Sermon on faith

 Luke 12 32-40

Heb 11 1-3, 8-16

Gen 15 1-6

Where your treasure is there your heart will be also. These words are from our gospel this morning and something struck me when I read them. In the modern world we are often told to follow our heart. If we seek to have all that our heart desires then we shall be happy. What does your heart desire? In my case the answer is, if I’m honest, money, my own personal library, the biggest collection of teddy bears and a nice large country manor house. However the gospel doesn't tell us to follow our heart, rather it tells us our hearts will be fulfilled when we find our treasure, and I don't think it means money, nice houses, books and teddy bears.

I think the treasure here is faith. So, what is faith? Well according to the dictionary it can mean to have great trust or confidence in someone or something. As a Christian I think faith means, firstly believing in the existence of God and then believing in the goodness of God and trusting that he knows what is going on and somehow things will work out for good. This can be difficult sometimes, when we look at all the trouble in the world, or when we are facing our own personal problems such as grief, financial worries, and illness, both physical and mental. In such times faith is something that can sustain us.

To quote from the Lord of the Rings “the world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” 

Our faith can reassure us as we pass through the dark places that one day we will arrive at a better place. That love will be greater than grief. That if we have faith in what is good and holy, that faith will be rewarded.

When we think about faith, especially in a church context, we tend to think about it in terms of what we believe, what we have faith in. But have you ever thought about God having faith in you? In the confirmation service we are told that God has chosen us and called us by name. Would He do that if he didn't have faith in us that we can respond to that call and respond well? 

Just stop and think about that a moment isn’t it amazing and awesome and mind blowing that God knowing you and me, knowing all our imperfections, still has faith in us. That thought can be something to hold onto in times of struggle and doubt, if God has faith in us then surely we can do whatever it is we need to do. 

I've always looked at the story of Abraham as being about Abraham having faith in God. Abraham takes a massive risk, he uproots his family, which in those days would have probably been quite an extended kinship group, not just what we would consider his immediate family. He sets out not knowing where he was going, his own people may have thought him a bit crazy and mad. Abraham had faith that he was following the path God had laid out for him, but God also had faith in Abraham that he was the right person to lead His people on this next stage of their journey.

Faith it seems can work both ways.

How many times when you have voiced doubt about doing something to someone have they said I’ve got faith in you. That knowledge that someone else believes in you can be a reason to carry on, to start believing that you can conquer whatever the challenge is. Now imagine, you have doubt, you are struggling to believe that you can achieve something or find a way forward through some problems and God whispers in your ear, I have faith in you. How encouraging would that be? Well, God does have faith in you.

In our modern scientific rational world faith can sometimes be seen as a negative, blind faith, believing in something without firm evidence is irrational, it's not scientific it's not how we should be thinking in the modern age. Yet how many people who rubbish a spiritual faith, have faith in science to solve all the world's problems? Faith is not about knowing all the right answers, about being able to evidence why something is the right thing. Faith isn't about being able to solve the problems we may face. Faith is about the hope and the belief that things will get better. If we have faith in each other, in God and God has faith in us, then we can all support each other to deal with the storms of life.

I came across a comment on what faith is on twitter when I was writing this sermon, it said “faith doesn't always take you out of the problem, faith takes you through the problem. Faith doesn't always take away the pain, faith gives you the ability to handle the pain. Faith doesn't always take you out of the storm, faith calms you in the midst of the storm.”

Faith is not just a belief in God, although that is a very important part of Christian faith. It is the glue that binds us together as a community, it is the thing that can help you get out of bed in the morning when all seems pain and despair, but most of all faith is what gives us hope for a better future and the strength to make that future a reality. I pray that we as a community here can grow in out own faith and strengthen each others faith.