ONE FAITH
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 2/4/2018
If you’re just joining us, we’re five weeks into a seven-week survey of Christian unity. Jesus wants his church to be one—to be united and harmonious. The trouble is—we’re all human and because of that the church has a long history of disagreements and division. How can our little congregation, yet alone millions of believers from different backgrounds and walks of life, scattered all across the globe, be one?
To help answer that question, the Apostle Paul provides believers with a series of seven “ones” that ought to bind us together in Christian unity. He writes, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:3-6 NIV). This list of “ones” creates a solid foundation upon which all believers everywhere can experience true unity of spirit.
Four weeks ago, we started with the first item on the list: one body. Then we focused on the second tie that binds believers together: one Spirit. Then we talked about the third item: one hope. And, most recently, we highlighted the fourth unifying factor Paul mentions: one Lord.
His holiness, humanity, and humility uniquely qualify Jesus for the highly honored position of Lord of all creation. All Christians everywhere are unity by our confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Today, we’ll be moving on to the fifth one on Paul’s list: one faith!
Faith. What is faith really? Ask five different people and you’ll probably get five different answers. I have a friend on Facebook who happens to be an ardent atheist and she occasionally makes little jabs at people of faith. A while back she posted a quote that said, “People don’t need to constantly build up or strengthen their faith in things they know exist.” She followed that up by saying “Faith is just believing in something for which there is no proof.” That kind of thinking just shows a complete misunderstanding of the real meaning of faith.
Let me put it this way. I have faith that my wife loves me. I’m kind of needy, so I do need frequent reassurance of that fact. There may even be times that I doubt her love. Maybe she acts in an unloving way. Maybe we get into an argument over something stupid. Her love isn’t perfect. Neither is mine. You can’t put her love for me in a test tube or submit it to scientific experimentation. But I have good reasons to believe my wife loves me. For one, she tells me every day. She shows it in the way she kisses me, the way she looks at me, the way she cooks for me, and thousand other ways. I can’t see it, touch it, or smell it, but I have faith that she loves me.
Faith in God isn’t all that different. You can’t see God, touch him, or smell him. You can’t put God in a test tube. And sometimes your faith will need built up or strengthened. But there are good reasons to believe in God—the fact that there is something rather than nothing, the fine-tuning of the universe, the existence of objective moral values, the person of Jesus Christ, personal experience and so much more. I like how C.S. Lewis defined faith: “Faith is holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” In short, faith means trusting in what you know to be true.
And faith is not only essential to Christin unity, it’s also essential to our individual relationship with God. In fact, the Bible says, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). If faith is so important to God, then it’s vital for us to have a good handle on the full meaning of biblical faith.
What kind of faith is God looking for? What kind of faith unites us as Christians? To answer that question, I want to invite you to open your Bibles to the book of James. In chapter two, James fleshes out this “one faith” that binds us together. He actually identifies three types of faith, only one of which is the one true faith. First, James describes dead faith.
• DEAD FAITH
The first type of faith James describes is a dead faith. Here’s what he has to say about it:
My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them? A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. If you say to that person, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you do not give what that person needs, your words are worth nothing. In the same way, faith that is alone—that does nothing—is dead. (James 2:14-17 NCV).
This reminds me of a Peanuts comic strip where Charlie Brown and Linus come across Snoopy shivering out in the snow. Charlie says, “Snoopy looks kind of cold, doesn’t he?” Linus replies, “I’ll say. Maybe we’d better go over and comfort him.” They walk over to Snoopy, pat his head, and Charlie Brown say, “Be of good cheer, Snoopy.” Linus adds, “Yes, be of good cheer.” Then, in the final frame, the boys are walking away, still bundled up in their winter coats and Snoopy is still shivering in the snow with a thought balloon over his head with a big question mark, as if to say, “What? That’s it?”
I wonder if Charles Shulz had this very passage in mind when he drew that comic. The point is—just saying, “Stay warm and be of good cheer,” is useless if you don’t do anything about it. Likewise, just saying, “I believe in God,” without doing anything about it, is just as useless.
See, some people may have been raised in church and accepted certain realities like the Bible or Jesus as true or maybe they just have this instinctual feeling that there is a God, but it doesn’t matter to them. It has no effect on how they live their life.
Tony Campolo once met someone like that. He was in downtown Philadelphia when a mugger jumped out from an alleyway and demanded Tony’s wallet. Tony put his hands in the air and said, “I’m not looking for any trouble. In fact, I’d like to help you if I can. I’m a Baptist minister.” His assailant replied, “Really? I’m a Baptist too!” Talk about a dead faith.
The message here is that there is a big difference between a said faith and a saving faith. Anyone can say they have faith in God or in Jesus, but you can tell from your actions—the way you live your life, your priorities, and how you spend your time—how deeply held that faith really is. A dead faith, a faith that does nothing, is worth nothing. James then goes a little farther with this idea. Next, he describes a demonic faith.
• DEMONIC FAITH
As James continues, he says, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror” (James 2:19 NLT).
