FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE GIFTS
OF THE SPIRIT – XII
THE GIFT
OF FAITH - I
1 Corinthians 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit…
Faith (pistis) transcends mere belief. It is the confident assurance proceeding from
belief that produces corresponding action.
I have known many people who “believe” that Yahushua is the Messiah and
son of IAUE. They believe he died for
their sins. They even believe he rose
from the dead; but they do not believe in such a way that they are persuaded to
act in accordance with their belief.
James, the first pastor of the church in Jerusalem, and the brother of
the Master Yahushua wrote the following:
James 2:17 Even so
faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a
man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy
works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou
believest that there is one Elohim; thou doest well: the devils also believe,
and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without works is dead also.
To understand the gift of faith, we first need
to sift through the different usages of the word “faith” in the New Testament
Scriptures. There is much confusion
regarding this gift in the church today; and that is due mostly to “faith preachers”
who themselves do not understanding these Scriptural differences. There are four ways in which the word “faith”
is used in the New Testament.
- Faith in Yahushua. This
is confidence in the person and the work of Yahushua, with a specific
reliance upon the provision of the righteousness of IAUE whereby we are
made acceptable to IAUE through Yahushua. This is not mere belief. It is belief mingled with corresponding
actions…specifically, repentance and bowing the knee to Yahushua as Master
and Messiah. This is also called “salvific” faith because it is what moves
IAUE to provide us with the grace that enables us to do His will (“For by grace are ye saved through faith…” Ephesians 2:8). Its
sole focus is upon Yahushua Messiah as the
way-maker to IAUE (“…I am the
way, the truth and the life. No man
comes unto the Father but by me.” John 14:6). If its focus moves away from a
present-continuous trusting in the person of Yahushua; and we begin to believe
something else provides or validates access to IAUE, it (faith) ceases to
exist. Confidence in the new birth, of being born again, is the most
common overthrower of salvific faith. The newbirth is merely what equips
us to enjoy the access to IAUE that is attained only through momentary trust
in Yahushua Messiah. In some
denominations, it is baptism that becomes a focus of confidence before
IAUE. In some Pentecostal
denominations, it is speaking in tongues that “seals the deal” and becomes
the thing upon which they rely. Still, for others it is mere church
membership upon which they rely. We either are inexorably linked to Messiah
by present continuous faith, or we are self-deceived about the true nature
of our condition. (“The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17)
Paul shows us that this most basic form of faith is “at risk” unless it is protected. After having to leave Thessalonica prematurely due to uprisings within the city, Paul was concerned about the new disciples he had left behind. He knew they were suffering persecution; and he desperately wanted to return to them to make sure their faith.
1 Thessalonians 3:5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.
- “The faith.” This refers to
the gospel message and the life it produces. Used in this manner, it relates
generally to discipleship to Messiah as a way of life. It is a quantifiable lifestyle produced
by salvific faith (“And so were the churches established in the faith…” Acts 16:5;
“By whom we have received grace and
apostleship, for obedience to the faith among
all nations, for his name:” Romans 1:5). Salvific faith is the door by which
man accesses righteousness. “The
faith” is the path of righteousness unto which that door opens. If the door is shut, the path disappears.
Man can “fall away from the faith” by turning away from salvific faith. Stated another way: by present continuous faith in Messiah, grace is provided to the disciple to empower him/her to do the will of IAUE (This is the Scripture’s definition of salvation.). That faith instantly begins to transform the person and life of the disciple. When that momentary reliance upon Messiah is interrupted, so too is the flow of grace; and the disciple instantly ceases to be able to do the will of IAUE (ceases to be able to walk on the path of righteousness). His/her life at that point is inescapably works of the flesh, which is at enmity with IAUE and is incapable of pleasing Him (Romans 8:7-8). This is what converts one from “the faith” to “the religion.”
- The measure of faith. Scripture says that each
person in the Body of Messiah has been given a “measure
of faith” (Romans 12:3). To understand what this means, we need to
know from whence faith comes.
