THE MISSING INGREDIENT

What do you think of when you think of the gospel of the grace of God? Well, I don't know about you, but I think of joy. Unfortunately, when I look around at many fellow "grace believers" I do not see much joy. All too often I see believers who are still laboring to live the Christian life -- just as if they were under the law.

The Apostle Paul speaks a lot about the subject of joy. In Romans 14:17 he says, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." And in Romans 15:13, he writes, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Of course, we are all familiar with Galatians 5:22 where we read that joy is also a fruit of the Spirit.

Now before I go any farther, let me clarify a couple of things. When I speak of having joy as a Christian, I am not saying that everyone should walk around with a happy-go-lucky attitude and a silly smile on their face. Nor am I condoning the charismatic movement or suggesting that the walk of faith is not serious business. However, there should be more Biblical joy evidenced in the life of the believer.

What is the cause of this lack of joy in the lives of so many Christians -- and grace believers at that? Of all people, those of us who know the revelation of the mystery should experience joy on a higher level than any other group of people!

Joy is something that we all desire, but how do we bring about true joy in our lives? We will find that there are three keys to experiencing joy in our Christian life: knowledge, obedience, and thankfulness.

Knowledge Based On Experience

Obedience and knowledge are essential for joy. But perhaps we should say, knowledge and obedience, because without proper knowledge, we will not know what to be obedient to. Many Christians cannot have joy because they are trying to obey the wrong thing OR they do not really know the person whom they are supposed to be obeying.

Most people who understand the distinctive character of the Pauline revelation have a mental understanding of the fact that we are not under law but grace. Many can also explain what it means to live under the dispensation of grace and what it means to be saved by grace through faith, apart from works. Yet many of these same people seem to have trouble translating that knowledge into everyday life.

While it is essential that we understand and are able to grasp the doctrinal truths of Paul's gospel, that is only the first step to achieving "full knowledge of the mystery."

When we speak of knowledge, we must be careful to distinguish between intellectual knowledge (gnosis ) and experiential knowledge (epignosis ). As Shakespeare would say, "Therein lies the rub."

Far too many grace believers have confused these two types of knowledge. Mistaking intellectual knowledge for experiential knowledge, they become puffed up (1 Corinthians 5:2), arrogant (1 Corinthians 8:1), and proud of their knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:2) --almost the modem-day equivalent of gnostics.

We must not miss the fact that our Apostle Paul often used the word for experiential knowledge or full knowledge. This is FAR more than intellectual knowledge. Paul teaches that "head knowledge" alone can cause more harm than good. For example, 1 Corinthians 8:11, "And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?" and Romans 10:2, "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." In both of these verses Paul uses the word for intellectual knowledge. When "head knowledge" is not tempered with experience, it usually results in problems within the Body of Christ.

By contrast, however, notice how the Apostle Paul uses the word for experiential or full knowledge: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:" (Ephesians 1:17); "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" (Ephesians 4:13); "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;" (Phil 1:9); "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;" (Colossians 1:9-10).

What is Paul talking about in these verses? In all of these just mentioned verses, God reveals to us how much He wants us to KNOW him. Please do not misunderstand this point! Even more than knowing about Him, God desires for us to know HITVI! This is NOT downplaying the importance of doctrine. Dispensational Pauline doctrine is the foundation of our faith -- we cannot do without it! However, there is a big difference between knowing about God and knowing God.

Remember the Pharisees? They certainly knew about God. They knew their Scriptures. They were able to quote large passages at will. They knew how many words, syllables, and characters were in given passages. But, they did not know God. Rather than commend their "knowledge," the Lord rebuked them for their hypocrisy in not living out what they knew (Matthew 5:20; 23:3,15,23,27).

The key to spiritual maturity is not intellectual knowledge alone nor experiential knowledge alone. It takes both. It is not an either/or proposition, but both/and! As mentioned, intellectual knowledge without application leads to knowledge puffing up and arrogance; on the other hand, trying to achieve experiential knowledge without the doctrinal foundation leads to experiential extremes such as found in the charismatic movement. The way to bring life to our mental knowledge of the mystery is to put it into practice or in a word, obedience.

Obedience Based On Knowledge

How do we go from knowledge about God to knowledge of God? The secret to transforming intellectual knowledge into experiential knowledge is obedience.

What do you think of when you hear the word "obedience?" Most people get the negative impression of someone holding a list of rules and regulations over their heads along with the admonition to "Obey!" This hardly brings joy!

When we speak of obedience, we need to think of obedience to grace, not to the law. Remember the Galatians? They received Paul's gospel with joyfulness. They finally knew what it was like to be freed from paganism and self effort and were rejoicing in the grace of God. But what happened? Some Judaizers came down and taught them that they had in addition to simple faith, they also had to keep the law.

