Faith Required
Notes
Transcript
What is faith? Where does it come from, and how is it that we obtain faith?
Faith can be defined as reliance upon and trust in God. Now, that’s a good start of WHAT faith is, but the definition does not give us a practical application or the answer to WHY it is important and HOW we get or grow in our reliance and trust in God.
WHY faith in God is important to us is because faith is THE foundation of our faith and the basic tenet of Christianity! Paul even teaches the doctrine of justification BY faith. Justification, as we know is the process by which we are seen accepted by God and found not guilty of our sins, so faith is of HUGE importance to a believer.
So the big question is HOW do we develop faith. Is it received as soon as we accept Christ as Savior? Do we purchase it? Do we pray to receive it? How is it we grow in faith? I think one of the earliest pictures we have in scripture is of Abram gives us some explanation.
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Abram had to have faith, and BELIEVE in the Lord to receive justification by God. You see, faith is the first step of salvation. Believing in and relying on God sets the tone of salvation. But then faith must be maintained or grow. Paul tells us in Hebrews 6:1 that we are to leave elementary doctrine and mature in our faith towards God.
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Once we accept Christ as our Savior, by faith, then we must grow in faith. This does not mean we are to forget the basic teachings of Christ, but we are to GROW past the starting point. It would do no good to lay the foundation of a house, but never build upon it. It would never be a home. In the previous chapter, Paul tells the readers of the letter that they should be moving from milk to meat, they should be growing and maturing.
How we grow in faith, is through maturing in our relationship with Christ. We see a wonderful picture of this in Luke 5. Jesus has just entered into ministry, and was teaching the new testament doctrine while putting together His group of disciples. You see even Jesus followed the model of create, grow, and sustain disciples! In these verses Jesus again has a crowd around Him looking to be fed (not milk, but meat). Jesus will use this as a means of growing those seeking to be taught, while creating new disciples, and teaching them how to sustain their faith by placing their trust in Him.
Opportunity
Opportunity
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,
2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
Jesus created, grew, and sustained disciples by being around them. He immersed Himself in the community so the people could be reached. Jesus sought opportunities to be with people so He could meet their needs. It is on one of these occasions where Jesus is with other people that a crows starts gathering wanting to hear Him teach the word of God. As was customary, we find Jesus near the “Lake of Gennesaret” which is the Sea of Galilee, and he saw empty boats that had come to the shore.
From what we read, we can assume they had been out fishing and had come in and started washing their nets. They were cleaning up after they had been out fishing all night long. Night seemed to be the most productive time to fish, as the nets were obscured, the water temperatures dropped and fish came towards the surface, and it would give the commercial fisherman a greater chance of harvesting fish en masse. This wasn’t the type of fisherman who would get out in a boat with a rod and reel trying to catch a few for supper. This was their livelihood, their way of making money and caring for themselves and any families they may have had. (It was usually a family industry, as the disciples who were fishermen seemed to have fathers and other family who were fishermen also.) So here Jesus finds the men on the shore or by the dock washing all the debris and mess from their nets so they could dry and prepare them for the next night. The nets described here were large nets that would be affixed to the land or a second boat then pulled across a shoal by the boat (s) and fish would then swim into the net. Their fishing trip had apparently been unsuccessful as they were not cleaning fish, but instead were washing the nets.
No doubt they were tired, aggravated, and ready to get home. But Jesus had a different plan for them, He needed to get in one of the boats and go out from the shore a little ways so all the crowd would be able to see and hear Him as He taught. Can you imagine? Tired, wet, frustrated, no doubt hungry… and here the man is asking to be taken out into the water so He could speak to the crowd. What would OUR reaction have been? You see, by faith, Simon Peter and his crew got in the boat and rowed out a little ways.
Has God ever asked us to do something that we would rather not do? Maybe it’s to do something we would rather not do. Maybe it is to do something different than we have done before. Maybe we are being asked to do something at the most inopportune time. Maybe we are being asked to do something that moves us out of our comfort zone. How would we respond?
Respect and Obedience
Respect and Obedience
4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.
