Faith Part 7: Hindrances To Your Faith
Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:12; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:6, 12; Galatians 6:5
Introduction
As we have begun our bible study lesson series on faith, this will be the final sermon on faith in this series at this time – more could come later. During the course of this series, I have shared with you many concepts pertaining to how you can begin to exercise the faith that is already within you. This morning I will conclude this series by reminding you of some of the things that will hinder you from exercising your faith. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses.” As Paul said to Timothy, I say to you, “Fight the good fight of faith!” You have learned how to exercise your faith, so with that knowledge, you must be fully aware of what will hinder you. Let’s start with what I believe is the most important one: a lack of knowledge of God’s Word.
I. Lack of Knowledge of God’s Word
I shared with you at the beginning of this series what Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” You know that you cannot fully exercise your faith without having some knowledge of the Word of God and BELIEVING what is recorded in Scripture as being true. If you accept some parts of the Scripture and reject other parts because it does not make sense to your intellect, your faith will be hindered. If you believe that the Bible is not accurate and that what is in it are good stories that we can learn by, your faith will be hindered. Your knowledge and acceptance of the Word of God is crucial to you stepping out in faith believing God that His Word are true and that He will do exactly what He says in His Word. One minister said, “A lack of knowledge will hinder us and hold us in bondage because we cannot act upon God’s Word beyond actual knowledge of God’s Word. Faith will grow with an understanding of God’s Word.” Through our knowledge of God’s Word, we begin to understand our position in Him through Christ and within this world. We begin to understand our righteousness, which is not based on how wonderful we are, but on Christ. Through God’s Word we understand that our lives are so much more than just existing on earth, that we have a bountiful fullness promised through God. We learn what God has done in the past, He will do now. We learn how to trust Him based on His promises. To exercise your faith, you must begin to dig deeper into God’s Word so that you know your struggles are not yours to bear alone. The first hindrance to your faith will be your understanding (or lack thereof) of God’s Word.
II. You Must Be Diligent
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6
We are responsible for our success in life. On our jobs, in school, in our relationships, etc, we carry a responsibility to do whatever we can to be successful. Success is not defined by the job you have, but how well you do that job. Dr. Martin L. King said “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music…He should sweep streets so well that all of the host in heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” So it is with your faith. It is not about how much you have, it is about what you do with what you have. Paul writes in Hebrews that it is impossible to please God without faith and that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The Greek word of diligence carries the meaning of “zealously seeking for something with all of one’s heart, strength and might.” It presents the picture of one who seeks something so passionately and determinedly that he literally exhausts all his power in his search. You must be diligent in your search for God and in the exercising of your faith if you are to please Him once you have found Him. You cannot give up when the battle gets tough or when your faith seems weak. You cannot give up when you get tired of “trying” because it is much easier to give in to the trials of life. Being diligent carries the meaning that you will be consistent. You can be counted on to respond the same way, over and over again when it comes to the exercising of your faith. If you are prone to doubt your efforts, your results and you tire easily, you can declare a change today. Choose to be diligent – seeking to exercise your faith with so much willpower that nothing will stop you from reaching your goal. A lack of being diligence will hinder your faith.
