Radical faith has been given a bad name. A young man named Zazi has made the headlines this week. As some of the evidence is being brought forward the question if he was planning an attack of terrorism on the United States is being raised. And of course the connection was radical Islamic Fundamentalism is at question. A radical faith in such an instance may mean plots and murder and great suffering!! Hatred is done in the name of religion and of God.

Some folks who call themselves Christians practice a radical faith. A few months ago a person saying that they were doing the will of God murdered a doctor who was performing abortions. And, at times, violent actions have been carried out by folks who say their actions were prompted by their love for the unborn. Some believers can be aggressive and in their zeal they can do just the opposite of what they hoped to do. And the world all around us sees such radical behavior and says that they want no part of a Christian Church that would do such things!!

Today I am going to talk about radical faith, but not that type of radical faith. I want to talk about the radical faith as Jesus describes it. Isn’t it quite radical when He says, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It would be better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:43-48)

This is quite a radical faith that Jesus is speaking about!! But don’t take this literally. He is exaggerating in His speech. It is called hyperbole. I once visited a young man, in an institution, who did take it literally and harmed himself significantly. But Jesus in this section is calling for radical faith. Take what He is saying to heart.

If our faith is only part time, only on occasion, only when it is convenient – that is not the faith that Jesus is calling for!! He is asking the question – what gets in the way of being His follower, completely? Whatever gets in the way – get rid of it!!

In the movie Fireproof a married couple are finding themselves lost within their marriage. They don’t like each other anymore and they begin to be nasty and mean to one another. Caleb, the husband, is accused by his wife, Catherine, that what he watches on the Internet has become more important to him than her. He has time on his hands and spends much of that time on the Internet watching pornography. He comes to a point where he has to decide if his heart is going to reach toward his wife or toward what he sees on the screen in front of him. In a moment of great decision he takes the computer outside and he pummels it with a bat. Then you see a picture of the computer in the trash and then where the computer had been was a rose with a note to Catherine – “I Love You More!!” That is radical faith. That is the plucking out of the eye to save the soul.

We can’t be lukewarm in our faith. You know what the Book of Revelation says about those who are lukewarm – they are spit out of the mouth of Christ. (Revelation 3:15-16) The obstacles that stand between Christ and us and show themselves in our decisions concerning our families and friends and faith must be battled. The Scriptures say, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

In a radical faith, Jesus is asking for our entire heart, our entire mind and our entire will. We are His totally. A radical faith, this living faith means that we are responsible and accountable to others, as well as to God. In this section Jesus says, “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone around his neck.” (Mark 9:42) It is wrong to have a heart that sins against the ways of God, but is much worse to teach another person how to sin. If we teach them how to sin we are leading them into hell!!

Mackenzie Phillips and her relationship with her dad was all over the talk shows this past week. What awful things he did to her. And one of the worst is that he taught her how to do drugs. He introduced drugs to her!! And then her battle against addiction to those drugs became prominent in her life. A radical faith understands that we have a great responsibility to the people that God has put in our care. Sometimes parents actually teach their kids the things that are wrong and evil. And sometimes they neglect to teach them what is right. Too many parents neglect to teach and to live the Christian Faith and the ways of Christ with honesty and with integrity to their family. This section may also be understood to say that the mature Christian must be careful to model the faith to the new Christian or to the Christian whose faith is weak and struggling.

There was a father who went to the beach with his kids. He was quicker than they and walked in front of them. But that was all right with them – he left these big footprints for them to jump into to. He laughed as he turned and saw they jump from step to step, but then he realized that where he went they went – and he saw his responsibility to take them to the right places!! Did you know that someone is following your footsteps? Radical faith in Jesus carries with it a huge burden to lead others to wonderful and godly places!!

Jesus speaks some amazingly strong words here. But He would never call us to such a radical faith if He did not have such a radical faith. In my Confirmation class of 7-8^th graders they are required to take sermon notes. They tell me what they heard me say. I have had to tell them that a sermon review without mentioning the saving work of Jesus is not a sermon review. Jesus has to be at the center of every sermon. A Christian sermon is not a pep talk about being better and trying harder – it is about Christ and His saving work. And for all you sermon reviewers and for those who haven’t taken notes for many years – this sermon is no different!! Look at the radical actions of Jesus to make us His!! His heart was set on bringing us a full life, a restored life, one that is considered righteous in the eyes of God. The devil tempted Him to take a short cut and skip the cross and the damnation, even His own followers said the same and tried to have Him forsake the torture and the sacrifice – but He insisted on carrying out His mission.

His is radical in His desire for us. His heart is centered upon us and He did whatever was necessary to make us His once again. He is the one who sets the rose in front of us and says, “I love YOU more!!” In Jesus we have forgiveness of sin. In Jesus and in Him alone we have the promise of life in heaven and on the final day when He returns He will give to us the resurrection of our bodies. What you see in Jesus is an amazing fortitude to make us His people. He did not stop short in bringing to us the greatest blessings in life - a relationship with Him, peace in our souls and strength to live life fully.

A radical faith also takes joy in seeing God do His marvelous work in this world by His own doing and in His own time. There is a story about St. Peter giving a tour of heaven to a number of Christians whose time to come to heaven had not yet arrived. But they wanted to see heaven, just to see what was in store for them. The group was made up of Baptists and Methodist and Presbyterians. And as Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians can be, they were quite loud!! They saw things they had never seen on earth – streets of gold, angels flying around, the Rockies in the World Series. “Oooh’s” and “Aaah’s”, phrases like “Look at that!!”, or “Have you ever seen that?”, filled their tour. But all at once they were told to be quiet as they approached one of the doors of heaven. “Why do we have to be quiet?” they asked, and Peter said, “That is where the Lutherans are, and they think they are the only ones up here!!”

Radical faith sees a radical God at work far beyond us. Our lesson began with the words, “Teacher”, said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in My name can in the next moment say something bad about Me, for whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:38-40)

I pray that we can be faithful to do God’s work here at Ascension. I pray that our denomination will be faithful and zealous in doing His work. But I’m glad that there is radical, Christ glorifying, work being done past this parish and beyond our own denomination. Many Christians have a heart that is for Him.

I hope we can exercise our radical faith. It is based on His love, empowered by His Spirit and is ready to do great and wonderful things in the name of our God for the good of the world around us. Amen!!