Sermon prepared for
by Pastor Gregory S. Kaurin
Texts: Genesis 17:1-7, Romans 4:13-25 (& Mark
Sermon:
Understanding: Faith
“Adeste Fidelis”
Click to go to: homepage – or – sermon menu
– or – sermon
archive
When
we were kids, Dad would take us swimming to various rivers and lakes, and sometimes
he would put one of us on his back. Taking
turns, we would grab hold of his shoulders.
He’d say, “Hold on!” push off, and away we’d go. It was fun enough when he skimmed on top of
the water, but then he’d say, “Okay now, take a breath,” and down we’d go.
I
remember that feeling like nothing else.
In a way it was scary, but at the same time, I wasn’t afraid. I had trust.
I had faith in him. I would be
fine, because I had a hold of Daddy. I
had faith.
The
Latin root behind the word “faith” is “fides.”
From it we get great words like “fidelity” and “fiduciary.” The word “confidence” means, “with faith”; and
“infidels” are people who lack faith, or lack the true faith. The marines will shout “semper fi,” which is
a slight abbreviation for “always faithful”—be faithful to your oath, and never
leave a soldier behind: semper fi.
Well
then, what is “faith,” and how can you get it, and hold it, and grow it? Is it a feeling? An action?
A belief? Trust? Hope?
All of these?
Abraham
is lifted as the paragon of faith in the Bible.
When he was ninety-nine, the Bible says that God came to Abram and said,
“I am El-Shaddai,” which means God of the Mountains, or God on High. “Come and stand in front of me …and be
blameless.”
“Be
blameless.” It was more like an announcement
than a command. In front of God, Abram
was declared blameless, and reborn. It
was a true baptism without water.
God
even gave him and Sarai new names. In
Abraham’s day, to change your name meant a change in destiny. I’m sure that’s what
And
so began Abraham’s journey with God. God
commanded and Abraham obeyed. Why? “Because he had faith,” we say.
Sarah
always gets blamed for laughing at and questioning God’s promises—and she does
laugh in the 18th chapter of Genesis, but Abraham laughed first, and
asked the very same questions.
He
apparently didn’t even bother to tell Sarah about this promise; —she had to
overhear it later. Was this doubt, even
after God had declared Abraham blameless?
Was he too afraid to say something to Sarah? Was he afraid, at first, to truly hope?
Was
this faith? Or, was this the beginnings
of faith? …Abraham was newborn at the age of 99, but the more he walked with
this El Shaddai, the more his trust grew in this relationship that God
established and announced, “Be blameless, Abraham… You and Sarah will give
birth to nations and kings.”
Paul
in our second lesson said it was Abraham’s faith that made him right with
God. His obedience came second. To put it simply Abraham didn’t have faith
because he obeyed God. He obeyed God
because he had faith, and the more he relied on and experienced this faith, the
more he trusted and obeyed.
First
(and ultimately) “faith” starts (and ends) with God. It is your relationship with God. He started it. Second is how you feel about it, where you
are in that relationship. Third is what
you do with it.
A
woman gives birth to a child. That
historical fact is the “faith” that will connect them forever, for good or bad. No amount of rebellion, adoptions, divorces, abuse,
nothing, not even a thousand miles of court papers or lawyers can change the
fact. She is the child’s mother.
In
human relationships, that is not always a good thing. Sometimes people need to choose their own
families in spite of reality. It doesn’t
change the fact of that first and unchangeable relationship, but it does change
what we do with it, and how we experience it.
The
same with our faith and God. Faith is primarily
your connection to God, your heavenly Father.
He is the one who created you, and you are connected again through Jesus,
your brother who saved you. Now, you’ve
got something, something truly permanent because it was established by God and enfleshed
in Jesus.
The
Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, says that God is always
faithful. He never breaks the
connection… It stands there like a fact.
Like it or not, he is your Creator.
He is the only one who can Father and Mother you perfectly, and Christ
is your Savior. Period.
