The Venture of Faith 8-7-22

The Venture of Faith

Gen 15:1-6; Heb 11:1-3, 8-16

Gen 15:1-6

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Heb 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.

Prayer – Gracious God, we are gathered this day, in faith, because we believe that you are indeed the way, the truth and the life. Although we don’t always receive clear, irrefutable evidence for our faith in you, we trust on some level that you are our God and that you are steadfast in your love for us and all of creation. Strengthen our faith we pray, even in the face of doubts and questions and misgivings. Enable us to keep trusting you, to keep yearning for the fulfillment of your promises, to keep venturing out in faith and seeing your will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Remind us this day of your faithfulness as we walk faith-fully as best we can – amen.

Singer/songwriter David Wilcox wrote a song entitled, Hold It Up to the Light, many years ago and perhaps the key phrase in his song goes like this – “I said God – will you bless this decision – I’m scared – is my life at stake? But I see if you gave me a vision – Would I never have reason to use my faith?” And I wonder as we hear the words of the author of Hebrews, what gives them, perhaps even gives us, reason to use our faith? Blind faith is not faith at all, merely hope. Faith to be real, must be tested.

Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. The modern world, that world produced by the scientific method, tends to limit the world to that which we can see, taste, and touch. What you see is all that there is. The world that stands in front of you is all that’s to be said of reality. There is no more. No beyond. What you see is what you get. Seeing is believing. If you can’t see it, you can’t believe it. Little wonder then that faith, the Christian faith, has often had rough going in those areas of the world that bought into an exclusively modern world view. 

The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith. Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.

Hebrews says that it takes faith to believe that the world was created. That is, it takes faith to believe that the world that is set before you might not have been if it were not for God’s creativity. That which is “visible came into existence from the invisible.” What you see is dependent upon having been created by that which you do not see. The same God who created the world out of nothing created a people out of nothing. Old Abraham and Sarah (about whom Hebrews says—not too flatteringly—were “as good as dead”) are promised that they will have a child. And from that child will come a great, blessed, purposed nation. 

Abraham and Sarah lived to see part of God’s promise fulfilled—Sarah gives birth to Isaac, her firstborn, even though she was very, very ancient. Yet Sarah did not live to see that great people arise from her firstborn. 

Landless Abraham and Sarah are promised land. They journeyed into that Promised Land, but never really occupied and owned it. They lived in tents and were nomadic. They received the promise but didn’t live to see the complete fulfillment of the promise. They “were strangers and immigrants on earth.” But they kept looking into the future, “looking for a homeland” that they never possessed but for which they hoped. They were looking forward to a future they couldn’t create by their own efforts, a future that could only be created by God, something out of nothing, a new world where there had been nothing. Faith, the food we need for the journey, is about taking the risk to keep walking when we feel we are simply walking in place.

And the writer to the Hebrews says, that’s faith.  And even though Hebrews says that faith is faith in what can’t be seen, faith can be known by its effects—the lives of real people who venture forth, not based on what they can see, but on the basis of the promises of God whom they can’t see. Faith is hope in action. Hope is based upon faith that can’t be seen but is nevertheless more real than much that passes for reality these days.

Too often, I believe, we think of faith as a buffer, a cushion that somehow protects us from the sharp edges of life. Here in church, we spend much of our time nurturing, recalling, enjoying the past, just as this Sunday we remember Abraham and Sarah and their faith. But as Hebrews says, it’s the nature of faith to look into the future, to be leaning toward God’s promises that have not yet been fulfilled but promises which we have faith are being, will be fulfilled by God.

Think about the people who, by faith, founded our church. Imagine what it was like for them to say, “We think God wants us to venture forth and build a church where there isn’t one.” Can you see them, in your mind’s eye, meeting in someone’s living room or business office: planning, strategizing. Where did they come up with the money to gather a church, then build the first building? Surely there were doubts: too expensive, not enough people, not enough people with financial means, and on and on. 

Yet they persevered. Sadly, there are only a few of our founders around to see our church as it stands today. I wonder if they could have imagined a fully functioning congregation here today. Yet they had faith. They kept their eyes fixed on the future. They were not overwhelmed by what they didn’t know of the future. They did not demand that God work on their timeline. They learned to measure success one small step at a time rather than to regard as success only what was fully complete and accomplished.

As Hebrews implies, if God were fully comprehensible, the ways of God were completely understandable, there would be no need for faith. And yet, if God’s ways were easily predictable, fully comprehensible, then would we be talking about God? Probably not. 

In our congregations and in my own ministry I wonder if I sometimes limit my expectations only to what I have a reasonable opportunity of seeing? When we limit ourselves to that which we think we have a sure-fire way prospect of seeing, then we’re apt to scale back our expectations. We limit ourselves to only what we ourselves can accomplish. We don’t think big or dream large. Rather than engage in the mission of joining with Christ in the salvation of the world (one historic definition of “church”) instead we say we are going to paint the sanctuary, kitchen and hallway or get new carpet for the entrance hall.

And in your own discipleship, if you limit yourself to visible, measurable, achievable goals, rather than walk by faith into the future, you limit yourself to the present moment. You confine your relationship to God to what’s going on between you and God right now rather than stride with God into God’s future. As we sometimes say, we don’t know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future.

Thus, when fellow sojourners have said to me, “I just can’t believe that Christ is the whole truth of God,” or they’ve said, “I still have doubts about my own relationship with God,” I’ve said something like, “Better to say, ‘I just can’t believe… yet,’ or ‘I have doubts now but maybe someday I’ll…’” Keep walking. Keep talking. Keep listening. 

Faith in Christ is rarely a matter of arriving at that place where you are fixed and final, completed and done. Faith is a truth nurtured through exposure, much as Abraham and Sarah experienced, which eventually jells into conviction. Faith is more a matter like it was for old Abraham and Sarah. It’s a matter of venturing forth, even though you don’t yet have all the evidence you might like to have. Faith is walking with God, of being on the way, even if the final destination is in the hands of God.

Now, trusting that God is going with us on the way, let’s go forth in faith . . . thanks be to God – amen.