Sermon: "The High Road of Faith"
To begin this morning, I want you to listen to a man share how and why he struggles with his Christian faith. It is a story that I have heard in one form or another many, many times. It is a story most of us as Christians have experienced to some extent personally.
“I have trouble connecting my belief in God with the real experiences of my life.
When I first became a Christian it was great. Almost everything I did centered around my faith in Jesus. I served as a volunteer in my church and in several Christian ministries. I enjoyed the fellowship I had with other Christians.
Of course, I did run into some potholes: I felt some of my Christian friends had betrayed me and some Christian leaders I respected fell into sinful behavior.
All in all though, things weren’t so bad; our marriage was decent, we were blessed with two children, and I had a job I enjoyed.
But things started to change. First, I encountered a health issue that almost completely stopped me from doing two things I loved, jogging and hunting. My chronic illness would often make it difficult for me to get out of bed and go to work.
Then our oldest child developed an emotional disorder that at times causes him to have suicidal thoughts. Life for him is a constant roller coaster ride of emotions.
The final straw was when my company was sold and I got pink-slipped.
Why is life so harsh? Where is the God who rewards faithfulness with faithfulness? Where is the God who leads us to “green pastures”?
My head believes in the God who loved me enough to die on a cross, but my heart tells me that he treats my pain and loss with indifference. The gap between what I thought about God and how I have experienced him in my life is too big.
I will say it again. I have trouble connecting my belief in God with the real experiences in life.”
I know that some of you can identify with what that man has just shared. He believes Jesus died on the cross to pay for his sins and to provide him an eternal home in heaven. Some call this “fire insurance”. Theologians might call it a “positional faith”. He knows his eternal position in Jesus.
That’s great to have, but what you also need is an “operational faith”. A faith that can help you make sense out of the life we live here on planet earth and to be able to respond to things from a place of spiritual strength.
The man who shared his story with us was lacking this operational faith.
Some of you won’t like what I am going to share next. Here it is … Many Christians do not have an operational faith because they put “self” at the center of things.
It works like this. We experience life through our five senses. When self is at the center we judge what feels good to us as being good and what feels bad as being bad. If our circumstances are good we think God is blessing us. If life is bad, God is being neglectful, unfair, or perhaps even mean.
That kind of thinking is man-centered, self-centered and spiritually way off base.
To avoid that trap you need to learn to follow the path of true Christian spirituality. Some great Christians from the past such as John and Charles Wesley, Augustine, A.W. Tozer and many others, discovered this path. They knew this path as “the high road of faith”. This faith kept them from depending on supposed earthly blessings in order to be strong.
Walking the high road of faith starts with a right knowledge of God … Who is God? How does he think? What are his desires for us? What are his purposes for us?
Our scripture lesson this morning consists of two things Paul wrote about walking the high road of faith.
II CORINTHIANS 5:7 – We live by faith, not by sight.
GALATIANS 2:20b - The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
As we have seen, living a life of faith, a life as described by Paul, is not easy. Therefore, this morning we are going to look at four foundational principles that will help you to live and walk the high road of faith.
You can live a life that is based on God instead of self by accepting the four foundational truths found in our lesson this morning.
FOUR FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES FOR LIVING THE HIGH ROAD OF FAITH
I. GOD’S VIEW OF LIFE IS COMPLETE (PERFECT)
Do you believe that statement? Once when Jesus was speaking to some people he said …
JOHN 8:23 - “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”
God has a far more complete view of life than we have. It is from a higher position that he governs and directs the events on earth.
It is important for us to understand the difference between faith and reason. If you confuse the two you will end up like the man whose story we opened with this morning. Let’s briefly look at each of them.
A. LIVING LIFE BASED ON HUMAN REASONING
Our problem as humans is that we are stuck in events and time. Human reason is how we gain knowledge about this world in which we live. This type of reasoning is totally dependent upon our senses. It works like this …
We feel or sense something. That leads us to reasoning (thinking). Through our reasoning we develop a knowledge. From that knowledge we form our opinions.
That is all very logical, but if we don’t really believe that God’s view of life is more complete than ours, we can arrive at some very wrong opinions. However, when we do understand God knows more than we do, it leads us to …
B. LIVING BY FAITH
Remember what Paul said …
II CORINTHIANS 5:7 – We live by faith, not by sight.
Faith accepts truths that cannot be proved. Faith accepts truths that can’t be demonstrated to the satisfaction of our senses. Clement of Alexandria wrote …
“Spiritual faith does not come about by saying, ‘Show me a sign, God. Answer my prayer. Perform a miracle.’ It begins by believing simply that GOD IS – and He is above His creation.”
So if you want to have an operational faith, a faith you can live by, you must first believe that … God’s view of life is complete. The second principle is …
II. GOD IS ALWAYS AT WORK
To walk by faith you need to give up all thoughts that you are on your own to handle the messes that life throws at you. The Bible says …
HEBREWS 13:5-6 – Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
God is always at work even when we can’t see or understand what he is doing.
