How Faith Grows Preached September 14, 2008 By Mike Pulsifer You and I can not live a normal life without faith. For example, you could not have driven your car to church this morning without faith: faith that your mind and body would function properly as you drove your car; faith that your car s breaks would work; faith that the other drivers on the road would obey the rules and drive with courtesy and common sense. When you began your career, did you know for certain that it would be fulfilling and rewarding? When you got married, were you sure, absolutely sure, this relationship would be a loving and lasting one? When you moved to this area, did you know without a doubt this would be a good place to live, to raise your children, and to find friends? We live by faith many times a day, every day of our lives. Faith is essential. Now, it s true that we have faith in many different things: in ourselves; in our own efforts and talents; in our intellect and education; in our money and status; in our family and our friends. However, as today s first Scripture readings remind us, it is God and God alone who is worthy of our ultimate faith and trust, because it is God and God alone who created us; who knows and wants only what is best for us; who loves us with a love that never fails us. Today we are going to examine how faith in God grows, blossoms, and blooms. In today s second Scripture lesson Jesus tells us a parable that compares faith in God to seeds planted in the ground. Listen for what prevents, stunts, kills faith s growth, and what enables faith to multiple thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. (Please read Mark 4:1-20) Seventy-five percent of this parable describes circumstances that prevent faith s growth. Fortunately, at least one of these circumstances does not apply to most of us here today. Our hearts aren t hardened like a beaten path. We don t think Christianity is for the birds. We re curious, interested, committed to God in Christ.
This is why we are here today. The seeds of faith in God have already taken root in our lives. Now, it s true that our faith may be shallow, poorly informed, and inadequately developed. Our faith may not be strong enough to survive troubles and tragedies. Our faith may be choked and stunted by too many commitments and a briar patch of busyness. But we all have some sort of faith in God, or we wouldn t be here today. So, I want to focus on the good soil in this parable and discover what it takes for our faith to grow and multiple. Did you notice Jesus begins and ends this parable with the same command? The first word he says is Listen. The last words he says are, Let anyone with ears to hear listen. This is how good soil is prepared; how faith grows; by listening for, hearing, and following God s Word to us. Our church s most recent Catechism says the very same thing. Faith comes from hearing God s Word (Question 58) So what has God been saying to you lately? Think for a moment. In the past couple of weeks have you heard in your soul a whisper from God? Have you received a new insight? felt a strong conviction? had a dream? felt a nudge or a tug in this direction or that? sensed that you were not alone? Think for a moment. Have you or I had any of these kinds of experiences with God lately? If we haven t, then there s a good chance that something is wrong with our hearing, because God is in our lives every second of every minute of every day trying to reach out to us and to befriend us. Jesus says so. I am with you always. (Matthew 28:20) If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13) Right now God is waiting to speak to us, wanting to guide us, seeking to befriend us, hoping to live in us. Are we listening? Are we providing good soil for our faith and friendship with Christ to grow? I ve got three suggestions that may help us to improve our ability to hear God and to increase our faith. The first suggestion involves silence. The other day I tried for over an hour to reach a friend on the phone. All I got was a busy signal. This often happens with us and God. When we are constantly talking to someone else, when we ignore the call waiting signal, when all of our circuits are overloaded with noise from the television, the radio, or our ipod, God can t get through to us.
In his book, Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald observes, God does not ordinarily shout to make himself heard. As with the prophet Elijah, God usually comes to us in a still, small voice. (I Kings 19:12) Why? Because God is polite and courteous. God does not want to impose or to force his way into our lives. God wants to give us the freedom to listen or to ignore. If we want to hear that still, small voice, we need moments of planned silence and reflection, if not daily, then certainly at least weekly. Several years ago I went on a two day retreat for ministers. The retreat began, not with a get acquainted exercise, or a Bible study, or a worship service, or even a prayer, but instead with one hour of silence. Each of us was asked to go off by ourselves and just be quiet. For me that had a calming, relaxing, focusing effect. It tilled the soil and prepared my spirit for God to speak to me the rest of those two days. People who are hard of hearing often say that they have the most difficult time hearing in a crowded, noisy room. If you and I are having difficulties hearing God, perhaps it s because we need less commotion and busyness in our lives and more time for silence and reflection. With God s help, let s find that time. Our souls depend upon it. A second suggestion that may improve our ability to hear God involves the study of the Bible. God communicates with us, not just orally or internally, but also through the written word of Scripture. Through poetry, parables, proverbs, Psalms, and stories about people just like you and me, God reveals God s self and how we are meant to live. The next time you pick up your Bible, read it with this question in mind, What is God trying to say to me through this text? Then read the text, and expect God to speak to you. When the Reformation started to gain momentum and began to sweep across Europe, Martin Luther refused to take credit. All I do is preach and teach the Bible, he explained. It s the Word that continues to inspire, persuade, and conquer. Do any of us here today devote more time to our tennis stroke, bridge game, or golf handicap than we do to reading our Bibles? Do we read the sports page, the business section, the editorial page more than our Bible? Is the Bible even on our reading list? If it isn t, we are missing one of the best opportunities we have to listen for God and to grow in our faith. My third suggestion for improving our ability to hear God involves prayer. During the prelude to our worship service today, did any of us pray something like this, Lord, help me to hear you, to see you, to meet you in worship today.? Now that s fertile ground where faith will grow. That s listening. That s a prayer God will answer. That s a life God will enter.
Do you and I pray every day? When facing difficulties and important decisions, do we pray God, what do you want me to do? One of my most vivid, personal experiences with God happened through prayer. Many years ago Marion and I were experiencing some difficulties in our marriage. Like most marriages we had had some tough times before, but this time was different. This time our difficulties didn t last just a couple of days or a couple of weeks, but months and months, and it wasn t about one specific disagreement, but a whole series of disagreements that challenged the very foundation of our life together. When it became obvious to me that this was serious, I started praying about it. I began by praying, God, shape up Marion! Change her! Help her to see the light! Change her! Not surprisingly, nothing happened. However, I kept on praying and over a period of time something began to happen. My prayers started to change. I began praying, God, what do you want me to do? Then on one particularly discouraging night while I was praying an answer came to me. Inside my head I heard with new meaning and power these familiar words from Paul. Love does not insist on its own way. Love does not insist on its own way. (I Corinthians 13:5) Now that wasn t the answer that I had hoped for or prayed for. I still wanted my own way, but what I heard was Love does not insist on its own way. I knew then that these words came from God and this was what God wanted me to do. So I asked God to help me to do it. Over time my attitudes and actions began to change and so did our marriage. Faith grows through listening. When we say the Apostles Creed; when we read and study our Bible; when we practice a daily routine of prayer and meditation; when we sing a hymn; when we journal; when we take a walk by ourselves; when we listen; somehow, someway the one whom we speak about, read about, sing about, pray to, comes to us, speaks to us, and becomes a part of us. Faith grows through listening. The Apostles Creed which we are about to say is a hundred word summary of what our spiritual ancestors heard God say to them. When we just don t say these hundred words, but listen to them as we say them; when we even memorize these hundred
words; they become a part of us; the one to whom these words point to becomes a part of us; and our faith and friendship with Christ grow. Faith grows through listening. Please now stand with me and let us say and listen to the Apostles Creed.