Have the Faith of Jesus

It’s one thing to have faith in Jesus, but it’s another thing to have the faith of Jesus. 

They are two different things that Christians need to understand. 

So what does “have the faith of Jesus” mean? 

Are we talking about having the same level of faith that Jesus had when He walked on water, raised the dead, healed the sick, and confronted the Pharisees? We’re not referring to this in this article. 

Let’s first read this:

James 2:1-4

¹ My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

² For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, ³ and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” ⁴ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 

James 2:14-17

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 

In the KJV, vs1 reads, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.”

After considering the entire context of the message, what James meant was…

We must have and live out Jesus’ ways and beliefs consistently. 

As we read from vs1-4,  the Christians displayed an inconsistent behavior towards others. They were more hospitable to the rich than the poor. In short, they represented Jesus when they interacted with the rich, but they misrepresented Jesus when associating with the poor. Such behavior contradicted Jesus’ ways and beliefs.

Not only that, but as we read from vs14-17, James went on to address the issue of not walking the talk. The topic has not changed. James was still addressing the need of having and living out the ways and beliefs of Jesus.  

Couple of teachings that Jesus taught specifically about this:

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

If we pay close attention, James was simply echoing what Jesus had taught. Our light (representation of Jesus) can be selectively hidden at all. We are meant to give light to all. Regardless of social status, wealth, preferences… we are obliged and called to show Jesus to all. 

Let’s take a moment to reflect hard on this now, shall we? 

Have we been inconsistent in representing Christ to anyone? 

This is extremely important, and the following passage will prove how critical this is for us. 

Matthew 25:31-46

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” 

In summary, Jesus was teaching about the need to be the light to all,  especially to the least of the brethren. Who falls under this category? 

It can be rephrased as, “because you did it even to the least important people…”

Least important people can be people who…

• We respect the least

• Are the most undeserving 

• Are the most unlovable

• Will not return the favor

• Are your enemies

A great example that Jesus set for us is how He treated Judas. 

Despite already knowing that Judas was going to betray Him, He still treated Judas equally. Jesus did not begin a preferential treatment towards Judas (which most of us may do). Consider how Jesus washed Judas’ feet together with the other disciples and how He was still so gentle with Judas throughout everything. 

Jesus expects us to shine Christlikeness to everyone, including these people mentioned above. And this is crucial because as Jesus warned in the passage above, it can be a matter of life and death for us. It’s a matter of eternal life, or punishment. It matters to Jesus that we not only have faith in Him, but also to have the faith of Him (live out His ways). 

My dear friends, this is not optional for us. 

Therefore, once again, I strongly encourage us to reflect on this and check if we need to repent of this  and make some adjustments to how we live our lives.