Wednesday, May 01, 2019

sermon, Faith vs Belief, by Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, Patten, Maine, April 28, 2019

April 28, 2019
1st Sunday after Easter
Question from my FB Friend Moses Mela
“Is there a difference between faith and belief
 or are they the same”
Matthew 17:14-20
Mark 11:22-23
Hebrews 11:1-3
Proverbs 3:5-6

Faith vs Belief…

Please stand for the reading of the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 17 verses 14-20. Listen for a word from God for you and I…faithful servants or faithless believers…

Matthew 17:14-20 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
17 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.
19 Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?”
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Good Morning. This week I was asked a question from a friend of mine who lives in Kampala, Uganda. He is young in his faith and he, at times, will bounce questions he has off me to get my discernment on his quandary. The question he asked this week has really got me thinking. I think it is a question that many have but are afraid to ask…or maybe they think they already have the answer for it. The question was this:
“Is there a difference between faith and belief or are they the same”?


Wow…what a question. You would think they were the same, right? Well truthfully, they are far from being the same. It wasn’t until I was asked this question that I ever thought about it. My answer to him was yes. They are as different as night and day. What makes them different? We go through life thinking and saying that we believe so we have faith…like they are one in the same. Is it a difference that we each need to ponder over and if we did, what difference would it make in our relationship with God and Jesus?

Belief is a personal choice. It’s a state of mind brought on by choosing to accept some information. The information might be unverifiable (like “there is a God”) or verifiable (like “all bees make honey”). People are fallible, so either way, it could be wrong. Belief can be temporary, changeable or circumstantial. I believe it’s going to rain tomorrow. I believed you were honest, but now I’m not so sure. My wallet is empty: I believe I’ve been robbed. I can believe someone without necessarily trusting them.

Faith is trust and confidence. It’s belief that has gone from our heads and into the heart. To have faith in something requires more than mere belief because faith is something we might always have to rely on. You know…what you know…what you know! To many people these days lack the faith needed to truly see God working in their lives and in the lives of others. They miss the miracle.

Mark 11:22-23 New Living Translation (NLT)
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.
(Break down Scripture)

Belief is a product of the mind, but faith is not. Faith is a product of the spirit. The mind interferes in the process of faith more than it contributes to it. To have faith in the worst of times will no doubt require us to silence, or at least quiet, the mind. Faith is what happens when our beliefs run aground. The spirit can be buoyed by our beliefs but can also be brought down by them when they prove inadequate, as they most certainly will at some point in the journey. Even the beliefs humans have held most closely have come and gone over the course of a lifetime or a millennium.

Beliefs come and go, but real faith is not so fickle. Real faith is not a statement of beliefs, but a state of being. It is living life midair -- standing commando on a tightrope fifty stories up with no preconception of the outcome. It is trusting beyond all reason and evidence that you have not been abandoned.

Faith is concept until it is put into play, it is best achieved through commitment. To commit to faith is not the same as committing to a set of beliefs. In the throes of crisis it is impossible to know what the unknowable God and/or universe is really asking of us. But in the void of not knowing, we may ask: Is it God at all who asks this of me? Or circumstance? The answer of faith: It doesn't matter. You don't know now and you may never know. To not know in the context of faith is to remain humble and teachable. To toss away the conflicting and unusable beliefs of the mind is to be free of human chatter and we take a step closer to the divine.

Hebrews 11:1-3 New Living Translation (NLT)
Great Examples of Faith
11 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
(Break down Scripture…the Hall of Fame…Hall of Faith)

Many people “believe” Jesus Christ really exists. Many believe he is who he claimed to be – God himself and the savior of the world. But that’s not biblical faith. That’s just mental assent. An acceptance of the facts. The Bible says demons “believe” in this way (James 2:19). Biblical “faith” is very different. Biblical faith goes beyond mental acceptance of the facts. Biblical faith is trust – putting your eternal destiny in the hands of this Jesus who claims to be the only savior of the world.

Yes, there is a difference between Faith and Belief. Where do you fall in the grand scheme of things of faith and belief?

Proverbs 3:5-6 New Living Translation (NLT)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.


AMEN 

April 28, 2019
1st Sunday after Easter
Question from Pastor Ruth’s Facebook friend, Moses Mela,
“Is there a difference between faith and belief?”
Psalm 150
Matthew 17:14-20
Mark 11:22-23
Hebrews 11:1-3
Proverbs 3:5-6
and sermon, “Faith vs Belief”
video
text:
(and departing blessing
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
8AM Live
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
April 28, 2019

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 49,760 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Christ, Spirit, God, grace, prayer, love, journey,  Pastor Ruth Foss, Patten, Maine, poetry, Believe, belief, faith, trust, sermon,

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