Winston Salem church of Christ

Faith is….  How would you describe faith? 

Faith Is…trusting that God will save us.  Faith saves.  That is the point of Hebrews 11.  But what is the faith that saves?  We might be surprised, and not very much like what faith is. 

Faith Is…accepting what God says because God says it, not because we understand it.  Notice how faith accepts that which the mind cannot explain: 

• Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen
• By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God

Just because something is beyond reason does not make it unreasonable.  Contrary to the intellectual elite, you don’t have to “be mental” to believe, but to believe is mental. 

Faith Is…obeying.  Without denying that faith is mental, could faith involve action by trusting to the point of obedience?  The word “faith” might be a noun, but it is a noun in action.  I guess we could say that it is a noun that is a verb.  For example, love is a noun, but what is love without actions?  Notice how faith is a noun that is a verb…notice how faith works. 

• (4) By faith Abel offered 
• (7) By faith Noah…prepared
• (8) By faith Abraham…obeyed
• (9) By faith he lived
• (17) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered
• (20) By faith Isaac blessed
• (21) By faith Jacob…blessed
• (23-29) By faith Moses…was hidden, refused, left, kept
• (29) By faith they passed through
• (33-34) who by faith conquered, performed, shut the mouths, quenched, 

We see that faith starts in the head and then leads to the body.  What else does faith lead to? 

Faith Is…God’s requirement for blessing us.  Because it is God’s will, God uses our faith to act upon us and for us.  Our faith leads to God’s blessings. 

• (2) For by it (i.e., faith) the men of old gained approval.
• (4) By faith Abel …obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts.
• (5) By faith Enoch…obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
• (6) And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
• (11) By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.
• (16) But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
• (19) He (i.e., Abraham) considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.
• (30) By faith the walls of
  Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
• (31) By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

Hmmm, our faith in God leads to Him working, acting, blessing, and such for us.  Our faith causes God to work; should we be surprised that faith causes us to work too!  When it does, then and only then do we have the kind of faith in God that He has in us.  Do we have a faith that works like God works?   

Faith is more than mentally believing.  Faith is even more than obeying.  Faith is above and beyond us, it is God’s method of blessing us.  Yet, there is more.  Even more so than what we might want to admit.   

Faith Is… waiting, not getting what we want here and now…even if it was promised.  Why? Because the promise might be different than we think.  God might be blessing us by allowing us to be a blessing to others. 

• (39) And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, (40) because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

Faith Is…suffering when trusting because not to suffer would be to deny He whom we believe.  

• (35) Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; (36) and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. (37)  They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (38) (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Faith is not easy.  It is far beyond mentally believing in God.  It is about being blessed by God by being a blessing to others.  It is about blessing God and others when being mistreated.  Faith is about obeying, even when we do not understand, even when we disagree.  Faith is about suffering for what we believe.  Faith is about subjecting ourselves to the will of God and the whims of sinners.  Faith might be a noun, but it is a verb in disguise.

Here are five words to remember when thinking of faith. Faith Is: trusting, obeying, blessing, waiting, and suffering.  That’s how Hebrews describes faith. Did you notice all those traits are verbs? 

Perry D. Hall