Sermon 75
Hunger for God
Matthew 5:6
November 6, 2011
Beloved in the Lord, grace and peace to
you, in the name of God the Father, Son (X)
and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today we learn how to steer clear of a less well known way to
ruin our faith in Christ. There are at least two major ways of making a
shipwreck of our faith (1 Timothy 1:19). The first is better known than
the second that we address today.
Apathy
Now the better known way, as you may
recall, has to do with lethargy and apathy – or drifting away from so
great a salvation (Hebrews 2:1-3), that is, not practicing what we
preach (Galatians 5:25). On this first way of losing our faith, we
gradually quit going to church on a regular basis; then dream of
attending a Bedside Lutheran Church; and finally quit going altogether –
along with no longer saying our prayers, tithing, repenting, fasting,
witnessing, studying the Bible, consoling the miserable or defending the
poor.
In this drift away we try to get by on a minimum of effort, and
then finally all of our faith slips away and is gone. The solution to
this problem is the thunder of Matthew 7:21 – “Not every one who says to
me, ‘Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of my father who is in heaven.” We also hear that same thunder in 1
Corinthians 9:24 – “Do you not know that in a race all the runners
compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain
it.” And again it sounds forth in James 4:8 – “Draw near to God and he
will draw near to you.” And for a final kick there is Hebrews 12:4 – “In
your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of
shedding your blood”!
Anxiety
But the other way of falling away, which
we focus on today, is the lesser known way, and one that is very
different from the first, coming from the opposite direction, if you
will. This second way has to do with anxiety and distress,
discouragement and exhaustion – where we cry out with St. Peter, “Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8), or, in quiet
despair, simply say – “Who can stand before you, O Lord?” (Psalm 76:1;
Malachi 3:2; John 6:60). Either way, in this second case, excuses and
arrogance quickly give way to despondency and shame. On this score,
Christianity is simply too much for us. We would like to follow God in
Christ Jesus, and yet we can’t. We get started alright, but then we fall
away from the path of righteousness, and we do so repeatedly. The
Christian way seem so far beyond us. Garrison Keillor once said that it
isn’t “for the timid” [The
Wittenburg Door 82 (December 1984 - January 1985) p. 20] – and for
many of us timid people we can’t help but agree, albeit reluctantly.
Balancing the Burden
But not so fast! Something is missing.
While exertion certainly has its place in Christianity, focusing just on
it neglects a wonderful complicating factor. In his blessed Beatitudes,
the Lord Jesus tells us about it. He says that those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness – and not just the righteous in word and deed –
are also blessed (Matthew 5:6)! Note carefully that it’s hunger and
thirst that are being blessed, which are much less than full-blown
righteousness. But how can this be – doesn’t that slight righteousness?
The Lutheran author from
Hungering is Enough
So hungering is enough! Just think of
it. If you can’t follow God, just wish you could. Don’t rebel and give
up on him (Romans 3:11)! Be a
want-a-be Christian if not a devout one. Hunger for what you wish
you were. Just as a deer longs for [ערג]
water (Psalm 42:1) – so long for God. And then you also will waylay your
fear over losing your faith in God through Christ. Halleluiah!
So
ערג [arag]
for God – long for him; pant after him; hunger for him, for by so doing
you will keep your faith alive, even though it be only the size of a
little mustard seed (Matthew 17:20)! And Martin Luther (1483-1546), who
championed faith in Christ, in 1528 reinforces this longing or
ערג as being at the heart of
faith:
For it happens, indeed it is so in the
matter of faith, that often he who claims to believe does not at all
believe; and on the other hand, he who doesn’t think he believes, but is
in despair, has the greatest faith (Luther’s
Works 40:241)!
Startling as that may sound, the fact of
the matter is that faith is a hungering after God and not an abundance
of trust in him – but just a hoping (Hebrews 11:1)! We might even call
this hunger a “joyful insanity” [Knut Hamsun,
Hunger (1890), trans. Robert
Bly (1967) p. 144]! We might even with Kierkegaard say that before God
we can’t ever say, “I am – a Christian” (KW
22:136)!
Becoming
– for Now
Ten years earlier, Luther states how all
of this could possibly be:
The whole life of… faithful people… is
nothing else but prayer, seeking and begging by the sighing of the
heart,… always… striving to be made righteous,… never possessing…
righteousness, but always awaiting it as [what] still dwells beyond
them, and always as people who still live in their sins (LW
25:251-252).
So this leniency has to do with the fact
that we are dreadful sinners – unable to follow through (Matthew 26:41;
Romans 7:18. 8:3).
Luther elaborates upon his striking preference for becoming
righteous over being righteous in three other passages:
• The life
of the saint is more a… desiring than a having; more a becoming pious
than a being pious…. Hence imploring, desiring, searching is the true
essence of the inner man (LW
14:196).
• This life…
is not godliness but the process of becoming godly,… not being but
becoming, not rest but exercise…. This is not the goal but it is the
right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but
everything is being cleansed (LW
32:24).
• This
entire life is a time of willing to be righteous, but never achieving
it, for this only happens in the future life (LW
25:268).
But with all of the pressure God puts on
us, it’s hard to imagine that he would settle for these yearnings of
ours. Luther disagrees:
This life is… not purity, but
purification; we have not yet arrived,… but we are all on the road…. God
is satisfied to find us busy at work and full of determination (Sermons
of Martin Luther, ed. J. N. Lenker, 2:212).
Christ Shines Brightly
So because we are not pure, we must look
for purity elsewhere. And because we aren’t the light, we must look for
it elsewhere. The good news is that Christ is our light (John 8:12;
Revelation 21:23). For in his death divine grace and eternal life are
given us:
Through [Christ]… you are granted grace
and life, but it cost him much… since he paid for it most dearly with
his own blood and life. For it was not possible to overcome God’s wrath,
judgment… and all evil things, and indeed to gain all benefits, unless
God’s righteousness received satisfaction, sin was given its due, and
death was overcome (LW
52:280).
Because Christ brings all of this about,
he is our light. Therefore we don’t sing the famous song, “This Little
Light of Mine” (1920) by Harry Dixon Loes. For Christ’s sacrifice for us
is what shines in the darkness and lifts our burden (Psalm 81:6; Matthew
11:30). It’s the only word that can sustain the weary (Isaiah 50:4)!
So receive him today. He is here for the weary in his Supper. By
faith he even carries us up to the Altar, like a stretcher, as Luther
says (LW 35:66), to eat and
drink and have abundant life, freed from the fear of punishment for our
sins (John 6:56; 10:10).
Fear God
But that doesn’t mean not fearing him
who gives us salvation! For we get it from no one else (Acts 4:12).
That’s why when we fear him, we have no wants (Psalm 34:9), for our
biggest concern has been settled – which, in the end, is why we hunger
for God. Amen.
(printed as preached but with
some changes)