Faith is a matter of life or death. In Romans 6:23 we are told that the wage of the sinner is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
We either believe in God and walk with Him by faith throughout our lives, accepting Him as our Lord and Saviour and have eternal life after our life on earth is done or we live our lives not accepting Him and we die and spend the rest of our days in the company of Satan. That is the stark reality of it.
It saddens me greatly when I hear people professing that they have no faith at all and do not believe in God. It saddens me further to know that they do not accept the assurance of God’s love in their lives and neither do they know his comfort, his peace and the surety that God is with them throughout their lives and also into eternity, if they would but accept him as their Lord and Saviour.
In our secular lives we can find many examples of how we put our trust in things. When we sit down on a chair we have faith in that chair and we believe that it will hold our weight and not break into pieces when we sit on it! When we drive our cars we trust that the brakes will stop us and we believe that when we need to stop suddenly our brakes will work! If we fly from one country to another, we have faith in the pilot to fly the plane and we trust that it will carry us safely to our destination without crashing to the ground. Whenever we eat food, we trust that the food has been properly prepared and not poisoned. When we go into our houses, we rely upon the pillars and walls that hold up the ceiling and we believe that the house will not come crashing down around us. When we climbed a tree as a child and hung all our weight upon one branch, we trusted that the branch was strong enough to hold us. Every time we drive or ride over a bridge, we depend upon that bridge to hold us and not collapse into the water or the road below. When our friends tell us that they will meet us at 3 o’clock we take them at their word and believe that they will do what they have said they will do! I am sure that you can think of other examples of how we live by faith every day of our lives? But sometimes the brakes on our cars do fail and a people may have an accident. Sometimes aeroplanes do crash and lives are lost. Sometimes chairs do break when people sit on them. Sometimes there is something wrong with the food that we eat and it might make us sick! Sometimes the roofs on buildings do come crashing down. Sometimes branches do break when we climb trees. Sometimes our friends do not keep their promises. Faith is only as good as the object, person or thing in which it is placed! So I ask the question is it possible to have a trust in someone or something who will never fail us?
Today I want to spend a little time looking at three points:
Faith needs to be strong
Faith calls for us to give our lives to God
Faith brings us to eternal life
Faith needs to be strong
Does anyone know what the word funambulist means? It is a tight rope walker. Nearly 152 years ago to the day a fantastic feat was accomplished.
On June 30, 1859, a man by the name of Charles Blondin (1824-1897) crossed Niagara Falls on a 3" rope that was stretched 1,100 feet (1/4 of a mile) across the falls at a height of 160 feet. Not only that but in the ensuing days he also accomplished some amazing feats while crossing the falls: he executed a backwards somersault, crossed while blindfolded, while pushing a wheelbarrow, on stilts, in the dark with Roman candles flaring from the ends of his balancing pole, on a bicycle and on one occasion he even stopped half way across and cooked an omelette on a portable stove and lowered it to a boat below him. As a finale to his great achievement he asked if anyone would be prepared to get into the wheelbarrow and be pushed across the falls. No one was prepared to put that much trust in him. Then, again over Niagara Falls, on September 15, 1860, he accomplished his most amazing feat of all. Before crossing the rope on that particular day Blondin turned to the crowd and said, "Do you believe I can carry someone across the rope on my back?" The crowd roared its approval, "Yes, we believe you can!"
Then Blondin asked for a volunteer, "Who will volunteer to climb onto my back and cross the falls?" Again the crowd remained silent, just as they did the previous year when he had asked for a volunteer to sit in the wheel barrow. He then pointed out one man standing nearby, "How about you sir?" The man said, "Hardly, you don't think I am going to risk my life like that, do you?" and he turned and walked away.
Next Blondin pointed out another man and asked the same question, "And what about you?" The man replied, "I believe. In fact, I have no doubt at all." Blondin said, "Will you trust me?" The man replied, "I will!"
The man then climbed onto the back of Charles Blondin and they headed out across the falls on their 1,100 ft walk.
The crowd waited with baited breath, as they crossed the wire, and once they reached the other side they roared their approval with excited shouts of jubilation. What they didn't know was that the man who crossed on Blondin's back was Harry Colcord, his manager. You see Harry Colcord knew how good Charles Blondin was and fully trusted him. His faith was secure, as the object of his faith, Charles Blondin, was trustworthy as he had proven himself so often over the many years he had known him.
Jesus Christ in God is the object of our faith. He has proven Himself trustworthy time and time again. God created the world we live in. His son came and lived a blameless life without sin amongst us. He served and sacrificed himself, to the point of dying on the cross for our sins. Then He overcame death and arose from the dead because He was the Son of God who came in the flesh. He has power over death and power over life. He is worthy of our trust. But to trust him implicitly means to know him intimately. When we have this kind of close relationship we realise that we are in the right relationship with God. Every child of God receives the gift of saving grace. Through belief and trust in Christ the Lord we’ll see him face to face one day.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem people lined the streets, they waved their palm branches and shouted their hosannas. As the crowds watched Blondin cross Niagara falls they too shouted their own type of hosannas and many of us are also prepared to shout our hosannas or roar our approvals and give our nods of agreement but when it comes down to the point of total commitment there were not many in the crowds in Jerusalem, or by Niagara falls or us are willing to be the one in the crowd who stands up and agrees to be carried across the tightrope on someone else’s back neither are we willing to stand out from the crowd by saying publicly “Yes I believe in you Lord God and I trust You in all things”. Until people reach that point of commitment we cannot have a full relationship with God; we hold ourselves back and deny ourselves the full gifts of His grace love and mercy.
