True Faith

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.