Focus: Two Aspects of Faith

Text: 1Cor.13:2

"Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains…"

Faith is in kinds. To rephrase it, there is one faith, but it expresses itself in different ways. Faith saves, for by faith we are saved. That is saving faith. Faith establishes and sustains the believer's relationship with God. It enables the believer to lead a life that is pleasing to God. Faith worships, works, and bears witness. Faith fights and prays. Faith is the hand that receives all the favor that God freely bestows or confers. Faith is at the center of our relationship with God.

In this lesson, I want us to see two important aspects of faith. Hebrews tells about those "who by their faith CONQUERED kingdoms, WROUGHT uprightness, RECEIVED new promises, SHUT the mouths of lions, PUT out furious fires, ESCAPED death by the sword, FOUND strength in their time of weakness, PROVED mighty in war, PUT foreign armies to flight. Women HAD their dead restored to them by resurrection. Others ENDURED torture, and REFUSED to accept release, that they might rise again to the better life. Still others had to ENDURE taunts and blows, and even fetters and prison. They were STONED to death, they were TORTURED to death, they were SAWED in two, they were KILLED with the sword. CLOTHED in the skins of sheep or goats, they were DRIVEN from place to place, DESTITUTE, PERSECUTED, MISUSED - men of whom the world was not worthy, WANDERING in the deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground. Yet…they ALL gained God's approval by their faith" (Heb.11:33-39). Hebrews 11 is actually divided into two. The first part deals with those who performed great deeds with their faith, while the second part relates with those who persevered in their faith.

The verses quoted above show these two categories of believers. We have those who conquered kingdoms, who wrought righteousness, who shut the mouths of lions, who like Noah built an ark for the saving of his family, who like Moses emancipated the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt and Pharaoh, who like Joshua led Israel into the promise land and established them in it, who received new promises, who put out furious fires, who proved mighty in war, who escaped death by their faith sword, who put foreign armies to flight, and who found strength in their weak moments. On the other hand, we find those who suffered for their faith. They endured torture. They endured hunger and suffered lack because of their faith. They refused to deny Christ in the face of death threats. People who on account of their faith went through hell and high waters. They were treated with so much inhumanity and ignominy. They were stoned to death just for being followers of Christ. Some were dehumanized and sawed into two. I can go on and on.

In Lystra and other places, Paul and his team were "confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Act.14:22). He says to the church in Thessaloniki, "So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure" (2Thes.1:4). To the church in Rome, he writes, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience" (Rom.5:3). So we can see that there is succeeding faith and suffering faith. There is performing faith as well as persevering faith. There is enterprising faith and there is enduring faith. 

It is one faith, expressing itself differently at different times and in different circumstances.

The person suffering or enduring something because of his faith is not less believing than the person who is accomplishing something with his faith. Faith can move mountains, and it can also suffer in the face of insurmountable or impassable mountains. 

One thing is sure: "Yet…they ALL gained God's approval by their faith." In the face of crisis, faith becomes faithfulness. Faith assures its doers and insures its sufferers. Faith performs, and faith also perseveres. Performers by faith and sufferer for faith are altogether approved of God.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter