Can
You Trust God?
By Michael
A. H. Back
Part One: What is
Authentic, Biblical Faith?
pisteuo:
To have faith; to believe; to have absolute and complete
confidence in something;
To completely trust something.
This alone starts our
examination with a large bang.
Authentic faith doesn't
have ANY doubt in it. Faith "the size of a mustard seed"
doesn't mean "a little faith surrounded by a lot of doubt,"
it means, absolute confidence concerning even the tiniest thing.
When Jesus states in
exasperation, "Oh ye of little faith . . . " what He is
really doing is asking, "Why do you STILL lack confidence in me?
Why don't you TRUST me?"
In order to be certain of
something, we have to know at least ONE thing about it: it is TRUE!
Unless we KNOW something is true, we cannot be confident in it, and
we cannot completely trust it.
But when relating this to
BIBLICAL truth, this Greek definition is only PART of the story.
Faith is like a huge JEWEL in the crown of Christianity, and it is
made up of five basic facets. The definition above leads us to our
first facet.
1) MENTAL:
Acknowledgment of the truth.
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ILLUSTRATION: - Brain
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You believe there is one God? Good! Even the demons believe that -
and shudder. James 2:19 |
The first facet of
Biblical faith is that we KNOW the truth, and we completely and
totally accept that it is true. We have no doubts.
But confidence alone does
not make this Authentic, Biblical faith.
2) PHYSICAL: Physical
reliance on the truth.
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In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by
action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have
deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my
faith by what I do . . . As the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without deeds is dead. James 2:17, 18, 26 |
ILLUSTRATION: -
Feet and Hands
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The second facet of Biblical faith is DOING what we KNOW to be
true. We KNOW the truth and we ACT on it. We are getting closer, but
authentic faith has a few more facets. |
3) CHARACTER: Moral adherence to the truth:
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ILLUSTRATION: - Heart
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Therefore let us stop passing judgments on one another. Instead,
make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your
brother's way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced
that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as
unclean, then for him it is unclean. Romans 14:13-14 |
The third facet of Biblical faith is having a clear conscience
about our actions. We cannot have faith if our conscience is
bothering us. Sometimes that could be because of lack of
understanding, sometimes it could be because the Holy Spirit is
speaking to us, and we need to listen.
All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that
causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink
wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So
whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and
God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he
approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because
his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from
faith is sin. Romans 14:20-23
If you do not have a clear conscience about something, if you have a
nagging feeling of guilt about it, then you cannot do it with
Biblical faith. It could be due to lack of knowledge, or it could be
the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit, but either way, only when
you have a clear conscience about your action does that action spring
from Biblical faith.
4) FOCUS: God is the object of our faith.
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ILLUSTRATION: - Magnifying Glass.
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Through Him [Jesus] you believe in God, who raised Him from
the dead and glorified Him, and so, your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 1:19
And Jesus said to him, "Have faith in God."
Mark 11:22
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The fourth facet of Biblical faith is making God the object of
our confidence and trust. Faith is not a "force" in nature
[as in Star Wars] that we can tap into; it is a TOOL that allows us
access to the power and promises of our God and savior, with whom we
have a personal relationship.
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness, 'and he was called the
friend of God.
James 2:23
It is not just FAITH that matters . . . it is WHO we place that faith
IN that makes the difference. Faith without a focus on God is not
Biblical faith.
5) WORLDVIEW: Faith changes the way we see the world
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Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do
not see. Hebrews 11:1
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear
built an ark to save his family . . . By faith Abraham, when called
to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed
and went . . . Hebrews 11:7a, 8a
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ILLUSTRATION: - Eyeglasses
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The fifth facet of Biblical faith is that it completely
changes how we view everything: ourselves, other people, our careers,
our purpose on this earth, history, science, philosophy, morality,
spirituality, etc. It completely changes us as we begin to see the
world through God's eyes, and our entire outlook on everything shifts
over to a Biblical worldview.
Literal Greek on Hebrews 11:1
Faith is the foundation for our sure and eager expectations, the
proof that makes us certain of things not seen.
The ONLY way we can be sure and confident of things we cannot see is
if we GENUINELY trust the God in whom we have placed our faith. That
means, we must be completely confident that God IS who He claims to
be, and that He really will DO all He has said He will do: for us and
for humanity.
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BIBLICAL FAITH: confidence that God is who He says He is
and He will do all He has said He will do. |
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