PRP 62 | What Does it Mean to Have "Faith" - Big Words, Good God Series

What if faith isn’t about having zero doubts—but about trusting Jesus even when you don’t have all the answers?

Faith is one of the most common words Christians use—but also one of the hardest to define. In this episode of the Pursue Reality Podcast, Pastor Lindsey and Chris Lautsbaugh unpack the biblical meaning of faith and explore why it’s much deeper than simply believing certain things are true.

Is faith just mental certainty? Is it the absence of doubt? Is it blind belief? Or is it something else?

In this conversation, they talk about:

• Why faith is more than intellectual agreement
• How salvation has always been by faith—not by works
• Why Old Testament believers were also trusting in Jesus
• How faith can include questions, doubts, and struggle
• What it means to keep your loyalty anchored in Christ even when you don’t understand everything

If you’ve ever worried that your faith isn’t “strong enough,” this episode is a comforting reminder that saving faith is not about having everything figured out. It’s about putting your trust in the One who does.

Key Scripture:
Romans 3:23–25
Ephesians 2:8–9
Hebrews 11

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

You're listening to the Pursue Reality Podcast from Reality Church. Each episode is a conversation about what it means to be real people pursuing a better reality in Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Welcome everyone to the Pursue Reality Podcast. This is Lindsay, one of the pastors here at Reality Church. And I am glad that you're here with us. I have a frequent flyer now with me, Chris Lotspah. Hello. If you notice the same last name, it is because Chris is my dear husband.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

It's another one of those date podcasts.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

It's a date podcast on the Pursuit Reality Podcast. So um we'll try to keep it um focused on topic here. Uh so we are in this series um called Big Words, Good God, and we are just going through some of the basics uh of our faith and talking about some of those things that um or words that we use so often but if someone were to walk up to us and say you know, under threat of a penalty, a fine, give me a definition of that word right now. I feel like most Christians would not be able to do that on a lot of Bible words that we use often. Um, and I feel like today's episode is especially true about that because it might be one of the most common words that we use. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Yeah, it's not really a big word.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Yeah, no. Well, it's a big word to our faith.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah, of course. But it's uh common word. It's not a long word.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

It's not like propitiation.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

So that's so we're we have that easy today. But it is the word faith. And we have been looking at a passage in Romans chapter three, um, which is one of those passages that kind of holds all the all the Bible y words, and I just want to read it out so people kind of know. It's I'm starting in verse 23. Um most people Christians have probably heard this verse many times before. It says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation, there's that word, by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the former sins. And so this whole concept that God put forward Jesus as a propitiation by his blood, and that we're supposed to receive this salvation by faith. And that's um something that we talk about a lot. We have a faith, we believe by faith. Um we often will say that we're saved by grace through faith alone. Um I see people have like tattoos with the word faith. They have all sorts of things. And then but if you were to ask people what does the word faith actually mean, I think you'd probably get a variety of different answers. Um but if we're saved by grace through faith, what does faith actually mean? So help us out, Chris. Give us give us the uh the inside scoop on this.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yeah, it's um I mean I think sometimes when we talk about this idea of faith, uh it it's helpful to try to say what it is and maybe a little bit of what it's not. Um because a lot of the times we we want to argue around some of the things, well, it can't be that or it must not be that. And um, you know, and I think sometimes uh people feel like, well, salvation's so cheap that it's just you know, basically you believe God exists and that's all it takes. Um, which, you know, in our episode about can you lose your salvation, we we do kind of talk about one of those potential extremes. Uh but really I think biblical faith is more of a it's a trust, it's a dependence, it's a reliance. Uh it probably also needs to involve some kind of statement to say that I can't do it. Um, you know, in many times when we talk about leading someone to salvation, uh the I can't do it part is kind of confess that you're a sinner and you know, pray the sinner's prayer, so to speak, basically. But there needs to be some kind of a realization that I can't do it, and I need God to do what I am unable to do, so thereby we are putting our trust, our dependence, our reliance on him. Um and it is interesting because you know, in in the Old Testament, we didn't really see, oh well, just just have faith, but it's actually implied. Uh it's implied through what is that?

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Because I would say I think most people would say Old Testament it was by works, and New Testament is by faith. Which and you're saying that's not true. The Old Testament it was by faith also.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yes, that I mean if Old Testament is by works, that makes a different path of salvation. That essentially makes a different God. And we that's a problem if we have that. Uh most times people think of the Old Testament was because you would keep the Ten Commandments or you would follow the sacrificial system, um, which that was put in place uh and it was to help them realize their sin, realize where they fell short, and then yes, a sacrifice could bring the forgiveness of an individual sin. But the point of the sacrificial system was actually to show just how big sin is, that when you really get into it, it's actually not possible to sacrifice for every single action, thought, word, attitude, like it's way too big. And then the realization that you can't do it quickly settles in on people. I mean, if we think about Moses, he's not sacrificing day after day at the temple. So he had a revelation that this works is not it's not big enough. It is not enough. And it was then he put that trust in God, he put that faith in God. So salvation has actually always been by faith.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Um the sacrificial system was to it did leave Old Testament believers to say, at the end of the day, I'm doing the best I can, but it's actually not My best isn't good enough. My best isn't good enough, so you're gonna have to help me out here, God, because I I'm gonna need something more.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

I don't have enough sheep, I don't have enough cattle, I don't have enough birds. Uh it's it reveals just how big the problem of sin is, and it it helps break down our human resilience that we think we can do it. Yeah. Sometimes some of us take a little more breaking down than others. So that you know the Old Testament sacrificial system is designed to say, well, if you want to try to do this on your own strength, go ahead. Good luck. We'll see how long it lasts until you realize actually I can't do this. Um and then you turn to the promise, the promise that Messiah would come that started in Genesis, and he would reverse the curse of sin, death, and the enemy. Uh, and so that's when you put that trust in Messiah to deal with sin. So faith has always been directed towards Jesus, whether it's Old Testament looking forward to his coming or New Testament looking back on his coming. But it's that trust, dependence, and reliance on something, someone who is greater than us.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Let's go let me, this is a little not a big rabbit trail, but we've been kind of hitting on this a few times in this series. Um, and I just want to pause on what you just said because you said it quickly, and I think some people are gonna be like, wait, what? Um so one thing we've been hitting on is breaking down this false belief or this lie that old testament God was one way and he was kind of angry and ungrate not gracious. Um he he lived by a different set of rules and New Testament God, then Jesus came along and he's this different God. He finally is like, I'll take it from here. Um if we were to really nerd out that is a false teaching, um, that the church historically has said, nope, that's not true. I think um it's if you believe that it's called uh Marcionism or you're a Marcionite.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Um don't want any Marcionites.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

We don't want any Marcionites, we don't want to do that. Um but I think a lot of people it is um maybe a new thought to them. So what you're s what you just said quickly is the it's it's faith both ways. Yes. Because sitting here today faith in Jesus both ways. Faith in Jesus, okay, that's important. Faith in Jesus both ways, because Jesus did not become Jesus at the incarnation. He's always existed, he's always been God, all eternity past, present, and eternity future. Um but we often were comfortable with saying now, me as Lindsay, I have trust and loyalty and allegiance to, and we'll talk about that in a second, but that Jesus in the past did something that I'm trusting. I trusting that in the past he did something that is saving me today. And so you're saying in the Old Testament, it's very similar. That they didn't believe in the past, they actually try I have trust that in the future Jesus is going to do something.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Right. So I mean, if we go back, I think we may have mentioned this in our episode on sin when we looked at sin uh occurring in the Garden of Eden, but really right literally moments after sin entered the planets was the first promise that Jesus, the Messiah, would come, that the seed of woman would come and crush the head of the enemy and reverse the curse of what just entered. So literally from Genesis 3 on, every single person has had an element or a perspective of what the Messiah was going to come and do. Now, throughout the Old Testament, that got clearer and it got more detailed, and we learned uh he was going to be born in Bethlehem, and we learned a lot of these details, but there were many details that were never known, but it was still a faith, a belief, a trust that God was going to fix what we had had broken on planet earth through sin. Uh and it is an act of grace that as soon as sin entered in the garden, God could have just killed Adam and Eve. That would have been just the wages of sin is death. But he gave a promise that there would be a substitute. Even in the Old Testament sacrificial system, the ability for an animal to substitute even for a single sin is an act of grace because we should be the ones paying the penalty of death. That's a very good point. So God's always been a God of grace. And salvation has never been by works. It's not keeping the law or the Ten Commandments. In the Old Testament, it's not being perfectly holy in the New Testament. Yeah. Salvation is always by faith, by trust, by dependence on Messiah who can do what we are unable to do. And as a result of that gift, as a result of that grace, we respond by keeping the law as an Old Testament believer, or by living a holy life as a New Testament believer, which our episode on sanctification will probably flesh that out a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

