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Moved and Unmoved
When God came to Abraham and made the promises to him, He told Abraham, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1); we find immediately following this, “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him” (Gen. 12:4). The writer of Hebrews tells us, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8). In this story, Abraham literally moved because of God's command and promise; he moved because he had faith.
Faith is an important factor in the life of disciples, as we might guess; it is the beginning point of our conversion from one who follows the ways of the world to one who follows the ways of God. Faith, as God defines it, is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1), and the strength of it is what makes the difference between faithfulness and apostasy. For today's study, we will say it is the difference between being moved or unmoved. Faith can move us, or it can prevent us from being moved, depending on the situation. A weak faith, or a lack of faith, will allow the troubles and trials of life to move us, while a strong faith will move us to do the things God would have us do, or it could prevent us from being moved away from God. Let us consider a few Bible examples to make the point.
Faith That Moves Us. In a story familiar to many of us, we read of how Noah, “being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household” (Heb. 11:7). He, like Abraham, was moved by his faith and did what God told him to do. When we go back to the original story, we find the following said about Noah: “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did” (Gen. 6:22), and, “Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him” (Gen. 7:5).
From these examples — and all the ones found in Hebrews 11 — we may know that the faith that saves us is a faith that moves us and causes us to do what God commands. It is plainly disingenuous to say 'we are saved by faith only' when saving faith is never 'alone.' Every single one of the individuals named in Hebrews 11 who were cited because of their faith were individuals who did something. That is why they are noteworthy!
James addresses this fact when he spoke of the fallacy of saying we are saved by faith without works. He begins by asking, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Jas. 2:14-17). He makes this statement two more times (Jas. 2:20, 26), and notes plainly “that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (Jas. 2:24). In simple terms, a faith that does not move us is a dead faith. We are no better than demons (Jas. 2:19) if we 'believe only' and do nothing because of our conviction. In fact, we might not really even be convicted if our faith does not move us!
Faith That Keeps Us From Being Moved. Of course, our faith should move us to do the things God desires we do, but our faith should also be such that we will not be moved by threats, troubles, trials, hardships, family relationships, emotional arguments, or a host of other factors that might lead us away from God and the path to eternal life. What we are speaking of is the kind of faith the apostle Paul had and was made evident when he was headed toward Jerusalem, knowing “chains and tribulations” awaited him (Acts 20:23). Facing the certainty of trials, Paul would boldly say, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).
Paul stood firmly with Christ, and was not going to allow any possible persecution change his path, because he wanted to (1) finish his earthly race with joy, knowing he had lived faithfully for the Lord all the way to the end, and (2) finish the work that had been given particularly to him. He was not moved by these things, for we read his words to Timothy near the end of his life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7, 8).
All Christians need this kind of faith, and Paul himself will remind the early disciples, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Col. 1:21-23). IF! They could expect the praise of Christ in the end only if they were not moved away from the hope of the gospel. In this case, they needed a faith that would not allow them to be moved!
To see what it takes to have this kind of faith, let us consider the words of the psalmist.
Nearness to the Lord. The psalmist wrote, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved” (Psa. 16:8). In these words, we can see it is because the Lord is invited to be near him and kept near him that he will not be moved by the trials of life. We cannot expect to have any confidence in our spiritual battles when we keep our distance from the Lord and His ways, or keep Him at a distance!
The Lord as our defense. This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point, but hear the psalmist when he writes, “He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psa. 62:2), and, “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved” (Psa. 62:5, 6). Here, the psalmist identifies the Lord as his protector and defense — the very reason he will not be moved. He understood well that the Lord is the only one who can defeat our spiritual enemies, and having Him as our protection and defense is only logical.
Righteous living. The psalmist asks, “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” (Psa. 15:1), and then proceeds to describe to us the one who may do so: the man who lives a righteous life (Psa. 15:2-5). The one who does so “shall never be moved.” Righteous living will give no reason for critics to criticize us (1 Pet. 2:11, 12) or malign us (1 Pet. 3:16), and, if we are living righteously, the only 'fault' others will find is that we are serving God faithfully (cf. Dan. 6:5). We will not be moved by such attempts because we will know that God is pleased with us
It's your move. — Steven Harper
