Often we think faith has only some\u00adthing to do with an inner atti\u00adtu\u00adde and our thoughts. Howe\u00adver, the Bible tea\u00adches us that faith also has a lot to do with how we act and behave. How roo\u00adted our faith is is expres\u00adsed in our actions. It is not a mat\u00adter of pious actions, but of acting out of faith. And this faith always has its root in the encoun\u00adter with the holy God.<\/p>\n
I would like to start the ser\u00admon today with a litt\u00adle joke. An elder\u00adly cou\u00adple is lying in bed at night. The hus\u00adband is rest\u00adless, can\u2019t sleep and keeps tos\u00adsing and tur\u00adning. At some point it beco\u00admes too much for the wife and she asks him what is wrong. He starts almost mumbling, \u00abWell, um, don\u2019t you think it\u2019s time again for\u2026well you know.\u00bb The woman does\u00adn\u2019t quite under\u00adstand. \u00abHoney, what do you think?\u00bb He in turn repli\u00ades, \u00abCome on, you know what I mean. It starts with S and ends with X.\u00bb The woman, now quite indignant, says: \u00abLis\u00adten, it\u2019s alre\u00ada\u00addy half past ele\u00adven at night. Even you should rea\u00adli\u00adse that it\u2019s sim\u00adply too late to call Spi\u00adtex now! \tWhat pro\u00admi\u00adses has God given us in his Word? What attri\u00adbu\u00adtes are attri\u00adbu\u00adted to God in the Bible? We often think that faith only has some\u00adthing to do with an inner atti\u00adtu\u00adde and our thoughts. Howe\u00adver, the Bible tea\u00adches us that faith also has a lot to do with how we act and behave. How roo\u00adted our faith is mani\u00adfests its\u00adelf in our actions. This is not about pious actions, but about acting\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":7496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","wpfc_preacher":[97],"wpfc_sermon_series":[90],"wpfc_sermon_topics":[],"wpfc_bible_book":[],"wpfc_service_type":[12],"class_list":{"0":"wpfc_preacher-cornelia-roth","1":"wpfc_sermon_series-heilig-heilig-heilig","2":"wpfc-sermon-single","3":"post-7484","4":"wpfc_sermon","5":"type-wpfc_sermon","6":"status-publish","7":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"hentry","11":"wpfc_service_type-gottesdienst"},"acf":[],"sermons_blog_filters_topics":"\t\t\t\t
\nThe faith of Abra\u00adham and Sarah
\nIn fact, today I am going to tell you about an elder\u00adly cou\u00adple from the Bible who felt very much the same way. We are tal\u00adking about Abra\u00adham and Sarah. When Abra\u00adham was 75 years old, God pro\u00admi\u00adsed to make him a gre\u00adat nati\u00adon, to give him many des\u00adcen\u00addants and to give the\u00adse des\u00adcen\u00addants a gre\u00adat, fer\u00adti\u00adle land. But Abra\u00adham and Sarah were alre\u00ada\u00addy old and could not pro\u00addu\u00adce any child\u00adren until then. Even after the pro\u00admi\u00adse, this did not chan\u00adge for a long time. At some point, the two of them also tried it in their own way, with Abra\u00adham fathe\u00adring a child with Sarah\u2019s maid Hagar. To cut a long sto\u00adry short, apart from a lot of dra\u00adma, this action did not bring much and alt\u00adhough Abra\u00adham now had a son, this was not the ful\u00adfilm\u00adent of God\u2019s promise.
\nIn Gene\u00adsis 18, we can read how the sto\u00adry of the two con\u00adti\u00adnues after God has repea\u00adted his pro\u00admi\u00adse seve\u00adral times and made a coven\u00adant with Abra\u00adham. God appeared to Abra\u00adham in the form of three men. Abra\u00adham imme\u00addia\u00adte\u00adly rea\u00adli\u00adses who is stan\u00adding befo\u00adre him and pulls out all the stops to offer the Lord a feast. As they ate, the fol\u00adlo\u00adwing sce\u00adne unfold\u00aded: \u00abThen he said, \u00abSure\u00adly at this time of the year I will come to you again; behold, Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah lis\u00adten\u00aded at the ent\u00adrance to the tent that was behind him. Now Abra\u00adham and Sarah were old, advan\u00adced in years; Sarah no lon\u00adger fared after the man\u00adner of women. And Sarah laug\u00adhed within hers\u00adelf and said, \u00abAfter I have grown old, should I still have lust for love? And \u27e8even\u27e9 my lord is old!\u00bb (Gene\u00adsis 18:10\u201312 ELB<\/span>).
