I keep thinking about Noah and the ark. The credibility of his faith challenges my own, but it also motivates me to persevere as he did. It is not an exaggeration to say that Noah’s persevering and productive faith is weighing on my mind. In fact, as I ran this morning, I was at times verbally preaching this to myself (which invited strange looks by some commuters). But since it is weighing on my mind, I might as well write about it. I hope it is of help to others.
We saw last Sunday how Noah, by faith, built an ark, which rescued his family from God’s wrathful flood. He did so despite having never seen the predicted torrential rains and watery catastrophe (Hebrews 11:7). What I keep thinking about was Noah’s faith-filled behaviour over many decades. I keep thinking about the impact this had on his household. I keep thinking about his credibility. I keep thinking of how I want such weighty credibility.
The Oxford dictionary defines credibility as “the quality of being trusted and believed; the quality of being convincing or believable.” Those with credibility have the ability to persuade others to adopt their belief. This was certainly the case with Noah, for the text tells us that he “constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” This can also be translated, “By faith Noah … prepared an ark to save his household.” And save them he did. When the ark was completed and it was time to enter, Noah and his entire family entered, God shutting them in (Genesis 6:16), protecting them from his watery wrath. How thankful they were when the heavens opened, when the floods came up, and when nearly a year later they were safe and secure in a whole new world. Think about it: Noah’s credibility saved his family from destruction. This is the kind of credibility every Christian should strive for.
I can’t stop thinking about how Noah’s faithful behaviour practically proclaimed to his family, “I believe God’s word; you must also.” I don’t doubt that Noah preached God’s message of God’s coming judgement and God’s provision of escape to his family. But according to the text(s), by Noah’s construction of the ark, he literally practiced what he preached. Each time he chopped down a tree, each time he planed a board, each time he made and drove a nail, each time he took a measurement, each time he collected and applied the pitch, he was saying to his family, and to the wider sceptical community, “I believe things yet unseen. I believe God’s judgement is coming upon our world. I believe there is a way of escape. I believe in both the wrath and in the grace of God. Yes, I believe God’s word.” And through his belief, his family also believed. The visibility of his faith was key to the credibility of his faith. Noah walked the talk. Literally.
We are told in Genesis 6:9, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” Apparently he did so in the presence of his three sons. Small wonder that they and their wives took him seriously (7:13). Contrast their response with the sons-in-law of “righteous Lot” (2 Peter 2:7), who listened to him as one who “seemed … to be jesting” (Genesis 19:14). Lot’s lack of credibility resulted in the destruction, rather than the salvation, of his family (19:23–26). And that keeps me thinking about my own credibility.
Am I living in such a way that people take me seriously? When others view how I spend my time, how I spend my money, how I treat the Lord’s Day, how I steward the gospel—these things and more—does my belief in a final Judgement Day have credibility? Or does my speech and my behaviour communicate the same superficial levity about the future as an unbelieving society?
When I tell others the good news of forgiveness of sins, of reconciliation with God, and of transformation of life through the gospel of Jesus Christ, can they take me seriously? Do I have appropriate “street cred” or do my unforgiving spirit and individualistic self-centredness scream so loud that my gospel proclamation cannot be heard?
To those raising a family, is your professed faith in God and in his word credible? Do your children observe in your life that seeking God, his righteousness (through Jesus Christ alone), and his kingdom is your priority? Or do they observe the same shallow value system of those enslaved by that which is fallen and fading (1 John 2:15–17)?
These searching questions are not for the purpose of “guilting” us but rather to goad us to gospel integrity, to weighty credibility. With this before us, whom do you need to forgive or to seek forgiveness from? What do you need to reprioritise in your life? In what way do you need to put into practice the word of God which prophesies both Judgement Day and gospel deliverance? Whatever it is, for God’s sake, for your family’s sake, for your sake, by God’s grace, just do it. A watching world needs our credibility. In fact, like Noah, a whole new world depends on it.
Doug