Faith Is As Faith Does
Ephesians 5: 15 – 20
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Rev. Daniel T. Hans
August 12, 2007
Our world believes the key to life lies in acquiring information. Study after study is pursued, as libraries of facts are amassed. The church believes the key to life lies not in accumulating information but in acting upon information learned. Information without action has toppled both powers and persons. “What they knew they did not do” is an apt epitaph for many.
The examples are plentiful. Most of us know the story behind the attack on Pearl Harbor. A radio man on duty that December 7, 1941 morning received a radio warning about a Japanese attack. He passed the information on to his commander but no action was taken on the information. Of the officers who received the warning, it could be said: “What they knew they did not do.”
Closer to home, there are those who, despite knowing the warnings by the Surgeon General and the mountains of research showing the link between smoking and lung cancer, continue to smoke. Their gravestones could read: “What they knew they did not do.”
It is no new phenomenon - this information without action, this knowing without doing. The early church struggled to communicate the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ to two very different cultures possessing two opposite opinions of the definition of wisdom. For the Greek culture, whose influence covered the 1st century world, the highest good was to say: “This we know.” The Greeks prized speculation by the human mind. Accumulating information was their life mission. For the Hebrew culture, in which Christianity had its earliest roots, the highest good was to say: “This we do.” The Hebrews prized obedience to the will of God. Acting on God’s word was their life mission.
The Apostle Paul, one of the most influential leaders of the early church, was a Hebrew raised and educated in Greek culture. Paul was the bridge that the church needed if the message of Christ was to attract the Greeks for whom wisdom lay in knowing and to attract the Hebrews for whom wisdom lay in doing. The Ephesians letter, credited to Paul, was written to churches in a region steeped in Greek thinking. Ephesians addresses the truth of Jesus-as-Savior to be known in the heart and mind and the truth of Jesus-as-Lord to be lived out in practical ways.
To people then and now who get seduced into thinking one’s faith rests in what one knows and has stored up in the mind, Paul warns, “Be careful then how you live.” It is tempting to think we can be wise without ever having to apply what we know to how we live. A girl I dated in college once said to me, “Dan, you have a lot of book knowledge but not much common sense.” In the Bible, there is no wisdom unless the truth known in the mind is shown in the life. Therefore, Paul challenges us to use the knowledge of God we claim to possess. Paul understands that the wisdom of faith lies not in what we know about God but in what we do with what we know.
Paul uses two words in our passage to stress this concern for living out our faith. The first word is “time”. In the Greek language of the New Testament, two distinct words convey the idea of “time”. One word chronos as in “chronology” or “chronic” means the duration of time as in days, weeks, years. We say: She lived a long time (chronos). The other word, which is used in our passage, is kairos and means “opportunity” as in a special occasion that will soon pass away. We say: It was an opportunity of a lifetime (kairos). A lot of people are passing time (chronos), moving through the months and years, without using the time to make a mark for God.
Believers in God are to make the most of the opportunities (kairos) that come along.
Paul had a deep concern that we “make the most of the time” -make the most of our opportunities to live out our faith. Like the early church, Paul believed history would soon end. Therefore, Christians must be doing what they claimed to believe in order to impact the world with the love and justice of Christ and to attract others to faith in Jesus. Anyone whose time on this earth is short wants to make the most of the time at hand. Few of us spend our last years accumulating more information. Most of us, if wise, use the time to do something with what we have already learned. Wherever it is in time, the church is to live with a sense that history could end any day. There is urgency to make the most of each day as we live out our faith to the glory of the eternal God.
Studying and learning are important for faith only as the knowledge gained is utilized and applied to life. One who understood this distinction was Karl Marx, the father of Communism. Marx wrote: “The philosophers wanted to understand the world, but the point is: to change the world.” That statement is written on Marx’s gravestone. (God and Human Suffering, Hall, 91) The wisdom of faith lies not in what we know about God but in what we do with what we know.
The other word in our passage that emphasizes faith-lived-out is the reference to understanding “the will of the Lord.” As with the concept of time so with the concept of God’s will two distinct Greek words exist. One of these words speaks of the eternal and unchangeable plan of God that is independent of any human involvement. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ fit this understanding of God’s will. In his eternal love, God planned to send his Son for the hope of human salvation. God willed this to happen and it would happen whether anyone believed in it or not.
The second understanding of God’s will involves the Greek word Paul uses in our passage. This word (thelemos)refers to the plan of God that requires human cooperation and involvement. An example is God’s will for us to obey his commands. God desires our obedience but God doesn’t reduce us to puppets to obtain that obedience. When we fail to recognize our part in the fulfillment of God’s will we become like the high school quarterback who was called on by the coach to enter the game.
The first string quarterback had been injured as had been the second stringer. This left the third string backup who had never played a minute in any game.
