July 6 We Will Study John 4:39-54

July 6 we will study John 4:39-54. Discussion questions are:

1. What areas of your life demand faith?
2. What causes some people to think faith is a crutch?
3. What is the problem with this statement, “That makes no sense but I guess that’s where faith comes in.”
4. What is the connection between the concept of being born again of the word of God (I Pt. 1:23) and the creation of faith in a person?
5. How do vs. 39 and 41 help us understand how faith is created in a person?
6. If faith comes from the word of God (Romans 10:17), and you want more faith, what do you need to do?
7. Agree/disagree: “The difference between faith and doubt is this: Unbelief is listening to your heart. Faith is talking to your heart.”
8. How do you talk to your heart?
9. Why is it true that faith starts with thinking but must be acted on if it is to be

genuine?

1. How many Biblical examples can you think of where faith matured through

trouble?

1. How have you personally experienced this concept?

1. How do you understand this statement: “You will never learn to trust God until

you learn to mistrust yourself”

Sermon: How Is Faith Made?

This is one of the great faith stories in the Bible. In our culture we talk a lot about faith issues but we usually don’t call it faith. For instance when someone suffers from lack of faith we call it “failure to cope”. But when Jesus confronted his disciples about their inability to cope he called it “little faith.”

What do people who have no faith think about people who claim to have faith? They think faith is a crutch.They say things like, “Faith is for people who need that.” Other people who don’t have faith long for it. When they see a strong Christian handle a tragic death with faith they marvel and wish they could do the same.

The text we look at today has 3 important things to tell us about what faith is. It tells us:

1. FAITH IS BORN OUT OF THINKING.
2. FAITH GROWS OUT OF THE WILL.
3. FAITH MATURES OUT OF TROUBLE.

Faith is borne out of thinking. People say, “That makes no sense but I guess that’s where faith comes in.” While there are certain limited situations where that might be true, by and large that is not an accurate observation about faith. To say you use faith when life makes no sense is to say that faith is opposed to reason. The Bible does not teach that. When the Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight it does not mean we walk by faith but not by reason.

In most of the animal kingdom things are born when one organism penetrates another. When one organism penetrates another that creates an explosion of cell growth which become a new being. How is faith born? Is it by wishful thinking, “I just really need to believe. I don’t want to think about it.” That’s like saying, “I want to have a child but I don’t want any interaction with anyone else.” The Bible teaches that faith is born when truth penetrates the heart. Faith is born when truth impregnates the heart. I Peter 1 says we are “…born again of imperishable seed…the word of God.” (I Peter 1:23) The word of God. Truth! That idea is all over this text today. Look at vs. 39, “…they believed because of the woman’s testimony.” Testimony is words. It is evidence. It makes people think. Vs. 41 says they believed because of Jesus’ words. Faith is born out of thinking.

You can’t make it through a single day without faith. The doctor tells you that you need surgery. You’ve known him a long time and trust him but you get a second opinion. Then you talk to people who’ve had the surgery. You get on the Internet and read about the procedure. What are you doing? You are gathering information so you will have faith that the surgery is needed. You are thinking your way to faith.

Suppose all your research says you have to have the surgery and you get to the hospital the day of the surgery and decide not to have the surgery? It’s too scary. Or it’s too expensive. Or you are going to wait and see if your symptoms go away. What happened? You lost your faith because you quit thinking and started reacting.Faith is born of thinking.

Faith is not the absence of thinking. Faith is the result of thinking at the highest levels. When an astronaut ties on that tether and steps out of the space ship to walk in space he is demonstrating enormous faith. How did he get that faith? Was he just strolling through the space ship, spotted the tether, and said, “I wonder what this thing is? I wonder what would happen if I strapped it on and stepped outside?” Of course not. That astronaut could probably tell you more about that tether than you would ever want to know. He could tell you how much weight it can support; under what circumstances it will tear; how long it is; and lots of other facts about that tether. His faith in the tether came from thinking.

Faith is born of the kind of thinking that gets you talking to yourself. Like the Psalmist did in Psalm 42:5, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God….” What is the Psalmist doing? He is talking to himself. The difference between faith and doubt is this:Unbelief is listening to your heart.Faith is talking to your heart.On the morning of your surgery your heart says things like, “There is going to be blood!” “What if the surgeon messes up?” “What if they give me too much anesthesia?” That’s listening to your heart and it destroys faith. Talking to your heart is saying: “If I put this off, I’ll just have to go through all this preparation again. The longer I wait to have the surgery, the less the chances are of recovery. My friend who had this surgery said she was glad she did it.” You’re talking to your heart. That’s faith.

