Sermon for Sunday, June 2, 2013
Heidelberg 450 Series: Lord’s Day 7
First Presbyterian Church ▪
Lake Crystal, Minnesota
Rev. Randal K.
Lubbers, Pastor & Teacher
Q&A 21
What is
true faith?
True faith is
not only a sure knowledge by
which I hold as true
all that God has revealed to us
in Scripture;
it is also a wholehearted
trust,
which the Holy Spirit creates
in me by the gospel,
that God has freely granted,
not only to others but to me
also,
forgiveness of sins,
eternal righteousness,
and salvation.
These are gifts of sheer grace,
granted solely by Christ’s merit.
New
Testament Lesson: Hebrews 4:14-16; 11:1
Therefore, since
we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach
God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help us in our time of need… Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Gospel
Lesson: John 20:24-31
But Thomas (who
was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So
the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark
of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his
disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors
were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then
he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand
and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord
and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Now Jesus did
many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in
this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in
his name.
Is Thomas' Faith an oxymoron?
So is Thomas—we know
him as “doubting Thomas”—is Thomas an example of faith? Is he someone we should
emulate? Or not? I asked for a show of hands and there seemed to be some hesitation.
Perhaps the congregation misunderstood the question, I’m not sure. But there
seems to be some reticence to lift up Thomas as an example of faith. Shouldn’t
he have believed what the other disciples told him? Really? Okay then, would you believe
ME if you were in his sandals?
Blind Faith
We
have this idea of what faith is—we think of “faith” as “blind faith”—something along
the lines of standing blindfolded on the edge of the cliff, told to JUMP, told
to BELIEVE that God will catch you halfway down and carry you to safety. So
faith is something that makes NO SENSE. And faith is something YOU need to do
in order to deserve God’s love. We hear that “Abraham’s faith was reckoned as
righteousness” and feel like we, too, need to muster up enough faith to warrant
God’s acceptance.
But faith
is not “blind trust” in what the church or a preacher says; faith does
not mean “checking your brain in at the door.” The Heidelberg teaches that
faith is a “wholehearted trust” but before that it is “a sure knowledge.” Faith
is both “head” and “heart” and, above all, faith is GIFT. It is NOT a
prerequisite for God’s love.
Thomas
made his own prerequisite very clear. “Unless I can touch with my own fingers
the scars; unless I can put my hand upon the wound in Jesus’ side, I will not
believe that he is risen from the dead. Because how crazy would that be?” And
then Jesus shows up and invites Thomas to experience a certain knowledge and a wholehearted
trust. “Go ahead, Thomas, touch me….”
Thomas
DOES indeed experience that “certain knowledge” and that “wholehearted trust.”
But he discovered he no longer needed to touch. Not even to see. True faith is
a gift—he just needed to say YES to the gift.
BOTH/AND
True faith
is joining Thomas in a simple, heartfelt confession: “Jesus is my Lord and my
God.” Faith is not the “salvation event”
but the acceptance of God’s invitation to the party. Faith relies not on human
wisdom but on the power of God. Both the “knowledge” AND “wholehearted trust” components
of true faith are gifts—gifts which, the Heidelberg says, “…the Holy Spirit
creates in me by the gospel.” So faith comes through hearing the good news. We
can be a “seeker” who searches for meaning and faith and God all our lives, but
unless the good news is REVEALED to us, we have no hope.
So
once again—and it needs to be said again and again because the misunderstanding
is embedded so deeply into the fabric of North American churches: Faith is not a prerequisite for God’s love. Yes, true faith is necessary. The
Heidelberg says, “Only those are saved who through true faith are grafted into
Christ and accept all his benefits.” But again—make no mistake—we are not saved
BY faith, but rather, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, given freely by
the love of God the Father, received through the power and participation of the
Holy Spirit.
“…Forgiveness
of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation. These are gifts of sheer grace,
granted solely by Christ’s merit."
Eberhard Busch,
in Drawn to Freedom: Christian Faith
Today in Conversation with the Heidelberg Catechism, quotes a hymn by Paul
Gerhardt,
God, who watched me from above,when I first began to be,enfolded me most graciously,before I knew of his great love
~ P.
