A Question of Faith.

A Question of Faith

I often think of a conversation Jesus had with his disciple, in that conversation he posed the question, “would he find faith when on his return”.  Christianity once a religion of works has now transformed itself into a religion of wants.   Fewer and fewer messages are delivered touting the saving grace of our father while the airwaves, pulpits, and social media are alive with testimonies of what God is doing.   If a church going Christian would respond that God is not doing all of the things we claim he is doing, that church going Christian would be churched and thrown under the bus.

What is faith?  Some years ago, my 90 plus year old mother asked me this question.  We were sitting at the breakfast table about to enjoy our sausage, eggs, conversation, and coffee.   She asked the question with the seriousness of a person searching for an answer, and that caught me off guard.  Our breakfast table discussion was her way of teaching, transferring knowledge and inspiring me to search for and write, with a deeper understanding of God’s word.  In the twilight years of her life, she encouraged me to rethink some of the things that even she had taught me concerning the Word of God.   Often in our varied discussions, she would remind me that as a  Sunday School teacher, she had taught that the earth was square and that man would never go to the moon.  This faulty interpretation  stems from an improper understanding and thus an improper application of the Word of God from a biblical perspective. The angels of Revelation standing on the four corners of the earth was not supportive of a flat earth theory.  Through her years of Bible study, she had learned that the most proficient preachers and teachers use broken scriptures, scriptures out of context, (like broken English) as the basis of their objections or dissertations without considering the full counsel of the Bible. 

 I still can remember the first time I heard my mother explain to her Sunday School class what faith was.  She had begun by quoting Hebrew 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.   As an analogy, she used the old fashion method of cooking Turnip greens.    The greens would be boiled in a pot of seasoned water.  Once the greens were served any leftover water would be saved and later eaten with cornbread.  In the old days, they called it “pot liquor”.  Pot liquor was not turnip greens, but it contained the substance of turnip greens.   Therefore, she concluded, faith was the substance of hope.  Years later, I asked my younger brother the meaning of faith, he responded by quoting Hebrew 11:1. 

As I was about to answer my mother’s question by quoting Hebrew 11:1, my mind became a cesspool of unanswered questions.  Is there a difference between hope and hoped, more than just saying one is present and the other is passed.   When Paul speaks of hope is he referencing a certain type of hope.  Is the substance of this hope the basic elements of faith.   Hope for what?  Hope for the healing of the body?  There was a woman with an issue of blood for twelve years, she hoped for a healing.  Jesus spoke the word and she was healed.  My father lay on his bed of affliction for six months, the prayer for healing and restoration was not answered.  What is hope?  Hope for a new car?  There are many who claim that God gave them a new car, leaving them to make the payments.  Hope for salvation?   I mentally reviewed Hebrew 11:1.  Paul did not say faith was the substance of hope, he said faith was the substance of ‘things’ hoped for.  What were the things he was referring to?  This most definitely  did not mean  a Carte Blanche of things.   Was he giving credence to the old adage of, “If you can believe, you can achieve?”  There are good things and there are bad things.  Therefore, there must be a faith that is of God and if the rule of opposites applies, then there is a type faith that originates from the devil.   When she saw my confusion and  hesitation, she smiled.

Often we read the teaching of Paul and we conclude that it means this, as if we have a divine revelation into the mindset of Paul.  Paul was a highly educated man and he spoke the language of an educated man.   In the Book of Hebrews, Paul is speaking to a group of educated Jews and he speaks a  language that they can understand.   There are many statements attributed to Paul that the lay person is hard pressed to understand or reconcile.  Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:12  But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence, once was accepted as doctrine by many, whereas in today's society, good or bad,  it is being reinterpreted and cast aside.    It would seem to me that Peter alluded to a certain problem with Paul’s teaching in his final epistle. 2 Peter 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.  There are many who will disagree with me in my assessment of the above statement, but I prefer to let the facts speak for themselves. The question is, what is faith?  Quoting Hebrews 11:1 to a person who is searching for the answer does not necessarily provide the answer.   Acts 8, tell the story of Philip explaining the scripture to the eunuch who was riding along reading the scripture.  It is the preacher's job to explain the scripture so that those who seek answers might understand it.
   

