The Third Step — People of a Faith Like Sharp, Low Hills

1He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters flowed out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the front of the house faced toward the east. The waters came down from underneath, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. 2Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me around by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east. Behold, waters ran out on the right side. 3When the man went out eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. 4Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through waters that were to the waist. 5Afterward he measured one thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be walked through.

Because anyone who lives the life of faith may waver to the right or to the left, or lose heart, we need times of looking back on ourselves. At first we begin without knowing what faith is; then, just as we start to feel we understand a little, we come to the third step, where the sharp low hills stand. This step calls for great care, because on it we may exalt ourselves and show a proud spirit that judges others. We thought that as long as we went to church we would of course go to heaven, but the more we learn of the word, the more we see how hard it is to live by it, and we may be shaken. Because we must be trained to deny ourselves, doubts about the life of faith arise, and we long for the days when we lived as we pleased and are torn—this is the third step. When people reach it, they divide into those who overcome by their own resolve, with their hope set on heaven, and those who go back to the world, so we must learn the Bible thoroughly.

Whether faith grows or stops is decided here. If we do not get past the third step, we cannot grow, however many years we attend church; we are like stagnant water. On the other hand, those who leap over the third step gain confidence in God, along with the hope of heaven, the assurance of salvation, and joy. The faith of the sharp low hills is the stage at which people know a fair amount of the word, are given a role in the church, and begin to serve, which makes it a dangerous step where a smug sense of knowing something about God, and pride with it, can take root.

Depending on their character, some saints listen to the counsel of those ahead of them and grow by leaps, while others stumble from the pride of thinking they have grown. This is when people are most prone to the mistake of criticizing other people’s faith. Pastors must therefore build up those on the third step with the word so they do not stumble, and help them to hold a humble faith. Those who serve with their very lives yet do not even realize they are working have a humble faith, and they will receive a reward from God.

The apostle Paul, whose faith was ready for martyrdom, confessed that he was the chief of sinners; in that confession we see the attitude of a saint who takes living by faith as nothing more than what is due.

Genesis 37:6-7

6He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”

Joseph, Jacob’s son, later fulfilled the precious calling of saving Israel, but while his faith was still immature he also made serious mistakes. God trims and shapes every person, whoever they are, where they fall short, and then uses them. How soon a person grasps God’s will, gives up human righteousness, and obeys determines whether their time in the refiner’s fire ends quickly or their suffering drags on.

Instead of understanding why God had made him dream, Joseph boasted that his whole family had bowed down to him. God was revealing through Joseph that he would save the whole family, but because Joseph was spiritually young, he did not yet grasp it. Jacob had always favored Joseph, so his brothers hated him, but Joseph had no sense of how they felt. When we are spiritually weak like Joseph, even when God shows us his great purpose, we fail to understand it; instead we boast and hurt others. Had Joseph been mature, he would have conducted himself more wisely, and he would not have had to take the long road of suffering brought on by his brothers’ envy and jealousy.

The calling Joseph received from God was to prepare a way of escape that would keep his whole family alive through the seven years of drought to come. Of course, God also planned to use this as the occasion to form Israel through the four hundred years of slavery he had promised Abraham, and then to bring them out of Egypt. Young Joseph’s vessel was too small for him to grasp so great a work and accept it as his calling, so God used his brothers’ hatred to send him to Egypt. This was because, before Joseph’s small vessel could hold the people of Israel, he first had to be put through the fire that would make him a large one. Just as a potter must spend more care and time to make a large vessel, Joseph needed more training until he grew.

For Joseph, who had lived at ease, that refining was agonizing, but God led him on according to the plan he had set. Thankfully, Joseph lived a life of faith through his time of suffering and understood at last why God had led him along the narrow way. He also realized that even his brothers, who had sold him to the Ishmaelites, were instruments used in God’s plan.

If Joseph had not obeyed, the exodus would have come about through someone else, and he would not have rescued his family from the severe drought. Looking at Joseph’s suffering, we can see that there is always a reason for suffering, whatever form it takes. There is suffering that shapes us into vessels fit for God’s will, and there is also suffering we bring on ourselves through our own sin; it is important, therefore, that we always live pure lives.

On the third step, instead of thanking the pastors who have taught them the word or the saints who have gone before them in faith, people show the proud attitude of thinking they too know the word. God sometimes sends angels to help you, but he also works through people and circumstances. If a brother or sister in the faith has helped your faith, you should cherish them and be grateful; if people are drawing you toward the world, you must have the resolve of faith to cut them off firmly. Without spiritual discernment you cannot tell whether someone is a person of faith who helps you or one who hinders your faith, and so you may stumble.

God raised Joseph, who was faithfully fulfilling his calling, to be prime minister of Egypt. Once he had passed through suffering hard enough to kill him, God gave him worldly authority, honor, and wealth and made him the one who would save Israel. For God’s people, living by faith always comes first, and when we show our faith, we receive astonishing blessings we never imagined.