Throughout Scripture the Bible talks about angels and demons. Angels are simply immaterial spiritual beings like God who serve him and carry out his will. Demons are simply angels who for whatever reason chose to serve themselves instead of God. They know God is real. They don’t doubt that at all. They even have an emotional visceral response. But they don’t “trust in” or “rely upon” God. Instead they reject God and even hate God.
There seems to be a growing percentage of our population with a similar sort of faith. C.S. Lewis once described his days as an atheist, saying, “I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.” Lewis’ experience is not uncommon among atheists. Many claim to believe that God does not exist and yet, according to empirical studies, they tend to be the people most angry at him.
In 2011 a set of studies in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that atheists and agnostics report anger toward God either in the past or anger focused on a hypothetical image of what they imagine God must be like. Julie Exline, a psychologist at Case Western Reserve University and the lead author of that 2011 study, has examined other data on this subject with identical results. Exline explains that her interest was first piqued when an early study of anger toward God revealed a counterintuitive finding: Those who reported no belief in God reported more grudges toward him than believers.
Isn’t that revealing? I’m convinced that many who claim not to believe in God really know in the back of their minds that God is real. But they choose to rejected him and to live as if he didn’t exist. That’s demonic faith.
Finally, James tells us that real faith is a dynamic faith!
• DYNAMIC FAITH
You’ve probably heard this story a hundred times. It’s one of the oldest preacher stories around. But one day long ago, a world-renowned tightrope walker came to Niagara Falls and stretched his rope across the thunderous currents from the United States to Canada. Right before the eyes of the breathless crowds, he walked, ran, even tiptoed across the chasm. He did the same blindfold. Then, still blindfolded, he pushed a wheelbarrow across the falls.
The crowd went wild when the aerialist shouted, “Who believes I can push a man in this wheelbarrow across these falls?”
One rather enthusiastic gentleman in the front of the crowd waved his hand in the air, shouting, “I do! I believe!”
“Then,” said the tightrope walker, “climb on in!” Wide-eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights, the once eager spectator dropped his hand and slinked back into the crowd. His faith didn’t quite translate into action.
James tells us that dynamic faith is faith that’s real, faith that has power, faith that results in a changed life. James gives two examples of what real faith looks like. The first is Abraham: “Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete” (James 2:21-22 NLT).
For those of you familiar with the story of Abraham and Isaac, you know that God never wanted Abraham to sacrifice his son; rather, through this unfolding drama God was painting a picture that would be remembered for thousands of years of a Father willing to sacrifice his only son—a story whose final chapter wouldn’t be written until Jesus rose from the dead. Even though God stopped him, Abraham climbed into the wheelbarrow when he led Isaac up that hill.
James adds, “Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road” (James 2:25 NLT). Rahab was raised in culture that worshiped many gods, but when she learned about the God of Israel she believed the stories she heard and she climbed into the wheelbarrow by linking her destiny with theirs. The message is that real faith—the one faith that Paul speaks of—is an active faith; a dynamic faith!
We see this clearly in Hebrews 11. This chapter recounts Abel’s offering, Enoch’s ascension, Abraham’s travels, Jacob and Joseph’s triumphs, Moses’ miracles, and much more. The common thread linking these biblical heroes together is faith. Every introduction begins with faith and is followed by action: by faith Abel brought an offering; by faith Enoch walked with God; by faith Noah built an ark; by faith Abraham obeyed God’s call; by faith Sarah conceived; by faith Moses led the people; by faith Rahab was not destroyed—and the list goes on. Each of these great men and women accomplished incredible feats for God and they did it all by faith.
In each case, these were acts of faith—leaps of faith—that reveal a heart of faith. Their faith and their actions worked together to make their faith complete.
The Bible is clear that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone and there is no amount of good works that can get us into God’s good graces. But faith without action is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
There’s no conflict, as people often suspect, between faith and works. Rather, the one faith that binds believers together is a faith that works.
Conclusion:
Do you have faith? Does your life really show it? When was the last time you put your faith into action? Don’t assume that you have a dynamic faith. James concludes: “I will show you my faith by what I do.” In other words, prove it.
Our shared faith in the God of the Bible and in Jesus Christ unites us and makes us one, but only when we’re all willing to get into the wheelbarrow.
Like the crowd at Niagara, we all stand at the edge of a great chasm—a vast gulf called sin that separated us from a holy and loving God. We certainly don’t possess the balance or dexterity to cross that chasm on a tightrope, but Jesus does and he did. And he offers to carry each one of us across. The question is—do you believe he can do it? Do you trust him enough to get into the wheelbarrow?
Invitation:
Next Sunday, we’ll continue exploring the seven “ones” that bind us all together. In the meantime, a life of faith begins with a single decision, a single step of faith. If you haven’t made that decision, I want to encourage you to do it today. Put your faith in Jesus, and then choose to live your faith every day. Put your faith in action. Climb into the wheelbarrow.
Let’s sing church.
