A philosopher, an engineer, and a
simple man, none of whom could swim, were trapped in a cove looking upward at
sheer cliff faces. They began to shout for help as the tide rushed in. Rescuers lower a rope. The philosopher said,
"Ah, this looks like a rope, but I have to be certain there is no
material fallacy in my logic; I need more time to ponder it, it might be an
illusion." So he didn't attach himself and drowned. The engineer said, "Ah, this is an 11
mm polyester rope with a breaking strain of 80 Kilograms. It conforms to the MR
10-81 standard," and continued analyzing the rope's physical
properties. But he didn't attach himself either and also drowned. The simple man said, "A rope, thank
God,” grabs hold and is saved.
When it comes to the subject of
faith, faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ, the ultimate question is always, will
you take the leap of faith? Trusting our
lives to God does not come easy nor is maintaining it always easy. Yes, sometimes our fears, our questions, life’s
changing circumstances threaten to overcome our faith. What is Christian faith? Sometimes you just have to grab hold of the
rope and seek understanding over time.
Faith didn’t come easy to
Christians in the early centuries, who were persecuted, arrested and died for
standing up for Jesus Christ rather than bowing down to worship Caesar. It doesn’t come easy today when Christians
are persecuted and killed for their faith by radical extremist Muslims in the
middle east. It doesn’t come easy when
faith must deal with tragedies in life. These
are times when our faith is tested. No,
believing in God and trying to follow his will, is not always simple or easy. Faith in God is a spiritual journey, something
we grow into and mature in over the years.
Faith is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
Christianity points out the
biblical paradoxes of faith! This will
give you something to think about. What
are those paradoxes? To be strong, you
must be weak, to save our lives, we have to lose them, to know God, we have to
know ourselves, to truly live, we have to die, to receive we have to give.
Faith is God’s divine gift and
our response, our decision, perhaps multiple decisions, an act of will, a
commitment. Faith is belief, trust, confidence
in God and faith is a task, obedience, action, following the call of God, serving
God, being involved in the work of God’s Kingdom in the world. Faith is emotional. Sometimes we say: “Praise God, thank you
God for helping me!” and other times
we cry out: “God do you hear, I pray but you do not answer, help me.” Faith is also intellectual – We think deeply
about questions of God’s nature, God’s will, Jesus as God and man, the Trinity,
the incarnation, sin and forgiveness, morality, evil, the atonement, God’s
creation, God’s final revelation, Everlasting life. Faith is personal, individual, unique. But faith is also communal, it exists in
community, among the family of God, the church, the worshipping body of
Christ Faith says God is transcendent. Faith says God is immanent.
I Timothy says about faith: “Pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Take hold of the eternal life, to which you
were called.” This passage reminds
us that God calls us to pursue faith. Take
hold of your faith in God and God’s eternal love for you. And sometimes you have to take hold of it
again and again.
One writer said: “Treat
another’s faith gently; it is all he has to believe with.” Yes our Christian experience and the
scripture both say that faith is sometimes a struggle. Sometimes you have to fight to believe, you
have to fight to trust, you have to fight to maintain your confidence in God, you
have to fight to hope. It is an inner
battle, yes, a spiritual battle. Sometimes
you have to struggle against yourself, or against the devil, or against someone
else. Have you experienced this in your
faith journey?
Today I have found that people
ask not only the question - is the Christian faith true, but does it work, does
faith really help you in your life, does faith truly make a difference in your
life? They want to know if its
pragmatic. How would you answer that? How is your faith when things are great or
when things don’t turn out the way you had hoped?
In our lesson from I Timothy the
apostle Paul is writing to his younger missionary associate Timothy. They had endured many hardships together on
past missionary journeys. We read: “Fight
the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were
called, and for which you made the good confession, in the presence of many
witnesses.”
Why? Because if something is
worthwhile, isn’t it worth fighting for?
Some things in life are worth struggling for, and faith is one of them. It’s also true, some things in life aren’t
worth fighting for. We need to let go of
them and move on. This is the dichotomy
we face and we must be discerning and distinguish between them.
