Faith Part 6 – Faith and Hope
Scripture: Luke 17:4-6; Mark 11:24; Galatians 5:5; Romans 8:24;
Introduction
Last week I shared with you about walking in your profession of faith. I dealt with profession as a “job” and as a “confession”. As I have been going through this series, I have been thinking about the difference between faith and hope. Some believe that faith and hope is the same thing while others believe that they are so vastly different that hope counteracts faith. The Scriptures talk about faith and hope with both being beneficial to the Christian. We say so often that “I hope this or I hope that” and for some people this is as close to walking in God’s kind of faith as they get. This morning I will focus on the difference between faith and hope so that you will understand the relationship between the two. Faith and hope are not the same, they are fundamentally different. Although some would disagree with me, I believe that hope has its place in helping us align our thoughts and expectations towards the appropriate exercising our faith. I will discuss more of this later.
Webster defines faith as “unquestioning belief, complete trust or confidence.” Hope is defined as “a feeling that what is wanted will happen; desire accompanied by expectation.” When you look at Webster’s definition of both words, one deals with a belief while the other is a feeling with an expectation. I especially like the second definition of hope, “desire accompanied by expectation.” The Hebrew and Greek words for hope also means to have an expectation. It’s a concept involving trustful anticipation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of the promises of God. By definition, we can see that hope works with faith, but it is not faith. Paul says in Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Paul describes God as being a God of hope in that He placed the hope within us. I believe that God also has hope. His Word says He desires that all should be saved, although we know this is will not be the case. Hope involves having a confidence and a desire and that is what leads us to exercise our faith. When we are walking in faith, we actually abound in hope because our “feelings” are aligning with God’s Word and our desires are now accompanied by an expectation with confidence. When that expectation is materialized, we know that God has acted on our behalf and we start the process of fully exercising our faith. Remember I told you earlier that you cannot walk in faith if you are not expecting God to do anything for you. You must have an expectation and this is where hope comes in.
I. Faith, Present Tense vs. Hope, Future Tense
Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is….” Faith is present tense, what is taking place right now. Mark 11:24 puts this into perspective. Jesus said “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted you.” The two words I want you to focus on are believe and received. When you pray, you have to believe immediately that you have received what you have petitioned God for. Believe is in the present tense – it should be immediate once you have prayed. Received in this verse is past tense. What Jesus is saying is that once you have prayed, you believe that you have already received it. Again, although you have not physically seen the manifestation of your answered prayer, you believe (and act) as if you already have because you have by faith. This is you faith in operation. When you pray in faith, expecting God to hear and to perform, you get up off your knees knowing that you have received from God what you have petitioned Him for according to His Word. You are not waiting wondering if you will receive it; in your spirit through faith, you know you have received it. This is faith, not hope.
Hope is future tense – something that we expect to happen in the future. Hope is one of the finest responses of which the human spirit is capable. It has kept people alive and fighting when the conditions of life were most unbearable. Many people have died because they lost all hope. Hope is a vital part of our spiritual and our natural lives. But as I stated before, hope is future tense, having an expectation of something happening in the future. We have a hope that Jesus Christ will return for His Church. We know this is going to happen and we continue in hope for it. We rejoice in the knowledge of it happening, but it is still something that will happen in the future. In Galatians 5:5 Paul says “For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.” Also notice what is found in Romans 8:24 which says “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees?” When we are hoping, we are hoping for something in the future. We should never “hope” that God is hearing our prayers and “hopefully” will answer them. We must know, by faith, that He has heard and has answered them. Turn with me to Luke chapter 17.
II. Speaking Faith vs. Speaking Hope
“And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying ‘I repent”, forgive him. The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you.”
Luke 17:4-6
I had read this section of Scripture for many years without picking up on the full meaning of what Jesus was saying to the apostles. I always focused on verse 6, but it is the surrounding verses that make this verse so important. Jesus had already been teaching His disciples about faith, but this lesson was not a lesson on faith, but on forgiveness. So you may be asking yourselves what does this scripture on forgiveness has to do with this message on faith and hope. Let me explain it to you. Since I started this series on faith, I have been sharing with you that there are some things that you will need to “unlearn” in order to exercise the faith that is already within you. Last week I focused on what you say as one of the things we need to change, but there are others also. We have to change the way we think and the way we choose to respond to situations. This is the point that Jesus was making to His disciples.
Luke 17 starts off with Jesus explaining to the disciples that “stumbling blocks” or issues that may cause us to stumble will come. These issues will come in the form of people. Jesus told the disciples to be on guard and be watchful for these times. Next He tells His disciples that if a brother (or sister) sins against you, we should rebuke them and if they repent, forgive them. This did not seem like a very hard thing to do, especially the rebuking part because people just love to put someone else in their place. Then Jesus tells the disciples that if the brother sins against them seven times a day, comes back seven times and asks for forgiveness, then they were to be forgiven. Everything was fine up to this point. The disciples were with Jesus and in agreement, until Jesus said the thing about forgiving someone seven times in one day. The disciples understood what Jesus was really saying. Jesus was not saying keep count of offenses up to seven in one day and then all bets were off and you could write the person off. Jesus was saying that “anytime” someone sins against us and asks for forgiveness, regardless of the sin, we are to forgive them. This was more than the disciples could understand or reconcile in their minds. So they asked Jesus to “increase their faith.” The disciples knew that in their flesh they could not measure up to this standard and asked for more faith.
Jesus responded by saying “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you.” There are three concepts that I want you to get from this verse when combined with what the disciples asked of Jesus. Remember, the disciples did not ask for faith, they asked that the faith they had be increased. The first concept that you need to grasp is that you have enough faith. We have talked about this before, it is already within you. Notice that Jesus did not tell them that they needed more faith, He basically told them what they had was more than enough. Why do I say this? Jesus used the example of a mustard seed. A mustard seed is the smallest of its kind, yet when it is planted it can grow into a large tree, some reaching 15 feet in height. Jesus was saying that they did not need more faith they needed to use what they already had. When they began using what they had, just like the mustard seed that started out as the smallest seed yet would grow into a tree, so it would be with their faith. When they began using their faith, they began to see a greater manifestation of power within their ministries. The disciples were hoping for more faith. When the disciples first heard what Jesus said, they immediately went into a mode of “hope”, a desire for more faith. Jesus told them you have enough.
The second concept that I want you to see pertains to those things (and thought) patterns that hinder us from exercising our faith. When Jesus told the disciples about forgiving someone seven times in one day, their minds immediately went to the natural way of thinking. In the natural we give someone one or two chances to do something against us before we write them off. Spiritually, we never write someone off when they truly repent. The disciples could not see how they could do this so they asked for more faith. In Jesus’ response He gave them an example they could use when addressing their way of thinking (in the natural) that was hindering them from using their faith. I want you to focus on what Jesus said the disciples could do with just a little faith. He said “….you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea.” The term “uprooted” means to rip something out of the ground by its roots. This is not a situation where someone hopes that a plant will be removed, but actually does something to make it happen. Once it is ripped out by its roots, Jesus said to plant it in the sea. This sounds like a weird request. I can understand if He said plant it by the sea or throw it on the garbage dump, but He said plant it in the sea. In His example, we find a way to deal with our wrong attitudes – in their case, thinking they needed more faith in order to walk in this type of forgiveness. In the case of the disciples, their way of thinking about their situation as it pertained to forgiveness needed to be uprooted and planted in the sea. Pulling a plant out by the roots ensures that it will not grow back. If you plant it somewhere else, it would continue to grow. If you threw it on a garbage dump, there was a chance that the roots could take hold and start growing again. By “planting” it in the sea, you guarantee that it will never grow again. The sea is made of salt water and salt water will not allow the plant to grow because the salt will kill it. When you plant something in seawater, it becomes a dead issue. Anything that stands in the way of you exercising your faith must be pulled up by its roots and cast into the sea so that it dies. You must actively do this, you cannot sit around hoping that it will change, you must make it happen. Hope in this situation is not appropriate because you are not taking action. I can hope forever to lose weight, but until I actively do something, it will not happen. Faith involves an immediate response and this brings me to the third concept.
The third concept that I want you to grasp is that you must speak, not just hope. When Jesus told the disciples to speak to the mulberry tree, He said, “…and it would obey you.” The word obey in the Greek means to submit and to obey. In order for the tree to be moved, they would have to speak – not hope or just wish for it to happen. The word say in the Greek depicts a strong, stern, serious, deeply felt kind of speaking. This is not a person who mutters thoughtless nonsense, but a person who has made an inward resolution and now speaks authoritatively and with great conviction. Let me give you an example. When you want your children to do something, do you think about it hoping they will do it or do you speak to them? What happens when you calmly speak to them and they do not move? The normal response is to speak a little louder and with authority. That gets their attention and things get done. This is how we must speak God’s Word over our situations, with authority. There are many Christians in the world trying to “handle things” on their own because doubt has rooted itself so deeply that their faith is hindered. It is time to start speaking, with authority, God’s Word over our situations. This is faith in action instead versus hope with no action. If we do not take authority over our flesh, our emotions and our thoughts, they will continue to dominate us and hinder the full exercising of our faith. If we will stand up against them speaking in authority that they be cast into the sea, they will obey you.
As I stated at the beginning of this message, faith and hope are not the same thing. Faith is an immediate, while hope is for the future. Although a Christian must have both, we cannot allow hope (which is much easier to walk in) to hinder us from exercising our faith. Many of us are “hoping” for a resolution to our situation. We are “hoping” for a new job; hoping for a financial blessing; hoping our kids will start acting right; hoping, hoping, hoping. It is time to stop hoping and start stepping out in faith. To step out in faith means to speak to our situation believing that it is done, now, not tomorrow, not next week or next month, now. When we first became Christians, hope got us started. We had desires and expectations (hope) that we placed before God through prayer and He answered us. As we began to understand that God was there for us, we began to utilize more of our faith because we have seen God answer our prayers. This is the relationship that hope has with faith – it stimulates its growth. But there comes a time when you must choose to step out in faith versus walking in a constant state of hoping.
May God bless and keep you.