III. Stop Being Slothful!!!
“That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Hebrews 6:12
Many people start out great walking in their faith, but then they get sidetracked and become dull as they lose the excitement they once had in their faith walk. It is sort of like exercising for months and seeing great results and then starts slacking off and reverting back to the way you were before you started. Paul said in this verse that we should not be slothful. The word slothful does not always mean lazy as some interpret it. The Greek word for slothful describes something that is “dull, unexciting, slow, sluggish and that has lost its speed or momentum.” This word presents the idea of someone who was once zealous about something but whose zeal has now dissipated, replaced instead by neutrality. So as you can see, it is not necessarily talking about someone who is lazy, but someone who has lost their drive. This is the state of many when it comes to their faith, they have lost their momentum. They have seen success, but through their everyday activities, walking by faith does not carry the excitement that it once did for them. Maybe it got too hard. Maybe they got tired of waiting for results. Whatever the reason, they have lost their zeal, that pep in their step. Being slothful will hinder your faith. Remember what Jesus said to the Church of Laodicea in Revelations 3:15-16? Let me refresh your memory. It says “I know your deeds for you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Have you ever had coffee or hot chocolate that was nice and hot when you first received it, but eventually got so lukewarm that you wanted to spit it out? This is what Jesus was talking about in this reference and is a good description of the person Paul describes as being slothful. They still have deeds, but there is little fire behind them. We should be on fire in our faith. If you have found that your Christian walk is no longer exciting, that your faith walk is boring you to tears, you have become slothful. You may still be going through the motions of accomplishing some things, but you are slothful none the less. Being slothful will hinder you from exercising your faith. Wake up, shake yourself, get a match and light a fire under your feet, just get moving. Come out of your state of slumber and begin your new journey, renewing your faith. I remember the first time I got a new car. I was excited to have it. I kept it clean, monitored who was eating in it, doing my best to keep it clean. Sometimes I would sit in it just to smell the “new car smell”. The longer I had the car, my attitude changed. The older it got, the more my excitement dulled. It was no longer new and the smell was gone. This is how it can be with our faith. When we first start exercising it and seeing results, we are excited and expectant. As we get used to walking in our faith, for some it becomes routine and we cane get dull. This is what our enemy waits for, for us to get bored in our faith and stop producing as we once did. If this is you, it is time to wake up out of your slumber.
IV. Be Responsible For Your Own Faith; Stop Depending On Others
“For every man shall bear his own burden.” Galatians 6:5
The last hindrance to the utilization of our faith that I will discuss is our inability to be responsible for our faith. Each one of us must take full responsibility for our own faith. Although it is much easier when I can place my load on someone else or have someone else praying and believing for me, I must learn to stand on my own. Let me give you an everyday example. If you have a job and you work with other people, everyone has a load that they must bear – their job responsibility. It is their responsibility to make sure that their job is completed, not their coworkers’ responsibility. Many of us know people who live their lives trying to get others to do their jobs for them while they are still drawing a paycheck. It is very frustrating for those coworkers who have to do more work to cover that person who is not carrying their load. Although people can get away with this sometimes on their jobs, you cannot get away with this in your faith. You must take ownership for your faith, its development and utilization. You cannot continue to expect others to always bail you out with their faith – you must begin to exercise your own. In Galatians 6:5, Paul makes the statement that “Every man should carry his own burden.” The Greek word for burden in this verse is a military term that was used to indicate the expected amount of weight that every soldier was expected to carry in his bag. In the secular world, it was used to denote the normal responsibility that every man must carry for himself. This is what I want you to consider. We must stand and take full responsibility for our own faith and stop depending on the faith of others to get us through. Our grandparent’s faith cannot fill the gap for us forever. Our parents’, friend’s and church members’ faith cannot fill the gap for us forever. There will come a time when each of us must stand up and be responsible for our own faith. At the time that we do this, we will begin to see a change. Stop depending totally on others to stand in faith for you. Make the decision today that you will start standing for yourself while others stand with you.
Conclusion
We have spent 6 weeks talking about faith and I only scratched the surface. My goal in this series was to start each of us down the road to fully understanding that we must wake up and begin stepping out boldly in our faith. If things are going to start changing for the better in our lives and in this world, it is going to require that Christians stand up and begin to walk more fully in their faith. Paul said in Hebrews 10:23 that we should “hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering.” When you begin to step out in your faith you will begin to see changes in your life. I am not saying that all of your problems will immediately go away and that you will stop struggling with situations. What I am saying is that you will begin to see a difference in how you respond to situations and how situations affect you. When you hold fast to your profession of faith, regardless of what you see going on around you, you know that you know that you know that it is going to be alright. Why? Because you have placed your faith in the only one who can guarantee that it will be alright.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Start spending time in His Word, seeking His face through His written Word and through prayer. As you learn more and more, you will not be able to not begin walking in faith. May God continue to bless you.
