"How To Maintain an Enthusiastic Faith"

A sermon preached on The Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 6, 2007 at Edgemont Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp. Sermon based on Romans 12:11-12 and I Thesslonians 5:16-28.

Few of us would argue that life is difficult. In fact, life is full of challenges, struggles and disappointments. There are times when we feel as though we want to give up, throw in the towel and call it quits. And certainly it is no different when it comes to our Christian faith. Living the Christian life and faith is a constant struggle - one filled with many challenges.
Danny Bradfield, pastor of Fairview Community Christian Church of Sutter County, California, shares the struggles he faces when it comes to his faith journey. He writes; "Every step I take on the journey of faith presents more questions than answers. And every day, I find it [challenging] to maintain good relationships within my family, my community, my world ...and God. It's all so confusing and overwhelming. Should I do this, or that? Should I speak, or remain silent?" He goes on to write; "Scripture helps [in such times and in the face of such struggles]. The teachings of wise prophets, men and women of great faith both ancient and modern, help. Prayer helps a lot. But even so, some days I find that I can do nothing. I'm stuck. Paralyzed. I realize that I really don't know how to be a father, a husband, a pastor, a mentor. I don't even know how to live. I find myself searching for something—anything—that I can do, that I know how to do, something that I can start, work on, and finish, something that I can look back on and say, ‘that job is done—and I did it well.’" Perhaps you can relate to Danny’s experience. One of my favorite prayers reads:

"Dear Lord, I want to thank you for another good day. With your help and strength I haven’t been impatient, lost my temper, complained once, been grumpy, angry, judgmental or envious of anyone. But I will be getting out of bed soon, and I know that I will really need your help and strength then, Amen."

Maybe we should keep this prayer by our beds and pray it every morning when we wake up. Because we never know what cards life is going to deal us. Nor do we know how we are going to respond. And so, what are we to do? In our Scripture Lesson from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, we find a beautiful word picture for the Christian life. In fact, the commentator James Moffatt offers this interpretation of Paul’s words, he writes; "Never let your zeal flag, maintain the spiritual glow." And Eugene Peterson wrote; "Don’t burn out; keep yourselves refueled and aflame." The image of an "on fire" Christian speaks to us because it is so easy for us to lose our zeal - it’s so easy for us to loose our enthusiasm and our passion. But how are we to keep that radiance, vibrancy and charisma? How do we overcome that spiritual dullness and lifelessness that threatens all of us? Well, the Apostle Paul gives us the answer, he calls it "the refreshing of the spirit."
We begin where Paul did with the recognition that our vibrancy, our zeal, our charisma comes from the Holy Spirit. Only the Divine Power that appeared at Pentecost like tongues of fire can bring our lukewarmness to a full boil. So many Christians are like those Christians of Laodicea - we are "neither cold nor hot" - we bring neither refreshment nor healing, we are just "lukewarm."
I think it’s interesting to point out that the word "enthusiastic" in Paul’s command to "be enthusiastic in spirit" is the Greek word zeo, meaning "to boil with intensity." Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit should fill our lives to the point that we are boiling with intensity - with enthusiasm. Many of our burners are set on "low heat," or perhaps even on "off". But Paul is saying that our lives should be boiling. This was also Paul’s message to the church of Thessalonica. He said; "Do not quench the Spirit" and "do not despise prophecies." Paul is saying that we must seek to hear the voice of God through his Holy Spirit, and we must listen carefully and attentively to his word, for these are God’s means of communication - these are the channels through which God speaks to us - Word and Spirit! But are we listening?
Notice how Paul begins verse 11 in his letter to the church of Rome. He begins with a negative, he challenges them to"never flag" which means "do not hesitate." Paul is saying that we must banish idleness and laziness from our hearts. I am convinced that this is one of the greatest challenges for the church today. We have tendency to fall prey to being idle or lazy when it comes to doing the Lord’s work. There are some in the church who sit quietly on the sidelines and let others do the work. And then there are others who feel as though they have nothing to offer, no adequate gifts to share in the ministry of the church and so they do nothing. And then there are some who treat their service of God as though it were irksome chore. But such attitudes will never cause our hearts to be filled with zeo - enthusiasm or zeal for the Lord, Paul tells us.
I came across a story this past week of a junior-high music teacher who had just organized a band in her school. The principal was so proud of the music teacher's efforts that without consulting her first he decided that the band should give a concert for the entire school along with school board officials. The music teacher wasn't so sure her young musicians were ready to give a concert, so she tried to talk the principal out of it, but to no avail. Just before the concert was ready to begin, as the music teacher stood before the nervous musicians, she leaned forward and whispered to them; "If you're not sure of your part, just pretend to play." And with that, the curtain raised, she lifted her baton and with a swift move, brought it down signaling for them to begin and lo and behold, nothing happened! The band brought forth a resounding silence.
Sometimes, we in the church are like that junior-high band, unsure of our parts, tentative in our roles, reluctant to trumpet forth the music of faith that God desires of us. And so, we remain silent or idle.
While we face many circumstances, challenges and struggles, Paul says that we always have reason to rejoice. Now, we might think that Paul is being a little unrealistic here. I mean, after all, life throws some pretty hard punches at us sometimes and we are expected to rejoice even in such times? Mother Teresa once said; "Never let anything so fill you with sorrow, or doubt or fear as to make you forget for one moment the joy and the hope of Christ risen." You see, friends, our hope is in Christ. And it is through Christ that we find strength in times of weakness, hope in times of despair, healing in times of sickness, direction in times of confusion, help in times of struggle and joy in the face of our tears.
Now, it is true that if our attitude is determined by our circumstances then, yes, this is impossible. But if our attitude is determined by our relationship with Christ, then we can see how Paul isn’t being so unrealistic.
In verse 21, Paul says to the Thessalonians; "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good." I am convinced that if we weigh all things, we will see that the scales tilt to our favor.
I have always found Greek Mythology fascinating. One character in Greek mythology I find interesting is Ananse, who was a simple man, and yet through various obstacles and conversations with the gods transformed himself in a godlike gift-giver. I think we would all love a god like that - a god would give us anything and everything we ask for. But God loves us too much to do that. Instead, God gives us what we need. God gives us what is best for us. While we may fantasize about a god who would treat us like that and give us everything we imagine we want, God know how unhappy we would be. It’s not physical, materialistic or even tangible things that we truly need, and God knows that. And so, when we put our lives on the scales we see that God’s goodness outweighs everything! Maude Royden said it best:" When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough."