Faith. We hear the word all the time. We are told that we should have it, rely on it, live by it, and share it with others. But what is it? What is it based upon? How do we live by it? Why should we share it? The Apostle Paul defines faith for us as, “Putting all of our trust in those things unseen.” What are “those things unseen”? They are the promises of the never changing Triune God Almighty. Scripture tells us that God is, “the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
What great and awesome news that is! We never have to guess about what God thinks about something or how He will react to our obedience or our disobedience. We need just read His Word and we know what to expect. God’s awesome promises, that He will never go back on, provide us with a sound and sure foundation that cannot be shaken and affects our entire life! When we understand and rely on His promises, they affect who we are and what we do. Stand on His promises and they will impact your marriage, your family, your work, your friendships, your finances and every other area of your life. Stand on His promises and He will guide you in ways to live the faith that you profess. In other words, Jesus will show you how to walk the walk as you talk the talk. Today, I want to take a look at one of the most important ways that faith impacts our lives and also is instrumental in living out the faith we have been given as a gift from God.
Forty days after His resurrection, just before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus gave some final commands, some last instructions to His followers to be carried out until He returns in glory. It is very interesting that what Jesus encouraged those present at His ascension, and all those disciples to follow, including us, to do is based solely on our faith in Him as Savior and Lord. As He rose to Heaven, Jesus did not say, “Go and be good husbands and wives.” He did not say, “Go and work really hard.” Jesus did not say, “Get out there and feed the hungry.” He did not even tell them, “Go to church every Sunday.”
Now, these are all very nice and good things to do, but these are not the things that Jesus had on His mind at the time. Do you remember what was the very last thing that Jesus told His disciples as He left them on His way back into the Heavenly Realm? It was this: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name (singular) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
That’s right. Our faith in Jesus Christ means that we are each and every one to be a messenger of the Gospel! I know it is not easy. But I also know that it is so important to Jesus Christ that He chose that to be His final message to His followers as He ascended back to the Father in Heaven! It is an awesome task indeed. But praise the Lord that the Apostle Paul gives us some insight into what it all means. Let’s look at three questions that Paul answers for us in his epistle to the Church at Corinth, that we heard read this morning. We shall see what the message is we are to give, what we are to be like as the messengers, and why we are to share the message in the first place.
First of all, the most important aspect of “faith sharing” is the message. Before we look at what the message is, let’s look at and clarify what the message is not. Paul first tells us that the message is not about us. We do not preach ourselves, we preach Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Why is He our Savior and Lord? Because we need a Savior and Lord and so does everyone else!
Now, I don’t particularly fancy being a guy that people don’t want to talk to because I might, in their eyes, be fanatical or phony about Jesus Christ and the salvation that only He can provide. However, I know that there are some people out there who, no matter how hard we try not to offend or upset them, will get annoyed or offended when we share the Gospel message of salvation with them. The fact of the matter is, they need to hear it! They are sinners, just like us, and they need to know it. For you see, if they do not recognize and acknowledge their sinfulness they will never believe they need a Savior. And if they do not believe they need a Savior, they will never feel a need for Jesus Christ.
Suppose you had a neighbor who just hated to be awakened after he goes to sleep, and gets really mad when someone does that to him. Well, if it was 4:00 in the morning and his house was on fire, would you not wake him up to save his life, even though he may initially get mad at you for waking him from his sound sleep? I believe you would risk the chance of upsetting him, because if you don’t, he could die. Understand this: if a person thinks that they are good enough not to need Christ as their Savior, then they are in a blazing inferno of a house. They are in a very real, very deep danger of suffering eternal damnation in Hell. Don’t we want to wake that person up to the danger that he or she is in? The message needed to accomplish that task is really very simple. It is: We are all sinners who need a Savior. Jesus Christ is the Savior we all need.
Now, we may need to spell out for them that God demands perfection and none of us are perfect; therefore according to God’s Law we all are sinners. Then tell them that Jesus came and suffered and died on the cross as our, and their, substitute. In the simplest terms the message is: you need a Savior; Jesus Christ is that Savior. I know some of you are thinking, “But, Pastor, it’s not that easy. I don’t have training. Nobody will listen to me.” Well, the good news is that God addresses those concerns by reminding us that we are all like “jars of clay”.
What is a jar of clay like? Well, it’s pretty fragile and kind of ugly. In and of itself, a jar of clay is nothing special. So if we are like that, like a jar of clay, then why does God even bother to use us at all? God does it in order to show that the real power comes from Him, not from us. This is both a humbling and comforting message. It is humbling because it reminds us that when a person accepts and believes the message, it is not because of us. They do not come to believe the message because of the jar of clay. Rather, it is because of the treasure of the Gospel message that the jar of clay contains.
That is the comforting aspect of the message. It takes the pressure off of us. We don’t have to convince anybody of anything. We just need to share the message and the results are in God’s hands. If a person believes, it is because God has softened their heart and worked faith into their heart through the Holy Spirit. If a person does not accept and believe the message of salvation through Christ, it is because they have refused the Holy Spirit’s offer. As jars of clay, we shouldn’t worry so much about the result. We just need to share the message and get out of the Holy Spirit’s way and let Him do His work. That does not mean that we should present the Gospel of Christ in a non-loving, obnoxious, in-your-face kind of way. We need to look for opportunities to share the message when the barriers are down. We need to share the message with love and compassion.
Why go to all this bother? Why should we worry or care about whether or not that person is going to Heaven when they die? Paul gives us our motivation. He tells us, “We believe, therefore we speak.” He reminds us that we are, “Hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may always be revealed in our body.”
Our faith attests to the fact that even in the midst of all the trouble and problems of this world, we are not crushed, not abandoned, not in despair. Though our bodies attest to the fact that we are slowly dying, our faith shows that the inner man, our spirit, attests to the eternal life we have through and in Christ. It is our thankfulness for that amazing love that keeps us from being crushed; that gives us hope when we would otherwise despair; that keeps our spirit from being destroyed. Out of thankfulness for that, we just have to talk about it.
The prophet Jeremiah spoke of it as a fire burning within him that would consume him if he didn’t share it. If your bank suddenly called you and said that everyone who went there in the next hour would get a million dollars, what would you do? Would you go and collect it? And after you got your million dollars what would you do? Would you hide in your bedroom and not tell anyone? Or would you call your family and friends and tell them to hurry down to the bank and collect their million dollars too? Well, our God in Heaven has given you something much, much more valuable than a million dollars. If you believe you would be willing to call your family and friends over money, which is here today and gone tomorrow, how much more willing to call them and tell them about the eternal treasure of Heaven should you be?
Our faith assures us that Jesus Christ is our never-changing Savior and Lord. We believe, therefore we speak. Tell your family and friends. If you feel that you still cannot do that, read your Bible more. God will give you the training you think you need. I pray that your mindset will become as the words to one of my favorite old hymns: