Clinging to The Faith That Saves

[Introduction]

Today is the Feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle. Among the twelve, Thomas is one of the more famous apostles, albeit for asking some of the questions we are all afraid to ask. After declaring in John 11 that he was ready to follow Jesus into death, it is Thomas who wonders how we can know the way to the Father. So Jesus tells him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It is also Thomas who doubts the resurrection. After demanding that he be able to touch the hole in the hands and side of Jesus before he believes, “doubting Thomas” becomes “believing Thomas” when our Lord comes into his midst one Sunday morning with all the disciples and reminds him that he now has peace. Put your finger here and see my hands. And put out your hand, and place it in my side, Jesus told Thomas. Do not be unfaithful but faithful. Of course, Thomas’s immediate response was “my Lord and my God” (Jn 20:24-29). Then Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me, do you believe? Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe (20:29).

Brothers and sisters in Christ, like Thomas, we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus, but thank God that we are all so blessed to be filled with a glorious and inexpressible joy as we await the outcome of our faith.

Now that said, let us turn our focus toward another man who appears to be just like both Thomas and us.

Meet Gideon ... who in our OT reading doubted that The One True God ... (his name is YHWH ... the One who saves us) ... is actually with us, and wants to talk with us, and have communion with us, and cause our salvation. As the evangelist to the Hebrews will remind us, Gideon is among those who through faith conquered kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises ... escaped the edge of the sword, were empowered from weakness, became strong in war, put foreign armies to flight (Hb 11:33-34).

But when you read the story of Gideon in Judges 6, 7, and 8 ... you can’t help but ask all kinds of questions surrounding Gideon, including who is God? What is faith? And how do we respond to doubt? Because in Judges 6, the sons of Israel fully embrace idolatry in their worship of multiple gods, including Baal and Asherah.

1. So an obvious question first: Who is God? Or how do we know who “The God” is?

A lot of people think they know who God is. They speak about God, and call him God, and say they believe in God. The Jews fall into this camp. So too do the Muslims. And the Mormons. Our world is filled with people just like these groups who say they have faith in God. But I will let you in on a secret ... Jews, Muslims, and Mormons, among others ... all claim to believe in God ... even the God of Abraham ... but they don’t believe in the same God as you ... The God.

You confess this truth every Sunday through the Apostles’, Nicene, or Athanasian creeds. God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we confess. He is Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity. He is the maker of heaven and earth. He is the Word made flesh, born of the virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, and descended into hell. He rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father. And he will come again. He is also the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified ... who spoke by the prophets.

Jews, Muslims, and Mormons not only don’t believe this, they outright deny this. And you cannot claim to have “the faith” in “the God” apart from these confessions.

2. So what does it mean to have “the faith”?

It is quite natural to start with the definition the evangelist to the Hebrews provides us: Faith is confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (11:1). In other words, it is trust. It is not simply knowledge of history. It is not a human work. We cannot produce faith (Eph 2:8). As Saint Paul says, faith is the working of God (Col 2:12). [He has] given [you] grace for the sake of Christ to believe in him (Pp 1:29).

The faith that he provides comes only through hearing and receiving the promises of God. Apart from hearing and receiving, we would not have the conviction that Jesus died and rose again ... and that he delivers to us the forgiveness of sins through his means that proclaim his death and resurrection. Hearing and receiving are both passive activities. You don’t have to do anything to hear and receive God’s Word and gifts apart from the Divine Service. This is the place ... this is the time ... where God’s Word and gifts is being spoken and received. This is where and how God comes to you.

That’s what happened to Gideon earlier in Judges 6. God came to him, appeared to him and spoke to him, and promised to be with him, and sent him. The Word of God gave him faith. And as the Hebrew in our reading notes, Gideon began speaking to The God.

3. And he became a man attested to have faith.

Yet today, we hear Gideon doubting ... doubting God ... doubting what God will do .... doubting how God will do it ... doubting ... even though God was literally with him. Then he demands a sign from God to prove himself.

It sounds just like us, doesn’t it?

When we are introduced to Gideon, the sons of Israel had been doing what was evil in the sight of God, literally being idolaters, withdrawing from society, relying only on themselves. It sounds just like us, doesn’t it?

Those activities cause doubt. But God still desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So he did what we find God always doing, amid our doubt. As Gideon was threshing grain to make bread to go with his wine, the Angel who is YHWH, declared YHWH is with you ... to which Gideon retorted: Oh please, my Lord, if YHWH is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are his wonderful deeds? (6:12-13a)

It’s a common refrain among us all. Sometimes we do it like this ...

If God is really with us, and baptism really does give us eternal life, why do I suffer?

If God is really with us, how can I be sure he gives his body and blood to forgive my sin?

If God is really with us, why do I even need the forgiveness of sins ... again and again?

If God is really with us, when will our people have peace?

Behold, I tell you a mystery: Where Christ is, there is peace! He causes our salvation.

Gideon questioned that this way. He said, If it is your existence to cause Israel to be saved by my hand as you have said. Behold, I am setting a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said. So [God] made it happen.

As he was rising the next morning, he drained the dew from the fleece to fill a bowl of water. Then Gideon said to The God, Don’t let your anger burn against me. Let me speak once more. Please let me test once more with the fleece. Please let the fleece be dry, and upon all the earth, let there be dew. So [God] made it happen; the fleece was dry, and all the earth was covered with dew (vv 36-40).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ ...

4. We who have been cleansed in the water of baptism, and fed with the bread of life, and absolved of your sins: How should we respond to doubt?

In our Old Testament reading today, Gideon ... like Thomas in the Gospel reading ... did not always trust that God was with him. He had his doubts. But then YHWH spoke, just like he does to you every Lord’s day. Then Christ has appeared, just like he does to you every Lord’s day. And the Spirit has come upon us all. He has given us all the faith ... the one true faith ... to believe in the one true God ... that he is with us ... that he will save us. That erases doubt.

Now we know through the Gospel that Jesus has crucified our enemies ... sin, death, and the devil ... giving himself into death, even death on a cross ... and giving us the victory.

Now we know he was buried, resting from his work of redemption.

And we know we know he conquered hell and he is risen! ... His life is now your life.

And behold, he is coming!

Who here needs a sign to confirm this?

When you find yourself in doubt, look no further than the font and the altar, and hear and receive the Word of God and his gifts. Jesus has united himself with you in baptism, so that, having cleansed you by the washing of water with the word, he can present you to himself in splendor for eternal life (Eph 5:26-27). He has also prepared for you a feast in celebration of forgiveness. From the altar, he gives himself to you, his body and blood to eat and drink ... his food for the soul, which nourishes the new man. This is how he shows that he is always with you. As Luther teaches us, “for by Baptism we are first born anew. But as we have said before, there still remains the old vicious nature (that doubts). ... Therefore, the Sacrament is given as daily pasture and sustenance, that faith may refresh and strengthen itself.”

[Conclusion]

Like Gideon and Thomas, our Lord God has equipped us all for the work of ministry, for the building of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Let us no longer be tossed to and fro by changes in doctrine like the sons of Israel in Gideon’s day (Eph 4:12-14). Instead, in the faith, let us cling to the promises of God who saves ... in Jesus’ name.

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