hope for the new year

John Lennon wrote a song titled “Merry Xmas, War is Over” which has become popular around the holiday season. The lyrics go like this: “So this is Christmas, And what have you done? Another year over, And a new one just begun. A very merry Christmas, And a happy New Year, Let's hope it's a good one, Without any fear.”

Such a sentiment is a common theme around the New Year. Hope for the future from the world’s perspective is peace, no death, no fear. But the reality is that such a hope is little more than a wish. The truth is, there is no prospect of peace on the horizon. Disease and war and tragedy continue to claim human life. Economic fear grips the world as we struggle to get out of the recession.

But for the Christian, hope produces something more. Hope produces faith. Faith goes beyond where hope stops. It doesn’t simply wish, it actually believes and acts with assurance on that belief. It’s not based just on sentiment. Hebrews tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Specifically, faith is believing not just in a vague hope for a “better tomorrow”, but for a Christian, faith is believing in the promises of God. Believing that God’s word is true and will not fail. And the incredible thing is this faith in God and His word becomes our justification. Romans 4:3, “Abraham believed God and He counted it to him as righteousness.” This faith becomes our justification, producing our salvation, by granting to us our righteousness not on the basis of what we have done, but by faith in what Jesus has done. And this salvation becomes our hope. Real hope for a future without the futility of suffering and death that are the hallmarks of this world. It comes full circle. Hope brings about faith, which produces justification, which produces salvation, which produces a more certain hope.

Consider this passage describing our hope from Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

As we stand upon the precipice of 2012, we don’t know what the future holds. And yet for the Christian, we have hope that supersedes any fear. We have peace with God. We have a future reserved for us in heaven. We have a disease free body waiting for us when this old one wears out.

Listen, Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of our faith. He will walk with us through 2012 and beyond, through whatever trials and tribulations that may lie ahead. He said “I will never leave you nor forsake you. And I will come again for you, that where I am, you shall be also.” This is our hope. A hope grounded in the written promises of God. A hope that perseveres beyond the grave. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in Me shall never die.”

We are starting off the New Year at the Beach Fellowship in our Wednesday evening Bible study with the book of Romans. I hope that you will make a resolution to participate with us this year in this life changing study. Happy New Year.

got faith?

It should be universally recognized, at least in evangelical circles, that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” But in spite of it’s essential nature in salvation, there can be a lot of confusion as to exactly what faith is. Hebrews 11:1 gives the classic Biblical definition of faith: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.”

Maybe it would help to state what faith is not. Faith is not a tradition passed on from generation to generation. You cannot be born into saving faith. You may have been born into a family that traditionally practiced a certain form of religion, but you cannot be born with saving faith. Faith is not a lifestyle choice: it’s not belonging to an group of nice, morally good people and joining a local denomination.

Faith is not a positive mental attitude that by possession will accomplish what you want to happen. It is not the power of positive thinking. It may be a good idea to be positive, but a positive mental attitude is not Biblical saving faith.

Neither is faith dependent upon the immensity of our mental focus. It’s not the size of our faith that matters, (remember the tiny mustard seed?) but the object of our faith that is important. It’s not faith in the act of faith. It’s not hoping real hard. It’s not a feeling.

Biblical saving faith is simply trusting in the promises of God. And then living in response to those promises. Faith is not simply believing in God, but acting in response to that belief. The Bible says the “devils believe and tremble” and yet the devils aren’t saved are they? No, they believe and yet rebel against God’s word. So we too are saved not simply by believing in the existence of God, or even in the orthodoxy of scripture, but acting in obedience to God’s word.

The writer of Hebrews through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives several illustrations of faith in action in chapter 11. Abel had faith, and so he worshipped God, bringing an acceptable sacrifice. Enoch had faith, and so he walked with God. And his walk was pleasing to God. Noah had faith, and so he built an ark in the middle of a wilderness in response to God’s promise that it was going to rain and flood the earth – in spite of the fact that he had never seen rain.

Noah could have believed all that God said concerning the corruption of the world and coming judgment and if he had done nothing further he would have been destroyed along with the rest of the world. But Noah heard the word, was obedient to the word, and as result built the ark. His actions proved his faith and were a testimony to the world. Noah is called a preacher of righteousness in 2 Peter. And for a 120 years, he preached a daily message of obedience to the promises of God. And as a result, his life still preaches to us, thousands of years later.

Let us be men and women of faith; doers of the word, not simply hearers. As James warns, “Faith without works is dead.”