Enoch - Being or Doing?

We once had a guest speaker come to our home group and he asked everybody in the group to introduce themselves, but without saying anything about what they were doing or had done. This was quite challenging for many of us. For when we meet somebody for the first time, we typically exchange information about what we do.

This is especially true for men, who might well ask questions like, What job do you do? What car do you drive? What football team do you support? Where do you live? What music do you listen to?

So much of our identity is tied up with what we do. This came home to me forcibly a couple of years ago when I attended a Christian meeting in Leuven, Belgium a few months before I was due to retire from work. During the open question time after the speaker’s address we were asked to introduce ourselves before asking our question. I stood up and said, “I am Michael Gowen, I work in humanitarian aid at the European Commission and am a church leader in Brussels.” Straight away I saw many heads turn to look at me with interest, as if to say, this chap is worth listening to.

Their judgment was made purely on the basis of what I was doing - and we all do this very same thing much of the time. If I went back to that same type of meeting today and stood up and said, “I am Michael Gowen, I am retired,” would that have the same impact? I doubt it. Yet, it is still me, the same person - which raises the important question, Where do I get my identity from? - and brings us on to Enoch.

The history of Enoch is contained in just four verses of the Old Testament: Genesis 5:21-24. All we know about him is that he had a son, Methuselah, he walked with God, then he was no more, because God took him away. Hebrews 11:5 tells us that he had the incredible privilege of being taken from this life without experiencing death - one of only two such people in the whole human race, the other being Elijah. What did he do to merit this special favour? Nothing in particular, it seems. He simply walked with God, and according to Hebrews 11:5, had faith and so was commended as one who pleased God.

Why would God be pleased with me? When I was a young Christian the culture of my church was that, once you came to know Jesus Christ, your principal responsibility was to serve him in the church; and 2 Timothy 2:15 was quoted: Do your best [i.e. try your hardest] to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed. But in reality this is buying in to the values of our prevailing Western culture, where we are almost always judged on our achievements - any of you who are studying at school or university will be only too painfully aware of this.

But God does not function like this. Enoch was commended as righteous because he had faith, not because he did anything special. And, thousands of years later, before Jesus had done anything significant on earth, at his baptism his heavenly Father testified, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.

We too are God’s sons and daughters, purely through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26), and because of this he has lavished his love upon us (1 John 3:1). Now, like Enoch, the thing he wants from us more than anything else is simply that we walk with him.

As I allow this truth to seep into my being - and it has not been easy, because I am an activist, ‘doer’ by nature - it is radically transforming my Christian life. No longer is each day a struggle to work hard for Jesus, so that I can receive his approval. I know he accepts me because I have received his free gift of eternal life and grace (Romans 5). Who I am is most important to him - I am in Christ - than what I do. It is my being that counts, not my doing.

Certainly, as a child of God, I seek to be led by his Spirit (Romans 8:14), I seek to work hard, to rest - and most of all to be a person consistent with the eternal life that he has given me - in order to present myself as one approved (2 Timothy 2:15). But it is all founded on a position of security, knowing that I am accepted in Christ. Now I can enjoy walking and talking with him each day. May God enable you too to discover this wonderful security.