You can't be ashamed of what you truly believe.
In the midst of this summer of evangelism, I take a moment
and change venues.
This is a pulpit exchange Sunday. Pastor David Zandt from the Lutheran
congregation across the street has agreed to come and preach at my two churches
an I, in turn, will preach at both services with his congregation.
Some might approach this task undauntedly prepared to share the truth.
Not myself. This is serious business.
What makes the task even more hilariously weighty is the scripture in which we
shall cover.
Feeling the Lord was leading me to speak on evangelism this summer, the month
of July has become a time to talk about the uncomfortable side of
sharing our faith.
Before us this morning is an all famous passage (most likely the greatest known
passage in all of Lutheranism) that leaves me wondering, "What could I
possibly say about faith within this passage to
a bunch of Lutherans that they haven't already heard?" Don't
Lutherans kind of have the corner market on faith? I mean, this is the
passage. The one Luther himself comes across that turns his world upside
down. My initial impression is that every Lutheran must know his passage by
heart.
And, so, I am going to run with that impression. Most likely, you know this
passage.
But, do you feel the same passion here that Paul felt as he wrote these now
famous words?
Do have the same affection for this passage that grabbed Luther as he sought
for this faith?
Maybe we should read the passage before we go any further.
Romans 1:16-17
New International Version (NIV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the
power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes:first to the
Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel
the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from
first to last,[a] just as it is written: “The righteous will
live by faith.”[b]
Last
week I spoke with my Methodist folk about that word, righteousness.
The word has to do with 'right living'. And, unless you see the word self-
in front of it, then the meaning has nothing to do with us, ourselves. We get
righteousness by living according to a higher set of standards. Someone else's
rules. In this case, God's rules. As our scripture suggests, "the
righteousness of God".
Right living is a big deal in the Wesleyan world of thinking. John Wesley was
very methodical about how he did everything, thus giving us the name Methodists.
The way we pray and the reasons behind it. How we carry ourselves, how we
conduct ourselves, the manner in which we display our faith...and there is the
connection, our faith, means everything to right living.
Faith (and I'm assuming here) should be just as big a deal for a Lutheran as
right living is for the Wesleyan minded Methodist. How did Luther find his way
to this passage? Right living was at the center of his thinking, but there was
more he was missing. Righteousness in Luther's world came from following the
conduct set down by his Catholic church fathers. The ecclesiastical world
around him did not lead him to bank everything on his faith,
but to follow the rigid rules and rights as set forth by the church government.
This left a hollow feeling in his gut as he began to search for something
deeper, more meaningful. And, finally, he comes across this passage from Paul.
“The righteous will live by faith.”
What I like to do with my congregations is to get out the dictionary and see
what exactly a word means before expounding to much upon it. Getting to right
view on a definition can help to interpret what God want to say to us. So, let
us take a look at the word, faith.
Definition
of FAITH
noun
1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty
b (1) : fidelity to
one's promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2)
: belief in the traditional doctrines of a
religion
b (1) : firm belief in
something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3: something that is believed especially with strong
conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs <the
Protestant faith>
— on faith
: without question <took everything he said on faith>
So,
it's a noun. And, it can be made possessive then. MY faith.
But, as we will see in a moment, this is not what Luther would do with the
word.
It wasn't about me, in a possessive sense. It's about more than
that, a higher calling.
There is also more to the definition.
Definition
of FAITH
transitive verb
archaic
Ok,
let me take you Lutheran folk down a Sunday morning path in my Methodist
congregation.
My folks should be able to explain this word, transitive, to you very
well.
Transitive
means that things can be "transferred" between parties. If its true
with party one, then its the same with party two, and the same with two and
three until it has gone around the triangle.
I believe. I trust. Therefore, I can connect with you in your faith and help
you trust.
This will play much into what we will say about Luther in a moment.
Now, is our Wesleyan world, John Wesley is approaching it from the other
direction. He has faith. He is told to put his faith is many things. The
monarchical system in England, the Church of England itself, the teaching of
the bible as they are handed down through tradition. But, there seemed to be
more that could be expounded upon here. How do I live this life of faith? What
do I do to display my faith? How can I truly live this faith out in my everyday
life? And, so begins Wesley's deep commitment to find a way to be committed to
his faith in righteous living.
Luther would take a step back from performing good works, as set down by church
law, to find what faith really is before re-engaging himself in the righteous
life. Listen to his words taken from
Martin Luther's Definition of Faith:
An excerpt from
"An Introduction to St.
Paul's Letter to the Romans,"
Luther's German Bible
of 1522
by Martin Luther,
1483-1546
Translated by Rev. Robert
E. Smith
from DR. MARTIN LUTHER'S VERMISCHTE
DEUTSCHE SCHRIFTEN.
Johann K. Irmischer, ed.
