Our Fantastic Faith! Series

If I were to ask the question, “What is faith?” I’m sure I would get a variety of responses from all of you. One of the more popular notions of faith was expressed by Archie Bunker in the 1970’s TV show All in the Family. In this clip, he is discussing labor pains with his son-in-law, Mike, a Jewish atheist, whose wife is pregnant. Take a look (show video: Archie Bunker on Faith).

Archie: “…have to punish women by giving them, what do you call it, your labor pains.”

Mike: “First God tells women to be fruitful and multiply. Then when they do, He makes them suffer. It doesn’t make any sense.

Archie: “It isn’t supposed to make sense. It’s faith, faith. You know that. Faith is something you believe that nobody in his right mind would believe” (www.youtube.com/watch?v= Te3aBL_P0IY).

Sad to say, many people see faith and reason as totally incompatible. It’s a notion which haunts young people (and all of us really), especially when they move away from their Christian homes into a university setting or some other secular context. It’s the reason why many of our young people, raised to believe the Bible, are abandoning their faith. They honestly believe that faith is contrary to reason, but nothing could be further from the truth.

True faith is never CONTRARY to reason. However, it often goes BEYOND human reason to help people see and do things they could never see or do otherwise. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11, where the Bible itself describes the nature of true faith.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for…

Literally, faith is the foundation of expectation. Faith is not some unreasonable belief, built on quicksand. No! Faith is a rock-solid foundation, upon which you can face the future with confidence.

True faith is based on the reasonable truth that God always keeps His promises, a truth that has been demonstrated time and time again. That was Joshua’s testimony when God gave the people of Israel the land He promised them. He said, “Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45).

That was King Solomon’s testimony when he dedicated the first temple in Jerusalem. He said, “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant” (1 Kings 8:56).

That was Apostle Paul’s testimony to the church in Corinth when he talked about his future. Paul said, “All the promises of God find their Yes in [Christ]. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:17).

And that’s your testimony, as well, when you think about it. God has not failed to keep any of His promises to you who believe in His Son. God has provided all you need up until now (Philippians 4:19). God has never left you even through the hard times (Hebrews 13:5). God has not stopped working to conform you to the beautiful image of Christ (Romans 8:29; Philippians 1:6).

God has been faithful to you in the past. Therefore, you have a strong reason to trust Him for your future. Faith is a firm foundation of expectation, so…

BY FAITH, BE CERTAIN OF WHAT OTHERS CANNOT BE CERTAIN.

By faith, be confident in God’s promises for your future. By faith, be sure that God will do for you what He has said He will do!

A well-known pastor talked about being on a long flight years ago, which encountered some strong turbulence along the way. He said:

“The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: ‘Fasten your seat belts.’ Then, after a while, a calm voice said, ‘We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened.’”

As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice of the announcer said, “We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us.”

Then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightening lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.