Lesson 11-Growth of Faith
Part 1
Part 1
By Ruth Mahoney Swaim
Adaptation of a teaching by Ralph Mahoney
EVERYONE has been given faith.
The problem we find with most people is that their perception of faith is faulty. Faith is not a passive feeling. It is not something you dream or talk about in ethereal terms. Faith is action.
Faith is an action word. It must be acted on.
Faith is an action word. It must be acted on.
James, in James 2:17 says "What good is faith if it is not acted upon. Faith without works is dead."
You cannot move out in faith if you sit still. God cannot direct a stationary object. You must be willing to move and act on what you have heard, what has been imparted to you.
A definition of Faith: To HEAR and DO what God has spoken to you, then leave the results to Him.
When you were saved you acted on what was presented to you, to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. You were acting on that very beginning of seed faith which had been imparted to you. God gives you that very first seed faith.
Ephesians 2:8, 9:
"For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of
works, that no one should boast."
So, all have been given a measure of faith. You are dealt a measure
of faith in order to be able to believe in Jesus and accept salvation.
That takes faith.
Romans 12:3
:"For I say through the grace given .. God hath dealt
to every man the measure (or seed ) of faith."
The word "measure" comes from the Greek word metron, meaning
"a limited portion." This seed (limited portion or measure) is God's
gift to every believer.
There are two kinds of faith. Let's distinguish between them.
1. Gift of Faith: Mentioned in
I Corinthians 12:9. This is the
sovereign impartation of a Gift of Faith from God to you.
2. Developed Faith. In developed faith, if you start out with 'little'
faith then you can deal with any little situation. As it grows you can
deal with larger situations until "when it is grown you can move
mountains." In this teaching we are dealing with 'growing faith' or
developing faith.
$eed for Teaching on Faith
When Jesus went to Nazareth, the city of his boyhood and young
manhood, the Bible says:
"He could do no mighty works there
because of their (corporate) unbelief."
Mark 6:5
There is such a thing as corporate or community unbelief that
prevents Christ working.
Following this commentary in the sixth chapter of Mark there is this
statement:
"Jesus went about their villages teaching."
Why? Why, then, was teaching in the villages the very next thing
that Jesus did?
Because teaching is the antidote for unbelief. One of the reasons
God appoints teachers is to enable them to deal with unbelief. We
don't love people out of unbelief, we teach them out of it.
Thus, we need to be taught on faith, on the potential of the faith that
is in us, on the principles governing the growth of faith, and
particularly on how to increase our faith.
When Jesus was still on earth He instructed His followers in
Mark
16:15-20 and John 14:12
to go into all the world and do what He
did. He said
"the works that I do, greater works will you do."
To quote an old cliche': "If faith isn't TAUGHT then faith isn't
CAUGHT."
Impartation of truth or truth received, then truth believed (acted
upon), causes your faith to grow, resulting in the works of God being
accomplished.
One of Christ's most anguishing cries through the Gospel was
"Oh
ye of little faith."
Matthew 6:30 and Matthew 8:26 (when He
calmed the sea);
Matthew 14:31 when Peter was sinking he reached
forth his hand and caught him and said
"O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt?"
He wasn't speaking to Peter of tiny faith...He was speaking of
immature faith.
Faith is active and must grow. Also, faith must be acted upon or it
won't
grow.
Luke 17:6
is probably the most misunderstood passage on faith in
the scripture:
"And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked
up by the root and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey
you."
Many have interpreted
Luke 17:6 thus: "It just takes a little bit of
faith to do big things." The problem with this interpretation or this
kind of doctrine is that it doesn't work. 'Little' faith has never
accomplished 'big' things. Let me explain.
Mustard Seed Faith
Weymouth translation says:
"If you had faith that grows as a grain
of mustard seed..."
Jesus is not telling us that all we need is a tiny bit of faith. The Lord
is teaching us that faith that grows as a grain of mustard seed can
heal the sick, cast out demons, and see signs following.
Mark
16:17-20
In the Lord's own words in
Matthew 13:31-32 "Another parable put
he to them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of
mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed
is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown it is the greatest...and
becometh a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the
branches thereof."
The mustard seed is small, but Jesus said
"when it is grown" it is the
greatest among herbs.
When we understand that it is growing faith that does big things, that
is a radically different concept of faith.
Little faith will do some things and big faith will do bigger things.
Faith that grows was the ideal that Jesus was teaching.
We grow from faith to faith...then from glory to glory.
Romans 1:17
"the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith."
Saving Faith
James 2:14
says "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man
say he have faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?"
Unfortunately, this translation is incorrect. It should read,
"...can
that kind of faith save him?
It is not a question of whether we are saved by faith or by works.
Rather, what kind of faith is it that saves?
Is it intellectual agreement with the Bible? The answer of course is a
resounding "NO."
James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one
God; thou doest well; the devils also believe and tremble."
1. Saving faith acts and obeys. It is obedient action in response to
what God has said.
James 2:20
"But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without
works (obedient action) is dead?"
2. Saving faith confesses out loud that Jesus is Lord and believes in
the heart that God raised him from the dead.
