SHINY4UJESUS
Member
We must keep it in perspective that our faith is not “victorious,” due to anything we have done, are doing, or will do; but because of the object of our faith. We are victorious because our faith is in Christ as the author and perfecter of salvation. We are victorious because He died on that cross to remove the power, stain, and penalty of sin. We are victorious because He was raised on the third day to be the first-fruits of eternal life by salvation; not self-proclaimed or merited righteousness. The sinfulness or sinlessness in our lives has zero bearing at all on our “victorious,” faith. True, a life without sin and struggle reflects victory, and I do not contend that we should not endeavor to bring our lives into line with God's will; I merely wish for us to keep proper focus and perspective here.
For example; Jesus spent a great deal of time confronting spiritual leadership in His day, not because of their good works, but because of their misguided hearts. He did not reprove them for fasting, praying, tithing, giving to the poor, fellowshiping, worshiping, etc. What He rebuked them for was the idea that it was their works that made them righteous. You see they had all the outer displays of faith, but their hearts were wrong; their deeds reflected righteousness
but their intentions were contrary to God's will in relation to how we must love and serve each other. Thus their faith was misdirected and misappropriated.
A perfect illustration of this is the parable of the “Publican and the Pharisee,” which was delivered by Jesus for good reason. The Pharisee stands atop the temple porch, beating on his chest as he boasts of how righteous and superior he is due to the great things he does for God. He thanks God that he is not like “the lowly sinner,” he sees at the bottom of the temple stairs. Meanwhile, the sinner/publican at the bottom cannot even lift his head due to the shame and guilt of his mistakes and sins. He fears even touching the temple steps because he is too unworthy, too dirty to even consider approaching God. In his prayer he simply begs God to forgive him for being such a horrible sinner, such a terrible son. Of the two, Jesus proclaims that it is the sinner below the temple porch who walks away justified, not the Pharisee. Why? It was due to his faith being in God; rather than in self, and self-righteous acts. Simply because the state of the heart, the direction of our focus are what matters; not the display of faith we show on the outside. Victorious faith is always victorious only because of who Jesus is and what He has done; never due to who we are or what we have done.
“ Truly I tell you, I have not seen such great faith in all of Israel...,” +Matthew 8:10+
“ Afterward the disciples asked Him,' Why could we not cast out the demon?'. ' Because of your small faith,' Jesus told them.” +Matthew 17:19 & 20+
There is a principle here regarding faith that is of critical importance; and we must look at these situations in context in order to see the deeper truth Jesus is illustrating. If you look at the entire passage in Matthew 17, you will see that right after Jesus proclaims the failure was due to the disciples' “small,” faith; He tells them, “If you had faith as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain,'Move over there,' and it would move.” Now, a mustard seed is an exceedingly tiny thing; so how is it that their “small,” faith just wasn't “big,” enough?
Folks, Christ was not referring to the “size,” or “quantity,” of faith here; He was referring to the quality of their faith. If you look back at Matthew 15, and the other faith based miracles in the new testament; you see a common thread.
Every one of those situations showed that the one receiving the miracle had an unwavering faith based on trust in Jesus, rather than a result based faith that relied upon an immediately apparent action. Result based faith is not faith at all; it is simply noticing what happens after the fact. True faith is an ability to trust in spite of the lack of evidence that is readily available.
The reason this concept is so critical builds off of what was stated in the second portion of this lesson; our ability to have a complete, and unwavering faith in God. It is difficult at times to prevent the world and its distractions from impacting our faith, and it takes both a diligent awareness as well as a tenacity in fighting against those things that may compromise our faith. I am reminded of the roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-13; a faith so sound he did not even need Jesus to be present to trust in His ability. When Christ offered to come heal his servant, the officer replied that he was not worthy that Christ should enter his home. Instead he simply said that He trusted Jesus at His word; knowing that if Jesus said it, it was done. In response Jesus turned and proclaimed to all,”Nowhere in all of Israel have I seen such great faith!”
You see, the officer's faith was not based in what was apparent; but resided in complete trust in Jesus regardless of what the situation seemed to be to the naked eye. He had no need at all to see the evidence of response; he simply believed in the response. This is the type of faith we as believers should aspire to; an unshakable, unwavering complete and wholehearted trust in God's ability and willingness to provide what we ask of Him. This man's faith was quality; so it made no difference what the “size,” of his faith was, it was the direction of that faith and the stability of that faith which mattered.
Another point to consider is the officer's position in society relative to the Hebrew nation and God. As a “gentile,” he was not worthy of the gifts of God; he was considered one of a pagan and ungodly race. This is critical because the gift of salvation and the ministry of Jesus was to be first delivered to the Hebrew nation as God's children. That meant that a roman officer had no right to even approach Christ according to Jewish law; he was not entitled to receive anything of God by the Law. Yet Christ not only answered his petition; he made it a point to tell all the Israelites around that this man's faith was greater than anyone else displayed in all of Israel. Imagine how the Hebrew folks felt about that one!
In the end, faith is the foundation of our relationship with God in Christ; we cannot even believe in Christ without faith. Every facet of our spiritual walk should be seasoned with a heavy dose of faith; otherwise our belief is no more than another man made religion, devoid of power and without the deliverance that can only come by trusting in Jesus as God's son; our Lord and Savior; who was raised from the dead by the power of our heavenly Father. Let us strive to grasp the full concept of faith, that we may properly apply it in our daily lives. Let us nurture a faith that is unshakable, immovable, and always directed towards the only one deserving of our trust; God.
