Scripture: Matthew 21:21-22, 2 Timothy 2:11-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Last week, we considered the
extent of God’s Perfection, that it exists because of who God is, and not by
any standard that we can establish or even imagine. And every true word in scripture that describes
the LORD, comes from this one
attribute – His Perfection. Even the
forgiveness that He offered us from Calvary comes through faith in Jesus Christ,
and is based solely in this perfection that establishes it and guarantees it.
And
everything that comes to us by faith – forgiveness, eternal life, love, power,
truth, direction, purpose, and even faith itself – can only exist within us because
it first belonged to God. It is shown
to us by God, and is given to us by God.
But
you may say that while we need most of those things, and even more, why do we
need faith? Isn’t the LORD’s mercy enough for us to
become worthy of His gifts? The truth is
that without faith, nothing else is possible, including divine mercy! In Matthew 13:58 we read that even Jesus was unable to do any more
than a few miracles in His hometown because the people didn’t believe in
Him. So every gift that God wishes to
give us is totally dependent on whether we believe in Him and His word, or not.
Today,
we consider the attribute of Faith – what faith can do within us, and what God’s
faith means when it changes our lives.
Read Matthew21:21-22
This
passage comes from the story of the fig tree that Jesus cursed because it was
unable to bear fruit (Matthew 21:18-22). Matthew
has preserved this story, not because it’s about an unfruitful tree, but rather
because it is about us. The tree had
leaves, but any semblance of fruit – a sign of the tree’s life – is missing
from its limbs. The significance of this
parable is about those who have the outward appearance of faith – are a member
of a church, attend worship, and even offer service to others - but who have never
given their lives to Christ, and have never done a single thing that would give
glory to God Almighty (Matthew 7:21-23).
The
fruit of the fig tree is nothing more than figs, but the Fruit that comes by the
Spirit of God, those that we find in Galatians 5:22-26, are the special gifts that
come from God, and through us, are passed on to others. And when our life is devoid of Christ in His
fullness, it is also empty of all other gifts of God, and we will become cursed
by our own lack of faith. But when we truly
trust in the LORD and follow
His ways, we will receive the gifts of God, like power and strength and wisdom
and mercy and life, and these are to be used, not for our own glory, but for
glorifying the LORD and
the kingdom that He rules over.
A
number of years ago, Michael Card put out a song titled “That’s
What Faith Must Be”. The chorus
tells us this - “To hear with our heart, to see with our soul, to be guided
by a hand that I cannot hold, to trust in a way that I cannot see, that’s what
faith must be.”
And
through the power of prayer, that is what our faith will be, too!
Read 2 Timothy 2:11-13
Here
we have 4 sayings regarding faith. The
first two relate to the faith we have, while the last two apply when our faith
is reflected in the fig tree. It all
comes down to the degree of trust that we place in the teachings of Jesus,
which is where our faith originates.
Paul’s
letter to the church in Rome (Romans 6:5-10) is the basis for the first of these sayings. In this, he writes that when we die with
Christ, we will also live with Him. Of course,
the death he writes about is our dying to sin, which allows the death of Christ
to take our sin and destroy it’s power.
However, if we refuse to let our sin die, it will continue to live
within us, and Christ’s death will have no hold over it.
“If
we died with Him, we will also live with Him.” And without that death, there is no life.
In Romans8:23-25,
Paul again writes about this same thing, except that the theme here is patience,
which is where endurance becomes the strongest.
Patience for what God has promised means that our hope in Christ will
never fail, that even when the going gets rough, and it seems like the world is
on the verge of winning, “endurance” in Jesus will always see us through.
The
last two take a turn, with the third saying – “disowning” - fitting with other passages. In Mark 8:38 – “If anyone is ashamed
of Me and My words … the Son of Man will be ashamed of them …”. Being ashamed of Jesus is what keeps us from
claiming Him, with the result being that there can be no relationship – Jesus,
and we, will both be “disowned”.
But
the fourth saying is the most important. If Paul had continued with his
approach as evidenced in the others, it would logically read “If we are
faithless in our life, He will be faithless in return” – IF God was logical
that is! We can, and must change, but
God never changes! His promises
are always before us, and will never be taken away! The faith of God is certainly different, isn’t
it! Even when we are faithless toward
the LORD, His faith will remain
strongly offered to us, and if our attitude ever changes toward Him, we will
discover that God’s faithfulness is so powerful and consistent that the change
that comes over us will amaze us. All of
God’s presence will come upon us, and the promise of Revelation 21:5 will come true for
us – “Behold, I make all things new!”
God’s
faithfulness is what can, and will, make us new in Jesus Christ – it will be as
though we had never sinned! Why? Because that’s how the LORD wants it.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
This
is a great passage, with the key points being that there are many things that
the LORD wants for our lives (“…
this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”), but with each and every one
of them, He also enables us to receive them, and empowers them to work within
our lives. And the passage ends with God’s
promise to us all – “… the One who calls you is faithful …”)
Whether
it is through the joy we have by faith, or through prayer, or in giving thanks,
in receiving the Spirit’s fire, or claiming God’s prophecies, in testing the
things we are given for God’s voice, or holding on to His goodness and
rejecting all forms of evil – these are all evidence that we trust in the
faithfulness and truth of the One and All Mighty God, the hope of our salvation,
the promise of eternal life, the way of heaven, and the direction for this
life.
God
never gives up on us, and will continue to nudge and call and show Himself,
until the time comes when we finally let His gift of faithful living fill us. He will always be faithful to who He is, for if
He has promised it, He will do it. No
doubt, no question, and never any other way.
May
the faithfulness of God inspire each and every one of us to repay His gift of
faith – that we might be as faithful to Him as He has always been to us.