Romans 19:9, 10
"That if you will confess with your mouth 'Jesus is
Lord', and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation."
3. Saving faith is the kind that makes you willing to live or die for
Jesus. Under Roman law if you confessed with your mouth, "Jesus
is Lord" before witnesses you were in jeopardy of being put to death.
4. Saving faith will obey Jesus. It is more a matter of heart than
head.
Romans 10:10
"For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness..."
Ephesians 2:8, 9
: "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it (the grace and the faith) is the gift of God; -ot
of works..."
Romans 16:26
speaks of "...obedience of faith." The kind of faith
that doesn't produce obedient action in response to what God has
said is NOT the kind of faith that saves and justifies.
5. Saving faith is a gift from God.
Isaiah 61:10
: "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be
joyful in my God; for HE hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation, HE hath covered me with the robe of righteousness."
It is the clothing and covering, which He freely "gifts" to us, that
make it possible to stand before God as sinless, justified.
Ephesians
2:8, 9
"...it is the gift of God, not of works..."
Faith Grows by Doing (or obeying)
Romans 10:17
"So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
Word of God."
Paul is not talking about the passive act of listening to a sermon
preached from the Bible. He is saying that faith cometh by hearing
what God says to you. Hearing, in this instance, does not signify
audio perception only. The concept goes further, meaning "to hear
and to act upon what has been heard."
Faith comes, grows and is demonstrated and expressed by hearing
and then acting upon what you've heard. In the Greek, it literally
means:
"faith comes by hearing and obeying (acting upon) the word
of God."
James 1:22.
You go from faith to faith - THEN - from glory to glory. In order to
go from faith to faith you must obey the last word you received to
get to the next word of faith. And, by the way, Rev. Brian Bailey
says "the only kind of obedience that pleases God is instant
obedience. If you don't obey instantly then it is DIS-obedience."
Disobedience hinders growth.
Ralph Mahoney says "A scriptural precept to remember is this: You
will know the glory of God in your life only in proportion to the
development of faith in your life. Developed faith will bring an
increase of God's glory resting on your life and ministry."
Often we will hear a word from God but disregard it and then we
wonder why we don't have a growth of faith in our life. Faith cannot
grow until it has been acted upon.
Each time you hear and act, you take another step of faith. The
moment you disobey God's word to you, your growth in faith stops
at that level. And God will always take you back to that point in
your experience. You cannot skip the steps.
He takes you back to your 'first love.'
"He that has my word and
keeps it (and acts on it) he it is that loves me."
John 14:24.
Your faith cannot grow beyond your obedience. This is an
immutable law of faith.
Personal Testimony of a Practical Application:
In 1975 my
husband John and I were in full time Christian service with World
Missionary Assistance Plan (World MAP). Even though John held a
Masters degree in Teaching and Administration, he had very little
formal Bible training and had been saved only a few years. We had
heard about a bible college in New Zealand* which was a short term
school (6 months). John felt the Lord was telling us to resign from
World MAP, take our two teenage daughters and attend this school.
We figured it was going to take about $10,000 (a lot of money at that
time). Now we worked for a missions organization and had very
little money. We had about $1,500 in savings which we thought
would be a good beginning toward the cost.
The Lord, however, had other ideas. He was going to teach us
another step of faith. The following Sunday at church He spoke to
me about donating that $1,500 to the work of the Lord. When we
were driving home I mentioned this to John and the Lord had spoken
the same word to Him. He said he was waiting for me to say
something because he could not quite believe the Lord would ask
such a thing.
We wondered at that time if God really understood mathematics, but
we set our hearts to obey.
This was July of 1975 and we were to leave for New Zealand the
following January, just six months later.
We acted on what God spoke to us and by mid-December, all the
funds had come in and we were able to leave on time. Interestingly
enough, most of the funds that were donated were in $1,500
increments. That $1,500 amount that we had given away was
multiplied many times over. And, by the way, our original estimate
of $10,000 was too low. We ended up needing $12,500 and it all
came in.
This was a great learning experience in our own personal lives of
going from faith to faith, then from glory to glory.
You've often heard the quote from Hudson Taylor: "Where God
Guides He Provides." We found that to be true. Even though it was
a relatively simple experience in faith, it was a beginning step for us
in launching out in obedience with no sponsorship, no guaranteed
income and no further direction beyond the short term at Bible
College.
In the words of the old hymn:
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know 'Thus saith the Lord'
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er,
Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more.
---
Prayer: Heavenly Father, you have given me faith. Now I surrender
my life and direction to you. I trust you. Cause me to hear, obey
and do what you have spoken. Thank you for loving me enough to
speak to me and guide me in every step I take. I will step out in
faith, seize what you have put in my hand and act on your word. I
leave all the consequences to you for you know the beginning from
the end. You are completely trustworthy and will finish what you
started. Thank you.
Part 2 of this lesson will be presented next month.
*Faith Bible College in Tauranga, New Zealand
www.fbcnz.com
This lesson is my adaptation of a teaching by Ralph Mahoney (my brother) and may be reproduced and distributed free of charge.
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