Have you ever asked yourself, why? Why is faith necessary to please God?
Perhaps your answers have been much like mine:
- The Bible says so
- It’s just the way it is.
- To make our lives more difficult
- God wants us to believe that He can do it I guess.
Hebrews 11: 6 says,
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Faith means that we know God is real. Faith means that we will put in a real effort to go after God, to find Him, to seek after Him.
Faith is necessary to please God so God can look good, so God can become greater.
So we can know how great God really is. In that process, we see how weak and dependent on God we really are. He becomes greater, we become less. And yet in it all, we find our greatest joy and blessing in Him.
Consider the words of John Piper on Faith…
When we believe, He is glorified.
I am in a weak position and he is in a strong position.
I am the needy one, He is the strong one.
I am the foolish one, He is the wise one.
I am the hungry one, He has the bread.
I am the thirsty one. He has the water.
Faith is empty and He is full. That is why God made it that way.
Faith must have an object. The proper object of genuine faith is God.
God has been doing some good things at Faith Bible Church. We have come a long ways over the last half a year. And yet, I am believing God has so much more. He doesn’t want us to be content with where we are.
I believe we need to ask bigger questions. God, what else are you calling us to do? What more do you want from us? Are the plans we have now too small? In what areas do we need to trust you more? What new things do you want us to do? Where are you really leading us?
Faith takes on difficult challenges.
Everyone of these people in the Bible did much greater things then they could ever have done on their own. (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Joseph, Joshua, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, Daniel, Peter, Stephen, Paul, John, and many others.) Everything great that happened in their lives took a whole lot of faith, and was 100% God at work. And yet…God did great things. These heroes of the faith were not perfect people. When we consider their mistakes, and how God used them, this should give us hope.
Faith is trust.
Scripture does not say, “Without faith it is difficult to please God”. Rather it says:
“Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Hebrews 11:6
Faith is trust and we must trust God to please him. I believe we need to be creative to find ways to be countercultural – to do things to make a difference. I believe we need to be creative in finding new ways to do things that we have never done before.