SERIES: HEALTHY CHURCH!
“THE CONVICTION FACTOR”
HEBREWS 11:1-12
OPEN
This morning, I want us to examine the conviction factor of church health. A conviction is a strong and unshakeable belief. The word conviction come from the word convince. Convince means to persuade someone to belief by testimony or evidence.
The conviction factor of church health is faith. In the original language of the New Testament, the word that gets translated most often as “faith” is a word that means “belief; trust; to put confidence or credit in something.”
Two fellows who were not-too-bright were walking home after a trip to another town. It started getting dark and one fellow asked, “What are we going to do? If it gets too dark, we won’t be able to find the footbridge that crosses the river and we won’t be able to get home.” The other fellow replies, “Don’t worry. We’ll
figure out something when we get there.”
They finally make it to the river and not only is it dark, it’s also overcast. There’s no moon visible. They can’t see very far in front of them.
One of the fellows remembers that he has a rope in his traveling bag but they can’t figure out how to use the rope to get across. The other fellow then remembers that he packed a flashlight.
The first fellow gets real excited. He’s got an idea. He says, “I’ll tie the rope to the flashlight. Then I’m going to shine it across the river. You walk across on the beam of light carrying the rope. When you get to the other side, you pull the flashlight across and I’ll walk across.”
The second fellow is shaking his head, “No.” He says, “Uh, uh! No way! I know what’s gonna happen – I’ll get halfway across and you’ll turn off the flashlight.”
To the world, faith is foolishness. It’s really no different than those two fellows in the flashlight story. It would be nice if it worked but good luck in the real life. The world sees faith as wishful thinking.
But the Bible says that the opposite is true. Hab. 2:4b – “…the righteous will live by his faith.” Prov. 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” In 2 Cor. 5:7, Paul says, that as Christians, “We live by faith, not by sight.”
Faith is a key ingredient in optimal church health. It’s not just important. It’s vital – we can’t continue very long without it. Faith is the heart that pumps the blood through the body of Christ. If the heart isn’t strong, the body isn’t strong.
Jesus talked about two kinds of faith. The first kind is weak faith or as Jesus termed it, “little faith.” In Matthew Chapt. 8, there’s a huge storm on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is asleep and the disciples are scared to death. They scream and yell like little girls until Jesus wakes up and stops the storm. Mt. 8:26 – “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves and it was completely calm.”
The second kind of faith is strong faith or as Jesus termed it, “great faith.” Earlier in Matthew Chapt. 8, there’s a Roman centurion who asks Jesus to come and heal his servant who is deathly ill. The centurion acknowledges that he knows where Jesus’ authority comes from and that if Jesus wishes, that his servant will be healed. In Mt. 8:10 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
What standard do we use to measure our faith? It’s the same standard by which we measure everything in the church – the Bible. Let’s see what Scripture says concerning faith and evaluate our faith by its teaching..
Heb. 11:1-12 – “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. 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. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. 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. 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 comes by faith. 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. 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. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he 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.”
FAITH SHOWS ITSELF IN WHAT WE BELIEVE
Faith is described in vs. 1. First, it calls faith our “assurance.” It is our “title-deed.” It is our foundation for doing what we do
Then it describes faith as our “certainty.” That means we are convinced along certain lines and that we’ve trusted in certain things. Both of those words – “assurance” and “certainty” – are in sharp contrast to wishful thinking.
Whether they want to admit it or not, Americans live by faith every day. We walk to a light switch, turn it on, and expect the light bulb to emit light. We go to the faucet, turn it on, and expect water to come out. We get in our automobiles, turn the key, and expect the engine to start. There’s a possibility that what we expect won’t happen but we do what we do because we’re confidently assured that we’re going to get what we expect.
Faith says, “I’ve seen just enough of God’s faithfulness in one area to trust Him in other areas.”
Darryl Dash describes it this way: “Faith is the confident assurance that God is in control of the future and that he will keep his promises to me because he has a purpose for me. Faith is building your life on the fact that God is in control, and that God will fulfill his promises even when you don’t see those promises materializing.”
Faith becomes our calm assurance in the face of an unbelieving world. Faith anchors our hope in the creation of the world rather than evolution through blind chance – that we were designed by a loving and caring Creator and we’re not just an accident of the universe. Faith anchors our hope in the future resurrection of the body because Christ was raised from the dead. Faith anchors our hope in the providence of God because the Bible tells us that He will supply all of our need.
FAITH SHOWS ITSELF IN HOW WE LIVE
Since God is in control and since we can trust Him to do what is right and best, will we do what He wants us to do? When God asks us to witness about Jesus to someone else, will we trust that He has made preparations
already in that person’s heart? When God challenges us to examine our lives, will we trust that He will show us a better way? When God says you’re too comfortable in your relationship with His Son, will we step out of our
comfort zone and grow closer? When God leads us through tests and trials to teach us more about Himself, will we become bitter or better?
When Jesus says, “I will build my church,” do we believe that or do we sit and ring our hands because we don’t know what to do next? When there’s ministry that needs accomplished, we will step out in faith and spend the money even when we think we can’t afford it? When something needs to be done, will we say, “I can’t do that?” or respond “I’ll do all that I can?” When the Bible gives clear instruction concerning the purposes of the church, will we be committed to accomplishing those purposes or will we sit back and say, “It’s too much to ask?”
