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Century Christian
Church 1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor: Rev. Jim Westmoreland |
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Faith Enough?! Sometimes, when we read the scriptures, they seem disconnected and unrelated. As I began to prepare for this message, I felt that way about these readings for today. I was not drawn to any one text and just kept reading over the passages. Eventually, some connections began to emerge in my mind, and it was as if I were looking at one of those panoramic pictures that shows a progression of scenes. As these texts continued to speak to me, I began to feel a sense of movement from 1) deep grief and mourning to 2) faith rising from the ashes to a 3) strong sense of assurance. I, like many of you, have experienced grief, faith and assurance. But did you every feel like you got stuck in the sadness and depression of lost health, lost dreams, broken relationships and broken trust? When we try to take care of everything all by ourselves, we can get stuck in the boggy "quicksand" of life and not be able to get out by ourselves. John Killinger, seminary professor, pastor, and author, tells a story of a woman that got unstuck. He was at a religious education conference in Texas when a woman came up to him and said, "I bet you can't guess what I used to be." Because the conference was sponsored by the Disciples of Christ, he supposed that she was once a Baptist or Methodist. She said, "I was a professional gambler! I once risked $109,000 on a single spin of the wheel. My husband wanted me to quit, but I was on a winning streak. I wouldn't. I lost everything. I was sick for days. It was the biggest risk I had ever taken." "Since then I have taken an even bigger risk. When I heard of God's love for me, I bet everything I had on it. I stopped gambling. I said to my husband, "Sam, don't laugh at me, I am going to be a teacher down at the Church." Later, I enrolled in the seminary, took some classes in Bible, and now I'm the head honcho--I direct the whole Christian education program!" (1) This woman was stuck in a losing, destructive behavior, but she responded in faith to God's love. Then, we hear her enthusiasm and assurance as she tells us how she has continued to step out in faith and do things for God! Sometimes, we want assurance from God before we will do anything. But, I believe that assurance comes from stepping out in faith and doing something. If we want the assurances of God, we need to put our life on the line and put our faith into action. I want us to go look together at these images from scripture which we read this morning. This first passage from Lamentations contains a mournful lament over the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Jerusalem was the city of God. It housed the Temple. It had been strong, proud and invincible. People had equated faith in God with a city, a place of worship and with blessings. Now, all these things were gone. The Temple had been destroyed. Jerusalem lay shattered in ruins. For many their faith had been shattered every bit as much as their hopes and dreams about Jerusalem. This morning, we may know people whose lives have been shattered by death, by illness, by betrayal of trust, by broken promises. Tornadoes, fires, storms, business failures and financial irresponsibility can take away much of what we cling to. When our world is turned upside down, how will we respond? The prophet says that the people must confess their sin and their misplaced trust in all things other than God to have happiness and security. He encourages the people to cry to the Lord for help. And so, crying for help in the midst of our own pain and disappointments, we turn to the gospel of Luke. The disciples sound like most of us as they say to Jesus, "Increase our faith." Jesus answers and compares effective faith to something as small as a mustard seed. I wondered about that in the sermon title and the curious double punctuation at the end. At first, it is a question, Do I have enough faith? Then, it becomes an exclamation, Yes! I have faith enough! Then, I read a statement from Fred Craddock, "Like manna in the wilderness, there is no surplus for tomorrow, no time in which there is more than enough for today." And, I thought, Can faith be saved up, or must it be spent each day? Faith is a gift of God, like the manna given to the dependent people of God during their 40 years in the wilderness following their Exodus from Egypt. Faith, like the manna, cannot be saved up and not used. Faith is given daily to be used each day. Unused faith attempts nothing and does nothing. Faith points us to God. Too many of us look at ourselves, instead of God. We look at ourselves and say, "I can't do it. I'm not strong enough, loving enough, giving enough, committed enough. I don't have the money, power or faith to do this." None of those things matter! None of them! Because God is able! And, when we exercise our faith in Him, even a very little, His power is able to flow through us, and He will work through us what is His will to do. It is not that we need to increase our faith as much as we need to release the faith that we already have. Even faith as little as a mustard seed can make a dynamic difference. When we listen to Jesus, the first thing that we discover about faith is that "a little is a lot!" All faith is a gift of God, and, whatever faith we have is faith enough! In 1963 the Kingston Trio had a song that made it to #33 on the charts that was titled, "You Got to Prime the Pump." It was based on the following note that was found in a baking-powder can wired to the handle of an old pump. The note offered the only hope of drinking water on a very long and seldom-used trail across Nevada's Amargosa Desert. It read: "This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out, and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun, and cork end up. There's enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then, pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You'll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (signed) Desert Pete. P.S. Don't go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it, and you'll git all the water you can hold." (2) Take the faith that God gives to you and use it to serve God, and you'll git all the faith you can hold! You've been given faith enough to get started. When you live by faith to make your decisions and to do God's ministry, then you'll be given faith enough day by day, just like the manna in the wilderness for Israel during the Exodus. Now, we look at our last passage and see that Paul wrote Timothy affirming Timothy's sincere faith. Paul urged him to not be ashamed of his faith in Christ, but to live it. Paul has lived his faith boldly and without being ashamed, because he is assured that God is a faithful fiduciary of Paul's life, talents and devotion. Paul said, "I am quite certain that He is able to keep safe what I have entrusted to Him until the last day comes." The Greek word for entrusted means a deposit committed to someone's trust. In the ancient world it was a sacred duty to care for such a trust and to return it when it was later claimed. The assurance of which Paul writes does not come in advance of service, but it comes from stepping out in faith and doing what God leads us to do. When we look back, we know He was with us. Sometimes, we want our assurance from God before we will do anything. But, I believe that assurance comes from exercising our faith and obediently doing what God leads us to do. If we want the assurances of God, we need to put our lives on the line and put our faith into action. What does faith enough mean to you? What does it mean for our church? When God calls us to follow, what does faith enough mean in how we prepare and respond? Edna and Ron Butterfield both hold Ph. D.'s in Education. Edna shares a story about faith enough that involved one of her husband's students. She writes: "My husband, Ron, once taught a class of mentally impaired teenagers. Looking at his students' capabilities rather than their limitations, Ron got them to play chess, restore furniture and repair electrical appliances. Most important, he taught them to believe in themselves. Young Bobby soon proved how well he had learned that last lesson. One day he brought in a broken toaster to repair. He carried the toaster tucked under one arm, and a half-loaf of bread under the other." (3) When we leave here this morning and God gives us faith enough "to fix the toaster," let's get the bread ready! Endnotes: 1. Dr. John T. Dunaway, 8-11-02 sermon, "The Crisis of Doubt". 2. Keith Miller and Bruce Larson, The Edge of Adventure. 3. Dr. Edna Butterfield. Retired-professor of Education at Freed-Hardeman Univ. in Henderson, TN. Her husband, Ron, holds a Ph. D. and is Chair of the Education Dept. at FHU. |
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