Sermons About Gift-of-faith
The Gift of Faith
The book of Ephesians speaks about the Gift of Faith. We often get confused when we hear the word gift in scripture because in our mind, a gift is something you can seemingly choose to accept or not. But faith does not work that way. If you could choose to accept faith or not, then faith would not be a gift. Faith, then would be a grant that you applied for. A gift is not a gift until it is received sort of like unrequited love is wonderfully Shakespearian but not fully expressed love. Let me give you an example. Amy's family always draws names for Christmas presents so we don't have to buy so many different gifts. It also allows us to pick gifts that have more meaning and are a bit more nice for each other. Well this past year, I drew Amy's sister in law in Japan. I found out that she like the show "Monk" so I bought her the season one box set for Christmas. That sounds like a nice gift doesn't it? But it's not really though. You want to know why? Because it is still sitting in our guest bedroom. I haven't mailed it yet. It isn't a gift until it has been officially given to her. Until then, it is just a DVD boxset. The gift of faith that God gives is very unlike my undelivered boxset of the show "Monk." God's gifts are given and received by God's own power. God has given His people the gift of faith to believe in Jesus Christ. And if you believe, it is because God has equipped you with the gift of faith to be a believer. Faith is truly hope for the hopeless. Yes, your heart may have chosen Jesus Christ as your Savior, but only because you have been equipped with the gift of faith to make that choice. Otherwise, scripture tells us that our hearts remain dead in sin apart from the gift of faith. Now, growing in that faith is the challenge of the Christian life. Fortunately, God has given you various means by which you can build up that faith that He has given you. - You can read and study the scriptures. - You can pray and find our hearts transformed into the image of Jesus. - You can worship with other believers. - You can serve the needy. - You can proclaim the Gospel. All of these things serve to deepen and strengthen your faith. And at first, they all make sense in a very practical way. If you approach them like working out, you think, "Okay, reading, praying, worshipping, serving, and proclaiming build up my faith. The more I'll do them; the more strong my faith will be." Now there is an element of truth in what I just said, but there is one glaring omission. To approach building your faith like working out does not require Jesus in any way. All it requires is you. And any approach to your relationship with Jesus without Jesus is inherently non-Christian We ARE to read and study and serve and proclaim but it is all to be done in the strength of Jesus. The gift of faith is not given just so you can then do all of this on your own. That wouldn't make any sense. If you ever wonder why your prayers or your time of study seem ineffectual or powerless, examine your heart and see if your approaching those things with your own wisdom and understanding or whether you are approaching by faith and the power of God. I promise you this, once you throw Jesus Christ in the mix, everything gets a little screwy. Jesus wonderfully shakes us out of the monotony and relentless habits of our lives. You see, in Jesus' economy, the way up is not up, the way to strength is not working out, the way to greatness is not trying to be great. In fact the opposite of all those things is true. The way to life is to die. To love your life is to lose it. The way of honor is the way of service. All of these things run counterintuitive to our culture and even our very own hearts. So we approach the scriptures on the wonderful Palm Sunday celebration, let's ask this Big Picture Question. Big Picture Question: Since following Jesus is paradoxical: we gain nothing but gain everything. We die, yet we live. We lose our life, yet we keep it. What does it look like in your life to fully and unreservedly serve Jesus?
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