Sunday Readings : Luke 12. 32-40; Genesis 15. 1-6; Hebrews 11. 1-3 & 8-16
Sermon preached on: – the Eighth Sunday after Trinity 07.08.2022
Prayer:-
The common theme in all three passages today is believing with the heart. Coincidentally, our latest Bible study series is based on the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and I have just submitted an article for the ICS quarterly magazine which talks about ‘believing with the heart’. Both the readings from the Old and the New Testaments focus on Abraham as well as on Sarah who was to be the mother of his promised child.
Now I want you to imagine something with me, if you were to see a couple in their 90s sitting on a bench in the park and talking about having children – children of their own, that is – not adopted children… but their own! What would you think about them? You may be vocal or may keep it in your mind but the most obvious answer would be ‘there’s something wrong with these people’. No medicine, no treatment, no doctor could make it happen. Some of us would instantly turn to our mobiles or whatever to check the age of the oldest woman to have borne a child.
Moving from Natural to Supernatural
Our belief in the natural or worldly pattern is so strong that sometimes we don’t recognize that there’s more than natural… and that’s the SUPERnatural. A person needs to recognize that to be able to enter the supernatural, a word from God or a Word of God is necessary. If Abraham and Sarah were believing, it wasn’t because of their own natural ability but it was because the Word of God that had come to Abraham. While Abraham believed immediately, and the Bible doesn’t mention any doubt or disbelief on his part, observe that in Genesis 18:12 – Sarah laughed because of what the natural circumstances would have dictated to her mind however she moves from that state of disbelief to a state of belief as we see in Hebrews 11:11 where it is written ”she judged Him faithful who had promised”. She did not judge herself or her body or Abraham’s body faithful but she judged ‘Him’ – she judged ‘God’ faithful – who had promised. It was about God and not Man. With the shift of her faith from natural dictations to the Word of God she saw the fulfilment of the promise.
Belief in the Lord is Accounted as Righteousness
Now, as a person believes in the Word of God, it is accounted as righteousness – as we see in Genesis 15:6. So what is righteousness? Righteousness is, in simple words, ‘right standing with God’. It was Abraham’s belief in God that was accounted as righteousness. Sometimes we focus so much on the fulfilment of the law and feeling condemned because of our failure to do so. However, we need to believe, like Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:30 – ”But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and RIGHTEOUSNESS and sanctification and redemption”. Our belief in Jesus makes us eligible to receive the promises of God. But, God is a Spirit and what we receive from God we first receive in our spirit.
Faith is the Substance
It is our faith that helps to bring what we have received in our spirit into the natural. The first part of today’s New Testament reading tells us ”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for”. But what is a substance? This lectern is a substance, the pews are a substance. What is characteristic of a substance? It is tangible. Similarly, the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that faith is tangible. Faith is also the evidence of things not seen – not the things that do not exist – but just that they are not seen… unseen. A person may be unable to see ‘what is hoped for’ with natural eyes but can still see with one’s spiritual eyes. We often think we are able to see everything with our eyes and what we can’t see, doesn’t exist – but somehow we need to recognize the limitations of our natural abilities; most of our knowledge comes to us through our five senses, through sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. We cannot see or touch the mobile signals here however they are present here, yet it is those unseen signals which connect us to the network. Similarly we know there is Covid-19 coronavirus but we cannot see it with our natural eyes until we use a microscope or something similar. In the same manner, Faith is the evidence of what is tangible but cannot currently be seen with our natural eyes. Recognizing this, leads to the good testimony, as our elders in faith obtained.
In our day to day life, we see people who question our belief in God and one of the most profound ways, according to me, is to open the outlet of faith for them by encouraging them to understand everything starting with earth’s very foundations. God says in Isaiah 40:21 “Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?” – understood that He is the supreme creator. The very first chapter of the Bible talks about the creation, how HE made everything and gave it to men. Today we take matters that God created and try to make it into something. For example all the glass that you see was made by humans but with silica or sand which was created by God. In the same manner when we build a house all the cement, paint etc. are not created from ‘nothing’ but out of something. Here, in Hebrews 11:3, the writer emphasizes, ”By faith we understand the worlds were FRAMED BY THE WORD OF GOD, so that things that are seen were NOT MADE OF THINGS WHICH ARE VISIBLE. So we know that the world wasn’t made from the matter that we see, but the very substance behind the creation of the world was the Word of God. The Word of God has the power to create something out of nothing – like the World itself, something from a part of something else – like out of one of Adam’s bones God made Eve and something more from less – like the 2 fish and the 5 loaves of bread which were used to feed thousands of people.
Kingdom of God and Recognizing limitations
Just as we just talked about receiving from God in our spirit through faith, it is imperative to understand that God wouldn’t grant anything that is not in His Will. What forms His Will is already in the Bible. God wouldn’t grant ‘evil’ to any person… only good gifts. To be able to receive good gifts, there’s no limitation! God had to actually remind Abraham in Genesis 18:14 ”Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” and like Sarah in the early stage of receiving the promise, who limited God, we also limit God through our minds and in our hearts.
In our Gospel passage, Jesus makes it clear that it is our father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. God is not withholding the kingdom from us. However, we happen to ‘limit’ ourselves in believing God with all our heart. If our heart is attached to our money, or only to the cares of this world orother desires, instead of opening us it actually closes our mind from receiving from God. However, if we first seek His Kingdom and that is what we are focused upon, all other things will be ‘added unto us’: this is what God’s word promises.
Upon entering the Kingdom of God
Upon entering the kingdom of God we need to understand that there are promises that manifest themselves immediately but also there are promises that sometimes take time to manifest. With Abraham and Sarah it took 25 years for the child to be born. Then there are some promises that would be fulfilled later upon the Second Coming of Jesus. All this while we must, as Jesus himself encourages us in Luke 12:40 – BE READY. Do not lose faith, believe, keep believing, stay on track, stay alert, know God’s promises are not for a moment but for eternity, towards us who believe.
In the name of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