Timothy is facing hostile enemies
and challenges to his ministry and is deeply discouraged. He feels overwhelmed. His self-confidence is shaken, the situation
seems beyond his ability, have you ever been there? The apostle Paul charges Timothy to stand
fast, to remain steady, to stay the course, and to continue preaching the truth
of the gospel.
Listen to Paul’s words: “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice,
but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our
Lord or of me, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the
power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to
our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.” Faith declares that God saved us by grace in
order to call us to a holy calling.
Do those words resonate with you? It’s a good word for today as well, isn’t it? In what situations or circumstances have you
found that your faith is sometimes a struggle?
I think about the people in Texas and Florida facing
Hurricane’s Harvey and Erma. What a
strong faith in God that takes.
Sometimes we desire faith but our
mind wrestles with skepticism. Lee
Strobel, former journalist and professed atheist, in his book The Case of
Faith writes: “Faith is not
always easy, even for people who desperately want it. Some people hunger for spiritual certainty, yet
something hinders them from experiencing it.
They wish they could taste that kind of freedom, but obstacles block
their paths. Objections pester them. Doubts mock them. Their hearts want to soar
to God; their intellects keep them securely tied down.” This was his story, until he came to faith
in Jesus Christ in 1981, after two years of investigating the truth of faith in
light of the intellectual challenges of today.
There are times where we must
deal with broken relationships, hurt, disappointment, adversity and grief. The irony is that sometimes the most profound
and intimate spiritual experiences occur in your darkest days, when your heart
is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain
is great, and you fall on your knees and turn to God alone, because you have no
one else to turn to. And you carry on
because your faith just won’t let you quit.
I recall an older woman who was a
member of our church in Monument, CO. She
visited people in nursing homes a couple of days a week. One day she told me she had a terminal lung
condition which caused her to cough frequently throughout the day. The coughing, of course, was very painful. But I remember her saying: “Pastor , I belong to God. Sick or healthy I
am God’s. I feel so blessed that I still have the strength to continue going to
nursing homes and helping these people.”
There is a faith worth struggling for.
I like what author William
Bennett writes: “Faith is a source of
discipline and power and meaning in the lives of the faithful. It is a potent force in human experience. A shared faith binds people together in ways
that cannot be duplicated by other means.
Faith contributes to the form and content of the ideals that guide the
aspirations we harbor for our own lives, and it affects the way we regard and
behave with respect to others. A human
being without faith, without reverence for anything, is a human being morally
adrift.”
Faith, according to scripture, declares
that ultimately God’s power, God’s grace, God’s strength, God’s mercy, God’s
love is greater than our own. We need
the strength of someone greater than ourselves.
God can supply what is impossible for us to supply. God can meet our needs which we can’t meet
ourselves.
An 85-year-old woman, flying for
the very first time, heard the following announcement over the plane’s intercom:
“This is your captain speaking. Our
number four engine has just been shut off due to mechanical trouble. However, there is nothing to worry about. We will continue our flight with three
engines and will land in Chicago
Faith is knowledge of God, the
knowledge comparable to the knowledge we have of our loved ones or friends, not
the knowledge of the contents of a scientific textbook. Faith is the assurance, the knowledge that
God has forgiven your sins, that God truly loves you, that God has bestowed
upon you righteousness and salvation, out of sheer grace solely for the sake of
Christ’s reconciling purpose in the world.
How is your faith in God? Is it strong or weak, solid or shaky, static
or growing, exciting or boring, new or mature, tested or untested, clear or
confusing, lethargic or alive? Ponder
that question for a moment!
No matter what you may be
struggling with in terms of your faith, know this as the Bible says: God is for
us and not against us. God will not
leave you nor forsake you. Know that
you have my pastoral support. Know that
you have the support and prayers and guidance of the elders and of this
congregation. Yes, faith is sometimes a
struggle, but a struggle that’s always worthwhile in the end. Amen.
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