New Life Fellowship Church Camp | Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez
August 21-23, 2015
Faith, hope and love:
Life in 3D!
“There are three things that remain—faith, hope,
and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13.13 (TLB)
Read 1 Corinthians 13.1-13
Some helpful comparisons:
- “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes
4.12
- “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as
also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also
His offspring.’” Acts 17.28
- “For the soil made the seeds grow. First a leaf blade
pushed through, and later the heads of wheat formed,
and finally the grain ripened.” Mark 4.28
- They also speak to us of God the Father (James 1.17 –
“the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow
of turning.”), Son (Colossians 1.27 – “Christ in you, the hope of
glory.”) and Holy Spirit (Romans 5.1-5 – “That you may
abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”.)
- “Three in one” – just as the fruit of the Spirit is actually
one fruit with many “slices” (Galatians 5.22-23).
If faith is the root, hope is the flower
and loves the fruit.
Must-read:
Romans 5.1-5 | Colossians 1.3-6a; 2.6-7
1 Thessalonians 1.2-3, 9-10; 2.13; 5.8
Faith, hope and love, like the fruit of the Spirit, are
both a grace (an undeserved favour) and a choice (a
personal decision).
The Croix de Camargue is a beautiful representation
of these precious values: the cross for our faith,
the anchor for our hope and the heart for love.
Most of us live a fragmented, stressed out,
distracted and hurried life that pushes us to always
neglect the essentials.
“Hurry is not OF the devil – it IS the devil!” Carl Jung
Let us take some time to slow down a little!
As The Message Bible puts it, we are called to “Trust
steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love
extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”
Trust steadily!
Hope unswervingly!
Love extravagantly!
“Faith, hope and love are three faithful and
inseparable friends!” You cannot invite one without
making room for the others…
“Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which
his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his
father, and they had filled them with earth.” Genesis
26.15 – but they dug them up again and “found a
gushing underground spring” (v. 19).
Jesus will say centuries later: “whoever drinks of the
water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the
water that I shall give him will become in him a
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
(John 4.14).
How well are my wells doing?
TAKEAWAY 1
Meditation
“All my springs are in you.” Psalm 87.7
Question
When I hear “Faith, Hope and Love”, which one of the
three is the “weak link” in my life? Am I ready to confess
it and invite the Holy Spirit to renew my life in this area?
Look upon us, O Lord,
and let all the darkness of our souls
vanish before the beams of your brightness.
Fill us with holy love,
and open to us the treasures of your wisdom.
All our desire is known unto you,
therefore perfect what you have begun,
and what your Spirit has awakened us
to ask in prayer.
We seek your face,
turn your face unto us and show us your glory.
Then shall our longing be satisfied,
and our peace shall be perfect.
Augustine
Faith, hope and love
Hebrews 11.1-6; 39-40; 12.12
Faith goes far beyond believing “in” God (even
demons believe He exists! James 2.19). It means
choosing to believe God.
I choose to believe…
- Who God is – spirit, infinite, one, omnipotent,
omnipresent, omniscient, wise, righteous, faithful,
merciful, good, love – to sum it all up in one word:
HOLY (separate, unique, set apart). Holiness is close
to wholeness!
- What God says – through creation, the inspired
Word, the incarnate Word.
- What God does – through history, Israel, the
church, the world (He is even active while we sleep!)
Faith has many different facets that we need to
keep in mind – and nurture.
- Faith is choosing to put my trust in Him for my
salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2.8)
- Faith is choosing to believe certain obvious truths made
clear through the Scriptures. “I found it necessary to write to
you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was
once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)
LET US STAY AWAY FROM AN ARROGANT HYPERFAITH BY DWELLING IN A DEPENDANT HEALTHY
FAITH!
You will hear some say…
- “Name it and claim it…”
- Prosperity guaranteed…
- Throw away glasses or medicine…
"Our faith has to be not faith in faith but faith in
God which brings us to divine healing rather than
faith healing." George Wood
“People have a hunger to experience the
spectacular, but the Lord is supernatural.”
