Faith Under the Microscope

This morning I went to church at Stow Alliance Fellowship in Stow.  Today’s sermon was preached by Dr. John Kitchen, and was from John 4:43-54. It was called “Faith Under the Microscope” and addressed the question; What is it that makes a growing and maturing faith? Here are the notes I took, and some of my thoughts.

1. Faith is provoked by a need. (43-47)

• Not by a magic show.

At first I didn’t like this. Pastor John used the phrase, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” To me that makes it sound like people are only Christians because they were scared into it, as if Christianity isn’t a rational belief. When he expanded his point by talking about faith being provoked by need in contrast to faith provoked by awe, I changed my mind. If someone believes in Christ because of his miracles, their faith is only based on a sense of awe, and it will fade as soon as the awe fades. If on the other hand, our need (whether it be fear in a foxhole, or being tight on cash and wondering where your next meal is coming from) increases our awareness of our need for faith, then our faith is based more on trusting God at His word.

2. Faith is produced by God’s word. (48-50)

• Not by jaw dropping, gravity defying, out of the norm miracles.

God speaks, and we listen because we trust Him, not because He does really sweet things for us.

3. Faith is proven in my obedience. (50b)

• “The man took Jesus at his word.”
• not proven by jumping on the bandwagon.

If our faith is just following along with what we are “supposed” to do to fit in, or the popular opinion, then there is nothing solid behind it. Once we hear the words of God, our faith is proven by acting on those words in obedience.

4. Faith is perfected in my experience. (51-53)

• experiencing the reality of the promise.
• there is a level of peace waiting for us after we take the step of obedience. we want the peace first, but we need to take the step of obedience first.

In my own life I never experienced the reality of the promise until last year on spring break. I was reading a book that talked about listening to the voice of God in our conscience. At that point I was unsure of God’s existence, and I had been having a “dark night of the soul” experience. It felt really cold knowing that God’s existence can’t be proven on this side of reality. After I began listening to God’s voice, and acting on it, I found a level of peace in knowing God that I had never had before.

5. Faith is perpetuated through my witness. (53b)

• when he told them his story, they all believed.

This is the part that I am excited about now. I love to share stories with other people. I love it when other people’s stories are encouraging to me, and I hope that parts of my story can be encouraging to others.

~ by Josiah on March 2, 2008.