| There is no question that faith plays an incredibly pivotal role in our Christianity. A simple word search in the NIV finds it occurring 266 times. Admittedly this tells us nothing about the word itself, or the various words used in the Greek behind the English translation. But it does tell us that it is something of focus.
When we grab a few of these occurrences for a simple surface study, we glean of the importance faith to our life. It seems as if Jesus is consistently questioning his disciples as to where theirs is. Then, in stark contrast, a Roman centurion who has never spent a single day with Jesus is praised for having the greatest faith in all of Israel. Arriving in the Epistles, Paul writes that faith is something we receive from hearing the gospel, and that we are then justified of our guilt through our faith. So obviously it is of importance.
A.) Faith Faces Opposition (Luke 18:1-8)
I think the thing that is most intriguing is that faith seems to be dynamic. That is, it is something that can grow, dwindle and (God forbid!) even disappear. I say this based on the text in Luke 18:1-8. At the very end of this passage, Jesus inquires as to whether He will actually find faith on his return to earth to redeem his people. Why would he ask this?
To answer this, we have to study the context of the parable since Jesus' question is at the very end of it and, indeed, is the summarizing point. Contrary to most teachings, Luke 18:1-8 is not a teaching on persistence as the key to successful prayer. True, Luke does write in the opening of the paragraph that Jesus was teaching them to "pray" and to "never give up." But a few things immediately tell us that this cannot mean simple persistence during any and every prayer session.
First, we learn from Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6) that Jesus taught the audience that God knows what we need of before we ever even ask Him. Based on this, according to Jesus, we are not to "babble on" in prayer with a lot of words and repetitious nonsense. Additionally, we are not to concern or fret over the ordinary needs of life because God has already set Himself to making sure that we will have our provisions. So for one moment, think on this. If God does indeed know what we need even before we ask, then why would He mandate that we ask him again, and again, and again. That simply makes Him out to be a God who dangles the carrot on the string just to get us to go where He wants us to.
Second, all of us know of people who have experienced, or have experienced ourselves, the pain of seemingly unanswered prayer despite our persistence and passion in entreating God with the matter. If, in fact, persistence was truly the key to prayer, then we all must consistently be doing something else wrong to keep God from providing for our request.
The answer to understanding the parable lies within the content of the passage and is actually repeated twice for emphasis. In 18:3, Jesus states that the woman in the story is seeking a judge for justice against an adversary that is obviously tormenting her. Then, in 18:6, Jesus makes the connection by stating that, like the judge in the story, God will also make sure that we receive justice against our adversaries as well. Thus, the parable is about looking to God "persistently" without giving up for justice against opposition as the woman did and not attempting to take the matter into our own hands or seek to alleviate the pain by paying our accuser off.As such, faith here is defined as maintaining a life which keeps God's return at the forefront and not seeking to alleviate the discomorts of Christian living through making an alliance with the world system.
An Illustration
I'm a huge fan of the movies since I love how stories have such a great way of illustrating points that lectures sometimes just can't get across. After all, that was exactly what Jesus did in Luke 18... tell a story. My personal opinion of the best illustration for this parable is found in the movie Cast Away by Robert Zemeckis. It depicts the story of a man who, after surviving a tragic plane crash in the Pacific Ocean, ends up marooned on an island and doesn't get rescued until four years later. Upon his return to the normal world, he finds that he no longer fits into the life he left behind.
 Scene One - The Departure:
"I'll be right back!" - Chuck Noland
In the film, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) takes off for a trans-Pacific flight with his company, Fed-Ex, but not before giving his girlfriend, Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) an engagement ring telling her to hold onto it and that he will be "right back." There is a fairly straightforward parallel here in that Christ leaves us for a period telling us that, he too, will be "right back." (John 14:3) And, like Noland's character with the ring, he does not leave us without a promise and so gives us the Spirit as the evidence of His soon return. (2 Cor. 1:22). Paul actually uses the word "deposit" in this passage calling the Spirit a "downpayment" of a guarantee.
 Scene Two - The (Semi) Reunion:
"I always knew you were alive." - Kelly Frears (Spalding)
In the final riveting scene, after showing Hanks all the maps, drawings and journals she had kept as evidence of her waiting for him Hunt breaks down. Sobbing, she tells Hanks that he is the "love of [her] life," but that after a while, her friends all told her she had to "move on." Listening to them, she chose the easier path despite the fact that, as she openly admits, she always knew he was alive. And so, in one of the more tear-jerking scenes, Hanks' car pulls away leaving her behind with her "other" family. Again, there are stron parallels. We, too, have many voices that tell us that Christ won't return in our lifetime (if at all) and that we should just "settle down." (2 Peter 3:3-4) Thus, we find ourselves married to the world system of materialism and comfort and quit living as if our soon-to-be-spouse is coming back. And so Jesus asks in Luke 18, "When I return, am I going to find you already married to another and end up leaving you as a result?"
