The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church. The Bible verses used are Mark 6:45-52.
One of the things that can happen to us as Christians is
that we sometimes get so used to saying certain words that we stop thinking
about them. They become just words that we use, without ever considering
the real meaning behind them. As you may have guessed from our Bible
reading, and from the hymns we’ve used, one of those words, the word we’re
going to look at today, is “faith”.
We use that word “faith” a
lot. We say that we are saved by faith, faith in Jesus Christ as the
Savior. When Jesus healed people, he would often say, “Your faith has
made you well”. We refer to our religion as a “Christian faith”. So
when we use that word “faith”, what is it that we actually mean?
Our reading from the
letter to the Hebrews tells us a little about it. It gives us what seems
to me a really good definition of faith. It says, “Faith is confidence in
what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
If you think about that, it
makes perfect sense. I don’t have to have faith that this pulpit
exists. I can see it. I can feel it. I don’t have to have
faith that the keyboard is over there. I can see it. If our pianist
bangs on the keys, I can hear it. If I walked over there, I could touch
it. Those things don’t require any faith at all.
There are other mundane things
that take a little bit of faith. As I stand here right now, I cannot see
my car. It was out there when I walked in here this morning. I
think it’s probably still there. But it might not be. Someone
could’ve stolen it. It takes a little bit of faith to believe that my car
is still there.
The same thing with the
parsonage. The parsonage was there when we left this morning. All of
our stuff was in it. I don’t know that it’s still there. But I have
faith that it is, and that all of our stuff is there, too.
And of course, there are
various things in our lives that require more faith. I have faith that
Wanda loves me. I have faith that when I take a check to the bank, it’s
going to go into my account. I have faith that when I get here for church
on Sunday, the lights will be on and someone will be there to play the piano
and to run the power point and to act as ushers and to do all the other things
that need to be done for us to have church today. There are all sorts of
things we do every day that require faith.
But of course, when we talk
about faith in the church, we’re talking about something quite a bit more
serious. We’re talking about faith that God exists. We’re talking
about faith that God loves us. We’re talking about faith that God knows
what’s best for us and that we need to follow God, even when we have no idea
what God’s up to and even when what God’s telling us may not make any sense to
us..
Our Bible reading addresses
that. It gives all kinds of examples of people in the Bible who had
faith. It starts out with the example that it is by faith that we
understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. It then talks
about the faith of Abel, the faith of Enoch, the faith of Noah, the faith of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah--we’re given all kinds of examples of people who
had faith.
But what does the letter to the
Hebrews say about their faith? It says their faith was shown by their
actions. We know that Abel had faith because of the offering he gave to
God. We know that Noah had faith because he built an ark, even though he
was living in the desert and there was not a cloud in the sky. We know
Abraham had faith because he went to a strange place at God’s command, even
though he knew nothing about it and knew no one there.
That tells us two things
about faith. One is that faith must be revealed by our actions.
It’s no good to say we have faith in God if the way we live does not show
that. That may seem like kind of an obvious point, but think about
it. Think about how we live our lives. Does the way you live your
life show that you have faith in God? Does the way I live my life show I
have faith in God? If someone did not know you, and just observed how you
live, would that person be able to tell that you have faith in God?
That’s more important than we
may think. We tend to believe that in a little town like this everyone
believes in God, but it’s not true. There are people in our parish who do
not believe in God. There are people in our parish who do not accept
Jesus as the Savior. And they’re not likely to open up the Bible and
change their minds. You and I, as Christians, are representatives of
God. We’re representatives of Jesus Christ. What people can observe
of you and me is going to be what they think a Christian is. It’s a big
responsibility. But it’s a responsibility God gives us. If we have
faith, our faith needs to be revealed by our actions, just as the faith of
those Bible heroes our reading tells us about was revealed by their actions.
And another thing
it tells us about faith is that faith requires us to follow God even when we
don’t know what the outcome is going to be. Faith requires us to follow
God even when we don’t understand what’s going on. Abel did not know what
was going to happen when he made his offering to God. I’m sure he hoped
God would be pleased, but he did not know. He gave the offering because
he had faith. Enoch did not know he was going to be able to escape death,
and be taken directly to heaven, when he decided to follow God. He
followed God because he had faith. Abraham had no idea what he was going
to find when God sent him to a strange land. He went because he had
faith.
And those things
together--having our faith revealed by our actions, and acting in faith even when
we don’t know what will happen--show one more thing about faith. They
show that faith is incredibly powerful. Jesus said that if we have even
as much faith as a mustard seed--a very tiny seed--we can move mountains.
Again, when Jesus healed people, he would generally tell them, “Your faith has
made you well.” Faith--faith in God, faith in Jesus as the Savior--has
incredible power. Faith allows us to do things that we might think are
impossible. But they’re not, because as Jesus also said, with God, all
things are possible.
And that’s important.
Because a lot of times, as human beings, and even as Christians, we feel like
we don’t have much power. That can be especially true in our situation,
when we’re part of a small church in a small town. We see all kinds of
things happening, and we think, “I cannot do anything about that. I
cannot affect that. There’s nothing I can do.”
It’s not true. We may not
be able to do everything, but there are things we can do. Remember what I
said a little while ago. There are people in this parish who do not
believe in God. There are people in this parish who do not accept Jesus
as the Savior. It’s not good enough for us to say, “There’s nothing I can
do about that.” If we don’t do something about it, who will? If we,
as Christians, don’t reach those people who are our neighbors, who else will do
it? The answer is no one. There is no one else. Nobody is
going to come to Gettysburg, or to Onida, and reach those people who don’t have
faith. It’s up to us. There is no one else.
How do we do that? Well,
I’ll tell you--I don’t know. I don’t have the magic bullet
solution. But we’ve got to try. First, we should pray. Ask
God to show us how we can reach people. And then, have the courage to
try.
There are all kinds of ways we
can try. We can talk to people about faith. We can post things on
facebook. We can invite people to church. Will those things
work? I don’t know. Are there other things we can try? I’m
sure there are. I don’t know if those other things will work
either. But here’s one thing I do know: if we do nothing, nothing’s
going to happen. Those people who don’t believe now will continue to not
believe. And if we believe what Jesus said--that no one comes to the
Father except through him--then there are people in our parish whose eternal
life is in jeopardy. I don’t like to think that there are people around
me--people that I know--who may not be going to heaven. And I don’t think
you like to think that, either.
If we claim to have faith, that
faith has to be revealed by our actions. We need to go where God sends
us, to do what God asks us, to say what God tells us. We need to do that
even when we don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s what faith
is. And when we act in faith, God will bless our efforts. And then,
all kinds of things can happen, things we never even dreamed of. Because
with God, all things are possible.
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