What IS Faith, Anyway?

Text: Luke 1:39-55

Focus: Faith

Function: To call people to believe in Jesus.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

It’s Christmas! Praise the Lord!

2000 years ago, God became a man and walked among us.

We look back through history and read these stories, some that are so incredible that they almost seem too hard to believe.

An Old woman gets pregnant by an old man, and a young woman, a virgin, gets pregnant and she knew no man.

(SHOW) The Christmas story is incredible.

It is incredible! It is incredible to the point that some people refuse to believe it.

They say: “perhaps the story was embellished until what was ordinary became what some people call a miracle.”

I believe that Jesus was born exactly as the Scripture says He was. I believe that He walked the earth doing all kinds of miracles and demonstrating incredible mercy to everyone.

I believe that after He did the Father’s work by giving us a visual image of how people are to live and treat each other, He did work on behalf of humanity and offered His life as a sacrifice for our sins.

I believe that He rose from the dead 3 days later to prove to us that the sting of sin, death, no longer has power over anyone who trusts Him.

I don’t believe it is just a story that was made up.

I know it to be true because when I prayed and asked Him to forgive my sins and come into my heart, I felt Him enter.

I believe it all.

And the fact that it happened 2,000 years ago makes it easier, not harder, for me to believe.

What if it were today? What if one of our young virgins suddenly and miraculously became pregnant? What if one of our older women suddenly and miraculously became pregnant?

What if it happened right here, right now?

I would have a hard time believing that it was happening to us, to me.

(SHOW) It is hard for us to believe that it has happened for us also.

I think of the greatness of God, and I think that that mercy, blessing, treasure could happen, but to me? But to us?

Their faith is expressed in the way they greeted each other.

They were ordinary women, just like us.

(SHOW) This miracle happened to ordinary people.

They weren’t famous, special, rock stars, sports heroes, actresses or nobility. They were nobodies and the most crucial event in history happened with them.

And they believed it.

They believed it was happening to them!

Elisabeth’s husband didn’t believe, and was struck dumb for 9 months –he couldn’t speak.

But Mary, Mary, treasured these words in her heart and gave herself over to the will of God.

There was only one person who could understand what she was going through. That was her wiser, older cousin.

So she visited and as soon as they met, another miracle happened.

Elisabeth, who was three months farther along in her pregnancy than Mary felt the baby leap for joy as soon as she heard Mary’s voice.

Then Elisabeth knew that the miracle was true.

And so they greet each other.

And this isn’t an ordinary greeting.

Elisabeth starts crying out in joy when she greets Mary!

I can picture it: the first thing that happens is Mary’s shock that this old woman was shouting out these words.

But it doesn’t scare her, as a matter of fact; Mary’s response is just as strange.

Mary answers her shout with a song: “The Magnificent.”

She sings this song about how God has pleased Himself with doing this miracle on someone who is insignificant, who is not a star, or a rich and important person. She sings this song about how this proves that God’s care, God’s family, extends to everyone.

She sings a song of faith in the mercy of God.

She sings a song about God coming to the least, the poorest, the most despised of humanity. God comes for everyone.

She understands that the reason she is chosen is because God does not give conditions of grace based on the popularity, power, success, good looks, education or wealth of any single person.

(SHOW) EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

She understands it and she believes it.

She believes that God loves her.

I go to the mall at Christmas time to do my shopping and I see the faces of people, and oftentimes I just smile because I see the people, regardless of wealth, skin color, education, good looks or whatever that Jesus came to save. When I am praying about it, I see them as individuals that Jesus loves.

It is easy to hope and trust in the fact that God cares for ALL OF MANKIND it is harder to trust that you, I, the individual, are special.

Mary and Elisabeth demonstrate great faith.

Faith. (SHOW) What is faith?

The author of Pumpkin Patch ministries says it like this:

(SHOW) Faith is reliance

"Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

He said: “For many years I had a problem with the word `faith’. I was never quite sure what it meant. Even to this day believers will speak of faith as if it were a divine quality of perfect trust. It is claimed that a person who possess this spiritual gift is able to accept God and his word without any doubts. I think it was this type of view that confused me, and I suspect that it confuses many others as well.

(SHOW) Faith is not “doubt-free” acceptance.

“If faith is a doubt-free acceptance of Jesus and of his word, then I don't have it. I often have doubts, I wonder about it all, I question the ground of my being. So, my faith is certainly not doubt-free.”

(SHOW) Faith is not just a “good bet.”

He says: “The other extreme is to see faith in Jesus as if it is a good bet. Having considered all the options in life, we take a punt on Jesus. I mean, if we are wrong we lose nothing, but if we are right we gain everything. Jesus is certainly a good bet, but the bet is not faith.

(SHOW) Faith is reliance on the revealed will of God.

“Elizabeth declares that Mary is blessed, not because she is somehow more spiritual, righteous, even sinless, but because she believes what God said. She went with what she was told, along with all her doubts, fears and questions. This reliance on God's word, this sticking to it, this firm resting on it, is what the Bible means by faith. Such a faith is saving faith. Faith is relying on what we hope "will be accomplished" in Christ our Lord.”

And it is personal. I don’t have all the answers, but I do understand something that is wonderful.

(SHOW) Jesus not only came for the masses of humanity, but He came for me and you.

CONCL:

Do you accept Him?