Faith and Doubt: Finding Authentic Faith

Last month, I was at the Centre Christian Fellowship weekly meeting and as we finished our time of song, praise, fellowship, and instruction a freshman stepped up to the microphone to close us all in prayer. She closed her eyes and fervently prayed. Her words were genuine, her voice was steady, and her mind was determined. She asked God to bring the students of Centre College an unshakable faith; a faith that outlasts the skepticism and attacks of Religion professors; a faith that is strong and persevering; a faith that is sure and certain. Now this may seem fine and well, a needed heart-felt prayer, and I admit it was delivered passionately and with authentic words, thoughts, and feelings. However, I winced. I struggled to listen to a prayer that was filled with insecurity yet utterly incapable of admitting it. It was a prayer that held fast and true to a version of faith that tempts us all: faith as prideful certitude.

“Prideful certitude?” you might ask. Well before we go headlong into this false understanding of faith, we must first ask ourselves a question about our own Faiths. What is Faith to us? I have spoken, read, written, and heard “faith” in many different ways. I might imagine the same could be said of you. There is a lot of ambiguity or a lack of clarity concerning how we use “faith” and to what we are referring. There is the faith of commitment, the faith of trust, the faith of religion, the faith of practice, and many other “versions” of faith. Faith is a term frequently used, but seldom is it understood in its most comprehensive sense. Today, let us pause and reflect on our Faith, on the comprehensive Faith that underlies our Christian Identity. May we look beyond the surface of our every-day experience to locate the essential nature of Faith, so that we may embrace it with an understanding that deepens our spiritual lives.

Last week we saw that the very foundation of faith is not the unwavering trust of a child, but the unmerited favor that brings us into communion with God. Faith is rooted in accepting Grace. Without a receptive heart, there is no Faith. Thus, Faith is not founded in Trust, but in the realization of the Gift found in Christ's actions on the Cross. Faith is first receptivity: a receiving of Grace as a Gift; the Greatest Gift.

Thus, in examining Faith, we discovered from last week's text that Grace and receptivity are at the starting point. But then what? For we have only begun and there seems so much more left unanswered. What about trust and faith? What about unwavering dedication and commitment, perseverance and courage? Aren't these terms (trust, commitment, courage, etc) synonymous with Faith? I submit to you this morning that we cannot think of Faith simply as trust, or simply as commitment. But many have, and many do. Many have diluted our concept of faith, they have watered it down for us to make it simple. But not just Faith, much else is diluted in our world for ease and simplicity. And unfortunately, churches fall prey to this dilution.
We can see this most readily in Protestant America's “seeker sensitive” church movement. This particular evangelical perspective presents people with a simple world, simple situation, and simple solution. There is Evil and Good. People are Evil, God is Good, and God uses Christ to make us Good again. The message of the cross is made simple by making it distinctly personal: its just you, God, and a decision about getting something from God. The whole presentation is directed primarily toward an isolated few sitting in the pews. Its about getting those non-believers to become believers. Its about conversions and the conversion experience, leaving all else to be had as “details”. Ultimately we are left with a message centered around what Christ did for us, and leave out what it is that we are to do for God. The watered-down church is centered on the watered-down Gospel. The watered-down Gospel revolves around US and what we get out of the deal. Thus, we are provided a place to make simple decisions.

With everything so simple and watered-down, Faith becomes simple and diluted. After all, simple decisions require simple Faith, right? What makes this all so attractive and acceptable is the ease of simplicity. Simpler is easier. If I only see the world as Good or Evil, if I only see people as Good or Evil, if decisions are either Good or Evil, then there is no ambiguity... nothing to sort out. Everything is clear and simple, it's easy to see what to do and how to respond. Simpler is easier, and easier is better... right? No. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7: 13-14).