\nI\u2019m sor\u00adry to dis\u00adap\u00adpoint all tho\u00adse who thought Sarah was laug\u00adhing becau\u00adse she no lon\u00adger had her peri\u00adod. She did\u00adn\u2019t have her peri\u00adod, but she laug\u00adhed becau\u00adse they had\u00adn\u2019t slept tog\u00ade\u00adther for a long time. Why do I empha\u00adsise this so much? After all, it can be seen as a simp\u00adle detail. For me it is not just a detail, but shows the abso\u00adlut\u00ade\u00adly clo\u00adse con\u00adnec\u00adtion bet\u00adween faith and action. Abra\u00adham and Sarah were enligh\u00adten\u00aded enough to know how child\u00adren are born. Would\u00adn\u2019t it have been abso\u00adlut\u00ade\u00adly logi\u00adcal to have sex if they belie\u00adved that God would give them a child? They would pro\u00adba\u00adb\u00adly have said with gre\u00adat con\u00advic\u00adtion that they belie\u00adve God and trust in his word. Howe\u00adver, their actions relent\u00adless\u00adly reve\u00adal that at that moment their faith did not go very far.
\nHere we rea\u00adli\u00adse how clo\u00adse\u00adly faith and action are inter\u00adwo\u00adven. My hus\u00adband and I have tried count\u00adless sports. One sport that we like very much is clim\u00adbing. Alt\u00adhough we enjoy it very much, we very sel\u00addom take time for it and as a result the\u00adre are often long breaks bet\u00adween two visits to the clim\u00adbing gym. While my hus\u00adband is very fearless in this area, it\u2019s a dif\u00adfe\u00adrent sto\u00adry for me. I\u2019m always a bit cau\u00adtious on the first few holds until I get used to it again. If you were to ask me today if I trust my hus\u00adband, I would tell you very cle\u00adar\u00adly and with con\u00advic\u00adtion \u00abYes, abso\u00adlut\u00ade\u00adly! I trust him blind\u00adly!\u00bb. Howe\u00adver, if I\u2019m clinging to a wall 12 met\u00adres abo\u00adve the ground and you ask me if I trust my hus\u00adband, it\u2019s a com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly dif\u00adfe\u00adrent sto\u00adry. I\u2019m sud\u00adden\u00adly unsu\u00adre, I find excu\u00adses why I might not trust him com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly at that moment, and I have to admit to mys\u00adelf that I pro\u00adba\u00adb\u00adly don\u2019t trust so blind\u00adly after all. It takes my con\u00adscious decis\u00adi\u00adon at that moment, despi\u00adte the fear, to trust my hus\u00adband after all. The\u00adre, this decis\u00adi\u00adon mani\u00adfests its\u00adelf very cle\u00adar\u00adly in my actions. I show my decis\u00adi\u00adon to trust when I let go of the but\u00adtons on the wall and let mys\u00adelf fall into the rope. It is also so much easier to tell God in our songs, pray\u00aders and con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adons with others from church that one trusts God com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly and has a deep\u00adly roo\u00adted faith. But in our beha\u00adviour, unfort\u00adu\u00adna\u00adte\u00adly, it often reve\u00adals that our faith is inde\u00aded often smal\u00adler than a mus\u00adtard seed.
\nFaith col\u00adlo\u00adquial vs. faith biblical
\nThe reason for this dis\u00adcrepan\u00adcy bet\u00adween our speech and our actions is, in my opi\u00adni\u00adon, less due to our bad inten\u00adti\u00adons than to our under\u00adstan\u00adding of the con\u00adcept of \u00abfaith\u00bb. When we col\u00adlo\u00adqui\u00adal\u00adly speak of faith, we mean some\u00adthing some\u00adwhe\u00adre bet\u00adween gues\u00adsing and kno\u00adwing. I think the\u00adre are two big mis\u00adcon\u00adcep\u00adti\u00adons about faith that are pro\u00adba\u00adb\u00adly due to cul\u00adtu\u00adral under\u00adstan\u00adding and con\u00adtra\u00addict the bibli\u00adcal under\u00adstan\u00adding of faith. First\u00adly, we think of faith as some\u00adthing that hap\u00adpens in our heads and per\u00adhaps our hearts. We speak of faith as a con\u00adcept tied to our thin\u00adking. It is still part\u00adly lin\u00adked to our emo\u00adti\u00adons, but it is not lin\u00adked to our actions. In the Bible, howe\u00adver, we see a dif\u00adfe\u00adrent under\u00adstan\u00adding of faith. In James 2:17\u201322 we read: \u00abSo faith, if it does not have works, is dead in its\u00adelf. But someone will say, \u00abYou have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith wit\u00adhout works, and I will show you faith from my works! Do you belie\u00adve that \u27e8only\u27e9 one is God? You are right; even the demons belie\u00adve and trem\u00adble. But will you reco\u00adg\u00adni\u00adse, you vain man, that faith wit\u00adhout works is use\u00adl\u00adess? Was not Abra\u00adham, our father, jus\u00adti\u00adfied by works when he laid Isaac, his son, on the altar of sacri\u00adfice? You see that faith work\u00aded tog\u00ade\u00adther with his works, and faith was made per\u00adfect by works\u00bb (James 2:17\u201322 ELB<\/span>).