7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
We do not see what response Simon had to Jesus’ request, other than the next verse finding them out on the water in the boat. How long did Jesus teach? How must longer were they on the water? Were the ones on the boat falling asleep? Were they wondering when this preacher was going to stop talking so they could go home?
Then another request. Row out into the deep and let your nets down. Remember, these are well seasoned fishermen who knew where the fish were, when they would be running, and where they would be found. Notice Peters response - Master - He knew there was something different about Jesus that commanded respect. And while he showed Jesus respect, he did kind of show some sarcasm or at least clarified that they had already been out all night and had not caught a thing. They didn’t even have a sardine or a minnow to show for their efforts!
But notice Simon Peters response immediately afterwards - “But at your word I will let down the nets”. While there was Respect, there was reluctance, but in the end there was Obedience.
Wow, think about that example - we might not understand why God is calling us to do something unusual, odd, out of the ordinary. We may not even want to - we may be tired, worn down, discouraged. We may even look at Jesus and say, we’ve already done that and it didn’t work! Oh, but Jesus looks at us and says, but you didn’t do it when I asked you to! How does the outcome change when we are just faithful to do what Jesus asks? You see, faith is not always understanding why but understanding WHO is asking and doing it anyways.
You see, even though Peter was reluctant he follows through and gains the reward! When they put out the nets, they caught so many their nets began to break. It was a bountiful harvest above and beyond what could have been imagined! Can you imagine putting yourself in Peter’s sandals… I’ve already fished this area and caught NOTHING. But, I will humor this guy anyways. Wait…what??? HOW??? HELP!!! Not only were their nets breaking, but they had to get the other boat to come help them. And notice the last part of verse 7 “And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
For us to grow as a disciple, we too have to be willing to step out on faith even when we are reluctant to do what we are being called to do. You see, when WE step out by faith, and are rewarded for our faith, then we GROW in our faith - maturing in our walk with Jesus. But…how many of us still have empty boats because we are unwilling to humor the call Jesus has put in our lives? You see, we have to step out on faith BEFORE Jesus can fill our boats, too!
Building Faith
Building Faith
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
Obedience led to abundance, which then led to humbleness. Peter just witnessed a miracle, and was humbled He fell at the feet of Jesus. He recognized his reluctance, his apprehension, his LACK of faith as sin.
He was a professional fisherman, had been on these waters, knew what a big catch was on the Sea of Galilee…yet what he had just witnessed was no ordinary catch. It was a miracle that just taught him to obey without reluctance or objection. Now, notice how he addressed Jesus - Lord. Before, he recognized Him as someone special - Master - but when the Master worked a miracle in his life…he recognized Him as Lord. You see, when we step out on faith and do what Jesus has commanded, there are times where He will work a miracle that no one can comprehend - and THAT my friends, is how we GROW in our faith. You see, when WE are faithful, HE is abundantly faithful, and our faith (our trust) grows.
But also notice there was a second response by Simon Peter, James, and John. Once they experienced Jesus, they didn’t want to leave Him. They left all they had, all they knew, their financial security, their families, their source of food, their comfort - and followed Him.
Closing
Closing
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is quoted as saying “You can only learn what obedience is by obeying.” This is the HOW step in building our faith. Bonhoeffer went on to say “Faith without works is not faith at all, but a simple lack of obedience to God.”
It is human nature to be reluctant, but reluctance should always give in to obedience, and obedience will then grow our faith and we then can enjoy the miracles God has in store for us.
Have you taken the first step of faith? Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? If you have, has your faith grown? Or, or you still reluctant to step out in your faith? Today you can, by faith, ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and oh He will work a miracle in your life just like He did Peters.
Communion
Communion
As the deacon’s come forward and prepare the table, I want us to take a few minutes to quietly reflect. Reflect on the things Jesus has asked us to do, by faith. What was our response? Were we reluctant? Was their hesitation? Or, were we obedient?
We should take time to think of these things, because of what Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 11:28-29
28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Reflection Time
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Prayer
Procession
After observing the Lord’s Supper in the Upper Room, scripture says Jesus and the disciples sang a song and then went out. Let us close in the same manner.