Jamestown church of Christ

Fake, Borrowed, Inherited, or Forged?

Kyle Sanders

What sort of faith do you have?

Imagine this: You are standing on an ancient battlefield, in a time before gunpowder when battles were fought using sword, spear, and shield. Across the plain you see not a host of archers, but one single terrible warrior holding an enormous war bow. You’ve been spotted, and in an instant this archer has launched one of his arrows. The massive flaming arrow has just completed its upward arc, the glistening arrowhead now pointed downwards, and with each passing millisecond you see the arrow accelerating towards you.

Desperate, you reach for your shield, and…

A. You find your shield and hold it above your head, but then realize your shield is made of cardboard, and (thoughtfully) it has been painted to resemble steel and wood.

B. You reached for a shield that someone let you borrow, but they seem to have taken it back to protect themselves instead.

C. You find and hold up your shield, but it is sized to fit a small child, far too small to protect an adult such as yourself.

D. You find and hoist your shield, a fine work of Damascus steel, thick and durable and broad enough to protect your entire body.

In which scenario do you survive the archer’s attack?

Paul described our faith as a shield in Eph. 6.16:
“…in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” (NASB)

In this passage, Paul is writing to the Ephesian Christians regarding the “full armor of God” (6.11), an admonition that while written to a group of Christians, was intended to be implemented individually. Simply put, every Christian in Ephesus was expected to don their own “breastplate…helmet…shield…” and so forth. Every Christian is expected to individually gird themselves with truth, righteousness, preparedness to spread the gospel, and with faith. Faith, like a shield, must be made of the right materials to be able to “extinguish” all that our spiritual adversary throws at us.

Let’s examine our faith and consider which of the above scenarios applies to us.

  1. Fake Faith

Fake faith is the faith of convenience or gain. Some reason other than full belief and conviction in Jesus as Lord and Christ motivates this person to participate in “this whole Jesus thing”. This sort of faith is often sparked by opportunity: a chance to meet new people or engage in a community, an opportunity to relate better to a new friend or significant other, or an opening to prey upon the generosity and hospitality of religious people. This sort of faith is adopted not because of what Christ has done for us, but for what “church” can do to profit their life and their goals. It is a faith comprised of words only, emotions only, and even correct doctrine only (after all, it costs nothing to SAY one believes in the orthodox teachings, correct?).

But when it comes to the hard stuff (the submission to Christ, the sacrifices, repentance, holiness, generosity FOR others instead of FROM others, persecution, etc.) their faith is found to be nothing more than a very fake shield before a very real arrow. Rather than being willing to “count all things to be loss” for Christ (Phil. 3.9), this faith is essentially for-profit, and is quickly abandoned at the first sign of struggle, trouble, or a “better opportunity”. And this doesn’t exclude preachers either: Paul noted in his time that there were those who preached Christ “even from envy and strife…out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives…” (Phil. 1.15, 17).

Jesus condemned those whose faith did not extend beyond their words of allegiance: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” (Mt. 7.21). James called out those who expressed sympathy but failed to act in accordance with their sentiment (James 2.15-16), as well as those who believe the correct doctrines but fail to act on them (v.19-20). Should one find themselves under assault by our adversary, the cardboard shield of fake faith will grant them no protection or defense.

  1. Borrowed Faith

Borrowed faith is the faith of others. Those with borrowed faith often adopt or at least profess faith in Christ due specifically to the relationship they have with a close friend or family member, significant other, fiancé, or even a spouse. This faith differs slightly from fake faith due to its motivation being relationship rather than personal profit, as in “I feel strongly about this person, and they feel strongly about God/faith/Christ, so I’ll ‘give it a shot’ for them.”

This sort of faith, a faith that is tied more closely to a personal relationship than to Christ, can be very convincing, even to those who have adopted it. It can seem just as real as real can be, so long as the relationship is healthy. But what happens if the relationship begins to struggle? For instance, what happens to the faith of a teenage young man who obeys the gospel because his girlfriend is a Christian and then they break up? Sadly, the faith of many young people is not founded on their relationship with Christ, but on their relationships with other young people with whom they were connected, which eventually results in spiritual shipwreck. They are left helpless before our adversary reaching for a shield that belonged to another. Additionally, those who abandon faith following a damaged or destroyed relationship often adamantly oppose efforts to draw them back to Christ because of said relationship.

