From little things,
big things grow – verbs of the faith
The Christian faith is
sometimes the subject of elevated discussion using long sentences, polysyllabic
language and abstract concepts.
That is right. Christianity
claims to give a mega-narrative which explains everything in space and time
(and touches on things outside of space of time). It also makes a total call of
all of our thinking, emotions, feelings, words and actions. Anything making
those claims deserves sophisticated thinking and language.
However, the heart of
Christianity can also be expressed through a few simple verbs. (Which is apt,
for he is first a God of deeds rather than of ideas).
So, here are five
verbs of the faith, largely drawn from Mark 1:15-20. Jesus went to Galilee, met
some people, then told them that the kingdom of God was here and how they
should respond. True Christianity is always like that – always a response to the
deeds and words of God in Christ.
·
Repent (v15)
At its simplest, ‘repent’ means to stop heading where you are, do an
about turn and head the other way. Its starts in the mind and turns into deeds.
And so, we stop walking away from God, turn to face him and then walk towards
and with him.
Repentance is the first and necessary part of conversion.
·
Believe
(v15)
The call is ‘to believe the gospel’ which is the message about Jesus. To
believe the gospel is to trust in Jesus. To trust what he did on the Cross for
our forgiveness. To trust the promises of his resurrection and ascension. To
trust his words such that we live with him and for him. To entrust ourselves to
him.
The two words, ‘repent’ and ‘believe’ are verbs of conversion.
When we repent and believe, we have become a Christian. However, God is not
finished with us yet and the person who stops at conversion has quite missed
God’s point. God does not just want us to enter his kingdom with repentance and
faith, but he wants us to live in his kingdom as a loyal follower and servant.
·
Follow (v17)
As we follow Jesus, we start to resemble him. Our thoughts, words and
actions will be increasingly like his. All this is a natural outcome of
believing in him. Notice how the call to the fishermen brothers was simply
expressed as ‘Follow me’ and resulted in them arising, leaving and following. For
them, to believe was to follow.
To follow is to turn our conversation into discipleship. Jesus is
now not just our Saviour, but he is also our Lord.
·
Serve (v17)
‘Follow me’ is immediately followed by ‘and I will make you fishers of
men’. To follow Jesus means (as we saw) that we start to say and do as he does.
And that means that we become part of his mission in all its forms. For these
fishermen, that specifically meant telling others about him, and calling them
to repentance and faith and to follow. For each of God’s people, there is a
gifting of the Spirit that enables some activity in which we help Jesus and his
mission. To follow is to serve.
This is when discipleship becomes service.
·
Grow
The above four verbs are the heart of the faith. However, we can
usefully add a fifth verb that is implied by them – ‘grow’. The Christian’s
goal is to grow to be more and more like Jesus (Eph 4:12-13, 15-16). This
happens on the simple logic that, to the extent that we are like Jesus, we are
truly and gloriously most human, for he most bears that image of God which is
our created identity (Gen 1:26; Col 1:15).
There is to be an inevitable and organic growth such that the convert
grows into the disciple who then grows into a servant. It’s not like a freeway
with several exit points. Rather it is like stepping on a moving footway where
one stage leads naturally to the next. It’s a denial of conversion not to grow
to discipleship. And it’s a denial of discipleship not to grow to service.
Growth to each stage, and within each stage, is all part of Christian identity.
From little things, big things grow as the seed of faith turns into
followers who serve (Mat. 13:31-32).