Romans 10:17 says “Now faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word (rhema) of
IAUE.” Faith, that confident
assurance, that persuasion that is ready to act upon what it believes, is
produced from hearing the “rhema” of IAUE.
That is His spoken word.
That word may be what we read in Scripture, the word He speaks to
our heart by His Spirit, or a word that He speaks to us through another
disciple (through a word of knowledge or word of wisdom, etc.). We are not given different measures of
faith, as some would have us believe.
We are each given the capacity to convert the spoken word of IAUE
into corresponding actions on our part.
What we do with that measure of faith is largely determined by us. We
might liken it to a group of cooks who are each given a measure of flour. They can make something with the flour;
or just leave it on a shelf, or even permit weevils to infest it and
render it useless.
This measure of faith is described in different places in the New Testament as being “little faith,” “great faith,” “all faith,” “shipwrecked faith,” “faith as a mustard seed,” etc. Stated simply, it is the measure of our ability to believe the word of IAUE. Messiah Yahushua said that if we had the faith of a mustard seed nothing would be impossible to us; not even speaking to a mountain to tell it to be removed (Matthew 17:20). He said that to indicate that we should not be deceived into thinking that great things require more faith than we could ever muster. No, great things simply need faith…period. That same mountain-moving illustration is used in 1 Corinthians 13 to describe having “all faith;” so mustard seed sized faith has the same effectiveness as all faith…and very likely another term for “a measure of faith.” In other words, unto each of us has been given virtually unlimited capacity to believe and to act upon the word of IAUE. (One of the first jobs of the enemy of our souls is to convince us NOT to believe that.) Our root problem in this area is moving from belief to corresponding actions. Of course we believe that Yahushua could act on His Father’s word and accomplish anything; but we do not believe that of ourselves; and yet, we have been given the measure of faith sufficient to do just that.
- The gift of faith. This is not salvific
faith by which we trust in the person and work of our Master Yahushua
Messiah; nor is it “the faith” which represents our life in Messiah. This is also not the measure of faith
given to us as a member of the Body of Messiah. This is a supernatural
ability to believe the word of IAUE. It is a manifestation of the very nature
of IAUE as revealed through His Spirit. One minister refers to this gift as
a momentary encounter with mustard seed sized faith, the ability to
believe in that moment the incredible, the impossible. The Scripture tells us that Stephen was
a man who was FULL of faith, and that he wrought “great
wonders” among the people (Acts 6:8).
For the past half century, many preachers and
teachers have focused on the teaching of faith.
Their efforts have caused the terms, “faith preacher,” “faith community,”
and “name-it/claim-it teachers” to emerge in Christian vocabulary. These well
intended ministers have brought much of the church into bondage by teaching
salvific faith as a means of obtaining prosperity, healing, miracles, etc. Those who listen to their messages cannot
seem to find fault with the Scriptural validity of their teaching; but the
outworking of their teaching actually finds manifestation in the lives of very
very few. The problem is, now that the
believer is under the impression that his faith is personally responsible for
the successfulness of his life, health and material possessions, he cannot
“confess” to anything less than what he “hopes for” because what he actually
has shows no fruit being born of such faith teaching. Embarrassment or pride prevents them from
being honest with each other. They smile
and confess good things, and yet possess virtually nothing that is promised by
these faith preachers/teachers.
Here is the problem. Salvific faith is focused on only one thing –
reliance upon Messiah to place us in an acceptable relationship with IAUE unto
the view of receiving the grace of IAUE to empower lives of obedience to His
will. Period! Salvific faith is not the faith that believes
for better worldly circumstances. That
is abjectly selfish and not the concern of a disciple. In fact, the Master taught in the Sermon on
the Mount:
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye
shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more
than meat, and the body than raiment?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of IAUE, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no
thought for the morrow: for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof.
Next week we will continue our discussion on
the gift of faith.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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