RWJ/Pottersville UMC 03/10/13 Sermon - “Why do we doubt him?”

Sunday 03/10/13 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “Why do we doubt Him?”                                                                                      

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 32                                       

Gospel Lesson: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

          Good morning brothers and sisters! What a joy it is, as always, to be worshipping with you all here this morning. Welcome once again on this Fourth Sunday of this Lenten Season. This season were we continue to walk ever closer to Calvary where Jesus Christ will give himself up for us all. The place where people could first say on that first Good Friday, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”.

          As we continue in this Lenten season, we are challenged to grow in our faiths, to be more sacrificial, and to examine our lives, for ways that we can be more loving, more generous, and more forgiving. For Christ did not come to die for us all, so that we should die, but Christ came so that we may live. Christ came to teach us a new way of being, to renew our spirits, to give us hope, and to offer us life everlasting. In this season of Lent, let us be seeking to be more like Christ. Instead just denying ourselves, let us ask how we can give more, how we can love more, and how we can be closer to God. You see in this Lenten Season, God doesn’t want us to just give up chocolate, but more than that, he wants us to give up our sin. To give up that which separates us from him. He wants our hearts, our devotion, and our very lives.

          You know, I think for many of us though, we have times where we have said, “God seems distant in my life right now”. Meaning there are times where our faiths feel like a dry dessert. There are times when we all feel like we are in the valley, and things are dark and gloomy. Yet for many of us, we have had times when we have indeed been to “the mountain top”. Times where our faith flowed like a mighty river, and we could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in us as a warm and tingly feeling. That feeling of God’s love in the very fiber of our beings, and that warmth of the spirit of God coursing through us. In these moments we have felt so loved, so fulfilled by God! It is in these moments that we truly believe, and that we know without a shadow of a doubt, that God is real and that God is powerful!

          The question though, is if we all have had these mountain top experiences, is “Why do we doubt him?” How come when things don’t go our way sometimes we question his presence, his love, or his desire to save us? Why are there times when we feel distant from God?

          I think we have all had those moments in life, where we say, “What is God doing?” Or we might have said, “I have prayed and prayed, and I don’t think God is listening to me”. For some of us we have suffered tragic and incredible hardships in our lives that have caused us to grow cold in our faith or even be angry with God. Many of us are then told, “Just pray and believe”. In instances such as these, many of us say, “I have tried and tried, and it’s not working”. We say, “Where is God right now?”

          You know brothers and sisters I think that many of us have had trying times of faith. For many of us though, we have come to think of God, I think, as a “spiritual vending machine”. That we go to God with our desires and our wants, and we then enter the right letter and numbers. The metal ring turns, and we collect what we want from God. As if God is some magic genie that we conjure when we want something, and that God is there to just serve our every desire and whim. While God loves us, and seeks to bless us in all things, God does not always reveal himself or show up when we want him to. God is faithful, and always shows up on time and is never late though! God always comes through, never gives us more than we can handle, and is always faithful. God comes through when we really need it. As I heard an old preacher say one in fact, “God always delivers, and his checks don’t bounce”.

          For many of us, we have been at the end of our ropes, and have struggled with our faiths, and then God has shown up and restored us. He proved that he is who he says he is, and that his love and mercy is unending. Given this though, given this, “Why do we doubt him?” When times are tough and God seems distant, we can all remember that moment when we felt God restore us. It is those instances that we knew without a shadow of a doubt that God is loving and powerful. So then “Why do we doubt him?” Consider all the blessings in your lives, all that God has done for you, and all that he will continue to do for you. I ask you then, “Why do you doubt him?” What must he do to prove his power and faithfulness to you? Or we might say, well sure God proved himself last time, but he hasn’t come through yet this time. Perhaps that spiritual bag of chips we got from that “God vending machine” ran out and we are now demanding more. God says, “I know your needs, and trust me to supply them”. “Why do we doubt him?”

Has he not shown us time and time again his great love and providence? Has he not answered prayer after prayer, and proven himself worthy countless times? “Why do we doubt him?” Isaiah 55:11 says, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” You see God’s word and God’s promise does not come back void, and God will deliver and he will always be on time. For he is that good.

          In the scripture reading from Psalm 32 from this morning, it talked about how those who are happy, are those “whose transgression is forgiven”. The Psalm concludes by saying, “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart”. You see God is good brothers and sisters, and his love endures forever. So, “Why do we doubt him?”

          In the gospel reading from this morning, the Pharisees said to the tax collectors and the sinners coming to listen to Jesus right then, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them”. Jesus then, as Jesus did, he responded not with a solid and concrete answer, but with a story, a parable. Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons”. The younger son wished to have his inheritance early, before his father died. Now I don’t know about you all here, but is there any chance that any of your children can have their inheritance from you early? While the young prodigal son left home, he partied, he indulged. He fulfilled his every passion and his every desire. He made many friends and many seemed to love him. Yet one day, the money ran out, and so did the prodigal sons so called new friends. The prodigal son felt empty and lost, and that his father was distant and far away. In needing to live and eat though, the prodigal son decided that he would hire himself out as a field worker. He was hired to feed pigs, animals which Jews still consider unclean. The son was tired, and hungry, and scared. His father seemed distant and perhaps the prodigal son might have even said, “Is my father even there anymore”. “Has my father forgotten about me?”

          Finally in that feeling of brokenness, the prodigal son decided to go home to his father. He said, “I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands”.

          So the prodigal son sets off for home, broken, feeling that his father no longer loved him, that he was distant from his father, that his father didn’t care anymore. His father saw his son coming from a long distance, as he likely saw him far away on the road. Now Jewish men, especially wealthy Jewish men did not run after someone looking foolish. Yet this father ran to his son. Filled with compassion he ran to his son, put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the father said to his slaves, quickly bring a robe, a ring, and sandals for his feet. Then get the fatted calf and kill it, and “let us eat and celebrate”. The prodigal son was confused, and then the father said, “for this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found!”

          The eldest son was then angry that the father gave his younger son this treatment after he squandered his inheritance. The father then said to the eldest son, “Son, are always with me, and all that is mine is yours”.

          Many times brothers and sisters, we are the prodigal son. We think that God has forgotten us, and we have taken and squandered our inheritance. We think that God will not make his presence known and that we are lost and hopeless. We then reach out to God, and God restores us, puts a robe on us, a ring on our finger, and sandals on our feet. He butchers his finest calf, and celebrates our return. So, “Why do we doubt him?” Has he not proved himself over and over? What else must God do so that we may believe?

I would like to close this morning with a story. This story is called the “True Believer in Jesus Wins His Case”. Under the title of this story, it said “This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at USC” or the University of Southern California. Here is how it goes: There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn't exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him because of his reputation. 

At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand."
In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can't do it." And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into pieces. 

All of the students would do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students thought that God couldn't exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.
Well, a few years ago there was a freshman who happened to enroll. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor. He was required to take the class for his major, and he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said, or what the class thought. Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith ... he hoped. Finally, the day came. The professor said, " If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!"
The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, "You FOOL!!! If God existed, he would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" 

He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken. The professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared his faith in Jesus for the next half hour.

You see brothers and sisters, no matter how far away from God we think we are, no matter how thin our faith is, God delivers and he is always on time. God will make his presence known, even if only through a simple piece of chalk. So I ask on this morning, “Why do we doubt him?” Amen.