INTRODUCTION
Story about man in flood. Flood comes - man climbs on roof. Row Boat - get in & I take you to safety. “No! I am a man of faith. God’s word says that he will rescue those who have faith in His word so I will wait for God to rescue me.” Row Boat goes on. Water rises to center of house. Motor Boat - get in & I take you to safety. “No! I am a man of faith. God’s word says that he will rescue those who have faith in His word so I will wait for God to rescue me.” Motor Boat goes on. Water rises to top of house. Helicopter - get in & I take you to safety. “No! I am a man of faith. God’s word says that he will rescue those who have faith in His word so I will wait for God to rescue me.” Helicopter goes on. Water rises and man drowns. In Heaven the man asks God, “what happened?” God answers, “don’t know, I sent two boats and a helicopter.” We laugh at this story and yet each of us gather here this morning because we are people of faith. We are people who long to live by that faith. To live by a faith that can move mountains. We long for a faith as described in the following poem
Doubt sees the obstacles
Faith sees the way,
Doubt sees the blackest night
Faith sees the day;
Doubt dreads to take a step
Faith soars on high;
Doubt questions, “Who believes?”
Faith answers, “I”
Yet for most of us, faith is something we may talk about but is something we know very little about. Hebrews chapter 11 reminds us that, “without faith it is impossible to please God,” and so we want to have faith. A deep and abiding faith. A faith that is not shaken by the trials of life. But where do we start? Where do we look. How do we develop such a faith. Perhaps you have asked yourself, “how do I deepen my faith. How do I strengthen my faith. How do I even obtain faith. How do I, I, I.” Let me tell you a shocking truth about faith. Faith has little to do with you or me, me, me. The faith that God longs for you and I to possess is not about you and me. It’s about Jesus Christ, the one in whom we place our faith. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.
Faith has never been about you and me. But what about all those great men and women of faith? Abraham, Moses, mother Teresa...? Perhaps you have even known some people with great faith. People who hold such a deep faith that in comparison your faith seems weak and shallow. It’s like the story of the young man who was gardening one day with his father-in-law, who he saw as a man of deep faith. Intrigued by this older man’s depth of faith the young son-in-law asked him, “what is your favorite verse in the Bible?” The older man answered immediately, “my favorite passage? Why its ‘and it came to pass.’” The young man appeared puzzled by this reply, so his father-in-law replied, “Always remember my son that with God all things come to pass, they don’t come to stay.” How does one come to such a faith-filled insight. How does one come to trust in God with such a reassurance? None of us are born with great faith, for we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God. Great faith grows within the person who abides with the Christ.
“I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in me with bear much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Or as the apostle Paul puts it,
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
It is not an issue of you and I having great faith, but of placing the faith that we have into the greatness of Jesus Christ. You are looking to open a new bank account. You visit several banks and compare their fees and services. Perhaps you have decided to remove your money from one bank to another. You are not making this move simple to find better rates, though they wouldn’t hurt. You are looking for a bank that you can trust. A bank you would be willing to entrust you life savings to. So is it with Jesus Christ. The world is filled with jobs, sports, activities and even worthwhile causes, that ask you to commit your life to. To dedicate you energy, time, and skills to. but Jesus says, “where your treasure is there your heart will be.” And he also says, “you can serve but one master.”
But if faith is not about us, then what is faith? In Hebrews chapter 11 we read, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Like evidence given in a court case faith is based upon that which we have not ourselves seen and yet still believe to be true. So what is it that God asks us to believe in sight unseen? Why the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In John chapter 20 Jesus appears to his disciples raised from the grave. Upon seeing Jesus Thomas declares, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus replies to Thomas’s confession by saying, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed
are those you have not seen and yet believe.” Faith for you and I who are Christians is a
faith in the resurrected Christ.
By faith, we accept that God has redeemed us from our sins by Christ’s death on the cross. By faith, we accept that God has received us as holy and blameless by Christ’s resurrection from the dead. By faith, we seek to live a Christ-centered life to have a life that daily takes up our cross to follow the Christ to death and beyond. In the depth of our souls we long for this, but in our hearts we know we fall so far short.
I strive towards light just to end in darkness
I strive to give my best just to end up with my worst
I strive to love my neighbor just to end up coveting his possessions
I strive for a life of purity just to end up in a life of sin
I cry to God, “How can you use me, I fail so much?”
His answer comes and with it peace
“It’s for these very reasons my love,
that I made you a child of grace”
Rev. Greg Dawson
Christ is not expecting of us to do great deeds of faith. He is not asking of us to prove our dedication to Him. For Christ has done all that God requires for us. No, no, no! It’s not about us. Instead Christ is bidding us to enter into a love affair with Him that we might come to know Him as deeply as he already knows us. I first began to understand what Christ was asking of me when one day I saw myself on a dance floor and there Christ stood bidding me to come dance with Him. I suddenly realized that in this vision I was the woman and it was Christ that was to lead. When He embraced me I could sense His love for me and He was all that I could think of. He was the focus of my attention. I can tell you that it was a transforming experience. To know that Christ is bidding us come dance with Him. To dance the dance of intimacy. To dance the dance of divine love. To be so caught up in Christ, to love Him so much that others seeing us say, “what great faith they have.” But all we see is Christ. If a family member came up to give you a hug. Would you be concerned about how well you could hug them back. NO! You would simply hug them back with all the love you have. So it is with Christ.
MISSIONARY STORY (recalled from memory)
A young woman sent as a missionary to a tribe who’s ritual of manhood required young boys to have cotton balls soaked in oil attached to their forearms. They would then hang by their hands from tree limbs and have the cotton balls set on fire. This ritual would result in deep scars. The purpose of these scars were for the afterlife. This tribe believed that when they died they would come to a great cavern in the underworld. The only way to cross this gulf was a razor thin bridge. But in the underworld there was no light but that which came from a man’s inner soul. So this tribe believed that through the scars on their forearms the light of their inner soul would shine, guiding them across the bridge to the afterlife. One day this young missionary encountered a young man from this tribe but who bore no scars. When she asked him why he had no such scars he replied, “When I accepted Jesus into my heart he became my Lord. When I die He will go before me and His inner light will shine forth from the scars and will guide me accross the bridge of life to the other side.”
Beloved of God, let us together place what little faith we have into the greatness of Jesus Christ. Let us dance with Him the dance of love. For faith is not about us, you and me. It’s about Christ and Him crucified
Not what, but Whom, I do believe, That, in my darkest hour of need,
Hath comfort that no mortal creed to mortal man may give;
Not what, but Whom!
For Christ is more than all the creeds, And His full life of gentle deeds
Shall all the creeds outlive.
Not what I do believe, but Whom!
Who walks beside me in the gloom?
Who shares the burden wearisome?
Who all the dim way doth illume,
And bids me look beyond the tomb
The larger life to live? But whom! Not what, But whom!