Faith

We are spending this season of Advent looking at Characteristics we should strive to have as followers of Jesus. We will be having the shepherds, the first people outside of Mary and Joseph, to see Jesus as our example as we focus on one word each week. We will end with the story of the shepherds on Christmas Eve.

Last week we looked at the word “truth” and the importance in believing that Jesus is the truth. You can find that sermon on our You Tube channel if you happened to miss it. The word for this week is “Faith”. Our scripture comes from Luke 1:26-38.

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Please pray with me…

Let us begin today by answering the question, what is faith? One well known definition is that Faith is believing in something that you cannot see or touch. Faith is taking something you cannot prove through your senses and deciding that there is enough proof out there for you to decide that it is true.

This definition of faith tells us that it is not exclusive to Christianity. There are many things within the world that we have faith in that does not directly have to do with our understanding of God and Jesus.

An often-used example is wind, we cannot see or touch the wind but yet we have faith that wind exists because we can feel the effects of the wind. Another example would be gravity. We cannot see what is keeping us on the ground. Einstein figured out there must be something happening when that apple dropped from the tree and hit him on the head.

We cannot see what is keeping us on the ground or what causes objects to fall from the sky, but we have faith that whatever it is will continue to serve its purpose. We have faith that all of a sudden we won’t all just float away.

(Transition)

When we focus on today’s scripture and Mary in particular, we have someone who has been given some incredible information from an angel. First is that she will have a child even though she is a virgin. That alone would cause you to not believe.

But thenshe is told that this child that she will have is the Messiah. She is going to give birth to the one that the Jewish people have been waiting for to come for many generations. So, not only does she have to deal with the impossibility of being pregnant, but also with the understanding that she is not going to have just any child.

She is having thee child. She will be giving birth to God with us. Understandably,it took a little while for her to process what she was being told. She eventually ends up believing and she tells the angel “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

What faith it would have taken for her to believe and accept the role she was going to play. She was going to be the mother of the Messiah who we know as Jesus. We know He doesn’t just save the Jewish people from their earthly adversaries. Jesus will end up saving anyone who was and is willing to believe in him as their Savior from sin and death.

(Transition)

For us,Christian faith is a belief in God, his son Jesus, and who we call the Holy Spirit. We can sense that God is there. We should be able to feel how he changed our lives. But we can’t just tell someone “There he is,” because he cannot be seen. It takes faith for someone to believe that God is always with us.

Hebrews Chapter 11 says it this way, the author defines Christian faith as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” This scripture points out to us the Christian faith involves not just trust but also hope.

We are to choose to be people of hope. We are called by faith to trust that what we are promised will come to be. This is why scripture speaks of faith being supposed to lessen our anxieties of life. We should turn life’s troubles over to God. We should have the trust and the hope that he is with us during our times of struggle.

The shepherds faced fear but then turned into hope. They had an angel appear which caused them to be afraid but after receiving the message it led to hope. Their faith in believing the truth led them to go and see for themselves that their Savior had been born.

I don’t have to tell you that this is easier said than done. It is hard for us to not internalize all the potential troubles that are out in this world. Fear is a natural response but we should try to have the faith to believe that God is there. He will be with us no matter what is going on in our lives.

(Transition)

It also takes faith to believe that he is guiding our lives through the helper that he gave us, the Holy Spirit. We cannot see the Holy Spirit but as we become closer to God, we can feel the work that the Spirit is doing within us.

We can begin believing in what the Spirit is telling us. As our faith continues to grow, we can start acting on our faith that the Spirit will be with us through the calling that we have received. It is through listening and responding as the Spirit directs that allows us to more often follow the will of God.

It also takes faith when things are tough. It can be a struggle to believe that God will never give us more than we can handle when it feels like we are drowning in the troubles of life. It also can be a struggle at times to believe that we can trust him to help us with what we are dealing with.

It goes back to the discussion on anxiety. We are showing our faith in God when we are willing to rely on God in all the situations we are involved in within our lives. We need to trust God and turn them over to God.

(Transition)

Last week we spoke of “Truth” and how we need to believe that what we are receiving from God is the truth. It takes faith for us to believe in the truth. The first truth that we need to believe in is that Jesus is the truth. We need to be able to look at what he has done for humanity and be willing to trust that through his death on the cross our sins are forgiven.

When we struggle with our faith it sometimes has to do with our belief that we are not worthy of the love God gives us. I want to make sure you hear and understand, you are worthy. God loves you just the way you are. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

God doesn’t look back at what you have done in the past and he also doesn’t want you too. He wants you to accept that your sins are forgiven or can be forgiven. He wants you to look towards being closer to him in the future instead of focusing on what you have done in the past.

