Faith: God's Holy Fire

Lectionary Reading: 2 Timothy 1:3-14

I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’ve been feeling pretty darn faithful lately. Why? Let’s see…

In September:

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  I went to a doctor I didn’t know.
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  Who sent me to a surgeon I had no personal experience with.
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  Who took me to an Operating Room where I spent 2 waking minutes with someone I had never met who put me to sleep and held my life in her hands.
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  Then I saw another doctor who wrote a prescription I could not read.
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  Which I took to Walgreens and left for a pharmacist I never saw.
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  Who gave me a chemical compound I did not understand.
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  Which I put in my body every day because the bottle tells me to do it

I’m either very faithful, or incredibly dumb! (Please – do not tell me which) Faith: most of the time, we don’t even know we have it. But, we all do – whether it’s turning on the switch and trusting the light to come on, or telling a secret to a friend – knowing they won’t betray our confidence. We are a people whose daily life relies on faith.

This second letter to Timothy, which some scholars feel may not have been actually written by Paul as much as by a later disciple of Paul’s, tells us some surprising things we need to know about faith.

Faith Exhibits Change

We tend to think wrong about faith. We hold onto the idea that to “keep the faith” is to make sure everything stays the same. We believe what our parents taught us which their parents taught them which was handed down through generations. But it doesn’t really work that way – even in genealogy. Preachers, teachers, time, experience and inspiration all put their fingerprints on the faith as it is handed from one to another. That’s the natural way of it. After all, people evolve – why shouldn’t faith evolve? Faith is not about “never changing yourself”. Faith is about “never giving up on God”.

The writer tells Timothy to “fan into flame” the gift of God that was given to him. In other words, don’t just let it die out like a smoldering ember that has gone unattended. Fan it – build it – add more logs to it – and create a vibrant flame. That’s what true faith does – it builds off of the strong embers of history and adds air (spirit), wood (teaching), and kindling (experiences) to make a fire that will accomplish God’s will in the world. It is said that everything fire touches, fire changes. From tempering steel to devouring wood to heating our food, fire leaves change in its path. Faith does the same thing. Faith is not about following the old never-changing way. Faith is about following God’s way.

Faith Inhabits Suffering

We often cling to faith when faced with suffering. One of the key elements of the grief process is bargaining with God. Trying to say “God, if you heal me, I’ll never [insert sin or bad habit] again.” But God cannot be bought with our emotional bribery and embraces us with even more compassion as God moves us forward toward acceptance. What is it that God wants us to accept? It can’t be dying – because God doesn’t accept dying. God gives us eternal life, forgiveness, and continues to relate to us even in our fallen state. Why should we accept anything God is not willing to deal with?

I believe God wants us to accept a simple truth placed elegantly in the backdrop of this letter to Timothy. God wants us to realize that Jesus died to save us from our sin. Jesus died to keep us from the separation between us and God. Jesus died to conquer death and provide eternity for our soul. So – while Jesus came to save us from our sin, our separation, and the loss of soul – Jesus did not come to keep us from suffering. In fact, Jesus remarked frequently that following him and preaching a gospel based on loving your neighbor (no matter who your neighbor is) would LEAD to suffering.

Faith inhabits that truth as the scripture in 2 Timothy says:

“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.”

Now – try that the next time you have some free time. Pick up your phone, get a hold of a friend and say “Hey, how would you like to come suffer with me? I have a lot of suffering to do, and I thought you’d like to do some suffering too.” See how many dates you pick up! Yet, that is what this letter is doing - INVITING Timothy to join the suffering.

We tend to avoid people who are suffering, because it seems to us they must be doing something wrong. But the reality is – if they are suffering for the Lord’s sake or if they are keeping their faith in God’s love through their suffering as a light and a witness – they aren’t doing something wrong and they might be doing everything right. Spiritual maturity means letting go of the idea that good Christians don’t suffer – and embracing the knowledge that faith is the by-product of Christianity even in the darkest night.

Faith Originates with God

Verse nine of this chapter repeats one of the most common themes in the new testament - the idea that it is not our works that bring salvation, but God’s grace. It’s an important reminder that faith is not about us – it’s about God. We tend to talk about faith like we have anything to do with it – we say things like “I have faith it will work out” and “My faith life is vibrant” – but faith doesn’t start with us (and we really shouldn’t take much credit) – faith starts with God.

I didn’t trust Dr. Rose because I just trust everyone with a scalpel (in fact, I fear sharp objects and men who weild them). I trusted him because I knew his credentials were checked out by the state of Virginia, my insurance company, and the hospital privileges department. He has years of experience performing this operation, and was referred to me by another doctor I had come to trust. I had faith in him because his record justified that faith. I didn’t do all that work. He did. I just walked in the office believing.

Faith in God is the same way. We have faith in God because God has done the work of creating us, relating to us, saving us, loving us, teaching us and connecting us to God and one another. We have faith in God because God has been there. God has done all the work. We just walk through our world believing, and acting on that belief. When you feel like your faith is being tested, think again. Faith originates from God, and God can pass any test in this life or the next. The scripture says it this way: “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

God is able. God is willing. God is waiting for you to fan the flame of faith into a holy fire and change the world around you. Make it your desire that, like fire, your faith will change every thing and every person you touch. Don’t just hold on to what you already know. Hold on to what God knows.

That’s faith.