Bộ Phim Về Đức Tin

A famous circus performer wanted to do a public stunt to advertise the circus that was in town. He strung a rope high above the street and as the crowd gathered around he yelled, “Do you believe I can walk across this rope?” To which the crowd yelled back, yes. Then he put on a blindfold and yelled, “Do you believe I can do it blindfolded?” Again, the crowd yelled, yes. Then he grabbed a wheelbarrow and asked if they believed he could push the wheelbarrow across the rope with the blindfold on, and of course, the crowd yelled yes. Every time the crowd yelled back, they were louder and more enthusiastic. Then he loaded 200 pounds of brinks in the wheelbarrow and asked if they believed he could push a loaded wheelbarrow across the rope. The crowd went wild and he did what had never been done before. Finally, he yelled, “Do you believe I can put a person in this wheelbarrow and walk the tightrope? Everyone in the crowd yelled, “Yes, we believe.” “Good,” he said, “I need a volunteer to get in the wheelbarrow.” The crowd went silent and the people began to look at each other to see who would be the first to volunteer. Alas, there was no one who believed that much.

Herein lays the difference between belief and faith. All of them had belief and all of them had publicly and enthusiastically yelled out their belief. However, when it came time for any of them to prove their belief, they went silent and walked away. Faith, you see, is much more than belief. Belief is a mental acknowledgement or assent to a proposition. Faith is believing so much that a person stakes his or her life on the belief. Faith is putting belief to the test. Faith is putting action to what we say we believe.

This morning I want to look at one man who exhibited great faith. Here is a man that we can look at to get a good picture of some acts of faith. I originally titled this sermon, A Picture of Faith. However, a picture we commonly understood as a still photo, a snapshot, or a portrait. A movie on the other hand, shows action. In the 1890s all we had were simple black and white still photographs. Then came the days of the moving picture or motion pictures, which got shortened to movie pictures and now we just call them movies.

Since faith is an action, I couldn’t call this a picture of faith. What we are going to look at is a man who demonstrated his faith by his actions.

In Matthew 8:1-4 we have the account of a leper who came to Jesus

When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2 And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

First, let me paint a picture for you. This man is a leper and we need to understand the historical, cultural, and religious context of leprosy. In the day and time of Christ and the centuries before Him, leprosy was the most dreaded disease in the world.

In Jesus’ day lepers were considered not simply as a person who contracted a disease. They were considered as ones cursed by God. The Old Testament concept of leprosy was the mark or sign that this person was under the condemnation and curse of God. Consequently, lepers were hated and despised by everyone. Lepers were not allowed to live with their family, in the community. They were outcasts, living alone or living only with other lepers. If they traveled and came upon other people they had to wear torn clothing, cover their mouths with their hands and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.” People so despised and feared lepers, that we have accounts of crowds throwing rocks and sticks at them to chase them away.

Here is Matthew 8 this accursed leper sees Jesus come down off the mountain. He walks through the middle of a crowd of people who hate, fear, and despise him. He comes and bows down to Jesus and pleads with Him, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.”

In this picture of the leper coming to Jesus, we see three things that paint a picture of genuine faith.

First: Faith acts in humility. This man comes and bows down before Jesus and says, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.” The leper bows down and he calls Jesus Lord. In the Greek text the word Matthew uses for bows down, has a specific religious meaning of worship. This leper bows down and worships Jesus. Bowing before Jesus was an act of humility and a sign of submission to Him and His will.

Here we have a leper who is has been taught that he is cursed by God and rejected. If any person had a right to be angry with God, it would be a leper. Many people in his condition would be bitter and angry.

The mind is filled with questions. Why did God create me this way? Why did God curse me with leprosy? There is no end to the why questions.

Well, why did God create me the way I am? Why couldn’t He have created me smarter than I am, or better looking, or taller? Why wasn’t I born into a wealthy family or why didn’t I have better parents?

We ask all these questions as we compare ourselves with the state of other people. When we ask the why questions, most of the time they will lead us to disappointment, anger, disillusionment and bitterness. Even if God answered our why questions, would we be satisfied with the answers? When Job suffered all the calamities that Satan inflicted upon him, he asked why. Job wanted God to tell him why he was suffering. However, would God’s answers have made the suffering any less.

If I have a broken leg it is painful. If I know why I have a broken leg, it is still just as painful. Knowing why does not reduce the pain. There is no happiness in knowing why, no joy, no peace. If we want true joy and peace it is not in getting the answers to our questions but in submission to God’s will.

The leper does not ask why, he comes with humility and bows down before Jesus and willing to accept God’s will, no matter what it is.

I have ask myself all the time if I am willing to accept God’s will, no matter what it is. Am I willing to go wherever God wants, am I ready to do whatever God says, will I be whatever God tells me to be? Or, will my pride, arrogance, greed, or some other unholy motivation direct my heart and my choices and decisions. Can I honestly say, “Lord I exist for one reason and that is to accomplish Your will.”

The second point of faith acts with hope. Here is a man, a leper, who has, in his mind, been cursed by God. Leprosy, as a sign of God’s wrath, had been drilled into this man. Lepers were taught that God hated them and God was punishing them. If God has cursed me, then there is no hope, only despair. There is no feeling more devastating than to feel hopeless and helpless.

Here is the leper. He is convinced that God hates him and has cursed him, but then he sees Jesus, talking about God’s love, grace, mercy, and compassion. He sees Jesus healing the sick, casting out demons and showing compassion on hurting people. He begins to question everything he has been told and everything he has formerly believed about God. Is it possible, he wonders, can God love me. For the first time he has a just a glimpse of hope. Perhaps God does love and care for lepers.

What does he have to lose? If he comes to Jesus and Jesus turns him away, has his state become any worse? How could things get worse than being a leper? He comes to the decision that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. With that little spark of hope he comes to Jesus.

We were in California for wildfires and there was a woman whose home had perished in the fire. She lost everything. She was in a state of severe emotional shock. Every day she did nothing except walk circles around her property. She never engaged anyone, or talked to anyone. If someone spoke to her, she didn’t even acknowledge them.

Twice a day our disaster relief volunteers would go up to that site with the Red Cross to serve food. The woman would shuffle over to the vehicle, get a plate of food, sit down on the curb, and eat it.

One day, she looked up and saw one of our volunteers serving the food and asked, “Why are you here from NM?” To which our volunteer responded, “We are here because we want you to know that God has not abandoned you. He loves you.”

Our volunteer stepped out of the vehicle and spent time just listening to the woman tell her story. In a little while, the both of them are kneeling in the ashes and debris of what is left of her home.

The next day the vehicle goes back with more food and this woman comes bouncing over with life and joy in her face. What happened? She got a glimpse of God’s love, grace, and compassion. She responded to that glimpse and there was a Christian there who gave her the glimpse of God. A Christian who was willing to spend time with her, to cry with her and listen to her.

I meet people all the time who have lost hope. Life has lost any meaning for them. In their hopelessness and despair they consider taking their own life. In disasters, the Red Cross, FEMA, and other agencies can bring in food, or open shelters, taking care of the most basic physical needs. But when people look for hope, for meaning in the disaster , or for a reason to live, only the church can give them the message God.

The third point of faith acts in boldness. This may seem a bit contradictory to the first point of humility, however humility before God results in boldness before man. It is a simple matter of fear. Do we fear what man thinks or what God thinks about us? Are we more concerned with other people think than with what God thinks?

This leper is hated and despised by the other people. They are likely to stone him if he comes into their midst. What would people think of him, what would they say to him, what would they say about him or do to him if he comes forward to worship Christ?

In his desperation, he came to a point where he no longer concerned himself with what other people might say or do. What God could do for him was much more important to him than what people might say or do.

Yet on any given Sunday morning in churches all across the world people hear the Word of God. Many know they should respond to God, but when the invitation is given they don’t move. They are too concerned with what someone else might think or say about them.

Many people in church are like the crowd standing watching the tightrope walker saying, “Yes we believe, we believe?” But when the invitation is given to put their life into the hands of God, they look around to see who might go first.

A few years ago a pastor in this city had a number of men who had privately come to him and spoken to him about their need for God. They each prayed to ask Christ to come into their lives, but for a number of years they would not be baptized. They refused to make their decision public. The pastor talked to them but they would not do it.

The pastor came upon an idea. He offered to allow another staff to baptize him if they would follow him in baptism, and they agreed. Did the pastor need to be baptized?

When Jesus began His public ministry, He came to John the Baptist to be baptized by him. We are supposed to follow Jesus in baptism. Jesus came to be baptized publicly for all to see, and He calls every believer to do the same.

However, it is not just about a public decision to accept Him as savior and to publicly be baptize in His name; it is about being public and open about our commitment to serve him.

An evangelist was preaching a revival and God’s Holy Spirit moved in a mighty way in that congregation. Every night many people came forward at the invitation to make public their decision to accept Christ as their savior. Many people also came to make public their decision to surrender to the call of God to full time Christian service.

On the last night of the revival, an elderly deacon came forward with great weeping. This man had been a deacon in that church for over 20 years, he was highly loved and respected by everyone. As he wept, he told the evangelist that he needed to accept Christ as his savior and lord, but he was so afraid. He had been a deacon for over twenty years, what would people think of him to find out he had been living a lie for over 20 years.

His need for Christ far exceeded his concern about what other people thought. He stood before the church and told them about his life. He confessed that he had been living a lie for these many years as a deacon. He boldly proclaimed his faith in Jesus. There was weeping all across the congregation. Some of them were tears of joy as this man gave his life to Jesus. Some of them were tears of sorrow from people who also came forward with the same confession. Another deacon, some Sunday school teachers and the pastor came to make the same confession.

How long will we try to hold on to our integrity when God is calling for a public confession. That is a false integrity. The only true integrity and the only true honor is humility before God.