Topic: Faith
Theme: Practical Faith
Purpose: to be the Holy Spirit’s second witness challenging God’s people in my care to put their faith in Jesus into practice.
Response: Individuals will indicate their desire to grow in the practice of their faith by requesting a “NEXT STEPS” handout.
Pattern: A Pastoral Care message based on the text’s narrative
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM
Many of us here today are spiritually sick. We are Christians. We have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior but we are not spiritually healthy.
1. Martin Luther King Jr. understood this when he wrote, "There is so much frustration in the world because we have relied on gods rather than God. We have genuflected or bowed down before the god of science only to find that it has given us the atomic bomb, producing fears and anxieties that science can never mitigate. We have worshipped the god of pleasure only to discover that thrills play out and sensations are short - lived. We have bowed before the god of money only to learn that there are such things as love and friendship that money cannot buy and that in a world of possible depressions, stock market crashes, and bad business investments, money is a rather uncertain deity. These transitory gods are not able to save or bring happiness to the human heart. Only God is able. It is faith in Him that we must rediscover."
2. In an earlier sermon, "Rediscovering Lost Values" (1954), King points out the position of our society: though full of knowledge and scientific discovery, we must go back and rediscover precious values we have lost.
He names two specific values: FIRST. That this is a moral universe, the laws of which we violate at our own peril; SECOND. That there is a God over all, whom we unconsciously have drifted away from through our materialism. As King puts it, "We must remember that it’s possible to affirm the existence of God with your lips and to deny the existence of God with your life. The most dangerous form of atheism is not theoretical atheism but practical atheism."
Citation: Kevin Miller, " A Letter to American Christians: A powerful message from Martin Luther King, Jr.," Leadership Newsletter. © 2001 Christianity Today, Inc.
3. Society as a whole is not the only patient stricken with “practical atheism.” One pastor readily admits, “There’s a lot of atheism behind my ministry. The kind of sermons I preach--you don’t have to have a divine intrusion to make them credible. The kind of pastoral care I do--you don’t need a miracle to make it work. I told them, "Look, you say you want the budget increased 10 percent next year. That’s crazy. I mean, we were 2 percent behind this year. The economy, Republican administration, and everything else--you’re crazy. There’s no way the budget can go up 10 percent!" But the lay people went ahead and agreed to the 10 percent increase. They had a visitation campaign, and two months later, a lay leader gets up at a congregational meeting and says, "I want to announce that we not only subscribed next year’s budget in full, we went 2 percent over." The place broke out in applause.
Citation: William Willimon, "Evangelical Laughter," Preaching Today, Tape No. 137. © 2001 PreachingToday.com / Christianity Today, Inc.
4. This spiritual illness is not new. Jesus faced the same illness in his day. According to Him, “what is wrong with the world is precisely that it does not believe in God. Yet it is clear that the unbelief which he so bitterly deplored was not an intellectual persuasion of God’s non-existence. Those whom he rebuked for their lack of faith were not men who denied God with the top of their minds, but men who, while apparently incapable of doubting him with the top of their minds, lived as though he did not exist.”
Citation: John Baillie in Our Knowledge of God. Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 14. © 2001 PreachingToday.com / Christianity Today, Inc.
5. Oswald Chambers, who wrote “MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST” warns Christians to avoid the same trap. “Beware of worshipping Jesus as the Son of God, and professing your faith in Him as the Savior of the world, while you blaspheme Him by the complete evidence in your daily life that He is powerless to do anything in and through you.”
Citation: Oswald Chambers, Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 11. © 2001 PreachingToday.com / Christianity Today, Inc.
RECONSTRUCTING THE PROBLEM
So, what are the symptoms of this spiritual disease so many of us have contracted?
1. Let me begin by eliminating DOUBT as a symptom. Many of us would have expected that to be at the top of the list of real problems for faith. But having doubts and questions is natural.
“We are born questioners. Look at the wonderment of a little child in its eyes before it can speak. The child’s great word when it begins to speak is "why." Every child is full of every kind of question, about every kind of thing that moves, and shines, and changes, in the little world in which it lives. That is the incipient doubt in the nature of man. Respect doubt for its origin. It is an inevitable thing. It is not a thing to be crushed. It is a part of man as God made him. ... Doubt is the prelude of knowledge.”
Citation: Henry Drummond from Listening to the Giants. Christianity Today, Vol. 29, no. 17. © 2001 PreachingToday.com / Christianity Today, Inc.
Having questions about how God will work in and through us is not a spiritual illness. Doubts of this kind are not a symptom, so how can you know if you’re infected with a lack of practical faith?
2. One way this spiritual disease shows itself in our lives is in our prayers. The issue here is not so much how often and how intensely we pray. We need to examine them for their content. Are our prayers filled with prescriptions and directions for God? Or are they focused on submitting to His will? PRAYERS THAT TEND TO TELL GOD WHAT TO DO ARE A SYMPTOM OF A LACK OF PRACTICAL FAITH.
3. Another way this disease manifests itself in our lives is in our plans and decisions. The tell tale sign here is not WHAT we plan to do, but HOW we make the decision. Are our plans and decisions based on what we believe we can do? Or do we endeavor to determine what God can and will do through us? PLANS THAT FOCUS ON WHAT WE CAN ACCOMPLISH ALONE ARE DEFINITE INDICATION OF A LACK OF PRACTICAL FAITH.
