Faith Matters

by Tod Iseminger, Minister of Leader Development, Disciples Home Missions

August 11 & 12, 2007

I am a huge fan of David Letterman!  So much so, I tried for years to get tickets to see a taping of his show.  Despite my best efforts I never was fortunate enough to get tickets to the show.

 

However, several years ago, I noticed a little ad in the paper that said if you wanted to see the David Letterman Show all you had to do was fill out no more than 20 index cards and send them in to get tickets.  From the ad it said the whole audience was going to be filled with people who lived in Indianapolis.  There was going to be two planes full of Indianapolis people that would be flown out for a taping of the show.

 

As my wife came home from work that night, I met her at the door like an excited child on Christmas Day.  “Diane, we have a chance to get flown out to see the David Letterman show for free, isn’t that great!” I exclaimed. “What do we have to do to get these tickets?” she asked suspiciously.  “All we have to do is fill out 20 cards with our name and address on it and then mail them in.  After that they will have a drawing to see who gets to go see the show in New York.”  “Oh, all we have to do is fill out 20 cards and then hope against hope that we will get our names drawn from thousands of entries?”  “Do you know what the chances are of that,” she pronounced.  “Come on, all you have to do is fill out ten and I’ll fill out ten.  Come on, where’s your faith?”  “Alright, give me the cards and I’ll do my part, but don’t get you hopes up.”

 

So, we both filled out ten cards and sent them.  Two weeks went by and I received a phone call from a strange sounding voice. “Is Tod there?” a voice with a New York accent asked. “I’m right here” I said.  “How would you like to come to New York and see the David Letterman show next week?”  “If you’re kidding, I’m going to be really mad” I said with caution.  “I’m not kidding, you and your wife will be our guests, would you like come or not?” he said in a more firm New York accent.  “Of course, we’ll be there” I replied.  “By the way, do you really spell you name with one ‘D?  What’s up with that?” he asked.  “It’s a long story” I breathlessly replied.

 

As Diane pulled into the driveway that night, I danced my way out and told her I had a surprise for her.  She asked, “What is it?”  I said we had two tickets to go to New York to see David Letterman.  “No way, I don’t believe you, where are they?”  “You mean you have to see the actual tickets before you’ll believe me?”  “Yes, hand them over, where are they?”  “As I pulled them out from behind my back, we both jumped for joy”.

 

Well, as exciting as that experience was, it was really an exercise in faith.  I asked my wife to do something that was a long shot to say the least.  It took at least some degree of faith to send those cards and then when we got the tickets, it wasn’t good enough for me just to tell my wife we had them, they had to be seen to be believed.

So, tonight I would like to talk to you about a word that is used a great deal.  Its word that is hard to define. It’s a word that generates a lot of questions.  It’s a word that, without it, our tradition would be in shambles.  We are talking about the word, “faith”.

 

So first of all, how do you define the word faith?  There was a movie that came out a few years ago called Keeping the Faith.   It starred Edward Norton as a young priest and Ben Stiller as a young Rabbi.  In the scene in question, both Norton and Stiller are at work in their respective places of worship.  It’s interesting how each defines the term “faith.” 

Edward Norton defines it as a hunch that there’s something more than what’s going on before our eyes.  In preparation for this sermon, I asked some of you what you thought faith was.  One of you responded that faith is a belief in something bigger than yourself. Another person described faith as a feeling that there is something bigger at work.  I define faith as a trust that God will make a difference in your life.

 

Other people have taken a stab at defining faith.  Martin Luther said that “faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”  Martin Luther King said, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”  Finally, St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.”

 

The writer of the book of Hebrews would agree with Thomas Aquinas.  Our passage for tonight comes from chapter 11, verses 1-3 and 8-11.  The author of this book is generally unknown and his audience is not specifically known either.  However, most scholars believe, the author is writing to a group of Jewish Christians, around the turn of the first century, who are being persecuted for their faith.  Because of this persecution, some are losing heart and the purpose of this passage is to encourage them, rekindle their faith life and encourage perseverance.

 

What does the rest of the Bible have to say about the word “faith?”  I tried to take a count of how many times the New Testament mentioned the word “faith” but I ran out of time.  By my short handed attempt at a count I came up with 147 times the New Testament mentioned the word “faith” in the four Gospels and into the book of Acts.  I didn’t even get to the rest of the New Testament.

 

The word “faith” is used in situations where people have been healed.  For example, in Luke 18:42, Jesus says to a blind man who he healed, “Receive your sight, your faith has made you well.”  In Matthew 9: 22 Jesus heals a woman who has been hemorrhaging for 12 years, “Take heart daughter, your faith as healed you.”

 

So we hear the author encouraging this new group of Christians to not lose faith and remain hopeful for the future.  The key phrase for me is the first verse, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

 

Now, I could tell you a number of stories that demonstrate this point in real life.  However, you only need to hear one to get the point of the sermon.

 

I learned this first hand in Slidell, Louisiana last fall. I was down in the Gulf region to meet with our mission site managers and find out how things were going in terms of our rebuilding efforts down there.  I was taken to a house that, like so many more, suffered some devastating damage.  I walked into the house and saw a lot of empty, moldy rooms with a lot of boxes and other materials stacked to the ceiling.  There was a lot of damage to the outside of the house and the main floor was being replaced.

 

As I was being shown around the home, I was introduced to the owners, Dave and Cindy.  Dave is a pleasant man around 40 years old and his wife is about the same age.  As I was being shown around their house the person giving me the tour told me that on top of all the damage their house suffered as a result of Hurricane Katrina, Cindy was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and Dave was electrocuted trying to install some new wiring in his house.  As I was introduced to them, I asked them how it was going, expecting to get a pretty dim answer.

 

“I am blessed beyond measure,” exclaimed Dave.  I was stunned to say the least.  “How so Dave, if you don’t mind me asking” I replied.  “Don’t you see what I see?”  “I see people coming to my house from around the country who want to help me rebuild.  These people have given me something a lot bigger than a new floor or roof.  They have given me hope for the future.  When I look at my house, I don’t see a broken house, I see a place where others who have been affected by the hurricanes can come to see hope in action.”

 

I went to Louisiana expecting to minister to people who had lost most of what they owned and it took a victim of the hurricanes to teach me what the first verse of Hebrews really meant.

 

 I said earlier that the author of Hebrews was writing to a group of new Christians to encourage them along their journey.  But this author is also writing to another group of people.  This author is also writing to a group of people 2,000 years later.  This author  is writing to you.  This author is telling you to not lose faith, don’t lose heart and keep your perseverance, whatever you’re going through. 

 

How do I know this?  I don’t know it cognitively. I know it through faith.  What kind of faith?  You know. It’s the type of faith that is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

 

Footnote:  All quotes appearing in this sermon are from