So what then is Faith? If faith is not a simple concept, then how is it complex? First, let me say this: Faith is complex, not complicated. In other words, Faith is not an exclusive concept available only to those with the most astute minds, rather the concept is available to all who would consider the depth and breadth of Faith. Faith is not one element, it is all elements. Faith is not an aspect of life, it is all aspects of life. Faith is receptivity, but it is also marked as a KIND of receptivity. Faith is a receptivity not in part, but in whole. Faith is receiving God's Grace in totality, with the entire being: in intent, emotion, and action. It is received with the heart, the mind, and the soul. It is an orientation of our complete self, there is nothing absent from its saturation into our existence. Thus, Faith becomes a perspective, an identity, an organic reality within the believer.

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus gives us insight into the meaning of "entirety of existence." A certain “lawyer” from the ranks of the pharisees questioned Jesus about the commandments and Jesus answered him quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5. He echoed Jewish thought in loving God with the entire self. Here is what he said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” (Matthew 22: 37).

Thus, Faith is Trust. Faith is trusting in the object of Faith: God. Faith is trusting in the reality of God as a God who gives Grace. This is the Faith of the “Heart.” Faith is also commitment. It is a commitment to God and God's Love. Faith is the willing response to God's Gift of Grace. This is the Faith of the “Soul.” Faith is also humility. Faith is recognizing our finite wretchedness before the infinite Goodness of God. And this humility requires courage; the courage to admit finitude despite our longing to be infinite; the courage to admit that we are human and that we are not and cannot be God. This realization and admission is the Faith of the “Mind.”

So what is the simple faith that is so dangerous to authentic, real Faith? As I mentioned before it is prideful certitude. It is the reduction of Faith to trust and trust alone, and then mixed with selfishness. How does this happen, how do we take Faith and dilute it into something that then gets so distorted?

The first mistake we can make is isolating scriptural references. Turn with me to Hebrews 11:1.
Here we have a reference to Faith, one that is often quoted as being the definition of Faith. But this is not the complete definition of Faith, rather a mention of one aspect of Faith. Here we witness the Faith of the “Heart”-- the Trust in God as our object of Faith. This conviction leads us to Hope in the Grace of God. But this is not all that Faith is. This is a part of Faith. An element of Faith.

This passage is a famous description and depiction of many Hebrew Bible people of Faith. It highlights Faith as Trust in the promises of God, as obedience to God in responding to his commands, and as service to God in sacrifice. All of these elements of Faith constitute some of Faith, but are not representative of the entirety of Faith. For Faith is of the whole being, an orientation that requires all of the person of Faith.

The second cause of the distortion of true Faith comes from a misunderstanding of Doubt. People often forget the role doubt plays in some very important passages of the Bible.

Was Job without Faith in his suffering when he questioned God and said: “Why did you [God] bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been carried from the womb to the grave.” (Job 10:18-19). Job, a questioner of God and seeker after Truth would not simply accept his circumstances or what his friends were telling him (namely that he had transgressed in some capacity). Instead Job wanted God to answer his questions, for Job felt that God's Justice was incorrect. But through all this, Job was Faithful to God. At the end of the account, the Lord maintains that Job is God's servant (42:7).
Then there is the Faith of the Disciples. Not only did the Disciples not believe the women's report of his Resurrection (Luke 24:11), but in the room where Jesus appeared to them all after his Death, the Disciples still “disbelieved for joy and were marveling” (24:40).

It seems that doubt is inevitable, for even the Disciples and a blameless, upright man of the Hebrew Bible experienced it. Thus, we must ask ourselves what place doubt holds in Faith. Is doubt to be resisted, overcome, or embraced? Too many times I have felt guilty for doubting, thinking I should not. Too many times I have felt guilty for unanswerable (or unknowable) questions that I have entertained. Too little have I recognized the power and importance of Doubt. Too little have I realized that Doubt is a necessary element of Faith. Let me repeat that Doubt is a necessary element of Faith.

