THE ELEMENTARY TEACHINGS ABOUT CHRIST
CHAPTER 3
FOUR KINDS OF FAITH
FAITH FOLLOWS REPENTANCE
The elementary teachings about Jesus begin with repentance and faith. In this chapter we are going to talk about faith. Both repentance and faith are foundational and ongoing in the Christian experience. As it relates to regeneration, we generally refer to the kind of faith that is necessary for regeneration. We call it saving faith — faith in Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. Saving faith is having a belief that Jesus Christ is the only one who can remove the consequences of sin in your life. However, we have to go back to repentance and faith every time we sin. Repentance and faith are foundations on which we build.
There is no need to justify faith as one of the elementary teachings about Christ. However, it is important to acknowledge the progressive nature of faith because it is at the heart of life for mature followers of Jesus. So, when I commit a sin, even in my heart, I have to ask myself if I am going to repent and return to a desire to intensely please God. Or am I going to live in weakness or stay in rebellion? I have to have faith, not only that Jesus forgives my sin but, faith that choosing the right way is the best thing I can do — having faith that God’s way is better than my way.
Faith has many truths about faith in the Bible. It is comprehensive in nature and it is extremely foundational. One of the most profound comments for me is in Romans 14:23, “whatsoever is not of faith is sin”. Faith is the beginning and the end of our responsibility toward God. The Lord literally takes care of everything else for us except repentance and faith. We have to possess these two qualities within ourselves. However, I remember the man who came to Jesus with a sick child and said, "Jesus if you can do anything, please help my child". Jesus explained: IF? “If you believe all things are possible.” The man did not say, oh I have faith. Instead he said: I want to believe, help my unbelief. Even faith for faith is a valid faith. It is the base level. "Lord, I don’t have it but I have faith that you can give it to me. Lord, give me faith".
Faith is an interesting thing; it is the means by which the things that we would like to see happen, do happen. I learned one of my favorite definitions for faith from my friend Sonny Holland. He said, “Faith is believing something is so before it is so, so that is may be so”. When there is something that I really believe God wants to do and He has chosen to do that through my faith or our faith, I need to believe it is so before it is so or it won’t ever be so. But if I do have faith in something God has revealed, it will happen. Faith has to be properly placed. By way of clarification, I want to explain the four kinds of faith that I have identified.
INTELLECTUAL FAITH
The introductory point of faith, for every human being that has faith, is what I simply call intellectual faith. The bible, in Hebrews 11:6, says: “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”. Intellectual faith involves believing there is a God and that He is good. Through the centuries of human existence, people have believed there is a God or gods in many cases. God demands that He be the only God that we value. Are there other gods? Yes, Jesus referred to Satan as the god of this world. But, God’s demand is that we would have no other gods before Him. So, among the many things we may value or count of great worth to us (worship), God demands that He be in first position.
Intellectual faith is coming to the place where you really believe that there is a God. Initially, your concept of a god may be pretty nebulous. You conclude that there may be a divine power out there somewhere. Twelve step groups recognize the inclination of all human beings to believe there has to be something behind all of this. They help a person begin by saying: just decide on some kind of higher power— something beyond you, that may be of assistance to you in life. Some Christians criticize that approach, but everyone starts somewhere similar to that — every adult. The only exception to that is a child who grows up in a home of committed follower of Jesus. Often that child honestly can’t remember when they ever said no to God. They have always believed. They have never doubted the existence of God or have sought to know if a God exists because they experienced him in their family growing up. If that describes you, celebrate.
Most people do have doubts. I had major doubts, even though I was an avid church-goer. I think intellectual faith is the first level of development. If you are going to come to God, you need to come to the place where you can say: still by faith, I believe there is a God. Research shows that over 90% of people around the world believe there is a God. This doesn’t mean they believe in the God of Israel, in Yahweh, the Great I Am. But, they do believe that there is something behind all of this. Romans 1:20 states concerning the beginnings of faith and intellectual faith, “what can be known about God – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what He has made, so that people are without excuse.”
I believe there is God, someone behind creation, because everything is too complex, mysterious, phenomenal, and miraculous for it to have just happened. I myself am a very concrete, mathematical, and scientific thinker, and it was that very mindset that led me to believe in the existence of God. I came to the conclusion, pretty quickly, that this could not have all happened due to some cosmic event that just occurred. It’s too complex. God’s existence is the first issue of faith — intellectual faith. It doesn’t mean you have any commitment to Jesus’ Kingdom or understand anything about God, however possessing intellectual faith means you are convinced that there is divine intelligence behind this creation. No one comes to God unless they have that; you have to believe He exists first. Believing He is good is a whole other matter and that too is a faith issue as follows.
