Shabbat shalom chaverim and welcome to this third part in our series on The Way of Faithfulness. Grace and shalom (peace) to you all in Yah'shua our Messiah (Jesus Christ). This should have been our fourth study but as you know I was not well enough to either write nor speak last week. A lot has happened in the last two weeks and I am hoping that many of you will have managed to keep up with the materials that have been published, particularly on Across the Veil, N.T.Wright and Evangelism.

Last time we made an in-depth study of Justification by Faith and took a close look at Romans 1:1-17. The importance and significance of emunah, faith or trusting for our religion is beyond dispute - indeed, it defines life itself. And yet it is perhaps surprising - or maybe not so surprising - to find that even 'faith' itself is viewed differently by Christians and Messianics amongst themselves. So what precisely is 'faith'? What is its nature and what are its constituent parts? This is a subject which tends to cause more confusion and misunderstanding than any other in the Bible, a reason we need to carefully examine it. And as a follow-on, we also want to ask what salvation is because of the vital linkage between the two, but that we will have to do on another day, hopefully at the next Rosh Chodesh.

I heard a funny story many years ago of a woman who was asked how she had become the member of her particular church and she replied, "I joined it on 'confusion of faith'". Of course, she meant 'confession of faith'. Some see 'faith' as a magic lamp which they rub, and hey presto - all their wishes come true! Others see it, as we saw in previous teachings, as something that functions only on certain occasions in their lives, if there is a critical financial, health, or relationship need, or something like that. Then, they feel, they need to 'change gear', as it were, and 'start exercising faith'. For many their religion (read 'faith') lies dormant until such emergencies manifest.

To understand what emunah or faith is it's a good idea to first understand what it is not. One thing faith is not is mere intellectual acceptance. A person can have an intellectual belief in everything that the Bible, his Church tradition, his congregation or his minister teach, or any mixture of all of these, and yet not have emunah (faith). One of the great tragedies of institutionalised Christianity is that people sit in a church every week reciting creeds and yet have no contact with the Creator. That is not to say that there is something wrong in having creeds (so long as they are doctrinally accurate, of course) because we all have the need to summarise our beliefs in our minds to give us a framework on which to build our thinking which we can then live out. And we need to do that as much communally as individually

As Messianic Evangelicals our foundational creed is the very ancient 'Apostles Creed', composed around 390 AD by Ambrose, which we have cosmetically reworded slightly so as to avoid a confusion of terms with Catholicism. A lot of messianics take exception to it because of their denial of certain key doctrines like the Virgin Birth, the Deity of Messiah (implied, though not directly stated), Messiah's descent into Sheol, and so on, one reason we consider it to be very important. For those of you who are not familiar with or, or have not memorised it (I learned it as an Anglican), let me recite it quickly to you:

• 1. We believe in Yahweh-Elohim, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
  
• 2. We believe in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), His Only Begotten Son, our Master.
  
• 3. He was conceived by the power of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and born of the Virgin Mary.
  
• 4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
  
• 5. He descended to the dead.
  
• 6. On the third day He rose again.
  
• 7. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of Elohim (God) the Father Almighty.
  
• 8. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
  
• 9. We believe in the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit),
  
• 10. the universal Body of Messiah,
  
• 11. the communion of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones),
  
• 12. the forgiveness of sins,
  
• 13. the resurrection of the body,
  
• 14. and the life everlasting. Amen.

However, emunah (faith) is not merely the acceptance of certain truths about Elohim (God) - emunah (faith) goes beyond those truths to touch Elohim (God) Himself. Faith is what Selwyn Hughs called "launching out on the biggest hypothesis one knows - Elohim (God) - not with one's lips, but with one's life", though the confession of our lips is important too, as we shall see. The point is, emunah (faith) is not merely head-acceptance but heart-acceptance too. It is not just the assent of our mind but the committment of our whole life. A whole life is already one of faith, though we may not know it. The important thing is identifying what we live our faith by and whether there are any contradictions in that 'faith'. Sad to day, our minds can be very confused at times with people not uncommonly living out multiple things they have 'faith' in simultaneously, such as Christianity and Darwinian evolution, making their lives very contrary indeed!

