THE PATH of PROGRESS: RECKONING

HE PATH of PROGRESS: RECKONING (The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee - Chapter 4, Part 2)

THE SECOND STEP: “EVEN SO RECKON...”

What does reckoning mean?

‘Reckoning’ in Greek means

DOING ACCOUNTS BOOK-KEEPING.

Accounting is the only thing in the world we human beings can do correctly.

An artist paints a landscape.

Can he do it with perfect accuracy?

Can the historian vouch for the absolute accuracy of any record, or the map-maker for the perfect correctness of any map?

They can make, at best, fair approximations.

Even in everyday speech, when we try to tell some incident with the best intention to be honest and truthful, we cannot speak with complete accuracy.

It is mostly a case of exaggeration or understatement, of one word too much or too little.

What then can a man do that is utterly reliable?

Arithmetic!

There is no scope for error there.

One chair plus one chair equals two chairs.

That is true in London and it is true in Cape Town.

If you travel west to New York or east to Singapore it is still the same.

All the world over and for all time, one plus one equals two.

One plus one is two in heaven and earth and hell.

Why does God say we are to reckon ourselves dead?

Because WE ARE DEAD.

Let us keep to the analogy of accounting.

Suppose I have fifteen shillings in my pocket, what do I enter in my account-book?

Can I enter fourteen shillings and sixpence or fifteen shillings and sixpence?

No, I must enter in my account-book that which is in fact in my pocket.

Accounting is the RECKONING of FACTS, not fancies.

Even so, it is BECAUSE I AM REALLY DEAD that GOD tells me to ACCOUNT IT SO.

God could not ask me to put down in my account-book what was not true.

He could not ask me to reckon that I am dead if I am still alive.

For such mental gymnastics the word ‘reckoning’ would be inappropriate; we might rather speak of ‘mis-reckoning’!

Reckoning is not a form of make-believe.

It does not mean that, having found that I have only twelve shillings in my pocket, I hope that by entering fifteen shillings incorrectly in my account-book such ‘reckoning’ will somehow remedy the deficiency.

It won’t.

If I have only TWELVE shillings, yet try to reckon to myself:

‘I have FIFTEEN shillings;

I have FIFTEEN shillings;

I have FIFTEEN shillings’,

• do you think that the mental effort involved will in any way affect the sum that is in my pocket?

Not a bit of it!

Reckoning will not make twelve shillings into fifteen shillings, nor will it make what is untrue true.

But if, on the other hand, it is a fact that I have fifteen shillings in my pocket, then with great ease and assurance I can enter fifteen shillings in my account-book.

God tells us to reckon ourselves dead, not that by the process of reckoning we may become dead, but BECAUSE WE ARE DEAD.

He never told us to reckon what was not a fact.

Having said, then, that revelation leads spontaneously to reckoning, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are presented with a command:

“RECKON YE...”

There is a definite attitude to be taken.

God asks us to do the account; to put down ‘I have died’ and then to abide by it.

Why?

Because IT IS A FACT.

When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, I was there in Him.

THEREFORE I reckon it to be true.

I RECKON and DECLARE that I HAVE DIED IN HIM.

Paul said, “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin,

but alive unto God.”

How is this possible?

“In Christ Jesus.”

Never forget that it is ALWAYS and ONLY TRUE IN CHRIST.

If you look at yourself you will think death is not there, but it is a question of FAITH NOT in YOURSELF but IN HIM.

You LOOK TO THE LORD, and KNOW what HE HAS DONE.

‘Lord, I believe in Thee.

I reckon upon the fact in Thee.’

Stand there all the day.

THE RECKONING Of FAITH

The first four-and-a-half chapters of Romans speak of FAITH and FAITH and FAITH.

We are justified by faith in Him (Rom. 3:28; 5:1).

Righteousness, the forgiveness of our sins, and peace with God are all ours by FAITH, and WITHOUT FAITH in the finished work of Jesus Christ none can possess them.

But in the second section of Romans we do not find the same repeated mention of faith, and it might at first appear that the emphasis is therefore different.

It is not really so, however, for where the words ‘faith’ and ‘believe’ drop out the work ‘RECKON’ takes their place.

RECKONING and FAITH are here practically the SAME thing.

What is faith?

Faith is my acceptance of God’s fact.

It always has its foundations in the past.

What relates to the future is HOPE rather than faith, although faith often has its object or goal in the FUTURE, as in Hebrews 11.

Perhaps for this reason the word chosen here is ‘RECKON’.

It is a word that relates only to the PAST—

• to what we look back to as settled, and not forward to as yet to be.

This is the kind of faith described in Mark 11:24:

“All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.”

The statement there is that, if you believe that you already have received your requests (that is, of course, in Christ), then ‘you shall have them’.

To believe that you may get something, or that you can get it, or even that you will get it, is NOT FAITH in the sense meant here.

This is faith—to BELIEVE that YOU HAVE ALREADY GOT IT.

Only THAT which relates to the PAST is faith in this sense.

Those who say ‘God can’ or ‘God may’ or ‘God must’ or ‘God will’ do not necessarily believe at all.

Faith always says, ‘God HAS DONE IT’.

When, therefore, do I have faith in regard to my crucifixion?

Not when I say God can, or will, or must crucify me,

• but WHEN with joy I say, ‘Praise God, in Christ I am crucified!’

In Romans 3 we see

• THE LORD JESUS bearing our sins and dying as our Substitute that we might be FORGIVEN.

In Romans 6 we see

• OURSELVES INCLUDED in the death whereby HE secured our DELIVERANCE.

When the first fact was REVEALED to us we BELIEVED on Him for our justification.

God tells us to RECKON upon the second fact for our deliverance.

So that, for practical purposes, ‘reckoning’ in the second section of Romans takes the place of ‘faith’ in the first section.

The emphasis is not different.

The normal Christian life is lived progressively, as it is entered initially, by FAITH in DIVINE FACT:

• IN CHRIST and HIS CROSS.