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\nThe\u00adse are harsh words and Luther would have lik\u00aded to dele\u00adte them from the Bible. We know that it is faith that saves us and not deeds. In any case, that is the case. But this Bible pas\u00adsa\u00adge shows us how clo\u00adse\u00adly inter\u00adwo\u00adven faith and action are. The Bible paints such a much more holi\u00adstic pic\u00adtu\u00adre of faith. I think it is so beau\u00adtiful the way it is descri\u00adbed here in James. Abra\u00adham is the gre\u00adat model of faith. Why is that so? Becau\u00adse his deep-roo\u00adted faith was reve\u00ada\u00adled in how uncon\u00addi\u00adtio\u00adnal\u00adly he obey\u00aded God. His deeds were the visi\u00adble pro\u00adof of his faith. It is also important for me to men\u00adti\u00adon here what the thrust is. I do not want to preach pious beha\u00adviour here. It is not the faith that comes out of deeds. It is the faith that chal\u00adlenges us to the deeds. The deeds do not pro\u00addu\u00adce the faith, but com\u00adple\u00adte it. It is important for me to empha\u00adsise that my point is not to indict our beha\u00adviour. I sim\u00adply want to take you on a jour\u00adney to dis\u00adco\u00adver how much more expan\u00adsi\u00adve faith is. And yes, I agree that ulti\u00adm\u00adate\u00adly it may be more con\u00adnec\u00adted to our actions than we often like. It can be uncom\u00adfor\u00adta\u00adble to rea\u00adli\u00adse that we are not very good at hiding what our faith is like. But that is the sto\u00adry of the Bible. It is about peo\u00adp\u00adle who\u00adse beha\u00adviour reve\u00adals their faith or, inde\u00aded, often their unbe\u00adlief. Wit\u00adhout this reve\u00adla\u00adti\u00adon, faith remains a nice idea, like a thousand other nice phi\u00adlo\u00adso\u00adphi\u00adcal ide\u00adas. It sounds harsh, but some\u00adti\u00admes I wish the state\u00adments and pro\u00admi\u00adses of the Bible would influence my beha\u00adviour as much as the pro\u00adphe\u00adci\u00ades of my wea\u00adther app.
