Pursing God # 9
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This weekend we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. It is the culmination of what must have been the longest 3 days of the 1st disciples walk with the Lord. Having their great hopes in who Jesus was and what they could accomplish with Him, dashed upon the rocks of religious contempt, only to go to the heights of joy because they saw their Master alive again.
What a roller coaster ride it must have been for their emotions. When they watched the soldiers pound the nails into His wrists and feet and then raise Him up on the cross, bloody, beaten and disgraced, hanging naked upon the blood stained wood, how lost and hopeless they must have been. But then on the 3rd day the news comes from the women who had gone to the tomb that Jesus was not there, He had risen from the dead and was alive. One after another the testimony came of seeing Jesus alive. Once again their hopes rose up with in them and their faith, in who Jesus is, started to bloom and grow.
If you think about it, of all the important things the Bible teaches, faith ranks high on the list. Faith is a principle that we see again and again in the scriptures. Heb. 11:6 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. We have studied this in our series of pursuing God. Faith is an all important part of the life of a believer.
When the news of Jesus, raised from the dead, came to them it was faith that took this news and brought it home to their hearts so they could believe. It was faith in Jesus that prompted them to move forward in belief to the next steps of their walk with Him, spreading the gospel. Faith, it seems, can get us anything and take us anywhere for the kingdom of heaven. 1 John 5:14–15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. Think about it, without faith in Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, there is no forgiveness of sin, no deliverance, no salvation, no relationship with God and no true spiritual life at all.
Faith is so important and indispensible in our pursuit of God, we should be very concerned whether we have this gift or not. But we might want to know what it is that we need so desperately. We need to ask what is faith and do I (we) have it.
There have been many attempts over the centuries to define what faith is; for some it is believing a promise, for others it is taking God at His word, believing all that the Bible says is true and then stepping out, in faith, acting upon that belief. Story of the priests stepping into the flood waters of the Jordan before they pile up so the people can cross. Joshua 3
The odd thing is that even though the scriptures put a high emphasis on faith, they make no great effort to define what it is. There is only one, somewhat, definition of faith found in the Bible; Heb. 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Notice that even here there is no real definition of faith but rather the function of it, how it works and not what it is. This passage shows the result of faith rather than to define what it is.
Maybe God in His wisdom knew it would be better for us to not have a clear definition of faith because we would then look for loop holes in it or look for ways we could work for it; increase it by our own strenuous efforts.
Instead He gives us the function of faith, how it works out in our lives. Faith is a gift we receive from God; it can not be worked for; Eph. 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— Faith comes from hearing the word of God. Rom. 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Again we see here that there is a function to faith, hearing of the word. Faith is better lived out functionally rather than defined literally. Faith is seen and understood when it is in action. James 2:14-18
In the passage we began with today we can see that Jesus shows us from the OT how faith works. He refers to Numbers 21:4-9. Using this passage Jesus explains to His hearers how they can be saved. He tells them that it is by believing, an action and function of faith.
To look, as Moses told the people to do, is the same, synonymous, with believing. Looking and believing are the same act of faith. While Israel looked with their eyes they believed with their hearts. Faith is the gaze of the soul on the saving act of Jesus and upon a loving, caring God.
There are several passages in the scripture which point this out; Psalm 34:5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. Psalm 123:1–2 I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. Those who look to God are acting out in faith, believing Him to do what is right and what is needed.
So, when it comes to us and the faith we need to live in this world and walk in relationship with God, we must look to Jesus, believing in all He has done for us and looking to His example of how to do it. Heb. 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Believing, having faith in action and function, is directing our heart’s gaze upon Jesus. It is lifting the eyes of our minds to Him just as John the Baptist did with his disciples when Jesus returned from being tempted in the wilderness. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! We must never let our gaze drift from Jesus, but keep focused upon Him for the rest of our earthly lives, because there we will find the faith needed to carry on. There will times when it is difficult because the distractions of the world will come, but the more we move our focus back to Him the easier it will become to look steadily upon Him. Emergency services train so that actions become reflex. When we commit to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, establishing our heart intent upon Him, God takes our intention and makes allowances for us and the thousands of distractions that come from an evil world. He knows the intent of our hearts, set upon Jesus and once we know we have done so it will become a reflex action to look away from the distraction to the living Lord once again. 1 Peter 4:1–2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Faith is the least of all the self regarding virtues. Its very nature is to be looking away from itself and to be even almost unaware of its own existence.Much like the eye which sees everything in front of it yet never sees itself and pays no attention to itself. When we look to God in faith we no longer see ourselves.
The person, who has struggled to purify themselves and experiences nothing but failure repeatedly, will only experience relief when they take their eyes off themselves and focus on God. When we look to Christ the very things we have been trying to do by self effort will get done. It will be God working then and not us.Faith is not a meritorious act, something we can gain for ourselves; the merit is in the One that faith directs its gaze at, in Jesus. Faith is redirecting our sight from ourselves to God, focusing on the resurrection power that He has to work in us.For us to live in the resurrection power of Christ we must take our eyes off of ourselves and focus on Him from whom the power to believe flows.
For those who desire to climb to the highest heights of heaven in relationship with God, we must focus on God and His word to us because the word will help us lift our eyes up to the Lord, where faith has its beginning and its growth.Today we celebrate who Jesus is and what He has done for us by rising from death. If we take what we hear and apply it to our lives in faith we can live in the resurrection power He made available.
Benediction: Rom. 10:8–11 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
