Mark, starting in Mark 10. We’re looking at what it means to walk by faith. What is a disciple’s faith? We use that word all of the time. There’s at least six aspects of faith that theologians discuss with several subpoints below each of these in the broader topic. But what does it mean to have faith? How is our faith exercised? That’s what we’re looking at this morning as we look to the reading of God’s word. If you please join me in prayer. Oh God, we do ask that you would guide us by your word and spirit, that in your light we may see the light of your truth, and in it find freedom. Lord, in your will, discover the peace that you have for us through Jesus Christ, and that you would continue through your word, transforming us into his image, that you would continue working in us, your righteousness, your righteousness, your goodness, and all of these things we pray and ask for through Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Mark 10. And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you? And a blind man said, ‘Rabbi, let me recover my sight.
‘ And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way. Your faith has made you well. ‘ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Mark 2. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven. ‘ Mark 4. Said to disciples, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? Mark 5. He said, Your daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. I’m glad you’re into that whole faith thing. It seems to work for you. But I’m more of a science and reason guy. Have you ever heard someone say something like this before? Or maybe, In the age of all this technology and advancement, there really isn’t a place for faith in the public square. Now, it’s okay if you want to have your private religious faith as long as you just keep it to yourself. No, this is a false distinction. Why? Because faith consists of reasoning. These are not opposites. A level of faith is used by absolutely everyone. A trust in a certain set of convictions is used by all. The difference is the object of your faith, not that you have faith.
It has nothing to do with rationality versus irrationality. It’s not about self-evident truth versus blind faith. There are precious few things in this world that are self-evidently true, the monster beyond all doubt. It’s not as if the world is filled these isolated and pure facts. Everything that is observed is observed by personal observers who are a part of all those facts. All of us come to the limits of what we can exhaustively know, and we are called then to trust, to commit to that knowledge. All humans do this. As followers of Jesus, when I struggle with doubts or uncertainties, it’s not because I’ve been thinking too much. It’s because I have not been thinking enough about what is true. Or more precisely, thinking about him who is true. Our doubts arise, our struggles come to walk in the night by what we have seen in the day. Doubts can also arise when we want to do that which we know we’re not supposed to do, and we want to do it anyways. My own hard-heartedness can block me from walking in what I know to be true. Because we have been called to put our faith in Christ Jesus, we must bring our understanding together with our commitment.
That is the life of faith. It is entirely possible to commit the things that are not true. People do it all the time. We can put our faith in the wrong thing, but it’s not about faith versus reason. That’s nothing more than a bait and switch, a sleight of hand. The The most striden atheist has made a commitment to a set of beliefs that he cannot prove as self-evident. The most rigorous scientist has put his trust in a hypothesis that is yet to be demonstrated. And these are not just merely abstractions. The deepest concerns of life come to all of us as we walk by faith in the most personal of ways. My faith in Christ unites me to him who is true, and it calls me to put my trust in his promises. When we hear Jesus say to his disciples, Oh, you of little faith, ‘ what exactly then does he mean? Well, we’re going to consider this morning both the confusion surrounding faith as well as the conviction of our faith. Looking first then at the confusion of faith, asking the question, what gets in the way of our faith? Well, lots of things get in the way of our faith.
A hard heart, a refusal to commit. There can certainly be intellectual doubts. That’s there as well. But most doubts come out of feelings or circumstances, not in the intellect. It can be the intellect, but most of the time it’s not about the intellect. We can also have moral doubts. With the serpent, we can put ourselves in a position where we are saying, did God really say, if you’re wanting to sleep someone other than your spouse, the easiest way to start is by questioning the truth of morality. Because if it’s not true, then you could do whatever you want. Did God really say? And much confusion of faith comes when we just want to do what we know is wrong. There’s also this confusion about what faith consists of. Many try and wrongly make it a competition, as I said, between faith and reason. The apostle Paul, he makes a statement in 2 Corinthians 5. He said, For we walk by faith and not by sight. For Paul, the opposite of faith is sight, not reason. You see, there can be no blind faith in Christianity. There is no leap before you look. That is not what Christianity is about.
