Elevate to the Next Level
“Living in Faith”
Hebrews 11
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As we enter this series “Elevate to the Next Level,” which we began the other week with “Living in the Holy Spirit,” I want to move into a mini-series within this series, and it’s based upon how Paul ends his section on love in 1 Corinthians 13. And I consider these to be the top three attributes of being a Christian.
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV)
And so, today I want to start with the first attribute by asking the question, “What Pleases God?”
What does it take to please God? Some people think the way we please God is through rituals. Like chanting certain prayers, light incense or candles, or the like. But that’s not what the Bible says.
Others think we please God through following rules and regulations. We make a list of what we’re supposed to do and not to do, and if we do all the “to Do’s” and don’t do any of the “Do Not’s,” then God says we’re okay. But also, that’s not what the Bible says.
Then there are those who think that we please God through religious observances. That we observe certain holy days, or attend certain religious events, then we’ll be religious enough so we can hear God says we’re okay. But again, that’s not what the Bible says.
So, what does the Bible say?
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NKJV)
The Bible says God isn’t interested in rituals, rules, regulations, or religion. Instead, God’s interested in relationships, and that it’s impossible to please God unless we possess one thing, and that is faith.
Today I’d like to look at how we can build a life of faith, so God is pleased.
In Jude 1:20, we are told to build our lives on a foundation of faith. And the reason is because the Bible is truth. Therefore, we come to the question, “What is faith?”
To take a practical look at what faith is all about, the best place to start is the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, also known as God’s Hall of Faith. It is there that we find a list of those men and women that God says had great faith. But what was it about their lives that singled them out for this great honor? This is what I’d like to look at, as we look at the different aspects of how we can build a life of faith.
Faith is Believing When We Don’t See It
Now, the first verse in Hebrews 11 is what many describe as the quintessential definition of faith, but it really isn’t a definition of what faith is, as much as it is a description of what faith is, and the rest of the chapter is the example.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)
The New Living Translation says it this way, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
We often say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But God says, “Nope, that’s backwards. You have to believe it to see it.” That’s faith.
It’s like an architect planning a building, or an artist creating a sculpture, or even an athlete trying to break a record. They must believe and envision it before they can accomplish it. They must believe it’s possible long before it will ever be possible.
Now, Warner von Braun, builder of the Atlas and Saturn rockets, said, “There has never been any significant achievement in human history that was not accompanied by faith.”
While we may not see God, it doesn’t’ mean He doesn’t exist. A Russian cosmonaut who didn’t see God in outer space reportedly said, “Since I can’t see God he must not exist.”
While we may not see the face of God, we do see Him in creation and in the changed lives of those who by faith have come to believe.
In juxtaposition to the Russian cosmonaut, American astronaut John Glenn said, “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith.”
Faith then believes before seeing, but there’s more
Faith is Obeying When We Don’t Understand It
Consider Noah. Can you imagine what he thought and the doubts he must have had when God said, “I’m going to wipe every living thing off the face of the earth and start all over with you.” I don’t know about you, but I’d wonder what I just ate for dinner. But not Noah!
“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” (Hebrews 11:7 NKJV)
Underline “moved with godly fear,” and write in the margin, “obey,” and that’s because it’s a great definition for “obey.” Now circle the word, “faith.” These two go together. Faith is obeying when we don’t understand, when it doesn’t make sense.
I’m sure Noah had questions if not doubts. The Bible says that before the flood, it never rained. Rather, a mist came up from the ground and watered the earth. It was a completely different atmosphere back then.
So, when God told Noah to build a big boat, by faith Noah obeyed, even though it made no sense. But, if he hadn’t, none of us would be sitting here today.
And we see this same aspect of faith on the part of Abraham.
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8 NKJV)
Circle the words, “obeyed” and “faith.” Again, we see there’s a connection between the two.
Abraham is about 75 years old, but instead of retiring, God sends him out on the adventure of a lifetime. God tells Abraham to move from what he knows to a place that he had no idea about. And so, Abraham believed God and obeyed even when it didn’t make sense.
There’s always a risk attached to faith. And this is where most of us have a problem, because we want some sort of guarantee. God says to go, but we say, “Okay, but I’d like for You to do this first.”
But this isn’t faith. God wants us to believe even when we don’t see and obey when we don’t understand.
There’s a lot of things the Bible tells us to do that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense; when people hurt us, and we’re supposed to forgive them. That just doesn’t make sense. The natural thing is to get even, to retaliate. But God knows that resentment and bitterness hurts us far more than the person we’re resenting and are bitter towards.
Here’s the point. If we learn to obey God even when it doesn’t make sense, then we’re building a foundation of faith for lives.
Faith is Giving When We Don’t Have It
Just like obedience and faith go together, so does giving and faith. God uses our finances to test our faith, and giving God the tithe is huge step in this process, especially when things get really tight. God says, “What are you going to trust more, My promises to take care of you, or your own understanding of the situation.”
What I find interesting is that the first person to get his name in God’s Hall of Faith is Abel. But Abel really didn’t do anything great. There’s no special achievement attached to his name. The only thing that’s recorded for us besides his death is his giving. His giving put him in God’s Hall of Faith.
“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous.” (Hebrews 11:4a NKJV)
There are two ways we give. We can give by reason, or we can give by revelation. When we give by reason, we look at our bank accounts and figure out what we can afford. We give a reasonable amount, which doesn’t require any faith.
To give by revelation is giving based upon God’s word and prayer. God says to bring in the tithe into the storehouse. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said not to leave this part of our faith undone. This is giving by faith, and it’s the type of giving that pleases God.
Giving by faith is like planting a seed in advance of the harvest. The Apostle Paul connects this type of giving to God’s promise.
“He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NKJV)
So far, we’ve seen that - Faith is Believing When We Don’t See It; Obeying When We Don’t Understand It; and Giving When We Don’t Have It.
Faith is Persisting When We Don’t Feel Like It
This is opposite of what the world tells us. The world says, “If it feels good, do it.” But if we live by our emotions, we’re going to end up being manipulated by our moods. As a people of faith, we’re to live based upon our commitments, not our emotions.
Faith is persisting even when we feel like giving up. Sometimes we may not feel like reading our Bibles or praying, but when we don’t feel like it, that’s when we need to do it. If we only do it when we feel like it, then Satan will make sure we’ll never feel like it.
Keeping on keeping on is the secret of success. No professional athlete enjoys working out. No professional musician enjoys the hours of practice they put in every day. But persisting through the feelings is what makes them successful at their craft.
Godly men and women of faith don’t become that way by accident. These Hall of Faithers didn’t get that way by accident, they persisted, and they chose to take the time to develop the habits, the disciplines of the faith necessary to live by faith in spite of how they felt. Take Moses as an example.
“By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27 NIV)
Moses led the entire Hebrew nation out of Egyptian slavery and into the wilderness, where for forty years he had to endure going in circles because of the peoples’ disobedience. The key to his success was persistence and keeping His eyes on God the whole time (“Him who is invisible”).
So many people are close to quitting. They’re ready to quit their marriage, job, dream, the church, and even God. The situations seem beyond hope, but God says to keep our eyes on Him and keep faith in His promises.
Faith is Thanking God Before We Receive It
“By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.” (Hebrews 11:30 NIV)
Jericho was the most fortified city in the land of Canaan. God said for them to march around it seven days in silence and then on the last day march around the city seven times, and on the last time around shout.
Talk about believing without seeing and obeying when it made no sense!
I wonder what they shouted. I believe they shouted God’s praises, thanking Him for the victory He promised.
Faith is not just believing God can, because God can do anything He wants to whether we believe it or not. Faith believes God is going to do something, even though we don’t see it, understand it, or receive it.
Jesus gives us this formula in how we are to pray.
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24 NKJV)
If we wait until we receive it to give thanks, that’s gratitude, not faith. Faith believes in advance and thanking God, and I believe that it’s such a faith that caused the walls of Jericho to come down.
This brings me to the last aspect of living a life of faith
Faith is Believing Without Receiving It
Whoa, talk about a plot twist!
The writer of Hebrews gives a nod to everyone who continued to believe even though they never received the promise.
“And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.” (Hebrews 11:39 NKJV)
Living by faith doesn’t exempt us from problems. All these Hall of Faithers suffered, but they believed, even though they never received the promise. The writer of Hebrews explains saying, “God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” (Hebrews 11:40 NKJV)
They believed even though they didn’t receive the promise because God had not yet sent His Son, Jesus, so that all who believe now can have that promise of eternal life.
I’ve seen many examples of this. In studying the revivals of the past there were always those who prayed believing God was going to send a revival, but they never saw it, but they are a part of the history of that revival.
Conclusion
God wants us to build our faith, and there are two ways He does this.
Through His Word
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV)
This is when God speaks His word directly into our hearts while we’re reading the Bible.
Through Trials
“The genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7)
When we ask God to increase our faith, He often does so through trials.
Prior to everything that went down in my life, that is, through all the trials and the loss of everything, my main spiritual gifts were teaching and administration. But while in seminary after God’s restoration, it was found that my main gift was that of faith.
I remember one professor asking, “How does God increase our faith?” And everyone was giving all the great biblical examples, I just kind of chuckled to myself. The professor looked at me and said, “Okay Lee, what would you say?”
And I said, “What I have learned is that God doesn’t open our heads and pour into our lives more faith. But instead, He takes us through times of trials and tribulations to see if we’ll remain faithful.”
Therefore, God builds our faith upon His word and the trials of life.
And so, to build a solid foundation of faith, begin to build these six aspects of faith found in those in God’s Hall of Faith
Believing When We Don’t See It
Obeying When We Don’t Understand It
Giving When We Don’t Have It
Persisting When We don’t Feel Like It
Thanking God Before We Receive It, and
Believing it Without Receiving It
