Relationship: Origin of Faith
When asked which good deed leads to eternal life, Jesus gave a surprising answer: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Horrified, the disciples asked, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." The Bible teaches that without faith it is impossible to please God. Jesus himself said, "All things are possible to him who believes." This sermon, "Relationship – Origin of Faith," explores four central aspects of this topic.
First: Faith is relationship
Faith is relationship because God himself is relationship. God was never alone; from eternity, he exists as a perfect community: In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1). The early Church called this divine communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit "perichoresis." A mutual indwelling in perfect unity and devotion. True love always requires a counterpart, as Paul impressively describes:
Ephesians 1,4-6 "For in him (Jesus) he chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glorious grace with which he has freely given us a favor in the Beloved."
God's purpose in creation was always to include you in His family and to share with you the intimate relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created you not to glorify Himself, but to share His glory with you. This is the essence of true love.
1. John 4,16 "We have come to know and believe the love that God has for us: God is love; and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him."
When we recognize God's love, our faith develops and grows. Relationships are the origin of our lives—be it between mother and child or between God and his children.
Second: The problem of sin
In this section, we turn to the problem of sin, which entered our world through Adam and Eve. Generally, sin refers to something that is forbidden, yet can be extremely attractive and tempting. From a biblical perspective, sin is the transgression of a commandment given by God. God gives life. Those who turn away from him sin, cut themselves off from this source of life, enter Satan's domain, and lose their connection to the divine source of life:
Isaiah 59,1-2 "Behold, the Lord's arm is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor his ears dull, that he cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, that he will not hear."
Separation from God is the actual disease, while individual sins and moral transgressions are to be understood as symptoms of this underlying disease.
Is faith a prerequisite for God to accept us? Not at all. The Father's love extends to murderers, criminals, dictators, and all sinners as much as to all believers. He loves every person as completely as Jesus. What is unconditional love?
Roman 5,8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Did Christ give his life for us because we were his friends or because we impressed God with our good works? No! He died for us while we were sinners. There was nothing good in me that could have impressed God. So why does God do such a thing? The reason is, God loves sinners. He doesn't love sin itself, but he loves people, whom he himself created in his own image. We are loved by God, and that's why he laid down his life for us:
2. Corinthians 5,19 "For God was in Christ, and the world with him, not counting their trespasses against them, and has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation."
The incarnation of God was not necessary so that God could finally love us again, but because He loved us from the beginning. In His Son, the Father reconciled humanity, which was hostile to Him, with Himself.
Third: Definition of faith
In the third point of this sermon, we turn to the definition of faith. The term "faith" is used exclusively from a human perspective. We use terms like love, mercy, goodness, justice, and faithfulness to describe God's attitude toward the world. The first Christians referred to themselves as "the believers," and they called the path to becoming a Christian "coming to faith." What exactly did Christians understand by the term "faith"? We will examine this in more detail based on three points.
Believe to be true
An essential part of our faith is that we "hold" beliefs as true. For example, Christians believe that Jesus died and rose again:
1. Corinthians 15,3-5 "I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve."
Paul delivered this fundamental truth to the believers in Corinth, and they accepted the truth by faith.
Believing means knowing
The second point is the relationship between faith and knowledge. Colloquially, the term "believe" is used to emphasize that something can only be assumed and conjectured, as in the saying, "Believing is not knowing." The Epistle to the Hebrews describes what faith should be understood as:
Hebrews 11,1 “But faith is a firm confidence in what one hopes for and not doubting what one does not see.”
Our sense of sight is the sensory organ that provides us with proof of the existence of the material world. Its spiritual counterpart is unlimited faith in God and in the existence of the invisible and spiritual world. Faith means clinging to what is unseen as if we were seeing the unseen.
Faith is trust
Faith is not just about convictions and facts, but above all and first about people. As believers, we speak of faith founded in Christ:
1. Timothy 3,16 "And great is the mystery of faith, as everyone must confess: He was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, appeared to angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up into glory."
Jesus Christ is the mystery of faith. Jesus repeatedly called people to trust in him. If we want to do God's work, it begins with trusting in Jesus. Those who entrust themselves to God without reservation will be granted grace and set free by him:
Roman 4,5 "But to him who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
Faith is therefore a relational concept – like love, it presupposes a counterpart.