Faith is being obedient even when we don’t understand. Faith always involves a risk. Abraham was obedient even when he didn’t know where he was going. He was old, comfortable, and settled when God came and said, “I want you to go to a land of promise”
Gen. 12:4b – “Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.” Yet, he packed his household and took off on the journey of a lifetime
Abraham was obedient even when he didn’t know how it was going to happen. If Abraham was too old and too settled to move from a place of comfort to a place of uncertainty, he was way too old for the next promise from God
God had promised to make a great nation out of Abraham – that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. That’s difficult when you’ve never had a child. When Abraham was 99, God came and said, “Now it’s time.”
Our scripture this morning says that Abraham was dead in the sense that he could produce children. It seemed such a ludicrous idea that his wife Sarah, age 90, laughed. She was going to use her Social Security check to buy diapers and formula.
So here’s how the Bible characterizes faith at work in how we live: It isn’t always comfortable. It involves commitment. And it is a continual process.
FAITH SHOWS ITSELF IN HOW WE GIVE
Our first example of faith in giving is Abel. Heb. 11:4 – “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.”
To find Abel, we go back to the beginning – to the book of Genesis. Gen. 4:2b-5a – “Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.”
What was the difference? Cain only offered what was convenient and easy. Abel gave to God the choicest cuts.
The next example the Hebrew writer gives us about faith demonstrating itself in how we give is Abraham. Heb. 11:17-19 – “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received 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 raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”
The story of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah gives us an incredible lesson on what it means to give of our all. Gen. 22:1-2 – “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he
replied. Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of
Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’”
Then moving down a few verses we read in Gen. 22:6-8 – “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’ ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘God himself
will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.”
Abraham had been promised by God that his descendants would exceed the stars of the sky and the sands of the earth. That’s a difficult promise to fulfill when you have no children and you’re already 90 years old.
But God provided a natural-born son when Abraham was 99 and his wife was 90. Then God asked Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son – his heir to God’s promise. Abraham did as God asked trusting that God would provide. And so God did.
FAITH SHOWS ITSELF IN HOW WE SERVE
Our first example of faith demonstrating itself in how we serve God is Enoch. Heb. 11:5 – “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.”
Gen. 5:24 – “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” In the very beginning of time, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. Then sin entered the world through their disobedience and because of it, they hid from God. Enoch’s service to God was marked by how he walked and not by how he talked. His life pleased God. The word translated as “please” means that he walked closely with God and made himself available for God to use.
The second example is that of Noah. We know much more about Noah than we do about Enoch. However, Noah shared something in common with Enoch. Gen. 6:9 – “This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Noah also walked closely with God and put himself at God’s disposal.
Most of us know well how God gave Noah instructions to build an ark (a boat)of a certain size and to fill it with living creatures in a certain way because a great amount of rain would fall and great floodwaters would destroy any life left out of the ark. Here is what is said about Noah’s response to God’s instructions. Gen. 6:22 – “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
Now, some people point out that rain is not mentioned in the Bible until Genesis 6. One thing is certain: whether Noah had seen rain and flooding before, he’d never seen it like this before. It took quite a while to assemble a large enough vessel and gather all the required species of animals. It wasn’t an easy task – especially for a man 600 years old who was neither an expert in ship-building or animal husbandry
Heb. 11:7 – “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 comes by
faith.” Noah’s faith accomplished God’s purposes in punishing a wicked sinful world and yet continued a
lineage of people through whom the Savior of all time would come
CLOSE
The writer of Hebrews says that faith that pleases God. Heb. 11:6 – “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.”
This faith shows itself in several things. First, it shows in our worship as demonstrated by Abraham and Abel. Then it shows in our walking as demonstrated by Enoch and also in our working – Noah
Faith accomplishes much more than we could ever hope or imagine. We have a God who is great, a Savior who is loving and kind, and the Spirit of God within us/ Because of that, we have all we need to move forward in the 21st century and beyond being obedient to a God who is faithful to His promises and provides all we
ever need
God has left First Christian Church in Martinsville for a reason. Will we step out in faith and accomplish that purpose in a mighty way? From today forward, the decision is yours
We need to be like the disciples who cried, “Lord, increase our faith!” and like the father of the boy who needed deliverance from demon-possession who cried, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief.”
1 Cor. 2:5 – “Your faith should not stand on men’s wisdom but on the power of God.” Jesus asks in Lk. 18:8 – “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith?” 1 Jn. 5:4b says that our faith is “the victory that overcomes the world.”
Jesus spoke of faith the size of a mustard seed being able to accomplish great things. It’s not the size of the faith, it’s the strength of the faith The strength of our faith is only as good as the source of our faith The source of our faith is Jesus Christ and what He can do through us
Several years back, the evening news reported on a videographer who jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the groups as they fell and opened their parachutes. On the film shown on the telecast, as the final skydiver opened his chute, the picture went berserk. The announcer reported that the
cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without his parachute. It wasn’t until he reached for the absent ripcord that he realized he was free-falling without a parachute.
Until that point, the jump probably seemed exciting and fun. But tragically, he had acted with thoughtless haste and deadly foolishness. Nothing could save him because his faith was in a parachute he never buckled on. Faith in anything but an all-sufficient God can be just as tragic spiritually. Only with faith in Jesus Christ do we dare step into the dangerous excitement of life and death.