Doubt is an element of the human condition. To be human means to doubt. Why is this? Humans are not God. God, as traditionally understood, is omni-scient (or all-knowing). Thus, only God can be said to be doubtless, for doubt stems from not knowing; from lacking information and from entertaining possibility. Doubt derives from the process of moving back and forth between two options (Doubt and Double have the same root). It is a process of evaluation. Doubt is not rejection, and it is not acceptance. It is the peculiar human predicament of limbo between explanations for an unknown proposition. Doubt is simply admitting that we don't know.

So how is Doubt necessary to Faith? The Faith of the “Mind” recognizes that humanity and God are different. This Faith affirms human finitude and God's infinite nature. Thus, possessing doubt affirms that humans are not God. Doubt reminds us that we are not God. Doubt keeps us real. It prevents us from accepting notions of grandeur that somehow we are God. Thus, Doubt is the preservative of humility. It keeps us humble.

Doubt also makes courage possible. For with Faith there is great risk that our Faith is misplaced. Courage affirms this risk and proceeds anyway. Courage does not deny possibility, but courage does make a choice. Faith is a choice, a humble choice to trust in God and commit to sacrifice and service. Faith is not certainty. It is not the un-questioning, un-wavering Trust that is doubtless, but is rather a choice of the entire being. Faith is a human choice. A total choice.

Have you made that choice this morning? Have you courageously affirmed your doubts, realizing that your human-nature limits your ability to be certain? Have you put your trust and hope in a God who loves you beyond measure? Have you dedicated yourself to this God? Have you become humbled by the reality of your insufficiency before the Almighty One?
If this is a new commitment you are making, a new life of Faith that you want to be a part of, please talk to me after the service or sometime this week. I would love to speak to you about the reality of God's Love and what you can do to embrace that Gift. This is an exciting and challenging choice, but one that is truly trans-formative. I pray that as we sing this morning that you would be thinking about the comprehensive reality of Faith, and the dedication is requires from your whole self.

Let us sing. Hymn.

Benediction:

My prayer this morning is that you leave here with a deeper sense of Faith. I hope and pray that you would be open and aware to the comprehensive nature of your Faith, to the necessary element of Doubt that must be present to keep you in appropriate relationship with the Most High God. Do not be fooled into the watered-down Faith of unquestioning trust, but be uplifted by the courageous choice to love, sacrifice, and serve a Gracious God. May professors of religion always challenge you, may you continually be shaken, and may we all realize that we are in need of a Loving God. May that need be made real, may that Grace be made real, may your Faith be made real.

Let me leave you this morning with a message from an article I read in Time magazine by Andrew Sullivan. In it, Sullivan outlines his perspective on the conflicts in the Middle East and the core issues that feed both the disputes and bloodshed. He ultimately concludes that unwavering certainty about religious perspectives is preventing any type of peace from occurring, and possibly from ever occurring. He says: “...doubt is not a threat. If we have never doubted, how can we say we have really believed? True belief is not about blind submission. It is about open-eyed acceptance, and acceptance requires persistent distance from the truth, and that distance is doubt. Doubt, in other words, can feed faith, rather than destroy it. And it forces us, even while believing, to recognize our fundamental duty with respect to God's truth: humility. We do not know. Which is why we believe.” He goes on to say “The 18th century German playwright Gotthold Lessing said it best. He prayed a simple prayer: 'If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left hand only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and to offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand, and say, Father, I will take this--the pure Truth is for You alone.' That sentiment is as true now as it was more than two centuries ago when Lessing wrote it.” (“When Not Seeing is Believing” www.time.com)

Amen.

Faith Like a Child

Text: Mark 10:13-16

From this text in the Gospel of Mark and the parallel passages we find in the other gospels comes the well-known phrase: “Faith like a Child.” These are words I have heard used many times, and I am sure you have heard them mentioned at least once before. In fact this expression seems to be quite common in exploring our Faith and its meaning. What's more, this very phrase is often used as a command: “We must have Faith as a child.” Now I whole-heartedly affirm such a description of our Faith, and I readily agree with the biblical image it recalls: Jesus ushering the children to himself and rebuking those who would interfere. However, I believe this image is often misunderstood. It appears to me that we have misinterpreted the words of Jesus recorded in Mark that regard children and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Too many times the child-like Faith that we are called to possess is based upon the idea that children are simple, trusting, and completely committed. We will many times listen to the stories about children “faithfully” trusting in their parents despite troubles, difficulties, and human imperfection. We are then asked to mimic such blind and dedicated trust, placing it in the hands of a God that is perfect and will not falter. But we must ask ourselves if this is the element of childhood that Jesus calls us to assume. We must ask ourselves whether Christ asks us to trust blindly in God and His Will, or if he instead poses a deeper consideration.

What is it that Jesus intends for his disciples to understand? As Disciples of the Christ, what should we understand from Jesus in his words and actions? What does it mean to receive the Kingdom of God as a Child? What does it mean to understand Faith in light of receiving the Kingdom as a child?

Typically we are exhorted to have the un-wavering, un-yielding, and un-questioning Faith that a child has. But we must begin by cleaning our minds of the common and usual notion of child-like Faith as simple trust and acceptance. We can hold onto the notion of child-like vulnerability and dependence, but we must remove the ideas that the faith and innocence we associate with children is directly linked to the trust and acceptance we commonly observe.

How many of you have raised children or are raising children? How many of you have heard the question “why?” posed to you by a curious and determined toddler? I can remember back to my own childhood and the countless times I frustrated my parents with the relentless questioning of “Why? Why? Why?” As a child, I had little experience of the world and how it worked, and I continually wanted to know more, understand more, and see more. I thought that my parents were a bottomless source of information that would connect the loose ends of my discombobulated world. Thus, I questioned, searched, and prodded the depths of my parents understanding only to arrive empty-handed at times: “I don't know Michael, it just IS!”

We often like to think of children as immensely loyal and trusting, as beacons of pure love who question not of those in whom they place their hope or rely upon. However, as true as this can be at times, the image of children I often recall is one filled with question and wonder. Children are naturally inquisitive. As trusting as they can be, they are not blindly wandering in the world they find themselves a part of; instead they ask, sometimes persistently, why the world is as it appears.

So which of these perspectives is the text asking us to adopt? The questioning Faith of a wondering child, or the un-questioning dedication of the trusting child? I believe the text speaks for itself. Turn with me again to the text.

Open your bibles to v. 13 of Chapter 10 in the Gospel of Mark.

You can see quite plainly that people found Jesus to be of great importance, for many brought their children to Jesus so that he might touch them. Now touching is usually an act of healing in the ministry of Jesus, but in this context healing is not sought after. Instead, people approach Jesus with the hope that Jesus might give a blessing to their children. Imparting a blessing through the laying on of hands was a common practice and was even carried over into the Apostolic communities of early Christianity. By asking Jesus for blessing, these people readily acknowledged something special about Jesus. These people implicitly admitted Jesus was capable of conferring a blessing and they trusted that he would.

Given the continual egoism of the disciples in the Gospel of Mark, it is not surprising that they would blunder yet again. The disciples persisted in overlooking what Jesus found to be most important. First, as we have seen the last few weeks, it was a prideful desire to be considered greatest that caused the disciples to miss the condition of discipleship: sacrificial servitude. Then, the disciples missed the importance of aligning with Christ in deed by becoming distracted with theological status and importance. Now, the disciples attempted to prevent Jesus from blessing the children who were brought to him. Why exactly the disciples would want to do this has many uncertain explanations. It would fit with their previous selfishness that the disciples considered the children unimportant or insignificant. It would also fit that the disciples did not consider the children deserving of Jesus' time and blessing when there was so much healing, exorcism, and teaching to be done. Or, maybe the disciples did not want Jesus to be constantly bombarded with anyone, child or adult.

