There is One Faith

By Brian Mitchell
    The story is told about an atheist who was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy move, the Loch Nest monster tossed the atheist and his boat into the air. Then the beast opened its mouth and was ready to swallow the man right out of the air. As the atheist sailed in the air toward the mouth of the monster, he cried out, “Oh, God, please help me!”    At once the entire scene froze in place with the man hanging in midair above the open mouth of the Loch Nest monster. Then the booming voice of God came down from the clouds, saying to the atheist, “I thought you didn’t believe in me.” The atheist replied, “Come on, God, give me a break. Until a minute ago, I didn’t believe in the Loch Ness monster either!” Faith is a funny thing, isn’t it?    As you know, we are in a sermon series about the 7 ones that equal unity. God wants His people to be unified and the 7 ones are the things that unite us. So far in our series we have discussed the one body, the one Spirit, the one hope, and the one Lord. While Ephesians 4:5 states very clearly that there is just one faith, we live in a world in which there appears to be many faiths.    A popular belief that many people hold says: “There are many ways to God and all religions are equally valid.” There’s also the false idea that all religions are basically the same. Certainly, there are some similarities to the ethics and ideas of the assorted religions. But there are huge fundamental differences about who God is, what God is like, what God is doing in time and history, in how God saves and what God requires from people.    God could have provided many paths to Himself if that’s what God wanted, but that would certainly lead to a lot of confusion, and it would make the sacrifice of Jesus unnecessary. If people could be saved without the death of God’s own Son, then why would God offer that as one of the many paths to God? Another absurd thing that people often say is: “It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you believe in something.”    Faith in faith is really nothing at all. Faith in general has no power at all. It’s not faith that moves mountains, its faith in a God who can move mountains that makes a difference. So, there’s a big difference between faith in faith, and faith in God. The object of our faith is way more important than the strength of our faith in that object.    For example, if I believe that a certain chair will hold me when I sit on it, the primary issue is the construction and quality of the chair – which is the object of my faith, not the amount of faith I might have in the chair. Even if I believe very strongly that the chair will support me, if the chair is a broken-down piece of junk, then it will break if I try to sit on it. My faith, even if it is ever so strong, will not make the chair good, if it is bad.    So, let me repeat, it is the quality of the object, not the quantity of my faith in the object, that is of primary importance. Do you have the one faith? Are you leaning wholly on Jesus? Sadly, far too many people claim to believe in Jesus, but you can’t tell it by how they live. We must believe Jesus is the one Savior and Lord and put our faith into action as we obey His commands and walk in His steps. This is the one faith. 

- Brian Mitchell served as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. Visit the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net