THREE TYPES OF FAITH

"THE FACTS OF THE MATTER"

"A weekly letter of encouragement to business and professional men and women"

September 15, 2010

Good Morning!

THREE TYPES OF FAITH

The familiar narrative of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead reveals three types of faith in the people surrounding that story.  And guess what?  They are us!  Jesus was in Jerusalem when word came that his friend Lazarus in Bethany was ill.  ”So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.’  …When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” (Jn. 11:3-6)  In the mean time Lazarus dies.  As the story unfolds, three types of faith are revealed.  Which one is you?

1)  A manipulative faith is the kind of faith that believes God exists primarily to serve my needs.  This being true, I have little, if any concept that God may be operating on a larger stage than mine, or that I am an integral part of his grand design. Mary and Martha demonstrate this type of myopic faith in expecting Jesus to meet their needs, on their terms, and on their time table.  Said they to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21, 32)

QUESTION:  When God appears not to meet your immediate needs, do you grouse about it, or choose to rest in the fact that he is working his will behind the scenes for a greater good, and for his glory?

2)  A detached faith is faith that intellectually knows the facts about Jesus to be true, but refuses to allow that truth to penetrate to the core of my being that matriculates into a commitment to faith in his lordship.  This story illustrates “detached faith” in two ways:

·         Some Jews, the Pharisees, and the chief priest knew, stone cold, that Jesus performed miracles, and that his miracles validated his claim to be the Son of man, the Messiah. Yet the Pharisees and chief priest’s fear of loosing power and control was so over-powering that they were willing to commit murder to stop Jesus rather than repent and surrender to him:

“Some [Jews] who saw [Jesus raise Lazarus], went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.’" (Jn. 11:46 - 48)

·         Caiaphas, the high priest “spoke up (in the Sanhedrin), ‘You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.” (Jn. 11:49b-53)

Here is this amazing prophesy by Caiaphas, concerning Jesus.   Yet there is no evidence that he personally confessed Christ as Lord.  As part of the powerful established leadership, he apparently remained in league with these future killers.

QUESTION:  Could it be that you know Christ is exactly whom he claims to be, but are unwilling to surrender to his Lordship?

3)  A genuine conversion-based faith is childlike in its embrace of Jesus as Lord and Savior:  “…Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.”  (Jn. 11:45)  (See Matt. 18:2-6)

QUESTION:  Have you chosen to put your faith in Jesus Christ, surrendering to his lordship not only for salvation but for daily living?

This week may you experience His grace, peace and protection!

R. Dwight Hill