The Faith of Jesus
+ Faith is living and experiencing the world as Jesus does. It is the amount we rest, trust, and live in the reality of the finished work of the Cross. It is personal trust gained from experiential encounter with Him.
It’s all about two people: you and Jesus. It’s about your relationship with him, your identity as a Christian, and your spiritual destiny. You are an open window of heaven’s glory, a manifest son or daughter walking the earth to fulfill God’s purpose. Supernatural origin means supernatural purpose. Everyone has a supernatural destiny. I believe the Lord is drawing His body into new revelation concerning the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. He wants to make His Presence known everywhere like never before, and he’s given us hundreds of years of theology and church history to prepare our hearts. He wants you to know how He really feels about you and reveal to you how close He really is. He wants to light your heart on fire and keep it burning. Let’s talk about the finished work of the cross.
Let’s go to that word “faith.” If we’re honest, the concept of faith is a little harder for us to grasp than we would like to admit. What separates human faith from Christian faith? It’s really easy to have faith in or about something. Usually our faith has an object or a subject, and we throw this word around all the time in a secular context; “I have faith in you son, you can do it!” or, “Man, my faith in Tom Brady never fails!” We use this word a lot in church when spiritual dryness occurs and we begin comparing our walk with our fellow brothers and sisters. “I would be as bold and confident as him if I had more faith!”, “Wow...she just has this amazing faith!” or, “I would be healed if only I had more faith.” All of these examples reveal a merely natural understanding of something that was always meant to be spiritually comprehended.
We spend a lot of time scratching our heads, trying to figure out how to acquire faith as if there is a quantity. You say: “well of course we know faith isn’t about quantity! Mustard seed faith! It’s about quality!” Then we engage in rigorous “spiritual” exercises, locking ourselves away for hours in our prayer closet, waiting for the answer to our latest roadblock. I am not denying the richness of practicing the spiritual disciplines, but in terms of faith, the Lord has designed everything to make it as easy as possible for us. There is nothing we can do to increase our faith. We need to understand the Lord does it all for us.
The Word itself defines faith as the following:
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
My personal favorite definition for faith is simple trust, rest, and certainty in Jesus. Faith is not blind belief in order to win God’s approval. No one comes to Jesus blindly. We encounter Him in a unique way and He persuades us of His love for us. Faith is personal trust in the Lord gained from experiential encounter with Him. Faith is always supernatural. Faith is always personal.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV) “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
When we know that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, our Christian lifestyle becomes less of a performance.
Galatians 2:20 (KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Romans 3:21-22 (KJV) “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested: being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all of them that believe: for there is no difference.”
In both of these instances, Paul is talking about our righteousness that comes by the faith of Jesus. Most translations have “faith in Jesus” for these verses, as the Greek wording could indicate either. I believe the KJV best captures what Paul is trying to say in context. What is the faith of Jesus?
Christian faith is relationship, not religion. Religion says build your faith through works and discipline. Relationship say yes to intimacy through shared trust. Religion says believe to be included. Relationship says believe you are included. In relationship, God is closer than the air you breathe. In religion, fear and insecurity keep God at a distance.
We could go on about personal faith, but I’m going to argue that there’s no such thing. If we revere and love Jesus in a merely human manner, if our faith relies on human definitions and spiritual checklists, Christianity becomes just another philosophy. It becomes easy to doubt what we believe when confronted with other convincing philosophies and ways of thinking about the world. We sway wildly and enter seasons of doubt and questioning. Some leave the faith altogether. Or, we clash with those who don’t see life the same way. We get into arguments over theology. We get mad when our unsaved family member keeps saying no to coming to church. At work, we keep quiet about Jesus until we we are directly challenged. Then the Christian claws come out as we attempt to prove our mettle. Jesus has better for us.
Jesus Christ is not a philosophy. Jesus Christ is not a club. He is the Way. He is a lifestyle. Jesus did not come to start the Christian religion. He came to radically transform our very humanity by reconciling us totally to God. In the Gospels, Jesus ignited a changed lifestyle in those who encountered him. We commune relationally with Him and in Him through His Spirit. We experience the same historical Jesus through total immersion in His Holy Spirit. He is in us, and we are in Him.
John 17:22-23 (NKJV) “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
Romans 6:11 (NKJV) “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 12:5 (NKJV) “so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”
1 Corinthians 1:30 (NKJV) “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-”
Ephesians 2:6 (NKJV) “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”
The spiritual implications of total immersion in Christ are staggering, but let’s get back to the faith of Jesus. Again, Paul says he lives by this faith, having been totally crucified. So what is it, and why is this concept so revelatory?