And I think that that is important. Um the word faith is I actually don't know how to say this in Greek. Is it paistis or pistis? I feel uncomfortable saying the second.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I think we butcher all of those languages.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Um that actually was a super common word in the Roman Empire, and it was normally especially used by like soldiers and government, but specifically the military. Um, and they would use that as soldiers had pistus, or they would talk about allegiance towards um Caesar or the Roman Empire as the authority in their life, they followed his orders, they were in the army, they trusted him as their leader, Caesar as their leader. Um, and so I I think there is also, if we're talking about what faith is not, um I think that's important to understand what that aspect of faith that they, especially in the New Testament, would have understood that it is um, I think trust gets at it, but it is this kind of allegiance. I'm transferring this allegiance. I can't save myself, I'm not Lord of my life, um, no one else can save me. Jesus is the Messiah who can save me. And I'm now transferring my allegiance, my trust in him. I'm not gonna obey him perfectly, I'm not gonna be the perfect soldier in this army, so to speak. But there is definitely this this um this faith aspect of no, I'm on this new team. It's not, and I think that's important because one thing that a lot of us in modern culture often when we think faith, faith, it's like um we would maybe define it more as like a a mental confidence that an absence of doubt. An absence of doubt, a complete and total confidence that I understand and believe everything that God exists, that everything he says is true. And it's not it's not that. Would you say that?

SPEAKER_01 14:03

No, I I would absolutely agree. Um, kind of uh another another word just to give us a different um picture that that comes to mind as you're talking about that is uh the illustration of citizenship is used in the New Testament. Um you know, because citizenship is kind of your place of belonging, your place of loyalty, your place of allegiance. Our citizenship is not with our passport or our nation we're born in, our citizenship is in heaven, ultimately, our ultimate allegiance. Uh because I do think sometimes the abuses of what we see as faith, you know, uh how many young people are or when they ask just basic questions about God have been told don't question, just believe. And it's like, no, that's that's not the right definition. No.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Because it's it's not just believing something is true or holding a religious opinion or having full confidence in a certain doctrine, so to speak. It is about trust and loyalty. Like even if I don't actually understand all this or have full confidence, my trust and my loyalty still in Jesus, even if I have doubts, even if I don't understand everything.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

It's not blind loyalty. Yeah. Uh you know, we we're told in the New Testament, work out our salvation with fear and trembling. I think uh the we see in the prophets, the prophets uh were able to question God. They were able to ask the hard questions. Like uh we see that in the Psalms, we see that in Job. Like, so this is not the absence of doubt. This is not uh well, I believe everything perfectly about Orthodox Christianity, and I don't have any questions about the Trinity whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

And God will somehow reward that if I don't have any mental questions. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Uh it it's a pursuit, it's a uh even a questioning to understand. Yeah. Um and I think sometimes we get this idea that it's lack of doubt, it's the inability to ask questions, it's never wavering in in, wow, does God does God really love me? Like, no, that's all part of the human pursuit of God, and I think God welcomes that.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