Faith consists of the things we know or understand, but it doesn’t just stop there. It can’t just stop there. This is what James refers to as mere intellectual belief. In James 2, he says, You believe that God is one? You do well. Even the demons believe this and shatter. Faith takes this knowledge and then forms a conviction that we are then to trust or to commit to. In the New Testament, the Greek word, the family of it is pistuo, and it’s translated as both faith and to believe in English. In English, the noun is faith and the verb is to believe, but it comes from the same root word. We see both of these together in Hebrews 11: 6. Very familiar to us. Without faith, Pistus, it’s impossible to believe him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe, the stuo, that he exists and he rewards those who seek him. Without faith, it’s impossible to believe God. We must believe that he exists. Now, this belief is more than ideas or propositions. It’s not less than that, but it is more than that. It is also personal. We believe in God, a personal God.
I appreciate Luther’s contribution to this. This notion of faith for Luther includes this. He said that faith has a personal reference. It concerns trust in God’s promises and that it unites believers to Christ. That’s the life of faith. It’s personal. It’s union with Christ. I appreciate Alastair McGrathy summarizes Luther by saying that faith is the wedding ring. It’s the wedding ring. How? Because it points to this communion, this relationship between Christ and the believer. I have made the commitment. I have taken the vows to enter into that life of faith is a personal entry into the person and the work of Jesus. When Jesus calls in to question the faith of his disciples, it’s personal. We hear him in John 14, he says, Haven’t I been with you so long and you still do not know, Philip? The exasperation, I’ve been with you all this time and you know me, and yet you’re questioning. Because they are to take what they know of Jesus and they are to combine it with trust in Jesus. Now, in my community in his class. I always use this example of a chair to help explain faith. It’s certainly not original to me.
With a chair, you first understand that its purpose is to support you. That will hold your weight if you sit in it. Don’t think anyone here doubts that you can sit in any one of these chairs here and you do just fine. That’s the understanding of it, the concept. Next, then you have to have a conviction that it’s true. Finally, you need to trust in that conviction by sitting in the chair. Faith involves all three of these. The knowledge of something, the conviction of something, the commitment to trust in that. Now, sitting in a chair is a pretty low bar car for a faith demonstration. Not really difficult. Yeah, I think that’s true. Let’s take parachuting. I can explain to you the basic concept of how parachutes work. I can show you multiple videos of successful jumps. You can take you and you can watch people coming down. I can tell you how you are far more likely to die in a car wreck than you ever will from a parachute jump. And you become so convinced that this is true, you’re willing to go on a tandem jump out at Loss Prairie for the first time.
Yeah, I’m excited. And then as this little tiny plane is working its way up to 6,000 or 7,000 feet. You’re growing a little more apprehensive. Then they open up that side door and your ears are just filled with the wind noise rushing in. The guy that you are strapped to starts sliding his way out towards the edge. Before you is open sky, below you is hard ground. Understandably, you’re a bit scared. In fact, you’re second guessing the whole thing, and you’re looking for anything you can hold on to for dear life, just to clutch until your fingers are just white. What changed? You’re doubting everything. What’s causing the doubt? It’s not because of new knowledge or data. Your fears are not being driven by reasoning and rationality, but because of your rationality. No truth of parachuting has changed from the ground to the air. It’s the same set of truth. All these truths, they’re still there. Your conviction has certainly wavered. Your trust and commitment is coming into question because of what you see, not because of what you think. To get yourself out the door, you’re going to have to go into thinking overdrive.
You’re going to have to overcome your fears that have been brought on by sight through your understanding. Your convictions will have to be founded on what you know to be true. In the gospel, 6: 14, we’re given this account of Jesus walking on water. It begins in verse 25. It says, Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, the disciples who were in the lake, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him on the lake. They were terrified. It’s a ghost, they said, and they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, Take courage in his eye. Don’t be afraid. ‘ ‘ Lord, if it’s you, ‘ Peter replied, Let me come to you on the water. ‘ Jesus had come. Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began sinking and cried out, ‘ Lord, save me. ‘ Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. He said, You have a little faith. Why did you doubt? ‘ And when they climbed in the boat, the wind died down. What What undid Peter?
