Exemplifying Faith

 

Hebrews 11:1-40

We are saved and justified by faith alone and it has nothing to do with our good works. However, our justification by faith does not exist by itself, and it would surely bear fruits.

 ^“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (v 6)

“He must believe that God exists” has to do with believing the fact that God does exist. God is the object or goal that we seek, and thus makes our seeking meaningful. The statement that says, “rewards those who earnestly seek Him,” means that the action of seeking shall yield fruit, a reward given by our faithful and gracious God.

When Jesus was ministering on earth, He came to Capernaum one day and four men carried with them a paralytic man. “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.” He was laid in front of Jesus.

This was their action by faith, and they trusted that Jesus was able and willing to heal that paralyzed man. They believed that Jesus shall reward those who sought after Him. As a result, Jesus “saw” their faith, and He exercised His authority to pardon sin, and he healed the paralytic man (Mark 2:1-12).

Faith is “visible” because of its expression as well as its observable fruit. This is faith with action. It is a perfect and effectual faith.

The heroes in God’s Hall of faith found in Hebrews 11 shows vividly the relationship between faith and action (or deed), and fruits of faith. Faith and action do not go against each other, but they flow in the same direction. Or we could even say that action is an extension of our faith. Faith is the head and action, the feet.

Let’s look specifically at the Bible about the expressions of faith, and what actions or fruits are produced by faith. 

Faith is expressed in worship. Abraham believed in God. He built altar and made sacrifices to worship God. And God was pleased with him. True worship is the fruit of our faith.

Faith is expressed in long-term everyday life. Enoch believed in God. He was not merely sound in his doctrines, but he “walked with God for three hundred years” in response to his faith (Genesis 5:22). Enoch’s life was different from all the people of his days. God was pleased with Enoch, and he had a different ending as he was taken away by God without seeing death. Those who have faith and walk with God shall surely lead a holy and godly lifestyle and be blessed by God.

Faith is expressed in work：Noah believed in God, and he feared God and followed God’s instructions by preparing the ark. His work is testifying God and proclaiming the salvation of God, regardless of how the world would react or respond. In the end, the world rejected their salvation by refusing to enter the ark and they were destroyed. Only Noah’s family of eight was saved.

Faith is expressed in responding to God’s calling. Abraham obeyed God’s call and went out to the land which would be his possession. Though he was uncertain of where he would go, he went by faith.

Faith is expressed in trusting God’s promises. Sarah believed in God’s words. Though both Abraham and she were at their old age and their bodies were as good as dead, they trusted in God’s promises. From her body that was as though dead she gave birth to his son, Isaac, and hence, many descendants were produced.

Faith is expressed in giving. Even though Abraham had Isaac as his only beloved son and Isaac was God’s promised son, he obeyed God and went to offer Isaac as a burnt sacrifice when God instructed him so. It was because he believed that since God was able to “call into being things that were not,” and caused the dried wood to bear fruit, so that a lively and strong son was born through an old-aged woman who had passed the age of child-bearing, and He was “the God who gives life to the dead” (Romans 4:17), that willingly he offered Isaac, and as a result, he received back his son who was spared from death, and became the “father of all nations”.

This is the principle of “Jehovah Jireh”, that we offer God everything we have, and in return, we shall experience God’s provision that goes beyond our expectation. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals this principle (John 11:24). True giving to God also works on this principle: There is a lost and found and we receive more than we have given.

Faith expressed in blessing the descendants. Isaac was gentle and at peace with others. He lived in a tent and wandered around without a permanent residence. He did not have his own land too, but by faith he prayed for Esau and Jacob and gave them their blessings. He was like a wealthy king. Jacob became a refugee in Egypt, but he was able to bless his descendants. All these were the expressions of their faith.

Faith goes beyond this life. Joseph was surrounded by the Egyptians, and he enjoyed the richness of Egypt. Nevertheless, he knew Egypt was not his inheritance. He was aware that his descendants would come out from Egypt, and hence, he looked forward to be buried in the land of Canaan.

Faith makes right choices. The faith of Moses caused him to make a radical decision: He was the adopted son of the daughter of Pharaoh, and he might be the heir who would succeed Pharaoh as the king. Yet willingly he chose to leave the palace and identify himself with the slaves, the Israelites. He was willing to suffer with God’s people and lead them out of Egypt into the Promised Land.  What he had done was very similar to what Jesus did. Jesus was the Prince of the Heavenly Court but he left heaven and incarnated on earth so as to die for us and deliver us from death in sin. 

Faith is obeying God’s command and co-laboring with Him. The Israelites entered the Land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. They did not employ their army but submitted to God’s commands by marching around the city for seven days in the fortified city of Jericho. Their action was really weird, but as they trusted God and followed His words, the city walls crumbled and fell.

Faith is submitting to God’s destiny. Rahab lived in the city of doom, but she believed in God’s power and received the Israelite spies peacefully. At the end, not only her whole household was saved, but her name was listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Faith enables us to be strong and courageous. The last listed are Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, David and Samuel. They shared the common characteristics, i.e., they could look up to God and see God’s existence and face their problems courageously in their adversities. They connected with God and were willing to risk their lives and suffer all pains. They demonstrated an extraordinary boldness and courage, and this was their effect of trusting God.

All these men of faith had their actions that corresponded to their faith. They left behind their footprints of faith, so that we could traced their footsteps.

Conclusion

Many people misunderstood that the book of James talks about deeds only, whereas its true purpose is to talk about exemplifying faith with actions or deeds. James 2:18-22, 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. You believe that there is one God, Good! Even the demons believe that —and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

What is taught here tells us that faith and action is inseparable, and they cannot go against each other. It is impossible to have faith without action, but faith must be expressed through action. Our testimony is only completed with the combination of faith and action.

Let’s seek for God’s mercy in this Advent as we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus, that God will fill us with the Holy Spirit and revive us and make us full of faith. By then, we could wait upon the coming of the Lord and behold His salvation to come upon all peoples. We also shall go out with full faith to receive the Lord, and to follow Him by loving Him and people and by serving Him and others.

Let’s write a book about the faith of the church and be someone among the cloud of witnesses in order to bring glory to God’s name, that all men shall come and believe in the Lord Jesus and follow Him too. May glory be to Jesus, the Savior, our author and finisher of faith. Amen!