Understanding the finished work of Christ really takes the struggle out of faith. Faith is simply receiving what God has already provided through grace. Anything that Jesus died for is ours – and the list is long. Faith can’t make God DO anything. Faith just receives what He’s already DONE by His grace. It’s just too simple for our brains to grab hold of. The natural mind can only understand deductive reasoning: do this, and you’ll get that result. The things of God don’t make any sense to the natural mind. My brain was blown some time ago by the idea that the work is finished. How can the work be finished if I haven’t seen the answer to my need with my natural eyes? That’s the way I used to look at. Yet, if we don’t believe the work is finished, then faith is going to become a work. And from my experience, when faith becomes work, it’s the worst taskmaster of all – untold hours of fasting and praying and crying out to God for Him to move, and the more people pleading with their faces on the floor before God, the better – as if God didn’t care about or love people as much as we did. What nonsense.
Before I could be delivered from that mindset, I had to know what happened when Jesus said, “It is finished.” More specifically, I had to know what happened TO ME when Jesus said, “It is finished.” A few years ago, after being a Christian my whole life and working many years in ministry, I finally saw it! Jesus was unveiled to me. That day all the years of believing in an UN-finished work began to unravel. I learned what happened when I died with Him and rose again a new creation in Him. The result of all of this has been true REST. No more struggle to get God to do anything.
There are passages of scripture that I misinterpreted in the past and even taught others from my own lack of understanding. One of those passages is from Luke 11.
“Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” (Luke 11:5-8)1
The misinterpretation that has been taught and believed by many Christians is that God is the so-called “friend” in that story, and we have to beg Him before He will give us what we are asking for.
What kind of “friend” would turn another friend away to go without food because he was tired and didn’t want to be bothered? The point Jesus was making in this parable was the exact opposite of what many Christians think He was saying. Most Christians I know think He was saying that God is like that, and we need to persist and beg and plead with Him. Then, just to get us off His back, He’ll give us what we’re asking for. Once again, that’s nonsense! The point Jesus was trying to make is that no true friend would treat another friend that way. It’s evil! It follows that if a true friend who was merely human would never do that, then why in the world would we ever have to beg God for anything?
If you continue reading that passage in context, it’s OBVIOUS what Jesus was saying about our Heavenly Father. So let’s look at the very NEXT verse in Luke 11:
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If YOU THEN, BEING EVIL, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:9-13, emphasis mine)
It’s just plain dangerous to take passages out of context. On this particular mis-interpretation, millions of Christians have suffered unnecessarily. But the biggest problem with thinking we have to twist God’s arm to get Him to do something for us, or use our “words of faith” to force Him to move on our behalf, is that it’s a horrendous insult to God’s character. It’s saying that God doesn’t want to help us!
The truth is that God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son for us, and He already provided everything we will ever need at the cross – way before we even needed it! There was a great, divine exchange that took place. For us, the greatest trade Jesus made with us was to become our sin so that we could become His righteousness. That made us sons and daughters of God and joint-heirs with Christ and heirs of God Himself. It couldn’t get any better than that. We just need to believe it’s true!
(from pages 347-349 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
Shop Unveiling Jesus Products
Unveiling Jesus Book
Unveiling Jesus 20-Part Series
Original Unveiling Jesus, 10-part series
1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
