Stop Living Off Someone Else's Faith: Take Hold of Your God

Introduction

This message from Matt Marvane, given at Église SOS Lyon during a special celebration, is titled "I Trust in My God." Not "the God of Daniel," not "the God of my parents": my God. It all starts at the end of Daniel's story in the lions' den. After the angel shut the lions' mouths, King Darius wrote an extremely powerful declaration to all the peoples: the God of Daniel is the living God, his kingdom will never be destroyed, he is the one who delivers and saves, who works signs and wonders (Daniel 6:25-27).

This proclamation is right and true. But there's a "but": it remains only a declaration. Darius said "the God of Daniel." He didn't say "my God." He can testify to it; he saw it with his own eyes: the lions perfectly calm beside Daniel, and Daniel alive. But there's a difference between testifying to what happened in someone else's life and receiving it for yourself.

So how, today, can you trust in a God who did this miracle more than 2,500 years ago, at least 500 years before Jesus came, and who seems so distant? What can he do for you today? Children ask themselves this same question. The preacher believes this is the day God has prepared for you too, to be able to say: this is my God. He belongs to me and I belong to him. And that changes everything.

Outline of the Message

1. The God of Daniel, or Your God?

• You can testify that the God of your parents, your grandparents, your aunt, your uncle, your brother, your wife, or your husband is powerful, that he works wonders, because you saw it with your own eyes. But that doesn't yet make him yours.
• "I don't want to keep living off the faith of the people around me." The preacher wants to be personally connected to the God of Daniel, of David, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Esther, of Ruth, of Boaz, of Peter, of Matthew, of Mark, of Luke, of John, of Saul of Tarsus who became Paul, of Stephen.
• The Bible spans 1,500 years of history and proves one thing: God is faithful. Try to find one story in this book where God was unfaithful, powerless, incapable, where something was too big or too small for him. You won't find one.
• If we're here 2,500 years after Daniel, it's because generation after generation, God has been faithful. He is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should change his mind. What he says, he always accomplishes. It's reassuring to trust someone who has never made a mistake, and no one else is like him, not on earth and not in heaven.

2. Following Jesus Is Far More Than a Click (Luke 9:23-26)

• 2,500 years after Daniel, Jesus, God in the flesh, comes to make visible what was invisible: the Father's will, promises, and heart. Prophecies announced 700 years before his coming come to pass. God had said Jesus would come, that he would die on a cross, that he would rise on the third day: it all came true. He said he would be faithful to the end and that he would return for his children: we can be sure of that, because my God is faithful.
• How do you "follow Jesus" today; how do you become a good follower of Jesus? Following Jesus takes far more than a small click. Jesus tells you: if you want to follow me, you can. That's already good news. But there's a condition: it's not enough to just watch, to observe his life, or to testify to what he did. You have to accept living fully with him and for him, and give up everything else.
• Jesus is always clear, never ambiguous. He doesn't have mere supporters; he has true followers, who follow him day and night, week after week, year after year. Today people buy fake followers, bots, to look more popular. Jesus, on the other hand, never sought popularity, never tried to flatter people, never twisted his message to please anyone.
• No one can follow Jesus who hasn't yet denied themselves. That's where everything begins. You might think you're following him, but as long as you haven't denied yourself, it remains an illusion.
• "If anyone is ashamed of me..." Jesus knew there would be people ashamed of him. There's no "unfollowing" Jesus: "This is too uncomfortable, what you're posting: humility, washing feet, loving your enemies, considering others more important than yourself, worshiping God in every circumstance... I'm done following you." That doesn't exist. Whoever is ashamed of him will have to answer for that moment before the Father. Jesus tells us what to do now because there will be consequences later.
• Following Jesus is not a game, not a click, not a trend, not a fad: it's a lifelong decision, one you can renew and declare every day, but one you make forever. That's why, at baptism, we ask the question: do you take on this commitment to serve and be a disciple of Jesus your whole life?

3. Jesus Doesn't Have a Private Account

• On Instagram, some profiles are set to private: you have to send a request before you can see the person's life. Jesus isn't private at all. He lets you look at his profile with no restriction. Jesus is an open book; he has nothing to hide.
• He exposed himself, all the way to exposing his naked body on a cross. When he was torn apart, he didn't do it away from prying eyes: he was humiliated before the whole world, so that we could never forget or despise what he did for us, and so that we would never be ashamed of him.
• "This is my God: he gave himself for me. He died on that cross for me, he was stripped for me, he humbled himself for me, he poured out his blood for me." Everything was written, exposed, revealed, with no filter. It's raw, take it or leave it, with no gimmicks. There's no AI behind it: the one who wrote this Word is intelligence itself, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the Creator of the heavens, the earth, the seas, the mountains, the snow, and the rain.
• You can put your trust in someone real, who has proven his faithfulness for thousands of years. Nearly all historians agree that Jesus was born, lived, and died on a cross. But they testify to it without ever experiencing the power of that truth: they don't know why he came.
• Jesus came to reveal the power of his love, so that whoever believes and wants to follow him can follow him. He gave himself so that each person could declare: "I know my God. I'm a true follower. I said yes to Jesus and I won't let go of anything. He promised: I will be with you until the end." I worship my God, not my neighbor's God, not my brother's.

4. To the Children and the Young: Take Hold of Your God's Hand

• The preacher speaks to the youngest ones, the children, the preteens, and the teenagers: take hold of your God's hand, not just mom's or dad's hand. Never let go of that hand, and no matter your age, hold on to the conviction that this is your God, that he is with you, that he is not against you but for you.
• Jesus wants to bless you and lay his hand on you, just as he did with children: not to threaten or scold them, but to bless them, encourage them, show them he was approachable. God made himself approachable, from the youngest to the oldest.

5. The Chain Illustration: A New Chain Begins

• To close, Jean-Pierre and Jenny, a couple from the church, then Genola and little Théo, are invited up on stage. Jean-Pierre represents God the Father, who always reaches his hand out to his children. Jenny takes his hand, Genola takes Jenny's, Théo takes Genola's: the generations pass, and everyone is connected to the Father in some way. It's beautiful, and you could stop there and be satisfied.
• But it shouldn't stop at an inheritance or a tradition. Grandma truly had faith in God; she saw miracles and wonders, she was a woman of prayer, and you can testify to that because you were close to her. Auntie was also clinging to God. Little Théo benefited from all of that, and that's a grace. But the most important thing is for Théo to let go of Auntie's hand and come take his Father's hand in heaven for himself. Because from that point on, a new chain begins.
• The problem is that too many people today are at the end of the chain, no longer tasting anything for themselves. When Jean-Pierre shakes Jenny's hand, she can't hold it; by the time it reaches the end of the chain, the shake has barely done anything. Whoever is at the end of the chain feels something, but never as though they were connected directly to the Father's hand.
• Then Jean-Pierre whispers "God loves you" to Jenny, who passes it to Genola, who passes it to Théo. By the end of the chain, you might wonder: is that really what he said? "Did God really say?" We don't always receive the message the way it was originally given. But if Théo comes back to his heavenly Father, he will hear his voice correctly, and he will touch the Father himself, who will pass it directly to his son.
• There's a difference between communicating and transmitting. We can communicate a great deal to our children, and we should. But nothing will ever replace the Father passing faith directly to a son or daughter. The work of each generation is to bear enough witness to make the child want to go to the Father themselves and say: I want to know grandma's God, Auntie's God; I want to taste him, touch his hand, hear this God speak to me; I believe he's for me too.
• But each person has to come and deny themselves: sometimes a natural inheritance, sometimes riches. Some of us have heard within our own families: "If you become a Christian, you'll be disinherited." Fine, I give up all of that. The most important thing is to go take hold of my Father's hand, and I know he will never let go of my hand, because he has been faithful for thousands of years.

