Faith Is

[dave c]

A HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #120d Written 20OCT07 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

In The Footsteps Of Abraham: Part Four—Faith Is

by dave c

We are living in an era of instant gratification. For the right amount of money (or more often, the right amount of credit) all things material are available for our immediate entertainment and pleasure. We are also living in an era of increasing longevity through medical science and technology. With enough wealth (or insurance, or government funds) a person can have a new heart, lungs, kidneys, knees, legs, teeth or even a new transplanted face. We can have more hair and muscle—or less fat and fewer wrinkles. All of this munificence, all of these age defying wonders, are not gained through months into years of a disciplined life style, they are acquired through repeated visits to the spider’s parlor and the castle of Dr. Frankenstein.

Unfortunately, the Church is not immune to the tides and currents of our society. In a nation busting at the seams with wealth and opportunity, Christians face the everyday temptations of the Western shopping counter culture and the worship of youth—just like non-believers. Additionally we face teachings within our fellowships that misrepresent “faith” as a coin to be deposited in the Divine vending machine of health and wealth. This can be overt within Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, but it is just as real within the subtle assumptions of “downtown churches” that presume God’s blessings through higher education, professional positions, and/or astute business practices. This theology basically holds to a philosophy that if you have enough faith of the right sort you will never be broke (much less, “poor”); you will always receive the desires of your heart (and your head, and your hands); you will never be sick (and if hurt, healing will be instantaneous); and you will never be depressed (or lonely, or blue). “If only you believe….” WDJSAT? (What does Jesus say about that?)

Looking at his disciples, he [Jesus] said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets (Lu 6:20-26; NIV).

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (NKJV). Please prayerfully read the following words of St. Augustine regarding Hebrews 11:1. “When you hope, you do not yet have what you are hoping for, but, by believing it, you resemble someone who does posses it. For faith will eventually take hold, but our very faith stands for the thing itself. I mean, you do not have your hands on anything when you have them on faith, nor are they empty if they are full of faith. The reason faith is greatly rewarded is that it does not see and yet believes. I mean, if it could see, what reward would there be? ...But faith does not falter, because it is supported by hope. Take away hope, and faith falters. How, after all, when you are walking somewhere, will you even move your feet, if you have no hope of ever getting there? If, though, from each of them, that is from faith and hope, you withdraw love, what is the point of believing; what is the point of hoping, if you do not love? Indeed, you cannot even hope for anything you do not love. You see, faith kindles hope; hope shines through love. But when we attain the things that we have been hoping for while believing in and not seeing them, what faith will there be then to be praised? Considering that “faith is the conviction of things not seen,” when we do see, it will not be called faith. After all, you will be seeing, not believing. Sermon 359A.3-4.” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament X, Hebrews; Thomas C. Oden, General Editor; Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois; 2005; pp 175&176.)

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (He 11:6; NIV). Verse 6 is the focus of all of Chapter 11 of Hebrews as our appropriate response to Christ’s atoning sacrifice—and in this, it is at the heart of the entire Bible. The role and the goal of faith is my pleasing God—not God pleasing me. Ironically, Augustine tells us that as we receive material rewards, we actually lose faith. Yes, God rewards those who earnestly seek Him...but let us permit Scripture to describe those rewards as we journey further into the verses that depict the faith of Abraham and how he pleased his God.