Title: God-Given Faith
Contents
Text: John 17:21-26
God is the Father of our faith.
The faith God gives is not the same as the world gives. The world is full of pain, contradictions, impossible things, and dissatisfaction. When faced with a situation like this, people accept and live by blaming their ancestors, whether it's for sale or fate. In this world, Jesus, the Son of God, came from heaven (John 3:16). And Jesus told us that there is a kingdom of eternal life that is not like this world full of suffering. He said that the kingdom is a place that cannot be compared with this world, and that it is an eternal place where there is no death and is full of life. There is no more precious and good news for those who lived in the valley of the shadow of death. But unfortunately, those who are accustomed to the laws of the world do not want to accept the gospel that Jesus gives them. To them, the word of the Lord is unacceptable because it is so unrealistic and unscientific.
A natural scientist will treat Jesus as a mystic or a madman when he hears him. The word of the Lord is not at all welcome to them. Scientists are treated as intellectuals who are knowledgeable about the world on this earth. But they do not open their minds beyond nature. The news of the kingdom of heaven is disrespectful from their hearts because they do not harmonize with the natural phenomena that are their knowledge system. Most people support and follow these scientists. Therefore, they only try to acknowledge science and visible phenomena, but close their eyes to the supernatural spiritual world. And since they only acknowledge the knowledge they have, they are rather tightly bound to their own knowledge and are suppressed from thinking beyond that.
1. With the scientific knowledge of the world, we cannot understand or believe the work of God.
Therefore, scientists commit the folly of gathering wisdom by looking for excuses to reject rather than trying to believe even when they see the scene where God's work is being shown.
① In Exodus 14, Moses led millions of Israelites across the Red Sea like land. However, natural scientists are trying to explain this event in harmony with nature. They deny and interpret God's supernatural miracles, claiming that they did not cross the deep sea (the Red Sea), but merely through the Reed Sea. At the same time, Pharaoh's army was not able to provide an answer to the fact that they drowned.
② How could such a thing happen in Oh Byung-Eye's case? I interpret it as an incident where people who were moved by a child giving their lunch to Jesus took out their lunch box and shared it with each other. However, how can we interpret the fact that in those difficult times, when we were not able to eat, we were filled with twelve light bulbs left after eating? They interpret the events of water turning into wine at the wedding feast in Cana and the events of Jesus walking on the sea as above. Even amongst people, they tend to be outcast as strange people.
2. God has given us faith.
If you look at it that way, Jesus is the strangest person in the world.
He calls himself “the son of Joseph” and “the son of God.” Even when he said, “I am the king, my kingdom is in that heaven,” he was captured and died silently until he was crucified. So how amazing is that? Even in the church today, among believers, there are people who do not want to believe in God's work, but reject it in moderation and live their faith. But God wants people with faith more than smart people in the world. The church needs to be filled with people who are smarter and more faithful than the rich, and they also need to come in and change.
What God has given us is faith.
Faith that transcends nature, makes the impossible possible, and breaks down irrationality is a God-given faith. “What do you mean you can do it? Nothing is impossible for him who believes!” (Mark 9:23). The world speaks of impossibility, finiteness, and murmuring, but faith speaks of possibility, eternal life, and gratitude. For the person of faith, the impossible disappears, the disorder of life disappears, the work of the devil disappears, and a new order of faith is established. The history of imagination that faith brings is amazing.
A picture drawn by a person who has faith is made as it is.
The woman, who had suffered from bleeding for 18 years, was healed because she had faith that if she touched Jesus' clothes, even if she only touched him. The 38-year-old sick man lying by the pool of Bethesda said, “Get up and take your seat.