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For insomniacs; This Sunday's sermon
Topic Started: Aug 9 2007, 08:14 PM (97 Views)
Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Based on this scriptural text; sermon follows below.

(Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. ...

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.


========

"Stepping off the Dock"

Our New Testament lesson today starts with one of the best known verses in the Bible: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” Faith. The word itself has become a one-word summary for a person’s entire set of religious beliefs. What’s your faith? Oh, I’m a Christian. What’s her faith? Oh, she’s Jewish. And so on. Scripture tells us to live in faith, trusting in God’s love and goodness, and to have faith that God is in control, and will provide for us, even when we don’t have hard, scientific proof that God, any kind of god, even exists at all.

But from the time that we’re kids, we’re taught that we’re supposed to be reasonable, and rational. That as we get older, we’re supposed to give up our imaginary friends, and to be serious. To rely on cold, hard facts. Data on the spreadsheet. That’s how our culture defines maturity, isn’t it? In general, that’s a pretty good thing. As we get older, and experience more of the way the world generally works, we need to learn these patterns, and to usually trust concrete facts over unprovable abstractions. We think this way largely because our society grew out of the philosophical movement of the 1600’s and 1700’s in Europe known as the “Enlightenment,” the so-called “Age of Reason.” Our Founding Fathers were heavily influenced by the great Enlightenment philosophers. The Enlightenment has given us a legacy of a lot of good, but I don’t think it’s all been good. At the beginning of the movement, an Enlightenment thinker might have said, “If something can’t be proven scientifically, it might be true, but we certainly can’t say it’s been proven true.” That sounds innocent enough to us, but for the time, it was pretty radical. Eventually though, Enlightenment thought went a little further, to the point where an Enlightenment thinker might say, “If something can’t be proven scientifically, it probably isn’t true.” Even that doesn’t sound too bad; we’d probably agree with that. But eventually, Enlightenment thinkers took the next leap, to say, “If something isn’t scientifically proven, it ISN”T true.”

Did you get that shift? As their philosophy developed, Enlightenment thought gradually “dethroned” the God who requires faith, and in that God’s place, put a new god on the throne – a god made up of a sort of “trinity” of science, physics, and mathematics. According to them, this trinity was stronger, more reliable, more true, than the superstitious, fairy-tale God found in the Bible. And this viewpoint is still very common today. Of course. It's logical. Reasonable.

Now science, physics, and math are wonderful things. They help us understand creation – how God put it all together, and how it works, and as long as there’s no outside force applied to the situation, how things will continue to play out. But God is the Creator of science, and physics, and mathematics, not a slave to them. God is God even over organic chemistry, and the theory of relativity. These are all God’s tools. And God uses these tools, like we’d use a table saw or a screwdriver, to accomplish some particular job. But just like we wouldn’t use a crescent wrench to drive a nail, God chooses the right tool for the right job, too. To achieve some things, God sets aside the tools of reason, and logic. They just aren’t the right tools for the job. Sometimes, God works in ways that we can’t weigh, or measure, or catch with infrared digital photography. Sometimes, God works in ways that require us to have faith.

God tells us that we’re to live our lives in faith – that really, when it comes down to the most important issues in life, in order to see the true picture, we’ve got to step across that unprovable “gap” between where facts and logic leave off, and God. Having to take that leap of faith frustrates some people. But God wants us to have a true, loving relationship with us – where the love is genuine, not forced. If God gave us all the concrete data that we needed to prove God’s existence, then our relationship with God would be sort of robotic. It would be a relationship with no freedom, but just simple acknowledgment. We’d have lost the ability to say “no” to God - and not being able to say “no” makes saying “yes” mean a whole lot less. It’s like the difference between a forced, arranged marriage, and a marriage between two people who love each other and decide on their own to get married. It’s a world of difference, isn’t it?

God tells us that in order for us to grasp the full beauty, and the nature of God, and our relationship with God, we have to sometimes go beyond the limits of reason – beyond the spreadsheet – and to live in faith, believing God’s promises to us.

The passage in Hebrews goes on to talk about the faith of Abraham and Sarah. The writer Frederick Buechner has painted a great word picture of the story of Abraham and Sarah. There they are, living in the city of Ur. Abraham’s doing pretty well for himself. He’s proven himself to his boss. He’s shown real promise in the company, and he’s on the upward track in the organization. Sarah shops for most of their clothing at Macy’s. And then, God calls Abraham to step out on faith, and leave it all behind. Leave the job, the house, the golf league, and the security behind – and head out for only God knows where, for an uncertain future where God says, “Don’t worry, it’ll be all right. You’ll be the father of many peoples, and many nations. Your offspring will possess a great land.” Abraham has his doubts, and fears. But still, he steps across that gap in faith. He turns in his resignation letter to his manager, telling him that God has called him to this new venture. The manager thinks he’s crazy, of course, but he writes a nice letter back to Abraham, in carefully chosen words, thanking him for all of his great service to the company, and wishing him well, and that if he ever changed his mind, there’d always be a place for him in the company.

So, off Abraham, and Sarah, go, along with all their family and worldly possessions, to follow God in faith. And what follows? Well, more than we can talk about this morning, but to make a long story short, years of wandering, and false starts, and a heck of a lot more questions than answers. Still, Abraham has faith that God will be true to his word.

Now it’s years later. Many years of living as nomads, in a life that even in the best of times is hard. And hot. And on this day, here they sit, around the table. Abraham, and Sarah, and a visitor – he says he’s an angel sent from God. And the angel has just dropped a bombshell on them. He says that even though Sarah has been barren for years, God is going to give the couple a child.

They sit there, dumbstruck, in the stillness and the heat. A fly had been buzzing around them and annoying them as they talked, each of them shooing the fly away as it landed on them. But now even the fly has disappeared. Now, it’s deathly silent.

And then, there’s a noise. It’s Sarah, and she’s laughing. Her body starts laughing before there’s sound, her shoulders heaving, her eyes squinting, mouth open. And then comes the sound, rough and gravelly at first, like starting the old Ford on a cold winter morning. Then it bursts out in full force, and now she’s laughing so hard that tears are streaming down the sun-toughened skin of her cheeks. She’s ninety-one, and her husband’s a hundred, and she’s laughing at the thought of Medicare paying the bill from the maternity ward. Abraham wants to laugh too. He tries to hold it in, but he finally starts laughing too. Even the angel is caught up in the moment, and even though he covers his mouth, you can still see the laughter in the sparkle in his eyes. Abraham and Sarah are laughing, not just because the angel believes what he’s just said, but that he actually expects them to believe it, too. And they’re laughing at themselves too, because they know that it would be unreasonable, comical – crazy – to believe it – but still, a piece of them actually does believe it.

They didn’t deny the unreasonable nature of God’s promise. And God didn’t scold them for their laughter, either. On the contrary, God endorses it, telling them that when the child is born, to name him Isaac, which, translated, means “laughter.”

Reason is a great tool. We can learn a lot through reason. But if we place reason on a higher pedestal than it deserves, it will become a crutch, and it can prevent us from growing in our relationship with God. You see, sometimes, God asks us to walk the tightrope of life without a net. To take the training wheels off the bicycle. To grow.

Faith is trusting your Dad the first time he coaxed you to jump into the swimming hole. You loved your Dad, and you trusted him. But you still had doubt, and some fear. Dad knew that, but he said, “Don’t worry. It’s okay, I’ll catch you. Come on in, the water’s fine!” It’s the same way with our heavenly Father. We have to live in faith, in order to experience that part of God that logic and reason can’t even begin to describe. It’s through faith that we tap into the most wonderful, most magical, most joyful parts of life in Christ.

Cross the unreasonable, unprovable gap. Step off the edge of the dock. Your Father’s standing there with open arms, saying “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you. Come on in – the water’s fine!”

Thanks be to God.



"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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Rainman
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Fulla-Carp
Dewey, a very good sermon! Faith within the constant onslaught of "reason" is something we all deal with. Your sermon of how this has been the case for millennia is uplifting. We are different than the days of Abraham, but then again, we face the same questions.
From the Enlightenment to a child jumping into Dad's arms, you have a wonderful way of presenting examples/allegories and perspectives where everyone in the congregation -- regardless of background --can find meaning and understanding.

Congrats! on another great sermon!!
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
I can only echo Rainman's comments, Dewey. Marvelous sermon. :clap:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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RosemaryTwo
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HOLY CARP!!!
Inspirational, Dewey.

Available yet as a podcast? ^_^
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
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