A Victorious Faith
Sermon
Ashes To Ascension
Second Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter
The theme of the text is: anyone who believes Jesus is the Christ is born of God and by this faith overcomes the world. That's what we want today -- a faith that gives us the victory to overcome the world. If there is one thing we want from our faith, it is the assurance that there is more to life than what we see on televison and read about in the newspapers. If this is all there is to life, then we are indeed most miserable. When public figures flout decency and morality, when trusted officials violate our trust, when a disregard for fidelity and integrity among spouses, families, and business leaders becomes commonplace, when we constantly see the lack of any kind of peace with justice and the poor, the marginal, and the weak are the constant victims of the strong and powerful, it is then that we seek a faith that will overcome the world. We seek a faith that tells us that right, goodness, honesty, decency, and fair play are still the essential qualities of human life, and they are the values that in the long run will prevail and they are still principles to live by when so many would say otherwise. We want a faith that tells us that there is more to life than the shallow, self-centered, egotistical lifestyles portrayed by so many entertainers and professional athletes. Their omnipresent images are constantly paraded before us by the media. They are not only depressing, but downright boring.
For we who live in this world, the author states that "this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith." He reminds us that this faith is centered in Jesus Christ and this faith is what renders a person a child of God (v. 5). It has been pointed out that a person can enter into a certain kind of faith other than belief in Christ. For instance, a philosopher can by his thought arrive at the conclusion that we live in a theistic world. An artist can know God as beauty. Many have come to the conclusion that God is moral. The text declares that only through God's self-revelation in Jesus can one comprehend how God loves the world and how our life in him is to be lived out in love. The writer of 1 John states that proof of whether one is a child of God is made evident by one's love for others, and a failure to love others would invalidate one's relationship with God. "When a person believes that Jesus is the Christ he enters into the distinctive solidarity of Christian fellowship" (Paul W. Hoon, The Interpreter's Bible, vol. 12, p. 289).
Our ethical and benevolent actions and deeds only become Christian when they are impelled by the prior love of God. A life of kind deeds and loving concern is good, but those that are inspired by the love of God are better. The story is told about children in a Chinese village who declined to accept needed medication offered them by a government station. Instead they walked several miles further to get the same medicine from a Christian missionary. When they were asked why they did so, they replied, "The medicine is the same, but the hands are different." Service motivated by the love of God makes a difference.
Overcoming The World
The declaration of the text is clear: "This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith" (v. 4). For the author, the victory that overcomes the world matches at every point the assaults and temptations of the world. It is a victory of joy over unhappiness (1:1); of fellowship over loneliness (2:19); of honesty over pride and self-deception (1:6-10); of righteousness over sin ( 2:1-2, 12-13; 5:18); of love over hatred (2:10); of eternal life over time and death (1:2; 2:17; 5:11-13, 20). The point being that the battlefield on which the believer overcomes the world is not that of thought or theology, but the area of everyday living. It is the everyday struggles with the cares of life that the Christian faith either wins or loses. But the faith that prevails is centered in Christ. That is the content of this faith. It is not a belief in stoical courage, mere optimism that will automatically prevail. It is not a trust in luck, fate, faith in progress, or confidence in one's ability. It is faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God -- here we find the faith we are looking for defined in concrete, human terms in the life of Jesus. This faith lives itself out in the world in a manner expressed by Mother Teresa in her book, Words to Love By:
At the end of life we will not be judged by
how many diplomas we have received,
how much money we have made,
how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by
"I was hungry and you gave me to eat,
I was naked and you clothed me,
I was homeless and you took me in."
Hungry, not for bread,
but hungry for love.
Naked, not for clothing,
but naked of human dignity and respect.
Homeless, not only for want of a room of bricks,
but homeless because of rejection. (p. 77)
Overcoming The Pressures
The New Testament has another word for us when the apostle Paul said, "For whenever I am weak, I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). He is saying that strength is brought to its completion in weakness. This is the strength that overcomes the world. It was for Paul a faith that was constantly put under pressure. It was in those moments when he felt inadequate and weak that faith was the victory that overcame weakness. Paul knew the pressure as we know the pressure. The pressures we face are real. We know the pressures of a demanding job. If you do not produce then somebody is nearby to replace you who will produce. We all know the pressures of difficult relationships. We know the pressures of living in a world community that has lost heart and faith, and we so desperately want to relate the message of the Gospel of Christ to this world. We know the pressures of living in a world of fear. As the American embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania recently and the U.S. went on the offensive with the missile strikes in Afganistan and Sudan, we lived in fear -- fear that we would be the victims of a terrorist attack. There is deep-seated fear in the land. How does our faith give us the victory over such fear? So many have fears that are difficult to deal with because they are the fears within. Those fears are there when you get up in the morning and when you try to go to sleep at night. They are the fears of doubt and listlessness causing depression, one of the most widespread fears of our time. We so desperately want to win this battle and be free again. These pressures are real; fear is real; depression and anxiety are real. But, the ever-living presence of Christ in the midst of our fears and pressures is also real. The faith that gives us the victory is a faith that believes that Christ was raised up in the first century as the victor over death and darkness and he has been raised up in all times and into our time. "Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (v. 5).
