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| Vision Series, Part 4: Growing in Faith Today is the fourth and final part of our vision series. Growing in faith is the last part of our vision. Last Sunday I told a story about a 15th century church that purposely left a hole in their roof as a sign that they would do whatever it took to welcome people into their faith community. That hole was left because of the story recorded in the second chapter of Mark, our gospel lesson for today. Four friends, eager to take their paralyzed friend to Jesus, were blocked by the huge crowds. Undaunted, they carried their friend to the roof, removed part of the roof, and lowered him to Jesus through the hole. I’d like to lift up three important truths from this powerful story. First…faith sometimes defies convention. In other words, there are times when the people of God need to act contrary to the status quo. When faced with the obstacle of the crowds these four friends could have given up and gone home. No one would have blamed them for doing so. But this was a day when faith would triumph over human barriers. Their determined faith turned on the creative juices and they came up a new idea AND they acted on that idea. They must have known that people would be upset by the damage they caused to the roof. They must have known that others would not be happy that they pushed their way to Jesus. But they did it anyway! There is a poem by an unknown author which captures this idea. People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered: Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives; Do good anyway. If you’re successful, you win false friends and make true enemies; Try to succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow; Be good anyway. Honesty and frankness will get you nowhere; they make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. People favor underdogs, but they follow top dogs; Fight for some underdogs anyway. What you spend days building may be destroyed overnight; Do it anyway. People really need help but they attack you if you try to help them; Try anyway. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the mouth; Give the world the best you have anyway. The second truth is that Jesus is always looking for faith. Mark 2:5 records "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." It was the faith of four friends that carried this paralyzed man to Jesus. As Jesus was no doubt watching as pieces of the roof started falling on them, his focus was not on the rudeness of this interruption, but on the FAITH of these guys! There is a powerful difference between faith and belief. Belief in God does not mean that we have faith in God. A college student was asked to teach his class on his ability to be creative and drive home a point in a memorable way. He talked for 20 minutes about the law of the pendulum which is that a pendulum can never return to a point higher than the point from which it was released. He demonstrated this with a 3-foot string attached to a child’s toy top and secured it to the top of the blackboard. He pulled the top to one side and made a mark on the blackboard where he let it go. Each time it swung back he made a new mark. It took less than a minute for the top to complete its swinging and come to rest. When he finished the demonstration he asked how many people in the room BELIEVED the law of the pendulum was true. All of his classmates raised their hands, as did his teacher. The teacher started to walk to the front of the room thinking the class was over. In reality it had just begun. Hanging from the steel ceiling beams in the middle of the room was a large pendulum of 250 pounds of metal weights tied to four strands of 500-pound test parachute cord. He invited the instructor to climb up on a table and sit in a chair with the back of his head against a cement wall. Then he brought the 250 pounds of metal up to his nose. Holding the huge pendulum just a fraction of an inch from his face, he once again explained the law of the pendulum, "If the law of the pendulum is true, then when I release this mass of metal, it will swing across the room and return short of the release point. Your nose will be in no danger." Then he looked his teacher in the eye and asked, "Sir, do you believe this law is true?" There was a long pause. Huge beads of sweat formed on his upper lip and then weakly he nodded and whispered, "Yes." He released the pendulum. It made a swishing sound as it arced across the room. At the far end of its swing, it paused momentarily and started back. The teacher literally dived from the table. Deftly stepping around the still-swinging pendulum, the student asked the class, "Does he believe in the law of the pendulum?" The students unanimously answered, "NO!" How many times have we been faced with a test of our faith in Christ? Our backs are up against a wall. We say we believe, but when perceived danger approaches we allow fear to take over and we hide. Jesus understands our fears, but he wants us to use our faith. He is always looking for people with faith. The third truth in this story is that amazing things happen when people act on faith. Because of the faith of four guys, their friend was healed. Because of their faith those who saw it went away amazed and they glorified God at what they saw. St. John is now faced with an opportunity to use our faith. We have a great need for new building space to accommodate new folks. We will be intentional about increasing the level of faith as well as funds. The first phase of our plan calls for a multipurpose building. Cost estimates are between 2 and 2.5 million dollars. Our goal for the Celebrate the Gift campaign is one million dollars. So we have a gap and hope to close it with volunteers in mission, lower 48 mission gifts, and a new loan. The big question is how our faith will be exercised in this campaign. Can we trust God enough to lower our standard of living a bit so extra funds can be given to the church? Can we move ahead with this building project in such a way that others will be amazed at what God is doing in our midst? The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that fear allows to entrap us. We don’t know if we can do this building. It’s like we’re being asked to jump, but we can’t see where we will land. In such a time it is easy for fear to paralyze us. Is it possible that the barriers facing us are not that big compared to the faith in our hearts? A story is told of a traveler in the early days of the west, who came to the Mississippi River. There was no bridge, but fortunately it was winter and the great river was sheeted over with ice. But the traveler was afraid to trust himself to it, not knowing how thick it was. Finally with infinite caution, he crept on his hands and knees and managed to get halfway over. And then he heard singing from behind. Cautiously he turned, and there, out of the dusk, came another traveler, driving a four-horse load of coal over the ice, singing as he went! Our steps into the future need to be cautious and reasonable. But they also need to be made with faith…faith that defies convention, faith that catches the eye of Jesus, and faith that will amaze others and be a glory to God. |
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10/07/01 - Vision Series, Part 4: Growing in Faith (Mark 2:1-12)
