How Do I Know
How Do I Know by Rev. L. John Gable
October 10, 2021
There is an ancient Japanese Shinto story about a man who awoke one morning and said, “Last night I had a dream that I became a butterfly, flitting about from flower to flower. All I cared about was the fancy of a butterfly. Then I awakened. Now I have a problem: Am I a man who dreamed I was a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming I am a man?”
It is a curious thought, I’ll grant you; one I’ll venture to say you’ve never thought about before nor would I bother pondering on too long. But there is another question which I feel quite certain each of us has asked of ourselves that can be framed in much the same way. How do I know I really am a Christian, that I am sufficiently right in my relationship with God, that I am secure in my salvation? Is it because of what I say I believe or the way I try to live my life? Do I do the good things I do because I am a Christian, or am I a Christian because of the good things that I do? This is the essence of the age old question of the relationship between faith and good works which at times can send us around in circles like the chicken and the egg or the man and the butterfly. Which comes first, my faith which finds expression in good works or my good works which are enlightened by my faith? They almost seem inseparable, don’t they? It is hard to think of the one without the other. They go hand in hand, yet they are distinct. So how do I know I really am a Christian? By my words or by my actions?
Let me be clear. This question is intended for us to ask of ourselves, not of others lest we put ourselves in the position of judging another’s words and actions, the vitality of their faith. And admittedly it is perhaps a question we don’t even ask of ourselves very often, except in those times of introspection when we wonder if we believe enough, or rightly enough, or if we have done enough to act on our faith. If I rely on the confession of my faith I find great assurance, but I also realize that my faith is intermingled with many questions and doubts. If I look at my actions, some good and some not so good, I find myself asking the age old question, “If being a Christian was against the law would there be enough evidence to convict me?” So, what is the relationship between faith and works? Is one sufficient without the other? Is either complete in and of itself? How do I know if I have enough of either? Can I be given any confidence and assurance? These are the kinds of questions both Paul and John address in our Scripture lessons morning.
Let’s begin with Paul. He writes in his letter to the Romans of his desire that all people might be saved, that is, that all people might come in to a right relationship with God, and that not by obedience to the Law, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. His concern was that Israel of old had misinterpreted the meaning and purpose of the Law. Rather than seeing it as a means to learn to trust God and grow in our relationship with Him, they had come to see it as a standard of goodness by which they could measure themselves and so try to earn their own salvation, which we know all too well is utterly unattainable.
In order to argue against what we have come to call a “works righteousness”, or the sense of needing to earn God’s love through our good actions, Paul writes, “The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart; because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.”
According to this teaching, how do we know we are in a right relationship with God? All we need do is believe in our hearts and confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord. Friends, this is the profound truth of the Christian faith. This is the Good News of the Gospel: that our salvation is not anything we have done but what God has done for us, a free gift offered to us by God which we need only to accept and trust; which means, there is absolutely nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do which could ever make Him love us less; which means, all our striving in order to try to win God’s favor by all the good things we do is meaningless and ineffective. As Paul writes in his letter to Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” Eph 2:8-9.
Admittedly, as good as that should sound to us, this is often a hard message for many of us to hear, particularly us American Christians. We are inbred with a sense of self-reliance. We like to think we can do things on our own, earn our own way, be self-dependent and self-determined. That may be the way it is for us in the world, but it is not the way it is in the economy of God. It’s called grace because it is given to us even when we don’t deserve it and there’s nothing we can do to earn it.
John Leith writes, “The witness of faith that God was uniquely present in Jesus Christ, that in Jesus Christ God wrought our salvation, and that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the heart of the Christian faith.” To accept this statement as being true, to believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and confess with our lips that God raised Him from the dead, is sufficient for our salvation. How do I know? Because this is God’s gracious (grace-filled) promise to us.
The story is told of the woman who was having trouble understanding this claim of the faith. It seemed too simple, too unreasonable that all she had to do was say “yes” to the invitation of God’s love, so she asked her pastor to explain it, and he did in this way. He asked her, “What is your last name?” “Jones”, she answered. “And how long has it been Jones?” “Since my husband and I were married nearly 30 years ago.” “And on that day”, continued the pastor, “when you were asked, ‘Will you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?’ what did you answer?” “I will”, she said. “Didn’t you say, ‘I hope so’ or ‘I want to’ or ‘I’ll try’?” “No”, she said, “I said ‘I will’ and on that day I became his wife.” And suddenly she saw where this conversation was going. Friends, all we need to do in order to come in to a right and saving relationship with God is to say “yes” to His love for us in Jesus Christ. That is all. There is nothing more. That is the Good News of the Gospel which we are invited to hear and believe.
But even as we say that we realize that there is something more, a something that comes after, not before, we say “yes” to God. Once we receive this gracious gift we realize we must then live it, which is exactly the point John makes in his letter. We read, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” The Christian faith is not a way of talking, it is a way of walking. Our words about God’s love will ring hollow indeed, for others as well as for ourselves, unless and until they find expression in our concrete acts of helpfulness, our demonstrated love of others, our “good works”. Theologian Hans Kung writes, “Faith in an ultimate and radical sense cannot be properly distinguished from love. It is a personal activity directed toward a personal recipient. Faith is never, in the final analysis, a matter of adherence to objects, rules or dogmas, but is the sacrifice and self-giving of one person to another.”
Faith cannot ultimately be distinguished from love because love is the basis of our faith, God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. When we accept this love and allow it to touch our hearts there is a change that takes place in us and then through us. This love we have been given is so great we cannot contain it in our own hearts, so it flows out from our lives into the lives of others. And that tangible expression of love to others is the evidence that we have finally understood God’s love for us. Elton Trueblood writes of this when he says, “We cannot, of course, know whether a person is telling the truth when they say ‘I believe’, because belief is intrinsically internal and personal. But the evidence of changed lives is something which other people can observe.”
So which is it? Faith or our good works which gives us the confidence of our right relationship with God? The answer is “yes, both”. In order for faith to be real it must find expression in love, tangible demonstrations of kindness and compassion toward others. And, in order for those acts of kindness to be expressions of faith they must be grounded in an awareness of God’s outpouring of love to us. Faith and works, each dependent on the other, each giving the other new expression, which is exactly what John meant when he wrote, “This is God’s commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ AND love one another, just as He commanded us.”
Let me close in a manner similar to the way I began, with the telling of a dream, this one from African lore.
“Abou Ben Audum, may his tribe increase,
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw within the moonlight of his room
An angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Audum bold,
Unto the presence in the room he said, “What writest thou?”
The vision raised its head-
And with a look made all of sweet accord,
Said, “The names of those who love the Lord.”
“And is mine one?” said Abou.
“Nay, not so”, replied the angel.
“I pray thee then write me as one who loves his fellow man.”
The angel wrote and vanished.
The next night he appeared with a great awakening light,
And showed the names that love of God has blessed,
And lo, Ben Audum’s name led all the rest.”
Trust in God and good works, acts of kindness and confessions of the heart, two sides of the same coin we call faith. These two together answer our “how do I know?” question. This passage makes it in to our list of 50 Greatest because it gives us the Christian assurance: “By this we know that God abides in us, by the Spirit He has given us.” How do I know I am a Christian? How do I know, despite my questions and doubts and less than good deeds, that I am in a right relationship with God and that my salvation is secure? Because God knows my heart even better than I do and He has given us His Spirit as the guarantee.
So, do I do the good things I do because I am a Christian or am I a Christian because I do the good things I do? The answer is “yes.” While either one, without the other, is incomplete, together they give full expression to our faith. So this promise is sure: “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” AND such a glorious promise as this must find expression in our lives, “So, let us love, not in word or speech only, but in truth and action.” This is how we know! Amen.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN