This sermon covers Philippians 1: 1-6 and II Corinthians 5 1-7.

Barbara Brockhoft tells us that a few years ago in DeKalb County down in Georgia, a school had a mock drill as a part of the Civil Defense program. In the test drill there was a fourth grade boy who was chosen to be "hit". He was listed as one of the casualties. In the mock test he was struck down by glass, debris and rubble. An ambulance was to be called to the elementary school where the test was conducted, and at the call of the ambulance, the test timing was to begin.

The first problem arose when someone slipped up and nobody got around to calling the ambulance. Time went by and the little boy was wounded and laid on a stretcher and there he waited to be rescued, but still no one came to his aid.

Then someone saw to the situation, ran to a phone and called the ambulance. Unfortunately, the caller phoned for a unit in the wrong county. That meant a wait -- a long, long wait. After a long period of time, another person, perhaps a little brighter than the rest, called the right ambulance and the call was put in proper order. But again they waited.

Finally the ambulance arrived, lights flashing, sirens screaming, brakes screeching. It roared into the schoolyard -- the medics jumped out, dashed into the school building, ran down the corridor, and finally located the fourth grade class room.

Much to their dismay, there was only an empty stretcher lying on the floor near the teacher's desk. But on the stretcher was a piece of note paper. It was written in the childish pencil scrawl of the fourth-grade student who had been presumably injured. The note said, "I done bled to death and gone home!" (Barbara Brockhoft, "God's Pass/Fail Exam," Pulpit Digest, September-October 1982, p. 321).

I'd say the Civil Defense Unit flunked the test that day.

Paul is not giving the Corinthians or the Philippians to whom he wrote our Scripture lessons today a test. He is laying out for all Christians one of the key areas where we are constantly tested -- faith and faithfulness. As Christians we are called to "walk by faith, not by sight" -- to walk in faith and faithfulness.

In these two passages, Paul is talking about faith and faithfulness -- our having faith, and our being faithful. He is also talking about the faithfulness of God.

Let's talk about our call to walk in faith and faithfulness around these three affirmations:

One, God is faithful.Two, God calls us to faith;and three, God calls us to faithfulness.

I.

First, God is faithful.

This is the great affirmation Paul is making to the Corinthians. He makes it in the context of our most anguishing questions: What happens to us when we die? Is there a life after death? What is the Christian's hope beyond death?

Paul minces no words in answering those questions. He says it as clearly, as directly, as simply as he can -- verse one of Chapter five: "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens."

Then he elaborates on what he said. He talks about this life of ours -- our groaning, our tribulation, our sighs of anxiety. Paul is saying we are vulnerable -- we are open to every onslaught of disease and moral infection -- open to every sorrow and grief -- we are vulnerable. In fact, he uses the image of nakedness. He says the reason we groan and long to put on our heavenly dwelling is that by putting it on, we may not be found naked. He continues that image, suggesting that while we live in this tent, that is while we are in life, we sigh with anxiety because we want to be fully clothed, fully protected and we aren't.

God is faithful. God is going to take these earthly tents in which we are, and give us a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.

Now, that's the way Paul makes his point in this Corinthian passage that God is faithful. He provides us a "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

We could talk about God's faithfulness in a lot of different ways. Indeed, Paul does. Is there a more bracing word than his word to the Philippians, vs. 6 of the Philippian passage we read as our Scripture lesson.

How beautifully, and with what confidence does Paul state :"And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ."

You can count on it friends. Oh I know how weary we can become in well-doing. We labor in our righteous causes, and nothing seems to change-- but remember, friends, God doesn't settle all His debts on Friday. God's payday is not on a weekly or a monthly or even an annual cycle. But God's payday is certain. God is faithful; you can count on it. So, Paul counseled the Galatians -- (6:9 RSV):"And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart."

I received a letter from a young woman in this congregation not long ago. She had come to me for counseling. Her big concern was her husband. We concluded that her ministry was that of prayer. She prayed -- faithfully she prayed -- and God was faithful. Her husband decided to go to Emmaus -- that within itself was a miracle.

Let me share her letter -- changing her husband's name for anonymity sake.

Dear Maxie and Jerry:I know you have experienced many miracle stories from Emmaus, but I wanted to share an update on ours in hopes that it will give you continued strength and power in your dedication to this weekend.We have a Christ-centered husband and father now. It's everything I've prayed for!Henry has been waking up each morning since Emmaus and reading his newly purchased Bible and having prayer time. He has started taking his lunch to work so he can come home early to be with us. He has been less stressed out over his job.He has been in close contact with James Loftin and we are about to start in a couples growth group. He's very interested in missions. He has been meeting with his reunion group bi-monthly. He has been writing notes and letters to people whereas it used to be more "my job". We are sharing Christian thoughts, ideas, and goals.After my Emmaus I felt the need to step out and "really tithe" after trusting God like never before. I shared my thoughts with Henry.He was willing and we changed our pledge together!The neatest thing is that's it's been such a natural, smooth, and real change, and I'm giving thanks each day that we have this so early in life and most importantly seeing all the ways God wants me to respond to others to give back the gift we received."

Now I know that there are countless persons in the congregation who are on the not-yet side, rather than the victory-side of God's faithfulness. Your spouse is still drinking and you wonder how long you can hang in there. You still don't have a job -- it's been nine months now -- the savings are running out -- the future looks bleak, and so many are dependent upon you. Your son is closing in on thirty -- he just left his wife and little daughter -- and he won't talk to anyone. Your mother is just hanging on to life in the nursing home -- existing but not really living -- breathing but not alive and your financial resources are being drained daily.

I could go on and on. You are on the not-yet side rather than the victory-side of God's faithfulness. It's difficult for you to believe what I'm saying. But believe it you must: God is faithful. Not to believe is an awful alternative that offers no hope. So I press on to my next point.

II.

There's another affirmation: God calls us to faith. Not only must we believe that God is faithful, we must respond to God in faith.

In the sermon last Sunday, we talked about the nuclear truth of New Testament Christianity. Our text was that magnificent jewel of theological statement -- verse 8 of Ephesians 2: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God." In that sermon, we talked about the faith that is essential for our salvation -- the decision on our part to allow God to work in us as he has worked for us.

So, Paul would tell us, "We walk by faith, not by sight."

You remember the story of Abraham. It's one of the most moving stories in the Bible, and there's no greater demonstration of faith, and no clearer picture of faith than is captured in that word of Abraham when he said to his son, Isaac, whom he was preparing to offer as a sacrifice. "God will provide."

It's hard for us to even imagine that kind of faith. You know the story. God had commanded Abraham to take his precious son, Isaac, upon Mt. Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice to God. When they reached Mt. Moriah, Abraham stopped and said to the two men who were with him, "You wait here. We are going to worship and we will come back. So he and his son Isaac went -- and when they arrived at the place of sacrifice, young Isaac asked with natural curiosity, "Daddy, we've got the fire, and we've got the wood. Here is the altar, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering."

Can you imagine the pain in Abraham's heart. What he was thinking was -- you, my son, my only son, you are the lamb -- you are the sacrifice. But instead of saying that, by faith -- and what Mt. Everest faith it is -- Abraham simply responded, "God will provide."

And you know the rest of the story. Abraham followed through faithfully, prepared the altar, even bound Isaac on it, and got ready with his knife to make that final movement of faith -- the sacrifice of his only son. But God called out -- God stopped his hand, and told him to look around because he had provided an alternative sacrifice.

I like what Abraham did -- in fact I like how this sort of thing happened over and over again, especially in the Old Testament. When people had an experience with God, they named that experience and they named the place of the experience. So, Abraham called the place "Jehovah - Jireh," which means "the Lord will provide."

To walk by faith is to walk in trust, believing that the Lord will provide. And He will, we can count on it, because God is faithful.

Many of us have checked it out and found it true. Jesus said, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. And in the words of Horatios Bonar, we have tested that and we can say, "I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad, I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad."

Jesus has said to us, "I'll give you the water, springing up to eternal life, and you'll never thirst again -- and again with Bonar, we've found it true -- "I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream, my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him."

Jesus has said, "I am the Light of the world." We've turned to him for that light and found it true, and again we can affirm with Bonar, "I looked to Jesus, and I found in him my star, my son, and in that light of life I'll walk, til traveling days are done."

As Christians we are to walk by faith, not by light.

III.

And then this third affirmation: God calls us to faithfulness.

In Chinese there are two characters for our word "crisis". Those two characters signify danger and opportunity.

We've all heard the story of the fellow who had been tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. He said, "Gentlemen, if it weren't for the honor of the occasion, I'd just as soon walk."

