The Power of Faith

Reverend Philip Stringer

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10

LET US PRAY: You, O Lord, are the author of life. Speak to our hearts and fill us with the breath of your Spirit, that we may live and move in your ways, all the days of our life. AMEN

I hurt my back a number of years ago, and since then I have been particularly attentive to lifting things safely. And I have become a big fan of a block and tackle assembly. I’ve got one set up on the upper floor of my barn to help me lift heavy items from the lower level. I also use one when I’m working with trees.

When my girls were small, I took them to a science museum, and one of the displays involved a block and tackle attached to a car.

Children spend so much of their lives feeling dependent, small, weak. We tell them, “That’s a job for big people.” “Wait until you’re grown up, honey.” But here was a rope attached to a car with the promise that when they pull that rope, they will be able to lift that car. You should have seen their faces! It was true! They DID have the strength in them -- it just needed to be applied in the right way.

I’ve never been that great with math and physics -- I’ve had the block- and-tackle-thing explained to me several times -- it’s a trade-off of force over distance — the transfer of energy through pulleys multiplying force and distributing the -- Blah blah blah.

Whatever. It still is amazing to me.

Jesus’ disciples cried out to him, “Lord, increase our faith!” And he told them, “You don’t need more faith. You just need to have faith in the faith that is already given.”

That is a message for us, too. Like a block and tackle in the hands of a child -- the faith given to ordinary people like you and me gives us the power to change the world and usher in the kingdom of God.

That may be hard to believe in a time when the world is unraveling around us -- and the church is in decline — and society is divided and there is so much that is wrong.

What is the power of faith? -- in the face of matters that seem so much more tangible. CONCRETE things are happening.

What is the power of faith? One cannot even touch faith. What is the power of faith against an army or a lost job? Or a diagnosis of cancer? Or the death of a loved one? How is something that cannot be touched supposed to contend with things that can?

Perhaps you cannot touch faith. But our texts today assert an important truth: It is not we who lay hold of faith. It is faith that touches you and me. God’s grace comes to us. Faith comes to us, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When Paul wrote, offering encouragement and counsel to Timothy, faith is where he pointed him because Paul knew that faith is the anchor for life -- the foundation point for facing every moment of life. And so, St. Paul writes that the righteous shall live by faith, and Martin Luther asserted that we are justified by faith alone.

“Remember and hold fast to the faith that was passed on to you,” wrote Paul, — Be strong within it, and continue the work of passing it along to others”.

"Rekindle the gift of God that is within you . . . for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self- discipline."

Jesus had said to the disciples, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” At another time he spoke of mountains being tossed into the sea.

In our first reading, Habakkuk speaks of standing in the power of faith against tyranny and injustice, when the wicked beat you down. The power of faith can shake the world!

But . . . perhaps we should start a little closer to home. Perhaps we should begin with something a little less imposing than shaking the world . . .

Our Gospel text today begins with the disciples saying to Jesus, “Increase our faith?” Do you know why they asked that of him?

• Was it because he had just told them about the crucifixion, and how he will be handed over to suffering and death? No.

• Was it because he had just told them that they will face persecution themselves? — that they will be hated and cursed, stoned, flogged and beaten? No.

• Was it because he had told them that they will face death because of the gospel? — No.

• Did he tell them about the end of the world -- with the stars falling from the sky and earthquakes and fire and people weeping and gnashing their teeth?

No, it was nothing like that that has caused them to cry out in panic. In the verses preceding our text for today, here is what we read:

Jesus said to his disciples, “If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

All he has said is, “forgive one another.” Three little words. But it is too much.

It seems ridiculous in light of the world’s great troubles, doesn’t it. Should we laugh at them? I’m not so sure.

The disciples are famous for missing the point of Jesus’ teachings -- and for acting foolishly and selfishly.

But perhaps this time they got it right. Perhaps this time they saw clearly. Forgiveness is hard.

And I would suggest to you also that -- even though I spoke of not tackling the big problems but starting closer to home -- I wonder -- do not the solutions to the larger issues begin here, too?

A life of grace. A life of faith in God’s grace. A heart that believes in the power of God’s love. This is what gives one the ability to forgive. As Paul taught Timothy -- that faith is the anchor for life.

Like my daughters discovering that with a pulley they have the strength to lift a car -- faith in God’s grace transforms our lives.

When you and I were baptized, the congregation was asked some questions -- the same questions asked of us when we are confirmed -- and I love these questions:

• Do you renounce all the forces of evil, the devil, and all his empty

promises?

• Do you promise to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through

word and deed?

• To serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus?

• To strive for justice and peace in all the earth?

These are not nail-biter questions. Of course we say “yes,” but do you remember HOW we say “yes?” We answer, “I do, and I ask God to help and guide me.”

And in just a moment, you and I will recite the words of the creed together. It is not a prayer, by the way -- even though we say, “Amen.”

“Amen,” means, “Yes, let it be so.”

We say out loud and together what it is that we have in common; what connects us to each other, and what shapes our lives together.

We believe in God the Father Almighty.

We Believe in Jesus Christ his son.

We believe in the Holy Spirit-- The Trinity. The God who IS a community of love — Three Persons giving and receiving in perfect love -- creating you and me in perfect love -- redeeming us in perfect love -- sustaining us with perfect love.

Faith in the power of God’s love.

Faith.

You and I are not asked to save the world. We are not asked to solve all of its problems -- not to stop wars or end global warming or bring an end to injustice and hunger and suffering.

We are not commanded -- or even ASKED -- by Jesus to do these things. Rather, he tells us that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have already been given the power by which these things will be done.

Saint Paul said -- and Martin Luther reminded us -- that even faith is a gift. And by God’s grace you and I are growing into our faith.

My daughters never would have believed they could lift a car. But they could.

And today, Jesus says to you: “Forgive. Forgive. Forgive. Again, and again, and again. Forgive.”

Have faith in the power of love. You will be amazed by what you can do.

AMEN