The score was tied and there was less than a minute to play. Wanting to win but fearing that this inexperienced player might lose the game, the coach decided to play it safe and go for the tie. He told his QB, “It’s second down. I want you to call a quarterback sneak, then call a quarterback sneak again, then punt. Is that clear?” “Yes,” answered the nervous boy, “You want me to call a quarterback sneak, then call another quarterback sneak, then punt.”
On the first sneak, a hole opened in the middle and the boy ran 40 yards down the field. On the second sneak play, another hole opened and he ran another 30 yards all the way to the opponent’s three-yard-line. With only ten seconds to play and three yards for the winning touchdown, the young quarterback called the play. The team lined up, the center snapped the ball to the quarterback and he punted the ball. Time ran out and the game ended in a tie. On the sideline, the coach was so angry he was shaking. He grabbed the quarterback and shouted, “What in the world were you thinking when you called for a punt only three yards from a touchdown?” The QB answered, “Sir, I don’t mean to be disrespectful but when we were in the huddle I told the guys you sure were crazy because a punt was a stupid call.”
Faith is not a passive acknowledgement of what God has said and done in history. Faith is an active application of and active participation in God’s leading in the moments and decisions of each day. When Paul tells us to understand the will of God, he is once again warning that the wisdom of faith lies not in what we know about God but in what we do with what we know.
Some parts of the Christian church say: “The key to life is to be born again, to get saved.” What is meant is: realize that Jesus is your Savior and you will have eternal life. However, is having information about Jesus enough? No! Not if the information is removed from action. There is the businessman who is born again on a weekend retreat. Returning to his office on Monday he tells his associates he has found the key to life. He has heard the message that Jesus is his Savior. However, once the business wheeling and dealing begins he is as ruthless and cut throat as ever. Jesus cannot be Savior of lives unless he is also Lord of lives. It is in encountering and accepting Christ as life-guiding Lord that he becomes life-giving Savior.
Let me illustrate what I have been saying with three stories by three different men all named Stanley. Stanley Hauerwas, professor of ethics at Duke Divinity School, tells of a group of evangelical Christians who invaded a small town in Indiana to bring the lost to Christ. In front of Yoder’s dry-goods store, one of these zealous evangelists confronted a Mennonite farmer with the challenge, “Are you saved?” The farmer was stunned by the question. All his years of attending the Peach Bloom Mennonite congregation had not prepared him for such a question – particularly in front of Yoder’s store. Wanting not to offend and believing the questioner was of good will, he seriously pondered how he might answer. After a long pause the farmer asked the questioner for a pencil and paper and proceeded to list the names of 10 people he believed knew him well. Most, he explained, were his friends but some were less than that and might even be enemies. He suggested the evangelist ask these people whether they thought him saved since he certainly would not presume to answer such a question on his own behalf. (“The Testament of Friends.” The Christian Century, [2/28/90], p. 212)
E. Stanley Jones, a Methodist missionary to India, told of a conversation he had with a Chinese engineer who moved to the US. The engineer said, “I am a man without a religion. I don’t believe in Confucianism anymore and I don’t believe that Jesus is divine, so none of the Christian churches will take me in. I am a man without faith. What would you say to me?” Jones asked, “What do you believe about Jesus?” “I think he is the best man that ever lived.” Jones asked, “Then Jesus is your ideal?” “Yes,” said the engineer, “He is.” “If Jesus is the best man that ever lived and is your ideal, then you should take out of your life everything that contradicts that ideal.” The engineer objected, “That isn’t easy.” Jones answered, “I didn’t say it would be easy but that is was necessary. If you are willing to do the will of God, you will know the will of God for he will teach you.” The man’s fact lit up. He said, “Everyone else has said I had to believe something first, but you say that if I am willing to do, I will begin to know!” E. Stanley Jones prayed with the man that he might surrender everything in his life that did not conform to Jesus. As the engineer met with Jones some days later, he was filled with excitement. He said, “All my questions of who Jesus is have faded away. I have experienced his presence. As I began to do, I began to know.” (The Divine Yes, Jones, p. 85)
In 1871 explorer and journalist, H. M. Stanley discovered the missing and presumed-dead medical missionary Dr. David Livingston deep in Central Africa. After spending some time with Dr. Livingston, Stanley said, “If I had been with him any longer I would have been compelled to become a Christian; and he never spoke to me about it at all.” (Acts, William Barclay, p. 5) Livingston’s life of action revealed his faith in Christ.
What about us? What truths we have learned about God and about the kind of life God wants us to live? Are we applying this knowledge to our daily living or is this information tucked away in the storage closet of our mind?
When faced with a situation that calls for an act of faith, do we pull out a piece of information and say, “This I know” or do we step out in faith and say, “This I do”? The wisdom of faith lies not in what we know about God but in what we do with what we know.
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