I BELIEVE

Newsweek magazine this week has a long and inspiring cover story about Billy Graham, which I commend to you. Graham is now 87 and in his twilight years, he is still an inspiration to me -- even more now than ever. I was not especially an admirer of Graham until I met him personally. Because of my work at Holiday Inns, on more than one occasion I had the opportunity to talk to him person-to-person while we flew in the Leer jet going 350 miles an hour. On one trip to Washington, there was only Billy and Ruth and Eula and me. We talked incessantly about religion, politics, and our personal faith. Ever since, I have regarded Billy Graham as a Protestant saint.

The reason I share this with you is that I had already decided that my sermon today would be about what I believe. I want to share with you my personal faith. In the Newsweek article, this is exactly what Graham does. In his retirement in the mountains of North Carolina he has had time to reflect upon his personal faith during his lifetime. You will be surprised at the way Billy Graham’s beliefs about life and the Bible have changed. At the age of 87, he has continued to grow in his understanding. His daughter, Anne, said, "When you get older, secondary things, like politics, begin to fall away, and the primary thing becomes primary again -- and for Daddy, the primary thing is, as Jesus said, to try to love God totally, and to love our neighbor as ourselves."

Sooner or later, all of us must come to that time when we must decide the things by which we will live. We must never stop growing and growing means being open to change. I think one of the great tragedies of people as they begin to grow older is that they close their mind to anything that is new or different. I know some people who have refused to learn anything new since they got out of school. In the book of Job, Job asks, "Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?" [Job 12:12] Oh, Job, how I wish that were true. There are so many of us, as we grow older, who lock down on anything that disturbs the status quo.

But while we must be open to change, we must also decide the priorities of our faith. What are the essentials of what we believe? There are certain principles upon which we must build our lives and our characters. It seems to me that every adult should be able to make some expression of the foundation stones upon which their faith is built.

THOUGH THERE ARE MANY MORE, ONE OF THE FOUNDATION STONES OF MY FAITH IS WHAT YOU OFTEN HEAR ME SAY DURING THE INVITATION TO MEMBERSHIP: WE ARE NOT SAVED ON THE BASIS OF WHAT WE BELIEVE, BUT IN WHOM WE BELIEVE. This is a strong and fundamental principle that I believe in very strongly. It has frequently gotten me in trouble because so many people think what THEY believe is what EVERYONE must believe.

This emphasis on freedom confused the Baptist minister in Macon, Georgia. My first full-time pastorate was at a brand new congregation. I was their first full-time minister. The church was growing quite rapidly. Some of our new members came from the large fundamentalist church. Their minister investigated us to find out what we believed. When he learned that the Christian Church emphasizes the centrality of Christ and believe in Christian unity, and that we said that we recognized ALL who believe in Christ as Lord as our brothers and sisters in the faith, it was disturbing to him. At his evening service that week he warned his flock, "Beware of that new Christian Church on Houston Avenue. They don’t believe anything!"

Well, let me assure you, I DO believe in something. Since my youth I have been working out a system of belief. At Phillips University and Lexington Theological Seminary and at Memphis Theological Seminary, I have taken dozens of courses in Christian Theology. I have over a hundred books in my library just on theology. WHAT I BELIEVE IS IMPORTANT TO ME AND I BELIEVE IN IT VERY STRONGLY. But one of those matters of doctrine that is fundamental to me is that nobody ever got to heaven on the basis of their theology!

Let me share another quotation from the Newsweek article: Billy Graham "is an evangelist still unequivocally committed to the Gospel, but increasingly thinks God’s ways and means are veiled from human eyes and wrapped in mystery. ‘There are many things that I don’t understand,’ he says. He does not believe that Christians need to take every verse of the Bible literally; ‘sincere Christians,’ he says, ‘can disagree about the details of Scripture and theology -- absolutely’... ‘I’m not a literalist in the sense that every single jot and tittle is from the Lord,’ Graham says, ‘This is a little difference in my thinking through the years.’ He has, then, moved from seeing every word of Scripture as literally accurate to believing that parts of the Bible are figurative."

