Today was my first Sunday ever conducting a whole service in a Lutheran church. It's a little more complicated than the services I've led before. Then again, it is all quite scripted. That's the nice thing about liturgy.
Here's the sermon I preached in two different churches, filling in for a pastor who had to be on the road today.
Let us pray.
Lord God, Heavenly Father, giver of all grace, grant that we may hear aright from Your Word. Guard my mind that I may think Your thoughts. Guard my lips that I may speak Your Word faithfully. Guard our hearts that we may receive with joy that which You have appointed for Your glory and our good. This we pray through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
We read about faith in today's Epistle reading. And as we consider faith today we must be very careful, for we are running into dangerous theological waters. We risk running aground and making our faith shipwreck because we don't understand faith rightly. We, the community of faith, Christ's own Church, all to often redefine faith according to our culture's demands. We depart from biblical doctrine. We give in to what our world says faith is. We water down faith and lose the confidence that our Lord has given us. What did we read in verse 1 of Hebrews 11? "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (ESV). Our world says that faith is something quite different. Stop and think for a moment. Are you ready? It's time for a little grammar lesson, just a refresher. An adjective is a word that describes a noun. So if I want an adjective to describe "robe" I might say "white" or "hot" or "itchy." Now, without saying it, think of an adjective to describe "faith." [GIVE A MOMENT] How many of you at least thought for a moment of the word "blind"? That's the concept our world would give us. It is the idea our society as a whole would hold. There are matters of faith and there are matters of reason. There are matters of faith and there are matters of certainty. There are matters of faith and there are matters of reality. But that isn't what the Lord tells us. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Faith is therefore something that is very real. It is something that is very certain. It is something that is reasoned. Faith is anything but blind. So as we look at faith in a Christian manner, we want to remember that it is not what our culture says it is. Faith is something that is absolutely real. It is certain. It is sure. And it is a gift of God.
So we enter Hebrews 11, the great "hall of fame" chapter about faithful people. And you might expect that I will harangue you. You might expect at least that I'm going to wheedle you. Can't we all try to be more like these people in Hebrews 11? Isn't this a great motivational chapter? Well, as we start looking at these paragons of faith, there's something we want to emulate, but not everything. Let's look at the people in order.
Abel - what do we know about him? Let's see. He offered an acceptable sacrifice. God accepted that sacrifice. He was killed by his brother. That's about what we know about Abel. I kind of like the first two events. Not sure I like the prospect of my brother killing me.
Enoch - what do we know about him? Virtually nothing. He was righteous. He pleased God. He didn't die because God took him. That's about the end of that. Okay, we like this.
Now, I can't resist pointing out something the author of Hebrews does here. Verse 6 is what we could call a "pivot verse." You notice that we know very little about Abel or Enoch. Everything we know about them is positive. Then there's a verse that gives commentary. We'll go back and visit verse 6 several times. Let's read it again. "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (ESV). We've had two entirely positive examples of faith. And we know that faith is reasoned confidence in something that is very sure and certain. Now let's keep looking at our examples of faith. Something has changed.
Noah - what do we know about him? He built an ark. He received a warning from God. He saved the world through his faithfulness. After the flood he had a drinking problem. Something inappropriate happened when he was drunk, though it isn't completely clear what. But his failure and the failure of his children had something to do with a curse on the offspring of one of his sons. Here's one of our heroes. And he is tragically flawed.
Abraham - what do we know about him? He was faithful to follow God's promise. He waited for the child of promise. He lied about the fact that he was married. He endangered his wife's safety, her chastity, her reputation. He took matters into his own hands to try to produce the child of promise through his wife's maidservant. Here's one of our heroes. And he is tragically flawed.
Sarah - what do we know about her? She believed the promise of God and bore the child of promise. But when the promise was made to her she laughed at God and said it was impossible. She was chastised by the Lord face to face. She is one of our heroes. And she is tragically flawed.
The fact is, the more we know about our heroes the more we see that they are fallen sinful humans, just like we confessed earlier that we were. We see that our heroes are deficient in the faith, just like we are. We see that our heroes are subject to the very same kind of temptation to sin that we are. Our heroes fall again and again.
Let's remember verse 6 again. "Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." So why are our heroes of the faith called heroes? They sound like a bunch of losers, to be quite blunt. They don't consistently strive to draw near to God. They don't seem to believe that God is the one who exists and takes care of everything. They don't look for His reward. They take matters into their own hands. They are lovers of themselves, lovers of wine, lovers of power, people who are afraid of other men and women, people who refuse to see things through God's perspective, people who think they can trust their own ability and understanding. Yes, these people sound like, well, they sound like us.
What happened to these heroes? Let's look at verse 13. "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar..." (ESV). Here's the hope. Here's that sure and certain hope that we have. Here's the substance of faith that we're looking for. It's a promise from God. All these heroes saw the promise from a distance. And we see the promise from a distance as well. All the heroes we have read about in the Bible looked forward to a promise that had not come about yet. We also look forward to a future reality. But we have a greater assurance of that reality than Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, or Sarah. We have seen that the promise is starting to come about.
What is our promise? Remember our reading from Luke's Gospel. What are we anxious about? What do we worry about? What is it we need? Does our Lord not promise to care for our needs? "Seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you" (Luke 12.31 ESV). Is there anything that we need that our Lord is not able to provide? Do we not pray that the Lord will give us our daily bread? Do we not pray the Lord will forgive our trespasses? Do we not have his promise that if we confess our sins he forgives us? Are we worried about those who could kill us? Do we not know the Lord who is the resurrection and the life? Are we worried that our loved ones will die and leave us? Does our Lord promise that he will never leave us or forsake us? So what are we afraid of? What concerns us?
Here's what I suspect. I suspect that we all, all of us sinful people, all of us people who are like Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, ultimately don't really believe that God's grace is as big as it really is. We have given in to our world's idea that faith is a leap in the dark. We have forgotten that it is by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man may boast. We have forgotten that we please God by believing that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him, not those who earn enough brownie points. We have forgotten that salvation really, truly is of the Lord. We try to take matters into our own hands. We try to get our comfort from a bottle. We try to get our safety from our street smarts. We try to plan out our lives and tell the Lord what he can and can't do in us. Isn't it enough? (Luke 12.3, ESV) "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." And that's exactly what we see. We look to the reality of the promise in Jesus Christ who has taken care of our real problem, who has become sin for us, who has died that we could live, who has risen from the dead that we may rise also, who has ascended to the right hand of the Father that he can ever intercede for us, who has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us, who has given us the Holy Spirit, who has drawn us to himself by his mercy, who delivers his promise through Word and Sacrament, who is coming again to claim his people and gather them to himself in that divine eternal rest of his kingdom, where there will be no more death, no more pain, no more suffering, no more crying, no more grief, no more shame. Jesus, the giver of the promise is delivering it to his people. He has accomplished our salvation in full in his sinless life, his atoning death, burial and resurrection, and is applying it to us as we "believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." This is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." This is that which is "promised" and which our heroes "greeted...from afar." Here is our "treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys." This is our treasure.
Stand as we pray.
Our Lord, our treasure, the living fulfillment of the promise, give us eyes to see and greet you from afar. Give us faith to please you. Remind us, day by day, of just how great a salvation you have accomplished on our behalf, that it is not our doing, but that it is your doing. Give us that assurance of our hope, eternal rest and peace in your kingdom. Give us a confidence of that which we cannot now see, for you yourself live and reign at the right hand of the Father on high, with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
We stand now and confess our common faith in the words of the Apostles' Creed. Rejoice in this confession of our living hope.
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Dave Spotts
blogging at
http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com 
