“Footsteps”
Habakkuk 3:17-19
1 Peter 2:21-25
When I was
in seminary and attending the chapel service, a choir from a local Bible
college came to share their musical gift.
They were all 19 or 20, fresh-faced and clean-cut with matching blue blazers
and saffron skirts. They sang through
smiles about their love for God and Jesus.
At the conclusion of the service they fanned out into the congregation
to greet those who were there and witness to their faith. It was kind of like a traveling altar call.
Now
remember, everyone in those pews was preparing to become a minister. All day, every day, we studied the Bible and
theology. Our goal was to one day stand in a pulpit and proclaim the gospel.
So, when one of these 19-year-old fresh-faced and clean-cut kids came to our
row and asked, “Are you a Christian”, a class-mate sitting closest to the aisle
responded, “I try to be. I try to be!”
Well, as
soon as I heard him say that I thought to myself “uh-oh”. I knew what would
come next because this was not the answer that 19-year-old fresh-faced
clean-cut kid was looking for. I knew
the theological framework of his school would see salvation as either/or. You are either saved or you’re not; you are
either a Christian or you are not. If
you are just trying you are not there yet, so this 19-year-old fresh-faced
clean-cut kid saw my class-mate as a hot prospect and proceeded to recite a
carefully memorized gospel presentation that culminated with the question, “If
you were to die today, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven?”
So, do
you? Do you know for sure? How do you know?
That got me to thinking, “what do
you have to say or believe or feel or do to really be a disciple of Jesus
Christ?” What is God looking for in
us? What does God expect to see? How does God decide? Is there a litmus test to determine if you
are in or out and what might that be?
How would you really know for sure?
In my
seminary days I would have answered these questions up here – in my head. I would have said this is determined by what
you believe. You can separate those who
are Christians from those who are not by asking “What do you believe?” Doctrine
describes faith and it begins with the verse in the Book of Acts that says,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”[1]
The very
first faith statement was simple – Jesus is Lord – period, end-of-sentence.
Everything that follows is an attempt to understand what that means, and some
of those conclusions are non-negotiable, or at least we used to think so. Christians, I thought, are people who believe
and acknowledge certain truths about the nature of God and Jesus and
salvation. In the Presbyterian Church
the sovereignty of God, the uniqueness of Jesus in salvation, the authority of
scripture, God understood as Trinity- as three-in-one, the responsibility of
stewardship and our call to mission are just a few of these bedrock principles.
So faith in one sense is an expression of belief and agreement with certain
theological statements.
I began to
wonder about those times when I saw in others and sometimes in myself behavior
and actions that contradicted those beliefs.
For example, I would say with great confidence that I believed in God’s
love for me and God’s call for me to love others, but then in my most honest
moments recognize that my words and actions didn’t reflect my beliefs. I did not act in ways that demonstrated a
love for God and for others. My walk did
not match my talk, so I wondered, was my talk genuine? Was my faith authentic?
Jesus once said, “No every one who
says to me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven.”[2] Saying something is so doesn’t necessarily
make it so.
So,
Christian faith must be more than just saying “I believe in this or I believe
in that.”
That’s when
I moved the eighteen inches from the head to the heart. Faith, I thought, must be something you feel in
order to be real. Paul hints at this in
Romans when he wrote, “If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart
that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you will be saved.”[3]
The problem
with equating faith with feeling is that my feelings bounce all over the place
and they are often influenced by events that have nothing to do with God. Some days I just wake up on the wrong side of
the bed. Some days it’s just too cold
and windy. Some days someone says
something to me that I find hurtful and so feel bad for the rest of the
day. Some days are just “one of those
days”. Does that mean some days I have
faith and some days I don’t?
When I look
into the scriptures I find great men and women of God who at times did not feel
all that great about God. Jeremiah, who
did more for God than I ever will, cried out in despair;
“O
Lord, thou hast deceived me and I was deceived. I have become a laughingstock
all the day. Everyone mocks me. Cursed be the day I was born.”[4]
Jeremiah felt bad about God and he
thought it was God’s fault. The reason
he thought it was God’s fault is because he had been doing what God asked him
to do, but all he seemed to get out of it was hardship and heartache. Whenever he stood up in the market place to
proclaim the word of God people responded with criticism and persecution. The
fruit of his faithfulness was more bitter than sweet, more sacrifice than
blessing. With so much going wrong it
was hard for him to feel right about God.
Yet, right after he dumped on God
this litany of woe Jeremiah still found faith within and shouted, “Sing to the
Lord, Praise the Lord.”[5]
So, faith must be something more
than what you feel. It must transcend
the heartache and worry, anxiety and grief.
