But by Trust
Heb. 11:1-16 Gen 15:1-6 Luke 12:22-40
8/12
† In the name of the Messiah, Jesus †
20 …may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV)
How far will you trust?
Getting in a car? Moving across the USA?
Universe Created or all ages ordered? (Phillips)
Each and everyday, you take a chance, and trust people. For example, you exhibit trust when you get in your car, and take it out for a drive. You trust that they made the car dependable, and safe. You trust your doctor’s, or at least you do, if the first and second opinion are the same. You have trusted friends and schools to care for you children, for the most part. But either actively, or passively, you place your trust in those around you. You also, within limits, trust your children to behave.
Often, there is a limit to how much you trust someone. For example – how many of you would trust your mechanic with babysitting your child? Another example is when I have to find a new doctor, I ask him about his knowledge of my genetic syndrome. If he has no knowledge, I am not likely to let him work with me.
I have said it before, and as we deal with a chapter describing the faith of those who have gone before us, it makes sense to repeat it – faith is a verb, an action of our will, that is best defined, in English, as trust. So our first verse could read, 11 Now Trusting God means we have the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
One pastor described faith in the following way,
Faith may not fully comprehend the mystery of God’s speaking to us. Faith cannot always explain everything about God’s attitude and action in our behalf. For faith is the assurance of things for which we hope; it is the conviction of that which we do not see (Heb. 11:1). Fundamentally, faith is the relationship with the God who cannot be fully comprehended by his creatures, particularly when their minds are still suffering the damage of the fall into sin.
Faith, trust in God, is that relationship where we accept his promises, even though we cannot fully understand them. This is what the author of the Hebrew Epistle means in verse 3, from the Phillip’s translation,
And it is after all only by “trusting God” that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command - that the world which we can see has come into being through principles which are invisible. Hebrews 11:1 (Phillips NT)
It is this lesson, that the saints of God found to be true in this chapter, that they had a relationship where the level of trust, their faith, that serves as a lesson to us.
Received Commendation
God witnessed their faith!
Abel’s sacrifice, Enoch – taken away,Noah saved his family! Abe travelled,
Sarah conceived while stiff
In the new ESV translation we use, follows the NIV, when they use an interesting word, a number of times, “commendation”. It replaces words or phrases like good testimony, or good report, or acknowledgement, in discussing what the people of old received by their faith. I tend to think of commendation as one of those citations, or certificates a sherriff or firefighter receives, because of some noble and brave action. More than just a pat on the back from the boss, it is a statement made to the public, to the community, that you have done well.
In the case of Hebrews 11, it is God saying, yes, you are mine. We see it similarly in verse 16, where it says, God is not ashamed to be called their God. God is willing to, before all, acknowledge the relationship that these people of old had with Him, and because of that relationship, and their trust in Him – He is building them a city. This is not because they did such great things, but because they recognized they were in a relationship with God, where they could trust Him.
Because Abel trusted God, he presented a sacrifice that God received, not as a payment for Abel’s sin, but instead as a testimony to the fact that Abel was found righteous, because he trusted in God. Same thing for Enoch, who trusted God and therefore pleased God and was taken away, not having to suffer through a painful death.
Noah would trust God at His word, and save His family. Some of you have seen Evan Almighty, I can’t imagine it being any less of an odd situation. I mean, if your neighbor started building a wooden boat the size of a battleship, how would you react? Yet, He trusted God, and saved His family! Whereas the world which would not trust God, and ignored the salvation He offered, and thereby was condemned.
You see, that is ultimately the point – will people choose sin, and the cost of it, or will they trust in God to provide salvation. Noah trusted, and got in the ark. This chapter is about the many have trusted in God for something more, because of His faithfulness to fulfill His promises. and they will be satisfied.
The chapter goes on and on, Abraham will move a thousand miles away, and live in tents – while waiting for a promise, the same promise Issac, Jacob, and so many others would wait for – a promise land, a city, where they would live with God. Sarah, whose womb is described as barren in English – the word is stiff in Greek, laughs, but trusts God’s word about bearing a child, whose descendants would outnumber the stars, and not just the ones you can see from Anza – ALL OF THEM.
By trusting in God
We can approach Him
They knew something unseen existed for them
The City founded, designed, created by God
How? Better than Abel’s blood…
That is our faith, that which convinces us, finally of His love. That encourages us to draw near to him, trusting His call to come and be His people, trusting in Him. Is n’t that what this passage says? “whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Trusting that He would deliver just what He promised to deliver. As one devotional said about this passage,
“Whither he went, he knew not; it was enough for him to know that he went with God. He leaned not so much upon the promises as upon the Promiser. He looked not on the difficulties of his lot, but on the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,”
Whether it was Abel, or Enoch, or Noah, or Sarah, each trusted that though they couldn’t see what God had created for them, it was His character that allowed them to receive the promise, and live in view of it. Not just trust in this life, but trust in the eternal plan of God, for it look at verse 13,
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
That is the nature of faith, as I quoted earlier, that though our minds cannot quite conceive of the entire picture He has planned for us, we have enough trust to accept it anyway. We know of the Kingdom they sought, and saw. It was far off for them, a distant glimmer in the future. It was enough to help them realize that they were different from the world, with different views, and a different God. Their homeland was the evidence they needed, to trust God, and live based on it.
That is the simplicity of it – we aren’t claimed by God because of our work, though our work does testify of something far deeper – a trust that shows a live and active relationship – where we have confidence in God, that transcends any other relationship.
Our evidence is even more sure, even more does it support and protect our faith. A key to it is found in the next chapter,
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:22-24 (ESV)
You see, we understand this new covenant – this new testament. And while we may not realize it, we understand why Christ’s blood, shed for us, is better than Abel’s. For while Abel’s testified to God witnessing His righteousness, and the guilt of his brother, Christ’s blood testifies to our being counted righteousness by faith, even as Jesus bore our guilt.
There is our evidence at the altar, the very place where God tells us, come, my children, the ones in whom I am not ashamed to be called their God, come and eat, and know you are mine, because of Jesus’ body and blood, given and shed for you.
The blood which is the reason why we trust in God, that which convinces us that we have a peaceful relationship with Him. And we trust that it will guard our hearts, and our minds, in Christ Jesus.
AMEN? AMEN!
