Faith Hope Love
Series: CREATIO | Bible text: 1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3
Creatio – Hope and Responsibility; this is our current theme for the year. Together with faith and love, hope is one of the most important characteristics of living Christianity. Faith strengthens us. Hope carries us. Love holds us. Faith, hope, love – these three remain. We are invited, by strengthening these qualities, to get the full sound of a person who is on the way with Jesus.
The Queen and with her the Royal Family of England are on everyone’s lips right now. What are actually the qualities of a king? A representative of the royal house must display excellent manners, she must know the protocol for the installation of a prime minister, deliver the Speech from the Throne, rule without ruling, receive state guests, etc. What distinguishes a Christian? Recently I was in a conversation where a young woman, just before deciding to live with Jesus, asked me what it meant to be a Christian.
Paul, the founder of the church in the first century, gives an answer to this. First he explains what it is not; namely, knowledge. Our momentary knowledge is piecemeal, which will only be completed in the future immediate communion with God. Instead of knowledge, there are three things: «Faith, hope and love, these three remain. But the greatest is love» (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLB). These three ingredients together make the full sound of a person who is on the way with Jesus. Faith, hope and love – these three appear at least seven times in the Bible (1Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8; Romans 5:2–5; Galatians 5:5f; Colossians 1:4f; Hebrews 6:10–12; 1 Peter 1:21f).
In the eulogy of the church in Thessalonica it says: «We thank God always for all of you when we mention you in our prayers, remembering unceasingly your Work in faith and your Effort in love and your steadfast perseverance in the hope on our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father»(1Thessalonians 1:2f SLT).
Work in faith
Someone once distinguished between an «aspirin faith» and a «yeti faith». «Aspirin belief»: I believe that the aspirin does something. «Yeti belief»: I believe that there is a Yeti. Biblical faith is an «aspirin faith». The faith that the Bible speaks of is not merely a «holding true» of the historical figure of Jesus, but the faith that Jesus Christ is alive and makes a difference in our lives.
The missionary John Patten worked on a group of islands in the Southwest Pacific in the 19th century. The members of the tribes there were cannibals, so his life was constantly in danger. In the course of his work, Patten discovered that the people there did not have a word for believe or trust no wonder, for neither trusted the other. One day, when a local came to see him, Patten leaned back in his chair, lifted his feet off the ground and asked: «What am I doing right now?» The answer was a word that meant as much as Leaning on something with all your weight. This term was then used for the word Faith. Faith is when we put the whole weight of our life on Jesus Christ.
«So what is faith? It is the confidence that what we hope will come true and the conviction that what is not seen exists.»(Hebrews 11:1 NLB). Faith thus relies on the existence of invisible things and trusts that this has concrete and miraculous effects on life. A person who has entrusted his life to Jesus Christ believes in the holy Creator who made the whole universe and man. We live by his breath, the Holy Spirit. He believes in God who sent his Son Jesus Christ to earth so that we might be washed clean by his blood, undefiled, and stand before God. He believes in the resurrection and that through Christ alone we may have relationship with our Lord. He believes that Christ will come again one day and we will live with him in eternity. Although the believer does not see, he is convinced that Christ exists and that he is His child, adopted into the eternal and heavenly family.
«You love him even though you have never seen him. Although you do not see Him, you believe in Him; and even now you are filled with glorious, inexpressible joy. You are reaching the goal of your faith, namely the salvation of your souls.» (1 Peter 1:8f NLB).
Why does Paul speak of the «work of faith»? Aren’t these terms just the total opposite? We are not saved because of our good deeds, but because of faith. Sola fide – only faith. Even if good works as such are not means of salvation, they are concomitants of genuine faith, which is dead without works (James 2:17–26). Just as aspirin works against a headache, faith in Jesus Christ must have effects in our lives. Faith causes the following fruit to grow in a person: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22f). Faith has positive effects on all areas of life, be it work, family or neighbourhood.
Steadfast perseverance in hope
Faith is based on events that have already happened. Hope looks ahead to things to come. A person of hope has the extraordinary ability to see through the horizon. That is not easy.
