Young Adults' Group

The Challenge To Be Certain Of Our Faith

by Pastor Mark
November 11, 2021

A perfect understanding

As we begin our Christmas preparation, our challenge is to be more certain of our faith. At last Sunday’s Morning Worship, Pastor Charles spoke about the example of the gospel writer Luke who had certainty of his understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 1:4). One amazing thing about Luke was that he had written about having “perfect understanding” (Luke 1:3). This phrase was derived from the Greek word “parakoloutheo” which means to “carefully follow”. Luke had sought to follow every single lead carefully and to investigate them thoroughly till he came to have “perfect understanding”. Luke had a very high level of understanding. Not many would have such a level of knowledge. How can we determine where we are in terms of our understanding of our faith?

The different ways of following

Let us consider the different ways of following.

1. The invitation to follow

The Lord Jesus gave a wonderful invitation to follow Him, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt 4:19) “Follow Me” in Greek is “deute opiso mou” which means “Come after Me”. This was an invitation given to Peter and Andrew to become disciples and learn from Him. Have we heeded the call to follow the Lord and become His disciple? Let us with a proper understanding of the Lord Jesus seek to heed His call to be His disciple.

2. Following as a disciple of the Lord

The word “to follow” in Greek is “akolouetheo”. The Lord Jesus instructed His disciples to learn more deeply about what it meant to follow Him, even to the point of death (Luke 9:23-25). What did the Lord challenge them to do? They were to deny themselves of the things of the world. The Lord also challenged them to take up their cross daily and not to be afraid of the hardship faced each day. They were also to learn to lose their life for the sake of the Lord Jesus and His work. Let us be challenged to be a disciple of the Lord who would follow Him with greater understanding and depth.

3. Carefully followed

The Apostle Paul also used the word “parakoloteo” which means to “carefully follow”. He described how Timothy had carefully followed his “doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love and perseverance.” (2 Tim 3:10) These were seven distinctive features in the life and ministry of Paul which Timothy was able to clearly and closely follow. How many of these features of Paul are we able to follow carefully? Let us be challenged to learn with greater understanding and more carefully follow these seven features of the life of Paul.

4. Perfect understanding

Luke did not just use the word “parakoloteo” in his introduction to his gospel but also added another word “akribōs”, which means “accurate or perfect” (Luke 1:3). Luke was truly skilled and refined in his approach to growing his understanding of the Lord. He was able to investigate carefully and follow precisely every word and knowledge till he had an accurate understanding of the Lord Jesus. His understanding had to be precise enough for him to write down a good and true account of the Lord Jesus which he did. Let us be inspired by the example of Luke in having a perfect understanding of the Lord Jesus. Let us be challenged to work towards a more accurate and certain understanding of our faith.

Back to Article Listing