What's so important about faith?

Many people look at the Christian gospel, and are completely incredulous. Romans 3:22 says, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:18 says, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

Why is faith so important? What is so special about faith? Why is it that faith is the dividing factor on which everything hinges - that those who believe are saved and those who do not believed are condemned? How does a just God make everything hinge on faith?

There are many people who, on the world's standards, are very good. Yet they will spend eternity in hell unless they repent and believe. The Christian gospel asserts this. Not having faith is apparently a major offense to God. But many ask, why would it be? What is it about faith that makes it so important?

And sadly, most Christians have done a pretty lousy job at providing answers for these questions. Many times they will respond with, "You just have to believe, brother!" That's true, but 1 Peter 3:15 says, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." Faith is not blind. Real Christianity is not blind faith. In fact, I would guess that many have bought into some pernicious perversion of Christianity - a form that requires blind faith - and by doing so, they have quit thinking and thus have been given over to a depraved mind. So, now, in their minds, they're saved, but in reality, they are depraved and are no better off than unbelievers. Meanwhile, they drive away honest intellectual seekers by their blind faith, anti-intellectual attitudes.

Let's go way back ... all the way back to the beginning.

In Genesis 2, we see the story of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, and all was good. Sin had not yet happened. The Garden of Eden was a place of perfect peace. The Hebrew word is "Shalom." Shalom - the peace of God. To get an understanding of the word Shalom, I encourage you to check out this website: http://www.therefinersfire.org/meaning_of_shalom.htm. Shalom is an awesome word. Peace, completeness, health, blessing. None of these adequately defines shalom, but all of them describe shalom.

So, Adam and Eve sinned and screwed up the Shalom of God. And after them, so have we all. But check out the second generation. Genesis 4:1-12 describes the account of Cain and Abel. Here are verses three through seven:

"In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.'"

You know the story. Cain did not respond well to God's rebuke. Cain murdered his brother Abel.

In Hebrews 11:4 it says, "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith, he still speaks, even though he is dead."

So apparently the difference between Cain's sacrifice and Abel's sacrifice is that Abel's sacrifice was done in faith.

But why would that matter? Why would God care about faith? So what if Cain didn't have much faith or any? Why didn't God give both Abel and Cain participation ribbons? Why wasn't Cain's sacrifice accepted as it was?

Faith matters to God. Here is the reason.

God is real.

God is our Heavenly Father - our Creator. He loves us with an everlasting love. He holds the whole universe together by His powerful word. He is transcendant. He is highly exalted - holy and awesome and magnificent. He is also immanent. He is close - as close as your next breath. In fact, He is so real, that His breath gives life. In fact, Genesis 2:7 says "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." He is real, and He is the authority on "real." He is the great "I AM." He is Yahweh.

Perhaps some of you haven't gotten it yet. Perhaps some of you haven't gotten it, but you're buying into it. Don't do that! Be intellectually honest. Don't embrace blind faith; that is very dangerous. Think this through, but "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding."

Since God is real, and He is the kind of God that He is, it is fitting and proper to acknowledge Him, to honor Him, to worship Him. Failing to do this would be like failing to acknowledge and honor a person who deserves acknowledgement and honor. It is a sin of omission.

When I am at a social gathering with my wife, and I meet someone new, I shake hands and introduce myself, and then I introduce my wife. Truthfully, there have been times that I have not introduced my wife, and she has let me know that failing to acknowledge her presence is not right. Likewise, failing to acknowledge and honor our Creator by not having faith is sin. It wouldn't be a sin, if He really didn't exist. But He does, and so it is. That's why, "everything that does not come from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23b) That's why "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) That's why God is just to give His righteousness to sinners who have faith, and why He is just to condemn sinners who do not have faith.

So God did not look with favor upon Cain's sacrfice, and as a result, Cain became angry, and his countenance became downcast. He was mad! He didn't approach God properly, and He became angry that God stood up to him, and told him to do what is right. Cain was big on his rights. He wanted that participation ribbon. We can speculate that he was a radical egalitarian. If God was going to look with favor on Abel, he better darn well look with favor on himself too! He may have even convinced himself, while he was plotting Abel's murder, of God's injustice. "How dare He treat Cain with such special treatment! How unjust!" Whatever the reasons, we know that Cain was angry, that his face was downcast, and that he killed his brother.

When God confronted him, he said, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Typical attitude of modern capitalistic Christians. Typical attitude of ... well ... me. We, like Cain, care about Numero Uno. I look at those in the ghetto, and I rant, "Parents should be doing their jobs!" As true as that is, what am I really doing to cultivate Shalom in the ghetto? What am I doing to cultivate Shalom with my neighbors? It is easy to sit on the Shalom that others work for in my safe, nice, little church group. But there is a world out there - full of strife and sin. How am I, as an ambassador of Christ, cultivating Shalom out there? It is easy to rant. It is not easy to be socially competent and effective, while maintaining the integrity of the Scriptures.

Shalom. God's peace. A peace that passes all understanding. Completeness. Wholeness.

Cain cared more about himself than he did about Shalom.

Many people think, "Sure! I'm all for peace. Shalom! Shalom!" These people should consider the fact that they're going to have to ante-up. Many people prefer peace, but are unwilling to fight for it and defend it. They want justice, but they will cave in under pressure to be "politically correct," rather than to really step out in faith - putting themselves out there - taking risks - being vulnerable - even being willing to sacrifice their lives in order to defend God's Shalom. This is a big sin in the postmodern world. And sadly, it is a big sin in the postmodern church - a church that mimics the surrounding postmodern world in practice - but with Christianese rhetoric sprinkled on top. And like I said previously, this is my big sin. How often have I hardened my heart, when I clearly heard the voice of God encouraging me to step out in faith and to be vulnerable with my heart. Sadly, most of us simply do not love God with all our hearts. For this, I pray that God would give me grace to repent.

At the same time, what a vision! We don't have to be like Peter Gibbons (from "Office Space") - living out "trite meaningless lives" - selling our souls to the vanity of postmodern political correctness. We have been given a cultural mandate to labor for the Shalom of society. Teachers, engineers, scientists, historians, news reporters, politicians, soldiers, firemen, policemen, architects, artists, landscapers, musicians, coaches, social workers, judges - whatever the vocation is ... how cool it would and can be if we dedicated it all to the glory of God - to the cultivation and defense of God's Shalom - to the establishment of justice, peace, tranquility, and love. A society where God's praises are sung, God's Presence is enjoyed, God's Word is studied, God's principles are honored, God's justice is established, God's family enjoys sweet fellowship with God and with one another. A city set on a hill. The light of the world. The salt of the earth.

The alternative option is murder, rape, pillage, slavery, depravity, injustice, postmodernism, ignorance, stupidity, rage, anger, hostility, unforgiveness, perversion, and faithlessness. What I hope we see is this: By failing to be assertive in the cultivation and defense of Shalom, we are by default contributing to the antithesis of Shalom.

That's why we need a Savior.