The Tension of Faith | Reflections

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What is faith? It's more intense than we realize. It's absurd to every human/world intuition. But the gospel is more absurd than faith and it validates every ounce of faith we could exert.

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The Tension of Faith

Romans 4:13–25 ESV

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Introduction story

Pray.

Introduction story : Food allergies & interconnectedness (heartburn, arthritic knee, runny sinuses, seasonal allergies). Moment brought to the end of myself- heartburn for 7 years. Situation exposed what was going on in my stomach— allergies to gluten and dairy (whole adulthood poking fun at “gluten-free” etc). At first I felt INCREDIBLE. Waking up at 5am energized. But quickly thereafter, the feeling subsided and seemed like it wasn’t working until I discovered MORE food allergies. So life exposes the deficient faith is at the root of every ailment of the Christian life. I’ve tried to compromise between foods I can’t eat that taste good and foods I can eat that taste… not so good- like having one food in delight and one foot in discipline. I hate the fact that I’m not in control. So I try to take back a little control by pressing against the boundaries and eating what harms me, but cheating even once has ramifications for days/weeks.

I wonder where you feel a loss of control in life right now? Socially: FOMO -> FOBO. Vocationally: Maybe your boss has been a little tougher on you recently, leading you to question whether you’re on the chopping block. PARENTS: Maybe your kids aren’t learning the lessons you’re trying to teach them so you raise your voice just a little bit louder. RETIREMENT: Maybe your retirement account isn’t growing at the rate you need it to so you cut generosity to put more money away. RELATIONSHIP: Maybe the person you’re dating or married to isn’t changing in the way you asked them to for the ten thousandth time so you withhold affection so they really get the point.

Faith is an admonition of desperation- a looking outside of ourselves. Desperation draws us to realize how small we are and search for someone bigger than us to rescue us from our plight.

Transitions bw sections:

Our attempts at control reveal that we have a fundamental issue: The world is uncontrollable. The world doesn’t play by the rules we so desire. We busy ourselves trying to control our environments, thinking that somehow then we can rest. But it eludes us.

Live disconnected from myself- outside of the proper limitations of my relationship to my body (death).

“Its more complicated than faith.” nuance that seeks to grow beyond ‘naivete’.

Even for Christians, too much faith can seem irresponsible.

Propaganda song

2) Moments of doubt about foods rather than faith in what I can’t see— “I’ll be ok this one time....”

The Liturgists Podcast

TWO METHODS FOR DEALING WITH TENSION:

Explain it away.

Ignore it.

Tension of Life this Text addresses: We live with the longing for a faith that is solid, a faith that makes God real to us, and a faith that has the power to change our lives, but just not too much faith… going all in with faith in Jesus makes us feel like we’ll lose

3) Submission to my Dr. even when I can’t understand it or doubt that it will work.

Main Point of the Sermon: PUNCHY. Faith is the only

Faith is absurd in the eyes of the world because it embraces relationship with God, sacrifices that which is seen in favor of that which is unseen, and chooses a life that hopeful in the midst of impossibilities.

Main Question: How can we cultivate a thriving faith while planted in a city whose very soil seems to be corrosive to any faith at all? We need a resilient faith. Faith, like an allergic immune system diet, is either pure and producing health or impure and producing compounding dysfunction. Quite simply, a resilient faith is a faith that is growing rather than shrinking.

APPLICATION:

***Faith is the channel by which Christ’s perfect relationship to God is gifted to us and we are perfected in relationship to God, so center your life around faith/perseverance in Christ, the presence of God, and the power of the Spirit.

Transitions bw sections:

(“in the presence of the God… who gives life to the dead and calls/don’t exist. ”) Live disconnected from myself- outside of the proper limitations of my relationship to my body (death).

3) (Grew strong in his faith as He gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.) Submission to my Dr. even when I can’t understand it or doubt that it will work.

