Title: Growing Faith
Contents
Bible Text: Hebrews 11:23-26
mature faith
How do you want your children to grow up? How did the mother, who had protected her son before Pharaoh's sword, wish for her child to grow up? What was the mother's prayer for sending her three-month-old baby into the Nile? How would a mother feel when she sent her baby away in a box in the water of the Nile River, which seemed to be swallowed up at any moment? To the child, the Nile was a river of death, but God turned it into a river of grace. Pharaoh's daughter, Princess, named the baby Moses, who was rescued from the Nile River.
Was it because of her mother's prayer? The book of Hebrews says that “Moses grew up in faith.” I hope that your children will also grow up in faith and be used greatly. A mature person is a person who grows up well and grows up to become an independent being. It is said that he has matured to a near-perfect level. Moses' faith is a mature faith. What kind of faith is mature faith?
A belief that rejects
It is a belief that rejects. Rejection is rejecting without accepting. Jesus said we have power to lay down and we have power to take. Moses refused to be the son of a princess, the daughter of Pharaoh, the highest honor that could be enjoyed on earth.
The Bible says, “He refused to be called the son of a princess” (verse 24). Moses had rejected the princess's son in order to become the son of God. It is said, “Those who are good at learning make up for their shortcomings by borrowing the strengths of others.” We must learn to refuse from Moses and become a mature faith.
Civil servants who wish to continue their promotion must refuse to accept bribes. If he fails to refuse the bribe, he will soon be expelled. Victory in life is not gained by defeating others, but by defeating oneself. A person who wins a battle with himself, not with others.
Refusing to be the son of a princess is not easy. Wasn't she Pharaoh's daughter at the time? They rejected wealth and glory. Moreover, the princess is the mother who raised her. They had abandoned their mother, who had rescued them from the Nile and taught them Egyptian science.
Faith is rejection. It's about trying to change. It was a lonely decision. It is about overcoming one's own limitations. It is boldly saying NO to things that are not God. People with big goals say no to little things.
The Dutch philosopher Spinoza was invited by the University of Waitan to become a professor. However, he turned down the professor and was able to leave many writings by focusing only on writing in a rented room in a two-story house.
Exodus 2:11-12 says, “After Moses had grown up, he went out to his brother once, and saw his affliction, and saw an Egyptian beating a certain Hebrew, his brother. He struck down the Egyptian and hid it in the sand.”
In the book of Acts, Moses, who refused to be the son of a princess and killed an Egyptian who bullied his people, was rejected by his people. It is said that God had appointed Moses as a leader and liberator (Acts 7:35).
“Every nation has its time to make a decision. Which side will we stand on in the battle between truth and lies? The new goal the Lord has given us is before us, so we will choose between light and darkness and live.”
Moses' faith is a mature faith, a faith that refuses. By refusing, he became Israel's leader and liberator. Mature faith is the ability to refuse. A leader must be able to say no.
The more preferred belief
A mature faith is also a favorite faith. Moses did not stop at refusing to be the son of Pharaoh's princess. It is not enough to simply refuse to be the son of a princess, “better to suffer with the people than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of iniquity” (verse 25). He preferred to suffer with his people, the people of God.
A high school 3rd student should not stop when he refuses to play with his friends before the entrance exam. You should like to study. It's impossible to get better grades if you don't like studying more.
Who would give up the easy and affluent life and choose the poor and difficult life? But Moses preferred to suffer with God's people than to enjoy the pleasures of his court.
To an unbeliever, it may seem that believers live a very boring life. But believers don't like what the world likes.
Believers prefer to worship. Better to praise, better to be a teacher, teach children, drive, serve. Believers are not forced to attend church. “Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere, to be a gatekeeper in the temple of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked” (Psalm 84:10).
When Moses chose to live as a ‘Hebrew’ rather than an Egyptian, his road ahead was clearly a road of hardship. But Moses' suffering is not a fire of destruction, but a fire of refinement. You become a godly saint through suffering. When the heated iron is beaten with a hammer, the iron dungs and turns into steel.
For some, suffering is frustration and heartbreak, but for spiritual people, it is grace. “...we rejoice in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, character” (Romans 5:3-4).
What do you like more? It is because we have a dream that we prefer suffering to ease. The farther away a person is from his dream, the more bored and stagnation he becomes. You have to have an ideal and set your passion on fire. Sweet water or suckers buried in the repetitive daily life are just consumables. You have to focus on your goal and walk step by step on your own path. I have to make myself a better me.
I hope to offer better sacrifices with faith. May you grow with a better faith. May you receive the grace of drawing closer to God.
Belief
Mature faith looks to the above. What Moses looked at was not the world, but God the rewarder. They looked not at the treasures of this world, but at the treasures that God gave them.
“The humiliation received for Christ’s sake was regarded as greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, for they looked to the reward” (verse 26).
What is Sumo? It is being insulted by others. Jesus was spit upon and sat on the throne of glory by enduring the indignity of being slapped on the cheek.
Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus endured the humiliation of the cross because he looked to the throne of salvation and glory that he would accomplish.
One of the greatest desires a person has is to be respected. The etymology of respect comes from ‘respicere’. It's not about adorning or disguising yourself to be respectful, but respecting people for who they are, noting their individuality. Respect is not something someone gives you, it is something you grow up and show. It's not about being respectful because you dress well. You cannot be respected for exploiting someone else's.
God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? There is no such perfect and upright man on the earth, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). Job was a faith that God recognized, a mature faith. He said that there is no such perfect, God-fearing person in the world.
Abraham always looked and feared God and listened to his voice. He is the father of faith by looking to God. It has become the source of faith, mature faith.
What are you looking at? The hairdresser looked at the hair, the shoemaker looked at the shoes, but Moses looked at the rewarder God. The world only looks at the present, but we, who have received the promise as a corporation, look to the future.
The man born crippled heard the words, “Look at us!” from Peter and John, who went up to the temple to pray, and looked and was saved. I looked to see what I might get, and what I have I give to you, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up! So I got strength and stood up (Acts 3:4-6). I hope you will have mature faith that will stand up and look to God.
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I understood like a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11).
Mature faith refuses to refuse. Rejecting anything harmful to our faith and mission
“Whatever was useful to me, I count it all as loss for the sake of Christ, and I also count everything as loss, because the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord is the noblest! I have lost everything for him and counted it as dung, so that I might gain Christ and be found in him...” (Philippians 3:7-8) In order to obtain Christ, the daughter of the princess was regarded as dung.
Mature faith does not compromise with the world and suffers with the Lord. The apostles rejoiced in being scourged but being reproached for the name of the Lord (Acts 5:40-41).
It's easy to get discouraged when you look at the world. I want you to look to the Lord and live. Your dedication and service will never be in vain. May you have mature faith looking to the reward.