The theme of our Stewardship season is “Wide-Open Doors.”
The inspiration for this theme comes from Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth,
in which Paul speaks of a “wide open doors to a great work”.
The image of the door, or of the gate, which is very similar in Hebrew, appears throughout Scripture,
illustrating different aspects of our relationship with God and our response to God’s grace.
Throughout this year, and particularly during this Stewardship season,
we will explore how we might seek to deepen our relationship with God
as we respond to the grace we have been extended.

Hear the Word of God from Matthew 7, a portion of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 7:7-14
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

I confess that I’m old enough to remember the days when there were only three channels
to watch on television. Some of you will remember when channel 17 was added and then we had four!
That may be difficult for some of you to imagine now.
There was a certain game show that came on in those days during prime time.
It may have been “The Price Is Right”.
Once a contestant made it through the first round, they had the opportunity to choose
door number 1, door number 2 or door number 3.
Everyone knew that behind one of those doors was something really exciting – like a new car!
Behind another door was something relatively good – like a set of patio furniture.
But behind the other door was a worthless joke – like an old broken down jalopy or a goat.
If you chose the right door, you would go home with a new car!
If you chose the wrong door, you would go back to your seat with nothing to show for your efforts.

Faith in God, knocking on God’s door, is not some cruel joke
in which we either receive all the blessings or nothing goes our way.
Faith is the assurance of things that we have hoped for, the conviction of things we have not seen.
(from Hebrews 11:1)
Behind the door of faith may not be a new car, but, more likely, behind that door
will be what we most need, like the gift of hope, or the offer of grace,
or a reminder of what is true and lasting.
Enough people over the centuries have knocked on the door of faith
and experienced the treasure of what is behind that door, so much so, that we continue to believe.
We continue in faith to knock on that door again and again, from one generation to the next.

The opposite of faith is not doubt.
As someone said, “Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith. It keeps it moving and shaking.”
Doubt can help faith grow. Doubt keeps faith real and grounded.
Among Frederick Buechner’s widely read books is one called
“Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter’s Dictionary.”
“I think of faith as a kind of whistling in the dark,” writes Buechner,
“because in much the same way, “it helps to give us courage and to hold the shadows at bay.”

The opposite of faith is not doubt but the shadows of fear.
This is why the messengers of God in the Bible always say first, “Do not be afraid.”
This is why Jesus told his disciples, “Fear not. I have conquered the world.”
Jesus and God’s messengers could have said, “Have faith!” but it speaks more to our human condition
when they exclaim, “Fear not!”

Oh, but fear is powerful. Fear sells.
Fear sells everything from security systems to insurance policies to handguns.
Fear is real and can be overwhelming, even paralyzing.
“Thinking will not overcome fear but action will,” says Clement Stone
This is why Jesus encouraged us – “ask, seek, knock”….
Mary Ferguson wrote: “Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.”
An unknown author wrote: “Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.”
“Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow.” (anonymous)

Faith may be the opposite of fear, but faith is not necessarily the absence of fear.
Rather, faith is the assurance that something else, or Someone else, awaits us, behind the door,
who is more important, and yes more powerful, than our fear.
Ask, search, knock…take some form of action…
and the promise is that you will receive, you will find,
you will discover that door will be opened for you…

At least one of the important actions of asking, searching, and knocking on God’s door
is reading the Bible. Eugene Peterson wrote:

“We are fond of saying that the Bible has all the answers. And that is certainly correct.
The text of the Bible sets us in a reality that is congruent with who we are as created beings
in God’s image and what we are destined for in the purposes of Christ.
But the Bible also has all the questions, many of them that we would just as soon were never asked of us,
and some of which we will spend the rest of our lives doing our best to dodge.
The Bible is a most comforting book; it is also a most discomfiting book.”
(Eugene H. Peterson, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading)

We keep reading the Bible, we keep knocking on that door, generation after generation,
because it brings us hope…and comfort…and challenge.
The Bible answers some of our questions, then it raises new questions we had not considered.
The Bible is our prayer book, our law book, our story book of faith.
The Bible is history and poetry and prophecy and wisdom; it is strange and wonderful and inspiring.
The Bible reminds us of our limited humanity and God’s boundless divinity.

Today, Emily Wilmesherr and others will lead our children and their parents
in a “Festival of the Book” just after worship, to encourage us all to keep reading the Bible,
because it will keep opening the door for us, the door to faith and truth and life,
and an open door to the very presence of God.

Prayer is another form of action, another important way that we knock upon the door of faith.
As Vernon wrote in his blog this week: “(Prayer) will transform you.
It will lead to gratitude and it will make it possible to do unto others
as you would have them do unto you…
Prayer can and will change us but we have to offer ourselves up and wait—trusting in God’s care.
…and sometimes the answer to prayer will be ‘no’.”

Last week, when I got in my car one day and cranked it up, the radio was already on.
One of my sons had borrowed my car and tuned the radio to a country station.
The Garth Brooks song “Unanswered Prayers” was playing.
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
Sometimes in prayer, we have to wait a while for the door to be opened.
Or, sometimes the door is opened, and we find some opportunity very different than what we expected.

Acts of service is another form of knocking on God’s door.
Many have discovered that we often meet Jesus face to face when we serve our neighbor.
When we extend ourselves on behalf of another, we are reminded of what Christ did for us,
and by God’s grace, we often discover his presence while performing that action.

Finally, stewardship – what we do with our time, with our talents, and with our resources
is a form of knocking upon God’s door.
When we invest ourselves in what God is doing, when we seek to participate in God’s kingdom,
we discover that the door will be opened for us, that we will enter a new realm, a new reality,
that has different values than the kingdom of this world.
Stewardship has everything to do with which kingdom we are investing our lives in.

Knock and the door will be open for you – by reading the Bible,
praying without ceasing, selfless acts of service, investing in God’s kingdom.
It is in these actions that we meet Christ face to face, that we discover communion of the spirit,
that we come to hear God’s still, small voice, and find God’s will for our life,
or at least for that next step we are called to take.

As Jesus said, If your child asks for bread, do you give a stone? Of course not!.
Or if your child asks for a fish, do you give a snake? No!
If we then, who are so limited in our grace and goodness, know how to give good gifts to our children,
how much more will our Divine Parent in heaven give good things to those who knock upon the door!
“How much more”, Jesus says, “will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask!”
Knock…knock…knock upon the door…

Amen.

Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Georgia
October 15, 2017