In our culture, a great deal of communication about God implies, to the public, that He is not good. That’s very unfortunate. TV shows and movies frequently portray God as a cruel dictator. The truth about sacrificial love as the essence of His being, as taught by Jesus, is not common in much modern communication. Culture frequently seems to want to make God the bad guy.
Believing He is good is another level of faith. I believe, as our faith progresses and we get to know God better that we begin to realize that He is not a tyrant.
TEMPORARY FAITH
The second kind of faith is one that I believe everyone in the world practices, even those who, at times, say that they don’t believe there is a God. For want of a better term, I just call it temporary faith. It is the faith referred to by people during times of war who say there is no atheist in foxholes. Given the right situation of crisis, there is a great majority of people that will cry out to God— even if it’s not their custom. It’s not uncommon, for someone in crisis, to call upon a Christian they may have previously ostracized and ask for prayer or guidance. The interesting thing about temporary faith is that it’s practice will not save anyone spiritually. However, temporary faith is a great method of God for revealing Himself to people. Personally, I do not believe that God only answers the prayers of His followers. I believe God answers the prayers of anyone who cries out to Him. His answer may be “no”, but He answers the prayers of all people who come to Him. If I pray for my team to win, I am praying out of order because I think God is neutral on that. So we can’t always get the answer to our temporary situation that we necessarily want, but God does answer when unbelievers cry out to Him in their crisis. For instance, a mother who has a baby with a fever at 3am gets down beside the crib and prays, “Oh god, please heal my baby”. And the temp starts going down. Then, hopefully, they see a connection between her prayers to God in this temporary health situation they have experienced.
One of my favorite pictures of temporary faith is of the character played by the actor Burt Reynolds in a very old movie called “The End”. Somehow, he gets thrown out into the ocean very far away from shore. He prays a progression of prayers about how going to give away 90% if he survives. As he gets closer and closer to the shore the percent he is going to give keeps going down. Once he walks up on the sand he says: “Lord, I know, and you know, you don’t need the money anyway”. It’s the extreme picture of a common temporary faith prayer in which people pray and then forget God when the crisis is passed.
Jesus followers have a more mature temporary faith. Those who follow Jesus engage in temporary faith for issues of life: sickness, relationship issues, career decisions, and all other major decisions. I wish we would practice temporary faith better in terms of day to day decisions. We could be praying: “Lord, don’t let me miss opportunities that come across my path today. I believe that you will bring people across my path that you want me, as someone who knows you, to interact with.” That way we could be more intentional with our temporary faith to see and engage in loving service to others.
Faith is temporary whenever the issue about which we do not know the outcome comes to completion. When the issue is passed, faith has become sight because we see the result. Faith is no longer needed. I refer to it this as follows. By faith, we have an answer in our hearts but when the answer becomes reality, we have the answer in our hand. When the answer is in your hand, no faith is needed. When you pray for money with faith in your heart, and it comes in, it no longer requires faith. That is temporary faith. It addresses a specific need with a potential specific ending.
SAVING FAITH
The third kind of faith I simply call saving faith. This is the faith a person has who puts their trust in Jesus to take their sins away. We offer ourselves, and commit our lives to the service of Jesus’ Kingdom. We respond to Him by giving our lives to Him in the same way that He gave His life for us so that we could have our sins forgiven. This relationship involves an exchange and requires faith. We must have faith, not only that Jesus died for our sins but, to live in the corresponding repentance described in chapter two. By faith we know that seeking to please God is far more beneficial, in the long run, than the instant gratification that comes from sin.
Saving faith is coupled with repentance and is focused on what Jesus did for us. D. James Kennedy explained that saving faith is simply trusting Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. Saving faith is the absence of human effort, but not the absence of human motivation. I am motivated from within to please the Lord; but in reality, I am not able or competent, and therefore, I need Jesus. He takes our incompetency and He uses it for good. For instance, sins we have committed become the context by which we can serve another person who is struggling with the same thing we did. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called to His purpose.
If you have not experienced an intense desire to please God coupled with saving faith, I encourage you to pause right now talk to Jesus about it. Examine your inner motivation and see if you really want to please God and serve him sacrificially. Ask yourself if you really believe Jesus paid the penalty for your sin through his sacrifice for you. If you think you possess both of these attitudes, tell Jesus who want to enter the service of His Kingdom and that you would like to receive eternal life as a gift from Him. Believe it. That is saving faith.
