With Jesus as the Source of all redemptive blessings of the kingdom of God, we learned that the realm of redemptive blessings is contingent upon a response of faith. Luke 7:50, Luke 8:50
There are two primary protestant views of how a person enters Christian initiation or is saved:
- Monergism – Monergism believes that God’s sovereignty limits God’s love. The fundamental problem for monergism is that God, by definition, is Personally responsible for sin, sickness, Satan, hell and death.
- Synergism- Synergism believes that God’s love limits God’s sovereignty. The fundamental problem for synergism is that God, by definition, requires people to activate faith for salvation.
MCA Church officially holds to synergism. From our perspective God, in love for His creation, intentionally and purposefully limits His sovereignty so that humans love Him through activating the faith He has given to each one. We love God by freedom and not by force and with personal decision not by predestination.
Luke, in Luke/Acts, is intentionally and purposefully revealing how the present redemptive blessings of the kingdom of God are entered into through faith.
Jesus asks a most important question in Luke 18:8, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
In Luke 5:20 we read, “when Jesus saw their faith.” What were the signs of faith that Jesus saw?
- First, and most importantly, the object of their faith was Jesus.
- They had substance and evidence that Jesus was the solution to the situation.
- They activated their faith.
The faith of centurion, in Luke 7:2-10, caused Jesus to marvel and admire his faith.
- Again the object of his faith was Jesus.
- In particular, the centurion recognized and trusted the authority of Jesus.
- Additionally, the centurion understood the greatness of Jesus and he responded in humility.
- Amazingly, Jesus saw more faith in this one Gentile than in all of the people of Israel!
A final observation: Both of these faith narratives show the HUGE importance of having friends who are filled with faith.