In short, the faith of Jesus is everything God believes about you, His precious sons and daughters. It is God’s persuasion, trust, and certainty about you. God had so much faith in man that He sent Himself in the form of a man. The incarnation and resurrection are a death sentence to any and all distance between God and mankind. Jesus is not merely a human teacher who gave an example for us to follow; He came as us - bearing our sin and separation, dying in that sin, resurrecting, and ascending to sit in authority. He is not a benchmark for perfect human behavior. Because He knew no sin, He is perfected human behavior.
Because Jesus is fully God and fully man, the faith of Jesus is the faith of God Himself. Jesus, the Word of God incarnate, represents the perfect will and intent of the Father.
Colossians 1:15 (NKJV) “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
By assuming the mind and body of our humanity, the incarnate Word revealed the Father’s intent for humanity- that we would be drawn up in total unity with our heavenly Father. The faith of Jesus is every promise, every dream, every purpose, and every thought that the Father has ever had for us. The faith of Jesus is a revelation of our total and complete righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Paul is saying that he lives in this faith. His faith is not a human or religious work, it is entirely divine. It is like a lens or an atmosphere; it is how he views everything else. It is a relational faith, predicated on God’s great love for His creation. Paul frames his thoughts, actions, and beliefs through the finished work of the cross. This is the kind of faith that performs miracle healings, calls things that are not yet visible as though they are, raises the dead, and lights hearts on fire for Jesus. This is our faith.
Does faith grow? Yes! But it is from the Lord growing our spiritual perception and enlightening our minds and hearts to see things as He does. Our responsibility is to abide in relationship with God. When we do, the atmosphere of our faith becomes clearer and clearer. Everything about us changes; we begin to see differently, believe differently, pray differently, talk differently. We start to see people how Jesus sees them. We begin to hear directly from the Lord. We begin to walk in and experience miracles. Jesus, through the Spirit, brings us deeper and deeper into a revelation about our heavenly identity, inheritance, and destiny. It is not a new thing, but an unveiling of the things God has believed about us before time even began. We are transformed to see ourselves as He sees us. He brings us from glory to glory, from faith to faith.
2 Corinthians 3:13 (NKJV) “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Romans 1:17 (NKJV) “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘the just shall live by faith.’”
Perception is important. What we hear with our ears, process with our minds, and believe in our hearts becomes our reality. Proverbs 23:7 tells us, “for as he thinks in his heart, so he is.” If you identify primarily as a sinner, you will struggle with sin issues. If, like Paul, you believe (trust) your sin nature was crucified and you are spiritually united with Christ, you will begin to experience life through His perspective. This is why Paul was constantly talking about enlightened understanding, the mind, and the importance of renewing it. Being precedes doing. Through a supernatural relationship with Jesus, our eyes open to see ourselves as He sees us. We love because He first loved us.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV) “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
1 John 4:17-19 (NKJV) “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.”
Our faith is not our own. It was bought at a price. We wrap ourselves in lies to hide from the intensity of His Presence but He’s trying to show us He’s been there the entire time, and His banner over us is love. We were thinking incorrectly. It’s time we stepped into our full inheritance as manifest sons and daughters of heaven. The Lord desires a Bride who knows who she is through him: confident, radiant, unblemished, spotless.
Ephesians 5:27 (NKJV) “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
Colossians 1:21-22 (NKJV) “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-”
Many Christians view salvation as mere amnesty, but the Word is clear that we have full citizenship in heaven.
Philippians 3:20 (NKJV) “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
We say the magic words, accept Jesus, and feel the fire. Then, somehow, the fire dies and we settle into dead religious routine. We wonder where the fire went, and make comments like, “I remember when I was that on fire!” when we see other people living in the immersion of His Spirit. The truth is, Jesus wants us on fire all the time, and He is the one who brings us to that point. John’s words say that one who believes “has eternal life,” not “will have eternal life.” Christians live in two dimensions at once, the heavenly and earthly, as we await for the final consummation at the return of Jesus. Let’s agree to live at the edge of heaven and press into the full inheritance that Jesus paid for. Let’s choose to worship from the cross, not at the cross.
Our faith is a supernatural faith. Through the Holy Spirit, we share in the faith of Jesus. The faith of Jesus is everything that God has ever believed or trusted about you! It is a faith that demonstrates relentless love. We couldn’t save ourselves, so God Himself stepped into humanity and time to rescue us. We couldn’t get to heaven ourselves - that’s religion. Instead, He brought heaven down to us. Now, we get to enjoy every heavenly spiritual blessing through intimacy with Jesus. Let’s make a decision today to cease striving and simply abide in the overwhelming love of our Father. Let’s explore a lifestyle together of living in the fire of His love.
