Address at Bangor, N. Wales, 1939, on Hebrews 11:6; 2 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Peter 1:2-11
“Without faith it is impossible to please God.” The language is plain, the meaning clear. Let us put this sentence up against our lives, and see how we stand in relation to it.
We all profess to desire to please God. Shall we do it by living self-centred lives with very little bringing in of the unseen God and His will into our everyday actions? Some think the great thing is to make sure of heaven by putting our faith in the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, and having done that to live as if it did not matter whether we please God or not. Anyone with that idea leaves us decidedly doubtful that they are in truth Christians at all. To treat a transaction called faith as one that benefits me, like a first class ticket to heaven, with no obligations on my side, sounds like pure selfishness. Faith is made of sterner stuff than that.
Faith is not an initial act and done with. Faith is the motive spring of the whole Christian life. We “must believe that God is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Note the word, “diligently”—diligently seek Him. Does that characterize you and me?
“We walk by faith, not by sight.” That is the normal attitude of the Christian to the unseen world. The Christian is governed by absolutely different ideas to what the man of the world is.
The man of the world is self-centred, his range of vision bounded by time and sense, blind is he to the true values of life, and the claims of God upon him—his life is a disaster, and he knows it not. The Christian is governed by eternal values, verities outside of time and sense.
What led Moses to leave the palace of the Pharaohs, and give himself to a life of indescribable hardships? Faith! Moses endured “as seeing Him that is invisible.”
What led Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees and become a stranger and a pilgrim in Canaan to the day of his death? Faith! He died in faith. “He looked for a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.”
They were noble men. What made them noble? What lifted them out of the common rut? They were men of like passions to ourselves. What was it that governed their lives? Faith!
“Faith is a simple thing,
But little understood.”
But let us take it for granted that we are really in earnest, desirous of pleasing God, seeking to walk day by day by faith, then there are other qualities we do well to add to faith. Faith is a quality that needs developing in certain directions to make it truly helpful.
The Apostle Peter bids us add to our faith virtue or courage. Of all the religions in the world Christianity is the one that needs courage. Every religion except that of Christianity is man-made or devil-made, and appeals to man in the flesh. It does not put him in antagonism to the world. He has no need to be ashamed of it.
But Christianity is different. Faith condemns the world. We read of Noah, who prepared an ark for the saving of his house, and by so doing he condemned the world. It needed great courage to back up his faith and build an ark far inland under blue skies.
We Christians generally feel ashamed of letting our light slime. It takes courage to ask a blessing in a public restaurant. It takes courage to give tracts out. It takes courage to preach in the open-air.
We heard an interesting story lately of a railway man, a Christian, in the U.S.A. His rail trips took him away from home for a week at a time. He longed to testify for the Lord, but shyness kept him back. One day he said to his sons, “I want you, while I am away, to get me a gold button with JIM engraved on it.” Returning at the end of the week, he asked for his button. The sons had not attended to their father’s wishes. He gave them another week. On his return they had not moved in the matter. He gave them another week, saying if the button was not forthcoming this time, he would be obliged to stay at home, and lose a week’s wages.
Returning home the third time he found an expensive gold and enamel button with JIM engraved on it awaiting him. When he returned home the next time his boys asked their father why he wanted this button. He replied that he belonged to the Lord, but was shy in speaking about Him. He wanted to testify of His Saviour as he went about. People seeing this button asked him the meaning of it. He answered that his name was James, and Jim is the short for James, but that it meant something far better, viz. J stands for Jesus, I for is, and M for mine—Jesus Is Mine.
In that way the ice was broken, and so he sought to add to his faith courage. Do we let our light shine? Do our friends and acquaintances realise that we are governed by faith? Let us add to our faith courage.
But we are exhorted to add knowledge to our courage. We have known Christians marked by faith and courage, yet lacking knowledge do more harm than good in their testimony. There is such a thing as casting pearls before swine.
Let us give an illustration. The writer knew a Christian, who did not think it right to vote for parliamentary candidates. When called upon by two canvassers, and asked for the promise of his vote, he replied, “I cannot vote. I am dead.” The canvassers looked with amazement. One of them replied, “How can you say, you are dead?” The Christian simply sent them about their business saying, “I am dead, I cannot vote.” The plain English of it was that they thought they had to do with a harmless lunatic, and we don’t wonder at their conclusion.
What that Christian wanted was knowledge, knowledge of how to take a right stand as a Christian in a sensible way. To that end could we recommend anything better than the study of how our Lord dealt with men in His testimony, for He trod the life of faith, and we are bidden to look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith. There are ways of approaching men that will commend themselves to them, and not sound foolish and tactless. Let us add knowledge to our faith and courage.
Then we are bidden to add temperance. Generally speaking temperance in our minds is connected with abstaining from spirituous liquors. But temperance here has a wider significance. It means self- restraint. “Every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in ALL things”. Not in one, but in all things. We are apt to go to extremes. We need to recognize the flesh in us, to curb our tempers, our egotism, our love of gain, to be a law to ourselves is divinely right.
Then we have to add patience. This is a test. Are we prepared to plod on, persevere, continue steadfastly as the Scripture puts it? To go by fits and starts is disastrous in the end. “Knowing this that the trying of your faith works patience” (James 1:3).
Then godliness is to be added, that is bringing God into my life, living my life in relation to Him, and seeking to please Him. “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12).
Then brotherly kindness is to be added—kindness to a brother or sister in Christ. Are we kind? “Love suffers long and is kind” (1 Cor. 13:4). “Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).
Add to that love—love is the divine nature and we are made “partakers of the divine nature”, and love is its great characteristic. In brotherly kindness there is an object for my love that draws it out, but love is nature and seeks for an object on which to expend it.
Now if all these things mark us, and abound, we shall not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us put ourselves alongside of this standard and see how far we answer to it. May it be our great desire to please God. Without faith that is impossible. May we walk by faith and not by sight; the mark of a true Christian.