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SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2008

THE FOURTENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Matthew 15:21-28 (Faith is saying "I trust you" to God)

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TODAY’S SERMON THEME:

Faith happens when we turn to God and say “I trust you” -- no matter the situation, the circumstances, or the outward appearances. Faith happens when we say “yes” to God’s constant gift of love. Faith is believing in advance in something that will only make sense when seen in reverse (including our lives). Faith, in the final analysis, is all about God. It is not all about us.

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1. A few years ago, there was a bizarre civil case in a small town in East Texas. It involved a neighborhood church and a bar. Here's how it all happened: It seems that a couple of businessmen began erecting a building right down the street from the church -- a building that was going to be a saloon, a drinking establishment, a bar. Needless to say, the church members were upset. And they began a campaign among the neighbors gathering petitions to block the opening of the bar. But construction continued on the bar, and the petition campaign began losing steam. Church members did not lose heart, however. They continued to pray that the bar would move before it opened. AND THEN THIS HAPPENED: The week before the bar was scheduled to open, lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. I promise I am not making this up. And here's where it gets even MORE weird: Church members were delighted at the turn of events, and they did a little gloating in the community. The bar's owners took offense and went to court -- filing a civil lawsuit saying that THE CHURCH WAS RESPONSIBLE for the destruction of the building, either directly or indirectly. The church's attorneys responded by denying ultimate responsibility. As the case made its way into court, the judge made this amazing comment -- one that will set up our main theme this morning: "I don't know how I'm going to decide this," the judge said. "But it appears to me from this paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does NOT." (Ultimately, the court ruled against the bar owner.)

2. But this raises the question today about FAITH. Over the past 25 years, I have read hundreds of books and done endless hours of research about FAITH. I have prayed about FAITH. I have meditated about FAITH. I have interviewed people about FAITH. I have written about FAITH. And I have studied long hours about FAITH. My life today is ALL ABOUT FAITH. I live ONLY because of faith. I am ALIVE only because of faith. I get up each morning ONLY because of faith. And I go to bed each night ONLY because of faith. FAITH. I need it. I crave it. I cannot survive without it. BUT I STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT. In point of fact, we all talk ALL THE TIME about faith, but we must admit that we have a hard time understanding what FAITH is. We read stories about faith. We watch TV programs about faith. We hear stories about people who have faith. But none of these stories ever seems to tell us what exactly FAITH is. Let me underscore this point in this way: If YOU, right now, had to come up with a definition of FAITH, what would it be? What is YOUR DEFINITION of faith? OK. Don't panic. I am not expecting you to do that. It is FAR too early in the day to give a pop quiz -- and school doesn't even start for a couple of more weeks. So just relax. Please.

3. Instead of giving you a pop quiz about faith, let me simply tell you about some conversations I have had over the last few months as a way of beginning an exploration about faith:

(1) Not too long ago, I got a phone call from a person who has been hospitalized for a severe case of clinical depression. This person is in very bad shape mentally, and spiritually, and everything in his life right now is upside-down. Completely upside-down. Here is something he said to me: "I don't know what has happened to my faith. I don't know where my faith has gone." Questions: Can faith just disappear? Can faith come and go?

(2) Another example: One of my friends from grade school -- a woman my age -- has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. She sent our classmates an e-mail, not too long ago, saying in great detail that she did not know if she had ENOUGH faith to deal with this debilitating disease. Her hands and head are already shaking, and she is scared to death. Questions: Is it possible to have too LITTLE faith? Can we have a LOT of faith some of the time, and not ENOUGH faith at other times? Is faith something we can measure?

(3) Another example, or rather, several examples: Uncounted numbers of people over the past 25 years have faced horrible crises in their lives and have told me that they are at the point of "giving up" on faith. Questions: Is it possible to "give up" on faith? Can we really surrender our faith? Can we just walk away from faith and consciously remove it from our lives?

(4) A final example (albeit a rather flippant one): A close friend in Texas e-mailed last week to say he would NOT waste any more of his faith on the Dallas Cowboys this football season. "No more faith on those bums," my friend wrote. Questions: It is possible to pick-and-choose where to place our faith? Is faith a commodity in our lives that we can control? Or manipulate?

4. OK. Let me stop for a moment. I have raised a great many questions about faith -- many of them that only YOU can answer for yourself. But it is important that we DO WRESTLE with them ourselves! It is important that we wrestle with these questions WITH GOD! In a way that we cannot possibly understand, WE GROW IN OUR FAITH when we wrestle with our faith. And that brings me to the main point I want to make this morning -- as we look at our Gospel lesson from Matthew Chapter 15. And here is my main point:

5. This brings us to the great story of faith in Matthew 15 -- a pagan woman’s love for her demon-possessed daughter. Let us set the scene:

(1) Jesus and His apostles have left the region around the Sea of Galilee (after the feeding of the 5,000 families and Jesus’ miraculous demonstration of His power to walk on top of the sea). They have journeyed to the region of Tyre and Sidon, in what was known as Phoenicia -- modern-day Lebanon. This was considered “unclean” territory for orthodox Jews.

(2) A Canaanite woman rushed up to Jesus and addressed Him in incredibly lofty terms: “Lord, son of David, have mercy of me! My daughter is possessed by a demon.”

(3) Remarkably, Jesus says NOT ONE WORD to her. The apostles implore Jesus to send her away -- since she is an “unclean” person from an “unclean” area. And not only that, but they indicate that the woman has been annoying them by her cries for help.

(4) Even more remarkably, the woman PERSISTS in her pleas. She rushes up to Jesus, falls at His feet, and begins to worship him (the Greek verb used here indicates a posture of worship. “Lord, help me!” she cries out.

(5) Jesus answers her in an odd way -- though a thoroughly orthodox way for a rabbi of the day: “It is not right to take the children’s food and throw it for the puppies to eat.” A harsh saying -- but one that further TESTS THE WOMAN’S FAITH. She immediately replies: “Yes, Lord, but even the puppies eat the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table.”

(6) And Jesus replies to her: “My dear woman. Great is your faith! Let it be done as you have asked!” The woman’s daughter was healed INSTANTLY.

6. A few observations to consider: The woman trusted Jesus in spite of everything -- the situation, the circumstances, the details, the outward appearances. She came up to Jesus and held on to Him until she received her blessing. This anonymous woman WRESTLED with her faith with the Lord. And she received her blessing. She made herself totally vulnerable to the Lord -- and to His apostles -- in spite of everything going on around her. She said “YES” to God’s love even though she did not understand God’s love. She simply would not let go of the Lord until she experienced His goodness and His mercy for herself. In her heart, she believed. She acted on her belief, and so she was saved. And so was her daughter. She had great faith and did not even know it.

7. What about us? What about OUR faith? Are we able to say “I trust you” to God in spite of the circumstances and situations of our lives? Are we able to say “yes” to God’s love even when it appears all the world is against us? Are we believing in advance in God’s goodness and mercy even if we are not experiencing it at the moment? Faith happens when we say “I trust you” to God. Faith, after all, is all about God. It is NOT all about us. And His will is that we love Him and trust Him, every minute of every day. We don’t have to understand faith in order to have faith. All we have to do is to say “yes” to God. You see, God already believes in us.