By Faith

A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church August 12, 2007 based on Hebrews 11:1-16

The Unfortunate Hiker
There was once a young man who decided to hike the length of the Appalachian Trail. He started out and all was going well until one day he met up with a hungry bear. The bear chased the unfortunate hiker, who ran to the edge of a hidden cliff. He was going too fast to stop himself and he toppled over the edge. On his way down, he called out “O God, help me!” Suddenly a bushy tree appeared and he was able to grab a branch and cling to safety. But as he was hanging there, he began to lose his grip and he called out again, “O God, help me!” At that very moment, a deep voice said, “Let go”. The hiker thought about it a moment, then cried out, “Is there anyone else up there I can talk to?!”

Needless to say, the young hiker was having a faith problem.

Now he started out well. He called out to God – and Heb. 11:6 tells us that whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. So far, so good. But now comes the difficult part – faith. Without Faith it is impossible to please God. So by calling out to someone else, the hiker was clearly showing that he lacked Faith. He lacked personal knowledge of the God he was calling out to, so he had no assurance that he could trust the directives he received. He had no conviction that the unseen voice could was trustworthy.

And here is the rub of our problem with Faith. In order for faith to be valid we must either have excellent references that the object of our faith is trustworthy, or we must have some personal experience with the object of our faith. Without one of these qualifications, our faith is Blind; faith in faith itself. Thankfully as Christians, our faith is not just based on some idea or wish, but on Someone. And this Someone has revealed Himself that we may know Him and in knowing Him, we may receive Salvation. (Jn. 20:31).

As Christians, our faith is based on Revelation. God has revealed himself to us both through the written Word, and the Living Word, Jesus. The written Word provides us key knowledge about our Creator God – His attributes, His likes and dislikes, etc. It also gives us a record of God’s interaction with his people through the centuries, thus providing us the references we need. The great Hall of Faith we read about in Hebrews Eleven also give us eloquent testimony to how key people have trusted God through the ages. There is Revelation, content to my faith; it’s not just wishful thinking or Blind Trust.

This faith is based on Jesus and upon a reward in another, heavenly country. As a result I have a basis for deferring or denying some gratifications in this life – even to the point of giving up this life because I believe that there is a firmer reality out ahead, that all the apparent charms of this life are worthless compared to the matchless value of knowing Christ and Him crucified.

That unseen, hidden reality is so much more real than the stuff of this life that I am even willing to forfeit this life for the sake of that hoped-for life.

Spiritual Positioning System
This past Thursday, I went to a conference on Fatherhood, sponsored by KISRA, the Kanawha Institute for Social Research and Action, which is the faith-based and community-serving initiative of Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church. I attended a session with Pastor Emmanuel Heyliger, who was talking about Faith and the Family. During his talk, he made refered to Faith as our SPS – Spiritual Positioning System.

Our SPS tells us where we start from and where we’re going. It also helps orient us so that we don’t’ get lost along the Way. The only caveat is that we have to heed its directions; we have to listen to the Voice when it tells us what to do, and not ask for some other direction when we encounter difficulty.

Types of Faith
Our SPS contains a couple of types of faith. Small ‘f’ faith can help us accomplish earthly goals: complete a report by a certain time, accomplish some short term goal. We may rightly speak of a certain faith in ourselves or in our dreams. Confidence might be a synonym. Julie Andrews playing Maria in the Sound of Music, sings a song about having ‘Confidence in me” as she makes her way from the convent to the Von Trapp residence. This type of confidence or faith is based largely on knowledge of ourselves and our abilities. Maria had confidence that she could play guitar and sing. She had enthusiasm and talent in music. She also thinks she can take the Captain’s children in hand and be a good governess to them. But in the movie, when she finally reaches her destination and takes a look at the imposing Von Trapp estate, the wind suddenly goes out of sails. Suddenly she is not so confident that she can meet the challenge of being a governess on her own. To her credit, she musters up her courage and goes to face the challenge head on.

