I found it quite interesting that when I looked at the text in Greek, the word that was used for this gift of the Spirit was pistis. Pistis is normally translated rather simply with the word: “faith.” Rarely is it ever translated “faithfulness.” This sent my brain into overdrive because this word–the concept of faith–is extremely important for the church these days. The concept of faith is also vitally central to our identity as Lutheran Christians.
And as I began to think about its importance, I began to sweat bullets. I thought, “How in the world will I be able to cover such an important word; an important gift, in the time allotted to me? How can I squeeze things down so that we can understand its importance?” The reality is: there is no way I can possibly do this. There is no way that I can cram all there is to say about faith into a fifteen to twenty minute sermon, so we will have to talk in broad strokes this morning. I hope to cover these three things: 1) what faith is. 2) What it means to have faith in Jesus. And 3) How it leads us to have faith in one another.
The first item to tackle is: what faith is. What is faith? A definition that you will hear oftentimes is that faith is “believing without seeing.” This definition is actually partially correct. The writer of Hebrews essentially defines faith in this fashion in a classic definition given in chapter 11, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is something we can count on to happen in the future–a hope–a hope that is so deeply rooted that we are convicted of it even though we cannot see it. Oftentimes, this sort of understanding gets interpreted toward God–that God is something out there; someone we will meet in the future, and we are convicted of this to the point that we hold onto this without any sort of evidence whatsoever.
As I have studied what faith is, I now realize that this definition is lacking. It is true that we all believe in God not having seen Him. We all believe in Jesus not having seen him. But that does not mean that we don’t have evidence. We do. That evidence is actually sitting in the pews in front of you in that red book with the letters B-I-B-L-E on it. For the Bible is a recorded history of God’s interaction with the Jewish people, and then God’s ultimate revelation to humanity as Himself embodied in the person Jesus of Nazareth. This evidence has been passed down for 2000 years. Not only has this evidence been passed down, but we have a great cloud of witnesses who have shared with us their experiences of God–experiences that walk hand in had with God’s revelation in the Bible. Most of us here this morning have had someone in our lives tell us about God–tell us about Jesus. Most of us here this morning have had family members and friends who have talked about their answered and unanswered prayers; they have talked about times where they felt the presence of God; they have shared why they believe God is real. And, here is the kicker, here is the important part of that which fleshes out the definition of faith for us: we trusted them. You see, faith isn’t just believing without seeing–that is only part of the definition; faith is also trusting that what has been given to us is true.
You see, this understanding is actually rammed home when you understand the ancient world in which the Bible was written. There were actually very, very few atheists–as we would call them. Almost everyone believed in God or a god. Such belief was taken for granted. The real question was: which God did you believe in? Or, better put, which God did you trust? This distinction can be understood in the following story:
An atheist was out one Sunday morning hiking in a state park. He was walking along a cliff edge when the trail suddenly gave way. The atheist dropped down and luckily caught a branch that was hanging over the canyon below. There was no way he could climb up; now way he could climb down; and the drop would certainly kill him.
As he held onto that branch, he desperately cried out for help, but being a Sunday, there was no one around. In final desperation, he yelled to the sky, “God, I have never believed in you, but if you really exist, I could use a hand.”
Shockingly, a voice from the sky responded, “I do exist, and I have heard your prayer. I will help you.”
In that moment, the atheist became a believer in God. Excited by this new belief that he had, he cried out, “What do you need me to do?”
The voice responded, “Let go.”
The new believer looked at the ground and the long drop, looked back at the sky and said, “Is anyone else up there?”
Do you see how faith and trust can be separated? Can you see the difference that can be made between the two? The fruit of the Spirit, pistis, does not make such a distinction. Belief and trust are tightly wound together so that if this fruit is present in your life, not only do you believe in God, but you trust Him for your safety, security, and well being. You place your life in His hands.
And that brings us to part 2) what does it mean to have faith in God or Jesus? Again, this is important for us to be able to talk about in this day and age because we’ve got to do a better job in evangelism. We’ve got to do a better job in helping people understand their need for Jesus. Why is this the case?
Because everyone believes in a god. That might sound strange, and an atheist would certainly disagree. However, it depends on how you define God. An atheist can certainly reject the definition of an old, powerful guy sitting on a throne somewhere up in the sky zapping people at His will. But if you define God like Martin Luther defined God, then there is another story. You see, the founder of the Lutheran Church defined God as this in the Large Catechism: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart. So, if we accept this definition of a god: something that we expect that will bring us all good; something that we expect will bring us all security; and something that we trust with our whole heart–it is safe to say that there is no such thing as an atheist.
Everyone has a god. It just depends on what you put your ultimate trust in. Do you think government will solve all the world’s problems and bring about lasting peace? If you do, that’s your god. If you believe that if you just had enough money, then all your worries would cease, then your god is money. If you long for possessions: one more car; one more piece of land; one more electronic gadget, and you believe that these things will satisfy you, your god is possessions. If you believe that if people just had the right kind of knowledge; if they just learned the appropriate things, then the world would be perfect; your god is knowledge and education. If you believe that science holds the key to making the world a better place and ushering in safety and security for all, then your god is science. I could go on and on and on because the possibilities of what can be a god are almost infinite.
