Sermon Preached by

The Rev. Fulton Porter, III

November 15, 2009

Pentecost XXIV

St. Thomas Church

Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10; Mark 13:1-8

Living By Faith

In the name the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sooner or later it will happen to all of us.  All hell will break loose.  That fact is that all hell has already broken loose.  The events of Sept. 11, 2001 were nothing short of hell breaking loose, for at 8:48 am and at 9:06 am on that day our lives changed forever.  The way that we live and go about our business changed forever.  When the planes hit and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center went down; when the pentagon was damaged and when another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, it set off events that changed forever the way we live our lives.  Planes were grounded.  Barricades went up around buildings.  Businesses were closed.  Sporting events were postponed.

This is what happens when all hell breaks loose.  One cataclysmic event sets off a chain of events equally as destructive.  All hell breaks loose.  Lives are changed.  Families are lost.  The hopes and dreams that we had are destroyed.  Lifestyles are changed.  All hell breaks loose.  It happens to nations, it happens to individuals and it happens to churches.  Love dies and divorce follows.  Sickness comes and takes away our means of earning a living.  Cancer takes one whom we love.  All hell breaks loose.  Tragedy strikes.  Life falls apart.  A child turns to drugs.  A preacher is caught up in scandal.  All hell breaks loose.

It can happen suddenly and without warning.  Just ask the thousands of people were caught up and involuntarily involved in the events of September 11.  They woke up and kissed their families good-bye.  They got their newspaper and coffee and went about their business as usual, and then all hell broke loose.  Their ordinary day turned into the most destructive day of their lives.  All hell broke loose.

Carolyn Knight says that while we are trying to get to heaven we are either experiencing hell, catching hell or going through hell.  If we want to go to heaven, it seems to me that we have got to go through some hell.  Some of us have been through some hell this week and are still going through hell right now.  Some of us met some road blocks and have been abandoned and all we have is Jesus.  But I came to remind us that the true test of a Christian's character is what he does after he comes to the blockade in the road and what his attitude is after everything has left him except Jesus. You will never know down here that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have left. You will never be able to tell the world for sure what He will do in a crisis unless you learn how to live in a crisis.  You will never be able to defeat the powers of hell until you have been there for a minute.

The biblical text today from the Gospel of Mark describes a time when all hell breaks loose: “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.”  The apocalypse, the end time when the wrath of God will be released on the earth and creation will be brought to justice.  God will loose hell in order to bring the reign of heaven.  Jesus speaks of suffering which has never been seen or experienced before.  Daniel speaks of a time of anguish such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.  Paul writes to the Hebrews that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  For when God gets hold of us, judgment will be pronounced, and who can stand the judgment of God?

But I believe these passages have more to say to us than to point us to the end of the age.  These passages help us to understand how we make it through hell on earth.  These passages give us clues as to how to make it in times of great trial, tribulation and suffering in our lives.  How do we go on when we can go no further? How do we make it when all hell has broken loose?  The book of Hebrews gives us the hope.  If we read a little further in Chapter 10 we come upon the answer.  Hebrews 10:38 tells us that the just will live by faith.  What do you mean preacher?  Well let me dissect this a bit.  The term Just means righteous-  it means an individual whose personality and behavior has been made acceptable to God through the merits of Jesus Christ.  How many of us can stand in the courts of the justified today?  The word Live means to be, think, speak or act.  The word Faith means love for, always seeking, reliance on, hope in, obedience to and trust in God.  The just shall live by faith is defined then as the individual whose personality and behavior has been made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ- being, thinking speaking or acting out of love for, reliance on, hope in , obedience to and trust in God.

The first thing, however, that we as Christians must come to grips with is that living an  exemplary life does not exempt us from suffering and trials in this life.  Living a life of faith does not exempt us from pain or prevent hell from breaking loose in your life.  You can come to church 24/7/365, pray 12 times a day, be the rector, be the deacon, work diligently in your guild, feed the poor, preach the gospel, sing in the choir, pay your tithes, serve as and usher, or be a chalice bearer.  None or these things will prevent hell from breaking loose in your life.  Our faith in God is not the immunization from the storms of life.  In fact, the opposite may be the case.  When you have be justified through Christ; when you are a Christian, you are the best there is. You are a good church member, you study your bible, you pray and so you are the leading candidate to go through hell because you can handle it.  You’re ready!  You’ve worked out in God’s word.  You’re buffed in God’s spirit.  You have studied all of the plays.  Your equipment is in tip-top shape.  This is what you need when you go through hell.