That's what makes life exciting -- there is risk. To walk in faith is to risk. But if there is no risk, there is no stimulation. The issue is whether or not we are going to trust God in the interim between the past and the not-yet future -- and allow God to shape our future. The issue is whether we are going to walk by faith as if there were light; or, whether we will allow fear and anxiety and dread and anger to shape our future.

Gene Williams has inspired us talking about our program: Claiming the Promise. In this program we are putting together all that we are talking about in this sermon -- God's faithfulness, our response of faith, and God's call to each of us -- a call to faithfulness.

You know the story. This congregation stepped out in faith -- pledged over $6 million dollars and built desperately needed buildings for this growing congregation. Those buildings cost 7.3 million dollars. Now we must claim God's promise. "He who began a good work will bring it to completion". And the way we claim God's promise is to respond in faithfulness.

I want you to know I'm not asking you to do what I'm not willing to do. I hesitate to do so -- and I know many will think this far too personal. But how else can I make the witness and sound the call.

Back during the Because We Care Program, we called people not to equal gifts but to equal sacrifice. Jerry and I prayed about our response- what we might do that would witness to our desire to be faithful.

We were tithing our income to this congregation -- and we would continue to do that. Our pledge to the Building Program would have to come from somewhere else. We decided that by changing our life-style just a bit, we could find $200 extra each month. That would amount to $7,200 for the three years. But we could not be happy with that as our pledge. There was really no sacrifice there -- some stretching, but no sacrifice.

We had begun to work on retirement plans. At that time I had about 12 years to go until 65. After much prayer, we decided to take $500 per month we were setting aside for retirement and give that. That amounted to $18,000 for the three years, bringing our amount to $25,200. We knew where that money was going to come from.

Then we took a leap of faith. I don't remember how we came to the figure -- but we decided to add $7,000 more as a bold act of faithfulness -- so we pledged $32,000.

I want you to know we have paid $ on that pledge -- and the balance will be paid by May 31. And you know -- we haven't missed a meal. We have not gone lacking for any material thing. Our retirement fund doesn't have $18,000 that it would have had in it. But you know -- the only time Jerry and I have given that a thought is when I began to prepare this sermon and think about what we are going to pledge now to "Climbing the Promise."

Because the need is not as great – and because there are so many of you that did not have a chance to share in "Because We Care", and because I believe God's people are going to make a faithful response, Jerry and I are not going to pledge another $32,000. But we are going to be bold. We're going to stretch -- we're going to sacrifice some -- not a lot, but some. We're going to pledge between ten and fifteen thousand dollars.

Many of you were not around for the Because We Care program. Countless persons made sacrifices. Horace Branch made a pledge of $3,600 and paid it long ahead of time by baking bread. That $3,600 pledge for Horace at that time would have compared to a $30,000 pledge from many folks in this church. Two young couples sold jewelry in order to give sacrificially. One elderly couple who had our church in their will leaped ahead and took from their estate and gave now what they intended to leave us at their death. The stories go on and on: $2 per week; $500 per year, $5,000; $20,000; $500,000 -- people giving sacrificially; people being faithful -- claiming the promise. The Rogers' made a pledge to build our Center for Youth Ministries -- not out of money they had -- but believing they were going to have the resources to make this extravagant response.

I wish folks like these could share their joy with this congregation...the joy of being faithful.

Dr. William Holmes Orders, long-time great pastor of the Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, tells the story of the two little black boys on a street corner fighting. An elegant white lady came by in a chauffeur-driven limousine, stopped the car, and then told them to stop fighting. The boys stopped just long enough to assess where the orders came from, and then when they saw who was giving the command, they decided they didn't have to mind her, but before they went back to slugging it out with each other, one of them said, "Her ain't talkin' to we, 'cause us don't belong to she!"

To test our faithfulness, we have to keep asking, "Do our actions reflect the one to whom we belong -- the one who has given himself in faithfulness to us.

That's the way we need to approach our pledge to Claiming the Promise. But, more, that's the way we need to approach all of life.

Ellsworth Kalas, my friend who works with us in the World Methodist Council, closed a sermon on one occasion with these words:"When the scores of life are totaled, and God's troops report back home, He will not say, "Well done, you brilliant servant," or "Well done, you ball of fire." No, no; God will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." In God's lexicon of values, it is faithfulness that makes a star performer." ("Star Performer", August 18, 1985, Church of the Saviour, Cleveland, Ohio).

So, don't forget: One, God is faithful.Two, God calls us to faith; and three, God calls us to faithfulness.

So we walk by faith, not by sight.