Faith
The final installment of our Lenten Series finds to no great suprise that the number one indicator that a person is a Christian would be his or her faith. To quickly summarize, we simply defined "faith" with the word "trust". Since the Greek word (pistis - translated "faith" in your Bibles) and the Latin word (fides - from which our English word "faith" comes from) both mean "trust" it seemed like a simple, appropriate, and easily understood definition. Secondly we affirmed that faith necessarily implies action. For example I can look at a chair and believe that it will hold my weight. I can even tell others about said chair's potential ability to hold my weight. But until I actually sit down on the chair I have yet to display my faith in it's ability to hold my weight.
So faith simply means trust, and necessarily implies some action upon that trust. Furthermore we recognized that a person's faith (or lack of faith) can most clearly be seen during a time of crisis or hardship. For example the man who loses his job but has faith in God, will procclaim God's care and future plan for his life (depsite losing said job). A similar man without faith (or with a lack of faith) will not make such statements but rather focus on the lost job and the implications (no money, no food, no security, etc.). Jesus understood this fact and uses it as a teaching point about the virtues of faith in the following passage Matthew 6:25-34. In this passage Jesus suggests that to "worry" betrays a lack of faith. He suggests that the person with strong faith will not worry about the little things (food and clothing) and instead be freed to focus on what's really important (The Kingdom of God).
Finally I remarked that faith is primarily about who your faith is in. For Christians that "who" is Jesus. But just like many things in life, faith in Christ is something you must find for yourself. It's similar to finding a good doctor. You can hear others tell you about how great their doctor is, but until you go and find out for yourself, you will never trust that doctor.
I would like to close with a story about a tightrope walker. The man was walking across Niagra Falls, and as he was preparing for his act, a huge crowd had gathered. Upon walking across the falls on the tightrope, the man turned around and asked the people if they believed he could cross the falls. Having just seen him perform the feat, the crowd enthusiastically cheered "Yes!" Next the man walked across the falls pushing a wheelbarrow, and again asked the crowd if they believed he could cross pushing a wheelbarrow. Having just seen him do that very thing, they again loudly proclaimed "Yes!" Finally the tightrope walker crossed the falls pushing the wheelbarrow with his friend in it. This time he asked if they believed he could cross the falls pushing a wheelbarrow with a person in it. The crowd louder than ever shouted "YES!" To which the man replied "Who's next?"
Jesus is that tightrope walker. You and I are in the crowd. We've seen him walk across the rope, and even seen him carry others across the falls. The question is are you going to step out of the crowd and let him do the same for you, or will you remain in the crowd?
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
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