Have a Little Faith

Intro

How many of you remember the story of God leading the Israelites out of Egypt? How many remember what happened afterwards? They sent 12 spies into Canaan, 10 were bad and 2 were good. The people refused to trust their God, and so he made them wander in the desert for 40 years. They literally walked in circles for four decades…all the while just a few days away from the promised land. It’s like being able to see the Colorado mountains, but being forced to walk around in Kansas for 40 years. Even in their punishment though, God nourished them and provided food for them. Every single day he would send this weird stuff from heaven. Does anyone know what it was called? It was called “Manna”. It’s sometimes called “bread from heaven”. But the truth is, nobody knows what it was. Not even the Israelites! How do we know this? Because the word “manna” literally means, “What is it?” They had no clue! Now of course I like to think that it was probably Chik-fil-a.

There are many things in life that often make us ask, “What is it?” Gifts wrapped at Christmas, funny looking animals, and more. I think faith also one of those things that when we really sit down and think about it, we ask ourselves, “What is it?” Faith is kind of a strange thing that is sometimes hard to nail down. It seems obvious though, right? How many of you would say that faith is believing in God? The problem is, belief is simply the act of having faith. So when we say that faith is believing in God, we are actually using the word in the definition, and that doesn’t help us at all! To top it off, James says that “even the demons believe God, and shudder!” After all, lots of people believe in God, but not very many people have faith. So then, what is faith?

In order to know, we have to go back to the very word Scripture uses for faith. This word is pistis. No, I didn’t just cuss, I promise, that is really how you pronounce it. Pistis is what we translate as “faith” throughout the New Testament. Pistis actually has several different meanings, but they can all be boiled down to two main definitions, “Allegiance” and “Assurance”. However, there is a third definition I also want to add, and that’s “obedience”. Even though pistis never meant obedience, Scripture often connects obedience to faith. It’s these three definitions that will help us understand what exactly faith is.

Faith is Allegiance

First, faith is Allegiance. Just like it sounds, this is what Roman soldiers and citizens alike would pledge to their emperor and country. “I pledge pistis to Rome.” or as we might say, “I pledge pistis to the flag...” When it comes to our relationships with Christ, we are called to pledge alliance to Him and Him alone. This is why some Christians have a hard time, or do not, say the pledge of allegiance because they don’t think they can pledge allegiance to both their King and their country. Having this kind of allegiance to something means going all in, giving your undivided loyalty to something. When Christ called his disciples and us to follow him, this is definitely part of what he had in mind. It’s why he was completely honest with us when he told us that to follow him meant taking up our cross daily, becoming servants to him and others, facing persecution and other difficult things. It’s why in so many followers abandoned him. They were not willing to give into His demands for allegiance. On the flip side, when Jesus found individuals who had genuine faith in him, he commended them for it, often healing them and making proud statements of them. But when he encountered people that had no faith, who had no allegiance and trust in Him he was not afraid to call them out either.

If you are a soldier, or know a soldier, then this idea of complete dedication to something or someone should be no surprise. After all, as a soldier, when you pledge allegiance to your country, what does that ultimately mean you could be signing up for? It means you could be giving up your life. The demands of loyalty from this world are great, but Jesus our loyalty more. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew this well when they put their loyalty for their God above that of their country, even if it meant being thrown in the furnace. This is also why the early church got into so much trouble with Rome. Whenever Christians were told to bow to Caesar, they would refuse. The penalty: death. It got to the point where the officials would beg them to simply lie about their loyalty. They would say, “Just bow down and fake it. You don’t even have to mean it, and you’ll live.” But they refused, because they put their faith by pledging allegiance to the King of Kings.

Faith is Obedience

Of course there are more implications to your allegiance than just your life. Any good soldier knows that to show your allegiance you have to obey your king. For Jesus, our obedience goes back to two things: Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and mind (That’s the allegiance to him, by the way) and the second is Love Your Neighbor as Yourself. Now to be clear, our obedience is not what saves us. Our allegiance does, but out of that allegiance comes obedience. It’s why Paul says, “We are justified by faith apart from works” but James says, “Faith without works is dead.” Our obedience, our works, have to flow out of our faith allegiance. We still use this type of illustration in today when it comes to marriage. We say we are faithful to our spouse. We know that this doesn’t mean you believe they exist. If you said, “I have faith in my spouse.” And only meant, “I believe they exist.” We would all laugh at you. When you are faithful to your spouse it means you are fully dedicated to them. There is nobody else, or shouldn’t be. When you say your vows you are making a promise to be faithful to them and only them for the rest of your life. But of course it doesn’t end there does it? You show your faithfulness to your spouse by being showing them you love them, including being obedient. You buy your wife flowers, and take her out to dinner. You fold your own clothes and do what she says. Why? Because you are being faithful to her. If you simply said you were faithful, but did nothing to show it, nobody would take your commitment very seriously would they? Imagine if you went one step further and said, “Of course I’m faithful, I haven’t cheated on them.” Yet, you don’t care for them, or show them that you love them. Your “faithfulness” to your spouse would be just as hollow as if you had cheated on them!

