Living by Faith

In one of the Luther movies there is a scene where Luther was giving a lecture one day when a student asked, "All we have to do is have faith?  That is too easy?" Luther's response was, "Easy?  You call faith easy?"  For Luther faith was not easy.  There were years of struggle that brought him to the place where he fell into the arms of Jesus.  For all of us getting to that place can be a struggle. 

I don't know whether that scene was real or a screen writer's creative license but here is a real quote from Luther, "God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing."  As we are told in Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."  We can also turn that around and say that without God faith is impossible.

This is obviously true when it comes to justification, which is receiving God's forgiveness and righteousness as a free gift.  Lutherans rightly emphasize justification by grace through faith because it is the foundation of everything else in our lives.  What we mean by that is that righteousness is not our own but Christ's.  It is an alien righteousness that comes to us from an outside source.  It is pictured as a robe of righteousness as we read in Isaiah 61:10, "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."It is an accounting as Abraham was accounted righteous because he believed God's promise.  This is an important concept, especially when we are feeling discouraged by our lack of progress in the Christian life.  It's solid ground, a kingdom that cannot be shaken.  

But faith does not stop at justification.  It's not as if we are righteous by faith and everything else is up to us.  As Luther said, "whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing." Faith is the key to receiving any other blessing from God, whether healing, relief from crushing financial burdens, demonic oppression, or family conflicts.

Recently, I saw something in the words of Mark 11:24 that I had not noticed before.  It reads, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." It has to do with the verb tenses of 3 words: believe, have received, and will be.  "Believe" is in the present tense.  The present tense in Greek is an active ongoing tense.  It means believe and keep believing.  Faith can be a battle and it is easy to give up.  But giving up is not an option.  

Next, "have received" is in a past tense called aorist.  The aorist in Greek means it is a done deal.  In other words, you are believing that it is already done.  You already have what you have asked.  It's like a woman being pregnant.  She already has a baby in her womb even before the baby makes its entrance into the world.  I heard a story about a Korean missionary who prayed for an American bicycle that wouldn't break down to expand is sphere of work.  He told everyone that he had an American bicycle months before he actually possessed it.  When pressed by someone to show him the bicycle he said, "I'm pregnant with it."

Finally, "will be" is in the future tense.  Jesus didn't teach that every prayer is answered instantaneously.  If it was there would not have been much need of faith.  Some prayers will be answered immediately, others will take weeks or months, and some will take years.  Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years for the birth of Isaac.  Some of our prayers may not be answered until we reach Heaven. My mother died of cancer when I was 11 years old but when I see her again she will be cancer free.

So how do we live by faith?  Watchman Nee was a Chinese missionary who ended up in prison during the reign of Mao Zedong.  But he wrote many Christian books, some of which I have found helpful.  In one of those books he wrote these words: "'We walk by faith, not by appearance' (2 Cor. 5:7). Fact, Faith and Experience (are) walking along the top of a wall. Fact walked steadily on, turning neither to right nor left and never looking behind. Faith followed and all went well so long as he kept his eyes focused upon Fact; but as soon as he became concerned about Experience and turned to see how he was getting on, he lost his balance and tumbled off the wall, and poor old Experience fell down after him."  His point was that we need to focus on God's promises rather than our experiences.

Paul wrote in Romans 4, "And he (i.e. Abraham) believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness."  But that doesn't mean he always understood the workings of God.  Like so many of us who sometimes feel like we still have to solve our own problems, he felt like he had to do the same.  As time passed there was still no child and they kept getting older.  So at the suggestion of Sarah, Abraham took her servant Hagar as a wife and had a child with her whose name was Ishmael.  But God told Abraham that Ishmael was not the promised child for the promised child would come through Sarah.  The result of Abraham trying to fix the problem was a future of animosity between the descendents of Ishmael and those of Isaac, the son Sarah finally bore when Abraham was 100 and she was 90.  The lesson for us is clear.  Hold on to God's promises, no matter how long it takes.

Finally Abraham gets there. "In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations" (Romans 4:18).  Faith believes against all hope.  In other words you might be in a situation today which seems hopeless.  But God is bigger than your problem.  Remember how the disciples were caught out on a lake in a vicious storm while Jesus was sleeping in the boat?  They thought the situation was hopeless.  They didn't wake up Jesus because they thought He would do a miracle but because they thought He didn't care that they were all drowning.  Jesus, of course, did care and He calmed the storm with a word but then rebuked them for their unbelief.  Are you facing a storm?  Perhaps an illness?  Is there a problem for which you have no solution?  Faith is believing against all hope that God has.  As we read in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

God works in strange and mysterious ways.  Missionary Helen Roseveare, who served in Africa, tells a remarkable story about a mother who died in childbirth, leaving a premature baby and a 2 year old girl crying for her mother.  There was no incubator to keep the baby warm and no electricity to heat one if they had it.  They filled an old hot water bottle with water heated on a fire but the water bottle burst.  They did everything they could to safely keep the child warm but it was a challenge.  The next day Roseveare met with the children in her orphanage with whom she would often share prayer requests and then pray.  She told them about the baby who needed to be kept warm.  One child prayed a remarkable prayer of faith, saying, “Please, God, send us a water bottle. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, the baby’ll be dead; so, please send it this afternoon.”  While Roseveare gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, the little girl added, "…And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?”  Roseveare didn't know if she could say, "Amen!"  because she doubted God would answer that prayer.  She was afraid the little prayer warrior would be so deflated when those things didn't come.  But that afternoon a parcel was delivered that had been sent from England months before. In the parcel there was among all the other things a hot water bottle.  The little prayer warrior said, "Keep looking.  There must also be a little dolly."  And there was.  Jesus said that we have to have faith like a child.

Luther was right, living by faith is not easy.  What are the challenges in your life?  What keeps you up at night?  What do you worry about? Perhaps it is time to lay it down and trust God.  He is for you.  He even cares about a little girl getting a new dolly.  He, likewise, cares about all your needs.  

William Fischer