What Is Faith....?

I hadn't realized how long it's been until I saw the date of my last post!!! But rest assured, with school starting in a couple weeks I bet I'll have more to talk about.

Anyway, with our pastor at my church being on vacation for three weeks this summer I was asked by our worship committee if I would step in one of the Sunday's and preach. Of course I said yes and then shoved it to the back of my mind for a few months until suddenly it was August. Unlike the last time when all I had to do was come up with a sermon, this time I was going to create the whole service. And if that wasn't intimidating enough, the scripture I chose to preach on dealt with the ginormous topic of faith. I was so overwhelmed with this daunting prospect that I didn't start writing my sermon until Thursday, just a few days before I was supposed to preach it. I kept thinking, "Who am I to be telling these people what faith is?" But, just like the last time, once I sat down and started writing I was able to get it done in just a few hours over two nights.

So this morning was my day to preach. I got through it, even though I was picking out the hymns about fifteen minutes before the service was going to start. I got some great feedback from the congregation afterwards, some good and some constructive (like I talk too fast, something I've always struggled with). But it feels good to have another sermon under my belt and to have actually constructed an entire service for the first time ever. I don't know if preaching from a pulpit every Sunday is where I'm headed. Only God knows. But I'll keep doing it as long as He wants me to.

I have had a few requests from people who didn't attend the service to read my sermon. So here it is folks. Happy reading!

What Is Faith.....?
Well, only I would decide to tackle the enormous topic of Faith on my second sermon ever. I should probably put out a disclaimer that I make no guarantees that I will answer this question "what is faith" for you. I'm not even sure I can answer it for myself. But I'm willing to go exploring a bit if you are. I kind of thought I would do our emerging wisdom discussion as part of my sermon today. So I'm going to turn this over to all of you for a few minutes. What do you think faith is, or what does the word faith mean to you? (Allow for several minutes of discussion. Hopefully)


According to the dictionary on Bing.com, Faith is "1. belief or trust: belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof. 2. Religion or religious group: a system of religious belief, or the group of people who adhere to it. 3. Trust in God: belief in and devotion to God. Synonyms: confidence, trust, reliance, conviction, belief, assurance." In Islam we're told "Imam (faith)... is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the good and the evil thereof." Jainism says "Without faith there is no knowledge, without knowledge there is no virtuous conduct, without virtues there is no deliverance, and without deliverance there is no perfection (Nirvana)." And for a more in-depth explanation, Buddhism says "There are four kinds of faith. The first is the faith in the Ultimate Source. Because of this faith a man comes to meditate with joy on the principle of Suchness. The second is the faith in the numberless excellent qualitites of the Buddhas. Because of this faith a man comes to meditate on them always, to draw near to them in fellowship, to honor them, and to respect them, developing his capacity for goodness and seeking after the all-embracing knowledge. The third is the faith in the great benefits of the Dharma. Because of this faith a man comes constantly to remember and practice the various disciplines leading to enlightenment. The fourth is the faith in the Sangha, whose members are able to devote themselves to the practice of benefitting both themselves and others. Beause of this faith a man comes to approach the assembly of Bodhisattvas constantly and with joy to seek instruction from them in the correct practice." Does your brain hurt yet? Mine sure does. There's a reason I struggled with writing this this past week! As someone who feels like they're still wrestling and struggling with the faith part of their journey this has been overwhelming. Time for another disclaimer: my belief is not what I struggle with. In fact I can't remember a time when I haven't believed in God. But it's only really been in the last couple years that I've started exploring and acknowledging the "faith" part of my journey. So rest assured, if you feel like you don't have it figured out you're not alone.

I was recently reading a book my mom had given me for my birthday about a year ago called Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. In it he says "The goofy thing about Christian faith is that you believe it and don't believe it at the same time. It isn't unlike having an imaginary friend. I believe in Jesus; I believe He is the Son of God, but every time I sit down to explain this to somebody I feel like a palm reader, like somebody who works at a circus or a kid who is always making things up or somebody at a Star Trek convention who hasn't figured out the show isn't real.

Until.

When one of my friends becomes a Christian, which happens about every ten years because I am such a sheep about sharing my faith, the experience is euphoric. I see in their eyes the trueness of the story." I think this illustrates it perfectly. It's easy to say "I believe in God." Then somebody asks you why. And kind of like a parent of a two year old you can only respond with "Because." Faith is that because. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't have to. It just has to be.

Jesus probably sums it up quite nicely for us in John 6:28-29: "Then they said to him, 'What must we do to perform the works of God?' Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." That you believe in him whom he has sent. Seems pretty easy, and incredibly difficult at the same time. The passage continues with the Jews asking Jesus to give them a sign or perform a miracle so that they will know they should believe in him. But if you look again at what Jesus says, he doesn't say believe in me after I've done this this and this. Oh and that. All he wants us to do is believe in him. Pretty easy. Pretty difficult. Like the Jews we keep looking for the proof or even the catch. Come on, Jesus, surely there has to be more to it than that! Just believe? We don't have to do anything more than that? We don't have to run out and start doing "things" or works. (I won't go too much in to that. Another sermon for another time.) He doesn't say give money here or pray there or do this at home. Just believe in him and that is "the work." But in believing, we now hold ourselves to a higher standard than those who don't believe. By saying that we believe in Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit we now have something higher to aspire to. If nothing else, the only "work"we have to do is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Again, pretty easy and pretty difficult. As Christians we feel that we need to see Jesus in everyone around us. That's pretty easy to do sitting in here on a Sunday morning. Not so easy to do when you walk out of here. It's not so easy to love that person who just cut you off in traffic. It's not so easy to love the neighbor with the kids who are screaming and yelling at all hours. It's not so easy to love that classmate who's been talking about you behind your back. It's not so easy to love the person at work who has spent the past five minutes talking down to you. It's not so easy to love that family member who broke your heart. And that's why faith is difficult. Because we're supposed to love all those people. Even when we really really don't want to. And that's why faith is so hard to define, so hard to explain to other people. Again, I turn to Donald Miller and Blue Like Jazz. He sums it up like this: "I had no explanation for Laura. I don't think there is an explanation. My belief in Jesus did not seem rational or scientific, and yet there was nothing I could do to separate myself from this belief. I think Laura was looking for something rational, because she believed that all things that were true were rational. But that isn't the case. Love, for example, is a true emotion, but it is not rational. What I mean is, people actually feel it. I have been in love, plenty of people have been in love, yet love cannot be proved scientifically. Neither can beauty. Light cannot be proved scientifically, and yet we all believe in light and by light see all things. There are plenty of things that are true that don't make any sense. I think one of the problems Laura was having was that she wanted God to make sense. He doesn't. He will make no more sense to me than I will make sense to an ant."

You can bet God wasn't making sense to Abraham. As today's reading from Hebrews reminds us, God asked an awful lot of him that didn't seem very logical. But because Abraham had faith, because he believed, he did what was asked of him. He trusted that God was leading him to the land he belonged to, even if he had no idea where it was. It didn't make sense that a couple the age of Abraham and Sarah would have a child, yet they did. How many times in our lives have we found ourselves in similar predicaments where it seemed God was pushing us somewhere we weren't sure we even wanted to go? Somehwere we never thought we would go? All we could do was sit back and try to enjoy the ride. Because we had faith. Because we have faith we're willing to throw up our hands and say "Okay, God, do your best because I haven't a clue." We're willing to believe there is a better place out there for us, whether here on this earth or somewhere beyond it. We're willing to believe that things that shouldn't happen can and do. We're willing to believe that God sent Jesus down for us. That is faith.

One thing I haven't done yet is to tell you what I think faith is. I think one reason why I was drawn to this text in Hebrews is because it resonated with me. Faith is nothing I can prove. Faith allows me to believe that things will turn out allright in the end, even if I can't see it. It's what allows me to keep pushing forward even when it seems like everything in my life is crashing down on my head. It's what allows me to keep hoping and dreaming and waiting. It's what I use to pick myself up when I feel down. Some days it's what puts that extra spring in my step. I'm not sure if faith is what allows me to believe or if belief allows me to have faith, but I know that as I continue on in my spiritual journey the two become even more entwined. Faith, for me, is as simple and complex as all of that.

I have one last quote to leave you with today. I know, another quote. But this is a good one to mull over this next week and as we move forward as a community, remembering ultimately that faith is what brings and keeps us together. It is Martin Luther's Definition of Faith: An excerpt from "An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans," Luther's German Bible of 1522 by Martin Luther, 1483-1546 Translated by Rev. Robert E. Smith from DR. MARTIN LUTHER'S VERMISCHTE DEUTSCHE SCHRIFTEN.

　

Faith is not what some people think it is. Their human dream is a delusion. Because they observe that faith is not followed by good works or a better life, they fall into error, even though they speak and hear much about faith. ``Faith is not enough,'' they say, ``You must do good works, you must be pious to be saved.'' They think that, when you hear the gospel, you start working, creating by your own strength a thankful heart which says, ``I believe.'' That is what they think true faith is. But, because this is a human idea, a dream, the heart never learns anything from it, so it does nothing and reform doesn't come from this `faith,' either. Instead, faith is God's work in us, that changes us and gives new birth from God. (John 1:13). It kills the Old Adam and makes us completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits, our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with it. Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn't stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone asks, it already has done them and continues to do them without ceasing. Anyone who does not do good works in this manner is an unbeliever. He stumbles around and looks for faith and good works, even though he does not know what faith or good works are. Yet he gossips and chatters about faith and good works with many words.

Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace. Thus, it is just as impossible to separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire! Therefore, watch out for your own false ideas and guard against good-for-nothing gossips, who think they're smart enough to define faith and works, but really are the greatest of fools. Ask God to work faith in you, or you will remain forever without faith, no matter what you wish, say or can do.

Amen.