Today we continue a 12 week series entitled, The ABC’s of faith. The larger idea is based on the idea that we learn over time through an exploration process of success and failure. Everything we come to know and understand is built over time on the foundation of trial and error.
We learned last week, the wooden blocks we have all played with were an idea in 1594, a practical concept 100 years after that, and only then it would take another 175 years to be mass produced as the blocks we know and love from Brooklyn, New York.
Over the last three weeks we learned about
the idea of being AWARE of the spiritual forces of this world,
the concept of the evil one schemes
and the practice of overcoming them by living generously by staying connected to God himself through our spiritual disciplines.
This week and the next two weeks, I’d like to build on the concept through an alliteration of B's (Belief, Behavior and Belonging). These are the building blocks (or the major aspects) of Christian identity that help us to withstand the storms of life.
Before I begin today, I’d like to tell you a story about Popeye.
The cartoon character Popeye is famous for eating spinach. Whenever he breaks open a can of spinach and eats it he gains enormous strength. Popeye was employed by the US Government during World War 2 to promote the idea of eating spinach. Meat was a rarity during war, but spinach appeared to be a great substitute. In the 1890’s German scientists had shown that spinach contains the same amount of iron as meat. And iron of course is one of the essential vitamins in building strength.
But the facts are wrong. The German researchers did prove that spinach contains iron, but when they wrote down their results they put the decimal point in the wrong place. They overestimated the amount of iron in spinach by a factor of 10! Unfortunately, the correction didn’t get across the ocean until after WW2.
It shows us how easily false ideas can quickly become accepted truth. It’s not uncommon in the area of Christian belief for Christians to quickly give unquestionable status to beliefs that may in fact have questionable origins. We should never be afraid to go back and ask why it is that we hold a particular belief or a particular interpretation of the bible.
Along this line, I’d like to think about the moment you first came to believe in Jesus Christ. I want you to think what it means now to “Believe,” or say, “I believe in Jesus Christ?” Has there been a change in your understanding? Have you looked back and seen any errors?
Personally, I wrestle when someone tells me of a person’s passing and then says, “Don't be sad because you know they believed in Jesus so we will see them in heaven.” They may even admit the person’s words and actions were not at all like that of Christ. They then justify their belief about the person’s eternal state by saying they know they prayed the “the prayer.” A reference to a non-Christian’s initial prayer of repentance and faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Often referred to as a sinner's prayer and often associated with the moment of conversion into the Christian faith.
Now, I understand the underpinning of their claim. Romans 10:9-10 which says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” A few verses later we read the guarantee, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. 13).
I also wrestle because submission to an idea without an understanding of the implication, and/or the actions that accompany a commitment is superstition. It is eternally meaningless.
To believe in Jesus doesn’t just mean to believe that He existed, or that He was a great person whose life and teachings have made a deep impact on the world. Nor does believing in Jesus even mean that we acknowledge He was more than a mere man, but was the Son of God who came from heaven to save us from our sins. All of these things are true — but they aren’t enough to save us from our sins. Even the devil believes all these things about Jesus — but that doesn’t make him a Christian! The Bible says, “Even the demons believe that — and shudder” (James 2:19).
Never forget knowledge is a subset of belief.
The university of Edinburgh states it this way:
Conceptual change involves both the creation of new knowledge, and a process of abandoning the old ideas in favor of the new ones. In acquiring new knowledge or conceptual understanding, there is belief revision. Thus, belief revision is characterized as rationally disavowing a prior belief whenever the computed conceptual coherence of a new knowledge structure is higher. This account presupposes that knowledge is the only foundation for belief.
It is why I am never fully confident of another’s eternal destiny. I have known people who have prayed a sinner's prayer at the prompting of a well meaning friend, who later confidentially said they felt pressured at the other person’s relentless debate and didn’t understand the commitment they were making but eventually just bowed their head and repeated some words just to get the person to leave. This person had a knowledge of Jesus but never disavowed their prior belief.
While I agree, once a person sees themself in light of who Jesus calls us to be, it's impossible to unsee it. At this point, free will comes into play. We have a choice - ignore or engage. Ignore the implication of a belief in Jesus and continue focusing on former knowledge of what life is about, justifying words and deeds so there’s no reason to worry or change anything. Or engage in the new found knowledge and alter one's belief by choosing to live differently.
Biblically, there are examples where people come to see it as a saving knowledge of Christ without repeating a prayer. For example: The thief's response on the cross was a simple “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Or the Ethiopian eunuch, after being evangelized by Philip, believed the Gospel and said, “What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36). Or the jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved,” they didn’t say, “Repeat after me”; they simply said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Belief is defined by dictionary.com as: an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists
Believe is a verb. Dictionary.com defines it as: accepting (something) as true; feeling sure of the truth of
It was Jesus who said,“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matt 7:21-23
Belief is more than knowledge. Knowledge is never enough. There also must be assent or acceptance that God became man. Acceptance that:
God became man in the form of Jesus.
He lived and taught us
He suffered and died for us
He rose from the dead after three days.
He went back to heaven
and will return one day to judge the living and the dead.
a relationship with Jesus is the cornerstone of faith
All these facts change our purpose from self reliant to God reliant.
Regardless of the world’s teaching, we will trust in Jesus in all matters big and small.
The Bible says, belief is to commit our lives to Him and to trust Him totally and completely for our salvation. A sinner’s prayer doesn’t save you—Jesus does. If you believe in who he is and what he has done, placing all your hope and confidence in him alone, then you are saved by his grace. In doing so, your salvation is assured.
Do you believe in Jesus?
“I believe in the sun even when it does not shine. I believe in love even when it is not given.
I believe in God even when he is silent.” - An etching in a French basement found after WW2 where a Jewish family sheltered in place (Hans, God on the Witness Stand (Baker, 1987)).
Communion
Creative: Blocks on Stage, Reading of Scripture prior to preaching
Reference: https://billygraham.org/answer/what-does-it-mean-to-believe-in-jesus/ https://www.christianity.com/wiki/prayer/what-is-the-sinner-s-prayer.html#:~:text=In%20many%20church%20settings%2C%20the%20prayer%20itself%20is,he%20can%20rest%20assured%20that%20he%20is%20saved
Information about spinach obtained from Karl Kruszelnicki’s Great Moments in Science website (abc.net.au/science) May 24, 2001
