MORE…
FAITH
"What is the definition of faith?"
Answer: Thankfully, the Bible contains a clear definition of faith in
Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Simply put, the biblical definition of faith is “trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove.”
This definition of faith contains two aspects: intellectual acceptance and trust.
Intellectual acceptance is believing something to be true.
Trust is actually relying on the fact that the something is true.
A chair is often used to help illustrate this.
Intellectual assent is recognizing that a chair is a chair and agreeing that it is designed to support a person who sits on it.
Trust is actually sitting in the chair.
Understanding these two aspects of faith is crucial.
Many people believe certain facts about Jesus Christ…
Many people will intellectually agree with the facts the Bible declares about Jesus.
But knowing those facts to be true is not what the Bible means by “faith.”
The biblical definition of faith requires intellectual acceptance to the facts and trust in the facts.
Believing that Jesus is God personified who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and was resurrected is not enough.
Even the demons “believe” in God and acknowledge those facts …
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
We must personally and fully rely on the death of Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
We must “sit in the chair” of the salvation that Jesus Christ has provided. This is saving faith.
The faith God requires of us for salvation is belief in what the Bible says about who Jesus is and what He accomplished and fully trusting in Jesus for that salvation
Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
This is where we as Christians must be careful…belief is not a saving faith and believing that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins is not all there is to it…that is what is commonly known as in theological circles as easy believism…
You see Biblical faith is always accompanied by repentance…
Jesus himself warned the people about believing without repentance…
Matthew 21:32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
You cant have one without the other…and repent does not mean to feel sorry for or to ask for forgiveness…repentance means to turn away from to stop…
Mark 1:15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
After Jesus had gone to prepare Heaven for the church to come and spend eternity with him Peter answered the crowd on the day of Pentecost in
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter is a great example of how Faith in the life of the Christian can grow and become MORE at times and at others our Faith is lacking…
Peter was a unique man. He was the boldest of all the disciples. He said things that other people only thought.
He was the type of person who did things that other people didn’t have the nerve to do.
Peter was completely drawn to Jesus. Peter wanted to follow Jesus with his whole heart.
But, many times he made mistakes.
The prime example is when he walked on water…
Found in Matthew 14:28-29
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
Do you see the faith and the trust in Jesus…the faith that Jesus is who he says he is and that Peter can walk on the water because of the power of trusting completely in Jesus…
Are there times in your life when you completely trusted in Jesus and felt that power…aren’t those times awesome and you just want to hold on to them forever, but
I have had times when I felt that I could withstand any temptation on my own or accomplish things on my own and without fail I fell into temptation or dropped the ball on a project that I really needed the power of Jesus to help me accomplish….
When we fall, we are like Peter in just the blink of an eye later after he is walking on water and he takes his focus off Jesus and finds himself sinking…
Matthew 14:30-31
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Why is this important in our discussion of wanting more faith?
Let us be honest for just a moment… we all have times when we doubt or we wavier in our faith…when we look at a situation or a event in our lives and we just cant seem to trust in God enough to see Him in the moment…
Then we become like Peter and we sink into want ever stormy sea we sink into…it might be falling backing into drugs and alcohol or perhaps dialing up an old boyfriend or girlfriend to have an affair…or clicking the button to bring porn back into your view…
Then calling out to Jesus once again to save you and you can almost feel His hand grab yours and hear His words “You of little faith”. You doubted Him and you tried it on your own, but you failed.
However, we serve the God of second chances…Praise God…and he lifts us up and it is in these times we find ourselves with a choice…
We can allow God to grow our faith through His salvation and love or we can have self-induced pity party and blame Him for our choices that landed us in the stormy sinking world of despair…
You see
The biblical definition of faith does not apply only to salvation.
It is equally relevant to the rest of the Christian life.
We are to believe what the Bible says, and we are to obey it.
We are to believe the promises of God, and we are to live accordingly.
We are to agree with the truth of God’s Word, and we are to allow ourselves to be transformed by it
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Why is this definition of faith so important?
Why must trust accompany agreeing with facts?
Because “without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).
Without faith, we cannot be saved (John 3:16).
Without faith, the Christian life cannot be what God intends it to be
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
That’s the reward of faith to have life and to have it at the fullest level. Jesus is not saying a life without troubles or promising you riches without struggles…he is promising a life that is one of no regrets because you know that you are heading to Heaven when your time here on earth is done…
I have developed a habit of asking God to build my Faith and make it stronger when I know a challenge is coming my way…
Before this pandemic hit I would walk the church building and ask God to fill this place with people because I knew that I couldn’t do it on my own…and he built my faith…every week we found more and more seats filled…I believe that as wee move forward that God is going to build my faith and yours too…because WCC is a place built on the love of Jesus and our Faith is made strong together…
With Jesus our life become full!!!
Full of love and hope that we cant have without HIM.