Transition: IN THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM, WE’RE GOING TO SEE THAT THE LIFE WITH GOD BY FAITH HAS ALWAYS BEEN FILLED WITH TENSION, BUT THAT THERE IS A BETTER WAY TO RESOLVE THE TENSION THAN EXPLAIN IT AWAY OR IGNORE IT.

Faith brings tension

Romans 4:13–15 ESV

Romans 4:13–16 ESV

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

***A lot of big words and deep biblical history that we can’t cover, but I want us to focus on this guy Abraham and how and why scripture commends his faith.***

Observation: The Story of Abraham (3 weeks ago Eddie had a great summary)

ABRAHAM’s PROMISE THE FOUNDATION: “Promise”: “Father of many nations.” The chief aim of God’s promise is to bless the world “in you shall all the nations be blessed.” But the Chief means through which the promise is realized is through faith.

OTHER PROMISES THE MEANS: IF YOU ARE HERE AND A CHRISTIAN, YOU ARE BELIEVING FOR SOME PRETTY INCREDIBLE PROMISES.

I want us to just focus on this one verse here: “The promise did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”

Law: If only they can be saved who seek to obey God’s rules, then God’s promise can’t work because it’s dependent on what people do, not what God says he has done.

So Paul says it’s not about keeping the rules to earn our way to heaven… it’s about faith.

So Paul says

Righteousness:

Faith:

WHAT IS FAITH?

Lots of ideas in culture. Ever met someone who...

Ned Flanders: Looks past nuance, suffering, and doubt to live a kind of flat existence that always seems a little disconnected from reality? Faith is not blind optimism!

Not belief in Jesus’ existence. : “Demons believe, and shudder.”

Oprah: Not simply belief in Jesus’ existence, but not really interested in His teachings. : “Demons believe, and shudder.” Faith is not a spiritual choose your own adventure!

Panic-faith: Smash-glass-in-case-of-emergency prayers. Best behavior around religious people. Tons of guys get really spiritual in engagement phase...

Prideful Religious People: Religion as a weapon to beat others into submission and exalt self above humanity. Least desirable people on the planet to be around.

Any famous athlete w/: Not the key to prosperity, a tool to be used to maximize lifestyle of pleasure or comfort.

WHAT FAITH IS: Trusting something outside of yourself. Faith looks outside of ourselves for something or someone who can do what we cannot do for ourselves.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Tension of faith: Faith brings tension because we can’t see what we believe in. (VOCATION: science & faith. RELATIONSHIPS: pain & grace.)

Faith begins with an admonition of desperation- a looking outside of ourselves and for relationship with someone who can do what we cannot do for ourselves. Desperation draws us to realize how small we are and search for someone bigger than us to rescue us from our plight.

Caveat-> *EVERYONE HAS FAITH

Important Note: Everyone in this room has faith in something or someone. This necessity of faith is seen everywhere.

Control vs. Faith:

Faith in others: NYTimes on Instagramming on your honeymoon: “I had to prove to the world that I was having a great time,” she said. And so half of her day was spent shooting, editing, or planning Instagram posts… For breakfast JP would be like, ‘O.K., we’re going to this place,’ and I’d look at the menu before, thinking, ‘What will look cute for Instagram?’ And I didn’t even really want to eat it! Or he’d be like, ‘Let’s go to this beach,’ and I’d be like, ‘Eh, I don’t know,’ because I already looked at photos and thought it didn’t look pretty.”

[Don’t pretend like we all don’t use social media because some of our faith is in what others think!]

WHAT IT MEANS: When we look to the approval of others, we are implicitly embracing a faith that says “If other people approve of me or revere me, then I will be somebody, then I can be successful, then I can be secure, then I can be happy.”

Faith in yourself: “FRIGGA: EVERYONE FAILS AT WHO THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE, THOR. A MEASURE OF A PERSON, OF A HERO, IS HOW WELL THEY SUCCEED AT BEING WHO THEY ARE.”

Our attempts at control reveal that we want to be God. We are small and relatively powerless in the grand scheme of the world but we yearn to have power or influence for the world to listen to us. Desperation draws us to realize how small we are and search for someone bigger than us to rescue us from our plight.

Faith in yourself: “FRIGGA: EVERYONE FAILS AT WHO THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE, THOR. A MEASURE OF A PERSON, OF A HERO, IS HOW WELL THEY SUCCEED AT BEING WHO THEY ARE.”

This is fundamental Expressive Individualism! You will be happy if you discover who you are as opposed to what your culture or community has said about you, and then design your own sense of self accordingly.

WHAT IT MEANS: This is fundamental Expressive Individualism! You will be happy if you discover who you are as opposed to what your culture or community has said about you, and then design your own sense of self accordingly. We must look within ourselves and draw out whatever desires and beliefs are innate to us.

Tension of faith: So we see that everyone has faith, whether in the crowd’s approval or spurning the crowd or anything else. What is your faith in?

Promise

“Promise”: “Father of many nations.”

BACK TO : Paul’s point: God comes to give a promise to Abraham that can only be accessed through FAITH. Now, in our day we’re so inundated with Christianity and Christian themes that the absurdity of this offer from God is lost on us.

Absurdity of the Promise:

Alternatives to faith: 1) Works. 2) Universalism. BOTH SEEK ISOLATION FROM RELATIONSHIPS.

“Adherents of the law are the be heirs, faith is null and the promise is void”

If God is God, maker of Heaven and Earth and Orion’s belt and neutrons and quarks, He could have come to Abraham and said “As your maker, and as the one who could take your breath away yesterday, I command you to obey my every word. If you do so PERFECTLY, I will give you a child.

Control vs. Faith: The real tension.

Our attempts at controlling our lives reveal that we want to be God. We are small and relatively powerless in the grand scheme of the world but we yearn to have power or influence for the world to listen to us. Desperation draws us to realize how small we are and search for someone bigger than us to rescue us from our plight.

FAITH IS A RELINQUISHING OF CONTROL!

WHY FAITH FOR THE PROMISE?

WORKS: Ladder of merit. Divided by Comparison.

UNIVERSALISM: unhinged existence void of meaning. Divided by our own self-centeredness.

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

BACK TO : Paul’s point is this God comes to give a promise to Abraham that can only be accessed through the RIGHTEOUSNESS of FAITH.

Now, in our day we’re so inundated with Christianity and Christian themes that the absurdity of this offer from God is lost on us. If God is God, maker of Heaven and Earth and Orion’s belt and neutrons and quarks, He could have come to Abraham and said “As your maker, and as the one who could take your breath away yesterday, I command you to obey my every word. If you do so PERFECTLY, I will give you a child.

Alternative to faith: merit. Merit is De-Relational.

Why faith? Faith brings righteousness. What is righteousness? Not a stuffy kind of spiritual arrogance or a turtle’s expression from Finding Nemo...

Righteousness = right relationship

“Heir of the World”

This is huge. If you are a Christian, the language of the bible can become a logic game or bible math simply stringing together a bunch of big words: Justification = sin + Jesus divided by redemption to the square root of sanctification? Then somehow we’re supposed to live thriving Christian faith?

Faith is the means for salvation because faith gets us looking outside of ourselves to God, it opens us up to accepting relationship because we’re not naturally very good at relationships after the fall. God responds to our faith by doing the work necessary to make us “Righteous”: providing grace so that the promise of relationship can be guaranteed to EVERYONE who has faith in Jesus.

The purpose of faith is to repair relationship that had been severed by sin. FAITH IS RELATIONAL because Human nature is relational. One facet of being made in the image of God is to be incomplete apart from meaningful relationships with other human beings.