We need to believe that we receive the truth from the Holy Spirit. God gave us the Holy Spirit to be the constant companion to help us through the ups and downs of life. We need to believe that the Holy Spirit is with us and does help us throughout our lives.

The belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior can be a hard first step of faith for some to take. Relying on the Holy Spirit can become an even bigger challenge. I mean let’s admit it, we like to be in charge of what we do and why we do it. When we become willing to allow the Holy Spirit to be in charge, we are relinquishing control to God and trusting that he will not lead us astray.

It is through the actions that we take because of our trust in the Holy Spirit that allow others to recognize our faith. When we step out of our comfort zone and do things that we otherwise would not do, we show others that we have grown in faith. That can often be the greatest witness we offer those that know us and are around us.

(Transition)

In our first scripture reading we are seeing someone who is not Jewish asking for Jesus to intervene and heal his servant. The first thing that we discover from this scripture is that Jesus did such a good job of showing his faith through his words and actions that even those that were not Jewish believed that he was special. They recognized the work that he was able to do because of his faith.

Churches that step out and serve in their communities often discover the same thing. When the church does something for one group, they will have others who are in need also ask for their assistance.

Those in the community begin to see that this group of Christians are serving not just to get people to become believers but because just like Jesus did, they care for those that are around them. It is at this point that the church becomes a witness of Christian faith to the community.

This is why part of our mission statement has us connecting to our community. As we go out into our communities in faith and talk to and serve those around us, we become the hands and feet of Jesus.

(Transition)

James chapter 2 says it this way, “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” What he is speaking of is that as individuals and as the church we need to have the faith to step up when the Holy Spirit offers us a way to serve.

Our connection to the community becomes stronger and we also may find our individual faith grow as we see God at work. God works through us while he is also working within those around us.

We are called to serve our communities. We should have faith that God is with us as we reach out and show the love of God to all people. We may find that we will be asked what has led us to serve. This is when we can tell others about Jesus.

Our faith in God leads to us as a community of believers showing and then telling those around us about Jesus. I cannot say for sure what God will do with our faith here at Church of the Good Shepherd.

We may find others wanting to come here to learn more about the God we serve. We may discover that it is our faith that grows as we assist those around us. What I do know is that it will be through those in our communities getting to know us that will help us become the church God desires for us to be.

(Transition)

When we head back to our main text, we discover that it is OK to ask questions concerning what God wants you to do or is telling you is going to happen. Mary struggles with believing what the angel is saying, which is understandable considering how unbelievable it was. She therefore asks questions to clarify how it is possible for this to be happening, and we can find that the angel is happy to answer her questions.

Did you notice this different from last week’s story involving Zechariah? Zechariah is told that his prayer had come true, and the angel was upset that he would question what he was told. The angel doesn’t get mad due to him questioning what the angel told him.

It is because God had answered his prayer, and Zechariah was doubting that it could be true. When we pray and ask for something we should have the faith that it will come true. Zechariah asked and was told his prayer would be answered but he still questions God.

We show faith when we thank God for what he has chosen to do for us. We shouldn’t ask how or why. If we pray and are told that our prayer was answered, we should believe.

(Transition)

Mary is not questioning a prayer being answered. She can understandably not understand how what she was told could be true but after hearing the explanation offered by the angel her doubts leave and through the faith she has in God she believes.

Mary should be the example we should choose to follow. We need to have the faith to accept the plan that God has for us as both as individuals and as a church even if it seems too big or impossible. No plan is too big if we are relying on God to help us with it and if God is calling us to do it.

When Jesus is in the garden right before he is arrested, he asks for God to change his plan. Jesus knew what pain felt like. He knew that what he was about to experience was not going to be pleasant and so he asked his Father to change the plan and to have there be another route towards redemption of the people.

But, he ended the prayer by saying these important words; he said “not my will but your will.” We should also be willing to have the faith to follow the plan God has prepared for us even if it is against what we want to do.

When wegive our life to Jesus. When we say that we will follow him that does not mean only during those times that we agree. This means that we need to be willing to step out of our comfort zone and do what he wills for us as individuals and as a church to do. We need to be willing to serve others as God wants us to serve.

Where do you stand in your faith? Are you in a place where you believe that Jesus died for your sins but you are still trying to figure out what it means to follow him. Are you hearing from God and yet at times have decided that you can’t succeed at what God wants you to do?

If this is you spend time with God. Ask him to help you grow in faith. Spend time listening to what he may want to say to you. And then, when he offers you the truth be willing to step out of your comfort zone and take a step out in faith.

This is not easy, but God will help you. God will not leave you. He will give you the words to say and the action to take to allow you to fulfill the calling that he has for you. We only need to keep the faith.

Please pray with me…