There is no event in which he is not authorizing, directing and shaping history. David knew that truth applied to all aspects of life and wrote …
PSALM 139:16b – All the days ordained for me were written in our book before one of them came to be.
When you truly believe that, you know that God is completely aware of, and yes, in control of the events occurring in your life.
When you learn to quell your anger and just wait and watch, knowing that God is not inactive, over the months, seasons or years you are able to start understanding the longer time lines of God’s intentions and purposes.
God is always at work. If you believe that it will enable you to give up your self-centered plans which demand immediate answers and completion and allow God’s plans to spread open before you.
Do you really want to be free from your worries, fears and concerns? Do you really want to walk on the high road of faith? You must accept that – God’s view of life is complete and that God is always at work – and that …
III. GOD WORKS HIS GOOD IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
If you are going to live by faith you must believe God works his good in all circumstances. The Bible says …
ROMANS 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
When you believe that it helps you to not get caught up in trying to determine what is good and what is bad and instead just know that God is working his good in all circumstances.
Listen to how God reveals the extent of his power in the words of the prophet Isaiah.
ISAIAH 45:7 – I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
God works his good in all circumstances. Hannah Smith, a popular writer and speaker in the late eighteen hundreds, wrote …
“All things are God’s servants. Not a few things only, but all things. We generally think only the good people or good things of life can serve God, but all things, whether good or bad, are His servants. No matter what their origin may be, all things are used by the Lord to accomplish His purposes.”
We need to remind ourselves that betrayals, losses and pains can be a tap on the shoulder from the Good Shepherd directing our desires away form this world where there will never be lasting security, peace, or happiness.
It is important for us to receive everything as from God. This step of faith is necessary for us to take in order to experience the peace, joy and rest that comes form totally trusting God. The Bible teaches over and over that God controls everything and is our defender and protector. Listen to just a few statements from the scriptures which support this truth.
Not a sparrow falls to the ground without God’s consent – Matthew 10:29
The very hairs on each of our heads are numbered by God. – Matthew 10:30
When someone wrongs us God takes the responsibility to defend us so we need not take revenge on anyone ourselves. – Romans 8:31
All things are under God’s control. Nothing can disturb or harm us that he cannot use for our good. Nothing but seeing God in everything will allow you to be loving and patient in all circumstances. Nothing but a belief in the truth that God works his good in all circumstances will completely put an end to the murmuring and rebelling thoughts against God that try to work their way into our lives.
Joseph had this kind of faith. Remember what he told his brothers many years after they sold him into slavery.
GENESIS 45:5, 8a – And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.
Joseph trusted in a God of mighty goodness who used miserable circumstances, from a human viewpoint, to accomplish a lot of good for many people. While Joseph was suffering he could not see what God was doing but he believed in a God who works his good in all circumstances. Let’s look now at the fourth principle ….
IV. GOD’S PURPOSES ARE HIGHER THAN WE CAN CONCEIVE
God has a better use for your life than you could ever dream of on your own. The key for you is to surrender your life to God’s purpose for it.
What God desires more than anything else from you is the freedom to do whatever he wants to do through your life. You can surrender to God in that manner when you truly believe God is a good God. If he is a good God, he cannot do bad things.
Many Christians don’t believe God is good because when they see bad things happening as viewed from their perspective they can’t believe a good God would allow that to happen. They can’t accept that God’s purposes are higher than ours.
It has been said - Real darkness, is the blind self-centeredness that cannot see the light of God in all things, because it will not see.
CONCLUSION
What kind of faith are you living?
A self-centered faith that blames God for failing to help with and bless your plans.
or
A God-centered faith that surrenders to him and willingly walks whatever path he lays before you.
This morning we have looked at four principles which will help you live a God-centered faith.
- Believe that God’s view of life is complete (perfect).
- Believe God is always at work.
- Believe God works his good in all circumstances.
- Believe God’s purposes are higher than we can conceive.
To close this morning I want you to listen to what some people have experienced after they started to live a God-centered faith instead of a self-centered faith.
I surrendered sickness to God and found an inner strength based on hope in the resurrection. I did not have this hope before because when I depended on being healthy I lived in fear of pain, limitations and death … now I just trust God.
I surrendered past abuses and scars to God and I came to see how defensive I had become in order to protect myself from being hurt again. Now I just trust God and have come out from a world of emptiness.
In the end, living by a faith that is God-centered instead of self-centered comes down to this …
You take everything connected with your life – your family, your career, your health, your dreams, your fears, everyone you love or dislike and say – “God, make of this what you will. I trust you!”
Do that and you will not have to say what the man said in the story we opened with this morning. He said - “I have trouble connecting my belief in God with the real experiences in life.”
It’s your choice. You can have a self-centered faith or a God-centered faith. It is so much more fulfilling to center your faith on God and walk the high road of faith.