In Monday’s post, It’s About Faith, we considered faith’s merit, faith’s purpose, and faith’s condition and test. In Wednesday’s post, Faith Comes from God, we considered faith’s attributes and learned that faith comes from God. Today we will learn about faith’s good news.
Faith’s result
When we look back on the history of the Church, we often focus on her mistakes, her failures, and her hurtful actions, but to stop there would be pretty foolish. The Church has done more than any institution or social movement when it comes to championing women’s rights. During a time when wives could be easily disposed of, with no liabilities to the husband, by a simple letter of divorce written by her husband, Jesus said “no” to no-fault divorces (Matthew 19:9).
During this same time, the conviction of adultery was a death sentence (Leviticus 20:10). Still, Jesus said that if a man even looks at a woman lustfully, that man has committed adultery (Matthew 5:27–28). Can you imagine the impact Christ’s declaration had on his fellow Jews when He said this?!
The Church championed education (Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, University of Edinburgh). Most Christians have forgotten that for hundreds of years, theology was called the “queen of the sciences.” If you’d like a brief article that explains this truth, in context, read How is theology “the queen of the sciences”?
The Church has built and operated hospitals worldwide (By the mid–1500s, 37,000 Benedictine monasteries cared for the sick. Also, a Swiss Christian businessman started the Red Cross).
And let’s not forget that the Church led the battle to end slavery in Britain and America (Charles Spurgeon, William Wilberforce, Theodore S. Wright, George Bourne, George B. Cheever).
All these works of the Church and countless others came from individuals in the Church acting in God’s faith.
Faith’s Good News
Faith’s good news is that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). Faith is the conduit, the garden hose, through which God’s grace enters a person and applies Jesus’ work of salvation for the regeneration of that person. Yet, even with all that God has built into faith, Jesus’ question haunts us.
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Luke 18:7–8
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
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