The Faith That Keeps Us Going
A book that has meant much to me in my faith journey has been Frederick Buechner's Longing for Home. Buechner, who is now in his seventies, looks back with a candid and searching examination for the meaning, power, and importance of home in our lives. It is a deeply moving book of reflection and recollection. At the end of his book he talks about faith. For him doubt is not the opposite of faith, but an element of faith; in other words, doubt goes hand in hand with faith. There are those moments when all of our statements of faith seem to ring wrong. "There are times when it is hard to see how any honest, intelligent person can look at the world without concluding as Macbeth did that the whole show is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing" (p. 169). We have faith but at the same time we have doubts. But our doubts prove that we are in touch with reality, those things that both threaten faith as well as nourish it. If we are not in touch with reality, then our faith is apt to be blind, fragile, and irrelevant. He reminds us that if we have no doubts we are either kidding ourselves or asleep. His classic definition of doubt is: "Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving" (Buechner, Wishful Thinking, p. 20).
In seeking a faith that overcomes the world, how can we describe faith in a world of so much perpetual suffering? Our century is one of unprecedented suffering. It appears that God leaves people free to do unspeakable things to each other. But at the same time, if people are not truly free, they are not truly human as God intended them to be. To be humanly free means that people are free to do unspeakable things to each other, at the same time participating in the most loving and compassionate deeds of human kindness and love. The human freedom that God has endowed to each of us makes it possible to believe in God in spite of suffering. What about the suffering that does not involve human freedom, such as disease, disability, and natural disasters? As I am writing this sermon, I am listening to the news reports of Hurricane Bonnie which has winds of 120 miles per hour and a breadth of 200 miles and is just about to lash the coast of the Carolinas. Buechner reminds us that maybe the explanation for natural disaster is "that God leaves creation itself free either to run as it was created to run or to run amok, and that the doctrine of the Fall pertains not just to the human order but to the natural order as well. Maybe so, but maybe not so" (Longing for Home, p. 169). I have some doubts. Could it not be that the natural phenomena of tornadoes, hurricanes, and storms are part of God's initial created order, and we just happened to get in the way? These storms are destructive in regard to personal life and property, but they also have an awesome beauty all their own. I am aware, as Buechner is aware, that there are times when all of our explanations ring false even as we make them.
What about the future? What about tomorrow? Can we look with confidence to the days ahead which appear so dark, dreary, and threatening for so many? What word can we speak to those who feel like they are looking into an abyss which will help them not to feel devastated? How can we acquire that faith that helps us to overcome the world? The future appeared dismal in many ways to the apostle Paul, but I am convinced we can take courage from the words he spoke to the Corinthians: "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). It is the nature of faith to look beyond itself, beyond the doubts that will always exist on this side of time, until we experience life on the other side of time and we are able to see more clearly. I am reminded that in the meantime faith is the way we have of seeing while we have only the dark glass to see through.
For we who live in this world, the author states that "this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith." He reminds us that this faith is centered in Jesus Christ and this faith is what renders a person a child of God (v. 5). It has been pointed out that a person can enter into a certain kind of faith other than belief in Christ. For instance, a philosopher can by his thought arrive at the conclusion that we live in a theistic world. An artist can know God as beauty. Many have come to the conclusion that God is moral. The text declares that only through God's self-revelation in Jesus can one comprehend how God loves the world and how our life in him is to be lived out in love. The writer of 1 John states that proof of whether one is a child of God is made evident by one's love for others, and a failure to love others would invalidate one's relationship with God. "When a person believes that Jesus is the Christ he enters into the distinctive solidarity of Christian fellowship" (Paul W. Hoon, The Interpreter's Bible, vol. 12, p. 289).
Our ethical and benevolent actions and deeds only become Christian when they are impelled by the prior love of God. A life of kind deeds and loving concern is good, but those that are inspired by the love of God are better. The story is told about children in a Chinese village who declined to accept needed medication offered them by a government station. Instead they walked several miles further to get the same medicine from a Christian missionary. When they were asked why they did so, they replied, "The medicine is the same, but the hands are different." Service motivated by the love of God makes a difference.
Overcoming The World
The declaration of the text is clear: "This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith" (v. 4). For the author, the victory that overcomes the world matches at every point the assaults and temptations of the world. It is a victory of joy over unhappiness (1:1); of fellowship over loneliness (2:19); of honesty over pride and self-deception (1:6-10); of righteousness over sin ( 2:1-2, 12-13; 5:18); of love over hatred (2:10); of eternal life over time and death (1:2; 2:17; 5:11-13, 20). The point being that the battlefield on which the believer overcomes the world is not that of thought or theology, but the area of everyday living. It is the everyday struggles with the cares of life that the Christian faith either wins or loses. But the faith that prevails is centered in Christ. That is the content of this faith. It is not a belief in stoical courage, mere optimism that will automatically prevail. It is not a trust in luck, fate, faith in progress, or confidence in one's ability. It is faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God -- here we find the faith we are looking for defined in concrete, human terms in the life of Jesus. This faith lives itself out in the world in a manner expressed by Mother Teresa in her book, Words to Love By:
At the end of life we will not be judged by
how many diplomas we have received,
how much money we have made,
how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by
"I was hungry and you gave me to eat,
I was naked and you clothed me,
I was homeless and you took me in."