What happened to the Galatians after the imposition of law? They lost their joy! Notice what Paul asks them in Galatians 4:15, "Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me." He's asking them, "What happened to your joy? You used to be so thrilled about being in Christ that you would have given me your own eyes!"

But now look at them! With the addition of the law, their joy disappeared. Yet, how many of us, while "knowing" the gospel of the grace of God, continue to live our lives as if we still had to try to please God. How many of us still live as if God were frowning down upon us instead of rejoicing in our oneness with Jesus Christ and our sonship with the Father and our fellowship with the Holy Spirit?

In 2 Corinthians 3:6 Paul says that the "letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." This is true in a practical sense also. Nothing will kill our joy more than thinking that we are on a performance basis with God.

Unfortunately, our understanding of salvation by grace through faith alone apart from works has sometimes led to the false assumption that good works are not important. The difference is that we do not perform good works to get saved, but because we are saved! There is a big difference.

But wait! you say. "I'm in the dispensation of grace, and works have nothing to do with me anymore." Well, that's not what our apostle says. We all know Ephesians 2:8-9, but we often choose to ignore what comes right after. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Did you catch that? We are saved (by faith, without works) UNTO good works. This same logic is presented by Paul in Titus 3:8, "This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men."

Good works are not relegated only to "church work." Simply putting what God has said in His Word into practice in everyday life is doing good works also. The challenge is in acting and reacting to everyday life situations based on God's Word as opposed to how we feel or have been taught or learned to react (habit). Paul says that we need to renew our mind and learn new responses (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23).

Take, for example, just a couple of scripture passages. How about Philippians 4:6, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Do you trust God, or do you worry about everything? Or how about Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." Is our life characterized by peace ruling in our heart?

Of course, there are many other passages in Paul's epistles that give us practical instruction on everyday living. Our problem isn't that we don't know what to do. Our problem is not doing what we know! Obedience will deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ and help us to get to know Him better. Obedience creates a circular effect: the more we obey, the better we know Him; the better we know Him, the more we want to obey Him! And on and on it goes, to the glory of God!

Thankfulness based on right perspective Colossians 3:15 mentions the last ingredient of joy to be discussed in this article --"and be ye thankful."

Knowledge and obedience will lead us into experiential knowledge -- really knowing God, not just knowing about Him. This experiential knowledge will develop thankfulness in our lives. Perhaps the reason that so many believers do not have thankful attitudes is because they really don't know God.

Thankfulness is not just something that we add if we feel like it. We are commanded many times to be thankful. The Holy Spirit knows our human tendency to negativism and focusing on what we don't have instead of what we do have. Unfortunately, this tendency is only encouraged and exaggerated in most workplaces and in many homes.

For an interesting study, look at all the places where the Apostle Paul uses the words "give thanks" or "giving thanks." Not only did he give thanks, but he commands us to do so as well, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Again in Philippians 4:6 he tells us to "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

The reason many of us lack thankfulness is because we have the wrong perspective. Remember when you were sitting at the dinner table as a child and you were not too thrilled about the food set before you? If so, then you probably also remember getting a lecture from your parents about poor children in some part of the world who were starving. What point were your parents trying to make? They were trying to change your perspective! In view of others without any food, you should appreciate the food that you do have.

Many of us lack thankfulness because our perspective is earthly instead of heavenly. We are told to "set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2). Also, in 2 Corinthians 4:18 we are told that "the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

If our focus is on this earth, we will always find things to be discouraged or depressed over. This is especially true when we start comparing ourselves with the status of others, especially of the affluent unsaved around us. Even King David was troubled by this when viewed from an earthly perspective (Psalm 73:3-16). But when viewed from the eternal perspective (Psalm 73:17-19), he understood. The same can be true of us. If we view our present circumstances from an earthly perspective, we may be discouraged or unthankful. But if we remember that all that is seen is temporal, we can then take great comfort and be very thankful that we are instead blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

Putting It All Together

Most of us have been taught about the need to appropriate by faith what is already ours through grace. We all desire to have more joy in our Christian life. The keys to experiencing joy are available to all of us.

We need to understand the gospel of the grace of God as revealed to the Apostle Paul. Then as we put Paul's instructions into practice, we will come to know God experientially. This will cause us to know Him better which will cause us to want to obey more which will cause us to know Him better which will cause us to want to obey more, and on and on it goes. Then as we learn and obey God and become focused on spiritual things instead of earthly things, we will become thankful for everything that God has provided for us in Christ. Knowledge, obedience, and thankfulness will then lead to abundant joy in our everyday life!

In the words of the old hymn:

Trust and obey,

For there's no other way,

To be happy in Jesus,

But to trust and obey.

"The Missing Ingredient" first appeared in the December, 1997 issue of "The Berean Searchlight." You can subscribe to "The Berean Searchlight" from the Berean Bible Society: N112 W17761 Mequon Road, Germantown, Wisconsin 53022.

Copyright © 1997, Pastor David M. Havard of the Berean Bible Society.

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