Faith in a person
True Christian faith is faith in a person. It is a personal trust in, and commitment to, Jesus Christ. And this is achieved on our part through careful investigation of who he is. The Christian is someone who has scrutinised the evidence, asked the big questions, tested what the Bible says and realised that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
How can you be so sure?
The reason is the apostles. These are the men who went around with Jesus, cheek by jowl, for three years. On, ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here…’ the participants say they get to know each other really well at close quarters with each other for two weeks. But the apostles were with Jesus for three years.
So one of them called John says this: ‘that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have studied, and our hands have touched – he who was God and was with God from the beginning – he appeared; We have seen him and testify to him. We tell you what we have seen and heard so that you can enjoy the same experience as us: Fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.’ (1 John 1 v 1-3).
No excuse
Page after page of the New Testament records the detail of what these apostles saw and heard. So the careful reader is left in no doubt who Jesus is and what he came to do. And no human, especially those with access to a Bible, can have any excuse not to know Jesus Christ and worship him.
We can know Jesus Christ, and be certain as we put our trust in him. And because we can be certain – beyond all reasonable doubt – we can devote ourselves and our lives to him.
No half-heartedness
As a community of Christians at St George’s it would be the best thing for us to devote ourselves wholeheartedly and exclusively to Jesus Christ. Half-hearted faith will only lead to half-hearted commitment and half-hearted serving, half-hearted love and half-hearted giving. Jesus has revealed himself fully to us, so let us love him and obey his commands.
Simon Smallwood - Pastor