If counted correctly, this year in seetal chile, the phrase «Look, I’m creating something new, it’s already germinating»(Isaiah 43:19a NLB). It is spoken twice in the teaser. In the Bible text it is followed by the question: «Don’t you see?» Hope means seeing the new sprouts. A few days ago, our lawn was reseeded. If you looked very closely, one morning there were tiny little grasses to be discovered. They were not seen by everyone.
Where are the tiny seedlings of the new creation? The clearest sign is the bodily risen Jesus Christ. On the third day after his crucifixion, he left his tomb and was seen in a new body with new abilities by over 500 eyewitnesses. The new creation has begun. Do you not see it? «But if Christ is not risen, then your faith is useless […].» (1 Corinthians 15:17 NLB). Whoever is united with Christ dies and rises with Him to new life. This is the basis and content of a living Christian hope. This is not a spiritual experience that leads to an incorporeal hope for the future. Real hope is not that our soul will go to heaven, but that we will live together with Jesus – also physically in a new body – in the newly created world. With this quality of hope in our hearts, we can go through the crises of life positively and confidently. Only because of this hope can Paul say: «But I am convinced that our present sufferings are insignificant compared to the glory he will give us later on»(Romans 8:18 NLB). Such hope does not make us despondent and cornered in the face of a virus called corona. Do you see the seedlings? The kingdom of God, the new creation, pops up wherever people live according to the will of God. Don’t you see? It has been found that in devastating times of crisis, such as the Holocaust, only those people survived who had hope. A fortnight ago, Daniel Bieri told us about the rat experiment. Although rats can swim for two to three days, they died within minutes in a canning jar filled with water. After the rats were picked up from time to time and given hope, they survived for many days.
Paul speaks of «persevering in hope». Hope has nothing to do with enthusiasm or a «spiritual overbite».. We should neither minimise nor suppress the present with its tasks and needs. That is why the perseverance (Greek. hypomonä = to remain under, to persevere even under the greatest trials and sufferings) important. «Hope» rushes forward; «steadfast perseverance» remains firmly in the present place. Hoping in God’s resurrection power allows today’s struggles to be endured patiently.
Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is the courage to dance to it in the present. «Therefore, I pray that God, who gives you hope, will fill you with joy and peace in your faith, so that your hope will grow ever greater through the power of the Holy Spirit.»(Romans 15:13 NLB).
Effort in love
«Faith, hope and love, these three remain. But the greatest is love»(1 Corinthians 13:13 NLB). The last and greatest characteristic of true Christianity is love. And this is is greatest because God himself is love.. «We have realised how much God loves us and we believe in his love. God is loveand he who lives in love lives in God and God lives in him.»(1 John 4:16 NLB). Because love comes from God, we can love one another. Would our work colleagues use the term «love» to describe us?
«Love» with us is often a warm feeling that wells up towards the other. It represents a changing mood that can quickly fade away. One then speaks of drifting apart. In Greek it says agapeThis is divine, self-sacrificing love. Paul combines love with Effort (Greek kopos). Kopos means Intense effort associated with exertion to the brink of exhaustion.. There is a different understanding behind this than is generally accepted and assumed today. Yes, love may cost us something. The bill is paid by love itself, namely God.
When a couple promises love to each other at the altar, that’s what it’s all about. And I wonder how our marriages, families and team situations at work would be if we were marked by this love of God. No, we don’t have to struggle for the effort in love, it is a gift from the one who is love, the creator of the whole universe. The dance of faith in the present is to be marked by «endeavour in love.
So this is what being a true Christian is all about: faith, hope and love. Faith strengthens us. Hope carries us. Love holds us. And I ask myself whether we Christians stand out because of these characteristics. On the window front between the church and the parish hall in Seon, these three terms are pasted up in large letters. The people of Seon have the inglorious term godless seers received. Let us work to ensure that this label with the three words Faith, hope and love exchanged.
Possible questions for the small groups
Read Bible text: 1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3
- What makes a person who lives with Jesus?
- What do you think of the biblical summary with the three terms faith, hope, love?
- How would you describe the term faith? How would you describe the terms hope and love?
- Where do you see sprouts, messengers of hope? Do you see it?
- Pray for each other that faith, hope and love may grow!