Sherry White
The best safeguard is a balanced faith – balanced
with hope and love, just as a tightrope walker needs
three support points.
A good cure is to pray the Jesus prayer: “Our Father in
heaven, we honor your holy name. We ask that your
kingdom will come now. May your will be done here on
earth, just as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6.9-10)
Faith is a constant refocusing of my attention, trust
and affection on my Heavenly Father. A regular
reordering of my priorities according to God’s
Kingdom and not my own.
Spirit… to another faith by the same Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12.7-9)
We need faith-fullness! The most common word
for faith in New Testament Greek is pistis, the same
word translated faithfulness in several instances
such as Galatians 5.23: “The fruit of the Spirit is…
faithfulness.”
- Faith is choosing to persevere and believe against all
evidence. “For Abraham, human reason for hope being gone,
Food for thought…
- Faith is choosing to manifest confidence in a specific
situation. “To one is given the word of wisdom through the
hoped in faith.” (Romans 4.18 AMP)
We need to cultivate a HEALTHY (sound) faith that
is balanced by hope and love.
Must-read:
1 Chronicles 29.10-14 |Psalm 33.8-9
1 Peter 1.3-13; 2.11-17 |Hebrews 10.35-39
Let us beware of some present trends so we do not
drift away into foolishness.
“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to
the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”
(Hebrews 2.1)
"Lord, if it will be to Your glory, heal suddenly. If it will
glorify You more, heal gradually; if it will glorify You even
more, may your servant remain sick awhile; and if it will
glorify Your name still more, take him to Yourself in
heaven." Ole Hallesby, Norwegian theologian
TAKEAWAY 2
Meditation
“Your Kingdom come, your will be done.”
Matthew 6.9-10
Question
Is my faith in… my faith or in my Heavenly Father,
His power, wisdom and faithfulness?
Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and
with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.
Charles de Foucauld
Faith, hope and love
I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my
kingdom is not from here.” John 18.36
“Do not let your hearts be troubled
(distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere
to and trust in and rely on God; believe
in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.”
John 14.1 (AMP)
May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and
peace in believing [through the experience of your
faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may
abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with
hope.” Romans 15.13
Daniel’s friends had a hope that kept them peaceful
even on the edge of the fiery furnace (Daniel 3.16-18);
so did Job in his trials (Job 19.23-27).
With some great sorrow, like a mighty river,
Flows through your life with peace-destroying power,
And dearest things are swept from sight forever,
Say to your heart each trying hour:
“This, too, shall pass away.”
HOPE = ROPE! Interestingly enough, the root if the
word hope in Hebrew means “to stretch like a rope”
– by extension (?), “expecting what we long after or
anticipate with impatience. To look expectantly in a
given direction.” (same word as the “scarlet cord” in
Joshua 2.18, 21).
“For you are my hope (rope!) O Lord God!” (Psalm 71.5)
Must-read:
Proverbs 23.17-18 | Jeremiah 17.5-10
Lamentations 3.21-26 |Romans 8.18-28
2 Corinthians 4.16-5.4 |1 Peter 3.15-16
LET US STAY AWAY FROM A HYPER-HOPE THAT
REFUSES TO WAIT FOR WHAT WILL ONLY COME IN
DUE TIME!
You will hear some say…
- “The Kingdom is now”
- “We are to influence governments and take
authority over the nations.”
- “The church will transform the world and
then give it to Christ as such upon His
return!”
We are called to be salt and light, ambassadors of
the Kingdom – not kings and rulers.
Others are raptured by a concept of revival that
makes them forget the imminence of the hope of
the Rapture of the Church.
Any truth stretched out too far becomes an
exaggeration and ends up a lie – or a heresy.
“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, my servants would fight, so that
When ceaseless toil has hushed your song of gladness,
And you have grown almost too tired to pray,
Let this truth banish from your heart its sadness,
And ease the burdens of each trying day:
“This, too, shall pass away.”
