Faith- The Foundation for Life
A young woman was speaking with one of my sons last week about prayer. “Who are you talking to?” she asked in all sincerity. She did not grasp the personal Presence of God. They talked on of his daily reading of the Scripture, an exercise that caused her great curiosity. Their continuing conversation showed that she had no faith, not that she is hostile to spiritual matters. In fact, to my knowledge she believes in God, but she has no faith. Prayer, the Bible as the Word of God, even God Himself are not known to her except as ideas, untested and untasted in her life.
How about you? What do you believe? Is your belief real FAITH? What and/or whom do you KNOW?
∙ Some of us believe only in ourselves... our faith is in self.
∙ Some of us believe only in that which can be tested and proven with our five senses.
∙ Some of us are convinced that only science should shape our lives and our thinking.
(That is hard for me to understand given that those are scientists admit to their slippery grasp on most of the ‘facts’ of the universe.)
∙ And some of us, believe that there are realities for which we have no evidence that can be tested, measured, or understood by our physical senses alone and we trust in One who present and personal YET great and immeasurable. That is faith in God.
Such faith makes a person very different from the majority of people. A 150 years ago here in New England lived a fierce individualist who wrote, "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away" (Walden: Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971), p. 326 His name was Henry David Thoreau.
And that is what faith is about... living life marching to the beat of a different drummer. A person full of faith is deeply transformed, caused to live in such a way that those who are mere inhabitants of this present world will regard him with curiosity as one out of touch with the world. But, he is in fact, in touch with a reality the faithless ones cannot perceive.
I invite you to turn in the Bible to a passage that is about faith and those whose lives have been lived in synch with the rhythms of eternity. For the next several Sunday messages, I’ll be taking you to this famous chapter to explore life as it is lived in the context of a vital faith. We will see --
∙ that faith is precious and costly;
∙ that faith is forward focused,
∙ that faith is full of hope,
∙ that faith is fixed in the person of God, and
∙ that faith does not always find its reward in this temporal realm.
Our text: Hebrews 11 Pew Bible page 894
For this message, we will consider vv. 1-7. {READ}
What is this faith of which we read?
∙ Faith is NOT thinking positively. One may think positively as a result of faith. But that is not faith.
∙ Faith is NOT rosy optimism. Again a person full of faith will certainly have reason to be optimistic, but
optimism is not faith.
∙ Faith is NOT having a impression about something and seizing on it.
∙ Faith is NOT just hoping for the best despite all odds. That is resignation to fate!
The Bible gives us a definition of faith in vv. 1,2, and 6. (Re-read)
Faith begins with a restless sense that life should be different. God causes us to ‘hope for’ better things. As long as a person is self-satisfied, content with the status quo, he will not bestir himself to adventure
into faith. I am convinced that the greater enemy of faith is good times. When the check book is full, our families are happy, the nation is at peace, our health sound, and the economy booming... faith languishes. There is no quest for things hoped for because there is the illusion that we already possess everything.
If you are content simply with a full belly and a warm bed, then this message will bore you today and you will be glad for it to end. IF, however, your life is troubled or you want something more than to be fat and happy, you are listening. God is whispering to us all the time that life can be different, that we can know lasting peace, that there is meaning. When we listen to His voice, we begin to hope and the seed of faith is planted. That is what the Scripture speaks to when we read, Romans 10:17
. . . faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Faith is next developed around those realities that we do not see.
It involves a growing awareness that we are surrounded by a spiritual world. The whole explanation of life cannot be found in exploration of this physical earth or even in the knowledge of our psychology. Greater realms influence and guide the affairs of humanity and it is faith that allows us to look over the edge of time and space and into eternity.
To begin to understand this, look no further than Jesus. When he spoke there was a connection between time and eternity. He understood that God was not a Possibility, but a Person. God was his Father! Jesus made no break between this tangible world and the world of the spirit. To him it was a seamless continuum, one intertwined with the other.
We are in the grip of a secular world view that disallows the reality of those things that are not ‘provable’ with tests and measurement. And thus, many of us are blind because we will not see. Faith is opening up to a realm larger than our tiny world.
Faith is surety and certainty; sure of our hope and certain of the invisible realm of the Spirit.
When we acknowledge God’s promise of a richer life and accept the reality of the spiritual world, we are ready for the third part of faith. We become sure enough to begin to re-focus our lives around heaven’s promise.
And this kind of faith is indispensable to a life that is pleasing to God! That is the first summary of this passage.
Hebrews 11:6 ...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.
A man or woman to whom God is just an interesting idea will look at those who focus their lives on discovering and doing His will and conclude that they are irrational, insane, or just plain stupid. It is easy to mock faith for on the surface it appears the height of folly. But, in the end, those full of faith will be proven to be the wisest, for theirs will be eternal life and heaven’s rich reward.
In the short term faith-filled people are disadvantaged. Jesus acknowledged as much in one of his parables. In the 16th chapter of Luke, he tells the story of the dishonest manager. Knowing he was about to be fired by his boss, this man called in all the creditors of the business and cut their outstanding bills in half! In so doing, he made many friends... in the short-term. But in the long run, who would trust such a man? One of the lesson of Jesus’ story is in his own words; Luke 16:8
. . .the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
But then he reminds those listening, Luke 16:13
“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and despise the other.”
People of faith choose a Master who is unseen and unknown to the worldly wise man and in this choice of faith, they must turn their back on short term gains of the world system that is built around self service, pride, and power.
