Building Faith (Day 2)
Faith for Following
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. Heb. 11:6
When we think of faith, we must begin with Jesus. To me, when I began to study the miracles of Jesus I was intrigued. I would have certainly been one of those who followed closely by to see what he was going to do next. I can imagine when he healed the sick, made the blind see, caused the lame to walk, and cast out demons, I would have been just as mesmerized as the rest of the crowd.
Throughout the Gospels, the writers made mention of the people that were following behind Jesus. Jesus would often turn to these followers and teach them a life-transforming truth like an object lesson. For example, in Matthew 8 Jesus was traveling and a Roman soldier, a Centurion approaches Him with an urgent need. Jesus embraces the teachable moment for those who are following Him:
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matt. 8:10-12
Jesus does a couple of things here. First, he points out the amazing faith of the centurion who is a man under authority and believes that Jesus is a greater authority and that all He has to do is speak the word and the centurion's daughter would be healed. Jesus took note. Because faith is such a simple belief in what God can do, Jesus made note of this to those who were following him. It's almost as if he was saying “Look, guys, it's as simple as this.”
Secondly, it is important to see that Jesus was making a very strong point regarding the fact that this Roman soldier with such great faith was...not... a... Jew. How do we know this? By the simple fact that he points out that the Kingdom of Heaven would be filled with those who were not a part of that Kingdom from the beginning, the Centurion. And, that those who initially belonged to it would be thrown out, the proud Pharisees and other mockers.
OUCH! Jesus was a master of both encouraging and rebuking all at the same time. He was able to encourage those who were following him by pointing out that even a pagan Roman soldier, turned believer in Jesus, could have life-changing faith. But He rebuked those who were proudly following with disgust for their lack of faith and their spiritual pride. They were being told that Hell was waiting for them.
My point is this today, that all those who are following Jesus are not necessarily there/here to be disciples of Jesus. We find that those who are following are being challenged, rebuked, taught, and then the moment of truth - “Will you follow me to the cross?” All of this takes faith.
Hebrews 11:6 reveals that is impossible to please God without faith. But I have found that in every step of this Christ-following journey, it takes an enormous amount of faith. Sometimes it is as simple as what the Centurion said, and then other times the faith needed will challenge the very core of all that I have been taught and believed.
My friend, keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep following. Keep listening. Keep learning. Jesus will challenge you, and even rebuke you for your words. But, He will never forsake you. In truth, He is your greatest ally in this journey of life. But, it will take faith in the following – every single day.
Be encouraged! If you have put your hope in Christ, then He will faithfully help you by His wonderful Holy Spirit who is here, in you, to help you understand and respond. We have a coach! So, as we follow, He is right there to help us make sense and to respond so that we can be just like that Centurion who impressed Jesus with his simple, life-changing faith.
Praying for you!
Pastor David M. Schmaltz