Sunday
08/11/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The conviction of things not seen”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23
New Testament
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Gospel Lesson: Luke
12:32-40
Welcome again,
on this the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. Nine Sundays after the Holy Spirit
moved on the day of Pentecost nearly two-thousand years ago, giving birth to
the Christian Church.
Today, I want to talk about what we believe and why we
believe it. How many of us were afraid of the dark when we were children? I
mean I could understand if you were in the woods with animals, but I mean
afraid of the dark in your home. The power goes out, you can’t find a
flashlight, and you are afraid. What are we afraid of? Monsters, the devil,
other things? Maybe some of us are still afraid of the dark today? There might
be real reasons that we are afraid of the dark to. Maybe something happened to
us in the dark, or something else.
When I was a kid I thought monsters were in my closet, and
this whole “Bogey Man” thing didn’t help either. Yet, it seemed real. I mean
real! Yet, I had never seen an actual monster, but I feared they were there.
Our common two-thousand year Christian faith has some
connections here. We believe that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord, who died for
us. I have never seen Jesus in the flesh though. I have never seen the Heavenly
Father in person, which is good because the scripture says that this would be
so overwhelming that it would kill me. I certainly have never seen the Holy
Spirit, but I have felt the Holy Spirit.
So how do we know that God the Father, exists, Jesus
Christ, and the Holy Spirit? We have never seen God the Father, Jesus in the
flesh, or the Holy Spirit, but we believe. Why do we believe?
In the reading for this Sunday from Psalm 50 once again,
the scripture says:
“The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its
setting” (Ps. 50:1, NRSV).
How do we know
that God speaks though? Has anyone heard God before? The answer of course is
yes. All throughout the Old Testament, Abraham, Moses, and many others talked
to God. They encountered God, and through their encounters, God revealed to
them his perfect will for humanity. God for example, gave Moses the
Ten-Commandments.
In the New
Testament, the twelve disciples and many others, saw Jesus, touched Jesus, and
were with Jesus. The scriptures, of both Old and the New Testament are the
history of God revealing himself to humanity. As part of this Revelation, God
tells us who he is, and how he wants us to live. God tells us not steal, and
not to kill, for example.
We know God,
because God has revealed himself too many people. These people through divine
inspiration wrote down all the things that we read in the scriptures. So do we
know God through the scriptures? Absolutely. Do we know God through the
two-thousand year generationally passed down faith of the church? Apart from
the scriptures and apart from the tradition of the church, how do we know who
God is? Or if we think God is speaking to us, how do know it is God? Sometimes
cult leaders claim they are speaking for God, but if there teachings violate
the scripture and the tradition of the church, then how do we know that it is
God speaking to us?
Our Jewish
brothers and sisters thousands of years before us, claimed to have deep and
intimate encounters with God, where God revealed himself. In the Old Testament
or Jewish scriptures, God also promised to send a Messiah or a savior to the
world. This savior was and is God’s son Jesus Christ.
Yet, none of us here have every met
Jesus Christ in the flesh. The only reason that we know anything about him, is
from the Bible and the Tradition of the church. We have been told about Christ,
read about Christ, and also, hopefully, we have felt the presence of God,
Christ, and the Holy Spirit. All of this leads me to my sermon title for this
morning, that is called, “The conviction of things not seen”. This sermon title
comes directly from our Hebrews 11 reading for this morning, which once again
says:
“Now faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our
ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were
prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are
not visible”. (Heb. 11:1-3, NRSV).
So faith assurance of things hope for,
and the conviction of things that we cannot see. The Apostle Paul then tells us
that our ancestors talked with God, and God led them. Our teachings, our understanding
of God and our Christian faith has been given to us generationally by our
ancestors. Faith guides, faith directs us. We cannot only believe in the Triune
God, we can feel, see and experiencing God in our lives.
Unlike monsters in my closet as a
young child, our faith has stood the test of time. So what we believe as
Christians come from somewhere, and who we say the Triune God is comes from
somewhere.
In believing and hoping in what we
cannot fully see, hopefully our faith plays out every day and we can see God
moving. The Christian faith is something that we have shared for two-thousand
years, and for two-thousand years we have felt God, ben affirmed by God, and
God speaks to us. Our compendium of who God is and his will for humanity, is
contained within the Holy Scriptures and the Tradition of the church. Within
this, there are certainly many ways to interpret the scripture, and some also
have different understandings of our tradition.
I would also point out that if he
forget our past, then we have no future. Further, the faith of those who went
before us matters, was powerful, and should inform our Christian faith. Our
faith didn’t just pop up a few years ago, we have shared it for centuries. I
has taken on various forms, all with Christ our Lord at the center.
What is though a good definition of
the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? How do we define who and what God
is? In our United Methodist Church articles of religion, or our doctrines, we
are given such answers. In fact, the very first UMC article of religion defines
God. It says:
“Article I — Of Faith in the
Holy Trinity
There
is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite
power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible
and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one
substance, power, and eternity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/the-articles-of-religion-of-the-methodist-church).
So the official teaching of the United
Methodist Church, is that there is one true and living God. This God is not
flesh and blood like you and I. This God is eternal and everlasting, without
body or parts, it of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. This God is the make
and preserves of all things. Further this in Godhead there three person of one
substance, power, and eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
So God the Father is a spiritual
being, Jesus his son, took on flesh and came amongst us. The Holy Spirit or
Holy Ghost is the presence of God, like wind. This understanding of God is
revealed in scripture, supported by the tradition of the church, and most
Christians have always held this view of God.
This means that we didn’t just conjure
this up, as it is all throughout scripture. Specifically, the encounters that
people had with God all throughout the Bible work with this understanding and
definition of God. The Old Testament for tells of Christ’s coming, but this
prior to it, however.
So I haven’t just created our understanding
and definition of God, we have had it for thousands of years, know that Christ
only came two-thousand years ago. It has been the consistent understanding and
relational truth of God.
Hopefully though, we don’t scriptural,
intellectually, and as a matter of tradition except the Triune God, hopefully
have and continue to experience God. I see God’s handiwork in creation, I feel Christ’
love me, and the Holy Spirit moves in and through me. Further, our faith
strengthens and enables us to do things that we otherwise would not be able to
do.
So as it is, we believe in a creator
God that we have never seen, a savior that we have only read about, and a Holy
Spirit that we read about, but hopefully that fills us. So how do we know who
God is? Through scripture, the tradition of the church, our own experiences,
and through reason. It is reasonably to me that God sent his son to save us, as
we seem to be unable to save ourselves.
We recite the Apostle’s Creed or the
Nicene Creed, we are reading statements of faith of the Triune God that go back
nearly 1,700 years or more. For centuries our faith has guided, sustained,
given hope, courage, and power to those who called upon it. Does this mean that
God will speak to us all in a burning bush? No. Will God tell us all to build
an Ark? No. Will and angel of Lord appears to us with instructions? Maybe.
The Apostle Paul, once again concludes
our reading from the Book of Hebrews for this morning to talk about Abraham and
his faith. Once again the scripture says:
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a
place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing
where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been
promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who
were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that
has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power
of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because
he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and
this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of
heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” All of these
died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they
saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on
the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking
a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind,
they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better
country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them” (Heb.
11:8-16, NRSV).
Abraham,
one of the earliest figures in the Bible had faith, believed, God lead him. I
have faith not only because of the scriptures and the tradition of the church,
but also through my experience and reason. I have felt God, I have seen God
heal, and I know God is real. Can I show you God in a tangible way right now?
No, but he is as real to me as the breath that I am breathing and cannot see.
God is as real to me as the steam breath that I breathe in the winter.
So
I can prove to you without a shadow of a doubt that God exists? No, but God
also can’t be definitely disproven. What can I offer, a Bible that shows faith
in God from hundreds of people. A faith that for thousands of years has moved,
shaped, and led people. Our two-thousand year Christian tradition includes
hundreds of millions of people who have not learned and believed in God
mentally, but who have felt God and seen God move. This is why I believe that
faith is a choice. We get to choose.
This
morning in our gospel of Luke reading, Jesus Christ, God’s son, who was fully
God and fully human on earth, tells us once again more about God. This is what
our gospel reading says once again for this morning:
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it
is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions,
and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing
treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Lk.
12:32-34, NRSV).
Jesus tells us that the Heavenly
Father wants to give us his kingdom and his blessing. We are to live for God
and not possession. Jesus tells us of heaven, the afterlife with him. He is
revealing to us, who God is, his nature, and what he wants from us.
Jesus then tells about his return to
earth, which is culmination of God’s revelation in history. Once again the
gospel ends with Jesus saying:
“Be dressed for action and have your
lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from
the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes
and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes;
truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he
will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near
dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. “But know this: if the owner of
the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not
have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is
coming at an unexpected hour” (Lk. 12:35-40,
NRSV).
Jesus says that after his death and
resurrection that he will be returning one day to earth in glory. Our belief
about God as Christians don’t simply just pop up like a cabbage or an eggplant,
we have held them for hundreds of years. They have stood the test of time, and
have been believed by hundreds of millions of people over many generations. Are
the true, or is all of this just a accident? I don’t think so.
I would like to leave you with a quote
about God. I take this quote from a book I have called “Quotable Wisdom: The
Saints”. This book has many great quotes from the saints of the church
throughout history. This quote comes from Saint Anselm of Canterbury, and this
is what it says:
“My soul, have
you found what you are looking for? You were looking for God, and you have
discovered that He is the supreme being, and that you could not possibly
imagine anything more perfect. You have discovered that this supreme being is
life itself, light, wisdom, goodness, eternal blessedness, and blessed
eternity” (Quotable Wisdom: The Saints, pg. 1).
The Apostle Paul tell us this morning
that:
“Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb.
11:1, NRSV).
I believe in
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I believe in his plan and his
love. Do you? Amen.
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