Sermonhelp.Com

|   Full Text Sermon   |  Discussion and Reflection on the Texts  |   Worship Helps   |

Sunday June 6, 1999 ~ Second Sunday after Pentecost
Sermon Text:  Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Romans 4:13-25   *  Genesis 12:1-9  *  Psalm 33:1-12

Faith Can Do Anything God Can Do!

"God can do anything!" my friend Jimmy Turner told Angus Burke.

They were having this big argument about about Danny Rosenfield who was critically ill with leukemia.  Angus said Danny was going to die and Jimmy's mother was telling Jimmy and the rest of us to pray for Danny.

"That won't help," Angus says, "Danny is too sick and he's going to die.  My mom said so."

"Oh yeah..." Jimmy counters, "Well my mom says we should pray for Danny 'cause God can do anything!"

"Ha." Angus laughs, "God couldn't beat up my dad!"

We were about eleven years old and for Angus (and Jimmy and me for that matter), it was inconceivable that anything could have power over our dads.

I thought a lot about what Jimmy said.  "God can do anything."  Pretty amazing concept for an eleven year old.  "God can do anything?"  "God can do anything!"

My little sister used to make up rhymes about God.  "Could God knock down a wall?  Make little me tall?  Turn out the stars?  Make earth into Mars?  Could God make a mountain fly?  Or make a statute cry?" For her, God was Superman, a magician, Santa Claus, and her fairy godmother all wrapped up into one.

Who is God?

The first time your child asks that question, it catches you a bit off guard doesn't it?  "Quick mom,  who is God?"   Once you clear your throat and delay just a bit to get your brain in gear, you will undoubtedly suggest in one way or another that, "God is the one who can do anything!"

***

As difficult as it might be for a child to understand how anything could be stronger than "dad", or make sense out of the concept of God -- there is a concept in our scripture readings today that will challenge your heart and mind. It is a statement I heard at a conference years ago.

"Faith can do anything God can do!"

That's was a revolutionary thought at the time.   A huge claim. But when you think about it, this makes sense.  Jesus left us to carry on the work of the kingdom.  He said if we have faith, we could move mountains, heal the sick or cause a tree to be thrown into the sea.

In our scripture readings this morning faith heals a woman, raises a dead girl, gives old Abraham a son and makes Abraham right with God. In the new Testament letter to the Hebrews, the eleventh chapter is what some people call the "Faith Hall of Fame."  The writer details the power of faith in person after person throughout the Old Testament and then says, "And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-- who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection...(11: 32-35)

Faith, I must agree,  is a very powerful thing!   Our scripture readings today contain three dimensions of faith that can change our lives.  We can remember it this way:  [1] Faith Reaches Out,  [2] Faith Believes in God's Ability,  [3] Faith Celebrates the Victory!

[1] Faith Reaches Out

The amazing thing about our gospel reading is that Jesus is available to those people.  Do you know who I mean -- those people?  Tax collectors, sinners and a woman who is "unclean" according to Jewish law.  The Pharisees are stirred up because of the company Jesus keeps and ask the disciples why he associates with those people.

Then a leader of the synagogue dares to enter the undesirable company.  His daughter is dying and nothing else matters.  He kneels before Jesus and begs for his daughter's healing.

Here's the key issue.  One of the dimensions of faith that can change our lives is that faith reaches out.  No matter who we are or what our circumstance, the moment we reach out in faith, God is available to us.  All kinds of barriers are smashed in this story and in every instance -- when someone reaches out, Jesus is there for them.  A woman is healed.  A little girl is given back to her grieving father.

Faith reaches out.  And when faith reaches out, it can do anything God can do.

[2] Faith Believes in God's Ability

The key to understanding the Romans passage is a simple formula.  As a matter of fact I've seen this formula on a bumper sticker.   "God said it.  I believe it.  That settles it!"   For sure, we need to be careful of trivializing or oversimplifying the things that come our way in living, but the fact is that Abraham's relationship with God was based on his trust in the promises that God made to him.

Paul says that Abraham did not waver or back away from God when he encountered barriers. "No distrust made him (Abraham waver," Paul wrote.  Abraham had every reason to wonder about the promises of God.  He was getting old, Sarah was getting old -- and there were no children, much less a great nation.

Have you ever had times when the circumstances of your life were so discouraging that you were tempted to loose heart or give up faith? Sometimes when crisis comes -- the worst experiences we can imagine -- the doubt comes and we are vulnerable.  A friend who lost his job just before he was eligible for retirement confided, "It makes you wonder.  I've tried to do the right thing all my life.  I was loyal to the company.  And all for what?"

Of course, his trust in the company turned out to be a disappointment.  A new group of MBA's were hired to go over the bottom line and my friend's job ended up on the scrap heap.  The promises that were made to him years ago were no longer valid.  Management changed and the promises faded.

Abraham had every reason to wonder, but Paul says, "Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become the father of many nations."  The management did not change.  The promises and love of God are from everlasting to everlasting -- the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

Here's the dimension of faith that shines so clearly through all of Abraham's struggles.  Faith is believing in God's ability.   It is not so much what I can do, or my company can do -- it is what God can do. When I place my faith and trust in God's ability, faith can do anything God can do!

[3] Faith Celebrates the Victory!

If my grandmother said it once, she said it a thousand times.  You know someone who has this saying planted firmly in their psyche.   You can finish it for me...  Don't count your chickens _______________. (Before they're hatched!)

Abraham's faith in our Genesis reading does quite the opposite.  Abraham counts the chickens as soon as God provides the eggs!   In verse 7, the scripture says, "Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, 'To your offspring I will give this land.' "  Abraham's response is to build an altar to the Lord.  He celebrates the promise (worships the Lord) as though he and his yet to be sons and daughters were building their homes and planting their vineyards in the land of the Canaanites.  If my poor old grandmother (bless her soul) had been there, she would have been saying,"Abraham -- you had better not count your chickens  (help me out) ____________________ . (Before they're hatched!)

When God makes a promise, it is as good as done.   Abraham celebrated because his faith counted the promises of God as done deals.

This does not mean that the promises of God are quick.  Abraham had to continue his journey.  In fact the very next verse of the Genesis reading talks about how Abraham continued his journey and continued to celebrate and worship the Lord.  He builds another altar in the hill country east of Bethel.

Notice the very last verse of the Genesis reading.  It is absolutely central to the Christian life. "And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb."  The life of faith is a journeying life.  It is not a sprint, but a long distance run.  We do not get to know or control the details.  We do, however, have the promise of the presence of God along the way and the victory of God as the destination.

The ingredients of our faith will be reaching out, trusting in God's ability and celebrating the certain outcome of our journey.   And when we make this the bottom line of our living...

Faith can do anything God can do!

Discussion And Reflection On The Texts

Connections in the Texts

Beginning with this second Sunday after Pentecost, the NRCL has two options for the Old Testament texts. (See Lectionary Note on Quarterly Resource Page.)  If you are choosing the second option, Hosea 6:6 will relate to the first portions of the gospel reading from Matthew. ("I desire mercy, not sacrifice.)

The key connection in the NRCL, however, is the issue of faith which we take up in our sermon material for the day. Looking through the texts, we encounter the faith of Matthew who decides to follow Christ, the synagogue leader who dares to ask Christ for healing, the woman who had suffered for 12 years, and Abraham who packed up lock, stock and barrel to follow the promise of God.   Faith is the hinge of our relationship with God -- it holds us close to the Lord.  We may at times swing away and at other times swing toward -- but always it is faith that connects us and allows God access to our lives.

Matthew 9: 9-13 & 18-26

One possible direction for the gospel reading is to deal with the incredible way Jesus goes about breaking down social barriers and prejudices.  He calls a tax collector to follow him, allows a hemorrhaging woman to touch him and himself touches a dead body.  The grace of God is genuinely for "whosoever will" and Jesus' every action reinforces that.

I served a church once that said in its call to me that the number one priority of the church was "new members" -- namely growth.  And we grew.  Hurting, broken, needy people found our church and joined in with us.  They brought their friends and their children. Within a couple of years, the deacons called a meeting to discuss the fact that "not everyone" was pleased with the people who were coming.  "I thought the church wanted to grow," I said.  "We do," one of the deacons said, "But not with just these kind of people."  He caught himself and began to backtrack -- but the deed was done.  His misfortune was simply that he expressed what others dared not say, yet thought quite freely.  This was simply a modern version of Matthew 9:11. "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Jesus came for these kind of people.   If you take this direction, you can also use the Romans passage to show how Abraham is the father of Jew and Gentile believers alike.  (Romans 4:16-17)

Some commentators (i.e. Thomas H. Troeger in Fortress Press: New Proclamation for Series A, 1999 Easter and Pentecost) suggest that the girl in this text is "presumed dead" (p.110)   This would follow the direction of rationalistic interpreters of Jesus' miracles who look for "explanations" of Jesus' miraculous deeds.  Yet the text is clear.  A funeral process has begun with the required musicians and mourners.   The crowd laughs at Jesus who says the girl is "not dead, but sleeping."   The text certainly leaps forward to the conviction that those who die in Christ are "sleeping."  Whether an "ex-eventu" affirmation of the church regarding the resurrection power of Christ --   or a harbinger of the resurrection which was yet to be revealed in the Risen Lord.  The intent of the gospel is clear.  A girl who was dead is now alive.

We are talking here about "news" that deserves to be told!  And indeed, Matthew says, "And the report of this spread throughout that district." 

Romans 4:13-25

There is a great message here on what it means to have a relationship with God. Especially an awesome God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist! A right relationship is not a matter of genetics, but of grace. As we trust this awesome God, our unwavering faith is "reckoned to us" as righteousness. The faith of Abraham (Father of all who live by faith) persists in spite of significant barriers.

Genesis 12:9 is one of my favorite lines in all of scripture as it is translated in the NRSV, "And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb." Isn’t it like that with most of us in our life of faith? There may be some who are able to do a kind of a hop,skip and jump to Christian maturity, but most of us will journey in stages. And like Israel in the wilderness, we will sometimes take a few steps backwards or even wander around in circles at times.

Worship Helps

A Prayer Of Dedication

There is no love like yours, O Lord, and no gifts such as you bestow.
Yet, as our faith compels us to come boldly to the throne of grace, so
our hearts compel us to bring these gifts to you.  Come and bless us
and our gifts; grant us the joy of your presence in the ministry these gifts
make possible.  Amen.

A Pastoral Prayer

We praise you Lord because you have given us a gift that can not be bought
with coin, nor gained by effort.  You have given us promises that call faith from
our hearts and nourish the gift of hope in the depths of our souls.

When there is pain and sorrow, you call us to trust in you.  When grief overtakes
our spirits, you whisper the sweet sounds of life in our hearing.  When doors seem
to close and disappointment clouds the horizon of our dreams, you show us the
simple joys of living.

Thank you for the glory of a newborn day and the splendor of a brilliant sunset.
Thank you for the laughter of a child, the smile of a loving friend, the touch of
someone loved and the goodbye kiss of the one we love.

May we know in this hour, the hope, joy and love of those who worship you.  Amen.