Last week we took a look at failure. We discussed that God’s love is unconditional. He doesn't remove love because of your failure or give you some love when you succeed. He loves you because He made you. Paul made his case that even with his failures; God was using Him to unleash His power on the earth. God loves flawed people, because God loves people. And this truth leads us to our discussion on faith. Hebrews 11 is often mentioned as the hall of fame of faithful people. The list of these folks in Hebrews 11 includes names you’ve heard a million times if you grew up going to Sunday School: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. Obviously the writer of Hebrews didn’t consider this an exhaustive list, the author includes the nation of Israel as it escaped Egypt and all the prophets. The writer is simply providing some examples of what faith looks like in the lives of real people.
We can’t forget that simple truth. The people mentioned in Hebrews 11 were real folks. They were in extraordinary circumstances, they did and saw things that were spectacular and unique to their experience but they were no different than you or I. In the section of this chapter that we are taking a closer look at today, verses 32-40 we discover some truths about faith. These are hard and difficult truths, but, incredible and encouraging at the same time. The writer sums up his chapter about the examples of these people of faith with this, “How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword.” Hebrews 11:32-34
When I think of faith I think of two phrases. “God can.” and "God cares." There are days when I wonder if I have the strength to deal with my problems. I wonder sometimes where my motivation is going to come from to get out of bed, or to go to work, or to take care of the responsibilities of the day. It’s not that I’m lazy. Laziness is a different topic for another day. But do you know what I’m talking about? Have you had days like that? Have you been in a situation, or a circumstance, or has something happened to you or your family and you just wonder how you’re going to get through it? This is one opportunity for faith to kick in. Notice I said, “opportunity”. This is one aspect of faith that should be witnessed in the life of a follower of Jesus.
Last week when we discussed failure we talked about Paul. He said, “I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Paul is identifying with all of us who have had those difficult days that I mentioned earlier. Right now on Staten Island, in parts of New York and New Jersey people are having some very difficult times. Hurricane Sandy ripped apart several communities and there are many folks who wonder how they are going to get through this. The Jesus follower may have moments of weakness, doubting the power of God to endure in their life, but, the weakness is fleeting. A Jesus follower knows that “God can”. This is the foundation of our faith. God can help His children overcome. I’m happy that we have the community auction coming up on Saturday to raise money to send to these folks, because this is one way God works. He works through His church to bless the hurting. The church of Jesus is a people group whose essential business is to love others as Jesus loved us and who routinely come together to share faith, enjoy testimony and most importantly pray with confidence, boldness and power.
Loving others as Jesus loved us is the first essential business of the church. Paul says it this way in Romans 12. “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.” This sums up everything that we’ve discussed the last few weeks about what is Church and taking a look at our failures and faith. Be genuine in loving others. Love is the motive that drives everything we do as a church. When the people of God come together to do God’s stuff, God’s way then God shows up in power.
By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. These miraculous events that you probably remember learning in Sunday School were not accomplished because of the strength of the people who did them. These awesome miracles were accomplished when these folks were weak, tired, worn out, and frightened. God showed up in their weakness and because of their faith achieved these incredible results. Even Jesus himself went to the cross as a weak, broken, beat up and frightened man but then accomplished the most incredible miracle in history by resurrecting Himself from the grave.
Romans 6:4 says, “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”
The power of God does the miraculous for those who have faith and who in their weakest moment trust that God will show up. The first thing I think of when I discuss faith is “God can.”
God will work his power in the lives of those who are genuine followers of His Son, but, that doesn’t mean He will work the way you want Him to. God isn’t, as I heard Him described one time, “a celestial vending machine.” You can just put a little prayer in and believe that whatever you want is what you’ll receive, but, it doesn't ever work that way. And this leads me to the second thing I think of when I discuss faith, “God cares.” Have you ever made anything that you put a lot of time and creative energy into? It’s human nature to appreciate the value of hard work, money and time.
In 1986 I bought a car. I worked all that summer for a group of Mennonites who built automated chicken coops. These guys worked long and hard hours. They picked me up at 7 AM and didn’t drop me off at home until after 6 PM every day. We had a 30 minute lunch break and the rest was work. I worked hard. They paid well though. After a few weeks I had saved over $3,000; according to the inflation calculator at www.shadowstats.com that would be about $6,300 today. As an 18 year old kid I felt rich. Now I wish I could tell you that I was responsible with that money. That I put it into a savings account or invested it to help pay for college, but, that’s not what I did. Nope, I did what every red blooded American teenager wants to do with cash, I wanted to buy a car. Not just any car. My dad had a friend who had a Toyota Corolla who was wanting to sell and he thought that it would be a great deal for me. A reliable, fairly cheap way to get around and pretty good gas mileage was my dad’s thinking. Well, that made no sense to me. I needed a hot rod.
I had worked long and hard for my money and that’s how I saw it. It was my money. I knew God. I went to church every Sunday. I thought of myself as a Christian. But I was no genuine follower of Jesus. Not then anyway. I was selfish. I knew what I wanted, I knew what I had worked for and I got it. A friend of mine sold me a 67 Chevy Nova.
This will mean nothing to some of you, but, for those of you who know cars, this car had been rebuilt to race. It had a 400 small block engine with a Holley high performance carburetor and high pressure fuel pump, a 3,000 rpm stall converter, and a trick kit. Now, I shared this story with you about my car because I loved it. Why do I still, today, after almost 30 years remember this car with fondness? Because I had worked hard for it. I shouldn’t have bought it. It was a bad deal because it only got about 10 miles to the gallon and traveling back and forth on 12 hour drives from home to college burnt out the engine. It was a high performance drag race engine, not designed for long distance travel. But I looked great in it. And I worked hard for it. So, even though buying this car was one of the dumbest things I’ve done, I remember it fondly because of the effort I put into it.
