Sermon: To be a Person of Faith is Such Privilege!

The Bible speaks to us of faith: Faith as a journey into uncertainty (in the case of Abraham); and faith as a birth in the case of Jesus talking to Nicodemus – and what John Wesley called the “fundamental doctrine of new birth.”

Abraham has to leave behind his own country in order to enter the one which God wants to show to him. God separates him from that which he knows. God takes Abraham from where he finds him, he calls to him, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” (Gen. 12.1) He takes him away from his heritage, and, from his own people.

And Abraham goes. Abraham decides to go with God to the land which God will show him. Abraham cannot see the land when he sets out. He is leaving behind that which is naturally his, that which he knows and that which he can see; and he decides to go with God on the journey into uncertainty. And this is faith, isn’t it?

To trust in that which we cannot see and to make the move towards that which we hear God calling us towards. And Abraham begins the journey which is faith.

In order for God to make something new, in order for God to bless Abraham and make him into a great nation, in order for God bless all the families of the earth in Abraham, Abraham has to move. And all families of the earth are, eventually, blessed in Abraham – that is in the faith which is exemplified by Abrahams move. That is, that faith itself is a blessing to the whole world.

A world without faith would be a hell on earth. But Abraham moves. It is not that God cannot bless him where he is, surely. It’s not that God is more powerful in once place than another. It must be the case that God requires his people of faith to move. And this is the characteristic of Abrahamic faith – it is dynamic. It does not exist without purpose and consequences. Where there is this dynamic faith something happens. It is like the wind.

“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and wither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3.8)

And what a privilege it is to be born of the Spirit!

What a privilege it is to be a person blessed with faith!

What would you have more than anything else in this world?

Surely, faith underlies all else. Surely, to be born of God, to be born of the Spirit, to be born from above, to be born into faith is the best thing that can ever happen to you in this world. Because with that you are a blessed man or woman. Blessed with faith you live with the promises of God.

In the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus scholars now read a First Century conversation between the early Christian community and their own heritage, their spiritual home land, the Jewish community. The early Christian community is saying to their Jewish brothers and sisters, “it is not enough!” The Torah (the law) is not enough. “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3.5) You have to know the blessing of God in your spirit. You have to humble yourself before God not obey a rule book, not do the right things, but face God, just you and God – you have to humble yourself before God and ask for his future for your life, his blessing. You have to move towards God and then God comes to you to bless you. Then you are a new creature, a spiritual being, through God meeting you in Spirit.

“…to what end, is it necessary, that we should be born again?” asked John Wesley. “It is very easily discerned, that this is necessary,” he says, “first, in order to holiness. For what is holiness according to the oracles of God? Not a bare external religion, a round of outward duties, how many soever they be, and how exactly soever performed. No; Gospel holiness is no less than the image of God stamped upon the heart…Let this, therefore, if you have not already experienced this inward work of God, be your continual prayer:  “Lord, add this to all thy blessings, - let me be born again! Deny whatever thou pleasest, but deny not this; let me be ‘born from above!’ Take away whatsoever seemeth thee good, - reputation, fortune, friends, health, - only give me this, to be born of the Spirit, to be received among the children of God!” (John Wesley, The New Birth.)

That was a quote from one of John Wesley’s sermons which he gave in the Eighteenth Century; which is now over two hundred years ago.

He spoke then of a truth which will never change.

The Church, and indeed society as a whole, will continually change but the Christian truth will not need to. God’s blessing, of faith, to the families of the world will continue the same as ever and the promise of Jesus to be with us will always stand. Amen.