The Genuine Article…Faith.  1 Timothy 1.5

She was lovely, and she was loved, but now she is dead.  I was asked to officiate at her memorial service, but since I had not known her at all, I interviewed her friends to gain an understanding of the beautiful young blonde who died all too soon.  Several times, they described her as spiritual, and I carefully unraveled what they meant.  Spiritual. ‘She was a woman of great faith… oh, yes, very spiritual.’  Spiritual … what does that mean anyway?

Paul wrote to Timothy, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”¹ Notice—Paul did not write, ‘The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and being spiritual.’ 

Paul was holding up the value of a sincere faith.  A sincere faith, what did he mean?  Countering the false teaching that was creeping in, Paul was talking about genuine faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul wanted to recognize the congregation led by Timothy the same way he did the church at Rome, when he wrote to them: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world”.²  Authentic faith makes people sit up and take notice because it is real.

What makes faith genuine?  Indeed, what makes for a sincere faith?

It is based on the truth of the gospel

         and our need of the saving work of Jesus Christ,

                  so that we might be made right with God. 

Otherwise,

we are separated from God because he is holy, and we are not. 

         There are not many ways to God. 

                  There is only one—Jesus. 

He said of himself, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.”³ Our personal assent is critical.

There is more—genuine faith requires our trust in Jesus.  See, many believe in God, they may even believe in who Jesus is, and what he did—but genuine faith requires we put our trust in Jesus, and submit our will to him.  Otherwise the thing we call faith is really just theory, it is not applied.  Faith not utilized, faith not tried is powerless, and renders God to be the same in our lives.

‘But it's risky,’ you say. ‘I feel safe right here in my placid state; I like the way things are…’know what I’m saying?  You may think I’ve kinda settled, but …’ Well, I guess I just have a thought: Is your faith in Christ alive?  How real is it, if you haven’t had to really trust God for anything in your life lately?  Friend, have you really placed your faith in Jesus then?  Because I believe that is the kind of daily life God is calling you and I to live—one that engages an active faith in Jesus Christ . . . one that risks things for him, things that might not be accomplished on our own strength, that we just can’t quite manage without his power.

I love this challenge from an old Quaker:  “You have trusted him in a few things, and he has not failed you. Trust him now for everything, and see if he does not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever have asked or thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to his own mighty power, that will work in you all the good pleasure of his most blessed will. You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about his management of it?”⁴

The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.⁵ May our faith be real!  May our lives in Jesus Christ be alive!  May we be people who live and walk in faith, not just talk about it.