Matthew 16: Faith vs. Sight

Often we hear people place a final obstacle to overcome before placing faith in Jesus Christ and becoming His follower. It usually goes something like this:

“If God would just write in the clouds, I’d believe.” – as if writing in the clouds is somehow more tangible than God’s Word passed down through time.

“I’m going to wait until I can straighten up my life before I start following Jesus, then He will accept me.” – as if we can actually do anything ourselves to improve our own depravity before a holy God.

“ I would follow Jesus, but I can’t handle all the hypocrisy I see in Christians.” – ahh, this one should cut to our hearts and make us look at what type of testimony we are portraying. We must be humble and honest about our own sin and bold and compassionate about how we share what Christ IS doing in us as we follow him.

“I would believe if I could see Jesus.” – this one seems to make sense and I get it to some degree, but there is a desire for experiential evidence that doesn’t carefully take some things into account.

First, it doesn’t take into account the way in which we come to believe other things from history.

We believe many things without actually seeing them before our eyes. We don’t believe it because we see it or can touch it or taste it. We believe it because we accept the historical record. There are some elements that may require more research and events in which opposing ideologies have put their own spin on, but primarily the events and individuals are not questioned to a large degree, if any at all. Historically speaking, The denial of Christ and his life and the Gospel’s record is on par with denying the Holocaust. And yet sadly spiritually and eternally speaking, the consequences for the denial of Christ will be far greater. Jesus words ring out to us today, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”  
 Second, it fails to recognize that “faith” is the means by which God has decided to bring redemption to people. Faith comes from the Greek, pistis, and is usually translated- faith, trust, or believe. Notice what Scripture informs us about faith and a relationship with God.

• Hebrews 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  – the only way we can please God is through faith and faith-filled living.
• Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. – The entrance into a relationship with God is through faith that God gives.
• Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. – Faith comes by the Word of God.
• Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. – it is through faith that we are declared righteous by God.

What is missing here is any face to face experiential proving. If you replace “faith” with “sight/seeing” you come up with a much different prescription of how one starts following Jesus Christ. Notice what is not said:

                Without sight it is impossible to please God, he that cometh to God must see that he is.
                For by grace are you saved through seeing.
                Faith cometh by seeing.
                Therefore being justified by seeing.

So after all of this talk about faith vs sight, take a look at Matthew 16:13-17. This is where Jesus asks Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter responds, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” So we must say, well that was easy for him to know or believe, he had Jesus right in front of him, who wouldn’t believe. The answer to that question is, “how many saw Jesus face to face and yet did not believe, how many heard his teaching and saw his miracles and walked away unconvinced, and how many rallied around him for a revolution but fled when the revolution they were seeking ended before it could get off the ground?”

The other part of the answer is that it was not Jesus presence that convinced Peter it was the revealing work of God the Father in Peter’s mind and heart. Jesus said, “Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” What’s the point? The point is that God has set forth that those that enter His family and are granted redemption do not do so by seeing and then believing, but by believing and then someday seeing. We must be careful not to place expectations of God that take him outside the channel which he has prescribed in coming to Him. He has clearly defined faith as the means by which we enter into His family.

So we believe, we believe without sight. We believe and exercise faith in the revealed Words that God left for us. We are informed of all the evidence needed, even without seeing them occur. We believe a Lord who came, we trust the record, and we walk in steps not seen -  but of which the record speaks loud and clear. We believe Jesus came, though we were not there to see him. Without being there, we believe he died a sinner’s death (our death), though he had no sin. And with bountiful evidence of the Apostles, multiple appearing, a discomfited story of unsuccessful soldiers and lying religious leaders, and over five hundred seeing the risen Christ in one setting; we believe in the resurrection. “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”