After taking a week off from our series last Sunday to celebrate Mother’s Day, we return today. I hope all our mothers had a wonderfully blessed day and I hope your family showed their love and appreciation to you on your Special Day because you are so special to us.
Today’s Holy word is FAITH. When we speak to a non-Christian about having faith, I wonder if they fully comprehend what we are talking about. I wonder if all Christians know the full extent of the meaning of the word FAITH.
I quote something written by GD Coppedge in a devotional he published this past Wednesday concerning FAITH. “God creating the world by His will is hard for many to believe. God sending His Son to earth by a virgin birth is even more difficult for others to believe. The fact that Jesus lived and died for our sins is impossible for even more to believe. With all this, it’s even more important to know your faith is real. Your faith is what separates you from all those who will never see heaven.”
Let’s take a close look at Faith today and see where it fits into the equation of our relationship with God.
PRAYER
It’s hard to know what to believe any more. The internet is filled with topics from everything from politics to medicine, to conspiracies. And all the writers who present their side of things will promise you that what they are saying is the truth, even though the “facts” they present contradict each other. And if you doubt what you read, they’ll tell you something like, “It may sound hard to believe, but just accept it as true. Take it on faith……and I say, “REALLY?”
Let me ask you, “Is faith something that we just jump into blindly when we want it to be true—or is it something more?” When we read through the Bible, we see a whole different idea of faith. We are going to begin in the book of Hebrews 11. The writer of Hebrews captured the essence of what faith is in a single chapter.
In this chapter, we see individuals whose faith was grounded in something solid: A faithful God who could be fully trusted.
So, let’s push aside everything we have read on the internet about faith, put the secular books down that make an attempt to define Christian faith, and let’s take hold of a different understanding of faith from what the world describes. Faith isn’t believing something without substance. Hebrews 11 shows us real life examples of people who faced overwhelming situations and expressed a faith grounded in God.
Let’s see what God tells us about faith and what it SHOULD be.
Since the Christian life is a life of faith, let’s be very clear on what faith is.
Right up front I will say that faith gives us confidence. Faith has substance. It’s an assurance based on the reality of what God has done and said. Faith is an inward conviction. We trust God and know He will do what He says He will do because He always does.
Hebrews 11:1 describes how faith works and what it does. READ Hebrews 11:1-3.
“Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”
While we would all agree the universe exists, not everyone knows why and how it came to exist. Our universe isn’t some accident of physics; it’s the intentional work of God who reveals Himself first as Creator.
God was faithful in the beginning in His work of creation. Because of that truth, we can believe He will be faithful to the future of His creation. And to highlight his point, the writer of Hebrews reminded us that God made everything from nothing: (v.3) “what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”
God spoke and the universe came to be. God began with nothing and brought all that exists into being from nothing. We can be confident and have faith that God will continue to work His will in our world—and in our lives.
Now here’s where faith comes in. Is the universe merely a giant cosmic accident? OR did God have some purpose or plan? Christians know the answers to the “why” and “how” questions because of our faith. We accept it based upon what the Bible says. (V.3) “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.” We can only understand this by hearing God’s Word and believing what He said. God spoke and we take Him at His Word. That’s faith.
By studying nature, we can understand some things about the Person of God. In the same way, studying a work of art will tell us something about the artist, the early church fathers considered nature the second book of God. So, if a work of art tells us something about the artist, think about what God’s work of art—the universe—tells us about Him. For instance:
• The massive size and scope of the universe point to God, who is all powerful.
• The details in nature and the intricacies of our bodies all point to God, and His infinite wisdom.
• The consistent laws of the universe point to God, who is constant and unchanging.
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Hebrews 11:4 gives us our first example of someone of faith. It says, “4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.”
After the writer described faith in vv. 1-3, he gave us several examples of those who demonstrated such faith. These biblical heroes of faith were people just like us who saw God working in their world and found ways—sometimes dramatic and courageous ways—to join God in His work. These people trusted God and endured in Him. We can do the same.
The first real life example of faith comes from the life of Abel, whose story is found in Genesis 4:1-10. The story goes like this: Abel was killed by his brother Cain in a jealous rage. Both brothers gave an offering to God. God accepted Abel’s offering, but it says in Gen 4:5, “but he (God) did not have regard for Cain and his offering.”
What was the difference in their two offerings? I’ve been asked a number of times why God accepted Abel’s offering but refused to accept Cain’s offering. And there is much speculation about it and many differing answers to that question. Abel raised sheep. Cain was a farmer and raised crops. Some say that Abel’s offering was accepted because it involved blood. Cain’s was just produce.
Actually, we aren’t told much about it, but the text offers some hints. And here is what I feel the answer. Abel was careful to choose the best of his flock to offer to God (v.4). “. . . some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.” It wasn’t the offerings themselves that made them acceptable or unacceptable. It was the attitudes behind those offerings. But that’s another sermon for another time.
Faith is confidence and trust in God. It’s a response to who God is, what He says, and how He has worked. For instance, when we give the tithe (10% of our gross earnings), we say to God, I am trusting that you will provide a way for me to survive on the remaining 90% of my pay. Abel expressed that confidence and trust through his worship. His faith in God affected the way he made his offering. In his faith, Abel was sure to choose the best he had to bring before God. He gave God the best he had to offer. He gave God what was right, not what was left. Make sense?
