What is Faith Sermons of Love
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- Christianity
What is Faith?
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5–8, ESV)
Double-Mindied = Two Souled, Two Thoughts, Two Minds, Undecided.Vanilla or Chocolate? Will God or Won’t He Heal? Is it God’s Will to heal or not?
Doubt: evaluate and judge for oneself. Adam set himself up as a judge and evaluator of God’s Word about the fruit. It isn’t so much a doubt as the opposite of trusting God.
The Three types of faith: knowledge, agreement, and trust.
The Word of Faith Movement has a lot of truth to it. God does want you to “prosper and be in health,” as John says. But what is prosperity?
Having everything you need to do what God has called you to do.
Would God want you to fail in what he has told you to do?
The problem of the Word of Faith movement is that it can take away your focus from Jesus and put it on yourself, your efforts, your faith and upon how much faith you have, OR DON’T HAVE!
Faith can become a form of works of self-improvement and a cycle of performance so that your focus is no longer on Jesus, but upon you: are you doing enough? Do you have enough faith? What if you don’t have enough faith?
The result of this misplaced focus is humanism. Man becomes the center of your theology instead of what Jesus has done for you on the cross.
The reason this happens is because when faith is treated like an object that we can possess or own, faith becomes separated from the One who is Faith and the One who gives Faith.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV)
Faith is not something we have separately from a relationship of intimacy with Jesus. It says
“faith works through love” (Gal. 5:6). And it says faith is a gift:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
(Ephesians 2:8–10, ESV)
If Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith and faith is a gift given to us by the Father, how so is faith something we can exercise ourselves outside a relationship with God? Is the focus on our faith or upon Jesus whose faith we share by his faith working in us? If we are his workmanship, is it not his faith which works in us to perfect us and make us like him?
So, let us look a the kind of faith Jesus had as our model.
The word for faith in Greek is the same as the English word TRUST. In almost every instance in the New Testament, everywhere the word faith appears, you can substitute the word trust. And it would be good for you to do so, as it changes the meaning of the scriptures as it applies to us. It becomes a term of relationship, rather than a term describing our performance or ability.
First of all, Jesus shows that he is totally dependent upon the Father for everything he does.
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19, NRSV)
“Do
What is Faith?
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5–8, ESV)
Double-Mindied = Two Souled, Two Thoughts, Two Minds, Undecided.Vanilla or Chocolate? Will God or Won’t He Heal? Is it God’s Will to heal or not?
Doubt: evaluate and judge for oneself. Adam set himself up as a judge and evaluator of God’s Word about the fruit. It isn’t so much a doubt as the opposite of trusting God.
The Three types of faith: knowledge, agreement, and trust.
The Word of Faith Movement has a lot of truth to it. God does want you to “prosper and be in health,” as John says. But what is prosperity?
Having everything you need to do what God has called you to do.
Would God want you to fail in what he has told you to do?
The problem of the Word of Faith movement is that it can take away your focus from Jesus and put it on yourself, your efforts, your faith and upon how much faith you have, OR DON’T HAVE!
Faith can become a form of works of self-improvement and a cycle of performance so that your focus is no longer on Jesus, but upon you: are you doing enough? Do you have enough faith? What if you don’t have enough faith?
The result of this misplaced focus is humanism. Man becomes the center of your theology instead of what Jesus has done for you on the cross.
The reason this happens is because when faith is treated like an object that we can possess or own, faith becomes separated from the One who is Faith and the One who gives Faith.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV)
Faith is not something we have separately from a relationship of intimacy with Jesus. It says
“faith works through love” (Gal. 5:6). And it says faith is a gift:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
(Ephesians 2:8–10, ESV)
If Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith and faith is a gift given to us by the Father, how so is faith something we can exercise ourselves outside a relationship with God? Is the focus on our faith or upon Jesus whose faith we share by his faith working in us? If we are his workmanship, is it not his faith which works in us to perfect us and make us like him?
So, let us look a the kind of faith Jesus had as our model.
The word for faith in Greek is the same as the English word TRUST. In almost every instance in the New Testament, everywhere the word faith appears, you can substitute the word trust. And it would be good for you to do so, as it changes the meaning of the scriptures as it applies to us. It becomes a term of relationship, rather than a term describing our performance or ability.
First of all, Jesus shows that he is totally dependent upon the Father for everything he does.
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19, NRSV)
“Do