one  faith v2 (720p): Yeah. Good morning. So good to see all of you. This is a special day for me, not just because it's the first day of the week and I get to spend it worshiping with you. But four years ago, on this day, I accepted the job and officially started at the Walnut Street Church of Christ. It was a couple days later that Libby and I packed up and moved all the way to Dixon, Tennessee. And if you remember November of that year, it rained every day. It was cold and it got dark at four o'clock in the afternoon and thought I'd move to Russia. But we have loved it, and it just keeps getting better. And I appreciate all of you for making helping us make this our home. I want to ask you. What is the life of a major league baseball? Anybody know? The average lifespan of a major league baseball is seven pitches. It's about it. The average lifespan of a tennis ball for professionals is about every seven games they switch. And the reason why is because dirt and oil and moisture from the player's hands affects the way the ball moves and manipulates and so they change them out that often. It's a microcosm of our society where everything seems to be disposable. You think about all the items that we have that are disposable. You got disposable diapers of course, you got disposable utensils, disposable plates and bowls, you got disposable cameras. you could name a lot of other things that are disposable, but this is a society where disposable items are commonplace because they're they're convenient, they're they're cheaper. But even things that used to not be disposable have become disposable. things like televisions. Television repairmen are pretty much obsolete now. You don't repair a television typically, you just go out and buy another one. Even to automobiles. we don't typically think of an automobile but being being disposable, but we we tend to, you know, drive it for, you know, twenty years until the wheels fall off and go get another one. How many of you buy a computer with the thought of passing it down to later generations? I mean computer's obsolete once you buy it, isn't it? Pretty much. So many things in our society are disposable, and we like that because it's often cheaper, more convenient, but even our society itself has become disposable. There was a time when you could have a verbal agreement and just shake hands with someone and a deal was done. Now you're you're almost inviting disappointment if you did that today. So we make contracts, we sign them so that we can protect ourselves. Faithfulness was a once prized characteristic of human character that has almost become extinct. Marriages break up because of a lack of faithfulness. Business partnerships dissolve because of a lack of faithfulness. Friendships end in bitterness because of a lack of faithfulness. It is the foundation of human relationships. Faithfulness forms the stability. Because you you you can't enter into a a deep, meaningful relationship with someone if you can't trust them to be there for you tomorrow. And so it's the foundation. of our relationships and yet concepts like loyalty and reliability and fidelity and commitment are no longer considered essential. Faithfulness may not be dead yet, but it's certainly sick. Great Wall of China was built many moons ago to protect China from its northern enemies. The Great Wall is is a massive structure. Some of you may have been to see it in person. It's one of the only man made structures that can be viewed by astronauts from outer space. It was so sturdy, it was so massive and wide that chariots could run abreast atop of it. But it failed in its purpose. It didn't keep out the enemy. And do you know why? Because the enemy could just bribe the gatekeeper and walk right in. Even though it was this massive structure built for the purpose of protecting itself from its enemies, the enemy can walk right in because of the unfaithfulness of the guards. so often we see this in our society. If we place our complete trust in people, we end up disappointed so many times. Being faithful to oneself. has become the standard of the day. Loyalty to self, no matter the cost, is the prevalent school of thought. Promises are constantly made, and people frequently cross their fingers behind their backs, knowing that they're going to go back on whatever that promise was, but in the moment, they did what they thought was right. Our culture doesn't encourage faithfulness. Because faithfulness requires a deep commitment, and we're not very fond of commitment. We don't want an obligation. We don't want to commit to something. We want to leave the door open to change our mind at some point. So when somebody asks us, will you be there? we'll say, I will if I if I can, or I'll I'll try. We don't want to commit. We don't want the strings that are attached to it. We want to leave the door open for us to change our mind later. Faithfulness Is about predictability and reliability and consistency. And I want to use those concepts as our jumping off point this morning as we talk about one faith in Ephesians chapter 4. Let's first look at Hebrews chapter 11. Matt read it a moment ago. I don't know if I can read it as good as Matt, but I'm going to try. Hebrews chapter 11, starting verse 1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. And