When trouble comes in our lives, it may be because we are living right, not because we are doing anything wrong.  Trouble comes to the best of us and the most faithful of us because we are equipped to handle it, and in our handling it and coming through it, our lives can be a testimony to people about the love of God!  In these hellish times God needs people who are able to stand up and be a witness for Him with a song, with a word, with a will and with a walk.

The other thing that we must understand is that the access to hell in your life is limited by the mercy of God.  In other words, God will not put on you any more than you can bear.  The book of Hebrews reminds us that God cuts short our days in hell by his mercy.  He cuts short our suffering by his mercy.  He cuts short our trial by his mercy and based on the fact that you have reached your limit.  The good news today for all of us going through some hardship or trial and it seems like it won’t end is that- you must be stronger than you think.  God will allow only so much confusion, chaos and challenge in your life.  Be assured that God will not allow trouble to last always, sickness to linger for long, or evil to destroy us.  God will not allow darkness to overshadow us or death to defeat us.  God will only allow so much hell in our lives and so we must understand clearly that although we don’t have the answers, the just will live by faith, not by sight, not by knowing everything that might happen or worrying about what could happen.  The just shall live by faith- the individual whose personality and behavior has been made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ- being, thinking speaking or acting out of love for, reliance on, hope in , obedience to and trust in God.

And God is not always going to explain himself to you while you are going through hell.  But I am a witness that God will reveal himself to you in your hellish circumstances.  I am reminded of Brother Job, who endured loss after loss; trouble after trouble after God allowed hell to be loosed on his life.  Job never got an explanation.  He never got a warning.  He never got any notice that hell was on his horizon.  Everybody and everyone had an opinion about Job’s predicament.  I want you to read the book of Job when you get home.  Everybody had something to say except God.  His wife said that he should curse God and die.  His best friends accused him of some secret sins that must have caused his suffering.  And God never said a word.

When Job cried out and began to ask questions as to the “why” of the situation, trying to get some answer to the cause of his predicament, God answered him with some questions of his own.  God summoned Job into the court of human conditions and asked him some questions of his own.  God said “Come here Job.”

(Chap 38)

 4"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
 7when the morning stars sang together
   and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

 8"Or who shut in the sea with doors
   when it burst out from the womb,
12"Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
   and caused the dawn to know its place,
19"Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
   and where is the place of darkness,
 22"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
   or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
24What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
   or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

God is in a different league than we are in.  God uses a different manual than we do.  God’s ways are not our ways.  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s actions are not our actions.  Knight says that our attempts to exact explanations from God only frustrate our faith.  God is just too deep for us, so God need not explain himself.  But what God does is reveal himself.  All of us who need the answer to why September 11, or why hurricane Katrina or why your own personal hellish storms, I do not believe one is coming.  What we do know is that there is sin and evil in the world.  There is hate and chaos all over this land.  There are things which happen that are beyond our control.  And I believe this is the only explanation coming.

All of the “why’s” may never be answered.  You may never know why they died and left you.  You may never know why you suffer certain illnesses.  You may never know why trials and tribulations come.  You may never know why natural disaster comes.  But what we all need to know and believe and trust in the midst of our trouble; in the midst of going through hell and in the face of great evil is that God will show us his power and his love.  God is not dead.  God is not absent.  God is not silent.  God is listening when we pray.  God is working it out for us.  We must endure trouble right now, for whatever reason, but we know that God is able to see us through.

And so we live by faith.  The just must live by faith.  We must be, think, speak and act out of love for, reliance on, hope in, obedience to and trust in God.  We can be like Job, who never lost his faith.  He maintained his integrity and his testimony became stronger.  This is why he could declare in hell, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”  Job lived by faith, so when his trial came he could shout, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”  We who now must walk by faith in the midst of our own hells must be able to say like Job, “all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”

Through the chaos and the heartache and the pain when all hell breaks loose we must know that God has a purpose and God has a plan.  Even though all hell has broken loose, I know that God is able.  God is providing for me in the midst of my hell as I live by faith.  God is strengthening me in the midst of my hell as I live by faith.  God is keeping me even as I go through hell.  God is loving me even as I walk through the darkness of hell.  So I will live by faith.  I will praise God for what he is working out in me and I will declare like Job, “When God gets through with me, I shall come forth as pure Gold!”

Amen!