Why is it that Human babies are the least developed of any mammal? Even non-human primates can regulate body temperature and have a grasp reflex that can support their body weight. WHY? One area that is MORE developed that any other animal at birth is our brain. Some theories think we’re born so early in development because if our heads got any bigger we wouldn’t fit out the birth canal… the mom’s give a heart AMEN! Other theories Neuroscience shows that Human babies form their pattern of attachment, their pattern of relationship before cognition & linguistics. Mirror neurons literally borrow the brain of parents to form pathways and

The plague of our generation is paralyzing anxiety, emptiness of meaning, and rampant mistrust of anyone except ourselves. Might I suggest that each of those issues are directly tied to the feeling of being alone. Of course we’re anxious when we believe the pressure of life is for us to bear on our own. Of course we’re searching for meaning when we’re not sacrificially connected to communities of people with purpose. Of course we’re mistrusting of others when we haven’t experienced unconditional love and commitment from people who love us for us. IT IS ANTHROPOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BE A THRIVING CHILD APART FROM MEANINGFUL RELATIONAL CONNECTION TO OTHERS.

The deepest voids

The same is true for our faith- if we seek to live a Christian life around others but apart from any genuine connection to others, we live in the misery of expectations of faith with none of the benefits. In a very real way, we borrow the faith of others while we are learning to live lives following Jesus. We need to see that God has come through for others in the ways He promises to do for us. We need to know how to be a faithful single person in the family of God instead of the married We need people ahead of us to follow and people behind us to pour into. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO THRIVE AS A CHRISTIAN APART FROM MEANINGFUL RELATIONAL CONNECTION WITH OTHERS.

INVITATION TO MORE: Maybe you’ve started attending our Sunday gatherings over the summer. You need to know that though TCLA seeks to hospitably welcome every person who walks through the door, to point every person to Jesus as savior, & to advocate for the flourishing of our community, merely gathering with God’s church on Sundays CANNOT feed a faith that was always intended to be relational.

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD CHANGES EVERYTHING: Next time you are tempted to just stay at home and chill by yourself instead of participating in your Missional Community or Discipleship Group think about where you will end up if you made that same decision every time you felt tired.

FEAR: Ask yourself whether or not you are simply afraid of showing up the mess that you feel like you are. If the Gospel has opened up relationship to God for you apart from you being cleaned up, just by faith, you can show up knowing you’ve already been accepted by God.

COMFORT: Ask yourself whether or not you are choosing comfort rather than faithfulness, knowing that the gospel confronts the lie of pain that says “you don’t need discomfort or pain” when oftentimes that is the way God most richly meets us and grows us.

PRIDE: Ask yourself whether or not you are choosing pride rather than humility, knowing that the gospel empties our every claim to believe we’re strong or sufficient on our own because the Son of God needed to take our place, give us His goodness, and take our evil in order to repair our relationship to God.

CULTURE: The law appeals to us.

“Adherents of the Law”

Faith is Absurd to the world because relationship with an all-loving God is seen as wishful thinking.

CULTURE: The law appeals to us.

No Law, No transgression! The Great Heist (no law about personal data sharing, no law breaking)

Similarly,

Anti-faith stances believe they are the rational ones, but prove that we humans are not rational enough! (Contrary to popular thinking about faith)

STUDY: 13% of Christians having a biblical worldview

All have faith in something:

“quote about narcissistic optimistic deism”

Romans 4:17–18 ESV

Romans 4:17–25 ESV

17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:17-2

Point 2: God’s Response - Grace

TRANSITION: Rather than repair the tension of life, faith in God seems to INTRODUCE more tension. What you do with that tension of faith will either propel you to the fountains of God’s promises of joy and peace or bind your heart in knots of misery as you try to live split between two

Tension must be dealt with

It will either grow your faith or stunt your faith.

2) (He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body/womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God.). Intruder into my system: bacteria that break down your stomach, causing an allergic response to improperly digested food.

Romans 4:19–21 ESV

19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Romans 4:19-21

Potential energy like the tension that our faith inserts into our lives.