The Question
The question that begs for an answer, though, for most of us is "what are those voices" that beckon us to quit looking to Christ for His return? More importantly, the voices that get us to quit living as if He is going to return? To quit having "faith" as it were? This is an incredibly important question. Jesus, in Luke 18, was actually following up the teaching he had just conducted in Chapter 17. There, he talks about the nature of the end times and how, as they grow shorter, times will become rougher for His followers. He states in 17:22 that they will long for His return but it will delay, and then in 17:33 Jesus declares that to preserve our life in Him, we must lose our life here on earth. Not necessarily physically (though that is not ruled out) but certainly in the sense that we may lose the rights, privileges and pleasure of others.
Therefore, when Jesus inquires in 18b about whether he will find faith on his return, He is inquiring as to whether he will find his followers still living a life that reflects the knowledge that God, and God alone will take care of them and will reward them for remaining diligent in the face of loss and hardship. This, according to Jesus, is "faith."
What we learn from this segment are two very important truths:
- Christians should expect to see opposition towards them as they attempt to truly live a righteous life for God in these last days.
- Faith is something that is dynamic and is something we could "lose" over time if we attempt to preserve our life here on earth.
This brings us to the second passage in our study.
B.) Faith Requires a Foundation (Luke 6:46-49)
In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus teaches the famous parable on the wise and the foolish builder. Also occurring in Matthew 7:24-27, the parable contrasts two builders building houses. In Matthew's account, the difference between the two houses is their foundation. One is built on rock while the other is built on sand. Luke's account does not change this, but simply gives a more complete picture. The rock that the wise builder constructs his foundation on is actually bedrock that he found deep in the ground.
Contrary to the more popular teaching that the foolish builder chose a beach as his location of preference, the difference is actually that the foolish builder, wanting a quick fix, did not want to invest the time and effort necessary to secure the foundation of his home. Thus, while both houses probably looked identical, there were very significant differences between their foundations.
What is interesting to note in this story is that both men were apparently able to complete their homes and actually live in them for a period of time. That means that the dwellings probably looked identical to the ordinary passerby. It was not until the rainy season hit and the flash flood waters came down from the hills that the houses were shown to be different. Whereas the house with a deep foundation withstood the pressure of the opposing floodwaters, the other house could not and was "completely" destroyed.
Before we consider the primary point of the parable, I think it important that we again see the scriptures teaching that faith faces opposition. Again in this story there are forces seeking to dwindle, if not destroy the faith of God's followers. We cannot miss this link to the passage above.
But the point of the teaching is, in my estimation, one of the clearest when it comes to the parables of the New Testament. When it comes to our faith, it is only as good as is the foundation. Unless we have gone sufficiently deep into the truth of God's Word and founded ourselves on the bedrock of proper theological conviction, the opposition that floods against Christianity almost daily will certainly tear our faith apart.
But the practical implications of the parable do not stop there. We are also told how to actually get a secure foundation. Jesus clearly defines the wise builder as the disciple who both hears God's Word and then actually puts them into practice. In theological terms, we call these two pillars orthodoxy ("right belief") and orthopraxy. ("right actions") Thus, our orientation cannot be towards an intellectual study of the scriptures alone, but also towards how the insights we glean can be translated into everyday living.
We learn from this segment two additional, important truths:
- Faith requires a solid foundation to withstand the forces that seek to destroy it.
- A proper foundation is built on both "hearing" God's Word and actually "doing" what we hear.
Towards a Practical Discussion:
As we look forward to our discussion group later this month, we should summarize what we feel we have "heard" from God in this study.
- First, living the Christian life of faith is not necessarily easy. We should expect to see opposition and hardship as a result of our attempts at living "right"-eously.
- Faith can be defined, at least in these instances, as maintaining our course in spite of any friction, loss, grief or attack. We are to hold to our conviction that Jesus is returning and that God will settle all scores then and grant us the peace we desire at that time. We must not take any human course of action to alleviate suffering if it, in any way, deters us from a life of holiness.
- Faith requires a solid, and deep foundation in order to withstand any opposition that comes against it. This entails "digging" into God's Word to find absolute truth and then practicing what we learn in our everyday life.
Having these points clearly stated, here are the questions I would like us to "ponder and practice" for our next time together.
- What kinds of opposition do we encounter when we try to live for God? What are the voices that tell us to slowly lose hope and surrender our "faith" in a God who is coming back for His people? I'm not necessarily referring to the things we regularly think about such as bills or sickness since everyone faces these, Christians and non-believers alike. I think we need to look for those types of forces that rise up against us as a result of our attempting to live for Christ. Does the environment change at work? Does your circle of friends begin to thin out? Are there any evidences of obvious demonic influences? Don't just think about antagonistic forces, but also the alluring ones? What things beckon us to grow soft in our convictions? Think along global lines as well as personal. What forces seek to knock the church down as she attempts to purify herself?
- What does it mean to "hear" God's Word. I don't mean simple answers like "read the Bible" or "listen to a sermon." Instead, I want us thinking along the lines of the parable. Obviously digging to bedrock would have been an incredibly arduous task in a Middle-Eastern climate. That should not be lost on us. What level of work is required of the average, everyday Christian to "hear" from God in the sense of building a foundation in His truth? (Not just on hearing from him for an answer to a question you have.)
When we get together next time, we want to come with the insights we have gathered through our own reflection in prayer and life. Our collective answers will, I believe, allow us to hear the Spirit more clearly than if one person attempted to make this lesson practical.
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