Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2019

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Hebrews 11:2
Theme: The Faith of the Ancients



Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

God delivers on His promises. Some of these deliverances are tangible, demonstrable, and even dramatic. When we are spared injury by accident, suffering from illness, or harm from violence our prayers of thanksgiving ascend to God with some buoyancy. We consciously recognize we have escaped by the grace of God. And we may (in fact, should) reflect in a measured way also on how God has sustained us through some of the more difficult challenges and phases of our lives. Often such recognition happens only in hindsight. We look back and see God’s guiding and protecting hand. Outcomes that would have been humanly impossible for us to orchestrate God managed with subtlety and certainty. Often with surprise to us. Are you where you thought you’d be 10, 25, or 40 years ago?

But the Bible says, “We live by faith, not by sight.”1 So it’s the promises of God that aren’t tangible to us that present a different challenge. This is precisely the focus of our second reading from Hebrews today. Hebrews Chapter Eleven is one of the great biblical reflections on faith. Speaking of past believers, it says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.”2 Notice it says they did not receive the things promised yet they lived firmly believing they would not be forsaken by God in the end. They were still living by faith when they died.

Now, regarding the certainty of God’s presence and actions, we should be mindful that the threats of God often don’t seem tangible to people either. The conscience is evidence that God’s laws were written on the human heart. The law is intuitive. Still, nothing is so easily deceived and prone to betrayal than the heart. The conscience typically understands that murder is a transgression of the will of God.

But the conscience can become so seared and deceived that even this recognition becomes effaced. Therefore, the Lord says unequivocally in the Fifth of His commandments, “You shall not murder.”3 God makes His threat tangible by having it enforced through civil authority. That is, if the proper restraint for committing bodily harm isn’t functioning (that restraint being the belief that doing injury to others is ungodly and inhumane) God arranges concrete and quantifiable punishment. Judge and jury become authorized agents on God’s behalf.

Still, because many of God’s threats for disobedience appear intangible or unenforced (that is, they may have no immediately evident consequences)- think here of things like; lying, gossiping, sexual misconduct, disobedience to parents and other authorities, jealousy, coveting, expressions of anger, etc., - people continue to ignore God’s will thus bringing harm to themselves and others. Still, God promises that judgment and punishment will be rendered. Believers too, must repent both of their willful disobedience and their sins of weakness. Self-righteousness is an offence to God. Christ came not for the righteous (of whom there are none) but for sinners.

But the intangibility of God’s promises of grace is something different altogether. Faith becomes a pivotal part of the picture. Again, it’s the central theme of our Scripture from Hebrews chapter eleven today. Faith trusts what the eyes cannot see, and the hand cannot touch. Some of God’s providential blessings are obvious. They are visible and measurable. Believers recognize that God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall. The world, humanity included, would collapse in upon itself if not for God’s sustaining preservation. Death would quickly gain supremacy over all expressions of life. But God’s most precious blessings are often not as tangible to us- the forgiveness of sins, protection from Satan, hope, joy, peace, the certainty of heaven- they can seem more like wishful thinking, or even mirages.

Faith perseveres even when the empirical evidence is lacking. As our Scripture says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”4 It doesn’t mean, however, there is no evidence. The Bible is a record of the historical account of God’s actions in the world. Modern archeology has uncovered amazing evidence that supports the credibility of the Scriptures. Ultimately, though, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the primary answer to the concern that the gracious promises of God are finally insubstantial. Our God speaks. But if we have a God whose words are ineffective and lacking substance then we are mightily deceived.

No one can prove to you that God exists. But the magnificent order and complexity of the universe is a monumental testament to a Creator. No one can prove the bodily resurrection to you. No human authority, that is, the Holy Spirit must do it. Still, there are credible and consistent witnesses to the physical death and bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Understanding the implications, the apostle Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.”5 Do you see what he says here? Everything that matters is lost if Christ didn’t really rise from the grave. Sin remains unatoned for and still leveled against us and heaven becomes a mirage. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.”6

The ancients were commended for their faith in the Messiah who was to come. How much more privileged are we to live after that same Messiah hung from the cross and said, “It is finished!”7 When the women went to the tomb to anoint His body the angel said, “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.”8 The blessing we have that most clearly spans that chasm between faith and tangibility is the Lord’s Supper. Holy Communion is food for faith. It strengthens us in anticipation of the heavenly banquet. It points us forward to the future consummation. But communion is also a participation in a tangible reality. Christ has already died and risen. This meal is already invested with His power, His peace, and His blessing. We don’t have to wait for future fulfillment to receive its benefits. It communicates His forgiveness in real time.

What does the Lord Jesus say when cautioning about anxiety and obsession over the temporary things of life? He says, “The pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.”9 God knows what we need, and He provides our daily bread. Then Jesus goes on to say, “But seek first His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for Your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”10 This is a magnificent promise. It should not only put our minds at ease, but also inflame our hearts with a passion for living and spreading God’s truth. If the Father has been minded to give us the kingdom, if we are co-heirs with the Son11, if we are sealed by the Holy Spirit12, if “the Lord knows those who are His”13, if we are clothed with Christ in baptism14, if Satan is crushed under our feet15, if “we will be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet”16 and be raised to immortality, what do we have to fear?

Ahh, yes, these things aren’t tangible…enough!!! But as surely as you stand upon this earth, God created it. And more surely than the sun will rise tomorrow, Christ is risen from the grave! Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
11 August 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 2 Corinthians 5:7 2 Hebrews 11:13-14
3 Deuteronomy 5:17 4 Hebrews 11:1-2
5 1 Corinthians 15:17-18 6 1 Corinthians 15:20
7 John 19:30 8 Matthew 28:6
9 Luke 12:20 10 Luke 12:31-32
11 See Romans 8:17 12 See Ephesians 1:13
13 2 Timothy 2:19 14 See Galatians 3:27
15 See Romans 16:20 16 1 Corinthians 15:51-52