If faith is not mere intellectual assent, what is it? Another thing it is not is blind credulity. Another funny story I remember is of a boy who was asked to define 'faith' and his answer was, "Faith is believing something you know isn't true!" But that is not faith - it is called credulity which is another word for gullibility, that is to say, believing in something with very little evidence, like fairies, Santa Claus, flat earth or that the moon is made of cheese.

Here's the problem. Some Christians want to possess faith so badly that they believe, not in the impossible, but in the ridiculous. I once heard the story of a Welshman who was praying that Yahweh would give him £10,000 for a certain project he wanted to embark on for Him. When asked how He thought Yahweh would answer his request, he answered, "I believe He will create 10,000 new bank notes and make them appear in my desk drawer." It never seemed to cross his mind that Yahweh could not create brand new banknotes with different numbers from those already in print. What would happen if those banknotes were detected in circulation and found not to match any printing runs. They would immediately be regarded as false and fraudulent.

Now I don't want to dampen anyone's faith for sure - Elohim (God) is able and willing to do what man regards as 'impossible', but He is not willing to do the unreasonable. I agree with John Stott who said that faith is a reasoning trust - not just 'trust', but a 'reasoning trust'. And why is that? Because emunah (faith) rests on the character of Yahweh, and since Yahweh is reasonable - then emunah (faith) must be reasonable too. For:

"Elohim's (God's) judgment falls, we know, in accordance with the emet (truth)" (Rom.2:2, KNT).

How many Christians have you come across of the 'name it and claim it' crowd? They go around 'claiming' all sorts of things like clothes in the shop they want but can't afford, car-parking spaces which aren't available, jobs they're not qualified for, and so on. That isn't biblical 'faith', it is credulity. Yahweh doesn't work that way because it simply isn't in His character.

Neither, then, is emunah (faith) in what might be termed 'naïve optimism. Far from it. I have nothing against optimism. We should be optimistic but there is also unreasonable or naïve optimism. It's similar to being credulous and comes from a lack of wisdom or innocence occasioned by a lack of developed powers of reasoning and criticism. It comes from being immature.

In its purest form, optimism - which is the tendency to expect the best in things - is a hopefulness and confidence, such as the Christian belief in the ultimate triumph of good over evil. This is a very desirable quality indeed because it's an essential ingredient of emunah (faith). Pessimistic people can be very depressing and discouraging. Unfortunately there are a lot of believers whose use of optimism is very naïve.

Someone of that category once wrote a poster saying, 'Cheer up - it may never happen!' Can you imagine how someone who had just suffered a tragic loss, such as a bereavement, a financial catastrophe or a divorce, would feel reading such a poster? I'm sure you have all heard the story of a man who, having fallen from the top floor of a 20-storey building, was heard to say as he passed the 11th floor: 'So far, so good!' That's naïve optimism!

There are sadly too many believers and unbelievers alike who choose to ignore reality and focus only on finality because they think that is what faith consists of. There are a lot of people who are not prepping for what is going to be the worst financial collapse in history because they say everything will be fine in the end. Well, yes, that is true, if you don't mind a shortened life for yourself and your family, but what if Yahweh wants you to live longer to serve Him and take care of your family which means doing some serious prepping? The kind of argument offered by who I call the 'finalists' is what may be called naïve optimism because it ignores reality. But emunah (faith) does not do this! The attitude of mind that will not look difficulties in the face and admit they are there is deeply suspect. It is not a healthy thing to do, either mentally or spiritually.

Now, of course, that does not mean we should go to the other extreme and focus our gaze solely on our problems, because if we look too long at our problems we will be adversely affected by them. We must look at them but not focus on them. We glance at them but we gaze at Elohim (God).

True emunah (faith) looks difficulties in the face, recognises their presence, then rises up to surmount and overcome them. Anything less that this will let you down. So if you know total economic collapse is inevitable, and that it must come soon, because you have carefully studied the evidence, then it is foolhardy and faithless to do nothing about it in terms of physical preparation, because Yahweh is no more going to magically yank you out of the middle of New York once the balloon goes up and dump you in some farm house in the countryside stocked up with food, water and other necessities for a year or two, anymore than He stuffed £10,000 into the desk drawer of that Christian who wanted the money for a gospel project - anymore than He gave the name-it-and-claim-it woman the blouse or parking lot that she selfishly demanded as though Yahweh was her personals ervant - instead she had to work and save up for the blouse and go and search for a vacant parking lot until she found it. That's reality. That's life.

