The Normal Christian Life: Faith (Part II)

In John 3:16 Jesus tells us that whoever believes in Him would inherit eternal life.  We have other words from Jesus that indicate that He means something more about believing than we do.  

When reading the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), we often forget why Jesus told that story.  He was answering the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?".

Luke 10:25-29

  One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"  Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"  The man answered, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"  The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus has told us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Then He proceeds to answer the question "Who is my neighbor?".

Luke 10:31-33

  "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  32  "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  33  "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,

Jesus doesn't tell us the motivations of the two religious leaders who crossed the street to avoid getting involved but Jesus' story leaves us one conclusion: any motivation to cross the street and not get involved does not qualify as loving our neighbor as ourselves. 

Jesus answers the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" by reminding us that inheriting eternal life is requires us to go all in with God.  We must Love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.  That is not just the "feel good" love of the heart as we find in many modern stories, the kind that often changes over time as that love is challenged by reality.  This is an all encompassing love surpassing the love for parents, husbands and wives, children, adventure, or safety.   Yes, you read that right. More than your children.  More than your spouse.  More than your Mom and Dad. More than your job.  Heart, soul, mind and strength.   

Matthew 10:37

  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Matthew 7:21

  "Not everyone who calls out to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.

Jesus taught us that only those who do with the will of the Father will have eternal life.   Jesus has unpacked the meaning of believing for us.  Believing is not simply agreeing with a list of facts that we are sinners and He has died for us and now we have access to eternal life.  When Jesus says "whoever believes in me", He doesn't just mean agreeing with Him.  Reading all of Jesus words tells us that believing means obedience.  It means transferring our flag of loyalty to Him and His Kingdom.  It means taking Him seriously as our Lord.  The Apostle, Paul, who wrote the bulk of the letters found in the New Testament, put it this way.  

2 Corinthians 5:15   

"He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them."

 

Jesus, Himself, was not pursuing His own agenda.  His whole life was about doing what He saw His Father doing.  He modeled for us what it means to "believe".  

Faith can be the enemy of eternal life.  The kind of faith that does not get involved.  The kind of faith that loves family, friends and lifestyle more than God. The kind of faith that is nothing more than a head nod that Jesus is Lord, like we have joined His team and wear His jersey but don't show up for practice and don't take the field.  That kind of faith is the enemy of eternal life.  No one who has that kind of faith will inherit eternal life.  

In the book of James, in the Bible, the author who was the brother of Jesus and became the overseer of the church in Jerusalem, we have this description of faith. 

James 2:14-26 

"What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, "Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well"--but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." But I say, "How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds." You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless? Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works."

We are not suggesting here that anyone can do good works to earn their eternal life.  This can be confusing.  However, the truth is that simply agreeing with a set of facts about Jesus, that he died for our sins and gifted us with eternal life is not the whole story.    The complete truth is that Faith for eternal life requires action.  It requires making Jesus Lord of our lives.  That means we do what he tells us to do.  Jesus makes a point of this. 

Luke 6:46  

"So why do you keep calling Me 'Lord, Lord!' when you don't do what I say?”

That means that we make his plans our plans, his desires our desires, his priorities our priorities.  It means that we no longer live for ourselves but rather for Him who died and rose again on our behalf.  That is the door to eternal life.  That is what faith means.