06/05/2024 – Useful Faith
1 Corinthians 15: 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Unbelief is a horrible sin. But if there is a condition more pitiful than unbelief it is to have faith, but to have a faith that is useless, that is in vain, that is dead. The Bible reveals that is possible to have faith…and even a deep faith. It is possible to follow and serve Christ, and to preach His gospel, but that it would all be for nothing but for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The faith our Lord Jesus champions, accomplishes the ENTIRE purpose of God. It heals BEYOND the grave. It prospers for ETERNITY- not just for this life.
Every word, every miracle, every action in the life of our Lord Jesus is an amazing revelation of God. And the ultimate revelation is the resurrection. The people of God are nothing without the complete conviction that the Lord Jesus defeated death and rose from the tomb to live eternally and give life to all who believe in Him.
We can see this clearly in the disciples who, even though they thought they had learned everything else they needed to learn about their Lord, are helpless and clueless after the sacrifice of the cross, and are missing the transforming revelation of the resurrection of Christ. This is the pinnacle- the mountain top of our faith. The greatest shame is to come this far and stop…to take every teaching of Christ, the power of His might and package it for consumption and application to this body in this world.
The disciples present a picture of what can happen to us when we focus and limit the power of Christ to the things of this world. It did not take long- only a couple of days, for them to lose heart and for some to throw it all away. Why sacrifice anything, why strive to do what is right if at the end it is all for nothing?