Some people like to refer to themselves as a man or woman of faith. Yet, if you query them along that subject you discover they have no idea what a man or woman of faith is.
Faith has become just a word we use when thinking of somebody who is religious. Their faith is rooted in their religion. We often hear people say that we are a country of different “faith.”
This certainly is not what Paul is talking about here to the Corinthian church. He is reminding them that when we follow Christ, we surrender our authority. We are not doing what we want to do, but rather we are following Christ.
The thing that Paul is emphasizing here is the fact that we cannot understand how God is leading us through mere human resources. Many times what God is calling us to, does not make sense from a human standpoint at the moment.
Our ministry to the Lord can only be understood through our faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith is the one thing that people talk about and yet I find that many people don’t really understand what faith is all about.
I have been a Christian for a long time and I am still trying to understand this thing we call faith. As I walk with Christ and surrender myself to the Holy Spirit, I begin to understand more and more what a life of faith is all about.
This is what Paul is trying to encourage the Corinthians. If you are really serving Christ, you will have the whole world against you. Paul uses his own life as an example of that.
If there ever was a Christian that lived the life, it was the apostle Paul. Because he lived the life, or, as we say, walk the talk, many people were against him.
If it were not for his faith in God, Paul never would have survived in the ministry God had before him.
When I begin to understand the power of faith, I begin to appreciate what the Christian life is really all about.
Some have the idea that the Christian life is just a ticket to heaven. Those who have been a Christian for a long time realize that it is a lot more than that.
My going to heaven is a great reality, but before I get to heaven, there is this other reality called living by faith. When I understand the power of faith in my life, I begin to live the kind of life that honors and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think my favorite person has to be George Mueller. What a man of faith he was. He never asked anybody for anything, not even money. Everything that came in through his door came because of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
His philosophy was something like this, if I cannot pray it in I really do not need it.
If you know anything about George Mueller, you know that he prayed in millions of dollars but none of it stuck to his wallet.
Someone has pointed out that if you want to become a millionaire very quickly become either a politician or a televangelist. Check out some of the richest preachers in the country. I think it might surprise you.
The thing that really surprises me is none of that money came through faith as we are looking at it today.
Some people can talk anybody into giving.
There is a televangelist not far from here, who is egging her congregation to give the first fruits of their money during the month of January. Basically, it means that you take all of your salary that you would get for January and give it to the church.
If they give their “first fruits” during January, they will be blessed by riches the rest of the year. If they don’t give, there will be dire consequences.
Some people buy into this.
That is not faith but rather it is the work of a con artist. If you have to beg for it, maybe you do not really need it.
Again, if you cannot pray it in, maybe you do not need it.
I want to look today at what this faith is all about that Paul is talking about. I will try to keep it simple, but it is a very complicated subject. It is a subject that we really need to understand if we are going to live the kind of Christian life that pleases God.
There are several aspects of this power of faith that I want to talk about.
I. The Cause of Faith
Several things guide humanity.
Human reasoning.
Human instinct.
Education.
Experience.
These guide us in making decisions every day of our life. And these qualities enable us to live a human life. There is nothing wrong with these things in themselves. The problem is, they only enable us to live the human life.
If we are going to live that spiritual life, the life in Christ, we need to have different motivation and power in our life. Human resources run out in the Bible expects more of us than what these resources can supply.
This is where we begin.
How important is faith to you?
Where does this faith really come from?
Listen to what Paul says elsewhere.
“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).
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by
the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
This faith that Paul talks about enables us to live the Christian life. Apart from this faith, we cannot live the Christian life; it is completely a different dimension. Only a person who has been “born again” can really access this faith.
It is possible to live a religious life without this faith. But it is impossible to please God without this faith.
When we realize that human nature is not enough to bring peace and joy into our heart we then begin to see we need something other than that. Human nature is corrupted by depravity. That is where faith steps in.
II. The Consequence of Faith
Many people do not realize that with faith come certain consequences. They believe that “faith” is a fix-it for all their problems.
Many will give testimony that when they really put faith in Jesus Christ that is when the problems began.
So what are the likely consequences?
As I live by faith, it is pulling me away from the world around me. I have an energy that is not of this world and is not compatible with this world.
As I trust God, I am turning my back on all of the human instincts and reasoning and experience and education. These things work in the human sphere, but not in the spiritual sphere.
Christianity fails when we try to run it by the human sphere, which is what is happening for the most part today.
To follow Christ and have my faith in God means I turn my back on everything else no matter if it makes sense or not, and trust God. This is a very difficult thing to do and many people flounder here because in many regards it does not make sense.
Following Christ does not make sense from the human aspect.
III. The Caliber of Faith
This is rarely considered. We need to understand that not all faith is the same. Some have the idea that faith is just faith and that is all there is to it.
There is a certain caliber of faith that needs to be considered.
Caliber = the quality of someone’s character or the level of someone’s ability. Also, the internal diameter or bore of a gun.
What caliber of faith are you working with today?
Yes, all faith is focused in God.
“Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
My faith comes from my relationship with God, which is based upon the word of God. I don’t make up the rules for my walk of faith. It relates to my relationship with Jesus Christ through the word of God.
The caliber is very important.
Nobody would use a BB gun to shoot an elephant. The caliber of a BB gun is not equal to the task.
Spiritually speaking, sometimes we are using a spiritual BB gun to try to defeat the enemy. We need to meet the enemy on God’s terms and not the enemy’s terms.
Again the illustration with David and Goliath.
David’s faith was not in his slingshot, but rather in “the name of the Lord.”
David did not meet Goliath in his own wisdom, but rather of faith in God that brought him the victory over Goliath.
What is the Goliath in your life these days?
What is the caliber of faith you need to overcome that Goliath?
I think this also affects our prayer life.
Many people take prayer very casually. When something happens, people will say especially on Facebook, “my thoughts and prayers are with you.” That is a very nice and sweet thing to say, but it has no bearing to it at all.
Let us change the illustration a little bit here.
Let us say I needed open heart surgery. What kind of doctor would be able to do that? Would I call my dentist to see if he is available to do such surgery?
Of course you don’t. The nature of the surgery determines the caliber of the doctor. Not every doctor is qualified to do such surgery.
This is where spiritual warfare really takes on the picture.
What is drastically needed are men and women qualified in this area of spiritual warfare.
If you look at the military of the United States, you would find of the vast number of people with different qualifications. If we are going to do the battle and win the war we need to bring together a variety of weapons to defeat the enemy.
As a Christian, we need to gather and bring a variety of spiritual weapons to defeat the enemy.
What is your caliber of faith?
What is it that God can use you in defeating the enemy?
I need to understand that the cause of faith has to do with human limitation and that my consequences will be separating me from the human element in bringing me to a caliber of faith that can be used by God to defeat the enemy.
Conclusion…
Just like you have your vehicle checked every so often and you have a medical checkup once or twice a year so we need to have a faith checkup.
What is the caliber of my faith?
Is my faith growing and developing in a way that God can use to defeat the enemy?
The apostle Paul understood that the fellowship has been brought together not just for social fellowship, although there is nothing wrong with that, but to defeat the enemy through spiritual warfare.
We are not the boss of your faith but we are working with you to make you happy. Your faith is strong” (24).
