Ephesians | Hi, I'm Jonathan 'J5' Harris.

what is faith

What is faith? Is it just to believe? Why do some have it and some do not? Does the Bible give us any direction on how to obtain more faith? Well, the questions concerning faith are virtually endless. Of course the Bible does have much to say about faith. Yet, in many ways it remains mysterious. One of the most mysterious references to faith is found in Philippians 2 where Paul talks about “the sacrifice and service of your faith.”

We want to get into this extraordinary expression today concerning the faith of the believers on this Life-Study from the book of Philippians. In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul uses several remarkable or extraordinary expressions, and they’re not found any place else in the New Testament…not even in his other writings…in his epistles.

We spent quite a bit of time on at least two of them in previous programs…and those are “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” and the second one would be “holding forth the word of life.” This whole portion of the Bible…especially here in Philippians…really gives you more and more basic reasons for enjoying Christ in so many ways.

Philippians 2:17…”But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you all.” If you would pay some attention, you will see…in this one short book…three extraordinary expressions were used by Paul. In chapter 1, he used…”the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Then in chapter 2 he used, “holding forth of the word of life.” You could never find such expressions in the Bible…even in other books by the apostle.

“The sacrifice of your faith.” Hard for us to get into this expression. The secret to experience Christ in such a book is just relying on these 3 things. The bountiful supply of the Spirit, the word of life, and the sacrifice of your faith. Now…what is faith that can constitute a sacrifice to God. As long as you are a believer, you have faith. But the question is this: could you consider your faith a sacrifice good for some other one to offer to God?

Paul was a New Testament priest. In Romans 15:16, Paul says I offered you gentile believers as a priest…all of you I offered to God. Paul was a gospel priest. He offered his converts all to God as a kind of sacrifice. Not only the persons…Romans 15 refers to the persons as sacrifice, but Philippians 2:17 refers to the believers faith as sacrifice. This is much deeper.

Three extraordinary expressions used by the apostle in this book…(1) the bountiful supply, (2) holding forth the word of life, and now (3) the sacrifice of your faith. This is not an easy passage to understand, but surely it’s worth our while to get into it to try to see the kind of faith that Paul was considering to be an offering…a sacrifice.

We have to spend some time to get the right understanding of the matter of faith. The faith here is a little different at least from the faith even in the Bible in other places. What is faith? Ephesians 1:13 gives us a very clear definition. You have heard the word of truth. Then you believed in Christ. The result was that you were sealed with the Spirit. The Word came and the Spirit was there. When you heard the Word and believed, you got the Spirit. The Word, faith and the Spirit…these three are one. The first function of the Word is to infuse you.

The Word infuses you with faith. Faith is the issue of the word and the function of the Spirit. Why? Because when the Word comes to you…when you touch it…the Spirit is there. Rather, I would say…the Word comes and you touch it…this Word becomes the Spirit. I must tell you…from my youth, I loved to have faith. So I tried my best. By that time I loved two things…faith and regeneration. I spent dollars to buy books…I couldn’t get any book to tell me what is faith. As it should be. Some books tell you what is faith…but not actually as faith should be.

Until in the recent years…mostly by my experiences…I realized what is faith. Faith is just the Word infusing the very element of the Word into you. And this very element is just the function of the Spirit. So faith is the issue of the Word and the function of the Spirit. So when you have faith, spontaneously you have the Word and the Spirit. And actually…dear saints…eventually when you have faith you have the three things. When you have faith, you have the Word. When you have faith, you have the Spirit.

You can pick up any portion of the Word and dwell on it for a while. Then something burning…something boiling…something rising up with power. What is that? This is the mingling of the Word and the Spirit with your faith. And this always issues in the full enjoyment of Christ.

forbearance without any anxiety

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

In Ephesians 1:3 and 2:6 the apostle Paul says that we have been blessed and have been seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Well, it might say that in the Bible, but what does it say in your experience? Day by day, are you in the heavenlies or do you find yourself spending your time in anxiety? Most of us would have to truthfully answer that we spend much more of our time wrestling with anxiety than enjoying a life with Christ at peace in the heavenlies.

The truth is, that after man fell, human life became a composition of anxiety and worry. So how is it then that the apostle Paul also said in Phil. 4, “Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near. In nothing be anxious…”?

This book (Phil) is a book about living Christ and magnifying Christ. And practically, what does it look like to live Christ and magnify Christ? It looks like living a life full of forbearance and without any anxiety. So Paul brings us to the very practical side of our actual living and our expression. Forbearance is the sum total of the entire Christian life. If you were to add up the christian life, what does it look like….it looks like forbearance. If you add up the human life apart from Christ, what does it look like…one huge sum of anxiety.

So these two go together. So practically for us to magnify Christ and to live Christ…what does it look like? It looks like living a life full of forbearance without any anxiety. Very practical.

Paul..he knew what the human life was…nothing but anxiety. And what was the christian life…nothing but forbearance. To live Christ is to have forbearance without anxiety. This is to live Christ. For me to live is Christ. And this is what…no anxiety but full of forbearance. We cannot understand such a chapter as Phil 4 by merely studying the Bible. We need our experience to tell us what Paul really meant. Forbearance is the totality of the proper christian life. And what is the totality of the human life? That is anxiety.

So Paul picked up these two things to charge us on the positive side…to let our forbearance be known to all men. For years and years I heard and got to read a number of books on Gal. 2:20. Actually, I didn’t see exactly who was living this way. The answer is in Philippians. Because Paul in Philippians has stepped further not only to tell us that Christ lives in us…but even the more to tell us that to him is to live Christ.

You have to realize to have Christ living is us is not so much as to live Christ. This is much further. And to live Christ is to be full of forbearance and no anxiety. If you just have “this much” anxiety, you are void of Christ “this much.” How much Christ is here in your daily life…this will be measured by forbearance and anxiety. If you have forbearance, you have Christ. If you have anxiety, you are void of Christ. If you have forbearance, surely you don’t have anxiety. If you have anxiety, surely you don’t have forbearance. You cannot have both at the same time.

The first prerequisite to have no anxiety is to realize that every circumstance is an assignment from our Father…especially the bad circumstances. Just learn to know whatever comes to us is of our Father. Especially the unprofitable things are His better assignment.

for we are His masterpiece

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

Genesis chapter 1 tells us that God created all things: the heavens, the earth, the universe, man and all the living creatures. And how even a simple gaze at creation often fills us with awe as we consider His creation. But not until the New Testament book of Ephesians are we told what is at the very top of all that He has done and even all that He is doing. Or to use Paul’s language in Ephesians, what is His “masterpiece.” Listen to Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand in order that we would walk in them.”

WE are His masterpiece. “We” meaning the church. We will get into God’s masterpiece on our program today.

Only grace can produce this masterpiece. We in ourselves are not able to do anything that would result in the creation of this masterpiece of God. We must receive from God something which the Bible calls grace.

What do you understand by the term grace? What is grace: God dispensed into us. The very God who has been dispensed into us is the grace. “Saved by grace” means by God dispensed and still dispensing into us. Grace came through Jesus Christ. Grace came like a person. And here in Ephesians…from chapter one…you can see the very saving grace is God Himself in Christ wrought into our being.

We have stressed emphatically in chapter one the basic controlling factor there is the Triune God dispensed into our being. It is this Triune God that saved us. So “we are saved by grace” means we are saved by the dispensed God. The very God who has been dispensed into us…saved us.

The processed God transmitted into you in the grace. This is the abounding grace…amazing grace.