Sermon for October 24th (Promise)

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. “ What is faith? Being sure of hope. Being certain of the invisible. The writer of the book of Hebrews lays these words: sure/hope/certain/not seen right up next to each other and tells us: that’s what faith is! But it’s a description, not a command.

What do I mean? Just this, that for someone new to faith, Hebrews 11:1 sounds pretty difficult to attain. If you take this description of faith as a command, as a hoop to jump through in order to be saved, for instance, you might be very hard pressed to be sure that you are “sure” of hope. That you are certain that you are “certain” of the invisible. Every time that you look at your so called “faith”, you might notice that you are not quite sure and certain if it is real faith or not.

Let me explain this another way. When I was in junior high and high school, I was quite interested in girls. Actually, let’s back that up to elementary school. By the time I was ten, I really, really wanted a girlfriend and it only got worse as I got older. But the problem was that the more I wanted a girlfriend, the harder it became to find one! And what did my dad tell me about my dilemma? What were his great words of wisdom? “When you stop looking, you will find her.” So I tried to stop looking and that didn’t work either? If I saw a girl I wanted to date, I would tell myself, “Ok, if I just don’t care for about the next ten minutes she’ll be mine!” Didn’t work. I was told that, “The right one will come along when the time is right.” I waited all day, staring at the clock and it seemed like the time was never right no matter when I asked!”

But then, when I fell in love with Kristy, my wife, and she fell in love with me, the only way I could explain it would be by saying, “When I stopped looking, I found her.” “The right one came at the right time. “ Now I realize what those saying are: they are descriptions of something that is indescribable. Back in school, I thought they were commands or advice, but they weren’t. It’s about letting go of the control, or maybe realizing that there was nothing to control in the first place. They are not commands or directions on how to find love. They are more like a promise that real love is out there and there is nothing you can do to speed it along. Love is a lot like faith in that way.

If someone comes to you and says, “How do I get faith?” or “What is faith?” I would encourage you NOT to tell them Hebrews 11:1. Not that it’s not right, it is right, but it is horribly frustrating to hear for a new believer. How do you get faith? “WELL, faith is simply being sure of what you hope for . . . ah, certain of what you don’t see . . . get it?” Telling someone to : “just believe” doesn’t make sense. Believing something is a lot like falling in love. You can’t make it happen. But I once heard a pastor tell a story about a woman who was looking for faith. And when she asked him how to get it he said, “Just stick around. Come again.” And when she did come back. . . are you seeing it yet . . . when she came again . . . well why would she ever come again, if she wasn’t starting to hope for something, something she couldn’t quite see yet. That may not be a solid rock of faith (yet) but that’s a mustard seed if I’ve ever seen one.

Do you have faith? The kind that’s SURE of everything you hope for? Certain of things you can’t see? Today, the story we are going to study deals with two heroes of the faith that often didn’t act very faithful: Abraham and Sarah. But in order to understand this story, you need a little background information. “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. ‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.” God made Abram a promise: He was going to become a great man with a ton of kids—enough to make a great nation! God made Abram a promise and, according to Hebrews, “By faith he obeyed and went.”

So what was the first thing that Abram, our faith hero, did on his journey? “Now there was a great famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt to live for a while because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Wow! What a “hero” of the faith! To make a long story short, Pharaoh was going to make Sarai his wife until God inflicted him with serious diseases until he gave her back to Abram. But why did faithful Abram worry he was going to die? God had made him a promise to be a great nation! Tough to do that when you are dead! But when God makes a promise, God keeps it. God delivered Abram from his mess.

A few chapters later, God made Abram another promise, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield and your very great reward.” Abram said, “What can you give me because I remain childless?” God said, “Look towards the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to count them—so shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, the text says, and God credited it to him as righteousness. Wow! Abram believed. Now that IS faith. But they got tired of waiting. Ten years later, Sarai had Abram sleep with her servant girl so that she could at least have a child running around. His name was Ishmael. Abram believed for sure, but I guess he was also hedging his bets . . . just in case.

Let’s take a time out for a second. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” That’s a great description of faith, but tough to achieve, isn’t it? Are you always sure? Are you always certain? Or do you doubt? Does your faith get challenged? Do you get tired of not knowing enough? Do you get fed up with suffering and heartache? Is ten years of waiting too long? Well guess what: that’s faith too. It’s certainly the faith of Abraham and Sarah. Because our faith is based not on what we can do and on the description of what faith really is, our faith is held together by something that comes from outside of us. Faith needs a promise to hold onto and that promise comes from God.

In our reading for today, Abram is now 99 years old. I don’t know if God had been talking to Abram throughout the 14 years after Ishmeal (the son of the servant girl) was born, but you’ve gotta wonder. I wonder how Abram felt? “I screwed up. I lost my faith. God hates me. There goes my dream. Shouldn’t of done it.” How did Sarai feel? “I messed up. Should’ve waited. Shouldn’t have done it.” And then God speaks. “Abram.” “Oh, God . . . about Ishmael . . .” “Abram. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. As for your wife, I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.” And Abram thinks. Uh-oh. God’s got a really sick sense of humor. He’s not just mad at me, he’s being sarcastic. The newly named Abraham laughs and says, “Well, how bout we just compromise and you bless Ishmael! Works for me!” God says, “Yes. I’ll do that. AND I’ll raise you another son. Sarai is going to have another child. You’ll name him Isaac. See you then!”

Abraham laughed when God told him his promise. Sarah laughed too when she heard the same thing. If that’s faith . . . well, maybe then there’s hope for you and me! Hebrews writes, “By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.” Abraham trusted God’s promise, in God’s power, in God’s ability to do the impossible! He didn’t understand how. He didn’t understand why. He was leaving it in God’s hands because, honestly, what else could he do! Maybe that’s what faith is: waiting around for the right time, letting go of the control, just sticking around and coming back to see what God’s going to do.

You’ve each been given a promise, more than one in fact. Things that sound too good to believe mostly. Things like: “Yours sins are forgiven.” You been given a promise. Things that you don’t understand, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” You’ve been given so many promises. Things that might look darn right incorrect at this juncture of your life, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly!” We feel our guilt and wonder if God could possibly forgive us. We see death and can’t imagine anything beyond that. We look at cancer and infertility and divorce and bitterness and can’t bring ourselves to have faith in anything good. But that’s what faith looks like sometimes. It doesn’t always make sense, or feel good, or stand strong. I don’t want you to put faith in your own faith. For sinners like you and me, that can be very dangerous.

You’ve got to put your faith in the promise of someone greater that you. A God who always keeps his promises, whether to Noah, or Abraham, or you. Maybe that will make sense to you someday, but if not just keep coming, stop striving for faith and let go of your control, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and being certain of what we do not see.” God promises you that he will never leave you or forsake you. That nothing can separate you from His love. If you’re not quite “sure” or “certain” of that yet—just stick around and put your trust in God’s promises—in his power. Not in your powers of faith, but in God’s promise. Amen.