Gerhardt (stanza 2 translated from the hymnal of the Evangelical-Reformed
Church of German-speaking Switzerland)
…which reminds me of the beautiful words we
use during baptism—I speak them to the infant in my arms but we all get to hear
them again and again:
For you Jesus Christ came into the world; for you he died and for you he conquered death; All this he did for you, little one, though you know nothing of it as yet. We love because God first loved us. (From the baptism liturgy, French Reformed Church)
And all this should move
us towards greater humility…
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1-5)
Faith is Necessary But Not a Prerequisite of God's Love
We know from our
own observation in the world: many people don’t believe, most people don’t
wholeheartedly trust God. Interesting and informative, and connected (I think) to
Paul’s thoughts about humility: Eberhard
Busch explains that, (paraphrase) Faced with this, the Reformers focused their
concerns not on the heathen—not on people across the globe or people outside
the church or on people who golf every Sunday morning—but on the people IN the
church. John Calvin, in fact, said, “If the same sermon is preached, say, to a
hundred people, twenty receive it with the ready obedience of faith, while the rest
hold it valueless, or laugh, or hiss, or loathe it.”
So what to do? If
faith is CREATED IN A PERSON by the Holy Spirit… I can’t cause a person to
believe; I cannot convince a person to trust God; it is all gift. But yet a
gift that comes through hearing.
So what is left
for me to do? I cannot convince or cajole or “guilt someone into faith.” It’s a
gift. And all that is left for me to do… is just… “Preach the good news, Randy.
Just preach the good news. Just tell them about Jesus.”
Lord, increase our faith....
And as for the
question I find myself often asking myself—maybe you wonder this too: How can I get MORE faith? How can my faith be
stronger? Bigger? Better? To my own question, I quickly remind myself… “More
faith? Ha!, you need more? Faith doesn’t need to be “GREAT” (huge, grand,
enormous). The Heidelberg doesn’t ask,
“What is GREAT faith?” or “How can I have MORE faith?” The Heidelberg asks,
“What is TRUE FAITH?” And didn’t Jesus say that a “mustard seed” faith was big
enough even to move mountains?
A pianist, giving
the gift of some degree of music aptitude and (maybe) long fingers, plays
beautifully because she has exercised the gift. A great leaper, a man or woman
with great quickness and speed and a nice jump shot, plays in the NBA or WNBA
because she/he has exercised the gift. If I want more faith, I need to exercise
my faith. It’s not about psyching myself up as much as doing it.
Abraham was told by God to pack up and move the whole family to a place he’d never seen or even heard of, and he got up and went. Noah was told to build an ark and we see his faith not in knowing how he FELT about it all, but in his response: He went out and built the ark. Israel, on the edge of the Red Sea, had NO FAITH whatsoever, or so it seemed, right? They chided Moses for making them leave their comfortable slavery in Egypt to die in the desert because they were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea. And we see their faith not as some positive energy that changed the situation, but in their response to God’s Act of Salvation. Their faith didn’t open the sea. God did. And we see their faith when they’re walking through the sea on God’s path.
A friend shared
an experience about attending Baccalaureate services last week. She said, “I didn’t
want to go; I was too tired to go; I had too many things to do to go—so much,
in fact, that it seemed like I really shouldn’t go. But I did. And then, as I arrived
and even as I wondered ‘why am I here?’—even then, when we were led into
quietness, and my heart become quiet, I realized, ‘Oh, How I Needed This.’”
Even coming to Sunday
worship when we’d rather sleep can be an expression of wholehearted trust. Faith
isn’t so much feeling as doing.
So if you would
like MORE faith…
- When God says, “I have a project for you,” then, like Noah, go out and build it
- When God says, “Leave this place and go over to THAT place,” then, like Abraham, get up and go.
- And when God opens up the sea and provides a Way, then, like the children of Israel, walk through the raging waters, and know, and trust, that you are walking towards and at the same time experiencing God’s abundant life, God’s hope, and God’s peace.