And a life of faith in the midst of that says, I'm gonna continue to be loyal to Jesus and put my trust in him, even if I don't, if I have doubts, or I have moments of not understanding or of questioning. Uh faith says, but I'm still on Team Jesus. He's the true Lord of the universe. Um, even if I if I'm not mentally got it all figured out. Um, I know some people in extreme cases, I was like this as a kid. If I would have a moment of doubt in my mind, I thought, oh my gosh, like for those five minutes, I was on my way to hell. And but I still trusted Jesus with my life. I was just having a moment of like, I have no idea how this works. One of the things uh Tim Keller says that faith is like um, he describes it as a chair. And that even if you don't understand how the chair works, even if you don't understand how to make a chair, like even if you're not a craftsman of like you can explain the science of how chairs hold you up, you still sit in the chair and you trust, like, okay, I don't understand all of this, but by and large, I I trust in chairs. I sit on them, I'm gonna trust this chair and trust that it's not gonna fall.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

So and and I think in some ways, I mean, ultimately, our faith that saves us, it comes back to just a foundational belief that God is good, that God is working for our benefit, that he wants to restore us to relationship that we were created, and he's willing to send his son Jesus to do what we are unable to do. You know, that's the bedrock of our faith, and is like that gets firmer and firmer the more we study scripture, the longer we walk with Christ, even as theological questions come, even as the brokenness of the planet hits us, and we go, What do we do with this mess that I'm in? Yeah, our bedrock of our faith can be secure in the midst of uncertain times. We can go through a Job-like experience, but still have the foundational belief that God is who he says he is and he does what he says he's done.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

I think one thing if people are like, Okay, I I could identify with that, or that's helpful to me, is you could meditate on Hebrews chapter 11, which we often call the hall of fame of faith. And just people that didn't do it perfectly often that's an understatement, often had doubts and didn't totally understand what God was doing, was he actually just horrible sinners and were horrible sinners they were. It's pretty bad actually. But at the end of the day, they put their trust, their loyalty, their confidence in God somehow, some way. Yeah, and God honored that, and and they are now these Hall of Fame heroes of people who were on Team Jesus. And I think that's at the end of it. I'm on Team Jesus, I don't understand it all, I don't always have perfect confidence, but I'm on Team Jesus, and I'm I'm not even if I'm feel like I'm on the bench because I'm not good enough, I am on Team Jesus. This is my team.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

You know, I I think sometimes a simple way to help us understand how God it works throughout both testaments. You and I we have a belief that one day Jesus is going to return. He's gonna come again. That's a future event. We don't know all the details.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

We barely know uh one and a half details.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

I mean, the more details we think we know, probably the more dangerous we are. Um but we just have a trust that he is coming again. Uh you know, if we kind of liken the Old Testament believers that that was the way they believed in the first coming. Yeah. They didn't have all the details. They didn't know he was going to be born of a virgin, they didn't know he was gonna die on a cross. Yeah, Moses had no idea about any of that. They knew he was coming, not again, but coming initially.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Yes, the first time.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

And they trusted in that, and we trust in that as well. We just have the benefit of history to help us with that. Yeah. But our faith in the future second coming would be similar to their faith in the future first coming.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

That's super helpful. That's super helpful. Well, I this is encouraging to me. It actually is encouraging to me as I reflect on what faith is. Um and by nature, if you're like, I don't have perfect faith, that is the nature Welcome to the human race. Welcome to the human race. And that's the purpose of faith, is it is that thing that says I'm not perfect, um, but I trust in the perfect one who has saved me, um, who is saving me and who will ultimately save me for all of eternity um with his return or when I die. So I hope this has been encouraging to you. I hope this actually builds your faith. I hope it encourages you to continue running the race that is set before you. Um, it's okay to have questions, um, but just keep wearing the jersey. You're on team Jesus, and we can trust in him and what he has done for us. So I hope you come back next time. If you haven't subscribed to this podcast, I'd encourage you to do so so that you get notified as we continue to release new episodes each week. So we'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Thanks for tuning in to the Pursue Reality Podcast. Reality Church is a local church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. To learn more or get connected, visit us at PursueReality.org.