Cain presents a different picture. He apparently didn’t show the same worshipful trust in God. Cain had no faith in God, and as a result, his offering was a ritual, not a true act of faith and worship. Cain’s offering simply didn’t mean much to him; therefore, it didn’t mean much to God. Where do you stand with God based upon your giving? Think upon this the next time you give. Is it worship or a ritual?
Our confidence that God alone is God and no one is like Him affects our choices and actions. Since no one is greater than God, why would we want to bring less than our best to Him? Abel understood that.
I read Isaiah 26:3 the other day and it says, (speaking to God), “You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.” I read that and it brought back a memory.
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When my dad was in intensive care for the last 7 weeks of his life, and he and I were alone, he asked me, “Do you think I’m going to make it?” I told him, “If you had asked me that question a few days earlier, I really would have doubted it. But you’ve taken a turn for the better. So, keep going like you are and you’ll make it.”
Well, it didn’t get better. And over the next several weeks it grew worse. The day before he died when he begged us to take him off all the medication that was essentially keeping him alive, I told him, “If God has something else for you to do here, then he will keep you with us. If not, then he’ll call you home.” Dad said, “Either way, I’m ready.” You see, he was at peace because his mind was dependent on his heavenly Father. He trusted God and his faith was based on God’s promise of eternal life in heaven. Because of dad’s faith, he was able to respond in worship even in the darkest moment of his life. When we have faith in God, a natural response is to worship Him.
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In Hebrews 11: 5-6 we are given a 2nd example of faith. “By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
We know very little about Enoch, but what we do know is extraordinary. Enoch was the father of Methuselah—the oldest person recorded in Scripture—and then when Enoch was 365 years old, “he was not there.” (Gen. 5:24) The writer of Hebrews says, God took him away. He never died. He simply went from walking with God in this life to walking with God in eternity. That’s all we’re told. And we are told that Enoch’s faith was the key to this new reality.
Faith—confidence in who God is and what His coming kingdom has in store for His people—causes us to live our lives now the way we will live one day in heaven. A life of victory.
The writer of Hebrews was like a good teacher. He stopped in v. 6 to emphasize his point. And his point was rather blunt. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” In comparing faith with works, faith takes priority.
Hear me on this: without faith, works would never happen. There’s no motivation to do anything if we don’t “believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (v. 6)
• We live the way we live because we know that God exists.
• We do what we do because we’re sure God is there.
• We live to please God because we believe God will reward those who seek Him.
And what is that reward? Riches? Fame? No, we don’t want anything so shallow. We want the victory God gave Enoch—an eternity of walking with God. We seek God because we want the kinds of rewards only He can give. We find everything that is truly important in His presence: things like peace, joy, and hope. We believe only God possesses these things and only He can make them part of our lives.
Look again at v. 6. The writer says “the one who draws near” to God. You need to know that if you draw near to God, you will do so with deliberate and intentional actions. You can’t accidentally draw near to God. You must do so by faith. And the first step of faith (also in v. 6) is to believe that God exists.
Has the devil ever whispered in your ear, “You repented of your sins and you trusted in God, but look what’s happened to you?” Believers can’t rely on good works, religious rituals, or spiritual disciplines for salvation. We have to believe in God’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ and nothing else.
V. 6 also says that we must “believe that God rewards those who seek him.” That means to trust God’s goodness and fairness. Let me ask, “If you face a terrible trial, will you continue to believe that God loves you and cares for you? OR do you have a tendency to blame God and walk away?”
Faith will take a stand against that temptation, believing God will reward those who seek Him, even if they face suffering. Believers live in the confidence that the rewards for faith come in eternity, not necessarily in this life.
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We started off today talking about all that God has created. And I am so thankful for God’s creation. And I truly believe the things of creation were created for our enjoyment and our provision. But what about man’s inventions?
Recently, I was watching a documentary about the top 101 inventions of all time. Pretty cool stuff. Human ingenuity is pretty amazing. We’ve figured out how to do all kinds of things. I think one of the best things human imagination has come up with is the toilet. I don’t know what you think, but it’s made my life a lot easier.
But, in spite of how smart we are, do you know what we haven’t been able to come up with yet? A way to cheat death and live forever. Yet God has said in the scriptures that he has already taken care of that for us. All we have to do is put our faith in Jesus. It doesn’t have to be ’spiritual giant’ sized faith. Simple faith is sufficient. The same kind of faith that we put in our light switch or car ignition. We simply trust that it will work.
And you have faith whether you realize it or not. When you walked into this sanctuary this morning, you had faith that the roof wouldn’t collapse on you. When you sat down, you had faith that the chair would hold you.
But, I guess, in spite of it all, and when you get right down to it, we really do still need God for our most important need.
Maybe you will object and say, “I have faith in a light switch because from experience I know it works.” Ok. I hear you. But I say to that, “You know that now, but you didn’t before the first time you tried it.” Did you?
Maybe your reluctance about God is that you’ve never truly given him a fair try.
Maybe you should reconsider. Give God a try—a real, honest try. Lots of us have done that, and we’ve found him to be even more reliable than electricity—especially during the storms of life.
We came to God in faith, and that’s how we live our Christian lives, by faith. And by faith we will hold onto Jesus while we are still here on earth. But when our time comes to pass from this world to the next, we no longer need faith. Did you know there’s no such thing as faith when we get to heaven? That’s because we don’t need faith when we see our Lord face-to-face.
But, while we are here, we do as Paul instructed in 2 Cor. 5:7, which tells us,
“7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