Vol. 63
(Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854),
pp.124-125. [EA 63:124-125]
August 1994
Faith is not what some people think
it is. Their human dream
is a delusion. Because they observe that
faith is not followed by
good works or a better life, they fall
into error, even though they
speak and hear much about faith. ``Faith
is not enough,'' they
say, ``You must do good works, you must
be pious to be saved.''
They think that, when you hear the
gospel, you start working,
creating by your own strength a thankful
heart which says, ``I
believe.'' That is what they think true
faith is. But, because
this is a human idea, a dream, the heart
never learns anything
from it, so it does nothing and reform
doesn't come from this
`faith,' either.
Instead, faith is God's work in us,
that changes us and gives
new birth from God. (John 1:13). It
kills the Old Adam and makes us
completely different people. It changes
our hearts, our spirits,
our thoughts and all our powers. It
brings the Holy Spirit with
it. Yes, it is a living, creative,
active and powerful thing, this
faith. Faith cannot help doing good
works constantly. It doesn't
stop to ask if good works ought to be
done, but before anyone
asks, it already has done them and
continues to do them without
ceasing.
Anyone who does not do good works in this manner is an
unbeliever. He stumbles around and looks for faith and
good
works, even though he does not know what
faith or good works are.
Yet he gossips and chatters about faith
and good works with many
words.
Faith is a living, bold trust in
God's grace, so certain of
God's favor that it would risk death a
thousand times trusting in it.
Such confidence and knowledge of God's
grace makes you happy,
joyful and bold in your relationship to
God and all creatures. The
Holy Spirit makes this happen through
faith. Because of it, you
freely, willingly and joyfully do good
to everyone, serve
everyone, suffer all kinds of things,
love and praise the God who
has shown you such grace. Thus, it is
just as impossible to
separate faith and works as it is to
separate heat and light from
fire! Therefore, watch out for your own
false ideas and guard
against good-for-nothing gossips, who
think they're smart enough
to define faith and works, but really
are the greatest of fools.
Ask God to work faith in you, or you
will remain forever without
faith, no matter what you wish, say or
can do.
_________________________________________________________________
This text was translated for Project
Wittenberg by Rev. Robert E.
Smith and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute,
copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or
suggestions to:
Rev. Robert E.
Smith
Walther Library
Concordia Theological
Seminary
Luther
seems to take a much needed step back to find the missing element of faith.
Wesley seems to take a step forward to work out living that faith. It was this
very section of Luther's writings that were read at a Moravian society meeting
on May 24, 1738. John Wesley was present and testified that "about a
quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the
heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did
trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that
he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and
death."
Our two worlds are not that far apart. For all that is made about
denominational differences and who has the corner market on what doctrine,
there is much common ground to be had here. We are people of faith. Not a
Lutheran faith and a Wesleyan faith. I believe in Jesus Christ. You believe in
Jesus Christ. Where do our paths intersect? Notice the boldness of Paul in his
statement. "...to the Jew first and then to the Gentile..." He is
making salvation attainable for everyone, but I can't help but feel as if there
might some suggesting "...to the Lutheran first, and THEN the
Methodist..." (and vice versa, as well).
Here comes the uncomfortable part. You all are trying to grow your
church. We are trying to grow ours. At what point is it ok to sit down with the
party across the street and just talk about Jesus Christ? AT point is it ok to
walk into a family or social situation, shoulder to shoulder with our Lutheran
or Methodist brother/sister and tackle the problems of our culture together?
The easy path is to go rogue, to separate, to stay in our own little circle and
try to save the world on our own. Or, better yet, to just focus on our own tiny
world of believers and meet the needs within our own four walls. The
uncomfortable part is this morning is not just standing up for our faith, or telling
others about salvation, but actually doing so with someone from another
denominational life. Somebody who may not embrace your history, but can embrace
your Savior.
We need not be ashamed of what we have been taught to believe from our
designated background. What we need to find is a way to listen with our hearts
to the words of our brothers and sister from other denominations so we can
understand what they are saying about Jesus through their traditions and bring
it home to enrich our own.
Am I making anyone uncomfortable here? This is part of our evangelism. Because
in reaching the world for Christ we will encounter people from other traditions
and we need to speak the language if we hope to further our cause to save the
world in the name of Jesus. Methodist. Lutheran. All.
And, here is the true heart of what Paul is saying in this passage today.
"I'm not ashamed" - There is no sense of guilt about believing in the
Savior of all mankind. I believe. You believe. And, I would go as far as to say
I'm not ashamed to stand arm in arm with you and tell the world, "I
believe in Christ".
You can't be ashamed of what you truly believe. Luther wasn't. Neither was
Wesley. I'm not.
And, if we can do this together, we might actually get somewhere with this
thing.