so any time we talk about faith or concepts related to it, we have to define it. So what is faith? Well, depends on who you ask in the religious world. Faith is Is usually looked at as a mental ascent. I believe, I say I believe, and therefore I have faith. being faithful is just about doing things that I can check off the list to show that I trust God or that I love God. And certainly that's not nothing, but it's not all that's involved with faith. Sometimes it's emotion. Faith is, I I I feel this, I feel this way, and therefore it must be faith. But for a fuller, richer meaning of faith, you have to go back to the original language and the original audience. I've said it time and time again. The Bible wasn't written to you. It was written for you. And before you read it, it was written to somebody else who read it. And so we need to get in our time machine and buckle our seatbelt and put our helmet and go back to the first century. Specifically, let's go back to first century Rome so that we can better understand faith and what it meant to those people and how we can apply it to our lives. So in the first century, there was this patronage system that permeated the culture. Now remember, I I've said this before, but one of the biggest mistakes that we make when it comes to Bible study is we are reading it through individualist eyes. We live in an individualistic culture. The Bible is not an individualistic culture. The people of that day and time were a collectivist culture. They lived in a collectivist culture and it was about we, not me. It was we support we. Collectives operate on the basis of reciprocal dependency. In other words, we give to we. Okay? So that's what we're looking at when we look at the culture of the day. And there was this patronage system that permeated the culture. And to give you an idea, let's say I'm John Q citizen. I'm just a normal citizen living in Rome as a Christian at this day in time. And like most of my c cohorts, I was, you know, I'm at the bottom of the barrel, right? I don't have a lot. I'm not wealthy by any means. And so in the patronage system, I am a client. And I would go and seek out a friend or a patron who can help me. Let's say Mark is my my patron, okay? Mark is the opposite of me. He's got a lot of money. He's very well off. And so I go to him and I strike up this friendship. Now understand, not to confuse you more, but Friendships in this day and time are not like we think of friendships. There may not be a close, intimate relationship. It's just maybe a business partnership. But this friend is going to help me. And so I go to Mark and I ask him for a grace gift. Right? I I can't drum this up on my own, and so I need someone to give it to me. And Mark does that. Not because he feels sorry for me necessarily, but because he understands the assignment. In the patronage system, he is the patron, I am the client, and so he meets my need, whatever that need was. Right? And as the client, I am now obligated to give back to him. Now, I can't repay him. That is never in the cards. I I I didn't have it to begin with, and I can't pay him back because I don't have the means to do so. He doesn't expect that. I can't do that. But what he does expect in the patronage relationship is that I am loyal to him to the end. It's a circle relationship. He gives, I receive, I give back by giving him my loyalty, my fidelity, my commitment to him. So if he needs something in return, I I I do it even though I can't repay him fully. So in this patronage system, strings are attached. We don't like to think of faith that way. In fact, in our culture, in the religious world, we look at faith as just, you know, something that you get and you can do nothing. Nothing about it, you just get it. All you have to do is say a prayer or let Jesus into your heart and you get it. That is not the way people operated in the first century when it came to faith or pistis in the original language. There were always strings attached. Because you had a patron, you were a client, they give something that you could not provide on your own, and you paid them back with loyalty and fidelity and commitment. In the patronage system, gifts come with strings. Patronage starts with a one-sided gift giving, but there must be reciprocity in order for it to work. It was a circle relationship. But the dynamics of patronage, gratitude, and reciprocity were woven into the foundational virtues of that society. Let me give you an example. Luke chapter 11, verses 5 and 6 read like this. And he said to them. Which of you has a friend? Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves? Remember, friend doesn't necessarily mean that they were buddies, right? Patron client. Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. So Jesus is speaking to a collectivist culture, and there's a patronage mindset. And his listeners would have understood exactly what he is saying. Asking a neighbor for help, even late at night, might seem a little odd to us, but that's because of our individualist mindset. But the fact that the neighbor Was making such a request is not odd at all. That's not the odd part. It's just what normal people would do. What's surprising about Jesus' parable is the friend's response. It shocks Jesus' audience that the neighbor would turn down a friend in need. You just didn't do that in a collectivist culture and in a patronage system. That was this that was a big-time sin. You just didn't do that. But here's the big takeaway. It was never about the client paying the patron back. Although there were strings attached to the gift, both the client and the patron understood that in this arrangement the debt could never be paid off. Mark gives me a gift, I can never pay it back, but the strings that are attached is that I give him my loyalty and my fidelity. And everyone in the relationship understood this. So reciprocity wasn't about working off the debt. Clients couldn't reciprocate an equal gift. No, the expectation was that the client would return the favor to his patron with faithfulness. And this arrangement was lifelong. It didn't have a timestamp. The patron would continue to give grace to the client, and the client would continue in return to give his allegiance to the patron. By the way, there's a couple of great books that speak to this. Get a chance to read them. It's pretty heavy reading. Misreading scripture with individual eyes is a great one, as well as backgrounds of early Christianity, by who I believe is one of the greatest scholars we have in Churches of Christ. His name is Everett Ferguson. he lives in Abilene. I used to meet with him regularly. had that opportunity and privilege. here's what he has to say: in backgrounds of early Christianity. The patron of rended assistance in need, welcomed the client from time to time to his house and table, and offered legal protection as needed. The relationship operated on all levels and in various groupings between former masters and freedmen, rich and poor, generals and conquered peoples, aristocrats and collegia or clubs, everyone from slave to aristocrat felt bound to display respect to someone more powerful than himself up to the emperor. So If you're connecting the dots, you see where this is going, right? Look with me at Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22, beginning in verse 17. And he took a cup. And when he had given thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup, after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes and is at as it has determined, been determined, but woe to the man by whom he has betrayed. And they began to question one another, which of them it could be. Who is going to do this? Jesus is the patron. He is portrayed as the patron. He chooses to give his life, his blood, his body for his disciples. And yet, at the very table eating with him is one that will not show gratitude, that will not reciprocate, but in fact will betray him. And you can see how this plays out, the theme of benefits and reciprocity and gratitude. It caused the disciples in this moment even to question who it was going to be, who's the one who is going to betray him. And here's the deal you and I are clients. Jesus is the patron. We have a great need that we cannot meet on our own. And I know you know what it is the fact that we are hopeless, desperate sinners. And we cannot provide our own salvation. As clients, we need a patron, we need a friend, and what a friend we have in Jesus, right? He is more than willing to gift us with precisely what we need. And that gift comes with strings attached. There is an obligation that comes with the gift. Do you know what it is? Loyalty, fidelity, commitment. Faithfulness. We owe our allegiance to the patron, and that's really the heart of biblical faith. Faith is not the same thing as obedience. I think we believe that. We believe that faith and obedience are synonymous. They're not the same thing, but faith does include obedience. And you cannot give your loyalty to the king, then live any way you want. We talked about it last week. The gospel Starts with Jesus is King. And acknowledging that and accepting that. And when you accept that, you accept everything that goes along with it. And so you cannot proclaim your loyalty to the king and then live any way that you want. And that's that's my biggest problem, if I could be candid with you for a moment. That's my biggest problem with the sinner's prayer and with letting Jesus into your heart or a five-year-old getting saved, or even Sometimes what we can do in the church where we zero in on baptism at the expense of everything else. That's what bothers me about this. Because it cheapens faith and what it is and what it was always designed to be. Faith is not words coupled with an acknowledgement. Faith is not doing one thing one time for all time. Faith is not do this and you're good. Faith is not how you feel. It's not an event. Pistis, faith in the Greek, is signified by allegiance and fidelity and loyalty to the king. You hear it all the time today in the religious world. Just have faith, just believe, and you're good. You can't do anything. It's only God. Baloney. The whole idea was that strings are attached, that there is an obligation. And that obligation to the patron is that we as the clients are loyal. And we are faithful and we show fidelity to the king. Now, in ancient times, faith was scandalous. It was dangerous. Faith was very political. And I don't mean Republican versus Democrat political. But it was very political. It was dangerous to have this type of faith. It was