Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Lessons from the Saints: Abraham's Radical Faith


see: Genesis 12:1-9; Genesis 22; Hebrews 11: 8-19

In these passages on Abraham leaving his father's home and sacrificing his son at the Lord's request we are shown an example of a man who has radical faith in God.
In looking at Abraham's example and looking Biblically at the concept of faith we see there are five principles to learn about the life of radical faith.


The life of faith will:

1. Be difficult.
The life of faith is not easy. God calls his people to do difficult things, things that may go against popular opinion. The sacrifices we have to make will be hard at times, there's no avoiding that. If you want to follow Christ at times it will be difficult. But its worth it. We have to accept that at times it will be difficult, count the cost, and realize that it is worth the sacrifice every time. Living a life of radical faith may be difficult but its better than the alternative: living a safe life that doesn't serve the kingdom of God.





2. Come from trust in God.
see: Hebrews 11:1; 1 Corinthians 2: 5; Galatians 2:20
We see in Hebrews 11 that Abraham believed that even if he did kill his son the Lord would resurrect him, he was so confident in the Lords promise that he knew that not even death could stop Him from making Isaac his son through whom the whole world would be blessed. We can live lives of radical faith if we believe God's promises to us and know that He is faithful!

3. Brings praise to Christ.
see: 1 Peter 1:7
Our lives of faith in Christ bring Him honor as He is able to prove His nature again and again in our lives.

4. Make us more like Christ.
see: James 1:2-4
There is no one who lived more of a life of radical faith than Christ. As we step out in faith we take on more of His character as we follow His example. Living a life of faith builds more faith and that faith produces Godly character.

5. Be worth it in the end.
While stepping out in faith is difficult and may not make sense at times it is worth it in the end. Now that Abraham is in Heaven he does not regret leaving his father's house or obediently preparing to sacrifice his son. The Lord has proved Himself over and over in the lives of others, so we can count on Him that whatever He asks us to do (while it may be difficult) it is best for us.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Lessons from the Saints: Noah's Unquestioning Obedience


Noah's example provides for us an example of a life of unquestioning obedience to God's call on our lives, to follow Him no matter what the cost may be.

God told Noah to make an ark to hold himself, his family, and two of every kind of animal because He was going to make it rain for 40 days and flood the earth. This command seems crazy. Some think that there was no rain before God sent the flood, making it all the stranger for Noah to tell his neighbors that he was making a giant boat in preparation for water falling from the sky. Whether or not it had rained before this event it is clear that building the ark would have been a difficult experience. It would have been grueling, back breaking work. Not to mention having everyone think he's crazy for devoting his life to building such a large boat-no one could understand his sacrifice.

God isn't calling any of us to build a giant boat for an oncoming flood. But He is calling us to be obedient. So I thought we should focus on to whom we should obedient to help guild us in our faith.
See: Hebrews 11:7

We are called to be obedient:

To God
See: Acts 5:27-33, Romans 6:16, 1 John 5:2-3, James 4:7-8
Warning: this may not be popular! In Acts 5:27-33 the disciples take a stand against the government, proclaiming that it is better to follow God's law over the laws of men. The result: the people try to kill them! While the response for us will not be so intense, we can expect to meet resistance from the world when we choose to follow after Christ.
Roman’s 6:16- we are obeying someone/something- Paul tells us that we are either obedient to sin or righteousness, but we are always obedient to something. The question we must ask ourselves i will be we obedient to the right thing?


To our Parents
see: Ephesians 6:1-3; Colossians 3:20
A big part of the Christian life is honoring parents by obeying them. Do you argue with your parents? Do you talk back? Do they have to ask you multiple times to take out the trash or do the dishes? As Christians we are called to honor our parents in everything, lets being in the small things.

To authorities in our lives
see: Hebrews 13:17; Ephesians 6:5; Mark 12:13-17
If you want to be an example of Christ to the world being obedient to authorities is a good place to begin. No one respects authority anymore, which is a bad thing. You wanna look different? You wanna stand out? Start by listening to teachers and other authorities.