Level Up - Faith

Level Up

Our actions are often a combination of our beliefs about God and the world around us. There are no quick fixes or magic boxes to release a level up, but when we fix our beliefs, when we learn to readjust our perspective we can level up and move forward.

Do you want to take things to the next level? Do you feel like things have been stuck?

Over the next few weeks we will look at different areas and see how we can level up in these areas.

We will look at faith, marriage, parenting, finances, and more.

This week we will look at faith first let’s set up this whole series

God

What we think about God often determines what we think about other things.

If we think God is distant and uncaring we will operate under that assumption. We will live in a way that says it does not matter what I do or how I treat people.

If we think, like Bruce Almighty,

God is just a mean kid with a magnifying glass. And I'm the ant. He could fix my life in five minutes if He wanted to, but he'd rather burn off my feelers and watch me squirm.

This type of thought says God can just fix everything instead of leading me to be a different type of person. Or it says, we need to live like it all up to us and if we do not strive, push, and make it happen it never will.

What we believe about God shows in our actions.

Jesus talks about this in the parable of minas. A mina was a measurement of money.

Luke 19:11–22 CSB

As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem, and they thought the kingdom of God was going to appear right away. Therefore he said, “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king and then to return. He called ten of his servants, gave them ten minas, and told them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’ “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’ “At his return, having received the authority to be king, he summoned those servants he had given the money to, so that he could find out how much they had made in business. The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten more minas.’ “ ‘Well done, good servant!’ he told him. ‘Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, have authority over ten towns.’ “The second came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’ “So he said to him, ‘You will be over five towns.’ “And another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I have kept it safe in a cloth because I was afraid of you since you’re a harsh man: you collect what you didn’t deposit and reap what you didn’t sow.’ “He told him, ‘I will condemn you by what you have said, you evil servant! If you knew I was a harsh man, collecting what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow,

The third servant thought the master was harsh and so he hid the money. He was afraid of losing it because he was afraid of the master. He thought something so he acted accordingly to his thought.

We do the same, whatever lens you see God through is how you interact with Him.

A question I would ask you to think about this week and as we go through this series is this:

Who do I think God is? What is character?

Who is He? What is He like? As we go through this series I hope we are able to inform that thought but you have to first be honest and ask yourself,

Who do you say He is?

The World

We also operate based on the world around us and how we interpret that available data. Your worldview matters. Two people can look at the same set of facts, they examine the exact same data and come to different conclusions. This is because of worldview.

I like this definition of worldview:

a collection of attitudes, values, stories and expectations about the world around us, which inform our every thought and action

How we interpret the world tells us how to interact with the world. If you have never given your worldview much thought I would encourage you to do that. A big part of what we are going to do over this series is examine how our worldview informs different areas of life.

In the OT, the spies came back from the land of Canaan and reported that it really was everything they dreamed of, but they would never be able to take it because of the Giants, who lived there. They allowed what they saw to determine what they could do.

Numbers 13:28–29 CSB

However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev; the Hethites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

Numbers 13:31 CSB

But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!”

10 out of the 12 spies came back and were scared. They saw the giants and said we cannot go into the land. They said it is all we hoped for but we can’t have it.

If you have a world view that tells you the world is a scary an unsafe place then you will act as if the world is scary and unsafe. You will interact with those closest to you in that same way. You will try to convince them that the world is a scary and unsafe place.

2 of the spies thought we can do this. They tried to convince others that they could do it.

Again,

How we interpret the world tells us how to interact with the world.

What is Faith?

The Bible defines faith as,

Hebrews 11:1 NLT

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

Another way to put it is that faith is about trusting in what is certain but often unseen.

Faith is the ability to trust what you know to be true because you have examined all the facts. Some facts are seen and historical and some are unseen but just as true.

The heart has reasons that reason cannot know - Blaise Pascal

Faith is not about personality

We need to be clear not to attach faith to a personality type and judge someone else’s faith or our faith on personality.

Low Risk Management or Risk Tolerance people such as myself might be willing to jump into a situation or so something without all the information. That does not necessarily mean I did it out of faith. My personality is low risk management.

High Risk Management or Risk Aversion people might want details before they commit to something. That does not necessarily mean they are not acting in faith.

Both personality types, low or high risk management can operate in faith but it might look different.

My wife and I have very different personality types. I am very low risk. I do not need all the details to get going. My wife needs more details. That does not necessarily mean I have more faith. Sometimes I do things without all the information and it has nothing to do with faith.

The heart behind, the motive, is the key

Both Mary and Martha asked the same question of Jesus at Lazarus grave.

Both Mary and Zechariah asked the same question of the angel Gabriel.

In both cases the heart behind it was different.

Faith is, in part, about trusting God and remembering that He has done things in the past that assure you He has this situation as well. It is also about understanding that there is more to this world than we can see.

Faith Builds Upon Faith

I have said it before things reproduce after their own kind. Steps of faith produce more faith.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase - MLK

When God is prompting you to take a step of faith it is just that a step. He is giving one thing to do at a time.

What it comes down in growing in your faith, what it comes down to in leveling up your faith is usually just a simple question,

What step of faith is God asking me to take right now?

Sometimes we are not seeing God move or hearing God because we have not done the last thing He said.

Obedience and faith go hand in hand.

If you have not submitted your life to Christ yes you do that by faith, but it is not a blind jump. You say, “OK God I see what you have done in other people so it is only logical you can do that for me.”

If you are trusting God to provide as you venture out in your own business. You might feel the prompting to do it. You can say, “OK God I see you provide for other people in their business and I see that you have given me the tools to succeed so I will trust you.”

One of my favorite passages that combine understanding God’s character and having a worldview that allows for faith is from Matthew 8:5-13

Matthew 8:5–13 CSB

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.” He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?” “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. 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.” Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith. I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.

The centurion had heard about Jesus and understood that He was able to preform the healing needed. He heard the stories, he believed the reports. He knew they Jesus could do what was needed. He had the right belief about God.

He knew that God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, the God of the Jews was able to do what was needed.

He also had the right worldview. He understood authority. He knew how earthly authority, how earthly power worked.

He did not look to some obscure philosophy. He said when I look at the world I understand that things work a certain way. If I tell one of my soldiers to go here then he goes there. If I tell him to do this then he does it.

In short, authority is able to give commands and they are executed.

The centurion did some math:

If Jesus is able to heal then I need to ask Him to heal my servant.

If one in authority sends a command it is executed.

Therefore I can ask Jesus to heal and He does not need to go to my house to do it.

Faith is not about believing in magic or fairy tails it is about trusting that there is more than we can perceive at a single glance.

So again the question you have to ask yourself is,

What step of faith is God asking me to take right now?

The next step, the next level of faith is often determined by what you have done with the last step.

Everyone gets some measure of faith. Yes there is a gift of faith but everyone has some measure of it. The answer to how do I level up my faith is found in the question, what am I doing with the faith I do have?