REVELATION FAITH
The fourth kind of faith is the one, I believe, every Christian should live in everyday— revelation faith. It is faith that God will reveal to you what He wants. I meet a multitude of people, including myself at times, who suffer under the dilemma of decision making. We need to have faith that God will reveal what we should do. Revelation faith can be both conscious and unconscious. If we live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, we somewhat naturally do what God wants us to do. We avoid the things we should avoid and we engage in the things we should do as a result of the leading work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
This can become so natural that we do not constantly have to ask the Lord whether to turn this way or that way, but rather, we just know. Revelation faith is simply the outgrowth of our communion with God. Many times we don’t know what we should do. In those situations it is good to seek, talk to, and ask God what He wants us to do.
It is helpful to have advisors, but you should not have the kind of advisor that gives you definitive answers before you have a sense of what God is revealing to you. It is helpful to have an advisor that prays for you, and if God reveals something to them, they don’t hurry to tell you. Good advisors wait until they hear what God has revealed to you. If it coincides with what they heard it is helpful to hear, “that is exactly what I heard from the Lord concerning you”. That kind of advisor can be very helpful in the experience of revelation faith.
However, their disposition to be directive in telling you what they think you ought to do can interfere with God’s revelation. It could just be their opinion of what you ought to do. Or worse, it could be some kind of self-serving advice. In receiving revelation, there’s a fine line between the flesh and the spirit. Our human nature wants things. Often times, they don’t hold much significance, so God doesn’t reveal anything. But he says, through His silence, do whatever you want to.
In many cases, though, what we want is not His will, but we may still want it really badly. So, if we’re not careful, we can twist revelation so that we can say the Lord told us to do something. The Lord very well may tell you some things, but I have met people who seem to hear the Lord say a lot of things that I would consider unwise or inconsistent with the truths and principles in the Bible. I had a friend who said, after his divorce: The Lord told me, I’m going to have a rich wife who is a beautiful blonde. I really wish the first time I ever heard him say it, that I would have just looked at him and said: I don’t believe the Lord told you that. It is just your own passion. I should have said it because it is pretty inconsistent with the way God does things. It doesn’t mean that what he wanted wouldn’t happen, so that’s why I didn’t confront him— but I wish I had.
Many people get caught up in, for lack of a better phrase, wishful thinking. Then they start praying to God, but don’t come from a position of neutrality. If we don’t remain neutral, it’s hard to get a revelation because our opinion is constantly interfering with what our mind says that we hear. The worst case scenario is that we would end up attributing false revelations to God, like my friend did— a course of action, or an expectation of faith, that is just terribly flawed. If you really want to find out what God wants, the best thing to do is to commune with Him until you are open to His will whatever the outcome may be. Then, you hold open your hands before Him and say: I’m ready for whatever You want. From a posture of genuine neutrality, we are in the best position to really hear from God.
When it comes to revelation faith, I don’t think God has to reveal many of those big, life-changing, long term things or events in the course of our life. There are a few revelations that are life-long experiences, such as marriage. However, for example, God told me to go to Lexington Kentucky and fight the devil in the city. If I had misunderstood God I could have reversed the action. However, revelations such as these can be very difficult to unwind. So it took a very long time to act on that revelation because it just wasn’t clear enough— I wanted more details.
When it comes to revelation, I learned another great truth -- revelation isprogressive. We have to have faith that when God reveals something, even though it may not make sense or be something that we want to do, it is probably the path to the place where God ultimately wants us to be. He may also check to see if we will be faithful in little things. So, if we will take one step on the pathway of illumination, even if it’s hazy, God will reveal the next step. But, I believe He will generally not reveal the second step, third step, fourth step, or the end of the journey, at the beginning. Knowing the end at the beginning does not involve faith. He expects us to take a step of faith in the direction we feel led to go. Yes we sometimes make a mistake. Then, we watch and wait on Him to reveal the way to proceed from an error. He may reveal that we took the wrong step. We can make adjustments quickly if we have to have the humility to turn around (repent) and listen to new revelation by faith.
FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT FAITH
I believe this chapter is a fairly comprehensive view on the matters of faith as the second elementary teaching about Christ. There is intellectual faith, temporary faith, saving faith, and then the place we should live all the time— revelation faith. I need to hear from the Holy Spirit what He wants me to think, say and do. Basically, I believe every time we have an opportunity to commit ourselves to anything, we need to seek the Lord. We need to see if the Lord is in it before we write it down as an appointment. That way, much of what we do today may have been something revealed, in a moment, weeks, months or even years ago. Paul said, “The Just will live by faith”.