4. We can also see symptoms of this disease in our responses to negative events in our lives. When things don’t go the way we want do we tend to explode in anger? Do we throw up our hands in quiet despair? Do we stew in steamy broth of worry, fear and anxiety? Or do we go straight to God for comfort and strength? EMOTIONAL REACTIONS LIKE ANGER, DESPAIR AND FEAR ARE A WARNING SIGN THAT WE LACK OF PRACTICAL FAITH.
5. Let me suggest one more area of our lives we should examine for this spiritual disease. It can really infect our “felt needs.” When asked what we feel we need most in life do we point to security and control in our lives? Do we aim for health and comfort? Do we need to feel successful? Or do we need to worship, to love and to serve God? To sacrifice for others and to give generously? To overcome temptation and to forgive those who trespass against us? ACTING AS IF WE NEED EXACTLY WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IN OUR SOCIETY NEEDS IS A SYMPTOM OF A LACK OF PRACTICAL FAITH.
PROVIDING DIAGNOSTIC INTERPRETATION
Why so we allow these symptoms to creep into our lives? Why would any Christian want to exist with a lack of practical faith? It seems to me as I examine myself and observe others that our natural drive to survive has gone off target.
Why? Because someone somewhere let us down. A person we trusted completely failed us. We may remember who it was and when it happened. We may not, but just the same at some point in time all of us have been disappointed deeply.
That disappointment and hurt has caused us to feel as though we are all alone. We need to look out for ourselves because no one else will. And whether we say it out loud or not, whether we consciously admit it or not, we have a hard time believing God has the power to help us. Or if He can help us we wonder if He really is willing to help us.
INTERVENING WITH PASTORAL CARE
So what can be done for a lack of practical faith? What’s the cure? How can we get rid of the symptoms?
The answer is in our Bibles.
When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
Look at the key to the Roman soldier’s marvelous faith. "Say the word, and my servant will be healed (Because) I (too) am a man under authority." He recognized that Jesus had authority and that He was willing to use it on behalf of the sick servant.
The Bottom-line: WHEN WE RECOGNIZE AND ACT ON JESUS’ AUTHORITY AND HIS WILLINGNESS TO USE IT ON OUR BEHALF, GOD IS MOVED! HE MARVELS AT PRACTICAL FAITH AND HE REWARDS IT.
Pastor Bill Hybels says, “My favorite way of illustrating [trust] is to recount what I’m told is a true story. I don’t know that it is, but I’ve read in several places that it is. A famous tightrope walker once strung a cable across Niagara Falls from the American side all the way to the Canadian side. To the applause of thousands of people, he would walk across that tightrope right on the very edge of the falls, the rushing, cascading waters thundering underneath him. He would walk back and forth, people applauding wildly. Then to further wow the crowds, he would put a blindfold on and go back and forth. Then he would ride a bicycle back and forth, and then he would push a wheelbarrow back and forth. Every day, people came out to watch him. He quite simply was the greatest. As the story goes, one day while pushing the wheelbarrow back and forth, he called out to the crowd on one end, inquiring whether or not they thought he could successfully push the wheelbarrow across with a human being riding in the wheelbarrow. The crowd went berserk: "Surely you can. You’re remarkable. We’ve watched you for days. We understand and appreciate your skills. We believe in your abilities. You are the greatest." On and on they went, to which he responded, "Then someone volunteer. You come right up here, single file, form a line, and get in the wheelbarrow to prove your trust in my ability." A deafening silence overtook the crowd. There were no takers.”
Citation: Bill Hybels, "Christianity 101," Preaching Today, Tape 43. © 2001 PreachingToday.com / Christianity Today, Inc.
1) Bow your heads and close your eyes so God can meet with each of us privately.
2) When was the last time you climbed into God’s wheelbarrow? When was the last time you practiced your faith in God?
3) Has a lack of practical faith infected your spiritual life? Do your prayers tend to tell God what to do? Do your plans focus on what you can accomplish alone? Do you respond to negative events with emotional reactions like anger, despair and fear? Are you acting as if you need exactly what everyone else needs?
4) Let’s take time to honestly confess our lack of faith to God. He will hear us and help us.
5) Pray
6) If you would like some ideas on how to counteract the effects of this spiritual disease, raise you hand and one of the ushers will hand you a list of NEXT STEPS.
“NEXT STEPS”
1. Take a few minutes to consider God’s power and authority. What things are a very real reminder of his power and care for you?
2. Memorize and meditate on one or more of the following Bible verses.
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you (Psalm 9:10 NIV).
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me (Psalm 13:5-6).
Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun Psalm 37:3-6).
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? (Psalm 56:3-4)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).
3. When issues or events arise that stir you to anger, despair, worry or fear, deliberately decide to turn to Jesus for comfort and strength.
4. When God challenges you to attempt something you think is impossible, think about this -- Practical faith ignores “what-if-He doesn’t” and focuses on “what-if-He-does.”
5. Seek out and bask in the company of Christians who put their faith into practice as often as you can.
