Yesterday we talked about hope preceding faith. Why is this so important? It is important because their are people today that need a miracle, and they are so focused on getting more faith, but do they really have a lack of faith at all? Jesus said if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed you could move mountains. The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds. It doesn't take a huge amount of faith to see great things, just a tiny seed that is planted in your heart and allowed to grow there. We have been taught in some Christian circles today that it takes a lot of faith to see the miracle working power of God. This is not what Jesus taught. Jesus compared a small bit of faith to a seed, that when planted in the heart grows into a huge tree. We put a stumbling block in people's path when we tell them that it takes huge faith to move mountains. Often faith is not where people are lacking, it is hope where they lack. You may think, if they had faith, they would have hope. Not necessarily, because it is our hope, that leads to faith, and that in return gives us greater hope, that leads us to greater faith... Is hope really that important?
In I Corinthians 13, we see that in the end there will be three things that remain, faith, hope, and love, with the greatest being love. We have heard a lot of teaching of faith, and a lot of teaching on love, but seldom does anyone teach on hope. How does hope precede faith? As we talked about yesterday, let's use the preaching of the Gospel as an example. Many people are without hope and without God in this world. When we preach the hope of the gospel, and share out testimony of God's power to change and impact lives, hope begins to rise within their hearts. Where did the hope come from? It came from us, we shared our hope with them, and hope came alive within their hearts too. Is hope enough to bring us to salvation. Hope is not enough all by itself. If someone hears my testimony, and then begins to have hope that their own life could be changed, they must act upon that hope. If someone is encouraged by my testimony, but walks away without putting their faith in that HOPE (which is Christ Jesus), they will walk away without having tasted salvation. When we share hope, and someone gains hope through what we have shared, and then they act upon that hope by confessing Christ, and believing in their heart, they will be saved. But what if hope never rises in their hearts? What if they do not hear the testimony of a changed life through Christ. Without hope, faith is unlikely to manifest. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of what we have hoped for...the Bible says, "how can they believe if they have not heard.
This is why the enemy tries so hard to steal you hope, and to stop you from sharing your testimony. Your testimony spoken in faith gives hope to the hearer. Hope is such a powerful force that it is one of the three things that God said would remain. Guess what? Religion is going to cease. Prophecy is going to cease. Church buildings are going to cease. Titles of distinction are going to cease. Three things will remain: Faith, Hope and Love. If you don't have these three things, everything you have worked for will be lost, it will cease to exist one day. These three things should be the building blocks of your life. Religion shouldn't be our building block. Denomination shouldn't be our building block. Possessions shouldn't be our building block. Even our relationships should be built upon faith, hope and love. God is love, and faith and hope is how we connect with HIM!
Our hope is what causes us to endure to the end. The end of what? The end of out test, our journey on this earth. Our actions should be prompted by faith. What causes most people action? They act because of duty, not faith. They give out of duty, not because of faith. They pray out of duty, not because of faith. This is a religious bondage where duty replaces faith. Religious people will rationalize that duty is their faith. This is how the Pharisee in Jesus' day saw it as well. Jesus said, "unless your faith surpasses the Pharisee you will not see the kingdom of God."
Our labor should be prompted by love. When our labor of love becomes our attempt to show off, we have replaced our responsibility to love with our pride. As an example. It is our labor of love, to go to work, to provide for our family. Our work in life should be prompted by faith and motivated by love. Many people find themselves prompted by duty and motivated by pride...they work to get nicer things, to boast. Our work must be motivated by our love for others, not by our pride that wants to get ahead of others.
And our endurance should be secured by the hope that we have in us. Hope that we are making a difference for our family by being a good provider. In our society many have replaced hope with debt. What is debt? Debt is a type of condemnation. We must pay back a debt. There are people today that trudge along in their spiritual life, living out of a sense of duty, laboring because of pride. More concerned about what others will think if they don't labor making their labor in God a debt. And continuing on because of a sense of condemnation, trying to pay back a debt of guilt pleasing people around us instead of pleasing God. No wonder people are so depressed!
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,
your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 1:3
There is a better way. Works that are brought on because of faith, not duty. Labor that is prompted by love, not pride, and a hope that causes us to endure, replacing the condemnation of spiritual debt, that motivates so many to continue on. When everything else is gone, these three things will remain: faith, hope and love. We should each make these three things the building block of our lives.
