Living By Faith
Psalm 22:19-28 and Galations 3:23-29
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
Last week we talked about Trinity hope which comes to us through the love of the Trinity, God the Father our provider, Jesus the Son our savior and the Holy Spirit our advocate.
Hope is when we desire a certain outcome and is often a driving factor in our ability to keep moving forward. We hope for a better outcome. We hope the sun will shine tomorrow so we can work in the garden. If we are sick, we hope to feel better tomorrow. When a loved one is ill, we pray in hope that the Trinity will deliver health and healing.
Hope is defined as an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one’s own life, or the world at large.
Faith is what we have that gives us hope in the Trinity. It is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Because we have faith in the Trinity, we have hope.
Hebrews 11:1 gives us this definition of faith, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
When we have faith in the Trinity, we believe in something that we have not seen with our eyes, and that we can’t prove.
I’m reminded of when Dick and I traveled to Jerusalem some years ago and everything was marked with a numbered plaque. As we walked the stations of the cross to the place where Jesus was crucified, to where His body was believed to have been placed on a stone when he was removed from the cross and everything was labeled as “the location” where these events took place..
People go to Israel and Jerusalem to find proof of Jesus’ life, his steps, and his existence because either they need to see the proof, or they believe in their hearts and want to experience the truth.
However, there were times when we would find ourselves doubting if an event REALLY happened in this location.
For instance, I had never read that Jesus was placed on a stone when he was removed from the cross. Yet here this stone was labeled, and locals and visitors alike were coming up and touching the stone and praying over it, and touching crosses and clothes to it because it was considered a Holy place where Jesus lay..
There was a place marked under a table where you could kneel and put your hand through a hole to feel the place where the cross stood.
I admit, being from the south and a place of snakes, it took a bit of faith to reach into the dark under a table and put my hand through a dark hole to touch something. However, I had traveled all this way, and it was considered a Holy place.
It sort of reminded me of when I used to go to haunted horror nights at school during Halloween, and we would stick our hand through a dark curtain to feel what was in a bowl on the other side of the curtain which usually consisted of some icky slime.
My point is, while stories have been passed down through the generations, and some of the locations of Jesus’ walk in life are correctly documented, there are some things that may or may not be actual locations of where things happened.
There are those that need physical proof; however, as Christians, we have faith in what we do not see. Our proof is in our hearts and has been given to us through the love of the Trinity.
Our faith in the One Being of the Trinity is a testament of the relationship we have with God, Son and Spirit.
Paul reminds us in Galations that we are no longer bound by the law because through Christ we are all children of God through faith, and we are one with God and with each other.
When we are baptized into Christ, we are clothed in Christ, and we become one with the Trinity. Our faith then calls us to a oneness in the world that transcends the divisions in the world in which we live.
Paul thought the people of Galatia were foolish to believe otherwise, and he would most likely think our world is very foolish now.
When Paul stated that “we are justified by faith, and now that FAITH has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,” he is pointing out that when we are living by faith, we are living by Jesus.
Faith in Jesus sent by God to be our redeeming grace is the reason we strive to live a disciple life in Christ.
While preparing this sermon, I found a website “chataboutfaith.com.”
In their introductory page, they ask the question “What is Faith?” and they answer this question with the following:
‘Faith is one of those words that is commonly used but not always understood. Some of that confusion comes from the word being used in so many different areas of life. Faith can be discussed as part of someone’s religion, their personal relationships, how they find healing, and any number of things.
Most of the world agrees that God exists but for a majority that is as far as their faith goes. Others believe in traditions and activities that they think will deliver a specific outcome in the end. We live in a time when many want to think there are countless ways to heaven and that we can each define faith for ourselves.
The truth is there is one path and one person we need to have faith in.”
Although they do not state it here, the person they are referring to is Jesus Christ.
They go on to explain that Biblical Faith is having confidence or trust in God and his promises by which we have a relationship with God.
Biblical Faith, they say, “is confident trust in God and His promises, even when they are not yet seen, resulting in obedience and a transformed life.”
In the church I grew up in, we often sang, “Living By Faith.” I still remember the words of this hymn….the comforting and sustaining words.
Maybe some of you remember it.
When I read the scripture and the title of this sermon, “Living By Faith,” came to mind, so did that song, and the words came flooding back to my mind, “I care not today what tomorrow may bring, if shadow or sunshine or rain. The Lord I know ruleth o’er everything, and all of my worry is vain. Living by faith in Jesus above, trusting, confiding in His great love,” and I can still hear the voices sing out this next line of the chorus, “From all harm safe in His sheltering arm, I’m living by faith and feel no alarm.”
Have you heard this hymn? Do you remember it?
We are going to sing this at the end of the service.
Today, as we live in a world that seems filled with divisiveness, and I say seems to be because I believe that we are still joined in oneness with more people than we are not through Jesus, God the Father and through the Holy Spirit.
We have to turn off the news and turn on to our friends and neighbors in whom we share oneness in the Spirit. This is where we find joy and hope, and this oneness gives us faith that builds strength and courage within us so that we remember as we see riots in the streets, senseless killings, and bombs falling from the sky, that indeed we are safe from all harm in the sheltering arms of our Lord.