What does it mean to have faith?
Faith is trust in a person or thing. Christian faith is wisdom to trust God.
We all have faith in things - like our car getting us to the station or that our wages will go into the bank. Often that faith disappoints Sometimes we put too much confidence in a person or in things which prove to be unfaithful like the stock exchange, housing market, job opportunities, marriages and other "things". You could ask whether there is anything truly worthy of our faith.
Jesus, we might answer. The one who’s been through it for us, who expects nothing of us that he’s not been through himself and who brings his possibilities into our empty situations.
I was with a lady who has stage 4 cancer this week. She brought alive to me the definition of faith we had in this morning’s first reading: faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11v1). For this lady and her husband faith is not just a reaching out to something in the future that’s absent. It’s the experience of future blessings spilling into present day life. All the time the cancer has been spreading faith has been growing and bringing a solid future reality into their lives. Remarkable opportunities for special forms of radiotherapy have opened up. There is a peace and joy in their household that demonstrates the reality of God alongside them. It has been a privilege to visit and share and pray with people whose trust in God for the future is solid – even in the face of cancer.
When we put faith in God this affects our future because God is Lord of the future. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. If this is the day that the Lord has made so is tomorrow.
Tomorrow also is God’s.
When you get thinking about the flow of time a materialistic view of life crumbles to pieces. What a deceit we live with! Just because we have lots of control nowadays over our physical environment we close our minds to what we have no control at all over - the flow of time and the eternity that lies beyond it!
Belief that there’s nothing after death is the main demoralisation of humanity in our age. This materialistic view of human beings misses the point. It misses out on the glorious future there is for us in God. It demoralises - for why should you sacrifice yourself or your possessions for others if you believe deep down that in the end nothing you do ultimately makes any difference?
But what if Christ is raised? What if the purpose that brings people to church on Sunday, the Day of Resurrection, be true?
What if we admit material things fail to satisfy and reach out to the life Christ has opened up beyond this life, a life we know intuitively, are driven towards and yet cannot describe?
That would be faith. To be one with those who in the words of our reading desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
Faith is accepting truth for things you may not fully comprehend, believing and expecting things you cannot see. By faith that goes beyond but not against reason we accept Jesus as the Son of God, the redeemer, forgiver of our sins, giver of the Holy Spirit and promiser of eternal life. This is why we say in our baptism service, faith is the gift of God to his people.
When we accept Christ we show our faith by acting to lay our sinful nature aside, asking for forgiveness and seeking God’s direction for all that we do day by day.
When we turn to Christ, repenting of our sins, renouncing evil he shines the light of our glorious future into our lives right now. His Spirit within us, ‘this little light of mine’, acts as a moral compass for us and an inspiration to those around us.
Jesus. Here lies the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen. (Hebrews 1v1).
In Christian belief God’s revealed himself and given us right now the substance of things hoped for. We look forwards alongside Jesus who’s conquered sin, death and the devil.
Today Sunday 8th August has within it unspeakable joy from the eternal Sundays of the resurrection ahead of us. Like the cinema trailer this Sunday is preview of forthcoming attractions in the country of resurrection where God is all in all.
The Christian church is the most forward looking body on the earth. God has invested in her and you can’t have God with you in Jesus without the knowledge that the future’s worth waiting for and working for.
Tomorrow also will be good - as good as God is good.
This is the Christian faith.
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