and say, "I am willing to die for this because it is what God wants."  Romans 14:23 is a call to the Christian leader to be willing to stand alone (perhaps to die on a cross) because that leader has heard from God. 

Tune in tomorrow - "faith" is the next topic on the path of finding out how to be "sure".