Bibliography: Finding Christ, Finding Life: covenant & community
Tonight I am speaking to those who are sure in their faith. Notice I said those who are sure in their faith, not those who are mature in their faith. Although sometimes the two terms go together, tonight we make a distinction between the two.
When we think of mature Christians, we think of individuals who are well versed in their Scriptures and well grounded in their faith. They are like rocks in their relationship with Jesus, and when storm winds blow and bad times come, we want to surround ourselves with them and cling to them until difficult times past.
They are committed and active within the church. When we are around them, we notice something about them. There is a spirit about them, something they have tapped into, something we can see. And most often we want to be the same. What it is they have found, we want for ourselves as well.
Typically, when we think of sure Christians, we think of those who trust in their faith, who have assurance of the saving grace of Christ being active in their lives...but that’s not exactly what we mean this evening when we talk about being sure Christians.
Perhaps, it would be better to refer to it as being over confident. Being over confident can be a dangerous place to be. It leads one to make incorrect assumptions and take unnecessary chances. It often results in making mistakes and testing the limits. The problem with testing the limits, is sometimes the limits break, and we can find ourselves hurt and broken, and in places and situations we’d rather not be.
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In writing to the Corinthians, Paul wrote to a church experiencing such problems. There were differences and disagreements within the church about what it meant to be faithful Christians.
Paul wrote to address the concerns expressed within the Corinthian church and offered some words of caution to those who seemed to be interested in seeing how far they could push the limits of being followers of Christ and still consider themselves Christians.
Such individuals focused on their baptism and belief in Jesus Christ. Their baptism and their belief was their main claim to Christianity. They put very little emphasis on what one did as a Christian. Though there were times when Paul would agree that some individuals over emphasized actions over heartfelt faith, we read tonight of Paul’s warnings against being overly confident in a simple belief system that is starved of nurture and cultivation.
When I think of a modern example of those Paul addressed, I think of people who would suggest they don’t need to go to church to be a Christian. They can be a Christian anywhere. Regular worship attendance is not an important element of their faith.
It doesn’t take regular Bible reading to believe in Jesus. You can know who Jesus is, believe in Jesus without reading the Bible regularly.
Such persons would suggest that our faith is not dependant upon our prayers, presence, gifts, or service that we pledged when we become members of the church. Why, a commitment to church membership isn’t even necessary to be a Christian.
While it may be true that one can believe in Jesus without all those things, I would ask how one would know exactly what it is such an individual believes in?
Paul warns that faith without nurture is a dangerous affair. Such faith is weak and ignorant. When hard times come, when one’s faith is tested and one faces temptation, it is harder to remain faithful with such a faith.
Paul issues his cautions by taking a stroll down memory lane. Paul directs our attention to a rich and dynamic time in the history of the Jewish people and their relationship with God.
I imagine Paul saying, “Remember way back when - in the desert of Sinai when our forefathers and foremothers were liberated by God and left Egypt behind?” The particular event Paul draws the Corinthian’s attention to - and our attention as well - is perhaps the greatest event in the lives of Jewish people.
God delivered the Israelite people from the cruel and oppressive hands of the Egyptians. Yet still their faith in God’s deliverance was weak. When they Egyptians pursued them, they grumbled. Trapped against the seashore with the Egyptians coming quickly, they now believed their fate to be death. But God parted the seas providing safe passage and saved their very lives. They passed through and escaped death.
But from there the barren and difficult desert lay before them. The people complained. What would they eat? What would they drink? How would they survive? Once again, God provided for them. There was bread - called manna - which fell from heaven. On manna the people were fed throughout their wandering. There was water, miraculous water, that poured from a rock at God’s command. It was a life giving source.
Within the remembrances of these two initial and specific events, Paul provides us with a symbolic link, reminding the Corinthians -and again ourselves - of the waters through which we passed when we were baptized, and the deliverance from certain death baptism signifies for us. Manna from heaven and water from a rock reminds us of the bread and wine we share each Monday evening when we join in the Lord’s Supper together. Just as these elements were sustainers of life in the desert for the Israelites, so we partake of the Lord’s Supper as a sustainer of our faith in Jesus.
