South Sheffield Evangelical Church

What is Faith?

Within Christianity faith can be described as that attitude of trust in God, including belief about God and his goodness, that is essential to a right relationship with God. Many theologians regard faith as including various dimensions, including trust, propositional belief and a willingless to act obediently... (Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion 2002)

At South Sheffield Evangelical Church we believe that the Christian faith is well described in the following quote from the bible:

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1 & 2)

This is the Christianity faith in a nutshell!

There are a number of important ideas in these two verses. They are:

• Justification
• Faith
• Peace with God
• Grace
• Rejoicing in hope

The Bible teaches that when man was first made (created) by God the relationship between man and God was perfect. We were given a perfect environment in which to live and had a great friendship with the creator of the universe. All we had to do was choose to stay in the relationship with God. We choose not to stay in that relationship but to break the trust we had. This is the meaning of the first few chapters of Genesis. The 'in the beginning stuff’ at the start of the Bible with Adam and Eve.

The consequences of breaking the relationship between man and God was that all other relationships started to decay. Note that when Adam was asked why he had broken God's trust he blamed his wife. Things only got worse, one of Adam and Eve's sons killed the other.

The Bible describes the break down of the relationship between man and God as Sin. Sin is the disease that infects us all. Our relationship with God is broken. As a consequence our relationships with each other are also broken. Sin is the disease and 'sins' are the symptoms of the disease. These come in many forms but at the heart they are all relationship damaging acts.

Paul lists many sins in Colossians 3:5-10 when he is writing to a group of new Christians at the Church. He says:

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

The Bible has a single plot throughout all the different books. It tells how the relationship between man and God first went sour. It goes on to explain the ups and downs of man's relationship with God over the centuries before Jesus was born. It then explains how the relationship between man and God can be put right.

Justification

God is just. Justice and righteousness are part of the character of God. All that comes into contact with God also needs to be just and righteous. However, mankind is in a state of rebellion against God, and as such we are neither just nor righteous. We are sinners who cannot come before God. Justification is the process of being made righteous before God.

Justification is essential if we are to have a right relationship with God ever again.

The three large religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism all recognize the need for Justification. Islam and Judaism believe that sinners can be put right with God, justified, by keeping a set of rules and by good deeds. Christianity recognizes that humans cannot be put right with God by our own efforts. Instead Christians believe that God's justice must take its course, a price must be paid for our rebellion against God's will. However, Christians believe that the punishment for all sin, by all mankind, throughout all time has been taken by Jesus, Who is God's son.

Let's try a story:

There were once two boys who were best friends at school. They were always together and thought their friendship would last for ever. But after they left school they went their different ways, one into the law and the other into business. Years later they met again in difficult circumstances. One had become a famous judge and the other a business man, appearing in his court. The case went badly for the business man and he was found guilty. The day of the sentencing came and the press got hold of the story that the two had once been school friends. Headline news and articles suggested that the judge would give a light sentence. But the judge passed the maximum penalty, a very large fine or a long prison sentence if the fine could not be paid. The business man who had lost all his money faced jail. He was taken down to the cells and the judge left the court. The judge went to his chambers and changed into his normal clothes. He then conducted some personal business in the court and went to see his former friend. By this time the man was in despair. His former friend walked into the cell and sat down and explained that justice required that the maximum sentence be passed. The ex-business man said he understood that but had their friendship meant nothing. The judge said that their friendship had meant everything to him as a child which is why he had paid the fine himself a few minutes ago, even though it had cost him everything he held dear. He told him that justice had been done and that he was a free man.

Jesus, God's only son, paid the price for our sin. Justice has been done.

Faith

Paul talks about "Justification by Faith". Faith is belief and trust in someone or something. In the Christian context it’s belief and trust in the method of salvation that God has chosen. We need to have faith in Jesus and that by His death on the cross He has paid the price for our sin, our rebellion against God. God's son has taken the punishment for us all. The only requirement that is placed upon us is that we believe that we are justified because of what Jesus did.

Peace with God

We then have Peace with God because we are justified by Jesus' death. The punishment for our rebellion has been paid, taken by Jesus. We are no longer to be separated from God, but can be united once more. This is true peace as it was meant to be.

Grace

God loves us. That is the meaning of Grace. Grace is God's unconditional love. That is why God was willing to sacrifice His Son so that we could once again be justified. God loved us while we were unworthy of His love. He still loves us when we sin after we become Christians and is willing to forgive us and forget about our sin. All we have to do is ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Who died for our sins.

Rejoicing in hope

Jesus didn't only die on the cross, three days later came His resurrection. This is our hope that we like Him will be resurrected into a new life with and through Jesus. A life in which our relationship with God reaches its full potential. We have hope through our faith in God's promise of justification by faith in Jesus' death, taking the punishment for our sins, and in His resurrection showing us the way to a new life with God.

How should I respond?

God does not force His will on anyone. If you want to continue in your acts of rebellion against God's way, you are free to do so. However, the Bible speaks of a judgement day when all will be held to account for what they have done. Those who have been justified by faith will be judged as guilt free. Those who face judgement as rebels will take the punishment due to us all.

Christians are not special people who deserve salvation. They are people who recognize that they need help and ask for it. The first step on the road for a recovering alcoholic is to say: "I am an Alcoholic!". The first step on the road to being justified before God is to say: "I am a sinner". No one is cured of a disease until the diagnosis is made. The disease we all suffer from is sin. The cure is seeking God's forgiveness. You need to act today, tomorrow may be too late for you.

Do you want to find out more?

You can find out more about what we believe at South Sheffield Evangelical Church by joining one of our Christianity Explored courses. You can also look at the formal statement of the beliefs of the church in our Basis of Faith statement.