Sola Fide - Look to the Star

Is the ice safe? Maybe. I see people laughing and frantically pounding their skates across the sheet of ice. That kid over there just dumped his hot coco, but nothing happened. There is a guy renting skates too. There appears to be concrete, not a body of water under the ice too, but is the ice really safe? The question, “Is the ice safe?” isn’t a bad one. Growing up in the northern reaches of the nation, I saw signs and stories of how dangerous ice can be. A city rink with a crowd of happy people isn’t one of those dangerous examples of ice.

When I meet people who are keenly aware that there are dangers in religion. Muslim extremists blow themselves up! How are Christians any different? The temptation to see all religions as equal is politically correct, but it can be a damning view spiritually speaking. The difference between Biblical Christianity (what exactly does that mean?!) and other world faiths is as dramatic as the dangers of a sheet of ice floating on a pond and the joys of a sheet of ice in the center of a city resting safely on concrete.

What does all that have to do with faith? Faith is only as strong as the object in which it trusts. So that means that if you trust in a God that isn’t real, you have every reason to fear. The only result is that is a fall. When the object of your faith is Jesus, you can crawl carefully through life hoping that he doesn’t fail, but there is another way – skating, flying, stomping, and spinning through life with joy. Want this faith?

Martin Luther once wrote, “Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it.” It can be a dramatic change to live trusting that God will see you through the good and the bad. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. You faith give you clarity on what God thinks of you. Want to hear more about how we are saved by faith alone? Watch the second sermon in our series on the solas of the Reformation taken from Hebrews 11.