In the previous post, I described faith as a noun. The noun version of faith is our ideas, opinions that we believe. But there is so much more to faith. Back to the writer of Hebrews. In the previous post we read his definition of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1. He goes on to write in verse 6 that “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
What does he mean? That God wants us to have faith opinions? No. All humans have opinions. But we know that not all humans please God all the time. If all that was required by God was for us to have opinions, we’d be in good shape. Some of us more than others!
The kind of faith that pleases God has to be more than just having opinions. Maybe, the writer of Hebrews is saying that we will please God when we have the right opinions. Maybe you’re thinking, “Good, because I have a lot of correct opinions.” When it comes to faith that pleases God, though, how can we determine what opinions are in line with God’s opinions?
The Bible, I’m guessing is the answer that jumps to mind. In the Word of God, we learn the truth about God, so that we can have the correct opinions about God. A. W. Tozer wrote in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, “What you think about God is the most important thing about you.” He’s right. If we have the wrong opinions about God, we will likely have the wrong faith. And our actions or nonactions will flow from that faulty view of God, that faulty faith.
Throughout human history, there is debate about which religious faiths have the right ideas about God. Likewise, within Christian circles there is disagreement about which kind of Christianity is correct. I’m simplifying, but the three main choices are Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. If we go with Protestant, the three main branches, historically-speaking, are Lutheran, Anglican or Evangelical. If you go with Evangelical, there are so many options: Baptist, Mennonite, Pentecostal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Fundamentalist, Independent Bible. We could go and on. Whose thoughts about God are right?
A couple years ago for the Wednesday devotional that I send out by email, and I send a video version by text, I worked my way through my denomination, the Evangelical Congregational Church’s 25 Articles of Faith. I tried to show how Scripture undergirds the Articles, but I also gave my opinions where I think Scripture disagrees with the Articles Mostly, I agree with the Articles, but not all. Whose thoughts about God are right? Mine or my denomination’s?
Also we need to be cognizant of the reality that people in the same church family have differences of opinion about faith. Does that mean some people in your church are pleasing God, because they have the right opinions, and some are not pleasing God because they have the wrong opinions?
Maybe there are people who have a high percentage of the right opinions, and they are pleasing God about 95%. But others of have fewer right opinions and they are only pleasing God 80%.
Of course, I am being ridiculous here. Facetious. Because when the writer of Hebrews says “without faith it impossible to please God,” he is not saying that there is one exactly right version of faith that every person who wants to be right with God has to figure out and hold to. That is viewing faith as a noun far beyond what God ever desired.
I’m reminded of the time one of our former staff members was walking downtown Lancaster City on a First Friday. During First Friday, the city is bustling with crowds of people looking at art exhibits, eating food, and experience festivities. That makes it a perfect place for people who want to share their faith by talking with people. So as our former staff member was walking and enjoying First Friday, they were approached by a stranger asking them if they were going to heaven when they died. Our staff member explained that yes they believed they were going to heaven. They also described that they had gone to Bible College, and was serving on staff at a church, and felt good about their faith and walk with Christ.
Guess what? That answer didn’t cut it for the stranger. Maybe our former staff member didn’t say the right buzz words that stranger felt needed to be said. Words like “I prayed the sinner’s prayer” or “I’m a sinner saved by the blood.” The stranger proceeded to tell our former staff person that they needed to hear the truth about faith in Jesus. For the next 15 minutes they wouldn’t let our staff member go on their way. That stranger is an example of when viewing faith as a noun has gone wildly off track, as if all God cares about is intellectual consent to some very specific words and phrases. That’s not what the writer of Hebrews is getting at.
What kind of faith, then, is pleasing to God? In the next post, we’ll find out what Scripture has to say.
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 