Critical mistake to believe something was static that is dynamic. (Faith as strengthening or weakening)

We’ve bought the lie that there is nothing we can do to grow in our faith. We’ve also bought the lie that we don’t need to do anything to grow our faith (“do you presume upon the mercy of God, not knowing that His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”)

FAITH CAN BE STRENGTHENED AND WEAKENED BY THE TENSION OF LIFE:

Paul describes Abraham’s faith with dynamic terms: "did not weaken”, “grew strong”. Faith, like relationship, cannot remain static but will always be deepening or distancing.

Harness the tension to grow your faith or else it will stunt your faith.

Harness the tension to grow your faith:

Potential energy like the tension that our faith inserts into our lives.

What can we learn from the way Paul commends Abraham’s faith? Three things.

Wear the Lens of Faith [bullet points below in red]

Romans 4:17–18 ESV

Imagine Abraham. Barren. Then a promise. First time they slept together after the promise… “We’re gonna have a child!”… Slowly saw the odds of a child lessen until 100 years old. How often do you think he was tempted to give up on God and His promises?

We are all interpreters. Meaning makers. When is the last time something REALLY unexpected occured in your life? What did you attribute it to? That shows what your primary lens of belief consists of!

We are supposed to see the world through the lens of faith because Jesus is at the center of the universe, not the fringes.

Barna STUDY: 17% of Christians having a biblical worldview

“...believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.” Barna’s biblical worldview statement

These statements matter because truth matters. Contrary to a kind of “build your own faith” that is prevalent in our day, strong faith in Jesus must be built upon the word which He upheld.

“The greater be our progress in theology, the simpler and more childlike will be our faith.” J Gresham Machen The more you grow to know God, the more childlike you will become.

WEARING THE LENS OF FAITH:

SEE GOD THROUGH THE LENS OF SCRIPTURE

v17-18 “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

Presence— “in the presence of the God in whom he believed”

Power— “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

TRANSFORMATION: Pride tells us we should live for ourselves, no one else -> Humility is born as we see the bigness of God and live by HOPE.

SEE YOUR LIFE THROUGH THE LENS OF FAITH: God is ALWAYS working wonders in our lives because His goodness overflows into the world, but oftentimes his glory is cheapened when we explain it away as “chance” of “natural”.

Romans 4:19–20 ESV

Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac

Abraham’s Lens of Faith:

Hebrews 11:17–19 ESV

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

SEE THE WORLD THROUGH THE LENS OF FAITH: POLITICAL DEBATES: Political candidates in our day seem to think the only way to rally support is to make every issue a crisis.

“This election will decide the fate of our planet!” Environment (responsibly steward the environment // “you have set the boundaries for the seas”)

Voting one way or another will not bring Jesus back, but it does offer us an opportunity to convey the beauty of faith in Christ LEADING TO ACTION AND REST SIMULTANEOUSLY!

If you want your faith to

HEART: ______

HEART:

Romans 4:19–20 ESV

v19- “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead or the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”V20- “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God...”

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

A critical element of a growing faith is the initiative to confront any area that doubt has crept into our faith.

What that doesn’t mean: Christian’s don’t doubt (they do), but that they wrestle with their doubts to submit them to faith.

What doubt is: “God, are you really going to take care of me? Can you really satisfy me if I trust you with my sexuality and you don’t give me a spouse?

HANDS: _____

v21: “Fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.”

v.20b-21 “...Grew strong in his faith as He gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

v.20b “...Grew strong in his faith as He gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

A growing faith resolves to take God at His word, regardless of what the world says or what the situation seems like.

- “He assumed he could receive Isaac back from the dead.”

TRANSITION:: Submission to my Dr. even when I can’t understand it or doubt that it will work.

God entered into the tension for us.

Romans 4:20b ESV

20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

Romans 4:24–25 ESV

24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:23–25 ESV

23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:22-

Romans 4:22–25 ESV

22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

v.20b “...Grew strong in his faith as He gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

Romans 4:

Paul is closing his argument on faith with a challenge and an assurance.