extremely dangerous to say Jesus is Lord. Why would that be considered dangerous? Because you already had a patron. And it was who? It was Caesar. It was the Emperor. In fact, that's what Rome did. Caesar would promise to give you things to meet your needs in exchange for your loyalty, your allegiance. You already had a patron, and that patron was the emperor. So to say that Jesus is Lord was the sin of all sins. Because you're not being loyal to your true patron. But Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. So you have to pick one. And to pick Jesus would bring persecution, perhaps even death, because you're not loyal to the governmental patron. First Christians, they trusted in God who would make good on his promise. That is why pistis had highly political overtones. For one to give their allegiance to the king was to snub their nose at Caesar, which is why Christians found themselves in hot water with the Roman government. So faith or pistis was putting your life on the line. It wasn't this cauterized, sanitized notion just believe and let Jesus in your heart and you'll be saved. Just go into the water and come out and you're good. Once saved, you're always saved. That's not what this was about at all. This was about dedicating your life to King Jesus. Saying no to Caesar. Not having your loyalties divided. Of course, I don't think any of us will probably ever have to endure a threat to our faith as far as persecution or death. probably not going to happen for us. We face a different kind of threat. In in first century Rome, the question to the Christians was, Will you will you die for me? Are you willing to die for me? What is the question for us in this day and age? Are you willing to live for me? Because the biggest threat to Christianity and discipleship in this day and age is life. This is life. Life gets in the way of a lot of things. We have our daily routines, our schedule, the things that we have to do on our list. And it's easy for Christianity, for the Bible, for prayer, for church to get pushed to the back burner and become an afterthought, or just to be a category in our lives. You look at what was risked in the first century and you follow it all the way to today, it's quite different, isn't it? We have cheapened faith, we have cheapened commitment, we have cheapened loyalty and fidelity. You ever seen the movie The Untouchables? Kevin Costner, Sean Connery. It's a good movie. Several years ago came out. It's about Kevin Costner, who was with the Bureau of Prohibition, and he was trying to catch gang member Al Capone, this, you know, notorious gangster. And at one point, Jimmy Malone, who's played by Sean Connery, asked him. What are you willing to do? And Costner says, Whatever it takes within the law. I'm paraphrasing, of course. And then Malone says, and then what are you willing to do? And he says this. You must be prepared to go all the way. You want to get Capone? Here's how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. What are you prepared to do? What a great question when it comes to faith in our response to King Jesus. What are you willing to do? What are you prepared to do? Confess. That you believe in Jesus, post it on social media, come to church once in a while, wear a cross around your neck. That that's not nothing. I don't mean to diminish that. That's not nothing. But it goes so much deeper than that. What are you prepared to do? How far are you willing to go? Because pistus isn't just mental, it's monumental. It's not emotion, it's motion. It's not a checklist, it's checkmate. It's about living in loyalty, it's about allegiance to the patron. Hebrews 11, one through three again. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. You believe all this stuff, and you're bought in. You believe that He will keep His promises. You have assurance, you have conviction, even though you haven't seen it, God has told you, and faith is believing that what God says is true. But also faith must have substance. Faith is only as meaningful as the substance to which it is attached. So what's the substance? What's the substance? You. You're the substance. You're the evidence. Look at your life. Look around you. Judy Henson, you have something to say about the power of God, don't you? Rob Cood could tell a story about the faithfulness of God. Our good friend Kevin Turberville, who used to attend here, could say something about the loyalty of God. Jerry Spencer definitely has a God story. And there are many others here, myself included, who have some substance, who can speak to the fact That God is real, that his promises are real, that we can take them to the bank. Even if you've not gone through a particular trial in your life, those of you who are children of God can speak to this because you experienced a miracle. That's what it is. When you go into the waters of baptism and come out a new creature in Christ, a miracle has occurred. Conversion is a miracle. Because you were plucked from the fires of hell. You were raised a new creature in Christ. Even if you're not a Christian, the fact that God has given you one more day is a testament to his grace because he's waiting for you to come around. And even if God doesn't come through in this life, he has promised us that there will come a day when