I think it is easy to get arrogance and assurance mixed up. While arrogance is clearly the fruit of pride, assurance sprouts from a different root. And although God is clearly opposed to arrogance and pride in all of their forms, God’s Word portrays assurance as something to be desired and displayed by His beloved. It would be helpful to examine all of the occurences of the word “assurance” in the Bible, but I simply want to whet your appetite by looking at one from the book of Hebrews:
Hebrews 10:19-23
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The author of this passage gives three exhortations (let us . . . let us . . . let us) that are rooted in two profound truths (since we . . . since we).
SINCE WE have confidence to enter the holy place
by the blood of Jesus
by the new and living way opened through the curtain.
SINCE WE have a great high priest over the house of God.
The two truths here are really one and the same, and might be stated this way:
SINCE WE HAVE JESUS!!!
LET US draw near
With a true heart in full assurance of FAITH.
LET US hold fast
The confession of our HOPE without wavering.
LET US consider
How to stir up one another to LOVE and good works.
Since we have Jesus let us draw near. It is interesting to consider the relationship between the three words that are linked to this idea of drawing near. We draw near to our God, entering the holy place with CONFIDENCE, with a true heart in full ASSURANCE of FAITH. Condidence, assurance, faith.
Since we have Jesus let us hold fast. This command adds to our list the idea of an UNWAVERING HOPE. Confidence, assurance, faith, unwavering hope. In the following chapter of Hebrews, chapter 11, the author defines FAITH as the ASSURANCE of things HOPED for, the CONVICTION of (or we might say CONFIDENCE in) things not seen. So, we might say that faith, assurance, and confidence or conviction in this context are all synonyms. They are all manifestations of a muscle-bound hope in Jesus.
What happens when Christians characterized by this muscle-bound hope in Jesus that we call assurance, or faith, or confidence, or conviction spend time together? They stir one another up!
Since we have Jesus let us consider how to stir one another up to LOVE and good works. When you put a bunch of Christians filled with muscle-bound hope in Jesus into the same pot and stir them up, you end up with a tasty delicacy of love and good works.
Unfortunately, I think that we are often afraid to walk in the assurance, faith, and confidence that are ours in Christ, particularly when spending time with other Christians. We don’t want to come off as arrogant or proud. We don’t want to seem “super-spiritual” or “holier than thou.” And so, we shy away from spiritual topics. We hesitate to speak about our love for the Lord, or the truths that we are discovering in His Word, or the fruit that He is bearing in our lives. And the result is that much of our “Christian” fellowship is actually quite fleshly. It doesn’t smell much like Christ at all.
When brothers and sisters in Christ succeed in distinguishing between a sinful arrogance and a saintly assurance in Christ, genuine spiritual community results, and this always overflows into love and good works. We let our love for the Lord spill over in our interactions with one another. We boldly point one another to the cross again and again. We willingly open God’s Word together, and gladly receive whatever instruction and insight that springs forth. We graciously rebuke sinful behavior in one another, sharpening eachother as iron sharpens iron. We spur eachother on to righteousness and justice.
I don’t know about you, but I am hungry for time with faith-filled men and women whose confidence is not in the flesh (arrogance) but in the grace and power of Christ (assurance). May I be filled with the Spirit of Christ today such that I will walk in the assurance that He gives me, and spur others around me on to do the same. Amen.
