True Faith

Read Acts 14: 8-20

Last Wednesday I wrote about hope, how it is really about living today based on what we know will come. So when we pray for justice in places like Zimbabwe, we must live just lives as well. I also retold the story of King Herod Agrippa, a selfish utilitarian king who ruled only to save his own skin. I didn’t tell you the end. Agrippa, who was never a great speaker, finally had his Obama-moment, and gave a stunning speech. The crowd went wild, even going so far as to say, “He must be a god!” Agrippa was so full of himself that God took his life away. According to the biblical historian Josephus, Agrippa had searing stomach and heart pains, probably a combination of a heart attack and a severe ulcer. Not a nice way to die.
Today, we look at another person with an Obama-moment: Paul. He and his mentor, Barnabas, were in Lystra doing evangelistic work. Actually, Paul didn’t really need to give a speech even though he was a gifted speaker like Obama. He actually just, by the power of the Holy Spirit, healed a cripple. Unlike Agrippa, who basked in his own glory, Barnabas and Paul got the terror of their lives. The locals and the Temple of Zeus were going head over heels to worship them! Even the priests of Zeus were rushing to offer sacrifices on the spot! This was an evangelistic nightmare! Paul and Barnabas tried to salvage the situation by getting the people to their senses and realizing that it was God who was extraordinary, not them. Nothing helped.

To you, the people of Lystra might sound quite stupid, but allow me to convince you that this happens all over the world even today, in poor and developed countries. My mom is a self-taught investor and I had the interesting pleasure of meeting her investment friends. One of them, Sam Remisier, was particularly... oh how shall I put it... strange. Upon hearing that we have chosen to place our dad’s ashes on my mom’s bed-table, he was horrified, telling us that it is extremely bad luck. This is understandable, so my mom explained to them that as Christians we believe that the spirit of our dad is now in heaven, but we place his ashes there as a memorial for us. After all, it is just his ashes.

No sale. Sam nicely told us that it’s baaaaad feng-shui, going so far as to recommend 3 possible interment sites! Realizing that we were not easily convinced, he moved on to other feng-shui topics, like how in Singapore the new multi-billion-dollar Marina Bay Financial District is designed around feng-shui principles. He even told me about financial feng-shui! Now, I’m not financially sophisticated by any standard, but I don’t see (maybe you can convince me otherwise) how placing your computer screen in any direction affects how much money you make from the stock market. I should clarify, by the way, that this is not unique to Sam. Some of our Christian friends are also big believers in feng-shui.

What people like Sam and some of our Christian friends do not have is faith. Biblical faith, that is. Biblical faith, as I have written about last Wednesday, is how you live today based on what you know from the past. Biblical faith is a certain faith. A lot of times when we use the word “believe” we really are not certain about it. “I believe I did well on the SAT” means that you’re not really sure you did well, but chances are you did. That’s not biblical faith. Biblical faith is so certain that it affects how we live our lives today. When we have faith in a God so powerful that earthquakes happen in His timing, how can we be moved by feng-shui, this idea that placement of mere things can affect good or bad luck?
Shallow faith is completely uncertain. So uncertain, in fact, that it is easily swayed. The shallowness of the Lystrans’ faith is evident. It took one miracle to make them think Paul and Barnabas are gods, and even after they tried to tell them otherwise, nothing worked. But somehow it only took a bunch of Jews (vs. 19) from Antioch and Iconium to get these people from being total worshippers to total annihilators!

How can we avoid shallow faith? Remember: biblical faith is how you live today based on what you know from the past. The Christian past is written in the Bible. So that’s why we encourage you to read the Bible, because it is from knowing our past that we can know how to live today. So let us be people of faith and let nothing, including feng-shui, shake us! For we know from the Bible that our God is mighty to save and Lord of everything.

Wednesday: Pray for friends (inside and outside church)
Pray for your Christian friends,that they will not be swayed by outside pressures