I see this same truth work out in the faith of people. I have taken many groups of folks to a children’s home in Anahuac Mexico, the Casa De La Esperanza, or the House of Hope. I learned early on that those who put the effort into going, whether it was fund raising or the preparation sessions we did leading up to the trip, were much more likely to have great attitudes and work hard once we were there. The first year I took a group I didn’t make the preparation sessions necessary. About half the crew were faithful attending the six preparation sessions. The ones that didn’t put the effort into it, tended to be cranky, whiny, and didn’t respond well to the inconveniences of a mission trip. I learned after that first experience to make the prep sessions mandatory. When people put effort into something they generally have more appreciation for the result they get; the more effort, time, energy and money, the more appreciation for the result. This is how people work. What does this have to do with faith? Everything.
I want to read through the rest of Hebrews 11. “How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.
What would this piece of Scripture look like if the author was describing the activity of a modern Christian in North America? Is any of this relevant for us? Anybody stoned lately that we know of? These atrocities happened to real people. People just like you and me. But just because we live in a culture that allows us the freedom to worship Jesus, doesn’t mean, we live in a culture that loves the truth of God’s Word. The world would find a way to kill Jesus today just as the world did over 2,000 years ago. The world has always hated the truth. And always will. So if you live the truth, if you speak the truth, if you genuinely love the truth you can expect the world to hate you, just as it hated Jesus followers in the beginning.
Jesus said, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” John 15:18-19 Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12, “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” And John in his first letter says, “don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” 1 John 3:13
The word for hate that Jesus and John use is miseo and it literally means to renounce one choice in favor of another. The dictionary defines hate, “to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or hostility toward.” So the idea isn’t that the world intensely dislikes you, although there will be some who will because they hate truth. But many folks in the world will appreciate a genuine Jesus follower, someone who loves others more than they love themselves. Generally people appreciate kind and generous folks. Mother Theresa is a great example of someone the world thinks a lot of. Billy Graham is often invited to the White House and other government institutions to lead prayers and offer counsel.
In his book Bono On Bono: Conversations With Michka Assayas, Assayas records this conversation he had with the world’s most popular rock star.
Start Quote.....
Mr. Assayas: Don’t you think "appalling things" happen when people become religious?
Bono: It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.
Mr. Assayas: What's that?
Bono: At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics-in physical laws-every action is met by an equal or an opposite one, and yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that. . . . Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.
Mr. Assayas: Like what?
Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge, it doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.
Mr. Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world? I wish I could believe in that.
Bono: The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven.
Mr. Assayas: That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has His rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that far fetched?
Bono: Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: 'I'm the Messiah.' I'm saying: 'I am God incarnate.' . . . So what you're left with is either Christ was who He said He was-the Messiah-or a complete nutcase. . . . The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that's far fetched.
End Quote....
Now, I didn’t include this exchange between Mr. Assayas and Bono to debate whether or not he’s a genuine Jesus follower. I hope that he is, but, that’s not my point. Mr. Assayas has a typical world response to the message of the truth of the gospel. He likes Bono. He appreciates his music and wants to spend time with him, but, when it comes to faith in Jesus, Mr. Assayas calls it lunacy. Paul addressed this typical response when he said, “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
So Mr. Assayas is renouncing the truth of Jesus as the Son of God in favor of believing that he was just another teacher or founder of a religion. In the Bible sense of the word Mr. Assayas hates the message of Jesus. So do a lot of folks. This means that people like Mr. Assayas are going to treat those of us who genuinely believe this truth as lunatics or weirdos even if we're Bono.
When it comes to faith I believe in two things; God can and God cares. Why did the followers of Jesus mentioned in the Hebrew writers' description endure the horrific treatment of persecution? Why did they keep their faith in Jesus as the Son of God even though they were tortured, jeered at, their backs cut open with whips, chained in prisons, stoned to death, sawed in half, killed with the sword. Why did they wear skins of sheep and goats, were destitute, oppressed, mistreated, wandered over deserts and mountains, hid in caves and holes in the ground? These are followers who invested a lot in their faith. They gave their life for it. And the author of Hebrews tells us why they endured all of this for their faith.
“They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.” God loves us. He loved us so much that He gave us Jesus. Jesus gave us a means to escape death. Genuine followers of Jesus have a home with God in heaven. These early followers showed us by their example how valuable this gift was to them. This gift is the proof of God’s love for us. 1 John 4:9-12 says, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”
The Hebrew writer concludes chapter 11 with this statement, “All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.” This is the promise of heaven. Heaven is perfection. We’ll never know what it means to be perfect here on earth. We’re flawed, messed up and sinful. But God cares for us, God loves us so much that he accepts our imperfections, our flaws and our weaknesses and transforms us into a life with Him through His Son, Jesus.
If as people we gain more value from something the more we invest in it, then how valuable is your faith? I don’t think asking a hypothetical question is all that effective, like, “are you willing to die for Jesus?” I’ve heard preachers ask that question, but, who really knows the answer to that until you’re faced with the decision? I think a more effective question is simply this, “what are you going to sacrifice?” You’re not faced with the dire consequences of the first century followers for giving your life to Jesus, but, that doesn’t mean you won’t face dark days. In those moments you must rely on the fact that God can. God can overcome anything you face. And you must also believe that God cares. The proof of God’s love is discovered in those who are followers of His Son. We are the love of God on the earth. We are His compassion, we are His mercy, we are the hands and feet of His grace.
Colossians 2:12 says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”
Are you living as a witness of the gospel of Jesus?