When fortune smiles, and, full of mirth and pleasure,
The days are flitting by without a care,
Lest you should rest with only earthly treasure,
Let these few words their fullest import bear:
“This, too, shall pass away.”
When earnest labor brings you fame and glory,
And all earth’s noblest ones upon you smile,
Remember that life’e longest, grandest story
Fills but a moment in earth’s little while:
“This, too, shall pass away.”
Lanta Wilson Smith
“Keep your eyes on the horizon…
and your feet on the trail.”
“Faith will always remain the means of our
fellowship with God and hope will never cease to
entertain new perspectives of glory.”
Meyer
TAKEAWAY 3
Meditation
“My soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”
Psalm 62.5
Question
How much am I willing to evaluate my life in the light of
eternity instead of temporary benefits?
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing away: God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
Theresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Faith, hope and love
The call to love is NOT a New Testament
concept only – it is in the very nature of God and
has been at the heart of revelation from the
beginning: to be loved and to love in return!
“Love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, keep
His commandments, hold fast to Him, and serve Him
with all your heart and with all your soul.” Joshua
22.5
Exodus 20.16: This can also be paraphrased and
understood as: “If you truly acknowledge me as
your God and the one who has delivered you from
bondage, you will have no other gods… not commit
adultery… murder or steal…”
(cf.
Deuteronomy 6.4-6)
Jesus will put it in a different way: “If you really love me,
you will keep my commands.” (John 14.15, AMP)
Must-read:
Leviticus 19.16-18 | Joshua 22.5
Matthew 22.36-40
“On these two commandments hang all the Law…”
1 Corinthians 13 | Ephesians 3.14-21
Romains 14.1-4; 17-19; 1 John 3.1-3; 4.15-19
LET US STAY AWAY FROM A HYPER-LOVE THAT
DILUTES REALITY AND LIVE IN AGAPE-LOVE
INSTEAD!
You will hear some say…
- “Everybody will be saved after all…”
- “There is no real hell to be feared…”
- “Same-sex marriage is ok…”
“Once and for all, I give you this one short command:
love, and do what you will. If you hold your peace, hold
your peace out of love. If you cry out, cry out in love. If
you correct someone, correct them out of love. If you
spare them, spare them out of love. Let the root of love
be in you: nothing can spring from it but good.”
Augustine (in a sermon on 1 John 4)
We need the love of the truth (2 Thessalonians
2.10), love God’s commandments (Psalm 119) and
learn to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4.11-16).
A good marker to evaluate our priorities:
“In essentials, unity;
in nonessentials, liberty;
and in all things, love.”
“Faith without love is cold, and hope without love is grim.
Love is the fire which kindles faith and the light which
turns hope into certainty.” William Barclay
When we consider the width, length, depth and
height of God’s love for us and the world, this
should help us remember we are but apprentices
and beginners.
TAKEAWAY 4
Meditation
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4.19
Question
What are my relationships that presently most need me to
allow God’s love to be poured out in and through me –
and how?
Faith, hope and love,
Coming from God above:
Every hour, every day,
Every step of the way:
Faith, hope and love! (bis)
A faith that embraces
God’s Word and His grace,
A hope that is anchored in Christ!
A love that keeps growing,
Rich and full, ever flowing,
As I learn in Him to abide.
***
Reign in me,
Sovereign Lord, reign in me! (bis)
Captivate my heart, let Your Kingdom come.
Establish there Your throne,
Let Your will be done!
Reign in me,
Sovereign Lord, reign in me! (bis)
May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers,
half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth
boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice,
oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may tirelessly work for justice,
freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears
to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation,
or the loss of all that they cherish,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you really
CAN make a difference in this world,
so that you are able, with God‘s
grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
© Chris Bowater
And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty
and our Creator Jesus-Christ the Incarnate Word
who is our brother and Saviour,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide,
be with you and remain with you,
this day and forevermore. Amen.
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A Franciscan blessing