0805 WHAT IS FAITH?

AUGUST 5 = HEBREWS 11

WHAT IS FAITH?

Faith is something of an abstract concept, to begin with. And when we describe most religions in the world, all using that same word (the Catholic faith, Ba’hai faith, Mormon, Jewish, etc.), it gets even more confusing.

This chapter of Hebrews uses the word more than anywhere else, and it provides multiple definitions, plus even more examples. So let’s see if we can dig down into this word, faith, and make new applications of faith in our own lives. May God use these words to strengthen the faith of each of us in every generation.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 

Faith is more than wishful thinking, and more than superstition. It is walking confidently toward what we are convinced to be true. Faith is like following a map, or simply heeding what the navigation app our phone is telling us about how to get where we want to go. Faith is like flopping down on a chair, trusting that it is going to hold your weight and take the full load. If we didn’t have faith in that chair, we would be experimenting, slowly easing ourselves down and testing it every few seconds.

This is what the ancients were commended for. 

And now comes an amazing list of examples that we sometimes call “the roll call of the faithful.” Examples from Scripture of people who demonstrated their faith by their actions.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 

To begin with, we accept that there is something behind all that we see. Faith sees the evidence and concludes that “Everything did not come from nothing,” as well as that “Everything did not come from itself.” There was both intelligence and force behind all that exists.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. 

Cain was a farmer who raised crops. He brought some to God. But Abel brought an animal, with blood, as God had commanded. So what shall we learn from Abel? Which one acted in faith, and which one did what was more convenient? Do what God calls for, even if it is not simplest or easiest, even if you don’t understand all the reasons for it. 

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 

We know little about Enoch, except that he walked with God. So while others were killed in the great flood, Enoch was spared all that and got a free pass from life to heaven. What are we to learn about faith from Enoch? You cannot please God without two aspects of faith: You must believe that God exists. And you must believe that God rewards those who earnestly seek him. You are doubly blessed when what you live for is something/Someone who is glad to share freely with his own.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. 

Imagine you had never seen a boat, never seen it rain, and you were 500 years old when God came and told you that you were the only person on the planet to have his favor, so you have a hundred years to build a giant boat and save the animals and to keep humans from your family living. Would you build with holy fear? Would you become a preacher of righteousness before all those disrespectful neighbors? Or after a few decades, would you give up?

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 

Speaking of doing things before you could possibly know how it would turn out for you… how about that Abraham, huh? Abraham obeyed and left his father’s home, with no guaranteed income moved back today?

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 

Faith sees beyond the suffering. Beyond the cultural norms. Faith gives you the intellect of a child of God, whose citizenship is not on this planet. Abraham knew that this world was not his home, and he willingly left it all. How about you and me? Do we live as if our citizenship was with God, rather than to be here on earth?

And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 

Sarah was enabled to have children despite its seeming impossibility. How did that work? She considered God to be faithful with his promise, rather than living on a back-up plan.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 

Often still living by faith even when they died, having failed to reach the thing that God may have promised them. I’m not sure how I would have responded to having not received a promise yet. Would I still be trusting that God is there and that he will keep his word, when it hasn’t truly happened for me? That’s a lot of trust, and it’s why they are examples for us.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 

What would cause God to be “ashamed” to be called my God? I suppose if I said that I was a follower, but yet my life was obviously filled with my own short-term, self-seeking pursuits. The same as for any today who bear the name of Christian and yet are such contradictions. You and I can be so glad that we are not like that!

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. 

Here is the third act of faith for which the author presents Abraham as an example. He was told to offer up Isaac as an offering. And in spite of his inner urges that no doubt screamed to not to this, Abraham went to the very edge in his obedience. Talk about obeying by faith! I believe that God can raise my son back from the dead, even though I have never seen it happen!

The chapter goes on to list many more, which we don’t have time to explore in a podcast. But at the end of the chapter comes another reminder of what it means to have faith:

 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

Not one of them actually received their promised blessing. But they kept the pace and stood their ground, finished their mission and did not back down.

And when DID they receive their promise? Not even when they were dead and gone did they get all of it. Not until Christ came and fulfilled the promise! Not until followers of Jesus became the body of Christ on earth, to carry out his will and continue to hear his will through his Spirit within them. And now, TODAY is the appointed time.

What a privilege it is to live in this new covenant. Thank the Lord that every promise is fulfilled in Christ. 

May you and I follow in their footsteps. Amen.