Let's talk about faith.
- We'll touch on what is faith. Most of us probably know what faith is, both in definition and practice.
- Why do we need faith?
- How do we get faith?
- How do we grow faith?
What is faith?
Lets define faith, as it is defined in the Bible.
I think the best verse that defines faith is found in
Hebrews 11:1
- Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen
We'll come back to this verse later. Some other good verses that touch on faith are found in
Heb 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Gen 15:6
Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
1 John 5:4
For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Habakkuk 2:4
...But the just shall live by his faith.
Oxford dictionary defines faith in the following way:
- strong belief in God or in the doctrines of religion.
- complete trust or confidence in someone or something:
If we are to completely trust and be confident in God, let's dig deeper so we can get some examples about faith.
Mat 9:22
Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.
The context of this verse is about a woman with a blood issue for many years, and Jesus told her that her faith has made her well! She must have believed that if she just touched His robe, she would be healed, even though she hasn't seen this manifested yet, but she believed in this still unseen blessing... She had faith, and this is what Jesus said made her well.
How about another example... Peter walking on water.
Matthew 14:22-33
22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea,[a] tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying,"Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."
28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."
29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,[b] he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
In this case Peter saw Jesus walking out there on the water, and he asked if he could go out to where Jesus is. Jesus called him, and he must have believed at that time that he indeed could walk on water! After all, Jesus was walking on water! So he got out of that boat and he did walk on water as Jesus was! Once on the water, his mind, full of the experiences of his life, full of the things of this world, probably whispered to him that this isn't normal, that he shouldn't be walking on water, and what happened? He doubted, and fell in. When Jesus reached in after him, he said he had little faith.
A last example from Mat 8:5-13, of a Roman centurion coming to Jesus, asking him to heal his servant from paralysis. Jesus said he will go and heal his servant. The centurion responded:
Mat 8:8-10
8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
...
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you". And his servant was healed that same hour.
The centurion understood and completely believed that Jesus had the authority over sickness, even paralysis, and that Jesus can only say a word and it come to pass.
I hope that talking about these examples of faith gives us a deeper understanding of faith. Let's dig a little deeper:
As we read before in Hebrews 11:1, faith is that substance of things hoped for
substance = the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists and which has a tangible, solid presence:
Greek: ὑπόστασις,n \{hoop-os'-tas-is} = that which has actual existence, a real being
Therefore we can conclude that the things which we hope for, whether it be healing, increase, ..., faith is their actual being, their existence! Without faith then, it is clear that the things which we hope for will likely not see light of day. Which is one reason why we need faith, and this brings us to our next point:
Why do we need faith?
We mentioned that
faith is the substance of things hoped for
without faith it is impossible to please God
faith is the victory that has overcome the world
the just shall live by his faith
That last verse says the just shall live by faith. Therefore, we also need faith to be justified before God. it says in Romans 10:9-10
"
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
So we have to have faith to be justified before God.
We also need faith to enter the kingdom of God, to experience the fruits of the Spirit, to see God working around us, inviting us to join Him. Note that it is said that we ought to walk by faith, not by sight. With faith, we see from a different perspective. We know that things happen because God moves, the Spirit uplifts, and life is not random and purposeless.
We need faith because we will get to experience His power. Jesus said that with faith as little as a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Jesus also said that we have to have faith like children have faith (Mat 18:1-4); that is, faith not corrupted by worldly influence, worldly theories, and worldly knowledge. Children have a way of believing everything you say and believing it as fact. It's only when we grow up that we tend to question everything. Let's have faith that is awed when we read the fact that people rose from the dead, people were healed from leprosy, that sight was restored to the blind and the lame walked again. The faith that takes this truth and applies it today, knowing that this can and still does happen now!
How is it with us? How is our faith today? I personally want us to be stirred up for God!
It's easier to believe in something we see that's right there in front of us, kind of like Peter seeing Jesus outside the boat on the water. If someone simply told Peter that he could walk on water without showing him, I'm not sure he would have stepped out. But we ought to have faith even without seeing! We ought to be convinced in our hearts as if we have already seen with our own eyes, knowing that God, who made our eyes, and their amazing complexity, had said it, and His Word is infallible. Jesus said to doubting Thomas that he believed because he saw His wounds from the nails, and He said that blessed are those who have not seen, and believe!
How do we get faith?
How do we get this faith where we believe without seeing?
It is written that faith comes by hearing and hearing of the Word of God. We as followers of Christ have got to dive into His Word, swim in it , drink it, digest it, think about it, letting it take root deep within us, and doing what the Word says.
Now since I mention diving into the Word, and we do want you to dive into the Word, we have available for anyone who wants a New Testament bible. We will offer you this Bible at the end of the service.
The more we sincerely seek, we can expect our faith to grow as we spend our currency of time in the Lords presence. We have to spend time with him, in the Word, in prayer, in obedience as Jesus did, as we read in the Bible that Jesus went away from the disciples for a time to be one with the Father, in prayer.
How do we grow faith?
We need to practice our faith, because just like after learning a language, and not using it for a few years, we will lose proficiency with that language.
Or a better example may be our muscles, and if our muscles are not used for a long time, they will atrophy, or waste away.
The same can be said of our faith; if we don't use it, if we don't stretch it, if we don't grow it, it may become dead faith. It is written that faith without works is dead. And that's how we can practice our faith; by works.
To use the metaphors again, if we know another language, let's speak it. Since we have these muscles, and we are able, let's go for a walk or a jog.
Since we have faith, let's put it to work. We have numerous examples of what work we can do, all coming down to loving God and loving one another.
Here, we can greet each other with love, pray for one another, uplift each other, forgive, serve.
A few months ago, we talked about the promises of God, and how we ought to do even what may seem small to us in importance and impact, and do it as the Lord guides us, and we will see how God can use those little things in which we obey, and grow us, including our faith, from glory to glory.
It is written: If you are faithful in little, you will be faithful in much.
We've talked today about what faith is, why we need faith, how do we get faith, and how do we grow faith. I hope we all take this to heart, and pray to the Lord that he continue stretching our faith.
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