Together in Faith

We continue this week with our sermon series entitled “Together.” I would like to thank Pastor Dale for sharing the message last week in my absence. What we are attempting to accomplish with this series is for us to discover traits that unite us together instead of focusing on things that can divide us.

We are using the book of Ephesians to accomplish this purpose. This week we turn to faith and how we should be united “Together in Faith.” Our scripture comes from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1-16.

4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” j

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Please pray with me…

Those that have made the decision to become followers of Jesus often seem to view faith as if it only exists in their context. We can find ourselves sometimes viewing Christian belief as being the definition of faith. This could be further from the truth.

Faith in general could be defined as a belief that you can trust something. By this definition faith is not something you hope is true. We either have faith or don’t have faith that our car is going to start. We either have faith or don’t have faith that a friend is going to show up on time for us to eat lunch together. Faith occurs whenever we believe that something is going to happen.

Hebrews chapter 11 says it this way regarding the Christian faith, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This definition points out to us the need for trust in God to provide us hope, and a belief in God even though he cannot be seen.

It is a recognition that God really did this for me. That Jesus really did die specifically “for me” so that “my sins” could be forgiven. Giving our lives over to God through Jesus is us admitting God’s love for us and our love for God.

(Transition)

Verse 14 tells us that when we first believe we are like “infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”

We may have faith, but early on in our relationship with God it might only take one unexpected event to occur to have our faith shaken. One event can lead us into deciding we aren’t sure about this God guy.

This is described by Jesus in the parable of the sower. He speaks of a farmer scattering seeds and some of those seeds landed on rocky soil and sprang up but as soon as the sun came up, they withered away because they had no roots.

This is what happens to some one who has the faith to believe but lacks the understanding that a belief in God through Jesus does not stop bad things from happening to us. We grow in faith when we believe that God is with us and helps us through the good and bad times that we face in our lives.

Our first reading from Romans 5 reminds us of this when it speaks of how suffering “produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

It will sometimes take us enduring through the hard times in order to have the hope that God will stick by us. We are not alone. We have been given help in times of troubles because we had the faith to trust in Jesus.

(Transition)

Our Faith grows as we grow in our relationship with God through Jesus. Our love of God will grow with our faith, but faith is mainly about trust, and specifically trust in God. Sometimes greater trust in God may involve a hardship and through keeping the faith through those hard times leads us to a greater trust that God will never leave us or forget about us.

A person’s faith grows as they begin to trust God in more and more areas of their lives. As they begin to do things that they were afraid to do before because of their lack of faith. Trust in God leads to more faith in God.

Many people have a great love and affection for Jesus and what he did for them, but when it comes to living their day to day lives, most of us if not all of us will fail at times in trusting God. We tend to live our lives allowing our fears to be greater than our faith. Our fear factor, greater than our faith factor.

Don’t get me wrong, a love for Jesus is important and must be a part of every Christian journey. But it is when we begin to trust God that we become a servant of God, that we grow in faith, and begin serving God. It is when these things occur that we truly become transformed. It is through a love for Jesus and a greater overall trust in God.

(Transition)

(My faith journey from loving God, to following God, to trusting God)

(John Wesley’s journey from loving God, to wanting what the Moravians had to trusting God, Aldersgate experience. “His heart felt strangely warmed.”)

It is this journey that Wesley was on that I believe he focused so much on grace. It was through God putting the right people, at the right time into his life that led him to that ultimate realization that he needed to trust God more. He needed to have more faith.

(Transition)

What are some signs that we are growing in our faith? Verse two offers us examples of some of these signs. The more faith that you have the more humble you become. What successes you have are no longer about you.

Yes, you are a part of your successes in life, but you can begin to recognize that it is accomplished with God’s help. God gave you the gifts that allow you to succeed. God is along on the journey with you. This will lead you to thank God for what he has helped you accomplish.

We become more gentle. We should become nicer people. We have faith that God will touch people instead of just move ahead and try to push them out of the way. We expect that if God has a plan for us to do something that God will clear the path for it to succeed. We do not need to get in the way by mistreating those we believe are in our way.

(Transition)

We also become more patient. We are able to believe that some people may not be in the same place we are, and they may slowing us down on what believe we are supposed to accomplish so we become more patient with the situation. We know because of our faith that what is supposed to happen will happen not in our timing but in God’s timing. We trust that God is at work, and we need to be patient until he tells us it is time.

(Transition)

We also have a greater understanding of what is going on around us. God can help us discern his will and where he is at work in situations when we allow him to work instead of trying to accomplish the goal our way.

When we make decisions many times, they are decisions that are following God or against God. When we make a decision out of anger or spite it is most likely not what God would want us to do.

That is the reason why that as we begin to trust God more, we should get angry less. As we trust God more, we quit trying to make things work out as we want them to, we let go and let God lead the way towards the result he desires in the timing he wants.

(Transition)

It is important especially during this time of division within our country that no matter what side you fall on an issue that you think before you speak. Ask yourself this question, would God really want me to be represent him by what I am about to say?

When we do this, we will tend to be quiet more often and wiser in what we say. God can turn bad situations into good, but we have to give him the chance instead of jumping in and trying to fix it for him.

Verses 12 and 13 tells us that a Christian community should be built up by faith. We should be unified through faith in all that we do. We need to as a church rely on God more and our own personal opinions less. God has a purpose for this church. We need to do all that we can to not get in the way of that purpose.

We should instead be rallying around the Spirit of God. We should be spending time in prayer not only for our own personal journey but also for where God is trying to lead this church. We should be studying the Bible together.

When we study the Bible together, we receive insights together which leads to us moving forward together as a church. We will soon begin offering a Bible study after church on Sundays to allow us to receive greater understanding of God at work.

(Transition)

We have recently developed a mission statement for us to rally around. Our mission statement calls for us to connect with God and those around us, show love to all people, and to grow closer to God together.

We should be rallying around the hope that we receive through Jesus Christ. A hope of eternal life. A hope on conquering sin and death. Not only should we be rallying around that hope, but we also should be spreading the good news of that hope to others. We need to be willing to have enough trust in God to be willing to spread the message of the love of God to those that have not yet believed in him

We do this through both word and action. We do this through letting others know what Jesus did for us while also serving others in the way that they need served so that they can believe that they deserve the grace of God.

God offers us grace for no reason except his love for us. we need to be willing to show that love to those around us by serving those in our communities for no reason except that we love all people because Jesus first loved us.

Let us also build each other up. Let us be willing to help each other become closer to God. We should be helping each other grow in faith because a church that is growing together in faith is a church that is becoming closer to God each and every day.

Please pray with me…