Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Hebrews 11:17-31 Dear Friends in Christ, In recent days, my sister Gail gave me three boxes of my mom’s scrapbooks, journals, and prayers. And so it is that I have been spending time reading through my mom’s reflections and how it is that the Spirit of God worked in her heart a strong and a growing Christian faith, a faith that has been blessing her children and grandchildren and family and friends for decades, a faith I’d like to give you a little glimpse of how my mom laid aside that which was entangling her and how she kept her eyes focused on her Savior. The context of this glimpse, this little snapshot is that my parents were having a disagreement about how best to help my mom’s brother, who had a long history of abusing alcohol and all that comes along with drinking problems. “The rains woke me this morning, and I reached over to touch Jack. I needed his warm arms to hold me, but he felt the tear on my cheek and I felt the lump come back into my throat. It has been there so much these troubled days….and I guess the tears were blinding me so that I couldn’t see just where Jesus is standing….Why don’t I take more time and look out these beautiful south windows and see all the beauty God created; see or wait to see the beauty behind the clouds and storms of life also. Try to concentrate on your blessings at these times, like this beautiful house where I sit in comfort as the rains come down. I dreamed of a house like this as a girl….Lord as I prepare to face this day with its problems, help me throw away the words and actions which do no one any good….I’ll get steak in the crock pot for supper before I go to work…” Our sermon theme today would focus on what it means to live by faith instead of by sight. Three lessons we would learn about what it means to have a growing instead of a plateauing or declining faith. Lesson #1 is that a growing faith never stops studying (the past). There is an old saying that appears in many different forms, but the earliest version is probably that of the poet and philosopher George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Or to say it another way, “Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.” Or as our local philosopher Gail Wynnemer likes to say, “You don’t appreciate “nuthin” until you don’t got it!” The Bible says of course, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. One way of hearing the Word of God is by hearing again and again the simple truths that we have learned from our mother’s knees. We might categorize these simple truths into two kinds of blessings – there are the routine blessings, and then there are the miraculous. Remembering the (routine). My mom’s faith would be strengthened every time she remembered that her husband was a faithful and dependable and kind provider, every time she noticed the beauty of a sunrise and the glory of a sunset, every time she gave thanks for her daily bread, every time she enjoyed the comforts of her home and the company of friends and family. No doubt Abraham’s faith was strengthened as he remembered how God had blessed him with a faithful wife and servants, every time he noticed the seasons of the year coming and going, every time he and his household had food to eat and his livestock enjoyed green pastures and still waters. No doubt Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and the people of Israel were strengthened in their faith every single time they were still and knew that God was God, every single time they survived yet one more day of danger, every time they kept on making mistakes and God kept on showing them mercy. Remembering the (miraculous). I know for a fact my mom’s faith was strengthened every time she taught her Sunday School students the familiar stories of the Bible, every time she gave birth to a child, every time she rejoice in the birth of one of her ten grandchildren, every time she received news of the birth of a great grandchild (25 or so an counting at the time of her death.) No doubt Abraham’s faith was strengthened every time he bounced on his knees his little son Isaac, the son who was born to a woman who everybody said was as good as dead in terms of bearing children. No doubt Jacob’s faith was strengthened every time he recalled all the miracles he had seen in life, including his favorite son Joseph surviving being sold into slavery, including the reuniting of his fractured family, including the forgiveness of sins sweeping over his twelve sons and their families in powerful way. No doubt the people of Israel were strengthened in their faith every time their parents and grandparents taught them history, every time they remembered plagues of water turning into blood, frogs covering their land, and gnats swarming over people and beast alike, every time they shivered in horror at the memory of plagues of flies, then livestock dying, and then boils, then hail, then locusts, then darkness, and finally as they remembered their own firstborns getting spared and Egyptian firstborns getting slaughtered. Lesson #1 today is that our faith, which has nothing to do with our own accomplishments and everything to do with who God is and all that He has already done, our faith will be growing as long as we never stop being students of history. A growing faith stays focused on the One Who holds (the future). The kingdom of God is like a big strong dad who was walking down an icy sidewalk in the middle of winter with his little son. First the little boy wanted to walk by himself without the help of his dad, and that didn’t work, the little boy slipped and fell several times. Next, the little boy tried to hold onto his dad’s hand, and that worked for a time, but eventually, that didn’t work either, his grip on his dad’s hand kept slipping, and down he went again and again. Finally the father suggested that he hold onto the boy’s hand, and so he did, and all was well. To stay focused on the one who is holding our future is to keep on (Trusting) in His promises. By faith, Abraham could offer up his one and only and beloved son knowing that if worse came to worse, God could raise him up again from the dead. By faith Joseph made mention of a future exodus from Egypt and gave instructions for his own burial, knowing that the God in whom he trusted kept all his promises without exception. By faith, Moses and the people at the Red Sea could take their next steps in life, knowing that the day they and their children entered the Promised Land would be absolutely glorious! And so it is that to stay focused on the one who is taking our hand and leading us into our future means that we will be (Investing) in the next generations By faith Isaac could bless into the future his sons Isaac and Jacob, knowing the God in whom he trusted was the same yesterday, today, and forever. By faith the parents of Moses could hide their baby boy on the river and not be afraid of an earthly king, knowing the king they believed in was to be feared above all else. By faith, the Dorothy Fischers and so many others have left portions of their inheritance to this church and school, knowing that children would be baptized into the name of the Triune God and taught their Savior’s love for generations to come. By faith, so many grandmas and grandpas and senior citizens in this very place and all across the world keep on investing in Christian education, knowing that seeds planted in the present will yield harvest all the way into eternity. Lesson #2- A growing faith tays focused on the One Who holds our future in his hands. Lesson #3 A growing faith goes on running the race with perseverance (one day at a time). The kingdom of God is like one of our dear Christian ladies being laid to rest this very week. Her list of trouble and trial is longer than most and includes a major battle with mental illness. And yet she and her faithful husband kept living by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, kept on putting one foot in front of the other, for better and for worse as they say, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poor. Two thoughts about running our assigned courses with endurance. Some days we will be Running in directions that feel (all wrong). It had to feel all wrong for Abraham to raise the knife and slaughter his beloved son, it had to feel not entirely right for the parents of Moses to leave their son out there crying and defenseless, it had to feel dangerous for Rahab the prostitute to give a welcome to foreign spies. In our day, it feels awkward to stand up for traditional and old fashioned teachings of the Bible, it feels uncomfortable to ask hard questions to people we care about, it feels wrong to forgive people who aren’t really apologizing, it feels not entirely right to help people who keep on making the same mistakes over and over again. Other days, we will simply be Running for (safety). That’s what the people crossing the Red Sea were doing, running like scared mice away from the big tomcat. That’s what Moses was doing leaving Egypt after he had killed a man in his anger. That’s what many of us do every day in private devotions, running to God’s Word for refuge and for strength, that’s what we do stepping up for the Holy Supper again and again – running straight towards that place where our sins are forgiven, our faith is strengthened, and our souls are refreshed. Lesson #3 – a growing faith goes on running the race with perseverance, one day at a time, some days running in direction that feel all wrong, some days just running to stay alive, every day running by faith so that we do not grow weary or fainthearted. The kingdom of God is like a large church in a small town full of people often get weary and fainthearted, but they know where it is that their hearts will be lifted up. They work hard and they play hard, but their best times are when they rest hard in the promises of their God. They believe and they pray to God to help them overcome their unbelief. They trust at the same time that they doubt, and oh how grateful they are to have a God who believes in second chances and new beginnings. They make all kinds of mistakes, but they know at the end of every day that their souls are loved, their sins are forgiven, heaven is theirs. And so their faith doesn’t just sit there and survive life, it keeps on growing. It grows as often as it studies the past, it grows as often as it stays focused on the One who holds the future, it grows as often as it concentrates on running or shall we say walking their marathon one mile at a time.
2 Comments
3/5/2023 19:32:08
Thanks a lot for sharing this! Your mother had some really interesting views on religion and how faith works. I would like to recommend my favorite interior painting gainesville fl
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