That is a significant difference from his earlier preaching. But he is exactly right now, according to my belief. But because it is not WHAT you believe, he was my brother in the household of God then, and he remains so.

ANOTHER FUNDAMENTAL OF MY FAITH IS THAT I BELIEVE IN THE WORLD. Does that sound strange to you? There are so many religious people who do not believe in the world. The first dangerous heretics were the Gnostics. During the time when the Bible was being written there were those who claimed to follow Christ who said the world is evil. They said separate yourselves from anything of the world. They said Jesus was not flesh and blood -- he only pretended to be human. Jesus was a spiritual being. Only spiritual things are from God. They completely rejected the Old Testament. The book of Genesis in the very first chapter, says, "God created the earth and the waters -- and it was good!" Five times it is repeated, "And God saw that it was good."

I see God in the rose, in the falling leaves, in the morning frost. I see God in His creation, in people of every color and nationality. And it is good. Because I believe in the world, seeing it as God’s creation, I am interested in the world. I am interested in what is happening in God’s world. It’s a great big wonderful world out there and I want to see it all. God created some beautiful, good people who live along the shores of the Amazon, and I have talked to them. God created a brilliant and creative people along the shores of the Nile and I have seen their pyramids. God created a people with a long history that live along the shores of the Yangtze, and I have floated down it.

I am interested in what is happening in God’s world. What I read in the newspaper today is the way God is working out his plan for his world.

Don’t misunderstand. I see the work of evil, too. There are evil men and women who are grasping power, and land, and money. There are evil religions who teach their adherents to take their own lives along with a thousand others over the Atlantic ocean.

But, listen, I have faith in the ultimate victory of God over evil.

"This is my Father’s world ...

Our God has made this world; oh, let us ne’er forget

that though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

God trusts us with this world,

to keep it clean and fair.

All earth and trees, the skies and seas,

God’s creatures everywhere."

ANOTHER OF MY FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS IS THAT I BELIEVE IN THE LOVE OF GOD. From reading the Newsweek article, it was very interesting to me that Billy Graham has what the author says is a new humility. "He is sure and certain of his faith in Jesus as the way of salvation. When asked whether he believes heaven will be closed to good Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or secular people, Graham says: ‘Those are decisions only the Lord will make. It would be foolish for me to speculate on who will be there and who won’t ... I believe the love of God is absolute. He gave his son for the whole world, and I think he loves everybody regardless of what label they have.’"

Did you know that the Greeks said that God could not love? If He loved it meant He needed something. And if He needed something, it meant that he was not perfect. And if he was not perfect, he could not be God. God was one to be feared. God was a punishing God.

Many of you know the name of the great British Scholar, William Barclay. Barclay’s daughter was killed in a boating accident. A man wrote him, "I know why God killed your daughter; it was to save her from being corrupted by your heresies." Barclay wrote back to the man, "I don’t understand your God who would do that. Your God is my devil."

In the early days of America, one of the celebrated preachers was Jonathan Edwards. His famous sermon was titled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." He said in the sermon, "the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them..." Edwards’ God is my devil.

ONE FINAL THING THAT I BELIEVE: I BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH. In the Newsweek article, Billy Graham said, "I have a certainty about eternity that is a wonderful thing, and I thank God for giving me that certainty. I do not fear death. I may fear a little bit about the process, but not death itself, because I think the moment that my spirit leaves this body, I will be in the presence of the Lord."

I believe in life after death. I don’t understand it. I can’t prove it. I don’t know what it is like. But I am utterly confident there is life after death. I know it is true because I know God. The God of this universe is a God of faithfulness and gracious love. I can totally depend upon Him.

So I don’t need proof. I don’t need arguments. I don’t need signs or miracles. The eternal God of steadfast love will keep me in his eternal care. I trust Him. And I pray that you will trust him, too.