Faith calls for us to give our lives to God
Abraham had a love and a faith that was deep and profound. He was rooted in God but God wanted to test his faith by asking him to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him on a mountain top. Now Abraham knew God and believed in him with all of his heart. He also knew that God would never tell him lies. But you know I have seen this section of scripture in a new light as I prepared for today and I would like to share my thoughts with you. Abraham should have known that he would be coming back from his mountain top experience with his son still very much alive. In Genesis 21 Sarah is concerned about Hagar, his slave, who he had a child with, Ishmael. Sarah believed that Hagar was scheming and wanted her to be sent away, which Abraham eventually agreed to. In Genesis 21:12 God said to Abraham, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Here is the detective in me at work. How could Isaac be sacrificed if God had already said that through Isaac He would bring about a great nation.
Now it may be that Abraham had forgotten what God had previously said to him, after all he was between 110 and 120 years old. This may well have been a test of Abraham’s faith. God didn’t want to trip Abraham up or watch him fall; He wanted to deepen his capacity to obey Him, which in turn developed his character. There are times in our lives when our faith is also tested. Times when our marriages fail, when we lose our jobs, when we are bereaved. These are difficult times that we have to face, which leave us either complaining or trying to understand how God is stretching us to develop our characters. Obeying God is often a struggle because it may mean giving up something we truly want. We should not expect our obedience to God to be easy or to come naturally and without a price. It is difficult to let go of what we deeply love. It would be with a sad heart and tears rolling down his cheeks, that Abraham lifted that dagger to slay his son. Yet when we do give our lives to God he returns to us far more than we could ever dream about. The spiritual benefits of his blessings far outweigh our sacrifices.
Faith brings us to eternal life
A flood was on its way, forcing everyone to evacuate their homes. The police rowed up to the home of a woman in town and said, "Ma'am, you have to leave this house! People are dying out here!" The woman replied, "No, I'm not leaving. God has always helped me before, and He will do it again." So as the water started to rise, she went to the second story of her house. Another boat came by, and the captain yelled, "Ma'am, you have to get on this boat or you're going to drown!" The woman replied again, "No, God helped me before, and He will do it again." The water rose even higher. This time she went to the top of the roof, where a helicopter came and hovered overhead. The pilot called into his loudspeaker, "Please climb aboard, ma'am. You are going to drown!" The women sniffed and again replied, "God is going to save me!" But the water rose higher, and soon she drowned. She went to Heaven, and there she asked God, "Why didn't you save me, O Lord?" And God replied, "I did help - I sent you two boats and a helicopter but you ignored them!"
The woman in my anecdote had a blind faith in God but she was unable to see God through the actions of others. We too need to have a faith that remains firm and unshaken no matter what we encounter in our lives because when we have been tried and tested we come out of the situation stronger. There have been moments in my life when I have not understood why I had to go through certain situations. At the time they hurt me greatly but now I am able to draw on those experiences and empathise with others who are going through a similar struggle. But it is during these testing times that we start to ask the question where is God in all of this and why is he letting me go through this ordeal? This is when our faith is really tested. You know you have faith when you still believe in God with all of your heart despite the hardships you are going through. And what keeps you going - the belief of eternal life with God. We also need to be able to see God when he is helping us and to recognise him in and through others. We need to recognise God in the friend that calls to have a chat when we are feeling low, or in the humanitarian aid workers. We need to see Him in the face of the child that suffers from hunger and poverty. We need to see Him in the drunk and drug addict on the street. We need to see Him in all people that we meet, because if we ignore them we may just be ignoring God.
Do you trust Jesus? Have you placed your faith in Him and said, "Jesus you are my Lord and Saviour," just as Harry Colcord did with Charles Blondin. Do you really believe it with all your heart? Have you got the faith to walk on water or to be carried on Christ’s back across the tightrope to eternity? Or do you stand in the crowd roaring your approval, waving your palm branch but not being willing to be carried by God. In our reading from Romans we are told that we need to be a slave to righteousness. We need to serve God with an unconditional loyalty. We first have to step out of our boat and onto the water or take our first step onto the wire or get into that wheelbarrow. Is your faith as deep as this? Is it that unconditional and total faith that is required by God?
Do you have the faith that is needed to cross that great rope of salvation that bridges the gulf between our lives here on earth and our lives to come in eternity? Jesus Christ alone is able to cross that rope and He is willing to carry you on His back. You have heard all about Him over many years, and, like Harry Colcord who believed 100% in Charles Blondin, you must believe 100% in Jesus. You must believe that he is able to carry you across that rope. But not until you take that final step and commit yourself to Him. Will you ever be brave enough to climb onto His back and allow Him to carry you to the land of eternity? God wants you to trust His Son completely and place your life in his hands. For it is then that you will be carried into the presence of God.