\nThe second mis\u00adcon\u00adcep\u00adti\u00adon about faith is that it is a con\u00adfi\u00addent assump\u00adti\u00adon. I am con\u00advin\u00adced that faith is more than a hope or an assump\u00adti\u00adon. To under\u00adstand this, let\u2019s read Hebrews 11:1\u20132: \u00abNow faith is the rea\u00adli\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon of things hoped for, the con\u00advic\u00adtion of things not seen. For by it the anci\u00adents have obtai\u00adned wit\u00adness\u00bb (Hebrews 11:1\u20132 ELB<\/span>). Some\u00adti\u00admes the word \u00abhypo\u00adsta\u00adsis\u00bb, which is trans\u00adla\u00adted here as \u00abrea\u00adli\u00adty\u00bb, is trans\u00adla\u00adted as con\u00adfi\u00addence. If we belie\u00adve many wise theo\u00adlo\u00adgi\u00adans from histo\u00adry, it quick\u00adly beco\u00admes clear that we are clo\u00adser to rea\u00adli\u00adty. Hypo\u00adsta\u00adsis means foun\u00adda\u00adti\u00adon or even basis of exis\u00adtence, essence, rea\u00adli\u00adty or actua\u00adli\u00adty. I think you agree with me that if faith is a rea\u00adli\u00adty, an actua\u00adli\u00adty, that is much more than just hoping for some\u00adthing. The word \u00abbeing con\u00advin\u00adced\u00bb is also much stron\u00adger than sim\u00adply a firm con\u00adfi\u00addence. The word can also be trans\u00adla\u00adted as \u00abbeing con\u00advin\u00adced\u00bb. It is other\u00adwi\u00adse men\u00adtio\u00adned in the con\u00adtext when the evi\u00addence is so clear that the guilt or inno\u00adcence of the accu\u00adsed can be cle\u00adar\u00adly assu\u00admed in a legal dis\u00adpu\u00adte. Do we rea\u00adli\u00adse that our faith is not based on assump\u00adti\u00adons, but on a rea\u00adli\u00adty? I don\u2019t want to go into the evi\u00addence its\u00adelf here, but I would like to point out that from a purely his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adcal per\u00adspec\u00adti\u00adve, the\u00adre is good evi\u00addence that Jesus was cru\u00adci\u00adfied and resur\u00adrec\u00adted. The\u00adre real\u00adly are very good reasons to belie\u00adve what the Bible says. The Word of God is the foun\u00adda\u00adti\u00adon of our faith. And this faith is by no means based on a faint hope that is almost nai\u00adve. I would like to tell you that if you belie\u00adve what is writ\u00adten in the Bible, it does not have much to do with a foo\u00adlish trust, but with a tan\u00adgi\u00adble reality.
\nEncoun\u00adter with the holy God as the root of faith
\nBefo\u00adre I con\u00adclude, I want to talk again about Abra\u00adham and Sarah. As pro\u00admi\u00adsed, Sarah gave birth to a son a year later. This son was final\u00adly the ful\u00adfilm\u00adent of God\u2019s pro\u00admi\u00adse. It does not say exact\u00adly, but I would be very, very sure that Abra\u00adham and Sarah con\u00adcei\u00adved this boy natu\u00adral\u00adly. Their faith had been rea\u00adwa\u00adken\u00aded and given new impe\u00adtus. Through what did this hap\u00adpen? It was the encoun\u00adter with the Lord. It was the Word of the Holy God that awa\u00adken\u00aded new faith in Abra\u00adham and Sarah. This encoun\u00adter its\u00adelf was not plea\u00adsant for Sarah, for the Lord reve\u00ada\u00adled her unbe\u00adlief. She was expo\u00adsed at that moment. And yet it was pre\u00adcis\u00ade\u00adly this encoun\u00adter that streng\u00adthe\u00adned her faith anew. It was her wake-up call that her actions testi\u00adfy to a dying faith. But it was also a wake-up call for her to make a new decis\u00adi\u00adon to hold on to God\u2019s pro\u00admi\u00adse. It is in their deeds, in their obe\u00addience, that their faith is com\u00adple\u00adted. The result is the glo\u00adri\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adti\u00adon of God. That is the direc\u00adtion of action. From the encoun\u00adter comes faith and from faith fol\u00adlows action. Whe\u00adther God encoun\u00adters you is not up to you. But it is our respon\u00adsi\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty to seek God with all our heart. Second\u00adly, we have the pri\u00advi\u00adle\u00adge of having access to God\u2019s Word. When\u00adever we want, we can immer\u00adse our\u00adsel\u00adves in His Word.
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\nPos\u00adsi\u00adble ques\u00adti\u00adons for the small group
\nRead the Bible text: James 2:17<\/p>\n
\n\tNow think tog\u00ade\u00adther about how it could mani\u00adfest its\u00adelf in our actions if we real\u00adly belie\u00adve the pro\u00admi\u00adses and belie\u00adve in a God as descri\u00adbed in the Bible? (For exam\u00adp\u00adle, God is our pro\u00advi\u00adder. Do we behave like this or does our beha\u00adviour per\u00adhaps some\u00adti\u00admes show more that we see our\u00adsel\u00adves as providers)?
\n\tAre the\u00adre are\u00adas in your life whe\u00adre you are chal\u00adlen\u00adged to make a decis\u00adi\u00adon and reaf\u00adfirm your trust in God through your actions?
\n\tHow would you defi\u00adne \u00abfaith\u00bb? What con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtes faith for you?
\n\tWe can\u00adnot force an encoun\u00adter with God, but we can reach out for it. Dis\u00adcuss how this can happen.
\n\tShare how you can stay tun\u00aded to dive into God\u2019s Word again and again.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"