all wrongs will be made right and that we get to live with him in paradise. Remember, remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedago? Remember what they called the king Nebuchadnezzar? I love these words. O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. These three refuse to give their allegiance to the patron. The earthly patron, the secular patron, which was King Nebuchadnezzar. God was their true king. They knew which side their bread was buttered on. They knew who their true patron was. And in essence, they say, Do what you want to do. We'll be fine. You don't scare us. We'll come out of that fiery furnace better than ever. And even if we don't, we know where we're going. So you feel froggy, jump. I love the attitude. And it should be our attitude. what other option do you have? Non faith is calling God a liar. He is the perfect patron who makes good on all his promises. So to give your loyalty to someone or something else would be treason. You look at the substance. Who you are because of who he is. Be faithful unto death. You know, we could do a trust fall this morning. We could you what trust fall is, right? Where you you stand with your back to people and you just fall, trusting that they're gonna catch you. Many businesses and organizations do this in order to encourage teamwork and trust. We could do that this morning. my friend Bob Walcott's up there. Bob, why you just come to the rail and fall off? We'll all catch you. You s no? Not willing to do that? I don't blame ya. We talk about trust, we talk about fidelity. We don't just talk about our reciprocal attitude towards the patron. We talk about it in a collective sense because we are a collective, right? The church is a collective. You are not expected to live as an individual, you are not expected to practice your faith individually. This is not an individualistic society, you do not do it alone. There is a sense in which faith is personal. But our patron never intended for us to operate in an individualistic culture. The church is a collective culture. And pistus is the glue that holds it all together. Remember these words? And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need, and day by day. attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. You know what is described here? It's an everyday church. Not just a Sunday thing, not just a Wednesday thing. This was an everyday church. They did life together because they were a collective society and that collective society just spilled right over into church life. And I believe that is what God intends for us as the church to be a collective, not a group of individuals that do our own thing, but one people who come together for one purpose to serve one Lord. Our collective is defined by trust and fidelity and allegiance. You are not disposable. You may feel worthless at times, but God sees you as worthwhile. And we want to make sure that those around us know that by reciprocating the amazing grace and love that God has shown us. Pistis is not only about allegiance to God, it's about allegiance to everything God loves, especially his people. That is how this applies to us and one faith. We are of one faith. We believe in God and we believe what he has promised. And we believe as his substance that this is all gonna turn out into victory for us in the end. Right? We believe that, don't we? One faith in the one God who has given us one spirit and one hope to unite us in one collective body. In his book Take the Stairs, Rory Vaden tells the story of a lady who was trapped on the 84th floor of her high rise. She was surrounded by flames. She knew she couldn't jump, but the alternative scared her to death. She was very claustrophobic. So the idea of being closed in in the stairwell with numerous people didn't appeal to her either. She was phobic. And so she did the only thing that she knew to do. She hunkered down under her desk and waited to die. And in that moment, a fireman burst in and he and he tried to grab her and pull her out from under the desk, and she was kicking and screaming. And he whispered in her ear. I know you're scared. Do it scared. And as he held her and walked her down the stairs, he kept whispering that in her ear. Do it scared. Just do it scared. And I realize there may be some of you this morning that are having trouble buying in. I I I want to have faith. I want to believe everything that you're saying, Chris, but it's just hard for me. Maybe you maybe you don't have as much faith as you should, but you believe in the author, you believe in God. Maybe you you want to be a disciple, but something's holding you back. Maybe you're scared. Stu it scared. Just do it. Even if it's scary, even if it even if it seems like a a big old thing to bite off, do it anyway. First century Christians in Rome were scared. They did it scared. Because they knew it would be worth it in the end. And I know it will be worth it in the end for us. Steve has a song. If we can help you this morning, if we can pray with you, or maybe you'd like to study more about what we've talked about this morning, or maybe you're ready for pistis to do its thing and to move you to repentance and confessing and being baptized and begin a daily walk with God, whatever your need might be. Why don't you come as we