I have had to face a predicament of my own using these very self-same principles. With a defective heart that could give way and kill me if I didn't do something, I had the choice of doing nothing but trusting Yahweh to fix it supernaturally without medical intervention or I had the choice of seeking medical help. I have received no promise of supernatural healing beyond the general promises of Scripture but Yahweh could do it and I am still trusting (and hoping) that He might. In the meantime I have gone over all the options many times, weighing everything up carefully with my eyes firmly on Yah'shua (Jesus) my Divine Physician, because I am trusting in His purposes. Indeed, I want to share something with you that happened yesterday in this regard in a couple of days' time as there isn't time today.

Our prayer should always be to ask for the emunah (faith) that does not have to wear blinkers when confronted by problems but which looks issues full in the face, and to then surmount those issues. Why cannot we do this if we believe the Scripture which says that "we know that the One who raised the Master Yah'shua (Jesus) from the dead will also raise us up with Yah'shua (Jesus)" (2 Cor.4:14, NIV)? I mean, rising from the dead is probably the biggest thing we will ever be asked to have faith in, isn't it? Well, you may not think so while you are young and in the peak of health, but when you are at death's door you will certainly face the choice to seriously believe a passage of Scripture like this or not.

The next wrong kind of faith we need to examine is the so-called 'faith' that is 'trying hard to believe'. That is not emunah (faith) - that is anxiety trying to look like emunah (faith)! Biblical emunah (faith) is not, as Harold Horton said, "grasping tight and clenching fists and furrowing brows and gritting teeth and shouting in a kind of hopeless hope, 'I do believe; I will believe.' Faith is absolute rest in Elohim (God). It is absolute knowing and absolute trusting according to His gracious promises and commands" [1].

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Moffat translation of the Bible. Most of you have probably never heard of it as it was written just over a century ago and it's not even one I use much myself but every now and then there are inspirational jewels within it worth sharing. There is a humorous touch to Paul's statement in Romans 16:12, which James Moffat translates in this way:

"Salute Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who work hard in the Lord" (Rom.16:12, Moff.)

A preacher, who liked this version, referred to them as 'Brother Try' and 'Sister Try' - sweating Christians who "work hard for the Lord". He went on to say that he would like to have changed their names to "Trustphaena" and "Trustphosa" who "accomplish much in the Lord.". You know, there are so many believers who are almost on the point of exhaustion due to struggling hard to believe! That, brethren and sisters, is trying, not trusting. Emunah (faith) is the easy, restful, fearless attitude of an infant reposing on its mother's breast - with no thought of fear, effort, or uncertainty. That is why the writer of Hebrews said:

"...anyone who enters Elohim's (God's) rest also rests from his own work" (Heb.5:10, NIV).

So many ministries fail because the ministers try too hard. One such minister was advised he should quit the ministry and return to secular employment. He struggled over this for three days in prayer until Yahweh spoke to him and said, "Stop struggling - and let Me hold you." He obeyed, surrendered his ministry to Yahweh and, within weeks, became a new man with a new ministry. He passed from fighting to faith, from trying to trusting, and then was able to truly accomplish much in the Master. You see, the transition in passing from 'trying' to ' trusting' changes the basis of your life from 'self' to 'Yahweh'.

The next thing emunah (faith) is not is 'positive thinking'. Now, don't get me wrong, positive thinking does have value. After all, millions of people could testify that positive thinking has helped them to build successful and productive lives. The concept of positive thinking is based on the famous statement by Emerson who said:

"A man is what he thinks about all the day long."

When we think positively, we tend at act positively, a fact which can hardly be denied. Our thought processes are extremely powerful, and by determined and positive thinking we can lift ourselves out of poverty, overcome failure, and conquer disabilities. All of this is totally true. But there is a difference between positive thinking and emunah (faith). So what is it?

We can answer that question by asking another: Is our positive thinking in line with Yahweh's thinking? Our thoughts may be positive, but are they the thoughts on which Yahweh wants us to focus? Yes, it is perfectly possible to achieve great things through the power of positive thinking. Ask any successful businessman - so make no mistake about that. But the tragedy is that we can think ourselves into situations where Elohim (God) may not wish us to go.