That
is the part of faith that never changes; it doesn’t shrink or grow—it is simply
a fact. You were loved into creation by
God. Jesus came to forgive and save you.
His
is the action that truly saves you.
Believing him, and trusting this relationship isn’t so much an action or
even a decision. —Faith, your side of faith, is simply accepting the relationship, the faith, that God made you and that Christ
saves you.
There
is more to it than that. My sermon title
is “Adeste Fidelis.” It’s the title of an old Latin Christmas carol
that we still sing. It means literally,
“Come, All Ye Faithful.” Y’all Come.
I latched
onto it because I began to think of all the faithful people in the Bible. When you think of all the people that we
would call “faithful” in the Bible, this is a huge and incredibly mixed crowd. Their lives all gather around and point to Jesus,
who was the flesh and blood of God’s will and promises.
This
includes Abraham and Sarah, who laughed and tried to do things their way, but
finally gave into their trust; Samson, who was lead astray but turned back at
the last; King David, who used his position to sleep with another man’s wife
and had her husband killed in battle, and yet he was lifted up as the archetype
of God’s Messiah and the heavenly kingdom; Mary, who asked, “How can this be?”
but then put herself in God’s hands; Joseph, who nearly deserted her gently;
Peter in our gospel lesson, who wanted to protect Jesus from his own fears. They all have this thing in common: In spite
of doubts or disobedience, they all had enough faith to accept God’s
forgiveness. Their “little faith” was
enough to turn them around, again and again, and trust themselves in God’s
hands.
This
great cloud of witnesses in the Bible tells us about faith, and about following
Jesus. What you begin to realize is that
they were no better and no worse than you or me. You could stand next to King David. In fact, you do. Believe it or not, when you come up for
communion, you are receiving it alongside of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
That
is the cloud of witnesses. What they all
clearly witness to is the forgiveness and grace of God, who welcomes you, not
because of your wonderful obedience, but because of his love.
Faith
is first and finally, the relationship that God has with you. Believing it, trusting it, is enough to give
you salvation. Trusting God’s
forgiveness gives you the strength and courage to try to obey, to make
mistakes, but still come back to him…to hear God say again (just as he did for
David, and Abraham, and Sarah, and Mary, Joseph and Peter), “You are my child, so
I forgive you. Trust me. Believe in me. Follow me.”
Trusting
your salvation gives you the peace you need to put up with other people. If your eternal life is secure, then you can
get over fears, you make it through hard times, and even find good reasons to
rejoice. You can do this because you are
okay—not inherently okay—but because God declares you okay in his sight: blameless.
It
is stupid not to trust God and put ourselves in his hands. After all he’s done for us, won’t he also
give us everything else? Even Peter’s
little faith was enough to lift him out of the waves. Even a little bit of hope and trust was enough
to open the gates of heaven to thief in the last hour of his life.
Even
our little faith, when it’s paired alongside of God’s will and promises, our
little faith is faith enough to do things even greater than moving
mountains. Faith forgives, or rather, it
accepts forgiveness. It saves souls. It gives strength and hope. It heals people with a peace that no medicine
can reach.
So,
why not? Why not step out of our safe
little boats and share our faith with someone else? Why not trust the commandments of the Bible? Why not be generous and patient and
loving? We’ve a relationship, a faith,
established by El-Shaddai, God on High! We
might just as well pick up what Jesus called our cross in the gospel lesson to
follow him, because we’ve got everything, and nothing to lose. Adeste
Fidelis, Come, you faithful.
Following
Jesus is nothing more than this: First, it is the faith God gave us. Second, it is using that faith to trust him. And third, it is taking a deep breath of
grace and faith, and putting that trust into action, without fear. We may get scared on occasion, but we are not
afraid. Like those times in the swimming
hole, we may get scared from time to time, but—even when our head goes
underneath the water—we don’t have to be afraid… We have a hold of Daddy.
Click to go to: homepage – or – sermon menu
– or – sermon
archive