What is Faith

What is faith?

Is it just believing in God?

Is it believing that God sent Jesus to die for our sins?

Is it believing that God will take care of us?

It is all of this, But it is so much more.

Faith is a response to what God tells us.

The patriarchs of the bible from our readings today responded to Gods calling. They were given almost impossible tasks and even though God spoke to them directly, it was still hard for them to respond.

Bill Cosby – How long can you tread water

Noah was given the impossible task of building an ark and filling it with 2 of each animal in the world. Can you imagine the abuse he took from his neighbors and friends. The ridicule as he tried to explain that God had spoken to him. The hard work, The issues between himself and his family. But unlike Bill Cosby’s representation of Noah arguing with God, Noah did exactly as God asked of him.

Abraham followed Gods word and went out, but it wasn’t always easy for him to accept Gods word. When Abraham and Sarah were told they were to have a son when they were already in their 90’s, Sarah laughed. She believed God would deliver, but she thought God needed help and she gave her servant Hagar to Abraham. Hagar did give Abraham a son – Ishmael, who became the father of all of Islam, but that’s not what God had in mind and he did give Abraham a son through Sarah. This was a lesson in faith for Abraham, Sarah and for us. And Abrahams faith grew so much that when God asked him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham went to do it without question.

Moses was told to go to Pharoah and demand that he “Let Gods people go.” How did he respond, he complained and tried to convince God that he was the wrong person. That God was making a mistake.
Of course, he eventually started believing God knew what he was doing and the Israelites were freed.
The Israelites had their own lessons in faith that took 40 years to complete before God gave them the land promised to Abraham and to them.


So, if faith is a response to God, what does it mean for us to respond to the word of God

You were told that we would have service today and that I would be preaching. You responded to that by coming this morning to worship. But if you come tomorrow believing that I’ll be here to preach you’ll be standing outside by yourself.
It’s the same with God. To believe that God is going to do something he hasn’t said he will do, well, you can believe all you want, it isn’t going to happen.

God said he will take care of us and give us what we need.
If you need transportation to get to work, you can have faith that God will provide. But if you believe that God is going to provide a Mercedes to get you back and forth to work and turn down other, less prestigious forms of transportation, God might present then you’re just being foolish.

There’s a story about a man drowning etc.

So what does God tell us he wants from us that we must respond to out of faith.

First, we must try to resist the temptation to Sin. God provided the 10 commandments to guide us. Of course we realize how weak we are and how much we need God’s forgiveness. Which is another thing God told us that we can have faith in.

God calls us to worship so we show our faith by gathering together and worshiping together as we are today.

God calls on us to give back what he gives to us. We have all been under the misconception one time or another that we are in charge of our own lives. That the money we make and the gifts we receive are actually ours. That we worked for them , so of course they are ours.
No, They are gifts from God and we need to respond to Gods request to give back.

God also asks us to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
We all need to think, not about what we have done, but what more we can do for our fellow man because God has asked us to do so and we must have the faith that if we provide for those in need, God will provide for us.

Richard Sterns who wrote the book, The Hole in Our Gospel - told a story of a fund raiser they ran for World Vision International etc.


So ask yourselves, how will you respond to God and when you think about that also ask yourself

How long can you tread water?