by Rev. Dr John Evans
Faith – its importance, its nature and its outcome have been a major theme from our readings this year; and as I look back, a major theme in my sermons. Faith, trust, obedience to God has been the challenge for us all to hear and take up. We have been challenged to have faith in God who is loving, just and good. We are to have faith that who God is for us is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
But why would we want such faith? What motivates a person to have faith in Jesus . . . rather than say another deity, or prophet – or have no faith except in themselves? Do we have faith because we want a reward for our faith?
I am thinking why do we work, have a particular vocation or job? Is it because the job in itself gives to us meaning, satisfaction – it aligns with our gifts, interests, personality etc; or are the rewards just the terms and conditions – the pay, the hours, the holidays and the perks. What are the rewards? The job itself, or the money you make – or a bit of both?
So what are the rewards of our faith?
Scripture, as we perhaps could expect, presents a range of answers to that question.
On one end – there is a very mechanical view. If you have faith and live a righteous life you will have a prosperous life; you will be rich and happy. Our Psalms and wisdom literature – like the Book of Proverbs – are full of this calculus of rewards and of punishments. Psalm 1, verse 1:
“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread.” … and many, many other examples.
However, even in the Old Testament, this view was challenged – the Book of Job, the Book of Ecclesiastes said, ‘Wait on; bad things do happen to good people,’ so there is more to this being faithful than just expecting an immediate reward.
At the other end of our continuum, the rewards for our faith are not here and now, but when we die. Judgement, the meting out of the rewards and punishments would occur at the point of death. Remember the lawyer asking Jesus, ‘What shall I do to gain eternal life?’
And Jesus asks, ‘What his written in the law?’
He replies, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’
Jesus says, ‘Do this and you shall live.’
This view is strongly evident in the New Testament letters and the Book of Revelation. So for example, in 2 Timothy 4:6
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Rewards and punishments are the stuff of the scriptures – and I will be honest: I can find the different emphases and approaches bewildering – and difficult. However, what I want to say today is that the Christian faith, having faith in Jesus, is not like choosing from shopping catalogue. I will have faith in Jesus today because I want to have a big house and a flash car, good health, satisfaction in my job and a happy family; or I will have faith in Jesus because I like the sound of heaven in comparison to hell.
There has to be an integrity about our faith – which removes it from such crassness. Our faith in Jesus, faith in God, happens because for us, being faithful is the right and good thing to be. That faith may lead us in all sorts of strange directions and unexpected situations which will not look like rewards – but that is fine – that is the way of faith – and it is the right thing for us.
This impossibly difficult and confronting story of Abraham and Isaac I think illustrates what I am trying to say.
True, this is a very difficult story. This time we have a story about sacrifice, human sacrifice and child abuse. And as we look at this passage of scripture we can rightly be appalled that anyone, let alone our God, would seemingly contemplate the death of a human being, an innocent child, in this way. I suppose we want to know, is the story true? Well, I don’t know. If what you are asking is, “Did this happen and someone sitting on the side of a mountain in Moriah would be able to take a photo of it”? I suspect it’s not true in that sense. But is it true in the sense there is something for us all to learn about the nature of faith, and how Abraham responded. Yes, I suppose it is true.
Abraham for Jews, Christians (and for that matter Muslims) is the archetypical character of faith. He is the great model – again and again quoted in scripture as THE person of faith. And so, the story I suspect has got embellished – and made more and more improbable, along the way. And that could have happened here. His whole story reads a bit like an Indiana Jones adventure movie. Just when you think you get to the end of it, showing that Abraham and Sarah are people of faith, there is more. There are always twists and turns.
First, Abraham ups and leaves Haran – like we did metaphorically a couple of Sundays ago. That was quite amazing. God’s promise that he and Sarah would be the forebears of a great nation and that they would be a blessing to all, etc. brought an immediate response from Abraham. What faith.
But then, there was his age: 75 when he left Haran; 100 when Isaac born. And then Sarah’s age: 90 years old. She appropriately laughed. Sarah, of course, had also been barren. Then there was the delay; a 25 year delay – Isaac didn’t happen quickly.
The promise of God, however, was kept; the future was open. At least the first step in being a mighty nation happens – Isaac is born.
What faith, we gasp.
And so just when you get to what is the end of the story, the plot turns, like that Indiana Jones – or any suspense story. As Genesis 22:1 says, God then tested Abraham. You would have thought Abraham had already shown his faith, his trust – his obedience to God. But, like the proverbial steak knives, there was more. He was tested.
Why? It seems God wants to discern whether Abraham trusts and obeys God the Giver of all of this, and where the Giver might lead and take him, or whether Abraham only cherishes and covets the gift – the birth of Isaac and the fulfillment of the promise. The question over Abraham in this narrative is the same as the question, in the beginning of the Book of Job, when there is a heavenly court, and Satan asks God about Job: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (Job 1:9). Or does Job (and here Abraham) fear God because there is a reward in it?
Indeed the more you look at this story of Abraham and Isaac – it has a ring of that great story of Job, and his testing. One thing is clear however, we know about Abraham’s faith and why he fears, respects God. Abraham’s faith is total. He is tested and he does not waiver. He seems to believe that all will work out in the end. Remember his conversation he has with Isaac along the way? When Isaac asks the innocent question, “Dad, where is the animal we are going to sacrifice?” Abraham replies, “God will provide. ”
The final scene is dramatic – with the blade hovering there in the hand of the hero; will he or won’t he? He can’t. He won’t. Will he? etc. etc.
God, and we all, now know that Abraham not only covets and cherishes the gift of his son, Abraham also trusts God the Giver. Abraham does indeed fear God for naught, to answer the question like the one asked of Job. His faith is not for reward. Rather the whole of Abraham’s life, and who he is, is formed for faith.
Jesus in our passage also speaks of rewards – indeed three times in our few short verses today rewards are mentioned for his followers. This is the final instruction to his disciples whom he is sending out, to that crowd who are looking like sheep without a shepherd – that crowd over on our banner! The disciples thus might receive “a prophet’s reward” – presumably not very grand because usually prophets are rejected; they might receive the “reward of a righteous person” – which sounds like being humble and gracious; and finally they will maintain their reward, if they do simple, generous, thoughtful tasks – like offering a cup of cold water – to the little ones – the outcast, the powerless – those on the margins. I remember as a child my mother offering on a very hot day, a glass of cold water to a postie on his bike doing his Christmas rounds. It was a simple, generous act that has always stayed with me.
Rewards – for faith – well, sort of.
The rewards for faith in Jesus, are wrapped up in going deeper into Jesus’ own relationship with God. Faith opens up so many possibilities as to what the depth of our relationship with God, brought about by our salvation through Christ, might mean. These rewards don’t have a material form – a larger pay packet or whatever. They are spiritual things – but concrete all the same. Invaluable and priceless things like peace, joy, hope – and those fruits of the spirit as Paul enumerated them. They are here and now – not just off in the distance. These are the rewards for a person who might engage in service for others – rewards for those who offer that cup of cold water. They are the rewards for the person who leads that open, gracious, generous life. The righteous person as Jesus called them. They are the rewards of the person who speaks out against injustice and is the prophet among us. The goal to which Jesus directs us is not self-aggrandisement, but self-forgetful service in God’s kingdom, which is ours, not by merit, but by the grace of God.
We indeed might say faith in God – faith in Christ – has, of itself, its own rewards.
If I were just a religious salesman, I guess I could offer more – you might want more – a few miracles here, great wealth there and blissful happiness. This may happen, but first be content that God loves you and the least you can do is to respond in faith and obedience.