“But...” Paul goes on - there were more rocky times ahead for the Israelites. God found little to be pleased about with these people. It wasn’t long until some put their faith and trust into idols and to sustain them in the frightening and barren wilderness. And then some more became sexually promiscuous and immorally lax on their journey. Where was their faithfulness to God and God’s ways then?
Still others tested the faithfulness of God. And in spite of all they had witnessed, still others continued to grumble and complain, unhappy in their faith.
And these weren’t simultaneous events. Paul is remembering the trek of the Israelite people who wondered in the wilderness for many, many years.
As Paul retells the story of the journey of the Israelites, I see them as children who when going on a long walk, get tired of walking. They cry, they complain, they sit down and stop. They throw temper tantrums. It takes coaxing and urging to get them going again in order to finish the trip and arrive safely home again. I can almost hear God same experience with the Israelites in the wilderness.
“Keep going, keep going!”
Can you hear God urging them on. But like children who have reached their limit, the Israelites stop time and time again. And each time, more fall away. In fact, none of those who left slavery behind in Egypt would live to reach the land of promise. Paul speaks of their bodies littering the desert. It would take a whole generation of shaping and changing the life of the Israelites - changing their identity; who they were, changing them to depend and rely upon God - before they would reach the holy land.
And Paul issues a warning to be careful not to make the same mistakes. “If you think you are standing firm,” Paul says, “be careful that you don’t fall.”
Remember the Israelites in the desert.
Life can be like a wilderness experience at times. Periods of our life can seem like such a struggle to survive. Sometimes it is a wilderness of our own making. Sometimes creating difficulty for ourselves is what we are about, only we can’t see it until we are surrounded with barren existence. Sometimes we don’t realize we are in the wilderness, until we are there.
At other times, it seems the whole world against us. We don’t deserve what we have been dealt. We didn’t create the problems, but here we are, all the same. What do we do? How do we handle it? What is the path to take? Sometimes that’s not so clear. Sometimes, it appears there is no way out of the wilderness.
Paul’s next words can seem contrite when one is in the midst of such difficulties. He reminds us that there is nothing new about the trials and tribulations we face. They are same ones people have faced down through time. They are the same ones our family, friends, and coworkers face today as well.
Paul reminds us that God is faithful.
He reminds us that God will not let us face anything beyond what we can bear. And he reminds us that in such times, God will provide us a way out of our dilemma, or support us so that we can stand it.
John Short from the Interpreter’s Bible put it this way: “If sin is near, so is God.” Von Unruh from his book “Finding Christ, Finding Life,” added: “When temptation draws near, God draws even nearer.”
Perhaps doubt is what our lesson is about this evening - doubt in our faith, doubt in God’s reasons for leading us through a wilderness of temptation, doubt in God’s ability to sustain us on this journey we are on.
To me faith is kind of like looking for a light in the dark. When the sun is too bright outside, I can’t see. My eyes water and I can’t open them. If our faith didn’t have to travel through times of temptation, I imagine our faith would be like that too. Our lives would be too bright. We would never know darkness at all. We would never truly appreciate the light.
But when I am in the dark, I still can’t see. Believe me, there have been many early mornings when I am up, leaving to go to school in Memphis, not wanting to turn the light on so I won’t wake anyone up. So I grope in the dark and feel my way towards the door. It can be scary while you’re worrying about what you are going to run in to.
But when there is light, a warm light shining in the darkness, I can see all that is around me. I can keep my awareness always on the light source and it helps to guide my direction and show me where it is safe to walk without bumping into obstacles. And it doesn’t really make since, but the tiny glow of that light in the darkness carries with it a since of peace and comfort. It makes me feel cozy. It’s not so scary anymore. God’s faithfulness and presence is like that light shining in the darkness, in the midst of life filled with difficulties, struggles and decisions.
*****
I think about the story Peter, Jesus disciple. Once he was sailing on the sea with some of the other disciples. The story tells us that Jesus approached them, miraculously walking on the water. When Peter recognized who it was and what he was doing, he called out to Jesus, wanting to walk on the water too. Jesus beckoned to him to do so and Peter did, but when he took his eyes off of Jesus, and focused on the turbulent, fluent waves below, Peter began to sink. The images within that story describe so well the rocky road of faith and doubt.
