Dear Friends,
I’ve been thinking this week about the nature of belief and unbelief. Follow along with me as I process my thoughts out loud with you.
You remember the story in Mark 9 where Jesus spoke to a father whose son had been convulsing since childhood. The man came to Jesus and said “if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
The “if you can do anything” statement shows that this man was desperate for help, ready to try anything to help his boy. It also shows he was skeptical. After all, his son had been like this for years. Could this Rabbi heal him?
Jesus spoke directly to his skepticism. He challenged him, essentially asking him “What do you mean ‘If you can?’” And he went on to declare “All things are possible for one who believes.”
The father cried out and said, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
It appears that doubt and faith can walk side by side.
Because doubt is different than unbelief.
Unbelief is a choice. And it’s a sin. Belief is also a choice. And it’s commanded and commended by God.
In our legal system, we have two different standards for proof when a case is being litigated. In a criminal case, a jury must look at the evidence and vote for a conviction if they are convinced of the suspect’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil trial, the jurors decide for the plaintiff or the defense based on a preponderance of evidence. With a criminal conviction, the standard is higher. Beyond a reasonable doubtmeans that if the evidence presented at trial leaves you thinking “he might have done it” instead of “it’s pretty clear he did it,” you have to let the accused go free. With a preponderance of evidence, the juror weighs the arguments for one side and the arguments for the other and has to decide which side made the more compelling case.
Notice that with a criminal case, the standard is not beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s beyond a reasonabledoubt. That word reasonable has to do a lot of work. A juror has to decide whether any lingering doubts about the guilt of the accused are reasonable.
In either case, a juror has to decide how to vote. Guilty? Innocent? For the plaintiff? For the defense? Not deciding is not an option for a juror.
All of this comes to play when we think about whether or not we chose to believe in God. Everyone votes. To ignore the evidence and move along is to vote.
That’s what I mean when I say belief or unbelief are both a choice we make. We either chose to believe there is a God and to submit, to follow and to obey Him. Or we chose to believe He doesn’t exist (or if He does, that it doesn’t really matter one way or the other) and we go our own way. Either He is Lord and calls he shots. Or we are lord of our own lives and we call the shots. Believe or don’t. It’s your choice.
Now you may be thinking “but if God is sovereign over our salvation, does anyone really have a choice about whether he or she believes in God? Can a dead man believe unless God enables Him to believe?”
I think the answer is that a dead man cannot believe because that dead man will not believe. His pride will not allow it. It’s not that he will not because he cannot. It’s that he cannot because he will not.
You might want to read that again and think about it for a minute. Selah.
In the case of the existence of God or the Lordship of Christ, we all bring our presuppositions, our wounds, our need for peer approval, our ambitions and our hopes, our emotions and our life experiences with us as we examine the evidence. Like the man in Mark 9, we cannot be total unbiased or objective as we weigh the evidence about whether Jesus is who He claims to be. And like the father in Mark 9, even when we choose to believe, we will continue to have doubts.
The person who examines the evidence and says “I just can’t believe it” is really saying “I won’t believe it.” D.A. Carson says “failure to believe sems from moral failure to recognize the truth, not from want of evidence, but from willful neglect or distortion of the evidence.”
God has chosen to make the evidence for His existence something less than a slam dunk. He has left room in his argument for reasonable doubt. This way, everyone who is confronted with the evidence for His existence (which happens, by the way, every morning as each of us open our eyes and see the world in which we live – “the heavens and earth declare the glory of God”) ultimately has to decide to believe or not. The choice to believe requires an act of faith, to bridge the gap between what is revealed and what isn’t.
The choice to reject also requires faith. There are mysteries about existence and God that will never be revealed to us until life ends. To reject God requires a leap of faith as well. To gaze at the immensity of space and the vastness of the universe and say “I think it all just happened on its own” requires a level of faith that goes farther than I am able to go. I think that decision is ultimately about something more than examining the evidence and reaching a conclusion.
As I’ve said, to choose unbelief is a sin. It’s a rejection of the evidence God has presented. It’s telling Him his case is weak. That you know better than He does about what’s true.
If you’ve stuck with me this long, you can see that my musings on this matter are still a work in progress. But I believe my central thesis holds true. Belief is a choice. So is unbelief. No one fails to believe. That person chooses unbelief. Each one of us is commanded by Jesus to believe. To choose to believe. To choose otherwise is to reject Jesus and His commands.
I’ll wrap up with these thoughts on unbelief from JC Ryle.
“Who can tell the misery that unbelief has brought on the world!
“Unbelief made Eve eat the forbidden fruit. She doubted the truth of God's word: ‘You will surely die!’"
Unbelief made the old world reject Noah's warning, and so perish in their sin.
Unbelief kept Israel in the wilderness-it was the barricade that kept them from entering the Promised Land.
Unbelief made the Jews crucify the Lord of glory-they did not believe the voice of Moses and the prophets, even though they were read to them every day.
Unbelief is the reigning sin of man's heart down to this very hour . . .
unbelief in God's promises,
unbelief in God's wrath,
unbelief in our own sinfulness,
unbelief in our own danger,
unbelief in God's method of salvation,
unbelief in everything that runs counter to the pride and worldliness of our evil hearts.
