Vision Renewal: Greater Faith
Vision Renewal: Greater Faith by Rev. L. John Gable
May 7, 2023
Introduction: If you have been with us in worship the past couple of weeks you know that we are revisiting the Vision Renewal statement we crafted in 2016 upon the 50th anniversary of the Metropolitan Community Program report written in 1966 which influenced our decision to remain in place here at the corner of 34th and Central. Two weeks ago we looked at the opening of the statement which introduced us to the Old Testament concept of the Year of Jubilee and last week Terri preached on the essential nature of reconciliation, both with God and with one another. Today we will look at the first of the three legs or visions of the renewal statement: Greater Faith.
Reading from the Vision Renewal statement I quote, “Tab will be a place where people are challenged to grow stronger in faith, to become equipped to serve and to pursue opportunities for innovative and collaborative service. We will be a resource for Kingdom seekers who want to increase their connection to God, to provide opportunities for individual and congregational growth, and to support those opportunities with Biblical teaching, worship and prayer. Tab will prepare its people to be more Christ-like through applied knowledge and engaged learning that results in continually deepening faith and a foundation for serving God and the world.”
It is appropriate that our first vision is grounded in this desire for greater faith because faith establishes the foundation for everything else we attempt to say and do as a church, specifically faith the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ and present with us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is faith that commands and compels us not only to do what we do in here but also the good Kingdom building work we seek to do out there, in this community and around the world.
But what exactly do we mean by “faith”, that which we desire having more of? Most simply, it is our trust or confidence in God and the working out of His purposes. Simply put, we want Tab to be a place where people, where you and I, can grow in our trust and confidence in God.
Faith, used in this way, is something more than mere acceptance of or tacit agreement with one another on some abstract theological concept. It implies some action or response on our part. The example that first comes to mind is that I can know all about airplanes, their aerodynamic design and structure, and I can be in full agreement that airplanes can fly, but the real test comes when I am actually willing to get on an airplane myself and trust it to carry me. Similarly, I can know all about God, say the creeds and nod my head in agreement with the teachings I hear about Him, but the real test of faith is when I put my trust and confidence in His promises and am willing to commit myself to following in His way; ultimately trusting Him for my salvation. This is what we are saying in our Vision Renewal statement. This is what we want more of: Greater Faith, Greater Confidence, Greater Trust…in God…and we want Tab to be a place where we can help people gain it.
Now the irony in this desire is that unlike most of the other pursuits in our lives, faith is not something we can simply muster up for ourselves. As we read in Ephesians 2 – one of the greatest 10 verses in all of Scripture- “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works so that no one may boast.” We can’t make ourselves have faith, much less anyone else, God is always the Giver and we are always the receivers; but we can desire it, we can ask for it, and we can ask for more of it, because faith is something God wants to give us. God wants us to respond to the love He first gives to us. God desires us to be in a relationship with Him such that we will grow to “see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, follow Him more nearly, day by day.”
So, while we can’t produce faith in ourselves there are things we can do to ready ourselves to receive it, and then to help it grow and grow it must, for our sakes and for God’s sake, because He has work He intends us to do in His name to further His Kingdom purposes. This passage we are looking at in Ephesians concludes by saying, “We are what He has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life”. In a similar way, Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” We want to grow in faith because our growth pleases God.
So, how do we do that? If Tab is committed to being a place where people grow in their faith, gain greater faith/trust/confidence in God, what exercises can we do to help flex those muscles of faith?
The first among many is worship. This is the essential. Here we are reminded of who we are and Whose we are and what we have been called to do and be, as people seeking after God’s heart and committed to His Kingdom-building purposes. We can’t find that sense of meaning and purpose and identity in ourselves, but in God alone. As Augustine famously put it, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”
At one point in her career pop singer Madonna was interviewed in London about her personal spirituality. Listen to this excerpt from that interview from the London Sunday Times.
The interviewer asks, “When you gathered your dancers around you during the “Blond Ambition” tour to pray before going on stage, who were you praying to?”
“Who was I praying to?” She repeats the question, stalling for time. “Everyone in the room and my idea of God.”
“Is there a god?
“Yes,” she replies quickly. “There’s my god. Everyone has their own god.”
“Tell me about him”, asks the interviewer.
“I can’t describe him”, answers Madonna.
“You have a good idea though?”
“Yes.” Her voice was strained and quiet. “To me, sometimes, I don’t know if it’s a being or more like the highest state of my consciousness, like trying to rise above everyday life and the things that bring you down, and morality and things like that…It’s like calling on any power I have inside myself. It’s a protector, an advisor; it’s soothing, comforting…and non-judgmental.”
“But it is a supreme being?”
“I don’t know. You know I really have unformed ideas about it because I could change my mind in about a half an hour. I think religion should be a very personal thing. It’s what you get your strength from.”
“So it’s an inner matter rather than an organized religion?”
“Yeah, I think so.” By this time she is almost whispering.
