Title Let's Believe / Genesis 15:4-7
Let's trust the content
Genesis 15:4-7, Mark 9:21-24
We believe in Jesus. “Believe in Jesus” may sound like a simple word, but it has a deep meaning and is important to Christians. “I believe in Jesus” is an abbreviation of “I believe in Jesus as my Savior.” Faith is the condition of salvation. I don't know how many people were martyred because of this one word that they believed in Jesus.
There are three important confessions of faith recorded in the New Testament. The first is Peter's confession of faith in Caesarea Philippi. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). The second is the confession of Martha of Bethany. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is to come into the world” (John 11:27). The third is Thomas' confession of faith after the resurrection. “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Many confessions of faith have emerged based on the confessions of faith appearing in the Bible. The Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasius Creed, and the Chalcedonian Creed. All these creeds contain the confession of the faith of that time.
In the Old Testament times, it is often thought that we are saved by the law, not by faith. There is no doubt that the Old Testament is the Age of Law and the New Testament is the Age of Grace. However, salvation cannot be achieved without grace in both the Old and New Testaments. And faith is an attitude toward God and an instrument of salvation regardless of age. In Genesis 15, it is said that Abram was credited righteous because of his faith. To be considered righteous means to be righteous, that is, to be saved in the New Testament concept.
1. Consider the subject of faith.
The object of faith is God. And the subject of faith must be myself. After Jesus was transformed on the mountain, he came down from the mountain. The father of a child with epilepsy said to Jesus: “If you can do anything, heal my son.” When Jesus answered, “Nothing is impossible for him who believes”, the father of the child said, “I believe. Help me in my unbelief” (Mark 9:2224). The subject of this father's faith was himself. Not my son's faith. My son's illness is not the most important task. The most important problem for those who believe in Jesus is themselves. This father came to Jesus to heal his son, but after meeting Jesus, the more important issue than his son's illness was his faith.
The Apostles' Creed is an important confession of our faith. Most churches profess our faith in the Apostles' Creed. The first head of the Apostles' Creed is "I believe". In the Korean translation, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, who made the heavens and the earth”, but in many languages, “I believe” appears first. It is also 'credo' in Latin. Confession of faith is not “we believe.” It's not "they believe." It is important for me to become the subject I believe in. The confession of faith strongly expresses that the subject of faith is myself.
The Bible says that the children's teeth will not be set on fire because fathers eat sour grapes (Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2). And even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they would only save their own lives by their own righteousness (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). Faith is formed entirely out of a personal relationship with God. What Martin Buber is emphasizing in his book Me and You is that God is not a God in the third person, but God in the second person.
2. Consider the tense of faith.
The tense of the belief “I believe” is always present. Not “I believed before”, but “I believe.” Not “I will believe”, but “I believe.” No matter how much you believed in the past, it is not a belief if it is not a present belief. No matter how much you believe in the future, it is not a belief unless it is a present belief. Faith is always present.
Confucianism emphasizes the lines and values human relationships. Buddhism emphasizes the angle (覺) and emphasizes the relationship with oneself. And Christianity emphasizes faith and emphasizes a relationship with God. This relationship is the basis of all relationships. However, the faith emphasized in Christianity is present. And that faith is a gift from God. 2 Corinthians 5:14 says, “The love of Christ compels us… … .” It is the irresistible gift of Christ that enables us to have faith and to be saved by faith.
Habakkuk's words, "The righteous will live by faith" came to Paul and bore fruit. And this word comes to Luther and blossoms. The power that Luther raised the banner of the Reformation was in these words. In Rome, there is the Church of the Virgin Mary. In the cathedral, there is a staircase that is said to have been brought from Jerusalem by Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, who made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Even now, if you go to the cathedral, the pipe organ is played all day long.
It is said that Helena was a devout Christian. So, to commemorate the Blessed Mother, the stairs were brought from Jerusalem. Luther came to visit this church while he was a monk. And, by tradition, I started going up one step at a time, kneeling on these steps. After going up for a while, Luther remembered the saying, “The righteous will live by faith.” So he got down on his knees and gave up the asceticism of climbing the stairs and came down on foot. Salvation does not consist in asceticism, nor in works, but only through faith. And that belief is present. A present faith is a living faith.
3. Think about the content of your faith.
Reformed theology interprets faith in three words. They are knowledge (notitia), consent (assensus), and trust (fidutia). Faith has an intellectual side. Faith is knowing and accepting, not unconditional acceptance. When Jesus came to Cana, the king's servant from Capernaum asked Jesus to heal his son. To this man, Jesus proclaims, “Your son is healed.”
But this man believed what Jesus had said and went on his way, met his servant and heard that his son had been healed. When I asked when he began to be healed, it was at the time Jesus declared that he was healed. This king's servant believed that his son was healed at the time Jesus spoke (John 4:4653). The king's servant's faith was a sure faith that knew and believed.
Consent is acceptance. It is to open your heart and respond to the word of God as the word of God. It is about opening your heart and serving Jesus. Having an attitude of acceptance is an attitude of faith. Martin Luther called faith “acceptance”. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me.” The verb in this verse has a deep meaning. The verb ‘to stand’ is in the present perfect tense.
Jesus is standing still. ‘Knock-no-ni’ is the present tense. The present tense of the Greek word means to proceed. Jesus keeps knocking. And ‘open’ is the aorist tense, meaning a one-time action. Jesus stands and knocks continuously, but we only need to open it once and receive Jesus.
Trust means to rely on and to entrust. Entrusting everything to Jesus is complete faith. The best faith is to let Jesus go, not me, and let Jesus do it, not me. Therefore, it is faith that Jesus and I become one. Knowledge itself is not faith, but it is the first step to faith. Consent is not a belief in itself, but it is another stage of belief. It is only when it reaches the level of trust that it becomes complete faith.