Faith: Part 3

This is my third and final post on faith. In these posts, which focus on the calling of Peter and his friends, I have been trying to assert is that faith is never merely about what we 'believe', as if belief in something can be limited to the intellectual sphere. No - faith must necessarily spill over into what we do, into the essence of who we are as people. This is the lesson of Peter's encounter with Jesus. So how can we become the kind of people who are filled with that kind of faith?

The extent to which we respond in faith will always be the extent to which we know the risen Jesus. We cannot be filled with faith unless we know Him for ourselves and are filled with his Holy Spirit. Derivative knowledge will not do. Our churches are filled with people who leach their pastors faith, believing that they can live 'through' their pastor. They can't and this is why many church-goers' lives look no different to the world's lives. Vicarious knowledge of Jesus is not enough.

But how can we develop such a knowledge of Jesus? Firstly, we need to learn to be in Jesus’ presence. Just to sit with him. We need to become more and more familiar with him through any and every element of our lives. We need to get familiar with him through reading the bible, through developing an active prayer life, through talking with other Jesus followers and through acting on what we think he might be saying. We need to encounter Jesus on every level of the human experience and we need to do it often. We cannot survive on our 'conversion experience' alone. Every day God is waiting for us to meet Him afresh. Faith in God which does not engage the daily experience will soon become academic and stale, losing its vitality.

Jesus himself says this to his disciples in Luke 18.

"¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ²He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

⁴"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

⁶And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Persistence in prayer is one of the key ways we develop faith, because through it we find out about who God is what He is like.

We learn something more on this subject from Simon Peter. In verse 8 we see Peter’s response to the miracle he has just witnessed. He says “go away from me , Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This is typical of anyone who has come into the presence of the living God. Peter sees Jesus for who he really is and in so doing he recognizes who he really is too, a sinful man.

Peter's analysis of the situation is quite wrong at this point. He thinks that his sinfulness means that Jesus won’t want to associate with him. In reality, quite the reverse is true. Simon’s sinfulness is exactly the reason Jesus wants to associate with him. Jesus has come to 'seek and save what has been lost' and that begins with Simon and will eventually be done through Simon. Jesus knows there is something in Simon that is totally untapped and unrealized, and he wants to bring it out of him. He wants Simon to be his disciple. He thinks that Simon can become like him because Simon has the X-Factor - faith and humility. In other words Simon knows what he lacks and what he needs.

Jesus, in interacting with Simon in this way, is saying that Simon is up to the job of becoming just like Jesus. This, too, is his promise to us.

In verse 10 we see that Jesus sees beyond Simon's fear into his heart and ultimately into his future. He calls him, redefining what he has always done and re-directing it for the greater purpose of the Kingdom of God. That’s how Jesus wants to work in our lives too. He takes what we have and directs it for his greater good. Our job is simply to submit and obey. Jesus is not asking us to put a mask on before we come and serve him. In fact quite the opposite is true. He wants us to come just as we are and he will use what we have and multiply it.

Simon's response says it all. He is the representative of his accomplices here, making the same decision they all choose to make. This is the hinge point of their lives. They have seen Jesus do amazing things before this, but they have not yet made the key decision to follow. Here, they unmistakably and irrefutably do just that; “they left everything.” This is the true response of faith and also the test of faith. You know when someone has really given themselves over to Jesus because they choose to leave everything for Jesus.

It’s pretty amazing to think that Simon leaves even the catch of fish, which would have been worth a heck of a lot of money, as well as his business and family behind in order to follow this guy he has only recently met. Simon knows that the financial value of the haul, even the total value of the business is nothing in comparison with the value of being around Jesus. The young men don't even bother to sell the fish!

Simon has been made aware of the fruit of obedience and now he chooses to follow with everything he has. He, John and James now know that it will be totally worth their while. Meeting Jesus has put everything else in perspective for them. Even their livelihood has now taken second place to the call of Jesus. Their faith in them has led to greater obedience to what he wants for them. They could not bear to be without him after what they have seen.

What impact must this have had on the crowd watching? Surely it shook them to their core? What impact would it have on the places we live and work if we were known as people who would gladly follow Jesus even if it meant leaving behind all the trappings of the world? What kind of world would we inhabit have if those of us that believe in Jesus gave up everything for him, even the things that hold us back and stop us from being totally abandoned to Jesus? What would our gospel look like if we held it out especially to those who are fully aware of their inability to make it on their own - to the least and the poorest?

Jesus used these fishermen to change the world! He can do the same with us!

How much are you willing to give up for him to do that?

Faith is an event and a process; it is a departure point and a journey. Some of us have set off on the journey and are now walking with Jesus and keeping in step with His Spirit. For us, we need the encouragement to keep on walking and obeying as we go. Others have not yet set off. We need to make the decision to begin walking and trusting in Jesus with all we have, knowing that He will bring along what we lack. Others have walked with him before but have stopped walking. They need to begin again, knowing that there is enough grace for them to stand up and re-start the journey.

There is room for all of us in a story as big as this and there is grace for all of us too. Jesus says the same thing to one and all, 'come and follow me'. This is our duty but it is also our destiny. Only in following him do we discover who we are and what we were born to do.