The Step of Faith

Sermon March 16, 2014          The Step of Faith

Genesis 12:1-4a

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran

God tells Abram to go to a place he has never been before – go from your country, go from your kin, go from your father’s house – go and I will show you where.  So Abram goes.  We really don’t know a lot about Abram. Was he a righteous man as Noah? Why would God call him?

In looking back through the scriptures God called the least likely to follow.  Even today we may hear of a person being called to ministry and we say “ why would God call that one?” Even when God calls us to do a job our first response usually is I am not equipped.

We see that God does not always call those with the best credentials or the shining pedigrees. But we do see again and again, that a faithful response to God’s leading results in a  blessing of gifts and talents, of learned and acquired skill sets sufficient for the task to which an individual is called.

Our own experience and the witness of Scripture concur that the one who calls is the one who equips.  The one who equips always leads the called to more complete expression of the persons they were created to be.

Consequently, if the call is of God, the answer to all the above questions is YES.  A faithful response is the embrace of what God has already called into being – a newness of being – and the release from what is known for what is promised.

A faithful response is neither forced nor coerced, but a step freely taken toward our true selves. The notion of embracing newness and relinquishing what has been connects this text with today’s Gospel, the story of Nicodemus (John 3:1-17). Abram was born into a new reality that God called into being.  He took  The Step of Faith.

 

Psalm 121  UMH 844

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

The psalm appears to be set in the context of a pilgrimage.  The psalmist looks to the hills, which may be Mount Zion, God’s holy mountain and the place of the temple.  Presumably it is not an easy journey, and the opening verse cries out a stark question, “From where will my help come?” On a gut level, we know what it means to lift our eyes to the hills in search of help. Inevitably we have all made this cry at challenging times in our lives.

It is a hard to accept that the Lord is my keeper as it is to accept that the Lord loves me, but these two facts are intertwined. That is the key to understanding not merely what the Lord does for us, but why God’s love is the very foundation of God’s trustworthiness.  God loves us, and therefore God keeps us.

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Abraham Justified by Faith

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[a]

¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[a] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Paul provides a scriptural proof at verse 3 to demonstrate that the faith of Abraham is the means through which he was credited with righteousness: “Abram believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”.

In verses 4-5 the gift of righteousness is contrasted with the payment of earned wages, which are obligated because of “works”.   In contrast, Abram’s righteousness was not something he had earned by reason of his good deeds; rather, it was something freely given to him, solely on the basis of his faith.

An implicit message in the church and an explicit message in our society conspire to lead people to believe they will be entitled to God’s love and worthy of God’s love only if they earn it.

The heart and soul of this text is the proclamation of the unmerited grace that comes from God to us.

Think about this:

The God revealed in Jesus, bringing salvation to all who will accept it, is the same God revealed in Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and Esther.  The unique nature of Jesus will be seen as a unique revelation of the One God who is also revealed in many other places and ways.  Salvation, then, is through the revelation and work of God.

If Paul is correct in saying that Jews and Christians share the same faith and are at least spiritual descendants of Abraham, then the first tragedy was the division between the synagogue and the church.  Clearly the differences are perceived as greater than any common heritage.

Orthodox Judaism saw Abraham as keeping the law by anticipation and therefore in accord with the Mosaic tradition: Paul saw Abraham as preceding the law and therefore saved by faith.  The common thread is interpreted differently, depending on the community in which it is read.

Ignoring differences of dumbing down belief to avoid conflict does not provide sufficient intellectual support in today’s world.

What appears to be needed is humility, recognition that “our truth” may not be the ultimate truth about God:  a commitment to unity,   recognition that love does not depend on uniformity but welcomes a diversity of gifts; and a priority for mission, coming together with all our diversity, sharing gifts to reach out to those who need Good News.

God’s grace is evident in God’s choice to love us, which sets us in a right relationship with God.

So, we are inspired to say that the Christian life does not consist of doing good works to earn God’s love; rather, and wonderfully, it consist of doing good works because of God’s love and our love for Him and what He has done for us.

John 3:1-17

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”

In John’s gospel there are two major images:  one is light and the other is darkness.  Nicodemus emerges out of the night’s darkness, seeking light from the teacher he believes to be sent from God.

Just as suddenly as he appears, Nicodemus disappears back into the night from whence he came.  Before he does so, Jesus tells him one must be born anew in order to see the kingdom of God, and the last we hear from Nicodemus is, “How can this be?” (V.9).

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ^\

A few verses down….

Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done of God” (V.21).  IT will take Nicodemus a long time – until 19:38-42 to come once and for all out of the night and into the light.

What does it mean to be born from above and to believe in Jesus?

To be born from above by water and the Spirit, to believe in Jesus, is to leave the darkness and to come into the light (v.19).

What does it mean to live either in darkness or in light?  Those who live in the darkness and hate the light do so because their evil deeds will be exposed. (v.20)  To come into the light – to be born from above – is to do “what is right”(21), to follow the one who is himself “the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6).

For many Christians, the gospel is summarized by the words in John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..

Some Christians. However, understand faith or “believing in Jesus” to be simply what one does with one’s mind.

In John’s Gospel, being born from above and believing in Jeus are clearly not so much about what one does with one’s mind as about what one does with one’s heart and one’s life.

Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done of God” (V.21). 

In John’s Gospel believing and doing are inseparable.  Nicodemus lives in the darkness and the shadows of this story until its conclusion, when he emerges Publicly with Joseph of Arimathea, who is also a “secret disciple,” to bury Jesus.

Have you only assented with Your Mind the Jesus is Lord.

Or have you Taken The Step of Faith and Accepted Jesus as Your Lord Publicly.