I reflect upon Jesus, himself. In all of his humanness, was Jesus plagued with self-doubt about his ministry? The Bible tells us of his temptation experience in the wilderness before beginning his ministry. But at other times, was he tempted at times just to give up and quit? Were there times when the failure of humanity to respond and remain faithful was overwhelming to him? Did Jesus ever doubt his faith in us to respond to him?
My thoughts circle back to the focus Paul has placed on the Israelites in the wilderness. You know, being in covenant with God - remaining faithful and committed to the relationship - is incredibly costly. In the wilderness with the Israelites, it must have cost God a broken heart. So many times God reached out to sustain them and redeem them. So many times the Israelites turned away instead. And Paul has noted the cost of life in the wilderness of people who claimed to follow God, but still fell by the wayside, whose bodies speckled the desert..
At this time of year, our thoughts turn towards Easter. In time, God’s faithfulness to us cost the suffering and sacrifice of his Son. Through Jesus, God brings us back into this faithful, covenant relationship with him. If we are to respond in faithfulness, it will cost us our lives as well - all that we are, all the unfaithful habits we have picked up, all our tendencies to push the limits and turn towards sin. Faithfulness will cost our very identity.
The question is, are we willing to pay this costly price?
I believe Paul would agree that remaining on the outer edges of Christianity is a dangerous place to be and that God is calling us to move inward - to be more Christ like, to strive towards faithfulness of heart and mind, soul and body.
So how does one do that? How does one go about being cautious? I would suggest that Paul did not find a cautious group of followers in Corinth. In fact, you might say that the Corinthians were moving to the outer edge, the outer limits of Christianity, rather than moving closer to the cross. Paul would invite us to draw nearer. So how do we draw nearer to the cross?
Von Unruh names 4 gifts given to us to help us in our journey of faithfulness. First we have the community of faith - this church family to which we belong. Together we encourage and support one another, holding one another up during times of difficulty. Together we hold each other accountable to be and remain faithful Christians.
Secondly, like a hopeful parent who hopes that one day the rebellious child will return, we have the waiting love of reconciliation with God. God never gives up. God never stops loving and waiting. When we stray away from God’s presence, all we have to do is turn, and God is there.
Memory plays a vital part in the Christian faith. Think within your own memories. There are times when remembering will bring back an event as if it was real, today. Remembering brings back all the emotions - the suffering and hurt, and also the love and joy. Remembering the times of God’s faithfulness, the stories of the struggles of other faithful followers in our heritage helps us on our journey. We relive the elements within the story of God’s love for us.
Finally, Von Unruh turns to humility. It is an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude. It is an awareness of all we have received and can never repay. It is acknowledging and living a life of realization that the faithful love of God is nothing that we deserve.
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Here at Grace, we developed another set of road marks to help us on our journey of faithfulness. This past fall we made commitments in seven different aspects of our Christian faith. We were invited to embrace 7 holy habits of Christian faithfulness. We examined our prayer life, our relationship with Christ, reading the Bible, faithful worship attendance, financial gifts to God, serving God with our hands, and sharing the good news of God’s love with others.
How are we doing so far? Have we embraced those commitments we have made? Have we acted upon those commitments? Are we moving closer to the cross?
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Perhaps another way to examine our journey is to look at ourselves in the same way Paul directed the attention of the Corinthian church to the heritage of their ancestors.
Paul has asked us to recall those Israelites as they began their faith journey through the wilderness. I wonder what they would think of the legacy they have left behind.
What would they think of the way in which Paul has used them as an example?
What about us? When we reflect on our journey in the wilderness, what sort of example do we leave behind? What sort of example do we want to leave behind? What will be said of our spiritual journey? Did we strive for faithfulness, or did we push the limits and fall by the wayside?
In the wilderness, I hear God urging the Israelites: “Keep going, keep going!”
I hear Paul urging the Corinthian church in their struggle to be faithful Christians: “Keep going!”
Tonight, I urge each of us to do the same:
“Keep going!”
In Jesus name, Amen.
