Mature Faith Clinging to Christ

Mature Faith Clinging to Christ

Trinity 21 T John 4:46-54

St Paul once wrote, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways (1 Corinthians 13:11).” He was constantly reminding his audience – and us – to continue to grow and mature in the faith. The reception of the faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit – that’s well and good. But the continual growing in the faith is necessary gift of the Holy Spirit too. And the uncomfortable truth is this: faith can only grow through trial.

         Well, when I was a child, I reasoned like a child too. When I was younger, I always wanted to be the best at what I did. But I didn’t want to practice my skills and get better at it. I just expected to be the best right away! For example, I played baseball as a kid. When I figured out I wasn’t the best on the team, I wanted to quit. But my dad’s rule was if I started a sport, I had to finish the season out. So, I stuck with it, and as I practiced, I eventually got better.

         Many treat the Christian faith in a similar way – they don’t want to practice to get better, they just expect to come naturally. If they read their Bibles and find that they aren’t great at understanding it – they just stop reading the Bible altogether. Or they feel as if their prayers don’t sound as holy as the ones the pastor prays in the church – so they stop praying altogether. Or when finances get tight and other spiritual habits falter – they stop giving to the ministry of the Gospel. Or they find going to church a tad inconvenient, because it doesn’t align with their schedules – so they stop going to church altogether. Or they find themselves frustrated with God due to His lack of miraculous intervention to make life better or easier for them – and so they look for peace and comfort in other things, neglecting to find peace and comfort in God’s promises altogether. As soon as discomfort is experienced, the faith is all too quickly abandoned. The unfortunate thing is, many fall out of practicing the faith – not because they have no desire to be Christian, but because of the lack of attention that’s given to it.

Truth is, faith must be used and exercised. In many ways, faith is like a muscle — if it sits idle for weeks, months, or God forbid, years, it weakens. Neglected faith slowly shrinks, growing sluggish and untrained. Then, when trials come and you need to cling firmly to God’s promises, it falters – struggling to do the very task it was given to do.

And this is why the enemy works so hard to make faith idle – because unused faith grows weak, and makes one vulnerable to spiritual attack. That’s the warning that Christ gave to the churches in the book of Revelation. In particular to the church in Sardis, he says “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die (Rev. 3:1-2) …” And that’s why St. Paul writes in His epistle to the Ephesians that they are to “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm [against the schemes of the devil] (Eph. 6:13).”

Now, while it’s true that the saving nature of faith isn’t dependent on how strong or weak it is – because Christ, the object of your faith, is strong for salvation – a characteristic of true faith is that it won’t allow itself to become stagnant and weak. Rather, the Scriptures continually teach that true faith seeks to be increased and exercised, like a muscle. It’s true that we possess Christ through faith, though we hold onto this treasure weakly due to our sinful flesh. But that’s all the more reason to firmly lay hold of Christ in a disciplined fashion that the evil foe may not rob us of this great treasure. For that reason, faith must have temptations and trials through which it might be tested and grow.

God presented such an occasion for faith to grow to the official in the Gospel reading. He had previously heard about the miraculous work of Christ. So, he went to Him to see if Jesus could come heal his son at his house, because his son was about to die. Certainly, the man was frantic and in distress. Instead of responding immediately out of love and compassion for the child, Jesus challenged the man’s faith! He said “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official fires back at Jesus “Sir, come down before my child dies.” This man had faith in Jesus. That wasn’t the issue. His faith just trusted that if he could just get Jesus INTO his house to see his son, then his son would live. For he heard the truth – that this man cheerfully helped those brought to Him. That’s why the man went to Jesus!

But here Jesus was, calling this official to a higher kind of faith – a faith that doesn’t depend on seeing proof, but simply trusts His Word. This is the highest form of faith – to believe that which you can’t see. For that’s how Hebrews 11:1 defines it – “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” In other words, Jesus called this man to walk by faith, and not by sight. That’s the sort of faith that Jesus calls us to also – a faith that clings to His Word even when every outward sign seems to say otherwise.

Jesus said to the official – “Go, your son will live.” At this point, the official had one of three options. He could have one, pressed Jesus some more to come in person to heal his son – trusting the physical presence of Jesus. Or two, He could have simply given up. When Jesus refused to come to his house, he could’ve walked away in sorrow, thinking Jesus was just saying something to get rid of him, and not really trusting His word.  Or three, he could’ve responded with trust in His Word. That he was going home to a healed son. And that’s exactly what the text says he did – He believed the Word that Jesus spoke and went on his way. And he arrived to not only a living son, but His whole household believed too.

This teaches us a simple, yet hard to master lesson about faith. Luther puts it memorably – “Faith clings to the naked and pure Word. If your heart does not stand naked, your cause is lost.” What he means is that true faith takes God at His Word and trusts it completely, even when circumstances would lead you to doubt it. Like, when Abraham obeyed God’s Word and command when told to sacrifice His Son Isaac. Or like when Jesus told Peter to step out of the boat and come to Him out on the water. He did for a bit – because His eyes were solely fixed on Christ, His Savior. Yet, when he took his eyes off Christ, seeing the wind and utter danger that surrounded him, he sank. Jesus reached out his hand to catch him, and asked – ‘you of little faith, why did you doubt (Matt. 14:31)?’

This teaches us about how faith grows. Comfort must be sacrificed to grow in faith. That discomfort is what leads faith to cling to the Words and promises of Christ. Even when the circumstances around you should lead you to doubt God’s Word, you still nonetheless believe in it. With this official – at this point, Jesus wasn’t yet performing healings from a distance. So, why should he believe that Jesus healed his son with just a word? That’s such a challenging position to be in!

         Yet, he believed in Jesus’ word – because it’s all he had. That was His only hope! It was the only thing he could cling to in his time of distress! But through this exercise, he learned, and teaches us, the greatest lesson: We must never be distracted from clinging on to the pure Word of God. Even when our present circumstances might suggest otherwise. Because through this perseverance and discomfort, we forsake everything else to follow the Word of God. That’s faith.

         So, what does this look like? Well, it’s quite easy to trust God when things are going well. Your bank account has plenty, the fridge is stocked, and you don’t have to worry about where your earthly provisions will come from. But when bank accounts go empty because of a medical incident or finances get tight, and all of a sudden, the future isn’t so certain – it becomes a whole lot easier to doubt God’s provisions for you. Then, you become a lot more open to Satan’s attacks and temptations, who makes you either despair, or doubt in God.

In this scenario, to cling to God’s Word would be to say: “My Lord lives! And He has promised to provide for his children! So I will work hard, and trust Him to make all things right for me – just as He said in Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these earthly things will be added to you.” If we cling to God’s promises despite the obstacles, and cast aside our anxious thoughts, we will stand in the Word of God, protected from the schemes of the evil one. This is the way of faith – God teaches us and strengthens us through His Word so that we may learn to trust Him and no one else.

Faith grows stronger when tested – like a muscle grows stronger after being used. And the goal of faith is that His light, His glory would eventually be reflected in us. Faith isn’t stagnant, but it grows up day by day to be more like Christ. Like sunlight reflected upon water, the light of Christ begins to mirror itself in your life. His patience becomes your patience. His mercy becomes your mercy. His steadfastness becomes your steadfastness.

And that’s how the Lord uses your trials and temptations. He uses it to shape you into the image of His Son. The Holy Spirit is teaching you to trust what you cannot see – to walk by faith, not by sight. So, when your trials and temptations cause a weakness or apathy of your faith, fix your eyes on Christ your Savior once again. His Word and promises are sure. And by remaining in them, He will bring you to maturity unto life everlasting.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston