Faithing in God’s Grace

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing;

it is the gift of God not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday, the fruit of the Spirit that I preached on was faithfulness and this coming Sunday is Reformation Sunday (DON’T FORGET TO WEAR RED!).  In this meditation, I want to dig in a little bit more into the word, faith, and even wonder about the question, Is there a way to describe LUTHERAN faith?

First of all, there is a way that we use the word, faith, that can best be described as an intellectual assent to a set of beliefs. It is this use of the word, faith, that is in play when talk about different faiths such as: the Christian faith, the Islamic faith, the Jewish faith, etc. This means that we agree with a particular description of who God is, how God is at work, how we are to live, etc. For us Lutherans, this has been a very energized conversation since the Reformation because it was primarily theological differences with the heads of the Roman Catholic Church that got Martin Luther in trouble. Ever since, theologians have been discussing, pondering, and asserting various systems that try to capture their understanding of who God is. For folks that claim the label, Lutheran, they are basically saying, Yes, I buy into this understanding of God. So, why am I spending so much ink on this rather obvious conversation? Because I think there is a much deeper and more powerful understanding and use of the word, faith.

There are some words in the English language which function as both verbs (action words) and nouns (things). One example is: love. When we love (verb), then what is created and present is love (noun). Trust also works this way… When we trust (verb), then what is created and present is trust (noun). I believe that it is unfortunate that in the English language, faith does not work the same way. Faith (in the scriptural sense) is not just something that one has, it is something that one does. On Sunday, we talked about the faith of Abraham and Sarah. We say phrases like, Abraham believed in God or Abraham trusted in God to describe his faith. It would be more accurate to say, Abraham faithed in God and God blessed him. When we faith in God, it is more than just defending what we think about God. It means our whole lives are expressions of our faith, trust and belief in God as revealed in Jesus the Christ.

So, how do we describe a LUTHERAN faith (or faithing)? 

Martin Luther’s primary realization was that there was no way to earn our way into God’s grace. We can never be good enough to deserve being in God’s presence. Luther understood Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection as God communicating to us the height, depth and width of God’s grace and love. Though we are sinful, imperfect, and usually don’t get it right, God forgives us and calls us to live in the knowledge and assuredness of God’s grace. That means Lutheran faithing is living a grace-filled life. We live in God’s grace and we seek to live grace-filled lives so that other people experience grace through us.

I like to sum in up this way… When Lutherans are really being Lutherans, we are a very gracious people!

On Sunday when we gather (wearing RED, of course, because that is the colour of the day for Reformation Sunday), let’s celebrate again God’s grace as we faith in God’s grace.

Peace,

Pastor Phil