unbelief

I need to double check the schedule, but last I looked I'm scheduled to share a sermon on July 20th.

It's been a while.  It's been a long while.  If this is going to work, I'll need an extra truckload of grace.

One of the things that has been whispering to the tail region of my brain - the portion that doesn't get much attention unless it acts up or creates a grinding squeal of a ruckus that can't be ignored  - is that unbelief is much different and much more subtle than we give it credit for.

The author of Hebrews mentioned that without faith it's impossible to please God, because if we want to please him, we need to believe 1) that he exists, and 2) that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

It has been my experience that generally we look over the first part of that list of requirements.  And, frankly, when there are only two rules, it seems foolish to just assume that the first is a given.  This is the sort of thing that ranks up there with professional baseball players showing up late.  Two rules: be on time and hustle.  "Yeah, yeah, got it, right.  You want us to get to the park two hours before game time.  It's covered.  Could we move on to the fun stuff, let's say, batting practice."

It seems to me that the fewer the rules, the more we should pay attention.  Does that make sense?

So, the first of those two requirements should, I think, get a bit more play.  We read it, "Yeah, well I wouldn't really be reading the Bible if I didn't believe that you exist.  Check.  Moving right along."

But when I break it down, I wonder if it's really that simple.

Believing that God exists involves a bit of information.  Saint Anselm defined God as the being than which none greater can exist.  It's an awkward but logically sound way of saying that, by definition, God is perfect - he's the best of everything that can be conceived of, and better.  It's called the Ontological argument, if you're interested.

Scripture might be a bit clearer, when it comes down to it.  God is perfect virtue.  As perfect virtue, he is perfectly true.  As perfectly true, he is perfectly trustworthy.  Since he's perfectly trustworthy, we can believe everything that he says about himself without reservation - as long as the method of communication is trustworthy and our reception of the information is also trustworthy, but that's for another discussion at another time.

If he is perfect in all things, complete and whole, then to take away one of the perfections is to make him imperfect.  A being that is no longer perfect can be no longer God.

Make sense?

All that being taken as true, those moments when we call God's goodness into question; when we think that he could not really have our best interest in mind as we lose a job; when we ignore his power to heal because what we think what we really need is medicine, rather than prayer; when we think that this last sin has got to put us beyond the reach of his grace; when we think that our life is an expression of God's disfavor rather than the opposite; when we feel pretty good about ourselves and think that surely this time we've earned a few brownie points; all are expressions of unbelief.

Those are moments when our hearts are saying "God - I don't believe that you are who you say you are."  Once we're there, we might as well come out with it and tell him that we believe he doesn't exist.  Because, after all, if we don't believe that he is who he said he is, we're calling into question his trustworthiness, his unchanging nature, his perfection.  And if he's not those things, he's not God.  We can think of a being that's entirely those things.  So, if our prayers are being heard by someone that isn't all of those things, then we're praying to something other than God.

Right?

Puts an interesting spin on those moments, I've found.  In my life it has become much simpler to identify sins of unbelief, of pride, of a sense of earning my salvation, of anger, of lust, of worry, of greed when I realize that at the root is a degree to which I'm looking at our Father and telling him that he's not real.

Once I recognize the truth - that God is real - I can adjust my perceptions, confess my sin, and move on to bigger and better things.

In short, I can believe.

So, those are some rough thoughts that I've been tossing around for the sermon.

Show of hands - who thinks it would be helpful to hear that explained a bit more?