Regardless of the disciple's intent, Jesus firmly rebukes the disciples and warmly welcomes the little ones. The Greek word “paidia,” meaning children, is a term ranging in meaning from infant to 12 years old. This term from the Greek language enters English as “ped,” found in the words pedophobia (fear of children) and pedophile (love of children). Regardless of the age-span this term coves, the small children brought to Jesus were pre-adolescent. They were young, small, and vulnerable. These were the type of children that we consider innocent and pure. They have yet to be corrupted by the burdensome experiences of life and responsibility. These are the children desperately in need of care, guidance, and protection. And these little ones are the ones Christ welcomes.

Jesus says to his disciples: “Let the children come to me. Do not try to stop them, because the Kingdom of God is for such as these” (v.14). Jesus does not consider the attention of the children troublesome or insignificant, but instead uses them to demonstrate to his disciples how to receive a gift. These children are by no means examples of blind trust and simple acceptance. They are not representatives of wonder or questioning. Jesus does not indicate to his disciples that one must BELIEVE in the Kingdom like a child, but one must RECEIVE the Kingdom like a child. The attitude of children toward gifts is one that we must have toward the Kingdom.

v.15

The quality that children possess in receiving gifts stems from neediness. Children, by virtue of needing protection, guidance, and care have nothing that makes them deserving of a gift. And a child is often times aware of their neediness in respect to what they are given. A child can and sometimes does recognize that a gift is unmerited.

Jesus demonstrated to his ego-driven disciples that the Kingdom must be received as an unmerited gift. Nothing that the children could do would merit the Gift that they had been given. Thus, these children are examples to both the disciples and us as Disciples that Faith is built around unmerited favor from God, or what we often call “Grace” in our Christian terminology. The receptiveness of the children allowed them to receive the gift. Thus, we must be receptive, we must accept the gift. But in accepting the gift, we take it AS A GIFT.

Dictionary Definition: GIFT: (Dictionary.com)

1. something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
2. something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned

So, what does it mean to have “Faith like a child?” Does it mean that we take up the simplicity and un-questioning trust of a child. No, for Faith is not simple, unless it is simple faith. And Faith is not unquestioning or blind, lest it be blind Faith. Rather, this event in the ministry of Jesus informs us of what our Faith is rooted in: God's Grace. This is the beautiful unmerited favor which God bestows upon us, knowing full well that we cannot repay it. Yet, we often times feel we can. We feel that there is something we have done or can do which establishes God's favor with us... but this simply isn't True. God's favor is a gift, and as a result, requires no payment. Thus, the ones who are ushered into the Kingdom are those who are receptive to the receiving of gifts as gifts. These are the ones who are like the children brought before God. “For the Kingdom belongs to such as these.”

Are you receptive this morning? Have you accepted the Gift of God as a gift, one that is unmerited and not re-payable. Have you Faith rooted in Grace? If not, maybe it is time you asked yourself if you are willing to accept the Gift God has freely given to all who would kneel at the alter of humility. The process is simple. We admit we cannot repay God, we admit that we are sinners. Once we are self-aware of our finite position before the infinite God, we ask to receive God's Blessing: Eternal Life. We come before him like the children who were brought before Jesus. And Like Jesus did for the children, God takes us in God's arms as adopted Children and sends us forth with purpose and meaning. Do you have that purpose and meaning this morning. I invite you this morning, if you have not already, to begin with us a life of Faith--rooted in Grace--as Children of God.

Let us sing. Hymn.

Benediction:

Most High God, let us today reflect upon the words of Jesus as he instructed his disciples both years ago and right this hour. May our Faith be grounded in Grace. Let the reality of this Child-like Faith penetrate us here in this place, and may that Faith be made alive in our communion with You and with each other. May our lives reflect the beauty of your Gift, may our hands toil for its sake and our hearts rejoice in its bounty.

Amen.

Unity in Service

Mark 9:38-50

The words of Jesus are powerful and provocative. They force us to look again at our own lives in order that we might discover how we “measure up” to the standards Christ has set before us. Last week we looked at a particular standard: the condition of discipleship. Jesus, through the writings of the Gospel authors, explicitly establishes the condition of Sacrifice in Servitude. In becoming Disciples of Christ, in sacrificially serving Christ, we are forced to examine—and re-examine—our relationships with others to evaluate whether they are in line. Are we meeting the condition Christ has given? This week, we see an important application of realizing that condition of discipleship. This morning's text clarifies how an attitude of sacrificial servitude will guide our social interactions with those we who are not in “our circle”... those who are different.

What do we do when we come across people who are not in “our group?” Jesus' disciples are trapped in a world where they think they have special privilege to God's Authority. By virtue of being with Jesus, they feel that they are the only ones capable of ministering in the name of Jesus. They intentionally stop a man from carrying out the will of God because he was not under the proper authority, or so the Disciples thought. Since this man was not one of the twelve, since he was not an immediate, or close, follower of Christ, the Disciples felt that he was not privileged to the blessed work of Christ. The Disciples, although recently chastised—as we saw last week—for their egotistical desire to be the greatest, are still only concerned with their status of “true legitimacy” in working for Christ. The Disciples only seem to care about who was doing the work, and they completely ignored what work was being done.

It's funny, in our world today it appears that this is still true. We, as Christians, can often be so concerned with people and their legitimacy, that we forget about the work that needs to be done. We are so concerned about arguing over women's rights in the ministry, over homosexual presence in the church, or over the proper reasons for divorce that we have, at times, abandoned the very call of Christ to sacrifice ourselves to the poor, needy, and suffering of this world. We consistently reject and many times interfere with the ministry of those we find to be theologically illegitimate. Forgetting the very nature of their work, we are more concerned with the nature of their sexual orientation, their marriage, or their gender.

Is this the message of Christ? Is this the appropriate concern of the Church and of the people of Christ? I will let you decide, but let us again focus on the words of Christ in this passage of scripture. Here we find the Disciples approaching Jesus with a concern. They say to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us” (Mark 9:38). Casting out demons is an interesting practice in the New Testament. Being able to perform an exorcism grants someone immense authority, because it displays the natural, or super-natural control over the world that an individual possesses. In the time of Jesus, demons and sickness were often identified as one in the same. Now there were some differences to be had between sickness and demon possession, but many times an unknown sickness with strange or unusual symptoms would be considered as “demon possession.” Thus, healing and exorcism were often closely linked. We see this in Jesus' own ministry. He healed and he also removed demons. Jesus followers aknoweldged that Jesus had supernatural Authority because they witnessed the unusual power he had over natural disease and the supernatural power he had over demons.

As disciples, Jesus' followers felt they could have privileged access to Christ's divine Authority. In other words, they thought that only they could legitimately cast out demons and heal the sick by invoking the name of Christ. They felt that using Jesus' name was only the right of those who closely followed him. In the context of their previous desire to be “the greatest,” this event appears to be another example of selfishness on the part of the disciples. They believed they had sole access to Jesus' authority, and thus, were spiritually important. They did not understand that the very act of healing or exorcism was an alliance with Christ. They didn't see that others could do the will of God in the name of Christ. They didn't recognize the inclusive nature of Christ.

Jesus responds quite clearly to the disciples: “For the one who is not against us is for us” (v. 40). The question the disciple's had to ask themselves, and that we must ask ourselves is this: who is for us? More specifically, who is participating in the Will of God? Who is furthering God's Kingdom by fulfilling the condition of discipleship, the condition of sacrificial servitude. The answers might surprise you. Like the disciples, so many times we want to carve out our own spheres of legitimacy. We want to point at some and say “you can do the Will of God, because you are on my side.” And then we want to point at others and say, “you, however, cannot, because you are not on my side.” But Christ replies powerfully and persuasively by saying in effect: “who are you to determine who it is that fulfills God's Will?” This is still the response of Christ today. Your job is not to be judge and determiner. My job is not to be judge and determiner. Your job, my job, our job is to band together for the Good of God. We must band together in service and in sacrifice so that we might deliver our world into the Kingdom of God. We must see those who labor for Good as instruments of Christ and God's Love, and not as theologically deficient tools of evil. We don't draw the lines... God draws the lines.

Ultimately what the disciples were trying to do is assert themselves as spiritually superior. They were trying to draw the line in the sand and say “you were not personally instructed by our teacher, thus, you must be unable to do what it is that we are called to do.” Jesus flat out denies such flawed logic. Jesus shows us that anyone, of any theological persuasion can perform spiritually significant acts that are in accord with the Will of God. For anyone who does what God commands is doing what is Good in the sight of God. A Catholic who serves the poor, an Anglican who donates to hurricane relief, a pentecostal who adopts a parent-less child are all doing these things in the name of Christ and for the Good of the Father. We may not worship with these people, and we may not adopt their theological beliefs. But Jesus calls us to recognize the value and worth of their actions in their willingness to follow after the Will of God.

What we must see about the condition of discipleship is this, that it transcends theological divisions. The condition of discipleship spans the gaps that theological debate has created. Loving people in service and through sacrifice is universally important, and Christ asks his followers to accept it as valid. Will you accept such validity? Will you see the value in a person's efforts to liberate the oppressed, or in comforting the suffering, or in feeding the hungry? Will you join with those who seek to reduce poverty and restore social justice? Will you partner with those who find solace in searching after God and His will for humankind? I hope that you will not allow theological barriers to hinder the work of God's people. I hope you will not be so concerned with discovering someone's theological legitimacy that you fail to recognize the value and worth of their contribution to the Will of God.

Jesus specifically addresses those who would hinder the work of God by allowing selfish intentions to creep into their ministry. The disciples, battling this desire to be the greatest, battling a drive to push out those that do not fall within their closed circle fellowship, are creating a potential to push out those of the faith those who are not recognized with importance. In establishing a hierarchy of power, the twelve are egotistically using their proximity to Jesus to thwart the Will of God, and in so doing threaten to push out those who seem to the disciples to be unimportant. These “little ones” of the faith are not to be pushed out or pushed over. Jesus makes this very clear.

Jesus says to the disciples: “whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and her were thrown into the sea” (v. 42). These “little ones” can either be understood as infants or as insignificant believers. I think that given the context of the disciples situation in respect to the man they didn't recognize as a legitimate tool of God, these “little ones” are in fact those we consider to be insignificant. Those people of Faith that we think are unimportant because they don't have the proper grasp on Faith. They don't see the world like we do and they don't see God like we do, thus, they are insignificant. This is wrong, and this selfish. No one is insignificant in the sight to God. And treating people with disdain and contempt because of their theological beliefs or inexperience in their life of faith is a grave mistake. It is a terrible distraction from the unified ministry of God's people.

Finally, Jesus exhorts his disciples to be salty and find salt in themselves. Jesus tells his disciples: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (v. 50b). Salt is a preservative, and the image of salt that Jesus provides speaks of the true nature of discipleship and its conditions of service and sacrifice. The peace of the church, the peace between one another stems from an attitude of humility and service. An attitude of greatness can only divide people and will only hinder the Will of God. Therefore we must take up the condition of discipleship if we ever hope to see a unified church accomplish the Will of God. If we ever hope to see the Kingdom of God made real on earth, we must first embrace Sacrifice, Service, and a Humility that is produced by Love. We must look past theological divides toward servicing others and giving of ourselves. We must forget our self-righteous desire to be great, so that we can move forward in advancing the Kingdom of God here on earth. For when our eyes are fixed upon the author and perfecter of our faith, and not on each other's inadequacies, only then can we make steps toward Heaven.

Amen.