Core 52 Week 28 - A Deeper Faith

One of the most recognizable latin phrases in America is Semper Fidelis.

[IMAGE] It means “always faithful” or “always loyal.” Motto of the USMC since 1883.

Inherent in this motto is a commitment to be loyal to the mission and faithful to one another. It embodies the commitment and responsibility to serve.

Every marine I’ve ever known (and there are no “former” marines) has maintained that commitment regardless of how long they’ve been in civilian life.

That loyalty and commitment is worthy of respect and honor. It is an ethos worthy of emulation.

The Marine Corps aren’t the first to discover the critical value of fidelity to the cause and to the team.

A Roman centurion (leader) knew it in his heart when he called on a Jewish rabbi named Jesus to heal his fatally ill servant.

Luke 7:1–5 NLT

1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. 2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, 5 “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.”

Amazing story just for the sake of the cultural, political and social challenges it presents.

It goes even further when the spiritual nature of the event is uncovered:

Luke 7:6–8 NLT

6 So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. 7 I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

This Roman made the conceptual leap between the kind of loyalty and commitment he experienced as a soldier and applied to Jesus. He accepted Jesus’ authority and power and followed it to the logical conclusion: If Jesus said something would happen, it would happen.

Luke 7:9 NLT

9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!”

Semper Fidelis indeed.

What do we make of a statement like this? What does faith like this look like in my life or your life?

What do we even mean when we talk about faith?

When we are asked to “believe” in Jesus or “have faith” in the gospel, what do we do? Just agree on some statements about Jesus? Read a set of beliefs and say, “ok.”?

The modern USMC motto and the example of a Roman centurion point us in the right direction.

Faith is Belief +

At times, faith simply equals belief. In our world belief is often reduced to a rational recognition in a set of facts.

In this case, that Jesus of Nazareth was the embodiment of God. He died on a cross, was buried for three days and rose from the dead to eternal life.

These are true statements and form the core of our understanding.

But simply recognizing these facts and even being able to repeat them doesn’t necessarily create transformation in our lives.

We find that others in our culture want faith to be primarily experience. We believe in, have faith in, what we have seen and felt in our own experience. This is existentialism. Faith = personal experience.

Neither extreme: rationalism nor existentialism can match a biblical faith.

Logic can only carry you so far spiritually before we run up against a transcendent God who isn’t limited by our intellect or imagination.

Experience isn’t a good guide to faith because it’s transitory and imprecise.

Rather, the Jesus reminds us:

Mark 1:15 NLT

15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

The word “believe” in this verse can also be translated “have faith.”

Jesus calls us to a new allegiance, a new life (just like Marines).

It’s a call to a transformed trajectory (turn around, away from sin, repentance).

This means a new commitment to a new leader.

We take who we are and pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ.

We are pledging fidelity (loyalty, commitment to Christ).

Just like military recruits take an oath to be faithful to the Constitution of the United States and elected officials do the same, we make a public commitment of our faith in Jesus Christ.

It is as if we stood in a line fellow inductees with our hands raised, pledging our fidelity, loyalty to Christ.

Faith, in a word, is fidelity.

Faith Must Be Active

James 2:17–18 NLT

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. 18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

We’ve been tracing our core responsibilities as the church these past few weeks:

Our battle isn’t against flesh and blood but is spiritual.

Our message is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

Our mission is to go out into the world and make disciples for Jesus who will then live that mission themselves.

This takes faith - fidelity, loyalty, commitment.

It is us all taking up the battle cry “semper fidelis” for the sake of Jesus.

Basically: if we’re seeking salvation through our efforts we ask, “Is this all I have to do?”

When we live our allegiance to God we ask a different question: “What else can I do?”

Faith works.