Sermon "Faith: Jumping to Conclusions orConcluding to Jump"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Sunday October 5, 1997
Matthew 25:14-30
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Faith: Jumping to Conclusions or Concluding to Jump
There's a story about General Westmoreland who was oncereviewing a platoon of paratroopers in Viet Nam. As he went downthe line, he asked them a question: "How do you likejumping, son?" "Love it, sir!" was the firstanswer. "How do you like jumping?" he asked the next."The greatest experience in my life, sir!" exclaimedthe paratrooper. "How do you like jumping?" he askedthe third. "I hate it, sir," he replied. "Then whydo you do it?" "Because I want to be around guys wholove to jump." Our reading this mornng is about people wholoved to jump or at least wanted to be around those who tookaction with their religion.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, theconviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestorsreceived approval. By faith we understand that the worlds wereprepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made fromthings that are not visible. By faith Abel offered to God a moreacceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he receivedapproval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts;he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enochwas taken so that he did not experience death; and "he wasnot found, because God had taken him." For it was attestedbefore he was taken away that "he had pleased God." Andwithout faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever wouldapproach him must believe that he exists and that he rewardsthose who seek him.
Hebrews 11:1-6
I would like to mention a personal note which I recalled whilepreparing today's message. It was the first day of fall on aWednesday evening, September 23, 1970 that I delivered my firstsermon. I was a senior in high school and was preaching at anoutreach for youth in my church. The topic was faith and the textour reading this morning from Hebrews.
Hebrews 11 has been called the great faith chapter. Faith isan element which is regarded as absolutely essential to thedevelopment of the Christian life. Henry David Thoreau, oncesaid, "If I seem to walk out of step with others, it isbecause I am listening to another drum beat." That is anexact description of faith: Christians walk as though listeningto another drum beat.
This chapter centers on and focuses upon what faith is. Thereis need for clarity on this. It might help to show, first of all,what faith is not. Faith, for instance, is not positive thinking;that is something quite different. Faith is not a hunch that isfollowed. Faith is not hoping for the best, hoping thateverything will turn out all right. Faith is not a feeling ofoptimism. Though all of these have been identified as faith,faith is something more.
Well, what is faith then? The first six verses of this chapteranswer that question, and the rest of the chapter tells us how itworks. The author is not discussing faith in general, but faithin God. In these verses there is a definition in which we see theingredients of faith. This, by the way, is the only definition offaith in the Bible. The definition is followed by a deduction, inwhich we have revealed the significance and the implications offaith. Then there is a demonstration, in which we seeillustrations of faith. The first and second verses and the sixthverse, taken together, help define faith for us. Here we see theingredients of faith.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictionof things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors receivedapproval...And without faith it is impossible to please God. Forwhoever would approach him must believe that he exists and thathe rewards those who seek him.
Note how those verses indicate that faith begins with hope.Faith commences with "things hoped for," that is, itstarts with a sense of discontent. You can never have much faithunless you are dissatisfied with the way you are now and arelonging for something better. That is its first note. If you donot feel dissatisfied with the way you are it will be impossiblefor you to exercise any faith. That is why, all through theBible, the great enemy of faith is a complacent spirit, anattitude of self-satisfaction with the status quo. But if you aredissatisfied, if you are looking for something better, if you arenot content to be merely a cultured animal living out a life ofeating, sleeping and amusing yourself and eventually dying, thenyou are in a position to exercise faith.
Then comes the conviction of things not seen. Not only adesire for something better, but an awareness of something else:that is faith. It means we become aware that we are surrounded byan invisible reality, that which is seen is not the wholeexplanation of life, that there are realities which cannot beseen, weighed, measured, analyzed, or touched, and yet which areas real and as vital as anything we can see. In fact they aremore real because they are the explanation of the things whichcan be seen. We must understand there is a spiritual kingdom thatexists. This is so beautifully seen in the words and teachings ofJesus. He speaks of God as his father as though he were standingright there, invisible and yet present. He does not see theuniverse as an impersonal machine, grinding and clanking along,but he sees it as an invisible, but very real, spiritual kingdom.
There is also a third ingredient of faith, "the assuranceof things hoped for." Faith is the assurance that the thingshoped for, the things you are longing to have, the better man orwoman you would like to be, will be achieved by acting on therevelation of the things unseen. Let us put it all together now.It begins with a longing to be something better, and an awarenessthat within the universe there is something else, and thatsomething or someone else has revealed itself. As we act on thatrevelation we shall achieve the things hoped for, the somethingbetter. That is the story of faith. It will work for anyone atany level.
Verse 3 introduces us to a very amazing deduction whichreveals something of the significance of faith and theimplications of it.
by faith we understand that the world was created by the word of
God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.
That statement, remember, was made in the first century whenthe best scientific minds of the time felt that the ultimatebreakdown of matter was fourfold: fire, water, soil and air. Thatwas the explanation of all matter. Yet here in the twentiethcentury, after two thousand years of human endeavor in exploringthe secrets of the origin of matter, we cannot improve on thisstatement. This verse says that we can never explain the thingswhich are seen till we come to grips with the things that areunseen. We must recognize the existence of things unseen.
I should like to place beside this verse a quotation I wasgiven last week from a former president of the Stanford ResearchInstitute. In a message on another subject he said,
Through the years I have struggled to gain a greaterunderstanding of electricity and magnetism in order to helpharness those forces for man's use. Even so, I cannot now give alucid definition of electricity or magnetism, except to say thatthey are invisible forces which have real manifestations.
Is it not amazing that the person of faith arrived at the sameconclusion as the person of science, only two thousand yearsearlier?
Faith is always an action of word not a state of being. It isnot trying to believe something regardless of the evidence, faithis daring to do something regardless of the consequences. It isnot a possession, it is a decision.
We are a church of people making leaps of faith. The good newsis that we are a supporting church before, during and after thejump. What might be God's jump for you? Are you ready then tocommit yourself to a life of faith? Are you ready to jump? Do it!It can begin as we gather around the table and fellowship withour Lord through the cup and loaf.
Prayer
Our Father, thank you for this glimpse into the life of thepast and this revelation of what faith is today. How we feel theneed of it in this hour. Grant us faith by which we can trustyour love and trust your word. Teach us to live according to it,coming to know Jesus Christ our living Lord, by whom life can bechanged and all that we hope for may be realized. Though it bethrough difficulties, through trials, through heartache andtears, yet we shall win the day, we shall arrive at the goal, weshall be what we long to be, in Him. For His sake, Amen.