John 13:20

20Most certainly I tell you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.”

Put simply, this verse means that whoever lives according to God’s will becomes, in the end, someone God specially protects. Because those who preach the gospel have God’s special attention and carry the word of power, Jesus told us to treat them as preciously as we would treat him. This is exactly why the world is bound for destruction. A world that persecutes the precious saints who preach the gospel of Christ sins against God, and because of that sin it cannot escape ruin. To persecute God’s people shows that one has not received Christ, and for that reason there is no way to flee God’s judgment. To persecute the church and its people is to persecute God himself, so let no one set themselves against the church.

Jesus said to those on his right that when he was hungry they gave him food, when he was sick they cared for him, and when he was thirsty they gave him drink, and he commended them. Then he gave them an astonishing blessing: to inherit the Kingdom prepared for them by God the Father from the foundation of the world. When they asked in amazement when they had ever served the Lord, he said that whatever they did to one of the least of these his brothers, they did to him. They had helped their poor brothers and sisters out of compassion, and God does not forget that love but repays it with an eternal reward. If a brother or sister in difficulty is beside you now, it is because God is giving you the opportunity to be rewarded.

Those who fail to grasp God’s heart will mock the poor, saying they were not blessed because they sinned, and will wound the sick by telling them they fell ill because they did not pray. This is the mistake people on the third step make most often. Because their faith is not rightly established, they sin by criticizing the weak faith of others in order to display their own righteousness. When such thoughts arise, we should remember that when we were not serving, someone else served, and so the church grew; and when we paid no attention, someone else was faithful, and that is why we could live a sound life of faith. Once we are gripped by the thought that we have given ourselves, we no longer see how faithfully other members are serving, and we grow proud. But if we look at ourselves before judging others, we can become humble.

Luke 16:14-15

14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him. 15He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

People differ in character and in how readily they take in the word. Some hear the word and still go the way of the world, while others beat their bodies into submission and strive to walk the narrow way of truth. There is a limit to how much a pastor can help the faith of the flock. A pastor can teach God’s law and God’s will, but living out the word must be done by one’s own will, so it is not right to blame others and complain when our faith does not grow. If we have been taught the word, then we ourselves must take responsibility for faith that has not grown.

The Pharisees openly displayed their pride toward Jesus. Because they did not recognize Jesus, who is life, they even scoffed at him when he rebuked them. If, like the Pharisees, we refuse even to hear counsel from the word simply because it differs from our own thinking, we can never experience God’s grace. When a brother or sister in the faith counsels us, if we grasp their intent and accept it, God will see that heart as humility and bless it.

Most of those who boast of their faith on the sharp low hills say things like this: they too have served through hard times, they have given offerings beyond their means, they have prayed and fasted earnestly, and they have wisdom besides. But if they think about it a little further, the question is this: for whom was all that devotion, and for whom that faithfulness?

It is only right to be faithful to Jesus, who gave his own life to save sinners who had been deceived by Satan and fallen into death. Nor is there anything to boast of before God when we give from the wealth he entrusted to us to fulfill the calling of good stewards. If, having only kept the faith by the grace God gave, we boast of it, we are foolish and without wisdom.

The purpose of the church in teaching the Bible is to help people break free of a blessing-seeking faith and serve God of their own accord. If they strive to keep their faith on their own, they become workers who labor, with the word they have understood, for the saving of many more souls.

Sadly, though, when people are told to live freely in the truth, we see them living lives close to license, as though all their devotion until then had been forced. To be free in the truth does not mean living at ease, with no responsibilities or duties at all; it means that a spiritual battle has begun in which, like adults, we take on our responsibilities and duties ourselves and beat our bodies into submission. Even so, many churchgoers hold a faith that haggles with God for worldly blessings.

Because of misguided faith, many in the church misunderstand God. Their faith runs like this: if they devote themselves zealously, God will bless them; if they tithe, he will pour out blessing until there is no room in the storehouse; if they never miss a Sunday, their children will be blessed; and only by working hard at church can they escape God’s punishment. For this reason they never forgot to give offerings, and they made going to church the top priority in everything and never missed a service. Truly, a great many church members hold the mistaken faith that only by doing so will God approve their faith and bless them abundantly.

Yet such a life of faith is idolatry, no different from the people of the world who paste up talismans and feel secure. Even so, we must give offerings, keep the Lord’s Day, and devote ourselves because we love God. When you tell people that God does not want a blessing-seeking faith and that it earns no reward, you see them suddenly go slack, like a kite whose taut string has snapped after straining to hold it.

