I open up my heart to you
I open up my heart to you now
So do what only you can
Jesus have your way in me now
—
Faith is time travel. We are to pull the future into the present.
Faith is such a big word to us, but what it really is is a distilling word. It’s a funnel through which every frenzied molecule of our vast human lives must pass. It’s a single word that encompasses our entire posture toward God. So much of this story hinges on faith, because faith is the doorway to relationship with him.
It’s as outrageous a concept as one can imagine. To call things that are not as though they are. To be confident in what I hope for and to expect not to be disappointed. To be assured of what I don’t see. To tell a mountain to throw itself into the sea. What would possess me to do anything like this?
See, I have taken my faith - my definition of reality - and I’ve repositioned it. I’ve picked up my faith and placed it in a new location. My faith is inside of a person. It dwells within the borders of God’s spirit, soul, and body.
So my faith gets to be as big as he is. It’s that simple.
What he says comes to pass, because he’s so big that whatever he says is already in existence within him. Eternity dwells within him. For him and from him and to him and through him are all things. In him all things hold together. He is the author and finisher. All his promises are yes and amen in himself. He who calls me is faithful and he will do it. He is not a man, that he should lie.
See, it takes all of these explosive reminder words to stir up faith because there’s still a war on our senses. Ephesians 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 tell me about the world’s lullaby. Many are asleep and dreaming. Because they are experiencing the five senses of a fake reality, they don’t question it. In a dream, lions can walk tightropes between skyscrapers and we don’t question it. Why? Because we’re engaged - we can feel the brisk air, hear the traffic, smell the gasoline and trash. Our five senses are communicating reality to our belief centers.
That’s why we live by faith, not by sight. That’s why faith comes by hearing, but its fullness comes about by action. Action engages all five of our senses at once in an accelerated, risky, headfirst type of way. It keeps faith alive.
I love that image of a headfirst dive, because in that position, the brain is the most vulnerable. I truly have to step past logic in order to open the door of faith.
See, the action that keeps faith alive is never formulaic action. It’s not a rational conclusion. It’s born out of love. If my faith is located in him, then my action must also be located in him. It’s not strategic or calculated, because those things aren’t him. I abide in his love. My action never leaves the vine of his love. Martha acted from her brain; Mary acted from her heart. She found the better thing.
It’s a big love, one that surpasses knowledge. My action is, first and foremost, trusting what he says because he loves me. I know that he is trustworthy because I’ve tasted his love. In that secret place, that presence, that vine, I am filled with a love that is exceedingly, abundantly more satisfying than the sweetest wine. And suddenly I would do anything for him. But what’s better is that I get to do it with him.
Hebrews talks about the Mary of Bethany kind of faith. Hearing isn’t enough, says Hebrews. If it’s not united by faith in the hearer, then it can actually lead to striving - the very opposite of what it’s supposed to produce. This is what happens when knowledge bounces off of the heart and remains in the brain. It’s that shallow soil. But we who have believed enter a holy rest. Why? Because I’m not the author or the finisher. My only role is to abide in a God who has rested from his works. He is in motion only because he’s expanding the dominion of rest, not because he’s incomplete. When he expands, so do I. All of my action is unto oneness with an infinite God.
Faith moves the narrative forward. When you say that something will happen, I know that it’s already happened for you. I skip over that time gap by acting now as if it’s already then. Why? Because my faith is in you, and you are already there. So my faith is already there, and therefore my action is already there.
Tonight, my friends and I are gathering for a celebration dinner. We’re going to feast, laugh, sing, and dance. Each one of us is coming with a gut-bursting praise for something that you have not done yet. We are celebrating the fulfilled promise as if it’s already here. Because in you, it’s yes and amen. We’re time-traveling.
The next months will be filled with action that keeps faith alive. It will be within the vine. We have entered your rest and we’re never going back. Within rest, we get to see the craziest things happen because it’s no longer by our might or power, but by your Spirit - by your very breath.
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the [g]passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the ]reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures [i]in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented — of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
Hebrews 11