Belief

 Ezekiel 14: 1-9

Romans 4: 18-25

John 3: 16-18

Belief

Do you know all about the tooth fairy? The Easter Bunny?  Do you believe in them?

You have all swung on a swing haven’t you?  You know that unless someone pushes you, or you learn to pump for yourself, you wont actually swing long.

In college I had a physics professor who was teaching us about friction and inertia and gravity using a pendulum. We all know what a pendulum is, right? It swings from side to side, and it always decreases in the length of its ark with every swing. The professor had fastened a cord to the ceiling. To this cord, he had attached a baseball that hung at about head high if you were sitting on a chair by the ball. He asked how many of us really believed in the physical laws that applied to the pendulum and we all raised our hands. We all believed in gravity, and friction, and the laws of inertia and momentum.

With that, he pulled the ball to one side and marked where he was holding it with a microphone stand. Then he let go of it and with every swing it came back less and less close to the stand. It never touched the stand again after it was first released.  Then, he asked for a volunteer. He had the fellow who volunteered to sit in a chair where the mike stand had been . He then took the weight, which was hanging in the middle of the stage and carried it over to about an inch from the student’s face. He asked him again if he believed the laws of physics we had read about and had seen demonstrated with the ball and the mike stand, and the student said yes, but without a lot of enthusiasm.

With that, the professor let go of the baseball and it swung far away from the student, and then began to come back. It was amazing to see someone move so fast as that young man trying to get out of the way. He knew the physics law, but did he believe in it, or did he just think he believed?

In the mid s1700’s Jonathan Whitfield, along with John Wesley, was preaching to coal miners in England. He asked one man, "What do you believe?" "Well, I believe the same as the church." "And what does the church believe?" "Well, they believe the same as me." Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield asked, "And what is it that you and the church both believe?" "Well, I suppose the same thing."

C. H. Spurgeon claimed that 98 percent of the people he met-- including the criminals he visited in England's prisons--told him they thought the Bible to be true. But the vast majority had never made a personal, life-changing commitment to Jesus Christ. For them, "believe" was not an active verb.

There is a huge difference between knowing and believing.  Just like the student, we need to know the basics of what is offered to us. He needed to know what the physics law are, before he could believe in them. But just knowing is not enough when it comes to Jesus and what he taught and expects of us. It is very easy to think you believe when there is no risk involved. It is more difficult to truly believe when you risk losing something important or comfortable to you. Think of Peter. Peter spend three years with Jesus, observing and learning, and yet on the night Jesus was arrested Peter denied even knowing him. To have admitted that he knew and believed in Jesus would have been to take a risk, and Peter was not ready to do so. 

Once we know the stories about Jesus, we have a choice to make. Do we believe in him, or is knowing about him all we care about. Once we choose to believe, God by his grace will give us the faith that Jesus promises will overcome all obstacles in our path to serve him. And as we begin to serve God as he wants us to, our faith will strengthen more and more, and we will understand God more and more.  As Saint Augustine, one of the earliest church fathers, said, “"Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but believe that thou mayest understand." 

From the time I was in college I began to learn and know a lot about God and Jesus.  I took a bunch of religion courses in college: New Testament, Old Testament, Theology, Christian Ethics, and others. From the time Myrna and I were married, I was active in the all the churches we attended. I filled all the leadership positions a church might have:  lay leader, lay speaker, Sunday school teacher, men’s group president, missions chair, youth leader with Myrna, PPR chair, Conference delegate, confirmation teacher, bible study teacher, building campaign chair, pulpit supply, group secretary, finance chair, and more. I KNEW a lot about God and Jesus, and kept on learning over the years. But it was not until a Walk To Emmaus weekend in Elmira New York, a little after midnight on a Saturday night, that I truly believed.

I had to let go of all my self-satisfaction in knowing, and believe. It made all the difference in the world.

In the New Testament letter James wrote to the churches, he sets out to covey to us that our belief in God and our faith in Jesus must work in tandem with our actions, or our faith isn’t really faith at all. He makes it very clear that faith without works is dead. Jesus himself pointed out that people will know we are believers by how we express God’s love to them.

In the book of Revelations, John wrote a letter to each of the most important seven churches in Asia Minor. In chapter 3 he wrote to one of those churches, in the words of Jesus, "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth! Be diligent and turn from your indifference. “ Those are pretty harsh words. What a wakeup call they are.

Sitting in a garage doesn’t make you a car. Simply saying that you are a great racecar driver, basketball player, pie baker, quilter, or  cook, or painter, or farmer--whatever it is you might say you are, doesn’t mean anything unless you can demonstrate your skills in a way that would convince any who saw them. It is the same with those who say they are Christians.  Knowing about God and Jesus and being a good person is not enough. The Pharisees knew all about God and were totally obedient to his laws, and more, but Jesus called them hypocrites and non believers.

To be a true Christian, and to receive eternal life, we must be real believers. We must have a burning desure in our hearts to be with Jesus; to know more about him; to know him personally, and to serve him with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.

In the book of Revelation, just a few words later than the warning about being spit out if we are lukewarm, we have a promise made by Jesus. He said, "I stand at the door and knock. If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and eat with him and he with me."  If we believe, God promises us eternal life. “For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life.” What awesome promises, if we just believe.

Amen