18 June 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-
On June 5th, Pr Jeffrey Rachmat, senior pastor of Jakarta Praise Community Church (JPCC), shared in the DUMC Lead Conference about the meaning of faith and how we build faith.
Faith is seeing things from God’s perspective
Pr Jeffrey shared an analogy of two friends who work in the same building; one working at the ground lobby and the other on the 15th floor.
A car accident happened on the street in front of the building, causing a massive jam. The one on the ground floor saw the chaotic situation and decided to remain in his office, while his friend on the 15th floor saw a pick-up truck removing the damaged car from the street. What was more amazing is that he saw the street before the truck was few with cars! If he were to leave the office from the side of the building, he would avoid the jam altogether.
While one saw problems, the other saw an opportunity.
So, this is what the Word of God does for us, shared Pr Jeffrey. We don’t see our problems from men’s perspective but the way God sees it. That is why we need to look into the Word of God to equip ourselves in looking at problems from a different perspective.
He shared that God’s commandment is not burdensome (1 John 5:3). It is not made to restrict us or steal our joy or fun. But it’s made to protect our freedom.
Faith takes time to develop
Trust needs to be earned, by developing it over time. And trust in God’s Word and His Character is called as faith. Same like trust, faith needs to be developed over time.
But how easy for us to forget about the time factors; we expect someone who just became a Christian to have faith compared to a Christian who had walked with God for years.
Faith is like muscles and it takes time to develop.
And Jesus is not upset with our different progression of faith. He had to repeatedly deal with the different progression of faith in his disciples.
He was not upset when Philip did not know that He could multiply bread to feed the great crowd, instead of buying bread. (John 6:4-7) He was not upset when Thomas doubted His Resurrection in body and form after the cross. (John 20:27) And when Jesus wanted to resurrect Jairus’ daughter, He only allowed Peter, James, and John to follow Him because of their higher level of faith. (Mark 5:37)
Hence, like Jesus, we need to be aware of the progressive faith of our people and not place unnecessary burdens on their shoulders, but to help them develop trust in God’s Word.
When you’re dealing with faith, you’re dealing with what is unseen to make an impact. Faith is the currency of God’s Kingdom, obtained when we see our situation from God’s point of view.
Faith develops in the routine
Sometimes, Pr Jeffrey shared that we want to achieve big things and move up. But faith develops in the routine—the discipline to do what God said over and over.
In other words, if we want to do great things, we need to be able to be discipline to do the small, routine things, every day. All of a sudden, we will be amazed by what we can achieve from that.
Faith is built on love, not lust
It is easy to trust someone when you love the person. That is why our foundation of faith must be love (1 Cor 13:13) and not lust for our own gain. Faith is not for lusting.
We don’t have faith to get a new car, buy a new apartment, or eat in an expensive restaurant. Many people are disappointed in the end because they forget that the foundation of their faith should be love.
Some people lust after the approval of men. They do spiritual activities to please other men. That is spiritual hypocrisy. The motivation of our faith should be pleasing God, even at the expense of offending other people. We live for an audience of One God.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Gal 5:6)
Why is love so important? This is because if we take love out of our relationship with God, we miss the point.
“I often wonder if religion is the enemy of God. It’s almost like religion is what happens when the Spirit (God’s Spirit) has left the building.” (Bono, U2)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
About Speaker: Pastor Jeffrey Rachmat is the founding and senior pastor of Jakarta Praise Community Church (JPCC). He has a passion to help people fulfill God’s vision for their lives by communicating insights from the Word of God in a practical and relevant way, and inspire people to live extraordinary lives especially in the areas of leadership, relationship, marriage, and business. Jeffrey is happily married to Angela, and has three children.
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Note: This article is written from the perspective and interpretation of the writer, to condense and accentuate the ideas of the pastor in a more understandable and readable way.
Pictures are credited to DUMC
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