It may seem comforting, at first, to have our own sense of who God is that we can change every half hour as we wish. It may even seem convenient to create a god of our own making that can bow to our whims and desires, but that is, in the end, no god at all and certainly no source of security in our times of trouble.
Friends, we come to worship because we know, or at least we need to be reminded, that the self is a very small package in which to find ultimate meaning. While self-talk is always beneficial to some degree, it is insufficient to address our real needs. Praying to ourselves simply will not suffice. We come to worship because as the disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go for You alone have the words of eternal life.” We come to worship to be shaped and formed and reminded of the One in whom we live and move and have our being. We come because we know we need more of Him and less of ourselves.
A second practice which is useful to help us grow in our faith is a commitment to the regular study of Scripture, and I would add, a regular study of Scripture with others. If I want to know more about God and grow in my understanding and relationship with God I need to read His Word, to listen for the sound of His voice, to learn of His character and trust His promises, and I have found that I am best able to do that in the company of others. This came out again at our Pastors’ Bible study this past Wednesday morning, to which you are all invited. When I read Scripture all by myself I find that my insights are rather routine and shallow, and I find that I always agree with myself. But when I read and study and discuss Scripture with others I glean insights I would never have gotten on my own, even from, or perhaps particularly from, those with whom I might otherwise disagree. I commend to you a regular diet of Scripture, particularly with others.
A third exercise to help us grow stronger in faith is the regular practice of prayer. This too we can do with others, every Tuesday evening we have a prayer ministry that meets, not to talk about prayer, but to pray. As in any relationship conversation with God helps us to get to know Him better. I know Paul writes of being “continually in prayer” which suggests hours on end, but that is not what I mean at all. Years ago someone coined the phrase “conversational prayer”, meaning a daily, on-going conversation with God as you go through your day, such as you might have with a close friend or a traveling companion. It always seems to start off feeling rather one-sided, we talk and we can only assume or hope that God is listening. But the more we engage in this practice of prayer in our daily lives invariably it becomes a dialogue as God speaks when we learn to listen to and for His voice. I know one gentleman who spends much of his day simply being in conversation with God, talking, laughing, listening. I envy the friendship they share.
Yet another valuable practice to help us grow in our faith is good fellowship with other Jesus followers. Their faith/your faith invariably helps to strengthen, encourage, even inspire my faith. We were not designed to do this life of faith alone, but in the company of others. The story is told of two men who were sitting around a campfire visiting. The one said, “I have decided I don’t really need to go to church any longer. I seem to get nothing out of it.” Without saying a word his friend stood up and lifted a burning log out of the fire and set it on the ground. The two watched as the flames quickly died and the log began to grow cold. Again, without saying a word, he picked up the log and put it back in the fire and they watched as it burst in to flame again. His friend turned to him and said, “Point well taken.” We need one another. I need you to help me grow in my faith as much as you may say you need me. We need one another.
The last encouragement I’ll give you, and there are many more we could talk about, is to find some avenue of service, some way to test your faith, to put it in to action. Recall, we started by saying that faith is more than just nodding our heads in agreement with some theological principle or tenant; it is acting in confidence and trust; it is working out your own salvation with fear and trembling; it is doing the good works for which God has called and created us.
Do you remember hearing stories about the great tightrope walker Blondin? He would boast of doing remarkable feats of daring, like walking across Niagara Falls or between tall buildings, and then he’d actually do it to prove that he wasn’t just bragging. One day, after performing some incredible high wire act, he turned to the gathered crowd and said, “Today I am going to push a man across the wire in a wheelbarrow! Do you believe I can do it?” All the crowd shouted, “Yes! Yes! Do it!” Then Blondin turned to one enthusiastic man and said “Good, then you are the man, get in!” In that instant that man was asked to put his interest and enthusiasm into action, into trust and confidence, and that is faith.
Faith is much more a verb than it is a noun, something we do, not just say we believe. To act in faith is to do something for God you would not dare to do if God were not in it. What might that be for you? What might God be calling/ asking you to do that would require some act of faith on your part? It may not be as daring as stepping in to a wheelbarrow on a wire, but I can’t help but think that there is something, and my guess is even my asking the question brings it to mind, that you’ve intended to do for God but have been hesitant or fearful to do it. Perhaps you have what business guru Jim Collins calls a BHAG, a Big, Hairy Audacious Goal, that you would not dare to do if God were not in it, but would if you were convinced that you knew He was. There are many Tab stories of individuals who have taken that kind of “leap of faith” and are doing, even now, extraordinary things.
Or perhaps you are being prompted to be less daring but every bit as much dependent on the nudge of God to do some act of service: volunteering in the Open Door Café, tutoring one of our students, volunteering at one of our partner ministries, walking across the street to invite a neighbor come to church with you, writing a note or making a call to ask someone to forgive you.
Again, the opportunities are endless and my guess is, given the season ahead of us, yours and mine, that there will be countless opportunities for us to step up and step out, to test and grow in our faith, in our trust and confidence in God, and I am so grateful that Tab has that vision to be a place and a people where that can happen.
To the honor and glory of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN