Sunday 08/19/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “Conditional faith in unconditional grace”
Scripture Lesson: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel Lesson: John 6:51-58
Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning.
This morning I want to talk to you about struggle. We all struggle. For some of us, we struggle every day. Our struggles might be physical, they might be emotional, they might be financial, they might be a struggle in a relationship, a struggle at work, and etc. For some of us here today, we even struggle with our Christian faith. Has anyone here ever struggled with their Christian faith? Nobody here has right? Has anyone ever questioned aspects of what our faith and our church teaches? Has anyone ever struggled to understand one or more aspects of our faith? I am sure that we have all struggled with our faith, whether now or at some other time. The reasons we do or have struggled with our faith are various. Maybe something bad happened to us, or maybe something bad happened to someone we know or a member of our family. This may have caused us to doubt our loving God, and wonder why this thing or that thing happened. We may have gone through a time in our life when we felt like God was distant or where we questioned whether God was there at all. Perhaps we had a time in our life, when we decided that we wanted to go at it alone without God, thinking we could do it better than God. Maybe our lives are going good, but we are just struggling with a certain belief that our church teaches, maybe we are struggling with a theological belief in Christianity, or maybe there is some other area of our faith that we are grappling with. Whatever the reasons that many of us have and are struggling with our faith, the reality is that we all struggle with our faith. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians Paul said to the church in Philippi in chapter 2:12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” When viewing this scripture it is obvious that struggling with our faith is part of the boat ride to glory. You see I think the Christian Church is like a large boat, and we are all in that boat. While we are all in this boat, we might be at difference places in the boat. Some of us in the boat might feel strong in our faith, some in the boat might be feeling broken in faith, and some might be lukewarm in their faith. Some might be in the boat, but they do not feel that they belong on the boat, or that they fit in the boat. We sometimes forget that every human God has made at His potter’s wheel is a child of almighty God, and therefore has a place in the boat! What do we do on this boat then? How do we all get stronger in our faith, if we feel broken, or we are struggling?
In my life, I have been on the mountain top, I have been in the valley, I have walked through spiritual droughts, I have felt disconnected from God, and there were times I doubted many things about Christianity. I have had many of nights when I was younger where I lost sleep over “working out my faith through fear and trembling.” You see it seems that some in the Christian faith “just get it” as it were, but this has not been my experience. I identify sometimes in the bible with the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was a mighty man of God, but never felt he was getting the faith just right. Never felt that he was fully trusting God, and never felt he was where he should be before the Lord.
Believe me as a Christian and as a pastor I have times of faith struggles to, I have also had times where I have questioned aspects of our faith, or some of our beliefs. I did not think I did this to be disrespectful to God, but more because I needed to really figure out my own faith. I am generally not the type of person who tends to just believe all things just like that, as I tend to need to understand it more to believe. The reality of faith though, is that it is not a tangible or touchable and seeable thing, it is our spiritual and emotional connection to almighty God. In growing that spiritual and emotional connection though, we sometimes struggle with various parts of our faith. Today, I do not feel that I have as many such faith struggles, but I suppose for me the last two years of my seminary education and spiritual formation, cemented in my mind what I believe. I feel at this point in my life I know what I believe, and I believe what I know, but there are still aspects of the faith I struggle with sometimes. I suppose I always start with the basic question of how to do we achieve salvation in heaven? What are the basic entry requirements to glory? We must start with our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. Arriving at this point for some of us can be filled with as the bible says “trials and tribulations.” As a result, we are all in the boat of Christian faith, and some of us are in different points of the boat. Examples of things in someone’s faith that a Christian might struggle with is just who Jesus was, Jesus’ miracles, and some of the stories of the Bible. Some of us might ask, “did that really happen that way?” Or you might say, “I don’t know if I believe that the way I am told to?” I think these sorts of questions and inquires are healthy, and I think these discussion amongst other believers are good to help us grow in our faith. We should not believe just because we are told to, just because it’s nice to be here on Sunday morning, but because almighty God has proved Himself to us! You see we should believe not just because we have figured out a faith struggle in our heads, but more so, because Jesus Christ has changed us in our hearts! Our faith should be a product of the proof and the Holy Spirit that God has shined on us. Without experiencing God and the Holy Spirit, I would argue your faith might just be at the mental level. But you see faith while it is a matter of the mind, has always been much more a matter of the heart!
I think God wishes we just “got it” as the statement goes, but the bible is full of men and women who struggled with there faith. The important thing I think is that we keep the faith. We remember in the Old Testament that Jacob wrestled with God, and wanted God to bless Him. Sometimes brothers and sisters we wrestle with God, and believe me that God is up to the task! We are all at different points in this boat of faith, and some of us are struggling right now with our own faith. We must keep each other in prayer daily, we must preach, teach, and encourage one another, as we all grow and struggle in our faiths. I think of the apostle Peter who denied Jesus 3-times when Jesus was standing trial before the high priests. Three times someone said, “Hey that man Peter is a follower of Jesus!” Peter replied, “I do not know Him!” He said, “I have never met Him!”
Many of us don’t realize this, but at Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, all of his apostles scattered and did not even show up. Present though, was Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Jesus’ “beloved disciple,” that may have been John the son of Zebedee. The Gospel of John discusses only that one of Jesus’ “beloved disciples was present at the crucifixion.” So we don’t know exactly who this was, but we know that the apostles were not there. In fact, according to Matthew 26:56, “all the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested, and most of them probably stayed away from the crucifixion out of fear of their own arrest.” So this “beloved disciple” was there but it was not one of the remaining 11 disciples, as Judas Iscariot had betrayed Jesus at the Last Supper. So let’s think about this for a minute, these were the hand picked apostles that Jesus chose to follow him. These were the men that followed Jesus Christ, saw his power, witnessed his miracles, and knew Him! Yet they weren’t even present when our Lord and savior was crucified! The women were there though. Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ mother Mary was present, along with the “beloved disciple” listed in the Gospel of John.
These women that followed Jesus then, at least in this context were the most loyal followers weren’t they? I mean where were the big tough apostles when Jesus was being crucified? They scattered. You see they struggled with there faiths, and they were the ones who actually were with Christ and saw his miracles. The very saints or apostles we praise today were doubters then weren’t they. They were not present at the crucifixion. They as I will give in a sermon next month, argued over whom of them was the greatest. They doubted on the lake when the storm came. They thought Jesus would let them die on that lake. You see our original disciples, these saints, sometimes had conditional faith.
Sometimes they either didn’t believe or doubted. For me it is a comfort to know these truths of the original apostles. After all if they were with Christ and saw what He did and heard what He said, and they struggled with their faith, it makes me feel more human when I struggle with my own faith struggles. You see all Christians struggle with their faiths. Even the original Apostles! Faith is a journey, Christ is our savior, and we must get closer to him through “fear and trembling!”
We are living in some tough economic times, many folks have turned from God, because maybe they have lost their jobs, maybe they have lost their homes, or something else. Maybe there pastor is not what they think that there church should have, maybe they have suffered a traumatic loss, or something else. You see we then have conditional faith. The love of God and mercy of God is abundant, yet sometimes we believe conditionally. We tell God we will follow you “as long as this and that happens!” We will follow “if!” We dictate to God what our faith requirements will be. We then blame God when things go wrong. We seldom look to ourselves, we seldom look to the evils of this world, and we seldom realize that much of some our misfortunes are not caused by God but the devil and each other. You see God has become the target of blame these days, and perhaps He always was. Many of believe in God with the statement “as long as God does...,” “fill in the blank,” I will believe! Let me tell you something, I have had some bad pastors in my short life, I have had misfortunes, but if a pastor, or a job, or a house can shatter my faith, then I ask you what is my faith built upon? Is my faith built upon the rock or on the sand?
God never promised us an easy path to glory. Tradition holds that Saint Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, as he did not want the honor of being crucified in the same way as our Lord and savior Jesus Christ! If you look all the apostles, tradition holds that most of them met bitter ends, and died in great pain. They didn’t abandon their faith, at that point. They might have at the crucifixion, but at the day of Pentecost, they became convinced! Through other experiences they developed unconditional faith in unconditional grace! They realized and accepted that God was and is faithful, and that there faiths were not dependent on who the pastor was, the state of the economy, or their personal wealth, because to them God was faithful! The Apostle Paul in scripture had “a thorn in his side” his whole life, and when he asked the Lord to remove it, the Lord just said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” We all doubt, we all suffer, but God is eternal, is steadfast, and always comes through. As I heard an older African-American preacher say once, “God don’t forge no signatures, and His checks don’t bounce!”
When looking at today’s scripture reading from Ephesians, the apostle Paul is encouraging the church at Ephesus to understand His will. Paul encourages us to stay focused on the Lord and give Him the glory always. In the Gospel of John reading this morning, Jesus continues to talk about how he is “the bread of life.” This scripture dovetails on my sermon from last week, and in this scripture Jesus is telling his listeners to have faith in Him, to understand Him, to believe in Him, and to follow Him. We all fall short of the glory of God brothers and sisters, but we should always keep the faith. In fact, I heard someone once say “tell God all of your problems, go to bed, and let Him deal with them. After all He’s going to be up all night anyway!” I strive for that kind of faith!
I want to close this morning with a bible story that I think really ties this message together. I want to talk to you about the Apostle Thomas. You know the apostle where we get the phrase “doubting Thomas” from? This is what it says about the “doubting Thomas” story in the Gospel of John chapter 20:24-29, “24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
You know I think we have all felt like the Apostle Thomas at times. What will take for us to really believe though? To really have this unconditional faith in Jesus Christ? Must our Lord and savior present Himself to us with his wounds? Do we need that kind of proof? We likely won’t get that physical proof from Jesus Christ, unless he comes back to bring us to home, but as He said to Thomas, “Stop doubting and believe!” Brothers and sisters we must continue to figure out our own faiths through “fear and trembling,” but may we always believe!
If you are here and you do not know Him this morning, and you feel that twinge on your heart, I ask you in this moment to confess to our Lord. Tell Him that you are a sinner that you need his forgiveness, that you want to live with Him forever in glory, and you will! For our God is that good, that he loves all of His precious children, and desires to be in glory with everyone! Be blessed brothers and sisters! God bless and Amen!
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