Faith Fixes Everything
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I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life where my prayers have been answered exactly as I could hope for and then there are times when those prayers seem to go unheard. I’m guessing that you can relate. I have rejoiced as I have seen the sick healed, financial needs met, jobs provided, and lives changed. I have also wept as the sick have died, finances close in, jobs have not come or slipped through my fingers, and lives have remained the same. I have watched loved ones battle depression and illness only to hear others simple encourage them to have more faith. So, they try to read their Bible more, pray more, have more faith, just so that they can get out from under what is broken in their lives.
This is not how faith works.
God is not a genie in a bottle that is activated by having enough faith.
We cannot make God do something simply because we have enough faith.
Over the next few weeks we are going to examine some misconceptions that many of us believe, or have believed, about what the Bible teaches. Many of these things have been taught from the pulpit, and frankly, I want to bring attention to our key verse for this series:
The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
What you are about to hear may make perfect sense, or it may seem to fly in the face of what you have been taught, so I challenge you, examine scripture, read your Bibles, to make sure that what I say is true. Every week, I hope that you do this, no matter who is preaching.
Today was are going to be talking about faith. What is faith? When we talk about faith in our culture, or about it’s companion hope, we often use it to refer to the unknown. I have faith that my team can pull out the victory. I hope that they will win the championship. I have faith that my students can do well in their classes. I hope to see A’s when I grade their assignments. But this is not a biblical understanding of faith, but rather positive thinking. If I can visualize it and have enough faith and hope, then it will happen.
The writer of Hebrews defines faith in Hebrews 11:1.
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
See, in scripture, faith is trusting in what God has revealed, and hope is looking forward to what is certain.
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For by it our ancestors won God’s approval.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.
By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.
These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be called through Isaac. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.
By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward.
By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible. By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.
And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.
This sounds great, right?! This is the pep talk for the ages. Right about now I feel like Rocky at the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The writer of Hebrews continues though:
Women received their dead, raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.
Now wait a minute! Obviously these people didn’t have enough faith! Don’t they know that if they have enough faith God will protect them from this kind of thing? After all, if they just had faith the size of a mustard seed they could have prayed their way out of these things.
Are you sure?
It is true that Matthew 17:20 reads:
“Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
But let’s look at the context, shall we? First, we need to go back to Matthew 10.
Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.
Now, look at Matthew 17
When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him. “Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.
Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
“Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Their lack of faith was not an inability to visualize the outcome, their lack of faith was not trusting what they knew God (Jesus) had given them authority to do!
Faith results in obedience.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Faith always leads to obedience. In English we want to distinguish between faith and believing, but in our Bibles it is just the noun (faith) and the verb (believe) of the same Greek root. It would sound weird for us to say “to faith” so we say believe. The only difference between the belief of the demons, and the belief of a follower of God, is that our belief leads to obedience.
So, back to the question at hand, does faith fix everything? Do bad things happen to us because we lack faith? The answer to both is no! Faith does not fix everything. Bad things happen because of sin. We live in a broken world.
Jesus tells us in John 16:33
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
And James tells us in James 1
Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Ok, but doesn’t God want to give us the desires of our heart?
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Last week Hannah talked about what it meant to delight in the Lord. When we delight in the Lord, our heart’s desires will line up with His.
πιστις (noun), πιστοσ (adj), and πιστευω (verb) are translated faith, belief, believing, trusting, trust, trustworthy.
Friends, faith is not a genie in a bottle that allows you to command God. It will not fix your circumstances or cause you to never see trouble. Lack of it will not make you poor, and an abundance of faith will not make you rich.
Faith does not fix your circumstances, but keeps your eyes focused on the eternal.
The writer of Hebrews affirms this in chapter 12:
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I find that our faith, and our understanding of faith, is often reflected in our advice to others, and our prayers. I have seen incredible damage done by well meaning, misinformed Christians, who believe that things like sadness, depression, tough times, etc. are a result of a lack of faith. Just read your Bible and pray more. It is always good to read your Bible and pray, but maybe, just maybe, something else is going on, that is designed to strengthen our faith, and that brother or sister needs someone to pray for them more than some advice. And speaking of prayer, I find it interesting to listen to the prayer requests of missionaries. Rarely have I heard them ask for prayers of safety. But rather, they pray for courage, boldness, and opportunities to share the gospel. Lord, stretch our faith as we pray to keep our eyes focused on you and what you have promised.