So what makes our God different? What makes Jesus different? If I had more time, I would try to show how each and every false god makes extreme demands on us to the point that it will make us sacrifice ourselves to it. In other words, we will never, ever satisfy our false gods. For instance, if your god is knowledge and you believe that if we all just had enough knowledge, the world would be great. Well, can we ever get enough knowledge? Will we ever obtain enough education? Can we force others to learn so that they will arrive at the place we are? Already you can see that the answers to these questions is no. We can never fulfill it, but knowledge drives us on. It demands that we learn more. It demands that we teach more–even though others may not accept it. Soon, we find ourselves down and defeated knowing that we have failed, but knowledge will not relent. It will be ever more demanding. If you look at every other false god, you will see this happening.
And so, now, let’s take a look at what happens when faith/trust is placed in Jesus. And, I am using Jesus and God interchangeably here. For the Christian, God is Jesus and Jesus is God. Yes, Jesus demanding. He lays this out unequivocally in His teaching. He demands nothing less than our entire being. He demands that we follow Him above all else and implement His teachings in perfection. But what happens when we fail to do this? What happens when we find ourselves crushed by His demands? What happens when we find ourselves failing in front of our God?
Does our God demand more? Does our God demand our death? Does God demand that we use all of our might to right the ship or we will perish? No. Instead of these things, our God lays down His life for us. Our God sacrifices Himself for us. Our God loves us with an unimaginable love. This is what Jesus does for us on the cross. No other god will sacrifice itself for us; no other god will pay for our failure; only Jesus will do that. This sets Jesus apart from every other god; every other religion. This is why He and He alone is deserving of our faith; deserving of our trust.
Think of it this way; if someone is willing to give everything for you; if someone is willing to love you when you are unlovable; if someone has stuck with you through not only the best but also the absolute worst of what has happened, would you trust them? Would you have faith in them? Would you come to love them? Of course you would. So why put your trust in any other god? Why look to all of those other things to put your faith in when they will not do the same for you? Jesus has already done this. It only makes sense to put our faith in him.
Which now brings us to point 3) Faith in Jesus leads to faith in one another. A pastor was speaking to his parishioners on the relationship between fact and faith. He said, “That you are sitting before me in this church is a fact. That I’m standing here, speaking from this pulpit is a fact. But to believe anyone is listening to me is pure faith!”
All jokes aside, this world really does a good job of getting us to doubt one another. This world does a good job of sowing seeds of distrust among one another. I mean, we do a good job of sowing seeds of distrust among each other.
A church choir director was going crazy at the rehearsals for a Christmas choral concert. It seemed at least two or more members of the choir were absent from every rehearsal. Finally, at the last rehearsal, she said, “I want to personally thank the pianist for being the only person in this entire church choir to attend each and every rehearsal during the past two months.” Then the pianist stood up, bowed, and said, “It was the least I could do, considering I won’t be able to be at the concert tonight.”
It’s funny, but there is no denying the fact that we let one another down. There is no denying that we fail to be the people we should be in relationships. None of us are perfect, and we have a nasty habit of magnifying our imperfections. We have a nasty habit of focusing on our shortcomings. We are almost programmed to focus on the negative.
But faith helps offer a corrective–particularly the fruit of the Spirit. Our faith, our trust, is in the one who laid down His life to forgive us. Our faith, our trust is in the one who died for us even though we were and are imperfect. Our faith, our trust is in the one who gave Himself up for us and sacrificed Himself for us. And when we have experienced this kind of grace; when we have experienced this kind of love; when we know that someone died for us with all of our imperfections; we are slow to condemn others for their imperfections. We are slow to condemn others for their shortcomings. We are slow to condemn others for when they fall short of what we would like them to be. In short, we are forgiving.
When the world seeks to sow the seeds of distrust and animosity; the church sets a different tone. When the world excludes you because of a mistake or a slip of the tongue, the church accepts you. When the world is harsh because of a mistake you make, the church is comforting. When the world seeks to hone in on your weakness and bring you down, the church seeks to strengthen you and build you up. This is only possible when we trust one another in our weakness. This is only possible when we acknowledge our shortcomings; our failings; our frailty. This is only possible when we in the church see perfection not as a requirement for membership but as an admirable goal we strive imperfectly toward. In the church, we allow others to see our pain, our suffering, our vulnerability because we have faith that fellow church members will show us compassion, care, concern, and help us heal.
A father was about to cross the street with his son, and said to his son, “Son, hold my hand while we are crossing the street.” His son replied, “No, dad, you hold my hand because I know if you hold my hand and something happens, you won’t let go.”
That is the type of faith and trust we have in each other. We hold one another’s hand knowing that if something happens, we won’t let go. We hold onto our brothers and our sisters because God held onto us. I trust and have faith in you. You trust and have faith in me. The Spirit gives us that gift. May we have it in abundance. Amen.
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