Standing and Stirring

Over the past few months, we’ve been in a series on faith. We’ve talked about:

• Enemies of our faith (worry, fear, doubt, and reason)
• Putting our faith to work (your faith was not meant to just save you in terms of eternal security but to also deliver you today)
• Minding what we hear (what I hear informs what I believe, influences what I say, and inspires me to act)
• Essentials of our faith (commitment, obedience, risk-taking)
• Characteristics of faith (targeted, tested, and true – proved by action)
• A faith checkup (faith must be established and encouraged, faith gives you power to stand, and faith must mature)
• Running the race of faith (listen to the witnesses, lay aside the weights and sins, run with endurance, and look to Jesus).
• A faith that Jesus can see (dedicated, determined, and demonstrative)

Last week, we began a series on relationships. Today, we want to look at the impact our faith has on others or, better said, how faith impacts relationships. Let’s use the title: Standing and Stirring.

 

 

Hebrews 10:19-25 NKJV

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Verse 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

We must stand in the faith.

This standing isn’t idleness, like loitering, just hanging out waiting to see what might happen.                                               This is being steadfast – resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering – in the faith.

This faith is not a-wishin’ and a-hopin’; it is a full assurance in the heart. Is your heart fully assured in God?

Don’t give in to societal norms

Colossians 1:23 – continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast

Don’t let what you see in the world around you shake your faith

1 Cor. 16:13 -Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Don’t give in to the pressure of the world.

1 Peter 5:9 – But resist him, steadfast in the faith

As you stand, your standing will begin to stir up things in the people around you.

 

Verse 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

Love

The motivation for everything that Christ has done for us is love.

John 13:35 says that love is the mark of our discipleship – By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I’m talking about real love, not this superficial, as long as you’re acting the way I want you to act or doing what I want you to do love.

Real love as described in 1 Corinthians 13

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Love conducts itself in a manner consistent with God’s character, because God is love.

As we stand in faith, we demonstrate the love of Christ, and love stirs up love.

Verse 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

Good works

Standing in faith is not only going to stir up faith and love but also good works.

These good works are the demonstration of our faith.

We’re familiar with the passage in James 2 that says that faith without works is dead.

Motivated to serve and meet the needs of others

Faith

When you and I stand in the faith it begins to birth faith in others.

When unbelievers see us holding fast to our confession of faith through trials, difficulties, tragedies, and the like it begins to open their curiosity.

Have you ever had someone say something like, “I don’t know how you’re holding it together after that”?

This is a testimony of our faith and it opens the door to share the Gospel.

Standing in the faith will also strengthen and encourage other believers.

2 Kings 5  – the story of Naaman. The Israelite girl he had taken captive stood in faith that the man of God was able to heal. Even though she was in captivity, her standing stirred up love, that love stirred the prophet to do good works (instructing Naaman what to do to be healed), and that good work stirred up faith in Naaman (because he confessed that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel).

Acts 3 – the story of Peter, John, and the lame man at the Beautiful gate. Peter stood in faith that what they had to offer was better than what the man thought he needed. Peter’s standing stirred up love (he loved the man enough not to leave him in the condition he was in, that love stirred up good works (speaking the word of healing, rise up and walk), and that good work stirred up faith in the lame man. Remember that man was lame from birth, so it took faith to get up and do something he had never done.

My standing is stirring up something on the inside.

My standing is stirring up faith.

My standing is stirring up love.

My standing is stirring up good works.

Now, brothers and sisters, having done all to stand, stand therefore, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord!