Hebrews 11.1-3, 8-16; Luke 12.32-40

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Our readings today are about faith, and having faith in God.

What do we mean by faith? The reading from Hebrews begins with a definition - faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith is very different from certainty. Faith is about trusting, not about proof. We may not think we have much faith, but, be encouraged, Jesus elsewhere said that faith even the size of a mustard seed could do great thing.

Faith is about trusting something beyond. Faith in God is about trusting God for all your needs and cares. It’s about getting the right centre in your life. Money and possessions are temporary things, things that belong to this world, but ones that we certainly can’t take with us once we’ve gone.

Faith is what Abraham had. Abraham was asked by God to leave his home and set out for a new land. He had no idea where he was going, but he trusted in God. And, he was able to do that because his treasure was found elsewhere, his security was not found in having a permanent home, but in God. Abraham knew that wherever he travelled, God would be there too.

And I hope that that is something that Poppy will come to know as she grows up - that wherever she goes and whatever she does, God will be with her. The baptism service is about faith. Poppy’s parents and godparents will express that faith on her behalf in a few moments. They will promises too that they will help Poppy to experience the life of faith for herself.

Faith can be difficult. Trusting in something you cannot see is no easy task. It’s not surprising therefore that people often end up putting more of their heart into building up a safe and secure home with lots of good things around them than they do in God.

Jesus reminds his listeners in our Gospel reading that we all need to be ready for the coming of God’s kingdom. No one knows when that will be, so it’s important to be always on guard.

What does that being ready mean? It’s very simple - we need faith. There’s no exam to pass to get us into heaven; there’s no amount of good works we can do that will get us there, what is important is believing in God’s love for us and responding to it by putting our trust in him.

How do we grow our faith? At heart faith is about our relationship with God and our trust in Jesus.
For any relationship to grow, we need to spend time together, so the first way in which we can nurture our faith is through prayer.

And prayer doesn’t just need to be the set words we say in church. In good relationships we share our thoughts and feelings, we offer thanks, we build the other person up. It’s the same with God - prayer is about praising God for who God is, it’s about thanking God for all we have been given, it’s about sharing with God what is on our hearts, and it’s about listening - no relationship can grow, if one of the two people only ever talks.

Another way that faith can grow is through sharing our experiences with other Christians. One of the great things about God is that we weren’t created to be alone, and the key thing about the Church is that it is a way of sharing together the life of God. We pray together, we worship together, we struggle together, we celebrate together.

And our faith grows as we serve other people, and find God in them.

There’s a story told about St Thomas:

Thomas was employed by the local king to build a new palace, and Thomas was given money to buy materials and hire workmen. Thomas gave the money to the poor, but always assured the king that his palace was rising steadily. The king became suspicious when Thomas kept putting off his requests to see the work in progress and finally sent for Thomas.  “Have you built my palace?”, he asked.

 ”Yes”, Thomas replied.

 ”Then we shall go and see it now” said the King.

Thomas answered: “You can not see it now, but when you depart this life you shall see it.
I have built you a palace in heaven by giving your money to the poor and needy of your kingdom.”

Thomas put his trust in something that was going to last much longer than a place made of bricks and stones.

This is the life that Poppy’s parents and godparents are claiming for her today. They will express their faith and promise to help her experience the Christian life, a life of prayer, fellowship and service, a life that trust in eternal things, not just in the ephemeral.

But it’s not just for Poppy. This is a life that we are all called to lead.

Abraham found his treasure in God and in God’s promises of that heavenly country, which is more permanent than anything on this earth. Where is our treasure to be found?