Hungry, not for bread,
but hungry for love.
Naked, not for clothing,
but naked of human dignity and respect.
Homeless, not only for want of a room of bricks,
but homeless because of rejection. (p. 77)
Overcoming The Pressures
The New Testament has another word for us when the apostle Paul said, "For whenever I am weak, I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). He is saying that strength is brought to its completion in weakness. This is the strength that overcomes the world. It was for Paul a faith that was constantly put under pressure. It was in those moments when he felt inadequate and weak that faith was the victory that overcame weakness. Paul knew the pressure as we know the pressure. The pressures we face are real. We know the pressures of a demanding job. If you do not produce then somebody is nearby to replace you who will produce. We all know the pressures of difficult relationships. We know the pressures of living in a world community that has lost heart and faith, and we so desperately want to relate the message of the Gospel of Christ to this world. We know the pressures of living in a world of fear. As the American embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania recently and the U.S. went on the offensive with the missile strikes in Afganistan and Sudan, we lived in fear -- fear that we would be the victims of a terrorist attack. There is deep-seated fear in the land. How does our faith give us the victory over such fear? So many have fears that are difficult to deal with because they are the fears within. Those fears are there when you get up in the morning and when you try to go to sleep at night. They are the fears of doubt and listlessness causing depression, one of the most widespread fears of our time. We so desperately want to win this battle and be free again. These pressures are real; fear is real; depression and anxiety are real. But, the ever-living presence of Christ in the midst of our fears and pressures is also real. The faith that gives us the victory is a faith that believes that Christ was raised up in the first century as the victor over death and darkness and he has been raised up in all times and into our time. "Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (v. 5).
The Faith That Keeps Us Going
A book that has meant much to me in my faith journey has been Frederick Buechner's Longing for Home. Buechner, who is now in his seventies, looks back with a candid and searching examination for the meaning, power, and importance of home in our lives. It is a deeply moving book of reflection and recollection. At the end of his book he talks about faith. For him doubt is not the opposite of faith, but an element of faith; in other words, doubt goes hand in hand with faith. There are those moments when all of our statements of faith seem to ring wrong. "There are times when it is hard to see how any honest, intelligent person can look at the world without concluding as Macbeth did that the whole show is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing" (p. 169). We have faith but at the same time we have doubts. But our doubts prove that we are in touch with reality, those things that both threaten faith as well as nourish it. If we are not in touch with reality, then our faith is apt to be blind, fragile, and irrelevant. He reminds us that if we have no doubts we are either kidding ourselves or asleep. His classic definition of doubt is: "Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving" (Buechner, Wishful Thinking, p. 20).
In seeking a faith that overcomes the world, how can we describe faith in a world of so much perpetual suffering? Our century is one of unprecedented suffering. It appears that God leaves people free to do unspeakable things to each other. But at the same time, if people are not truly free, they are not truly human as God intended them to be. To be humanly free means that people are free to do unspeakable things to each other, at the same time participating in the most loving and compassionate deeds of human kindness and love. The human freedom that God has endowed to each of us makes it possible to believe in God in spite of suffering. What about the suffering that does not involve human freedom, such as disease, disability, and natural disasters? As I am writing this sermon, I am listening to the news reports of Hurricane Bonnie which has winds of 120 miles per hour and a breadth of 200 miles and is just about to lash the coast of the Carolinas. Buechner reminds us that maybe the explanation for natural disaster is "that God leaves creation itself free either to run as it was created to run or to run amok, and that the doctrine of the Fall pertains not just to the human order but to the natural order as well. Maybe so, but maybe not so" (Longing for Home, p. 169). I have some doubts. Could it not be that the natural phenomena of tornadoes, hurricanes, and storms are part of God's initial created order, and we just happened to get in the way? These storms are destructive in regard to personal life and property, but they also have an awesome beauty all their own. I am aware, as Buechner is aware, that there are times when all of our explanations ring false even as we make them.
What about the future? What about tomorrow? Can we look with confidence to the days ahead which appear so dark, dreary, and threatening for so many? What word can we speak to those who feel like they are looking into an abyss which will help them not to feel devastated? How can we acquire that faith that helps us to overcome the world? The future appeared dismal in many ways to the apostle Paul, but I am convinced we can take courage from the words he spoke to the Corinthians: "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). It is the nature of faith to look beyond itself, beyond the doubts that will always exist on this side of time, until we experience life on the other side of time and we are able to see more clearly. I am reminded that in the meantime faith is the way we have of seeing while we have only the dark glass to see through.
