09.20.2015 Faith, Doubt, and the Questions we Ask

9-20-2015 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

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Our association is in many countries – and our church supports these missionaries – we give to the association every month – and over 70% of that money goes to mission work. We want to invite everyone to go – the flyers are in the back –
I am starting a new series – what I have learned – I am not allowed to raise my arm – and I am dependent on handwritten notes when I do my sermon. And I realize – I can’t read a lot of what I wrote!
I’ll do my best at remembering what I’m trying to say.
Lord, thank You – for all You have done for us – for Your love, for the chance to worship You and to remember what You have done on the cross that our sins might be forgiven. Speak to our hearts – we want to live for You and to be transformed into Your image – to live our lives in a way pleasing to our God and King.
Also – I want to thank everyone for the cards and help and phone calls. It has been an encouragement. If you want to pray for me – pray for me at night sleeping – it is hard to get comfortable.
I am starting a series on Faith, Doubt, and the Questions we Ask.
There are many Christians, who, for different reasons, who struggle with issues of doubt and questions about the faith that they hold to – and it has a significant impact on peoples’ lives.
You hear this among young people leaving the church – but I talk to more people who are forty, fifty or sixty who struggle with this.
There are sources of this – the first –
1) there are people who have become very sophisticated and persuasive at raising doubts and causing people to question their faith. They permeate our society in a number of different ways. They are found in great quantities in academia and at universities. They fill the edutainment channels – and these people are very persuasive – and they are found in movies and news and everywhere. These folks have caused so many to question and doubt their Christian faith. They do it in such a way to convince you - and some have rejected the faith because of these attacks. What they do – they tend to attack 3 things:
a) the existence of God –
b) The validity of the Bible – to question its truthfulness – they want you to believe that the Bible is a book of fairytales – and that it cannot be trusted.
c) I think this one is funny – and it is the primary attack – they attack the character of God. But the funny part is that they attack that which they don’t believe in – I don’t know how that works – it is kind of like attacking Santa Claus when you don’t believe in him!
This is the number one source of people losing faith:
2) the suffering of the innocent. The point the atheist makes – if there is a loving God, He would not allow all this suffering. People struggle – and they look at the world – and wonder where is God?
It causes people to question their faith – and while you may not have a problem with this – there are people you know who do.
3) They use specific passages in the Scriptures that seem to show God as mean, evil, vindictive, brutal, violent– specifically some Old Testament passages that make God appear that way. They went into Canaan and they wiped them out! God says don’t leave anything – men, women, and children! How can you believe in a God that says that? We will look at how to address this. I know people who don’t read the Old Testament anymore – Christians who just can’t open it up – they can’t stand it. You can’t just say – well, you need to believe – that is a losing battle.
4) The behavior of Christians, now and historically – they’ll bring up The Crusades! And they’ll bring up the guy they knew who was obnoxious! And it is not just Christians – but on religion in general. Have you heard of Richard Dawkins – he is the father of the new atheists. He is an atheist – a professor in California – and after 9/11 – he determined to destroy as much of religion as possible. He and others are mounting a war on our culture – and many of us have no idea who they are and how they are doing it.
5) – And for some – this might be the second or top one – Personal experience – or should I say – a lack of it – they have tried to live a life of faith and it doesn’t work for them. They pray for things that go unanswered – and they read scriptures like, ask, and it will be done for you – and they say – I asked, and it never happened. There are plenty of people like that who chuck the faith.
I think what happens a lot of times to Christians – who might not become atheists – but they drift away – they hear that God is good and God is love, but that is not their experience.
There are probably many other reasons people leave the faith. And what I would like to say – part of the problem – there has been an inadequate Christian response to these things – and that is part of the problem – and I think it is a danger. The Christian response to this is a danger to the faith.
There are a couple ways this happens –
1) To ignore it – to think, they are evil, godless people and we don’t even need to qualify their comments with a response. True faith will address the challenges and the doubts and will face it head-on. Whether the question is about Genesis 1 and 2, or Joshua, or the New Testament – we must face them head on and not be afraid. We look at faith like the lion in the wizard of Oz – closing our eyes and saying I do believe I do believe – but faith has nothing to do with that. Like Dallas Willard says of the cheerleader who still believes the team will win when they are down by 30 points with 30 seconds left and the other team has the ball! That is not faith – that is stupidity! That is nothing at all what faith is or is meant to be.
2) Being overwhelmed and consumed by not having all the right answers. There are people who spend their lives coming up with these questions. But we CAN have a way of addressing these questions that keeps our faith strong.
3) A lot of people try to have answers for every question – their kids come home from college with questions and they come up with BAD answers. Bad answers don’t help – they hinder – and when they realize that answer is not true, they ask what else is not true. Just giving answers is not enough – they have to be solid, good, accurate, clear, and true, with understanding.
4) 2 Cor. 11:3 – I am afraid, that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Simplicity does not mean naivety – but a simple devotion to God. We get pulled away from thinking that this is what it is all about. Faith is not a feeling – but a lived thing. It is not something you feel, it is something you live.
There is an old spiritual song – They say I am a dreamer – blind and cannot see – the principles I cling to won’t stand reality… - but if that’s what I am lord, You’ll have to care for me – I want to be like the Man from Galilee. There is some good sentiment there. But there is one line - We need to get rid of that line - if that’s what I am lord, You’ll have to care for me – because that is not who we are - no Christian is a dreamer – we stand on rock solid truth, not on any kind of a dream! And we need to live our lives and speak in such a way to demonstrate that what we believe is true and it the only thing that will stand reality – it requires faith. It is more sure than anything else.
Heb. 11 Faith is the substance of things hoped for – assurance of things hoped for – the ground under our feet that supports everything – tested and trusted and proven – but there is this mistake – and Dallas Willard does a great job of explaining this – he was a dean of Philosophy at USC for the past 40 years – and he explains how the world’s system has removed the realm of faith from the realm of knowledge. You may BELIEVE in Jesus, but you can’t KNOW it! If you can believe it - you can know it, I would say! We know that Jesus is who He said He is.
Christian faith must be based on knowledge. “An act of faith in the biblical tradition is always undertaken in an environment of knowledge and is inseparable from it.
We can never understand the life of faith seen in scripture and in serious Christian living unless we drop the idea of faith as a 'blind leap' and understand that faith is commitment to action, often beyond our natural abilities, based upon knowledge of God and God's ways. The romantic talk of 'leaping' to which we in the western world have become accustomed, actually amounts to 'leaping' without faith - that is with no genuine belief at all.”
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Not the BELIEF in the holy One – but knowing God.
When we get to the point where we can understand that we really know God, we discover that that knowledge and faith is what really works.
Some say that Jesus’ teachings can only be viewed in the faith world, not in the knowledge/real world – but I KNOW that His teaching is true to love our enemies and to bless those who persecute us. What nation is following this? None! And how is that going? Has it proven the test of time? Is it true the way they are doing it? No – but do you think that if they were to start doing it Jesus’ way that it would stand reality? Would that change things? Obviously it would. The teaching of Jesus can be known to be true and right because in reality – it works – and it will always work.
Think about moral knowledge – we all know that human lives are valuable. None of us can hear about genocide or sex trafficking without deeply knowing that the lives being taken are deeply valuable. Deep inside we know that the violence is wrong.
Hosea 4:1 Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,
For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land,
Because there is no [a]faithfulness or [b]kindness
Or knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery.… 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
John 17: 3 This is eternal life that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
We believe in Him because we know Him! And it is not that we just think we know Him. When you come to know Him – we can really know Him – to experience Him.
Like the Big Bang – people who believe in it – none of them saw it! Not one of them! But they say – we see the effects of it – so we know it is true! The wind blows – you don’t see it – but you feel its effect. You cannot see gravity – but jump out a window and you will know it exists. It is the same with God – we can experience throughout our lives the effects of a relationship with Him.
Let’s pray…