A millionnaire in Georgia, USA, once said that by the power of positive thinking he had amassed a fortune. Then, with tears in his eyes, he said: "But I realise now that this was not the path God wanted me to pursue." I'm afraid that much of what passes as 'faith' in Christian circles is nothing more than positive thinking. And positive thinking that is not in harmony with biblical thinking turns out to be nothing more than wishful thinking. Didn't Yah'shua (Jesus) warn:

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36, NIV).

It is important to be aware that there is tremendous power locked up in the mind but once those thoughts become self-centred rather than Yahweh-centred, such power can be channelled in entirely the wrong way and either waste or ruin a life...or both. Yahweh says we are to live for Him, love in Him, think in Him, and prosper in Him through emunah (faith) in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), for our rational mind cannot work out what is best and good, for as it is written:

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Is.55:9, NIV).

And now we come to the last thing that emunah (faith) is not which I have left until the end because it is probably the most important to understand because it can be the most dangerous: faith is not presumption.

A lot of people come unstuck at this point because the line between presumption and emunah (faith) is finely drawn and often difficult to discern. Some of the greatest tragedies in the Messianic Community (Church) happen because people launch out on what they believe is faith, but which subsequent events show is nothing more than presumption. Thus King David prays to Elohim (God):

"Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not rule / have dominion over me..." (Ps.19:13, RSV).

We'd better understand what the word 'presumptuous' (KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) means, hadn't we? To be presumptous means to be 'insolent' (NRSV), 'arrogant', 'proud' (especially to have 'proud thoughts' - NRSV alternative rendering), and 'willful' (NIV). It translates the Hebrew word zed. I am sure we have all fallen down at this point, and many times too. I know I have.

Let me give you an example how this works. A woman who was a diabetic read these words in the Scriptures one day: "I am Yahweh who heals you" (Ex.15:26, NIV). She took it as a direct word from Yahweh and in 'faith' gave up her insulin injections. Within three days she was dead.

I know of some poor Koreans who were journeying through mountainous country to some Christian conference on foot. The weather had been bad and they at length came upon a raging river and, remembering how Yah'shua (Jesus) had commanded the waves to be still and walked on water, presumed that this scripture could apply to them if they applied enough 'faith'. They attempted to make the crossing and all of them were washed away and drowned. Both the diabetic woman and the Koreans acted presumptuously and not in biblical emunah (faith).

This is a huge and dangerous subject which is why I have left it last. The error here is basically the failure to differentiate between the general and the specific. Not every miracle recorded in scripture is for all people at all times. The words, "I am Yahweh who heals you," is a general statement that shows Elohim (God) to be the healer of His people. How that statement is applied, however, must be approached with great care. I have fallen for this very error myself, and not so long ago. About a year ago I decided that I would trust Yahweh to heal my chronic fibromyalgia and quit my medication. After a week I gave up because I was in such agony. I was presumptuous. Yahweh had not instructed me to do this. It was a failure and my 'faith' was not true emunah. I was warned not to do this but I didn't listen.

As a general principle, it is perfectly true that Elohim (God) delights to heal, but in some specific instances He may have good reason for withholding healing. Those who fasten on general principles, and fail to apply them prayerfully and carefully in specific situations, are in danger of acting, not in emunah (faith), but in presumption.

I hope you do not need me to tell you that presumption has a great reputation for tragic endings. And I venture to say that more tragedies take place in the Messianic Community (Church) of this kind than almost anything else. Let's look at this matter more closely.

Bible scholars point out that two different Greek words are used in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) for 'word'. One is logos, equivalent to the Hebrew davar and the Aramaic miltha, which means 'the word', and the other is rhema, which means a directed word from Elohim (God) - a special word for a special situation. Emunah (faith) comes as the result of a rhema, a specific word from Yahweh, flowing into the logos - the general persuasion that 'Elohim (God) has said'. This is the important thing to remember: the rhema will not go beyond the logos, but it will stake its all on it.

For exampple, Naaman was the only person who was healed of leprosy by dipping seven times in the Jordan river, and only Peter walked on the Sea of Gaililee. These miracles came as a result of Elohim's (God's) direct word to specific individuals on specific occasions. The rhema of Elohim (God) became a faith-producing word.

Now I happen to know of one example where several believers escaping Moslem persecution and certain death in Indonesia were specifically directed by Yahweh to cross a lake by walking on the water but that was a rhema for them alone. That was different from the Korean situation because they did not receive a revelation to cross the stormy river. Better late than dead. The Koreans acted presumptuously and died, the Indonesians did not and lived.

