Growing In the Knowledge and Love of God

If there is a great joy in being part of a retirement community, especially a Christian one. It is an opportunity to hang around a concentrated group of mostly people who come here because of the Christian orientation of this campus.  Even if they are not Christian, they honor the Christian values that make this an outstanding place to be. Here they have Faith Enrichment (Sunday School), Bible Studies, and Vesper services.  RL tries not to interfere with normal hours of worship with churches in the community, allowing us, in fact, encouraging us, who have church connections to attend local worship and studies. 

I say that because as a retired pastor in the foreign land, who has very few opportunities to preach, it has given me, on the other hand, opportunities to grow in the knowledge of God, both on and off campus. Though I love to preach and had great opportunities while here, I have found that just attending worship, Christian studies, has broadened my understanding of God and deepened my appreciation of His love.  

A good example came today.  After Sunday School and Worship this morning off campus, I decided to attend the Vesper services on campus and what culminated in Ken’s homily. This has become apropos for my study on suffering that I have been asked to teach off campus in April.   I share some of my insights gleaned from the sermons, the class,  and the folks I have talk to daily.  The subject was faith.  Based on the Hebrews 11:1-3:8-16 with the corresponding Gospel text of Luke 12:32-34, here is a bullet point summary of my gleanings.

• Faith is a “content” word.  That is, there are words that give clarity to what faith means from a biblical point of view, and those words taken as a whole, mean faith. For example: trust, assurance, righteousness, conviction, evidence, living in the reality of the promises yet to be fulfilled (Q: “blessed hope”).
• When faith came into existence, it was through Abel, Enoch, Noah, and then Abraham. Abraham’s faith was not for Heaven, not for a Savior, or in a Savior but in God who would provide a better home than the one he had.  So he stepped out in faith (Hebrews 11:1-3) not knowing where he was going and by faith, as a foreigner in the land of promise… “for he was looking forward to the city that has earthly foundations, whose architect and builder is God”. Now here is the catch.  All those listed in the Hebrews ‘hall of fame’, had faith in God who would give them something better on this earth, but they did not get what they thought they would.  
• But here is the clincher, “these died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth (:13).  As Christians, we operate from the standpoint of seeing faith in the promise in our New Earth and New Heaven, but this was not evident to Abraham or the others.  They thought it would happen in their lifetime. However, it did to Sarah. It was impossible for her, due to old age, to have a child, an heir, but God promised her specifically that she would (:11).  Though she doubted, God honored His promise to her, and she had a son.  Through that fulfilled promise, Abraham saw that God kept His word and knew that the promise would be fulfilled… “that from one man, Abraham, who was good as dead, would come an offspring as numerous as the stars of Heaven, and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore” (:12).  But it did not happen in his lifetime.  But to have faith is to trust in God.  Hope is not a part of faith. It’s a word that might give comfort, but it brings uncertainty and a possibility that it might not happen.  Faith is certainty that the promise will happen, but it will be in God’s timing.  Abraham did so by leaving all behind and moving to a new land at God’s call, and it was confirmed later by God’s fulfilled promise that Sarah would have a son (:19). 
• So, our faith (trust) is in God who issues the promises, and we know in His good time that they will be fulfilled. 
• But as Christians, we do look for that heavenly home because Jesus made it possible for us to receive that promise. He went to prepare a place for us. And as God, through Christ, honors His word, I do look forward to it. That is where the Luke passage stands out for me.  It reads: “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” That is the reason that the followers of Christ gave up their lives in service to Him.  They saw the promise of the Kingdom and wanted to share that with others that they too might follow Him and receive the promise as well. 
     

  Trust In God:

W.C. Martin

1 I trust in God wherever I may be,

upon the land or on the stormy sea;

for come what may, from day to day,

my heav'nly Father watches over me.

Refrain:

I trust in God, I know He cares for me,

on mountain bleak or on the stormy sea.

Though billows roll, He keeps my soul,

my heav'nly Father watches over me.

2 He makes the rose an object of His care,

He guides the eagle through the pathless air;

and surely He remembers me,

my heav'nly Father watches over me. [Refrain]

3 I trust in God, for in the lion's den,

on battlefield, or in the prison pen,

through praise or blame, through flood or flame,

my heav'nly Father watches over me. [Refrain]

4 The valley may be dark, the shadows deep,

but oh, the Shepherd guards His lonely sheep;

and through the gloom, He'll lead me home,

my heav'nly Father watches over me. [Refrain]

Source: Our Great Redeemer's Praise #376

Psalm 125 was probably sung by Jewish pilgrims going up to Jerusalem.  For their Jerusalem was their holy city, but to Christians, as God later revealed, our inheritance is the New Heaven and the New Earth, where our Lord Jesus has prepared a place for us. We see it at a distance but realize it as, I call it: a “blessed hope, that is, a promise yet to be fulfilled. In the meantime, we are on the journey to its fulfillment.”  Here is how we might sing it:

Trust In God

(Psalm 125)

Text below: David Gambrell

Trust in God and you will be sheltered for eternity;

like a mountain, strong and sure, by God’s grace you will endure.

Lift your eye to see the hills, through the ages standing still,

wrapped around the city walls: so our God surrounds us all.

In the promised, holy land may the wicked never stand;

but where good and kindness reign, may the peace of God remain.

Music : Orlando Gibbons, 1623, alt.

…………….

Grace and Peace,

Quentin, Sharecropper’s Inheritance

Pentecost, 2025