Praise the Lord Almighty for who He is and what He has done!! AMEN!
For example; Jesus spent a great deal of time confronting spiritual leadership in His day, not because of their good works, but because of their misguided hearts. He did not reprove them for fasting, praying, tithing, giving to the poor, fellowshiping, worshiping, etc. What He rebuked them for was the idea that it was their works that made them righteous. You see they had all the outer displays of faith, but their hearts were wrong; their deeds reflected righteousness
but their intentions were contrary to God's will in relation to how we must love and serve each other. Thus their faith was misdirected and misappropriated.
A perfect illustration of this is the parable of the “Publican and the Pharisee,” which was delivered by Jesus for good reason. The Pharisee stands atop the temple porch, beating on his chest as he boasts of how righteous and superior he is due to the great things he does for God. He thanks God that he is not like “the lowly sinner,” he sees at the bottom of the temple stairs. Meanwhile, the sinner/publican at the bottom cannot even lift his head due to the shame and guilt of his mistakes and sins. He fears even touching the temple steps because he is too unworthy, too dirty to even consider approaching God. In his prayer he simply begs God to forgive him for being such a horrible sinner, such a terrible son. Of the two, Jesus proclaims that it is the sinner below the temple porch who walks away justified, not the Pharisee. Why? It was due to his faith being in God; rather than in self, and self-righteous acts. Simply because the state of the heart, the direction of our focus are what matters; not the display of faith we show on the outside. Victorious faith is always victorious only because of who Jesus is and what He has done; never due to who we are or what we have done.
“ Truly I tell you, I have not seen such great faith in all of Israel...,” +Matthew 8:10+
“ Afterward the disciples asked Him,' Why could we not cast out the demon?'. ' Because of your small faith,' Jesus told them.” +Matthew 17:19 & 20+
There is a principle here regarding faith that is of critical importance; and we must look at these situations in context in order to see the deeper truth Jesus is illustrating. If you look at the entire passage in Matthew 17, you will see that right after Jesus proclaims the failure was due to the disciples' “small,” faith; He tells them, “If you had faith as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain,'Move over there,' and it would move.” Now, a mustard seed is an exceedingly tiny thing; so how is it that their “small,” faith just wasn't “big,” enough?
Folks, Christ was not referring to the “size,” or “quantity,” of faith here; He was referring to the quality of their faith. If you look back at Matthew 15, and the other faith based miracles in the new testament; you see a common thread.
Every one of those situations showed that the one receiving the miracle had an unwavering faith based on trust in Jesus, rather than a result based faith that relied upon an immediately apparent action. Result based faith is not faith at all; it is simply noticing what happens after the fact. True faith is an ability to trust in spite of the lack of evidence that is readily available.
The reason this concept is so critical builds off of what was stated in the second portion of this lesson; our ability to have a complete, and unwavering faith in God. It is difficult at times to prevent the world and its distractions from impacting our faith, and it takes both a diligent awareness as well as a tenacity in fighting against those things that may compromise our faith. I am reminded of the roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-13; a faith so sound he did not even need Jesus to be present to trust in His ability. When Christ offered to come heal his servant, the officer replied that he was not worthy that Christ should enter his home. Instead he simply said that He trusted Jesus at His word; knowing that if Jesus said it, it was done. In response Jesus turned and proclaimed to all,”Nowhere in all of Israel have I seen such great faith!”
You see, the officer's faith was not based in what was apparent; but resided in complete trust in Jesus regardless of what the situation seemed to be to the naked eye. He had no need at all to see the evidence of response; he simply believed in the response. This is the type of faith we as believers should aspire to; an unshakable, unwavering complete and wholehearted trust in God's ability and willingness to provide what we ask of Him. This man's faith was quality; so it made no difference what the “size,” of his faith was, it was the direction of that faith and the stability of that faith which mattered.
Another point to consider is the officer's position in society relative to the Hebrew nation and God. As a “gentile,” he was not worthy of the gifts of God; he was considered one of a pagan and ungodly race. This is critical because the gift of salvation and the ministry of Jesus was to be first delivered to the Hebrew nation as God's children. That meant that a roman officer had no right to even approach Christ according to Jewish law; he was not entitled to receive anything of God by the Law. Yet Christ not only answered his petition; he made it a point to tell all the Israelites around that this man's faith was greater than anyone else displayed in all of Israel. Imagine how the Hebrew folks felt about that one!
In the end, faith is the foundation of our relationship with God in Christ; we cannot even believe in Christ without faith. Every facet of our spiritual walk should be seasoned with a heavy dose of faith; otherwise our belief is no more than another man made religion, devoid of power and without the deliverance that can only come by trusting in Jesus as God's son; our Lord and Savior; who was raised from the dead by the power of our heavenly Father. Let us strive to grasp the full concept of faith, that we may properly apply it in our daily lives. Let us nurture a faith that is unshakable, immovable, and always directed towards the only one deserving of our trust; God.
Praise the Lord Almighty for who He is and what He has done!! AMEN!
