NOTES: Building a Community of Faith
BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF FAITH
Mk 11:12-26
Common Sense Faith
The elementary fact is that faith is in-built. We are born believers.
- Try not believing in anything or anybody – your wife, husband, doctor, bank, boss, baker, or the hawkers.
- There are no guarantees, but we put our lives in the hands of surgeons and trust the bus drivers without thinking of faith. But that’s what it is.
Common Sense Faith is a kind of immune system filtering out fears that otherwise would paralyze all activity.
- When it fails we develop all kinds of phobias and compulsions.
- It is a nervous breakdown.
- Jesus said not to have phobia but faith (Luke 8:50).
- Stop using this faculty of faith and you would never get out of bed in the morning or step outside.
God Kind of Faith
Jesus and His disciples approached a fig tree to see if there were any figs but no figs hung on its branches.
- It was a fig tree without figs.
- And so in response to its barrenness, Jesus cursed the fig tree and said: “Let no man eat fruit from you ever again”
Now let me ask you a question: Why did Jesus do that?
- I mean did He not know that there were no figs on the tree before He even approached it?
- Of course! If He could see Nathaniel sit under the fig tree when Nathaniel was out of sight, surely He could see figs in the fig tree if it was within the sight!
- So Jesus knows there were no figs on the tree yet He proceeded to curse the tree.
I want you to understand that nothing that Jesus ever did was without a purpose.
- Every time Jesus did something, there was a divine motive.
- Every time Jesus said something, there was a purpose.
- I don’t think Jesus ever spoke frivolously.
- His words were spirit and life.
- So there had to be a reason why He cursed that fig tree.
- There was an object lesson that He wanted to teach His disciples.
What was Jesus trying to teach his disciples?
- Jesus went into the temple and out of the temple. He drove the merchandisers who were profaning the sanctuary with their commercialism and merchandizing!
- The following day as they were walking out of Jerusalem, along that same Bethany road, Peter saw the fig tree and he noticed that it was dead.
- It had dried up and withered from its roots.
- And Peter said:” Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered away (v21).
- And then Jesus spoke, not just to Peter alone but to all His disciples.
And here was the purpose of the lesson: Jesus said: “Have faith in God”.
- What Jesus actually said to them is: “Have the faith of God” or the “God kind of faith”.
- That is the actual word for word translation from the original.
- And then Jesus went on to tell them that if they had such faith
- Not only would a little fig tree dry up at the exercise of such faith
- But even mountains could be removed and be cast into the sea!
Have you ever felt that your faith has failed you?
- Our common sense faith is inadequate when we face the mountains of life
- Debt and bankruptcy, terminal illness and failed relationships.
- We need the God kind of faith
- Why mountains? Because if faith can remove a mountain, it can remove anything!
The disciples said to Jesus in Luke 17:5, “Increase our faith” and Christians have wanted that since – faith in bulk! But what was Jesus’ reply in Luke 17:6? Faith as small as a mustard seed!
- That must have puzzled the disciples.
- They wanted big faith but He spoke of the smallest thing they knew.
- By the way, He did not refer to the mustard seed because it was very small!
- He wanted to hammer home that faith is never a matter of size.
- SIZE is the wrong word. It is the KIND of faith that matters!
If we have the right kind of faith, just a little bit is more than enough!
The God Kind of Faith Sees the Unseen
Hebrews 11:1
Hope is the beginning of faith but faith is the assurance and the evidence of things unseen.
- People say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” No they won’t. They can’t.
- You can only believe or have faith in what you don’t see.
- What you see is fact and is not up for believing.
- Nobody believes two plus two equals four. They know so.
Not seeing is no reason for not believing
- Nobody sees radiation (sun tan) or gravity (bird poo) but we feel its effects
- Nobody sees God but millions find the effects in their lives.
- Even one prayer answered, one healing, one miracle, one deliverance from addiction is evidence of Him.
- But there isn’t just one – millions are healed, millions delivered, millions of prayers answered, millions have experiences that can only be attributed to Jesus Christ risen from the dead.
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29
Faith Comes By Hearing
But faith isn’t just “believing” with nothing in mind.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17
- It is “believing UNTO something and FOR something.”
- The Word of God gives point, direction, and purpose.
- Without a word from the Lord, there can be no miracle.
- Without a word from the Lord, there can be no church.
- Because faith only comes when we hear the word of God.
Some people wrongly assumed that faith ignores the realities of life
o How can we rejoice and have the joy of the Lord when life is so hard and circumstances so horrible?
o Because God’s Word tells us to count it all joy in the midst of trials, we can do it.
o How can we expect healing when our bodies are in pain?
o Because the Bible says by His stripes we are healed, we can believe it.
Faith is not ostrich theology, sticking our head in the sands of spiritual fantasy and ignoring the facts of life.
God has given us ‘all things pertaining to life and godliness through His exceedingly great and precious promises’ 2 Peter 2:4.
We tackle problems with promises!
- Faith is not running from problems. No, faith recognizes problems, pressures and pains.
- Faith does not hide from reality.
- Rather faith addresses the reality of a problem with the higher reality of the Word!
We are those who directly face the realities of life in light of Scriptures.
HOW CAN WE BUILD A COMMUNITY OF FAITH
1. Childlike Innocence
Little children are the biggest believers.
- You throw them up and few ever screamed for fear of falling.
- Jesus Himself carried a child as an illustrated sermon. He said the child carried a passport to the Kingdom of God.
- I believe the childlike innocence is the ground for cultivating great faith in God.
- Innocence is a remarkable quality we tend to lose somewhere between childhood and adulthood. It is so easy for a child to believe.
Childlike traits that will generate a stronger faith:
a. Purity – which breeds a holy faith.
It is this uncontaminated purity of spirit that allows faith the environment in which to thrive.
b. Honesty – which produces a sincere faith.
A child is real and sincere. A person who is genuine and transparent will provide the richest soil for the seed of the Word of God to flourish. Hypocrisy and playacting kills the life of faith!
c. Simplicity – which creates a straightforward faith.
The Gospel message is simple and uncomplicated and is to be preached in a manner comprehensible to all, including the poor, the uneducated and the illiterate.
We must safeguard the sweet simplicity that is found in Jesus.
d. Expectation of Good – which releases positive faith.
Everything always works out in the mind of a child because Dad and Mum will somehow make it better. Similarly our heavenly Father make everything work together for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
This is divine optimism. The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. Proverbs 4:18 But some of us are way too negative and always expecting the worse.
e. Joyfulness – which grows a happy faith.
Children don’t spend a lot of time being sad. They rebound emotionally in no time. God wants His children to play more, enjoy His presence, and not get so overwhelmed by the cares and concerns of life. Most Christians are often too intense.
2. Radical Obedience
Believing is not just brain cells in motion. There should be a response.
- Do we do what we believe?
- If we believe in a seed, we plant it.
- A man who owns car but won’t risk driving it will get him nowhere.
- We may as well believe in Mickey Mouse as the Almighty if we don’t expect Him to do anything.
- Likewise if we believe in God’s Word we will do something!
There is an amazing correlation between the miraculous things God did in history and the unusual commands He gave those who obeyed Him:
- Over and over again He asked His servants to do ridiculous things in order to release His miraculous power
- The Old Testament is filled with unusual requests on God’s part as He involves His people in the miracles of the Old Covenant:
o Moses lifted his hands on the mountain so Joshua could win a battle in the valley.
o Elijah instructed the widow to borrow vessels and filled them with oil to receive her miraculous supply.
o Naaman was healed of leprosy by obeying the word of a prophet to go and dip in a dirty river seven times.
o Hosea married a prostitute to model God’s love for Israel.
o Ezekiel was commanded to walk naked for three years to make a statement to God’s people.
Jesus’ ministry was anything but predictable. Jesus modeled the unusual and asks of those who follow Him, the ridiculous.
- His first miracle, He commanded servants to fill water pots with water and serve it as wine.
- Later, He fed five thousand men with a little boy’s lunch only enough for himself.
- When confronted with a tax issue, He sent Peter to retrieve tax money from the mouth of the first fish he caught.
The major issue with God is obedience. Faith is being obedient when we don’t feel like it.
- Partial and Incomplete Obedience do not bring the blessing.
- Our life of faith starts at the cross – I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me, this life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me… Galatians 2:20
- To Y Zone – Let no one despised your youth but be an example in… FAITH! 1 Timothy 4:12