Faith, God, miracles and blessings have been defined and redefined until even the things that God has ordained from the beginning of time is looked upon as a miracle.  The world’s spirituality  has changed and God is in the blessing business.  We go about our daily task, ignoring those unanswered pleas, as we seek to amplify what our Heavenly Father is doing, finding solace in “God is a good God”.   Secretly the faith of many tends to suffer because we are afraid to acknowledge our lack of understanding of the word faith.  When Jesus addressed the subject of faith with his disciples, they responded Luke 17:5  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
  

We are encouraged to pray for the healing of the land and our body.  We pray for financial blessings and we often pray for God to deliver us from the storm.   We have a scripture that says God answer all prayers and if we ask we shall receive.  For an outward showing, we pretend  that we are receiving and enjoying the blessing of our Father while inward we are struggling with a question of faith.  The conditions throughout the land are not getting better and our bodies are deteriorating at an early age. We cry out to God for healing as we rush to the Hospital and when we survive the operation, our faith tells us it was God who did the work. 

John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ was locked away in a jail cell.  When his faith began to weaken, he sent runners to find Jesus and ask him a question.   He did not ask to be delivered from jail, there were questions of faith that he needed to be answered.   Luke 7:20  When the men came unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?  What would, you are I ask for?  No doubt our testimony would have been, “I am trusting God to deliver me.”  All of the old patriots processed a great degree of faith, they did not abuse their faith.   John the Baptist was marooned on an island alone, no one to talk to except Jesus Christ and his angels.   There is nothing in the narrative that said John asked for deliverance.   Why?  Maybe to do so would have been abusing his faith.   Faith is not a question of or based upon what God can or cannot do.   Faith requires a degree of acceptance.  Philippians 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Now, what is faith?  Every person who professes a belief in God know what faith is, right?  We also know that without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)    According to  Wikipedia, Faith is variously defined as the belief, confidence or trust in a person, object, religion, idea or view.  Therefore, without confidence in God--in his fidelity, his truth, his wisdom, his promises it is impossible to please God.  It is impossible for a child to please his father unless he has confidence in him.  The rules of good and evil or opposites apply.  There is good and bad confidence.  It is impossible for a wife to please her husband, or a husband, a wife, unless they have confidence in each other. If distrust and jealousy exist on either part, there is discord and misery. We cannot be pleased with a professed friend unless he has such confidence in us as to believe our declarations and promises, The same thing is true of God. He cannot be pleased with the man who has no confidence in him; who doubts the truth of his declarations and promises; who does not believe that his ways are right, or that he is qualified for universal empire. The requirement of faith or confidence in God is not arbitrary; it is just what we require of our children, and partners in life, and friends, as the indispensable condition of our being pleased with them.

The problem with our walk of faith manifest itself when we attempt to use faith to get what we claim God promised us, and the result is not forthcoming.  I know that there are many of us who have dealt with this problem privately.  Our testimony speaks of the great thing God is doing for us, while inside we are like John the Baptist, alone on an island.  But, unlike John we are begging for deliverance.  To maintain our degree of faith and sanity we began to trivialize the works of God.  If Bible students could accept that Israel was God’s chosen people and God made earthly promises to Israel, and the church is the bride of Christ, and Christ made spiritual promises to the church, we would not become caught up in begging for the blessings of Abraham.   Israel a natural body received natural promises, the church a spiritual body received spiritual promises.   If this were not true, then sinners would be poor and Christians would be financially rich.

The modern day definition of faith tends to suffer because defining and supportive scriptures have been hijacked and used as a tool for mind control.  The drawing card off too many religious assemblies is based upon how to get what you want from God.  The emerging pious prelates tend to define faith as simply giving money to God and waiting for him to bless you.  The attributes of faith are reduced to healing and  financial blessing as those who seeks to obtain followers make vast promises in the name of God.   The social media are filled with promises of huge sums of money if the reader will type “Amen”  to the status presented.  The use of the phrase, “Somebody will receive this blessing”, is not an accurate representative of God’s power, nor is it an indication of the proper use of faith. 

The problem with trying to determine what is Mustard seed faith is complicated by the changing modern day definition of faith.  Is faith simply a belief in God, or  is faith is believing God will do things for us?   If he did it once, he can do it again, have now become the standard of God’s involvement in our life.   The statement is true from the standpoint of God’s power but is it a true assessment of His involvement in the day to day affairs of humanity.  If he parted the sea, he can do it again, but an exercise in futility might describe as standing on the beach begging God to part the waters.   A deeper understanding of the Word of God would prevent us from making unnecessary and bogus claims of God.

 to be continued