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In 1980-81 I lived in a foreign country – Alabama (it’s just a joke, Alabama friends). I lived in Dothan, in the southeast corner of the state. While living there, an Albertson’s store came to town. I don’t think we have any Albertson’s near us, but they were one of the early “big box” stores, combining a drug store, grocery, and other items. Management wanted the store to be open on Sundays, but Dothan had “blue laws,” which prohibited many businesses from opening on Sundays. “Blue laws,” as you probably know, were laws stemming from the 4th commandment – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy– and prohibited businesses from operating on Sundays. I remember there was quite a bit of discussion at church about the store asking to be open on Sundays. In Sunday School classes, in between worship services, and at Sunday lunch – at restaurants – it was the big topic of discussion. It didn’t seem to matter to people that the restaurants where they were having Sunday lunch were open on Sundays, and people had to work so they could enjoy their lunch.
This morning, we are continuing the series of messages What Did Jesus Do? Today’s message is, What Does Faith Require? If we want, for instance, to honor the 4th commandment, what is required of us?
Our Scripture text continues where we left off last week. The text tells of two times when Jesus was criticized. The first criticism was that he and his disciples did not fast and the second criticism was that Jesus and his disciples had violated the Sabbath day. We will also read one verse from the prophet Micah.
Follow along as I read Mark 2:18-28 and Micah 6:8 –
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.
22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.
24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
8He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
So then, what does faith require?
Faith requires belief, but it does not enforce a creed.
What, to you, is an essential belief? Imagine, for a moment, that you were asked to make a list of the top 10 beliefs; what would they be? What would be on your list? What are, in your opinion, the essential beliefs about God, the Bible, the church, and other topics? And, should those beliefs be required?
Those are not simple questions, are they? It’s not easy to come up with a list of essential beliefs, and it is an even more difficult question when we consider whether or not any beliefs should be required. I worry at times, are my beliefs correct? Am I understanding and interpreting the Scriptures correctly, and does my understanding and interpreting lead me to belief what I should believe? I want to believe what God wants me to believe, though I’m not always sure what those beliefs should be, to be honest.
Here’s what is important to remember about beliefs – on their own, they are not enough. Listen to what James 2:19 tell us – You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. James is saying, essentially, what good are beliefs, in and of themselves? Even demons believe, but what does it matter that they believe? James then goes on to have quite a discussion about the importance adding actions to our beliefs, and we’ll get to actions in a few minutes.
Over the course of history, there have been far too many examples of how particular beliefs have been imposed on people rather than allowing people to be free to make their own determination on what to believe. In Disciples’ churches, we come out of a movement that rebelled against creeds and any other belief requirements. Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and the other founders of the movement that led to our churches, reminded us that most doctrines are founded upon human opinions rather than God’s eternal truth. It was those opinions – and the forcing of those opinions upon others – that led to the division and factitiousness of the church, causing it to splinter into scores of denominations. This led the Campbells and others to reject the development and application of creeds, saying instead that we should adopt the practice of in essentials unity, opinions liberty, and all things love. I think the Campbells and their allies were exactly correct. I have a friend who has been critical of Disciples churches in some of our conversations, telling me that Disciples churches don’t have any particular beliefs; there is no theological center. I remind him we have many beliefs, but we do not require them of others or impose them upon anyone.
It is very noteworthy, I would say, that Jesus did not have a creed or impose a creed upon anyone. When he called Peter, Andrew, James, and John, for instance, he did not say to them, now that you have agreed to follow me, I need you to acknowledge and sign this statement of faith. One day there is going to be something called the Apostle’s Creed, and it will be required of many people. I want to require it of you, so as soon as you drop your fishing nets, how about signing this piece of paper promising that you will believe everything in this creed? Jesus did not have an Abstract of Principles, he did not have an Apostles’ Faith and Message, he did not have a Nicene Creed, or any of the many other creeds that have developed over time. Jesus, in fact, said very, very little about what we should believe. Very little. Read through the gospels and take note of how rarely he told his followers what to believe.
Again, I am not rejecting doctrines and beliefs; I am, however, rejecting any requirements that were not put in place by Jesus. Jesus did not put into place a list of required beliefs; humanity did. Putting them in place and making them “official” was about control more than it was about theology. It was a way of having enforcement, where someone in power could say, remember, you signed this piece of paper. Do what we say, or we will take action against you. If you don’t ascribe to what we tell you to believe, you can’t receive communion in our church, you can’t get married in our church, you can’t teach a class in our church, you can’t serve in a position of leadership, and on and on it goes.
Faith requires belief, but it does not enforce a creed.
Faith requires action, but faith is not legalistic about our actions.
In this morning’s passage, Jesus was “questioned” about why he and his disciples were not fasting. Not all questions are asked to gain information. Some questions, such as the one asked of Jesus, are a way of making a criticism. Fasting was an important spiritual practice of the day, and it was a way that some people demonstrated their spirituality. In the eyes of the Pharisees and others, Jesus and his disciples could not be serious about their spirituality if they were not serious about fasting. But much of the fasting of the day was done more for the benefit of others, as Jesus noted in Matthew 6:16-18 – 16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. With those words, Jesus unraveled the reason why many of the Pharisees chose to fast, which was to let everyone “see” how righteous they were. If you’re righteous, you don’t have to go out of your way for people to see that that you are; it will be obvious.
When he was criticized for violating the rules about the Sabbath, Jesus reminded the Pharisees of the time when David and his men were so hungry that they ate the consecrated bread in the tabernacle. The consecrated bread was 12 loaves of bread that were placed on a table in the tabernacle, in front of the Holy of Holies, as an offering before God. Once a week the bread was changed and it belonged to the priests and only the priests were allowed to eat the bread (see Leviticus 24:1-9). But David and his men took the bread and ate it in their time of need. While many would have seen that as an egregious violation of the law, Jesus noted it was entirely correct for David and his men to eat the bread. They were hungry, and human need took precedence over man-made laws and regulations (note – it was not that honoring the Sabbath was a man-made law, but the many interpretations of how the Sabbath was to be honored that were man-made laws).
The 4thcommandment is eight words – remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Very simple, isn’t it? But what does it mean to remember the Sabbath day, and to keep it holy? Suddenly, when we try to define what it means to keep the Sabbath holy, things get much more complicated. I do not fault, then, the Pharisees for their impulse to bring a greater sense of personal holiness and righteousness to everyday life. That’s a good impulse. That’s a great impulse. In fact, the Pharisees came about as a group for precisely that reason – to bring a greater sense of personal righteousness to life during a time when personal righteousness was widely viewed as lacking. Developing a greater sense of personal righteousness is something everyone should desire to do.
However…
The actions of the Pharisees became legalistic, and demanding, and rule-oriented, and actually discouraged people more than encouraged people.
Turning to the command to honor the Sabbath day, the Pharisees had a good impulse. The 4th commandment, after all, only says to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. That doesn’t provide a lot of guidance, does it? How would you define what it means to keep the Sabbath holy? Would it include closing stores and businesses? Would it forbid particular activities? For the Pharisees, the question became, then,what does it look like to keep the Sabbath, and before long, there were literally hundreds of commands regulating what actions could or could not be performed on the Sabbath day. I think it’s safe to say, that was a bit of overkill. Who could keep up with almost 1,000 laws regarding the Sabbath? I can’t go to Kroger without a list when I only need two items! How could I remember almost 1,000 laws and regulations governing the Sabbath? The Pharisees took a benefit – a time of rest – and in turned it into a long, long list of requirements, which took away the benefits of the Sabbath and turned it into a burden.
Here is the problem we have, when it comes to requiring particular actions, such as fasting or how we observe the Sabbath, once you start down that road of creating “guidelines,” where do you stop? How many actions will we require? How many practices will become mandatory? Before we know it, we end up where the Pharisees were.
Human need takes precedence. The Sabbath was not to be a burden; again, human need takes precedence. Faith would be very simple if it consisted only of elements such as going to church, reading the Bible, and not working on Sunday. I think that would be very easy to fulfill, which is exactly the problem with legalism. It is so much easier to devise a set of rules and regulations that can be easily fulfilled rather than adhering to the more challenging calls of, for instance, loving our enemies. We can create a list of rules and obligations and fulfill them faithfully, but we can also fail to ever offer a kind word to another, never offer or ask forgiveness, never provide help to the hungry, or any of the other actions that are a part of a life of faith.
What does faith require? Faith doesn’t require; faith asks, and faith asks for love.
Faith asks for love; it does not require it, because if you require love, it’s not really love. Beliefs can be enforced, and actions can be enforced, but you cannot enforce love.
I became a member of another denomination back in 1980, when I was living in Dothan, Alabama. I remained in that denomination for about 25 years. When I returned to seminary, I attended one of their denominational seminaries. Twice. I joined that denomination right as they began tearing themselves apart over questions of doctrine, theology, and correct beliefs. I went to class many days to find people visiting from churches who were worried about what was being taught, and they tape recorded the lectures in case something objectionable was said. Sometimes, those who were tape recording asked me if the professor ever said anything that I found objectionable or that challenged my faith. One of the points of a seminary education isto challenge faith, to make sure we know what we believe, that we can defend what we believe, and that we are prepared for the rigors of the ministry. The purpose of a seminary education certainly should not be to affirm what we already think. The first time I attended one of that denomination’s national conventions was in 1984, in Dallas, Texas. It was disturbing to witness the level of anger and dissension that was wrapped up in that convention. Everywhere I turned were pointed fingers and angry words. One afternoon, as I walked around the display area, where the various denominational agencies had their displays, I watched one person get right up in the face of a denominational employee and exclaim, we’re going to get you, and I can’t wait to watch you go down! For people who claimed to be acting in the name of Jesus, they seemed very much devoid of the love of Jesus, in my opinion. In fact, in all the years of fighting and arguing and tearing down that took place in that denomination, in the midst of all the arguing over right belief and right doctrine, I never once heard this question asked – do you think we’re loving people enough? Maybe they didn’t ask that question because they already knew the answer, and it wasn’t a good answer.
What does faith require? Yes, it requires belief and action, but faith first and foremost asks for love. Love is the heart of God and it permeates the Scriptures. We all learned, for instance, John 3:16 at some point in life. I don’t remember if I learned that verse in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, but I’ve known that verse for many years – for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. There are so many beloved passages of Scripture that speak beautifully of love, such as I Corinthians 13. There are other passages as well, such as the third and fourth chapters of I John, which speak powerfully of love. There is Philippians 2:1-11, and I could go on and on, but these examples make my point.
Churches have fought amongst themselves for years and years over what constitutes correct belief. Churches have lectured and judged people for years and years over how they should act. What people want, and need, however, is love. Love, after all, is the very heart of faith.
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