It is important to note that borrowed faith has, at times, developed into something more substantial, more personal, able to withstand even the ending of the relationship that led to the initial faith. But make no mistake: The faith of others will fail to defend us from our adversary, who has no qualms about attacking us personally. For our faith to be secure, it must be properly founded, and there is only one Foundation that qualifies: “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3.11). Our faith cannot be built on our relationships with other people, not even our spouses, but upon Christ (Eph. 2.19-22). People come and go, but Christ remains forever.

  1. Inherited Faith

Inherited faith is the faith of our parents or grandparents. It is the product of what many of us have had the privilege to be taught as children and have continued therein. We often describe this as being “raised in the church”. Usually, the child in question has been taught at home primarily, with some supplementary teaching occurring within the context of the local congregation. Brought up to believe what the scriptures say, the child comes to believe and obey the gospel of Christ, usually before the age of 18. (This isn’t an indictment against obeying the gospel before 18, nor a suggestion as to the required age; just a general observation). Of the three, this one thus far is the most closely related to genuine faith, and yet it still falls short. The key reason is that often the faith we come to as children isn’t developed to the point where it is functional for adult life. Many young people are sent into the adult world with their child-sized faith, and we wonder why it doesn’t hold up under spiritual assault!

We know that the Israelite parents in the wilderness were instructed to teach their children the words of God: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons…” (Dt. 6.6-7a) Those of us who were blessed to have parents, grandparents, or other older relatives teach us the Scriptures have experienced something like this. In the N.T. the example of Lois and Eunice springs to mind in their diligent education of Timothy (2 Tim. 1.5). However, Dt. 6 also shows us the intended end of such an education: “…so that your son and grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments…” (from v.2). Similarly, it was Timothy who was told to “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 1.13). In short, children are to be taught the truth, but faith must become personally motivated instead of parentally motivated.

The reason why inherited faith falls short is like that of the previous example: It is founded on people rather than Christ. What happens if our parents abandon the very faith they taught us, or we realize that they have failed to live up to the standards they set for us? What happens when we finally leave home, and we finally have access to the sin-enabling trifecta of money, time, and relative freedom to do as we please? At some point, “I’m doing this because my parents want me to” will UTTERLY fail to defend you from the lone Archer of this world, AND often it will fail so spectacularly that you will abandon God altogether. When God appeared to Solomon in 1 Kings 9, he was expected to continue in the path his father David had walked, yet his “integrity of heart and uprightness” (v.4) would have to be his own. It was Solomon who would have to do all that God had commanded him, keeping His statutes and ordinances. Ezekiel 18.20 makes it clear that no man will be credited with the faith of their parents: “the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself”.

  1. Forged Faith

Forged faith is the faith described in Ephesians 6. It is genuine, durable, individually crafted faith. Forged faith is based not on people or personal gain, but on Christ. Jesus said plainly in Mark 11.22: “Have faith in God.” It is HIS promises, HIS salvation, HIS authority, HIS power that will save us, not our fellow broken sinners and most especially not ourselves. It was Paul who solemnly testified to both Jews and Greeks in Ephesus of repentance toward God and “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20.21). Christ is KING, no matter who around us abandons or corrupts their faith. Christ is KING, no matter who we lose to illness, old age, or tragic accident. Christ is KING, no matter if my relationship with someone I care about ends, or flourishes.

Forged faith is a layered Damascus of the most important truths we can ever know, such as the existence of God, God’s role as Designer and authoritative Law-Giver for this world, the sufficiency and reliability of Scripture, and the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Think about it: Paul touched on all these things in a single sermon to the Athenians in Acts 17! We are not called to obey and cling to the Gospel of Christ because our parents think it to be right, nor because of a new “fling”. We are called to “Repent and be baptized” because Jesus has been made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2.36-38), a bedrock that has stood the test of time.

Satan has no arrow which can penetrate such a faith, because forged faith doesn’t depend on the strength of the user, but on the strength of the ONE who died to forge such a shield. “For whoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5.4-5). The one who wears the full armor of God “will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6.11), they are “able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” (v.13).

The arrows of our adversary are still falling, growing faster each passing moment. Some days Satan blocks out the sun with his attacks on us.

What sort of faith do you have? Is it fake, borrowed, inherited, or forged?


Kyle Sanders

Kyle has been preaching since 2016 in Chiefland, Florida and Clinton, Mississippi before coming to work with the Jamestown church of Christ in 2021. Before preaching, he spent several years as a high school mathematics teacher in Indiana, Kentucky, and Florida. Kyle is a teacher at heart and brings his love of studying and interacting with students into his preaching and teaching efforts. He and his wife, a native Hoosier, have been blessed with five children, two dogs, a full house and zero leftovers.

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