When they are told that it has nothing to do with worldly blessing and they show the mistaken notion that they need not give or keep the Lord’s Day after all, it shows that they are not children of God. When a person of faith and a person whose faith seeks blessing worship side by side, on the outside they will appear to be serving God in the same way. But in God’s eyes their faith is utterly different. It will be as different as Cain and Abel, as Ishmael and Isaac, as Esau and Jacob.

A person who lives life according to God’s will and gives to God what is God’s can never be the same as one who, because they hear God is almighty, tries to use him to get blessings. You breathe because God has kept you, and you have a happy home and the strength to work because God has been a hedge around you. Of course, the church must teach its members to keep the Lord’s Day and to give offerings. Just as children who start school are taught, with a measure of compulsion, to attend and are taught how to study, the church too needs to teach the basic rules. But it cannot lead by compulsion forever. Just as children do better when they study on their own, God’s people too must know God’s law and live by it if they are to grow wonderfully in both soul and body.

Between someone who lives the life of faith to be blessed and someone who keeps the faith because they truly love God, who do you think is the true saint? The blessed life is the life of one who weighs the word wisely and applies it.

1 Timothy 4:7-8

7But refuse profane and old wives’ fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness. 8For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and of that which is to come.

When children who have just started elementary school listen closely to their teacher, they settle into school easily. In the same way, if God’s people learn the word the pastor preaches and show it in good deeds, they can have the grace of God and the assurance of salvation. In first grade their growth is hardly noticeable, but as they move up the grades they will show a maturity that does things on its own without being told. Once they have grown enough to handle their own affairs, they can plan their lives and live steadily without others’ help.

The church teaches the Bible to help people overcome the attacks of cunning Satan and live in peace in the Lord. Without spiritual training, people fall every time Satan tempts them, and as a result they cannot keep their own salvation, let alone help save the souls of others.

I have told you that God is not one who disciplines you at once for missing a single Sunday, or who takes away your property at once for not tithing. Because Jesus offered his body as a sacrifice once for all and forgave our sins, God does not take life on the spot when the law is broken, as he did in Old Testament times. If he judged every sin as he did in the Old Testament, not one person would survive. If, after hearing this, you feel no guilt about not coming to church and no burden about not giving, then that is all your faith amounts to. Even so, I cannot threaten you that bad things will happen if you break the Lord’s Day or that you will lose as much money as you fail to tithe. For if you keep the Lord’s Day and give offerings diligently only because you are frightened by words like that, your faith is false.

So I would ask you to consider what your own faith is like. When you are threatened with words like sin, law, and no reward, do you tithe, however large the sum, and keep the Lord’s Day? Why do you think it is that people who were zealous for reward, on hearing that they are free, at once harden and begin haggling with God for blessing? It is because the faith they have held until now was not offered in gratitude for God’s love and grace; they have lived the life of faith for their own gain. If God had always come first for you, you would have kept the Lord’s Day whether under freedom or under law, and you would have given your precious money beyond your means, as Barnabas did.

What I want to say to you is this: true saints come to church with joy because they love God, and they take it as a matter of course to give God what is God’s.

Matthew 24:41

41Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left.

On the last day, when two women are grinding at the mill and one is taken and the other left, what happens to each will be decided by the life of faith we live now; that is why we must walk in the Spirit and in truth. A master trusts a servant who works faithfully and honestly hands over the harvest. In the same way, those whom God trusts will be given more land and, as a result, will naturally live a blessed life. Those who know this have kept their faith out of love for God, and so they will overcome the dark world through wisdom. Every church alike follows the Great Commission of Jesus Christ—evangelizing, worshiping, sending missions, and caring for the poor—so judged by appearances, they would all seem to believe in God. Yet though they did the same things, because God looks at the heart, one will be taken and the other abandoned under a curse. Doing God’s work to be blessed, or working because a pastor pressures you, is of no help whatever to the one who does it. Nevertheless, the church urges you to devote yourselves for the sake of your own faith.

We must train every day to beat our bodies into submission and to humble ourselves, so that we may live godly lives. If we keep at it, one day we will find ourselves mature, living by the word and faithful to God. Those who have such faith are the children of faith who receive a reward from God. God has urged us not to be children in our thinking but to be grown up in the word. If we strive to take the lowly place of our own accord, God will raise us up high without our having to put ourselves forward, and we will receive people’s love and respect.

You too have probably known the sharp low hills. I hope you will now build on that experience of faith and climb one step higher. As you go up the steps of faith one at a time, before you know it you will understand God’s heart, and you will share the gospel to repay his love.

Mature faith is not recognized by how much one owns but by living a holy and humble life according to the word. Just as new wine is put into new wineskins, may you throw away the old wineskins you have held until now and fill the new ones God has given with rewards. Those who are thankful for God’s grace can withstand any attack of Satan, and they will never spill the wondrous grace the Lord has given.

I hope you will cut away the sharp places that hinder the growth of your faith and live as precious saints, pressing on toward what is holy and high.