He took his eyes off Jesus. He saw the wind, he saw the waves in the water. Now, earlier, he was a part of the group in the boat when the storm was raging and Jesus calm, the raging storm and the sea and everything was just flat. He was one of those who said, Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? Peter had already experienced and knew this truth about who Jesus was. He had already seen an amazing amount of things of the truth of this person he’s following. He knew this. What undid his faith wasn’t more thinking. It was what he saw. What undos your faith? It’s not because you’re thinking too hard or because you’re too rational. It’s because the circumstances you now see. It could be because your feelings are changing about something. Well, what will get us back? Apply more reasoning to the truth, not less. We see in here this, the conviction of faith. Hebrews 11: 1, very familiar. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Biblical faith, it brings understanding together with trust and commitment. It’s objective, not subjective.
It’s not about how whatever’s true for you. It’s about what is true, period. On the way to Jerusalem, a blind man named Bartimaeus, he heard that Jesus was passing by and he immediately starts crying out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Crying out so loud that people rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he went even louder. Then Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do to you? The blind man said, ‘Rabbi, let me recover my sight. ‘ And Jesus said, Go your way. Your faith has made you well. ‘ And immediately he recovered his sight and he followed him on the way. This is very much like the lame man whose friends took apart the roof and they lowered him down in Mark 2. And when Jesus looked up, it said, he saw their faith, not the paralytics, but the men lowering him down. When he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. ‘ And then he goes on to heal him physically. Now, it’s not like Bartimaeus or these men had this incredible list of things they actually knew about Jesus.
What little they did know, they put into personal trust in what they asked. They looked beyond what they saw or what they felt, and they called out to Jesus to do what they were convinced he could do based on what they already knew about Jesus. Now, to be sure, it was not their faith that did this, the healing. It was their faith in Jesus. He was the one who did it. Some of you are probably familiar with this great line from B. B. Warfield, It’s not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. See the difference? When you are floating safely to the ground in your parachute, It’s not your faith that’s keeping you from falling to the ground. It’s the parachute. Your trust is in the parachute. It’s not in your ability to trust. See the difference? You trust in the parachute, and that’s why you jumped. You weren’t thinking, Well, I don’t know if this is going to hold me together, but I’m pretty sure I can keep myself from falling. It’s the parachute. It’s always been the parachute.
From knowledge to conviction to trust, that’s the full path of faith. You and I are to live according to the truth in Christ that we have received. That is the life of faith. We live according to the truth that we have received. This is not because of self-evident truths that we’ve figured out or we’ve seen demonstrated. We put the weight of our belief in the testimony of God. It’s like a jury at trial. It’s not about absolute certainty. That is a fool’s errand. There are precious few things in life that we have any absolute certainty about. The pursuit of that is just a dead end. Labyrinth that’s just going to take you and take you over in all things. Nobody can live with the pursuit of absolute certainty in all things. You just can’t because life doesn’t give those to you. But what life gives is a testimony. We are called the way the testimony of God who is faithful and trustworthy. That’s how we come to put our trust in most things. It’s the testimony of those we think are true and trustworthy. Think about it. You pick a mechanic, a doctor, a dentist, a realtor, a church, a restaurant, mostly based on the testimony of someone you trust.
You’re new to town. Hey, who’s your doctor? Now, you might change your mind later about something, to be sure, but initially it’s based on the testimony of people you trust. That is how most all knowledge comes to us. We can’t exhaustively figure everything out. Someone says, Hey, you might want to do this. You’re like, Oh, they’re smarter than me. Yeah, sure. I’ll do that. Our faith is personal, and it comes from the trust we place in the testimony of our personal God. Why is this so important? Because some people express an idea that it’s faith and faith, a disposition that they hope things will turn out for the good. It’s very American. The sun will come out tomorrow. I have faith and faith. I’m sure some of you have seen that meme where this guy is in a kayak and he’s about to go over this terrible plunge of a waterfall. And it said, We believe in you. No, it says, Believe in yourself. That’s what it is. Believe in yourself because the rest of us think you’re an idiot. And we get caught up in this. You just need to believe. You just need to believe in yourself.