Let me share another well known example with you, the time when the Israelites attempted to invade Canaan without a revelation from Yahweh. They had been commanded to invade earlier but had refused because of fear of the giants. Then Yahweh cursed them for their rebellion and said that that generation would not enter the Promised Land but wander for 40 years. We read:

"But they presumed (aphal) to go up to the heights of the hill country, even though the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and Moses, had not left the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in the hill country came down and defeated him, pursuing them as far as Hor'mah" (Num.14:44-45, NRSV).

They may have believed they were acting in emunah (faith) but in truth they were in rebellion - they were being presumptuous, presuming to dictate the terms of their faith to the Almighty. Here Israel is moving presumptuously into battle with no promise or assurance of victory - compare and contrast this with the actual invasion of Canaan under Joshua a generation later where they experienced one victory after another, save in one instance when a mitzvah (commandment) was broken by a looter, Achan. The result of this presumptuousness of Aachan was a bitter defeat with many dead at the Battle of Ai just as the presumptuousness of the children of Israel resulted in a defeat with many dead at the Battle of Kadesh-barnea.

I think it is both interesting and very important to point out to you that the Hebrew word translated "presumed" here - aphal - is precisely the same word used by the navi (prophet) Habakkuk to describe those who act in unbelief:

"Look at the proud (aphal)! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live ('will attain life' - CJB) by their emunah (faith)" (Hab.2:4, NRSV).

That's the passage we studied in the first two parts of this series, remember? And what did aphal mean? Proud, puffed up, self-centred, conceited. The presumptuous person speaks whether Elohim (God) has spoken or not and it happens very commonly in the charismatic movement. The charismatic typically seeks to get Elohim (God) to do what he wants Him to do - 'name it and claim it', irrespective of whether Elohim (God) wants to do it or not. This is the thing - the terrible thing: when presumption prevails, then DEATH, not chayim (life), is the result.

It is a very, very dangerous thing to be presumptuous. Yahweh may not strike you down dead in one blow if you are presumptuous but He may strike you down with many little death-blows until you do finally die. I knew of an American lady who claimed to have revelations for her husband. She completely ignored all that scripture said about the husband being the authority and family revelator in the home. The husband wrongly thought she was so much more spiritual than he was and submitted to her revelations which never came to pass. Over time she started becoming more and more mentally unstable. In spite of warnings to cease her rebellion against him and to cease issuing false prophesies and instructions, she adamantly and stubbornly continued to claim the rôle as prophetic head for herself, a rôle that belongs to the husband alone, and in the end she got so demon-possessed that she went completely insane and had to be put in an asylum. Some of you may have heard me tell this story before. Yahweh's judgment on her was severe but necessary because you do not mess around with divinely appointed toqef (authority9 and tavnith (pattern).

Do not be presumptous, it is potentially fatal. Presumptuousness has destroyed huge segments of the Body of Christ which even now is being brought to judgment. It should be evident to anyone following what is going on in the churches that insanity has taken a grip and is leading them into the occult and to destruction.

This has frightened many believers into the cessationist movement where belief in miracles, prophecy and revelation is no longer accepted. However, being a cessationist is no protection from the spirit of presumptuousness. To claim, for example, that you know whom Yahweh will save and whom He will damn to eternal estruction, as many Calvinists presume to do, is also presumptuousness. This sin comes in many forms and guises. So be careful and be humble.

The imporant point is that we make a clear distinction between logos and rhema. Emunah or faith for issues comes from the rhema - Yahweh's specific word for a situation, and we must learn to differentiate between the two - between the general and the specific. It should be the object of much prayer that we ask Yahweh to give us the spirit of discernment through the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) so that we are not misled.

So, we have looked at the negative today - the various false forms of so-called 'faith' which I think you will agree is as important as knowing what true faith is. To recap, the false kinds of 'faith' are:

• 1. Mere intellectual acceptance;
• 2. Blind credulity (gullibility);
• 3. Naïve optimism;
• 4. Positive thinking; and
• 5. Presumptuousness.

Next week, if I am still here, we shall start looking at true emunah (faith). I hope this study has been a blessing to you and that in sobering up you will be brought into deeper communion with Elohim (God). Until Rosh Chodesh, then, may Yahweh bless you and give you much grace through Yah'shua (Jesus) our Messiah. Amen.

Endnotes