1.FAITH IS BORN OUT OF THINKING.

2.FAITH GROWS OUT OF THE WILL.

Faith starts with thinking but it doesn’t stop there. Faith starts with learning the facts, the truth. But then you must act on the truth. You have to walk in the hospital door, lie down on the gurney and entrust yourself to those that your research says know what they are doing.

Let’s apply that to your spiritual life. Your parents teach you that sex before marriage is wrong. Your Sunday School teacher reads a Biblical passage that says God does not allow sex before marriage. You read a book on preparing for adolescence and it says adolescents are not wired to handle the emotional confusion that accompanies sex before marriage. You think about it and decide that your faith is that you will not have sex before marriage. But faith can’t stop there with just thinking and concluding. You have to act on your beliefs. You have to get your will involved in making choices. You have to willfully say, “I will not put myself in a situation where I will be tempted to have sex before marriage. I will not date a person who pressures me to have sex before marriage.” Do you see what is happening? Faith is growing because you are getting your will involved.

1. FAITH IS BORN OUT OF THINKING.
2. FAITH GROWS OUT OF THE WILL.
3. FAITH MATURES OUT TROUBLE.

This third step is tough. Faith matures out of trouble. In the text we are studying a nobleman asks Jesus to come with him to heal his son. Jesus refuses to go. He assures the man that his son is healed and he doesn’t need to go with him. In many ways this nobleman reminds me of Naaman the leper whom Toby spoke about a couple of weeks ago. Naaman had a great need and had already decided how God would respond. He expected a greeting that acknowledged his position of prominence. The nobleman expected Jesus to walk 25 miles with him and be physically present in order to heal his son. The difference is Naaman had to be persuaded to do it God’s way. This nobleman, the scripture says, “took Jesus at his word”. He moved from thinking to commitment. So did Naaman for that matter. It just took him longer to come to faith than it did the nobleman. For some folks the commitment part of faith is a slow process.

This nobleman believes Jesus and departs for home immediately. But did you notice what the text says happened after he got home and saw his son was well. It’s in vs. 53, “So he believed.” In other words, his faith increased.

But here’s the hard part. Here’s the part you are going to struggle with. The setting of this man’s faith development is a setting of suffering. Why does this nobleman come to Jesus? Because tremendous suffering has come into his life. Why did Naaman seek out the prophet of God? Because tremendous suffering came into his life? Why did Saul of Tarsus become a believer? Because he suffered tremendously when he lost his eyesight. I don’t want to overstate the case but the only thing that moves most people toward Jesus is suffering. That’s why it is so very, very important for you to be there when your friend suffers. Because that is the very time when your friend is open to coming to Jesus.

Think for a moment about what you trust in. Your good looks – your intelligence – your skill. You have faith in yourself. At some point those are going to fail. What will you trust then? Those of you who trust in your looks, have you taken a really good look at yourself without makeup? Have you stood at the mirror and imagined adding wrinkles and splotches to that which you trust? What will you trust when the wrinkles and splotches come? Those of you who trust your intelligence or your skill - at some point your intelligence will fail. Have you visited a nursing home lately? What will you trust then? What if you lose your right arm in an accident? What will you trust then? What if you lose your eyesight? What will you trust then?

Somebody listening is probably thinking, “This is a negative, depressing message. You mean God has to send trouble into our lives before we can have faith?” Here’s the deal – you will never learn to trust God until you learn to mistrust yourself. God is determined to drag you, kicking and screaming if necessary, into believing in Him rather than in yourself. Most of us don’t have a lack of faith. We just have faith in ourselves, rather than God. Isn’t that why we sin – because we know better than God how to have a good time? Isn’t it because we believe more in our own ability to satisfy our desires than we do in God’s ability to satisfy our desires?

This nobleman comes to Jesus and says, “I have a huge problem. My son is dying.” And Jesus does what he typically does to all of us. He says, “I will help, but not in the way you think. I want you to trust me, not your own plan.”

I cannot wait until the day comes when some of you say to me, “Now we believe. Not because of your words but because we heard him ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world.”