You need to… No, that’s a terrible thing to put yourself into. It’s not about you. It’s not about a disposition of hope. Because feelings come and go. Sentiments can be crushed by very hard circumstances. That’s the rocky soil that Jesus spoke about in the parable of the Soils in Mark 4. He said, And these are the ones sown on rocky ground, the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, and they have no root in themselves but endure for a while. And then when tribulation or persecution arise on account of the word, immediately they fall away. On account of what? On account of the word, on account of what’s true. Persecution comes from what is true. And this joyful acceptance, if that’s all that it is, it’s not deep enough. It doesn’t hold because it’s you and how you feel for the moment. What holds goes down to holding on to what is true, what is true about the personal work of Jesus. In Mark 8, Jesus is trying to talk to his disciples about spiritual truth, and they’re focused on the wrong earthly things. This is what Jesus said to them, Do you not yet perceive or understand?
Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, you do not see and ears you do not hear, do you not remember? Remember what? Remember what’s true, what Jesus has been saying, the truth that has been demonstrated. To put their faith in him. He’s calling them to put into place what they already know and what they already trust in him. The question comes to this, what are you struggling with in your faith in Christ right now? There are many promises that are yet to be fulfilled, and we are called to look beyond our experiences and to look forward to a future fulfillment because we take God at his word now. Romans 10: 17. So faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of Christ. You know what faith comes from just digging down deep and believing. No, it comes from hearing the word of Christ. It comes from a truth. Peter took his eyes off Jesus. He allowed the circumstances and the fear to override what he knew to be true about his savior. The life of faith is filled with a pursuit of what is true. It’s filled with a personal commitment to a personal God whom we have more than enough testimony to trust in.
That is what a life of faith looks like, exercise. And this side of glory, there are many things that you see that are going to try to take your eyes off of Jesus. And there are many trials and persecution that do come that shake us to the core. And you have to have more than just how you feel at the moment. You have to have more than just faith and faith. There is a deep-seated conviction in the truth of Jesus that’s expressed in a trust, in a commitment to him. You have to know that what’s holding you up is the parachute. It’s not you. What’s holding you so well is the arms of the Father that are wrapped around his children, not your ability to dig into his skin and hold on for dear life. That’s not what’s keeping you there. What’s keeping you is the sure promises of God, of Jesus saying, I will not leave you nor forsake you. I will be with you always. That’s what’s holding us up. It’s the truth of who he is. It’s his testimony. It’s not that when you come to those moments, you suddenly have to have faith in that reason.
No, think more. Reason more about what is true and what is right. Allow that to be the bedrock from which your convictions rest. That is the groundwork of the trust that you put in him. Don’t let someone tell you that faith is something separate from reason. No, not at all. We have the most reasons to trust in Jesus because it is true and it’s true to the world around us. Don’t allow your sin and your doubts to get in the way. I’m going to pursue a sinful path, and suddenly I’m in confusion and fog, and, Oh, I don’t know, head from top and bottom. Yes, because you’re doing something you ought not to be doing. The way out of that is repentance of sin and His pursuit, again, of what is true and what is right in the person and work of Jesus. That is the good and glorious news. He holds you. He’s the one supporting you. Even in those moments of crisis and even in those moments of hard circumstances, when you’re spinning up there at 6,000 or 7,000 feet and you’re not sure you’re going to make it, The answer is to put yourself more firmly into Jesus, who he is, what he’s done, who he claims to be.
Then in that place, you will find your security and your strength. That as you’re pushed out in this great wide open, you know that no matter what these circumstances are, ultimately, Jesus has you, and he will take you to the place that he has ordained for you. You need not worry about what that is going to look like in the end. Because he has not left you. He continues to be there. Faith comes by hearing the word of Christ, putting our faith not in what we see surrounding us. But the reality, the reality of Christ Jesus himself. Surely we know him, for he has been with us all these days. Pray with me. Father, as we come before you, we thank you. We thank you how you have supported us. Lord, how you have given us new life in your son. Father, we thank you that your testimonies are true. They are reliable. You are faithful. And Lord, I pray and ask, Lord, that there’s those here who are struggling in their walk by night from what they have seen in the day. Father, I pray that you continue to uphold them, that they would continue to know what is true, to know you.
Father, that you would grant them great faith. And Lord God, that you would continue to uphold your church. Father, that that day that you bring your son back as he returns, that we indeed would be found faithful to our great bridegroom, Jesus. For it’s in his name that we do Amen. Please stand. Chris, this is Victor.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.