Underneath her outward confidence, however, is something that the movie only hints at: Maria has a Big “F” faith based on her knowledge and experience of God. Her Spiritual Positioning System was based on knowledge of a Who not just a vague hope. As a result, Maria was able to launch out in obedience to her Mother Superior without complete understanding of what she was being asked to do. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Our confidence is based on Someone bigger than me, outside of myself, who has demonstrated that He is powerful and trustworthy. Our SPS is powered by God!

Therefore, the saints of God have been willing to do all manner of apparently foolish things –leave their homes and go off to other countries, offer their sons in sacrifice to God, knowing that He is able to raise the dead, build ridiculously huge boats in the middle of a waterless plain, - even conceive children in advanced old age. They believed in a greater Reality out there who created all things, is over all things, and who upholds all things by the word of His power. They also believed that this same personal God loved them personally and particularly.

The Love Connection
This is where Faith goes hand in hand with Love. The knowledge of the God puts us in touch with the experience of His love – and this love is so compelling that I am willing to forego everything earthly to get it. My faith ties me to an other-worldly, but certain love, and that selfsame Love returns me to the things and people of earth and gives a mission to love other people in a New Way. Just as God so Loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son (Jn. 3:16) for the life of the world (Jn 6:51) so too, we as Believers have been given a mission to love and serve the world for Christ’s sake.

Our first priority in mission is to help people come to know Christ personally. But a funny thing happens along the way. Here let me return to Rev. Heyliger for an illustration. When he started his ministry at Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church in Dunbar 26 years ago, he began with services on Sundays and prayer meetings on Wednesdays, Sunday School and Vacation Bible Schools in the summer for the kids, etc. But in tying to teach the Bible to children and adults, he noticed that many of them couldn’t read – so he started a literacy program. Then he noticed that some of them were hungry and didn’t have adequate clothing – so he started a food bank and a thrift store. Then he noticed that some of his flock didn’t have jobs – so he started a job training program. Some didn’t have housing – so he started a program to help people buy houses, and another program to help them manage their money – and then finally another program to encourage responsible parenting. All these things came about as a result of a Faith in God that caused him and his church to reach out with the Love of God.

Our Mission
Like Emmanuel Heyliger and the folks at Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church, we at All Saints Anglican Church has been called to reach out to our world in Love. A big part of that mission right now revolves around Hope House. God has shown us a vision of how to reach out to a very broken part of our community and has given us many convincing proofs of His leadership and provision. We are certainly called as a body to accomplish this goal, even though we don’t know exactly how we are going to get there. Even now, there are many things happening behind the scenes to bring many people together to accomplish the goal, in ways none of could ever begin to imagine.

For instance, last night, I went out to at Camp Rocky Ledge in Milton to speak to a group of 100 squirming middle-school aged Girl Scouts about the tragedy of four teens dying because they got caught up in the world of drugs and violence. Believe me, greater love hath no man than he try to hold the attention of a bunch of bouncy girls… It was an unusual invitation, but an important connection was made with a group of young people who in many cases don’t have much contact with the world of church. Talking to the leaders of the troops I learned that there are 300 Girl Scouts in Huntington who need community service projects to complete. Many of them will now come to Hope House to do these projects! Amazing how our obedient faith results amazing actions.

As Christians, we have faith and love that the world does not and cannot know, but which it is attracted to and yearning to know. Our task then is to emulate, to be like these heroes of the faith who were so heavenly minded that they saved the world from itself. This is what we are called to – to live out our faith so as to become saints – heroes of the Faith.

We place our faith in God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. We walk by faith in his trustworthiness not by what we can see. And so we walk in love and we are able to give ourselves to the world – not for the sake of worldly gain, but fro the sake of God and because in His live, He wants to reach out to everyone in this sorry orb. Thus we have our Marching Orders. We believe in God for the sake of our soul’s salvation and we give out the love we receive on His behalf and for His sake. Amen.