Faithfull

Introduction

What was last year filled with?

What did you spend the most of your time, energy, and money on last year?

What do you want this year to be filled with?

No doubt, we all want this year to be successful.

What makes for a successful year?

Good return on investments?

Good health?

Promotion?

Finish school?

Start school?

Let me suggest:

A faithfull year is a successful year.

Luke 18:8 (ESV)

8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

If Jesus is looking for faith at the end of the age then it would seem faith is what Jesus would want to find at the end of the year as well.

What does it mean to be faithfull?

3 aspects to a biblical understanding of faith:

1- a creedal statement or body of belief - ‘the’ faith - Col 2:7 2 Tim 4:7 1 Tim 6:21

2 Timothy 4:7 (ESV)

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Colossians 2:7 (ESV)

7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

1 Timothy 6:21 (ESV)

21 for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

2- passive faith - “fidelity” or trustworthiness / faithfulness.

moral or ethical characteristic

Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

When someone claims to be a “person of faith” either of these two could be in view.

3- active faith -

It is a trust demonstrated through action, specifically or spiritually, through obedience.

Indicated by the verb “believe”

“Faith” (noun) = “believe” (verb)

“faith” - over 200 times in NT

“believe” - over 200 times in NT as well.

ILLUST - chair

I can have a belief about chairs - chairs exist to support the weight of a person above the ground

I can have a chair in my home. (passive) It is a good thing to have a chair in my home.

TO have an active belief, I must sit in the chair

The very first step to being a faithfull person is to have an active faith.

There is a chasm of difference between a belief of faith and an active faith in the same way that believing about chairs is vastly different than sitting in a chair.

James points out the difference between a set of beliefs about God and an active faith in God.

James 2:19 (ESV)

19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Demons have a set of beliefs about God (probably better theology than all of us) but they do not have an active faith.

They have a belief about God but not a belief in God (active faith).

My fear is that in many American churches we have many people who sit in our pews but have never sat in the chair of belief.

There are people in churches today who have the same faith as a demon.

There is a set of beliefs they at one time subscribed to.

They agreed with a preacher or a youth pastor.

They said a prayer with their head bowed but the beliefs they claimed and the Lord they acknowledged have had little bearing on their life.

Is this you?

ILLUST - Fake tree vs real tree

What is this? Christmas tree - no hypocrite - looks like one but dead inside - it will not grow. Only decorated to look like it’s alive.

There are two types of people in this world - real Christmas tree and fake Christmas tree (show of hands)

For you “real tree” people, how would you feel if you stopped by the road stand, you pick your perfect evergreen, and when you arrive home you discover that the tree the person sold you was not alive but a fake Christmas tree? You’d feel duped!

How do you think our neighbors feel when they experience a group of people who call themselves “believers” (literally, people of faith), and when they invite them into their lives and their homes, they discover the faith they claimed is not active, it’s only a set of beliefs that gathers them on a Sunday morning, it doesn’t actually affect their Monday through Saturday.

They are just as short-tempered as the next guy.

She will gossip about you faster than the other girl.

He’s just as consumed with his own life and maybe even thinks he deserves more.

He’s a pastor who’s preached 100 sermons on what a biblical marriage is but ends up having an affair with a woman in the church.

No wonder evangelicalism is declining.

You can’t ‘believe’ in God and not obey God.

James 2:14–17 (ESV)

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Faith without (morality/church attendance/giving) is dead? No, without works - works that evidence an obedience to a God of love.

James 1:27 (ESV)

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

These are not easy to do!

It’s submitting our lives to Christ.

What does it look like when we live with an active faith? a real faith? When we are faithfull?

First time we see this active faith is in Matthew 8

Centurion with a paralyzed servant.

Healing

Matthew 8:7–8 (ESV)

7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.

Matthew 8:10 (ESV)

10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

Matthew 8:13 (ESV)

13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Forgiveness of sins / healing

Matthew 9:2 (ESV)

2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

healing / removal of shame

Matthew 9:20 (ESV)

20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment,

Matthew 9:22 (ESV)

22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

New sight

Matthew 9:27–29 (ESV)

27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”

Freedom

Matthew 15:22 (ESV)

22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

Matthew 15:28 (ESV)

28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Matt 17 - faith like a mustard seed can move a mountain

Hebrews 11 (ESV)

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2

5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. 32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, though commended through their faith,

did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

What might this church look like if we were a faithfull people? If we gave everything to Jesus. If we truly trusted him with our health, our time, our money, our family, our spouse and children, our future and our past?

I want that for us in 2023 - I believe God wants that for us in 2023.

Object, Reality, and Reason of faith.

(Illust of a chair)

Object of faith (in a chair)- the chair itself - without the chair - faith in the chair is impossible.

If the purpose of the chair is to hold me then the object must be able to accomplish the purpose

Reality of faith (in a chair) - the fact that chairs can hold me

chairs are known to be able to hold people

Reason for faith (in a chair) - I have enough evidence and / or experience to believe the chair can hold me.

Living out the faith (on a chair)

Object of our faith - God

Reality of our faith - God is trustworthy

Reason for our faith - Jesus and the resurrection

Living full of faith - living life in reference to the above

One of the most effective ways to witness for THE faith is to live faithfull.

How to be faithfull:

1. Know the faith

The more you understand about the object of the faith, the more you can actively place your faith in the object.

Some Christians know so little about the “chair” that they are squatting instead of sitting.

The more you learn about God, the more you can be actively faithfull.

This is why we have the Bible reading plan

Numbers 23:19 (ESV)

19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV)

9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Joshua 23:14 (ESV)

14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.

Revelation 19:11 (ESV)

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

2. Live the faith

It’s time to stop knowing about the ‘chair’ or using the ‘chair’ only when your really exhausted. It’s time to put everything on the chair.

It’s time to live a life of ACTIVE faith.

Not simply an intellectual faith.

How much of your life requires a belief in God?

How much of your finances require a belief in God? Without it it doesn’t make sense?

How much of your marriage requires a belief in God?

How much of your work life requires a belief in God?

What area of your life do you need to be more faith FULL this year? How will you be actively obedient in that area?

Recommit your life to Him.

Get baptized.

Commit to a Life Group.

Commit to tithe regularly.

Become a foster parent.

Ask your coworker for forgiveness.

How will your faith be more FULL this year? That’s for God to say and for you to obey. Start today.

1 Corinthians 2:5 ESV

5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Great is Thy Faithfulness?

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 ESV

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.