Would that each one of us would, like the father in Mark 9, make this our confession. “Lord, I choose to believe. Help my unbelief.”
Our Awana kids and their families celebrated Thanksgiving together tonight. I thought you might want to see some of what took place.
Thanks to all the faithful Awana volunteers for serving this fall and making this evening possible!
Here’s a quick reminder about the Meal Train that has been set up for the Quiroz family following the birth of their daughter Lilias. Click here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=98e7ea9891&e=fbb0a4052b) to sign up to select a night to provide a meal for them (or even if you just want another look at how cute she is!).
We still have about two dozen ornaments on our Christmas tree with the names of kids we’re serving in the Brinkley Heights neighborhood in Memphis this Christmas. Our students will be traveling to Memphis to deliver the gifts and your cards to the children in mid-December. So there’s still time for you to select one or more children’s names to support this effort.
Here’s what we’re asking you to do if you select a name.
- Pray for the child or children whose names you select during and after the Christmas season
- Take a Christmas card that we’ll provide for you and write a short note to the child wishing him or her a Merry Christmas and letting them know you are praying for them
- Write a check for $40 to cover the cost of the gifts we’ll be giving each child, which will include a copy of The Action Bible (a graphic novel edition of the Bible) along with something fun for each child
Your completed Christmas cards will need to be turned in no later than December 8.
Thanks for praying for and loving these kids!
The week after Thanksgiving, we’ll have our First Friday game night for our Roots students.
And later in December, there’s a Roots Christmas party happening as well!
And December is Tea Time! The annual Women’s Christmas Tea is December 7.
We need to know you’re planning to attend. Click here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=33838329fc&e=fbb0a4052b)to add your name to the list of attendees.
A week later, on December 14, it’s the Fama-Jama Christmas Party! Admit it. It’s a great name for a great evening of fun.
Sign your family up for the fun! Click here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=233a272ce5&e=fbb0a4052b) to let us know you’re coming.
If you’re under 30-(ish), married or single, you’re invited to spend the first Saturday night of each month with the growing NxtGen group meeting together for fellowship and fun. Here’s the info.
Guys: The December Redeemer Men’s Institute meets on Thursday, December 5 at 7:00. The topic next month is how God uses spiritual disciplines as a means of sanctifying grace in our lives. And where’s the line between formalism, legalism and a healthy pattern of practicing the disciplines? Should be a lively conversation.
Whether you’ve attended any of these events this fall or not, every man is welcome (that includes young men who are interested).
Some of you have already heard from Jen Gurney about this already. But we need to talk about caring for our kids at church for a minute.
God has truly blessed us with lots of amazing families and lots of amazing kids! We love every one of them. And love the opportunity we have to be able to help them know and love Jesus more, along with helping them build friendships and keeping them safe.
Every Sunday morning we have at least four and sometimes six classes for our kids. And that means we need a lot of volunteers (adults and students). We have a number of volunteers who have served for many years, including a number of moms and dads who no longer have kids of their own at home but who continue to serve. It takes a village!!
Recruiting volunteers to help with children’s ministry is always tough.
And with that said, we need your help. We want to ask you to pray about choosing one of the following three ways you could serve our kids in 2025.
1. Teach the 4-5 year old class 8 times a year (once every 6 weeks) Some prep, but minimal.
2. Serve in the Toddler room 8 times a year (once every 6 weeks). No prep required.
3. Be on call as a “when needed” sub. You’d likely be called on 2-3 times during the year.
The easiest thing is to say “I’ll let someone else do this.” But I want to ask you not to do the easy thing. I want to ask you to pray about serving and then follow how God leads you. I hope many of you will reach out to Jen and say “sign me up. I’d love to help” (her email is jengiles1@yahoo.com (mailto:jengiles1@yahoo.com).
Thanks in advance for praying and considering how you might serve our RCC kids!
As you’re making plans for Christmas Eve, keep in mind our annual Christmas Candlelight and Carols Service at 5:00 pm. It’s the perfect way to tune your heart for the celebration of the birth of Jesus the next day.
Starting this week, and continuing each week, I’ll be providing you with a sneak preview of the catechism questions and answers we’ll be reciting on Sunday. This way to can come ready to affirm these beliefs, and maybe to discuss them ahead of time as a family as well.
Here’s what we’ll be reciting on Sunday from the Heidelberg Catechism:
Q. What does the first petition mean?
A. “Hallowed be your name” means:
Help us to truly know you,
to honor, glorify, and praise you
for all your works
and for all that shines forth from them:
your almighty power, wisdom, kindness,
justice, mercy, and truth.
And it means,
Help us to direct all our living—
what we think, say, and do—
so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us
but always honored and praised.
The book of Revelation presents readers with a graphic description of the storm that is coming to earth as the day of the Lord draws near. And in Revelation, God is graciously warning his readers about what is ahead for all who follow the Dragon and the Beasts instead of following the Lamb. It’s a sobering warning, as we’ll see this Sunday.
See you in church.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor Bo
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