6. A Time of Prayer: Receiving the Father's Love and Forgiveness

• God left his heaven and came all the way to us. When we choose to follow him and recognize who he is, we are connected to him: access, communion, communication with God restored. And a second thing opens up: we realize we are not alone; God has placed brothers and sisters around us, and we are part of the same family.
• On this day, God wants to use one another to reveal to each person how much he loves them, including those who never had a father or mother, those who were never loved by the ones who should have loved them. God is big enough to restore you. He never forces anyone, but he opens the possibility for whoever believes to experience his love.
• Whatever you have done in your life, your sins are already forgiven: that's what Jesus did 2,000 years ago. It's not "he will forgive you"; you are forgiven, and you need to receive that forgiveness and that love today, so that this relationship with the Father can begin.
• Not just testifying, not just saying "I'm the son, grandson, or granddaughter of," but: I too want to take hold of the hand of my Father who loves me and knows me, and never let go. He himself promised he will never let go of our hand: nothing will be able to snatch us from his hand, neither powers, nor authorities, nor persecution, nor death, nor life. Nothing will be able to separate us from that love.

Key Takeaways

• Darius said "the God of Daniel," not "my God." Testifying for others is not the same as receiving it for yourself.
• Across 1,500 years of Bible history, there isn't a single story where God was unfaithful. What he says, he always accomplishes.
• Following Jesus is neither a click, nor a trend, nor a fad: it's a lifelong decision, and it starts with denying yourself.
• Jesus doesn't have a private account: he exposed himself with no filter, all the way to the cross, so that you would never be ashamed of him.
• The testimony of past generations is a grace, but nothing replaces the Father passing faith directly to his child. A new chain begins when you take hold of his hand yourself.

Personal Application

1. When you talk about God, do you say "the God of my parents, my spouse, my church" or "my God"? Are you living off the faith of the people around you?
2. Is there something you haven't yet given up to follow Jesus: a natural inheritance, riches you could have had?
3. Is there something Jesus asks of you (humility, loving your enemies, serving, worshiping in every circumstance) that you're ashamed of or would like to "unfollow"?
4. Are you at the end of the chain, feeling secondhand what others experience with God, or connected directly to the Father's hand? What step can you take this week to hear him for yourself?
5. If you're a parent or grandparent: are you communicating faith to your children, or bearing witness in a way that makes them want to go take hold of the Father's hand for themselves?

Scriptures Cited

• Daniel 6:25-27: King Darius's declaration about the God of Daniel
• Luke 9:23-26: if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself
• Numbers 23:19: God is not a man, that he should lie
• Matthew 28:20: I am with you always, even to the end of the age
• Mark 10:13-16: Jesus blesses the little children by laying his hands on them
• John 10:28-29: no one will snatch them out of my hand
• Romans 8:38-39: nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God
• Revelation 22:13: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last

Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn't King Darius's declaration about the God of Daniel enough?

Darius proclaims that the God of Daniel is the living God, that he delivers and works signs and wonders. That's true and powerful, but he says "the God of Daniel," never "my God." He testifies to what he saw with his own eyes without ever receiving it for himself. There's a difference between testifying for others and receiving it for yourself.

What does it mean to follow Jesus according to Luke 9:23?

Jesus says that if anyone wants to follow him, they can, but on one condition: deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow him. It isn't a click, a trend, or a fad; it's a lifelong decision that you can renew every day. No one truly follows Jesus who hasn't yet denied their own life.

How do you pass faith on to children and the next generation?

There's a difference between communicating and transmitting. The testimony of parents and grandparents is a grace, but nothing replaces the Father passing faith directly to a son or daughter. The work of each generation is to bear enough witness to make the child want to let go of tradition's hand and go grab their heavenly Father's hand for themselves. That's where a new chain begins.