Next, I looked at my hands. Maybe faith is measured by what you do with
time and talent and treasure. Talk is
cheap. Actions speak louder than words. Jesus said as much in the twenty-fifth
chapter of the gospel of Matthew. In the
parable of the Talents, the master said to those who used well what they were
given, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your
master.”[6] Then he says to those who feed the hungry,
who give water to those who thirst, who visit those who are sick, “as you have
done it to the least of these you have done it unto me.” Those who do right he said shall have eternal
life and those who do not – shall not.[7]
So, faith, I thought, must be
something more than believing, something more than feeling; it must be
something you do. But, what if you can’t
do? What if for reasons of age or health
your abilities and resources are few? What
about those times when God may want you to stop what you are doing so that you
may simply settle in his presence and pray.
Sometimes God says, “Be still.”[8] Often the Bible says, “Stop! Wait upon the
Lord.” The most faithful response may be
to do nothing at all. Faith must be more
than doing.
Finally I looked to my feet. When Jesus said to Peter on the shore of the
Galilean sea, “Follow me”; Peter had a decision to make.[9] He could move his feet or keep them firmly
planted in his boat. He could follow or not.
If he followed, everything would change.
If he would not, everything would stay the same. Following Jesus
involves head, heart and hands.
I think Peter always remembered
that day he first met Jesus by the lake.
I believe he remembered every word, every moment, and every footstep of
Jesus’ three-year journey to the cross.
That’s why he wrote:
“For
to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example that you should follow in his footsteps.”[10]
So where do
these footsteps lead? Sometimes they
lead us to the green pastures and still waters.
Sometimes they lead through the dark valleys. Sometimes they lead us to a place of worship,
and sometimes they lead us to a place for work. Sometimes they lead us to the
quiet place and sometimes to the crowd.
Always they lead to the cross.
There are
at least fifteen recorded occasions when Jesus goes to a quiet place to
pray. Following the footsteps of Jesus
should lead us to that place as well.
So, the first indicator I use to measure my own walk with the Lord is
prayer. That is something you can
measure. You either pray or you don’t.
I find my faith
will become dry and brittle when not quenched with prayer. As it is with physical thirst, spiritual
thirst is only gradually realized. It
sneaks up on you when you are not paying attention. You just drift away from the Lord without
even knowing it.
Probably my
favorite pastime is hiking in the woods.
In my younger days I used to hike a great deal on the Appalachian Trail,
which extends some 1800 miles from Maine to Georgia. It is a well-known and well-mapped trail, but
there are sections which are little more than a bare patch in the woods. On an
idyllic day, when you are looking at the birds and blue skies, it is easy to
wander off the path. At first you don’t
even notice it. You took a wrong turn,
but it is still beautiful, so you keep on walking. Then you hit a stream that’s not supposed to
be there or a mountain that is in the wrong place and then you know you’re lost
because you had not been paying attention.
Prayer is
paying attention to the footsteps of Jesus.
Prayer is looking back to see where you have strayed from the footsteps.
Prayer is looking forward to follow where the Lord leads.
Following
the footsteps of Jesus may lead us to the quiet place – sometimes it leads us
to the crowd.
If ever
there was a person with places to go, things to do and people to see, it was
Jesus. He understood a bustling, bursting calendar. Time after time we see him surrounded by
crowds, pushing, pulling, tugging and tearing for a piece of his time, a slice
of his day, a word from his mouth.
Jesus was
immersed in his world. He was
involved. He cared and cared deeply for
the needs of people, of all kinds of people.
If there was a need for food he fed them, if there was an illness, he
healed, if someone was grieving, he comforted.
Robert
Shuller uses a slogan that describes this:
“Find a need and fill it, see a hurt and heal it, find a problem and fix
it.” And don’t worry about who gets the
credit.
Following
the footsteps of Jesus leads to the marketplace and school yard, to the factory
floor and the halls of Congress.
Following the footsteps of Jesus leads us to commitment to our
community.
Eventually
the footsteps of Jesus will lead us to the cross and that’s usually where we
pull up short. Jesus said, “Whosever
does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”[11] Following the footsteps of Jesus will lead us
to Gethsemane and that means we must face fear that paralyzes, temptation that
taunts, or a decision we want to avoid at all costs. Following the footsteps of Jesus sometimes
requires sacrifice of personal desires for the needs of others. Following the footsteps of Jesus is hard.
That’s
exactly when we need to lift our eyes to our final destination. There’s a bit of prophecy in Habakkuk that
carries this promise:
Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor
fruit be on the vines;
Though
the labor of the olive may fail, and the field yield no food;
Though
the flock may be cut from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls-
Yet
I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The
Lord God is my strength; he will make my feet like deer’s feet,
He
will make me walk on the high places.”[12]
That is exactly where the footsteps
of Jesus lead – to the high places. When
we follow him we will find the best that is within ourselves. When we follow we will find the best that God
has for us. So follow Jesus with your
head and heart and hands.
Let us pray:
Lord, you have bid us come and
follow. Open our eyes to see where you
would lead and our hearts to feel your love and our hands to serve and your
call. Help us to pick up our feet when
we are tired, and hold us when we stumble and when we fall lift us up once
more. Amen.
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