Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
June 13, 2004 - W0424

Faith comes in many shapes and sizes and the Bible shares many examples of faith, both good and not so good.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about life…will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matt. 6:25-30).

"He replied, 'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?' Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was complete calm." (Matt. 8:26).

"Jesus turned and saw her, ‘Take heart, daughter,' He said, 'your faith has healed you.' And the woman was healed from that moment" (Matt. 9:22).

After healing a beggar, Peter says to the onlookers, "By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see" (Acts 3:16).

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor 13:13).

God calls us to be people of faith. "Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld…" (2 Chr 20:20). And I believe all of us have faith…but to what extent? Today we're going to take a look at a couple of examples in the Bible of people who demonstrated Great Faith. The kind of faith that Heaven takes notice of and that allows for extraordinary things to happen. 

We are going to take a closer look at two stories in the Bible where people demonstrated a faith that Jesus marveled at: the story of a Canaanite woman who came to see Jesus seeking healing for her daughter and the story of a Centurion who wanted Jesus to heal his servant. We are going to study these stories more closely to determine what qualities made their faith so great.

QUALITIES OF GREAT FAITH:

Jesus was leaving the region of Tyre and Sidon when  “…a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.’ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she is shouting out after us’”. (Matt. 15:22-23) 

Now that is a pretty hard blow. For most of us, I think that would be enough to stop us in our tracks and perhaps get us walking in the other direction, but not this Gentile woman.  In spite of the fact that she was not Jewish, she refused to be deterred.  And this is the first quality of Great Faith God is looking for:

1.      A FAITH THAT PURSUES GOD’S BEST.

This Canaanite woman refused to be dissuaded. In fact, she continued to pursue Jesus even more vigorously. God is looking for that kind of faith…one that keeps asking, keeps seeking, and keeps knocking in pursuit of God's best. This is a quality that makes a mediocre faith a marvelous faith.

Resuming the story, the Canaanite woman did not get discouraged and leave. Instead, “… she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me’ He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she said, ‘Yes, Lord; but event he dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘O Woman, your faith is great’”. (Matt. 15:25-28)

Now if Jesus' first response wasn't enough to discourage you, surely this response was enough to discourage even those of staunch faith. However, the Canaanite woman did not become disheartened or discouraged; neither did she discard her faith at those words. Instead she says, “‘Yes, Lord,' she said, 'but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table’”.

Wow!  How do you like that? Is that the kind of faith that you have? That woman possessed the quality of faith that not only pursued God’s best, but also a:

2.      FAITH THAT REFUSES TO BE OFFENDED.

This is such an important quality of Great Faith….a faith that refuses to be offended because the Bible shows how taking offense will prevent miracles. "And they took offense at Him…And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief" (Matt. 13:57-58).

It is so easy for us to become offended. We get passed over for a promotion we thought we deserved. We weren't invited to a luncheon that others we know attended. Or we were not consulted about the evening's plans. In fact, even when offense is not given, it can be taken. And in doing so, it diminishes the quality of our faith.

When there is unbelief and offense, it hinders and prevents the miraculous. On the other hand, like in the story of this Canaanite woman, when there is Great Faith, miracles happen. "Then Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour" (Matt. 15:28).

Therefore, we can draw two truths from this discussion of faith. The first is that:

·        FAITH IS A CHOICE WE MAKE.

“He will not be disheartened or crushed, until He has established justice in the earth...”. (Is. 42:4)

Faith and non-offense are not elusive goals that are beyond our control or reach, but rather they are choices we make everyday, at every turn.  Make the choice to have faith in God and not be offended. The second truth to grasp is that faith:

·        IT REPRESENTS LOVE WELL.

“Love always looks for the best”. (1 Cor. 13:7 Message)

Faith and choosing not to be offended represents love well. It's not our place to be judgmental. Love always thinks the best.

Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful,

nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offense.

There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and endurance.

In a word, there are three things that last forever: faith, hope, and love;

but the greatest of them all is love.

~ 1 Corinthians 13 ~

And finally the third quality essential of great faith is:

3.      A FAITH THAT ACTS ON GOD’S WORD.

It is best illustrated through the story of the centurion. “And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented’. Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him’… the centurion answered and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I, too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, “Go!” and he goes, and to another, “Come!” and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this!” and he does it.’ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled, and said to those who were following, ‘Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel’”. (Mat8:8-10)

In this story, the Centurion demonstrated such a strong faith by his belief that the mere act of Jesus speaking words of healing would heal his servant. Then because of his great faith in Jesus' words and his belief of its healing powers, so it was done. The same is true for us. How can we act upon and follow Jesus’ Word if we don’t know it? That is why daily Bible devotionals and journaling are so important. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. The information in the Bible is God’s word and therefore the same yesterday, today and forever. It is the most current information and tells us not only what happened in the past, but instructs us on how to live our lives today.

Of course, there will be lots of times when things will be discouraging, but we need to push through it and rely on God's strength and pursue God's best. There will also be many chances for us in this lifetime to be offended, but we must make a choice for faith and to love well. Lastly, so often we believe, yet don’t want to do what God asks. However, the Lord says when we start to put our faith and actions together, our faith goes from mediocre to one that marvels Heaven.

In Matthew 9:29, Jesus said, "According to your faith it will be done to you…"  It's almost as if God is saying we can choose the level of difficulty of our lives by the level of faith we choose to face it with. Then doesn't it make sense that we live it with extraordinary faith so we will live extraordinary lives?

DISCUSSION TOPICS

Mahalo, Jaylene Tsukayama for this week’s summary. A  woman of great faith and a blessing to all.

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