Works Without Faith Is Dead?

Isaiah 9:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

There are those of us who must have everything lined up, nailed down, and put into order before we can feel comfortable or satisfied. And that's alright. Being neat is a virtue that I envy in people, probably because I tend not to be the neatest person who ever lived. The old motto which says, "For everything a place, and a place for everything," is a motto which, if adhered to, can make life more simple. But, on the other hand, someone once said that a messy desk is the sign of a sane person. And if that's true, that makes me one of the more healthy persons around.

But, what about those of us who insist on having all the answers to life's questions all lined up and nailed down and put into order? Do we really admire people who seem to have answers to all the complex questions of life? Some people place such a high value upon their system of answers that they get very upset if someone comes along and challenges even one of them.

It's sort of like a house of cards. My two kids used to like to build houses out of playing cards. In fact, they used to get pretty good at it. They'd get those card houses to go as high as three or four stories, sometimes. The problem was, that neither one of our two kids could resist the temptation of trying to knock the other's house down. And it usually wasn't very difficult. All they would have to do is reach over and touch just one of the cards and the whole thing would come tumbling down. And then the builder of the house would get very angry and plow his or her hand through the other's card house. And then they'd both be mad at each other. And I could never understand why it was that they would get so angry. After all, they were only fragile houses of cards that were going to come down, anyway. Let's face it, if all it takes is taking away one of the pieces of a system to make it crumble, it can't be much of a system to begin with!

Contrast that to what happened at the World Trade Center. Here, last week, a man took a big bomb down into the basement, into the very foundation of that huge complex and set it off. Eighteen columns that hold the building up were destroyed. A crater 100 feet wide was blasted through several floors. And, yet, even though the towers above visibly swayed back and forth from the shockwave from the blast, they still stand, and are in no apparent danger of falling. Why? Because there is a lot more there holding those buildings up than meet the eye, a network of beams and trusses that support each other, even when substantial damage is done to a significant part of the system.

Now the comparison between the house of cards and the World Trade Center can also be made for belief systems that people have. There are those who guard their religious beliefs as though they were a house of cards. Extreme examples of such persons may be found in places like that farm in Waco, Texas where a group of persons claiming to be followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, defended their system by killing five federal marshals with automatic weapons they were saving for such a day. One would have to argue that if a religious belief system is so vulnerable that it has to be defended like that, it must be a weak system, indeed -- a house of cards. So, indeed, the defense, itself, may be the most persuasive argument against the system being defended.

In contrast to such fanaticism, we are wise to develop belief systems that do not depend upon simply one or two supporting elements. And, indeed, a good, well founded Christian belief system is available to all who invest the time to put one together. Hopefully, that is what a good Sunday School program should help provide us with. Or, that's why we have Bible studies through the week. Or, that's why United Methodists support colleges and universities and seminaries that provide the broadest base possible. Or, that's why our worship services are full of variety and based upon a wealth of resources from the Old Testament to some of the latest things that have been written by God's people.

With such a belief system we do not feel deeply threatened if someone should come along and try to knock down one of the pillars in the system. Certainly, the towers of our faith may sway a bit, but they will not fall because they are supported by a network biblical struts, theological beams and spiritual reinforcements. With such a faith we are set free to love our enemies, and to bless those who curse us.

Now, in Jesus' day, many of those who were religious used as a central pillar of their faith the concept of justification by works. They thoroughly believed that if they somehow obeyed all 613 of the laws of Moses found in the Bible, they would be on good terms with God. For many of these religious persons the Law, as they called it, was of utmost importance, the single most important pillar of their faith. This is why they were taken aback when Jesus talked about justification by faith and criticized those who centered their lives on the Law, showing how impossible it was for them to really please the Lord that way.

And the religious system of people like Nicodemus, a leader of the most religious people of Jesus' day, was blown away by Jesus. All he had to say was, "You must be born anew." He was telling them plainly that works without faith is dead. He was telling them that it was by faith that they were saved. And they didn't know what he was talking about. All they knew was that if he kept talking that way they would have to have him killed, a method used all too often by those who have a one legged faith, as we have all too plainly seen within the past week or so. But, Jesus was willing to go even to the cross. For his was a faith that could withstand even the pains of death. His was a faith that could move mountains. His was a faith that could heal and nurture and forgive and take risks and build up. And, people, isn't that the kind of faith that we should have?

The founder of the Methodist Movement, John Wesley, was introduced to that kind of faith when he experienced a spiritual rebirth on May 24th, 1738. All of his life he had secretly believed that God could only love him if he obeyed all of God's laws and was good in the eyes of his neighbors. Somehow, the idea of being accepted by God on the basis of his faith had never sunk in. But, then, on May 24th, 1738 Wesley went to a bible study where the Epistle to the Romans was being studied. And Wesley writes, "About a quarter before nine, while the study leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

It was John Wesley, this spiritually reborn priest of the Church of England, who went on to found a Christian Movement that has spread to every continent of the world, a movement that continues to grow and thrive until this very day, a broadly based movement of which our own church is a part.

How important, indeed, it is for us to have faith, for it is a faith founded in Christ that keeps our building from falling to the ground. Or, as someone else once put it, "Faith is not a stained-glass word reserved only for religious use, though it is essential to religion because it is essential to life. It is not something we can see on every street-corner, but we dare not cross the street without it. If faith were removed for one day, our whole way of life would collapse."

Thanks be to God for such a simple, free, yet priceless thing! Amen.