Faith to Finish

[HKHaugan]

Epi.31 Faith to the Finish

Many years ago it was considered important for upper class young ladies to get their education at a ‘finishing school.’ There they were trained in the homemaking skills, sewing, cooking, manners and the higher literary pursuits. After ‘finishing school’ it was on to a proper college for women and the expectation of a proper marriage beginning with their ‘coming out’ at a debutante ball where eligible bachelors dressed in tuxedos were formerly introduced. The real purpose of ‘debutantery’ was the upper class way of engineering ‘proper’ marriage. Feminine ‘finishing’ was a social attempt to refine spiritual reality.

The historic New England approach to male ‘finishing’ was the prep school where moneyed parents sent their adolescent boys away to be intellectually and socially prepared for the proper college and professional life that would set them apart from the masses. Lost in all of this was the spiritual reality of being an image of God even though there were condescending expressions in having services in a chapel setting. Actually there are ‘finishing’ experiences on every social level but its the idea that we can shape a human being’s future by secular means.

You see, the real job of ‘finishing’ is spiritual. When Jesus said, “It is finished” on the Cross, He was saying at the same time, “This is the beginning of something new.” There is a new way of ‘arriving’ and of ‘finishing.’ The goal is not being an emperor, a professional success nor a military or athletic hero for which there were all kinds of ‘finishing’ opportunities. What was ‘finished’ was the work He came to do: to be a perfect image of God from birth to death. The ‘new’ was not about governments, societies, cultures, professions or nations which all culminate in death. It was about being an individual image of God living out His will, His purposes in a human body, wherever and with whomever. He did it perfectly which was proven when He rose from the dead. What mankind had lost in Eden was restored in Him.

Furthermore, the work Jesus came to do was to show God’s new life is spiritual, personal, relational and eternal as we move from one moment to the next. The Cross brings to life what lay dormant in desolate humanity: faith is our cross, the cross He asks us to take up, the vehicle to carry us into every next moment. Faith is what makes us human. Faith is how we extend our mind, our heart and our spirit into the everyday human mix. Faith is our light in the unknown, the salt that flavors how we meet and deal with others. Faith is what stretches the mind to react spiritually and the spirit to react mindfully and the heart to reach out relationally. Faith is the balance beam between fear and love, retreat and courage, self and God, me and others.

In summary, faith was the work of Jesus who made it the new work for us. The Cross was the finishing touch that polished and secured the perfection of life He lived for us. Through His Cross we see our cross as the Holy Spirit’s ‘faith sanding’ and ‘faith polishing’ each of us through His gifts and fruit.

If we look at the life Jesus lived, every moment He spent was an obedient moment believing His Father’s will in His mind, trusting His Father’s presence in His heart and relying on the Spirit’s power as He moved about. The places He went, the people He met, the words He spoke, the miracles He performed, the daily movement He chose, the hostility and suspicion He endured; all of it was secured by faith.

In others words, faith is the action we undertake with our new eternal life In Him. He is our hope for and the evidence of His life available in every next moment. Just as He said, “I am come so that they may have life and have it more abundantly (Jn.10:10).” That life is for the mind, the heart and the spirit. It gives a whole new meaning to what work is all about. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord we shifted the meaning of work from what we do to earn a living to believing in Jesus who was sent by the Father (Jn.6:29). We trust in our hearts that He is present in us (Jn.17:23). Then we act in faith motivated by the Spirit (Jn.14:12). Our work is to believe in Jesus, trust in His presence and through faith in the Spirit, we give our all for Him in every next moment. When we are working spiritually all the rest of what happens on earth is led spiritually; the jobs we choose, the people we speak to, the choices and decisions we make, places we go and all the rest of our emotional and physical lives are directed by the Spirit. Everything else falls into place because we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit in our whole being.

The “finished” work of Jesus was the Cross and the ‘finishing’ work for us is to trust Him to be faithful with everything. Having a profession, being a citizen, developing a skill, contributing to a culture and a productive society calls for a spiritual orientation that changes the worldview from a self centered to a relationally encouraging society. That can only be accomplished by being spiritually centered. That’s when people know their real origin, that they are ongoing images of God under spiritual reconstruction. Their lifeview is eternal which makes their worldview goals eternally influenced. The Resurrection of Jesus shifts how we live from temporary to eternal by definition. We live by faith not by sight (2Cor.5:7). The Resurrection of Jesus is the proof that His Cross was faith and that our cross is the moment by moment experience of His work being done in us through faith.

Our hope is stated eloquently by Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2Tim.4:7).” The Lord has made this a reality for us through His Resurrection.