This is of course why the church and Jesus are often described as a bride and groom. We are called to be faithful to him and He is faithful to us. Yes it’s true, just as Christ call us to be faithful to him, he also is faithful to us. In fact, all throughout Scripture, faith has been seen as an agreement between God and his people. The difference of course is that Christ is always faithful to us, even when we aren’t.

Faith is Assurance

This brings us to our third definition of faith: faith is assurance. This was the legal definition of pistis. Whenever two parties signed a legal agreement they had pistis that both sides would fulfil their end of the bargain. If you had a claim to property or an inheritance you would hold up your documents as assurance that the items were actually yours. In the Old Testament we see this as the covenant made by God and his people, first with Abraham and then again with the people of Israel. But now he has been a new and greater covenant with us through Jesus. In Paul says that God has “guaranteed” this by raising Christ from the dead. And elsewhere Paul speaks of keeping his end of the bargain by saying, “I have kept the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” Paul, kept his end of the bargain by his allegiance and obedience to Christ. Over and over again he tells us the price he had to pay to follow Christ. It cost him everything, including his life. But because of this he was able to hold up his faith as assurance of the hope he had in the heavenly treasures he would receive even though he couldn’t see them yet. Does this sound familiar? This is exactly what the author of Hebrews is saying when chapter 11! 11:1 says, “ Now faith is being sure (that’s a guarantee) of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” This isn’t referring to simply believing that God exists, but rather to a future life that God has promised! N.T. Wright puts it this way,

“I may hope for a better world, for a new bodily life beyond the grave; but unless I believe in the God who raised Jesus, my hope may degenerate into mere optimism.”

Faith is the underlying assurance that we can lay claim to those future treasures. We not only have hope that they exist, but we know they will be our because of our allegiance and obedience to Christ. And here is what’s so great: this assurance is nothing new. Individuals throughout our history, from the Old Testament and even the last two-thousand years have shown had this same assurance because of their allegiance and obedience. You better buckle up because we’re going for a ride through the Hall of Faith.

READ , stopping to comment on the ongoing trend that they were all living out their faith because they had hope that God would keep his end of the bargain, even though they couldn’t see it.

END READING - they did all those things because they had faith. And you know what’s crazy? They didn’t even see the promise come true. None of them ever saw Jesus. But we have. That means we have no excuse. If they were able to do those things and they simply trusted that God would keep his promise, talk about assurance, how much more should we be doubling down in our allegiance and obedience to Christ since we’ve seen God’s promise fulfilled in Jesus?

Why do we put blinders on horses? It’s so they can only see what’s right in front of them and they don’t get distracted right? We need to do the same thing. We need to put our spiritual blinders on and follow Jesus. Or, as the author of Hebrews puts it, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Jesus has set the standard. He has made the path for us already. We have to give full allegiance to him and follow him. Are you ready for that?

You know we’ve talked about this reward that our ancestors looked forward to. It’s described in 11:13-16 they of course never saw this city. But we have. Well, kind of. The kingdom is already partially here. It’s us. It’s the Church. We’ve seen more of this city than they ever did, but we still look forward to the day when it is completed. Of course John gives us a glimpse of what the completed city will look like. Remember his description in Revelation?

The author of Hebrews puts it this way in chapter 13:11, “The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

Did you see the allegiance and obedience side of faith there?

And as for the assurance? When the day finally comes, and we see the city for real, we will prove our citizenship by our faith. We will point to our allegiance to the King and our obedience to him and say, “I have kept the faith!” to which we will hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” Our allegiance and obedience will be our assurance and our guarantee to the treasures we have stored up in heaven, and we will remember the words of Paul, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” as we realize that everything we give up here on Earth in allegiance to our King was completely worth it.

So where are you at? Do you need to pledge allegiance to King Jesus? If so come forward and let’s talk. Or maybe you’ve declared your allegiance already, but it’s been more lip-service than action. You haven’t been as faithful to Christ as he’s been to you. It’s never too late to through out everything that has gotten in between you and Him and start fresh by putting on those spiritual blinders and focusing everything you have on him. If you feel like you aren’t good enough to be a follower of Jesus, let me remind you that none of those people found in the Hall of Faith were perfect. Moses was a murderer, David an adulterer, Rahab a prostitute, and Jephthah sacrificed his own daughter! Yet they are all remembered because of their faith. Jesus demands everything from us, and if that everything is a mustard seed of faith, he’ll take it, and I promise he will grow it if you let him.

What is faith? Faith is allegiance which leads to obedience, and these become our assurance. Simply put: Faith is following Jesus.