In our text we met three men who illustrate these principles of faith for us: Abel, Enoch, and Noah.
Note: The book of Hebrews was originally addressed to Jewish converts to Christianity. These people were schooled in the stories of the First Covenant. The names of Abel, Enoch, and Noah were well known to them. So in this 11th chapter we are not given background details. The writer assumes we know them. I will not make that assumption and attempt to fill in the background for you.
First we meet Abel. And what did faith cause Abel to do? How does he teach us about faith?
(Re-read v. 4) Abel is one of the sons of Adam and Eve. His brother was Cain. These two men hungered to know God and brought offerings to the Lord. Abel brought a lamb from his flocks as his offering. Cain brought grain from his fields. God accepted Abel’s offering, but He did not favorably look on Cain’s offering.
What does Abel teach us? That faith prompts obedience to God that is complete and unquestioning. Cain was deceived by a lie that still grips those of immature or no faith: That lie? I can come to God on my own terms. No, you cannot! God requires complete obedience from us. One way is not as good as another.
You cannot cut your own private deal with Jesus! The rage that rose up in Cain when God refused his offering was re-directed at his brother with tragic results. The jealous Cain murdered his righteous brother. Short-term Cain prevailed, but long-term it is Abel who is remembered as the person of faith, the one who found favor in God’s eyes.
Are you trying to have your own way and have peace with God? Are you trying to figure out a way to serve two masters? Take the lesson of faith from Abel.... God requires full obedience and rewards it with His favor. Mere belief will not compel us to set aside our plans and desires. Only genuine FAITH.... the sure hope and certain assurance of the unseen reality will cause us to choose God’s will over our own.
Second we meet Enoch. This man is given just five short verses in the book of Genesis 5. Here they are: Genesis 5:21-24
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
What does he teach us about faith? At age 65, he discovered the Personal Presence of God and began to relate his daily life to Him. He ‘walked’ with God. Faith taught Enoch that there was no division between sacred and secular. In Enoch’s life there were no special holy days, all days were holy. And his reward was to take a long walk right into God’s presence without experiencing death!
Ray Stedman, a pastor from California, tells of a little girl who was taught the story of Enoch and she related it to her parents in these words, “Enoch was a man who learned to walk with God and they used to take long walks together. One day they walked so far that God said, ‘Look, Enoch, it’s too far for you to go back, just come home with me.’ So he went home with God.” I like her theology!
Do you ‘walk’ with God each day? Or do you meet God here on Sunday morning and then say good-bye to Him as you leave the doors of the church? Is God welcomed in your home, at your place of work, among your friends as you hang out in the evenings, to listen in to your conversations on the telephone? Is your life made holy by His presence?
Faith understands that God is not limited to holy places and/or special moments. He is our Omnipresent, Omniscient Friend and by faith we walk with Him. O, what a wondrous thought!
Last, we meet Noah. This man you know more about. He built a big boat, five hundred miles from any ocean or other significant body of water. His project took over his life. Why did he built it? Because he was full of faith. He believed that God could do the impossible, so though the earth had never seen rain before nor was there record of any kind of catastrophic flood, Noah stepped out and did what God directed him to do.
It is not hard to imagine that his neighbors had a great time at Noah’s expense. If he’d been alive in our time, the late night comics would have material for entire shows! Nutty Noah!
Faith produces a holy fear because it sees God for what and who He is, not for the caricatures that people make him to be. Faith allows us to trust God for the ‘impossible.’ Noah understood our definition of faith... he had hope, he saw the unseen, and he was filled with sure and certain grasp of those things. What did his willingness to live by faith rather than by popular opinion or past experience bring him? LIFE and life for his family.
Is your faith like that of Noah? Do you believe God is truly omnipotent, capable of doing the supernatural in your life, in our world? In my office, I have a little sign posted that some may regard as corny, but it is true: “I don’t believe in miracles, I rely on them.” And it is true. My natural ability to influence this world for Christ is so limited as to be laughable, but the God I serve is the God who sovereignly rules over this world and His power is capable of changing a human heart as well as history.
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In this series of messages, I plan to challenge you with stories of the faithful that can become a foundation for faith in your life. OR you can wave them all off as myths, legends, and tales from another time. It’s your choice. But I choose to believe God and to orient my life along the lines of his will. Will you?
Many people will not understand your choice. In fact, they will probably use derogatory terms for you. But in the end, YOU WIN!
Listen for God’s voice in your heart this week. Open the Word and let the Spirit make it alive for you. As you read and listen, hope will grow. You will begin to see the unseen, to know the unknowable. Then, make the choice of faith... the choice to build your life on the surety of what you hope for and the certainty of what others cannot not see. You will then be poised to please God in this world because you will be prepared to do His will. Amen.
Closing Prayer....
Lord God, ours is a mixed up world. Many of us are so blessed in material terms. We are well-fed, safe, and secure...yet we are searching still. What we want is to know that our life matters and that our destiny is something more than a grave. Lies surround us, Lord, lies about who we are, what really matters, and even about You. Many try to tell us that we are just the random product of evolutionary chance, that You do not exist, or that You do not care.
Help us to listen for your wisdom as You whisper it into our hearts. Give us hope of eternal life. Open our eyes to the unseen. And teach us to live with Your will and way as our highest goal. Strengthen our faith in an often faithless world so that we will please You and earnestly seek after You day by day.
May your Kingdom come and Your will be done here on earth as it is in Heaven.
In the Name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