CHALLENGE: “That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness’.” On the surface it seems like Paul is simply saying Grace is opposed to earning, not effort. There is such a thing as fraudulent faith. Working on staff in churches for over ten years, I’ve seen a lot of people walk away from Jesus. Small group leaders, pastors, and all sorts of people in-between. Without fail, the most common reason people walk away from Jesus is due to the fact that life revealed their faith was actually in something else. Jesus was simply a means to an end that wasn’t Him. Most fundamentally, our faith in Jesus must be able to stand when all we have left is Him. It is the kindness of God that inserts tension into our lives in order to knock out pegs we had been standing on other than Jesus.

If your faith isn’t hard, it might not be faith. If you are content to live most days of your life apart from communion with God, giving no attention to the Holy Spirit in you or the state of your soul, your faith is perilously close to fraudulent.

But how can we know that

ASSURANCE: Paul gives us assurance by saying- Just like Abraham was graced into a right relationship through trust, so you can be graced into right relationship by faith in the same God who proved faithful to Abraham.

“True faith in Jesus always will result in action; but faith itself is not doing but receiving.” J Gresham Machen

Gospel:

Death, the greatest faith tension humans face, was met head-on by Jesus Christ. He died as our savior and was raised as our Lord.

The only tension in your life is that which God allows and will empower you for.

EXAMPLES:

Going to Community when you don’t feel like it in faith that God will use you and work in you.

Suffering at the hands of another without returning attacks and bitterness.

CHALLENGE: “That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness’.” On the surface it seems like Paul is simply saying Grace is opposed to earning, not effort. There is such a thing as fraudulent faith. If your faith isn’t hard, it might not be faith. If you are content to live most days of your life apart from communion with God, giving no attention to the Holy Spirit in you or the state of your soul, your faith is perilously close to fraudulent. Open yourself to the Holy Spirit to .

Non-Christian: Faith is not easy,

“True faith in Jesus always will result in action; but faith itself is not doing but receiving.” J Gresham Machen

Non-Christian: Faith is simple but not easy. If Jesus and the gospel are new to you today, the one thing you need to know is that Jesus drew near to humanity that our estranged relationship with God could be repaired. Of course relationship with an invisible God sounds absurd to us on the surface. But all faith should seem absurd to us- whether it’s faith in science’s incomplete knowledge or humanity’s profound capacity for beautiful love or heinous evil sometimes in the same hour! The absurdity of relationship is removed when we open ourselves up to experience it through Jesus Christ. No one has ever opened themselves to Jesus and been let down. He won’t start letting people down now. He won’t let you down today.

Of course relationship with an invisible God sounds absurd to us on the surface. But all faith should seem absurd to us- whether it’s faith in science’s incomplete knowledge or humanity’s profound capacity for beautiful love or heinous evil sometimes in the same hour!

The absurdity of relationship is removed when we open ourselves up to experience it through Jesus Christ. No one has ever opened themselves to Jesus and been let down. He won’t start letting people down now. He won’t let you down today.

CHRISTIAN: So remember as you are pressed by the Spirit into faith today that God loves to give grace. You have been “counted” worthy by God for relationship if you are clinging to Jesus by faith. When your faith fails and you run away from God believing you can find control elsewhere, do not let your confidence to return to God be built on a promise you make back to God (“I’ll never do it again! I’ll pay you back!

ACCEPTANCE: We are accepted into relationship with the one who raised Jesus from the dead.

REPENT: When we fall in sin -> return to relationship. Abraham & Hagar.

GOSPEL: The Gospel proves to us that we don’t need to live mistrusting lives any longer! The Gospel shows us that God is always and perfectly faithful in His goodness.

BENEDICTION: Romans 8:38-39

STORY: Micro decisions that leave you far from the intended destination.

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