Fourth: Origin of faith
Finally, we ask about the source of faith and consider four answers.
Faith is not a prerequisite
Before we consider the origin of faith, let's first clarify what it is not. Faith is not a prerequisite or condition that humans must fulfill through their own efforts to achieve fellowship with God. Rather, faith is an expression of the fellowship that God already has with us here and now.
We don't have to believe on our own before God gives us life; rather, God gives us both: faith and life. When we believe, it's a sign that God's Spirit has already worked in us.
Faith comes from God's grace
Second, faith is rooted in God's grace and love. Without a prior divine action, we could not believe because our hearts are veiled:
2. Corinthians 3,14 "But their minds were hardened. For to this day this veil remains over the old covenant when it is read; it is not lifted up, because in Christ it is done away with."
Before our conversion, we too were covered with a veil, like the Jews. Only Christ removes this veil:
John 6,44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."
No human being can repent and produce repentance or faith on their own! A miracle is necessary for that.
John 6,63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life."
When we believe, the Spirit has already worked in us; faith itself is life in relationship with God.
Faith is a gift
Third, faith is a gift from God:
Ephesians 2,8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, lest anyone should boast."
This statement refers not only to grace, but to the entire preceding statement of salvation, of which faith is a part. While people are called to believe for their salvation, even this faith is part of God's saving gift and cannot be exercised by one's own strength.
Faith comes from preaching
The fourth answer describes that God’s Word is crucial for faith to emerge and grow.
Roman 10,17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Biblical faith always has its origins directly in God's Word. Anything that is not based on the Word of God is not biblical faith.
Roman 10,14-15 "How can they call on him in whom they have not believed? How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How can they hear without one preaching? How can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news and bring good tidings!"
The prerequisite for proclamation is that the messenger of joy preaches the Good News, God's grace and the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Paul asks the question: How can people pray to God if they don't believe in him? How can they believe in him if no one has told them about Jesus? How can anyone tell them if no one has been sent to do so? After his resurrection, Jesus said to his disciples:
John 20,21:22 "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
Everyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and believes in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, recognizes, acknowledges, and confesses this Jesus as the Lord appointed by God:
Roman 10,9 "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
I would like to ask each of you this question personally: Are you ready to leave your circle and go to those who don't yet know Jesus? Most of us need to become more courageous in telling others about Jesus.
We were born again through the incorruptible seed of the Word of God:
1. Petrus 1,23 "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God."
Our task is to sow this word, to preach it, and to bear witness. How do we do this? The parable of the sower provides the answer.
The Parable of the Sower
Jesus taught them many things in parables and in his sermon he said to them:
Markus 4,3 Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.
The sower—Jesus—sowed the Word (verse 14). The problem of unfruitful seed is not the seed or the method of preaching, but the nature of the soil. All Christians should be sowers. Whether the sowing bears fruit does not depend on the seed, for the quality of the seed is always good, and the Word of God has power.
The hard heart
Markus 4,4 "And it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured it."
If the heart is hard like asphalt, the seed will not penetrate (verse 15).
The superficial heart
Markus 4,5-6 "Others fell on rocky ground where they didn't have much soil, and quickly sprouted because they didn't have much soil. When the sun rose, they withered, and because they had no root, they withered."
These are people with shallow hearts. They lack depth; their words vanish like snowflakes in warm water (verses 16-17).
The suffocated heart
Markus 4,7 "And other fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it bore no fruit."
These people hear God's Word. If the seed is not choked by the worries of life or the deceitfulness of riches, it bears fruit (verses 18-19).
The receptive heart
Markus 4,8-9 "And all the rest fell on the good ground, and sprang up and grew and bore fruit, and some yielded thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. And he said, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'"
Seeds sown in good soil bear fruit because the Holy Spirit has prepared the heart. We should sow the Word freely, without prejudging our listeners—only God knows the soil of their hearts.
Like a seed in fertile soil, faith only lives in relationships. Ultimately, salvation comes entirely from God's hand, from beginning to end.
by Pablo Nauer
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