Aiming for More
TEXT: Hebrews 11:1-16
FOCAL VERSE: 11:13
HOOK: I want to build on 2 concepts from this morning. “God has a plan” and “the determination to participate.” These are important because they define our view of the Christian life – what we believe God has called us to live. Too many Christians sit around lamenting life thinking - “Does any of this mean anything?” “ I want to do more than this with my life.”
Maybe you get frustrated when you hear someone give a testimony about some great act of God in their lives and you wonder to yourself, “why doesn’t my life have power like that?” Tonight I want to talk about “Aiming for More.”
THEME: Aiming for Greatness
God desires for us and demands of us so much more than we actually accomplish. Many of us never reach the plateaus of greatness God plans for us because we are consumed with the ordinary or ruled by the tyranny of the seemingly urgent. These struggles distract us from God’s plan for our lives.
Beer commercials often capture more of a passion for living than we do as Christians. “Go for the gusto” “It doesn’t get any better than this” “Those who want more out of life”
We must learn to acquire from God a vision for our lives. When we focus our lives on accomplishing tasks that He sets before us then, and only then, will we reach greatness. What is the aim of your life, is it aimed at a target established by God?
Too many people just wander through life or exist. Too many people are simply against this and that instead of being FOR SOMETHING. Let me ask you tonight , “What are you for?”
Let’s turn to Hebrews 11 and see the method God’s word shows us for aiming our lives for More.
Read Text: Hebrews 11: 1-6; 13-15
Focal Verse: Hebrews 11:13.
This verse gives 4 principles for aiming for greatness.
I. The first is Commission. This means we seek a commission from God. We are to seek His vision for what He wants us to accomplish. Recite Jer. 33:3.
Why? God is in the glory business - His glory. When we plan our lives and events, we do those things which we can accomplish or which we think are necessary. God has His own agenda for our lives. We aim for greatness when we line up our agenda with His.
We define great in many ways…building a career, God defines great in terms of how much glory He receives. Greatness is not defined in terms of wealth, accomplishment, position, etc
HEBREWS 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that HE is, and that HE rewards those who diligently seek Him. Thus, greatness requires an act of faith.
An act of faith is one which demands complete reliance by you and develops a complete recognition of God.
Examine examples:
• Abel - 1 choice, form of worship, result - his death.
• Enoch - lifestyle, integrity.
• Noah - builder.
• Abraham - leader.
• Sarah - family decision.
Chapter 11 describes young and old, Hebrew and Gentile, men and women, rich and poor.
Why are these great in God’s economy? These were actions which were pleasing to God, because they required dependence on Him and He received the glory from them. Whether they were well-known or happened in the silent moments of their lives, God knew their faith. God viewed them as great – that is why He made them teaching examples which will last forever (Quote:my words will last forever).
The acts of faith listed were listed as examples of greatness because they permitted no other explanation than God is and He rewards.
If we seek God, He will give us a vision for our lives:
Jeremiah 33:3 ’Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ (NKJV)
Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. (NKJV)
Luke 11:9-10 9 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (NKJV)
We need fathers today who are aiming their marriages and children at a vision from God. Men who have a sense of divine commission. We need deacons and Sunday school teachers who serve with a sense of commission.
Make a commitment to set aside time to get alone with God and ask Him for a commission. How can you live the Christian life without such a basic discipline. Evaluate your schedule every week. Make a commitment to set aside time to seek the Lord. Use this time specifically. Begin asking Him specifically for a vision/commission. One way to start is to ask Him to point out an area where you should start. If you already know where He wants you to start then start there.
II. Confirmation - “They were assured of [ the promises].”
You don’t spend 120 years building a boat in the middle of the desert based upon a guess it will do something it has never done before. You don’t build an Ark on a Lark!! They understood faith as both evidence and substance. Heb. 11:1 Noah acted out of confidence that it would definitely rain. How do you achieve confirmation?
Evidence - define
Substance - define
Remember, if you ask God for a commission He is going to give you one which you cannot do on your own strength-by definition. His plans are to stretch you and teach you reliance on Him. You need this assurance in order to complete your commission. You must recognize that He is and that He does reward. That knowledge is the evidence and the foundation of perseverance and passion for accomplishing the task that God sets for you.
As you seek the Lord’s commission for your life, or for a specific area in your life, ask Him to give you a promise to stand on. Noah had a specific word from the Lord. Abram had a specific word fro the Lord. Enoch “walked with God” and therefore had a specific word from the Lord.
How strong would your faith be and how powerfully would you live for the kingdom if you were following a commission from the Lord and were standing on a promise from His word.
Before God called me into full-time ministry, He gave me a clear word of scripture that became my promise. I told Him I did not want to be a minister and that I could minister in my secular office. He clearly gave me Psalms 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I did based on that promise and He placed the desire there. It became a commission to me based upon a promise from His word.
III. Conviction - “They embraced them”
What is a conviction?
It is more than an opinion or belief to which you pay lip service. It becomes a defining priority in your life. It is part of your character and forms a touchstone against which you measure your attitudes, actions, and behavior. This is the picture of “embracing.”
What happens when you embrace something?
1. Open your arms wide…
• Drop defenses and vulnerable, you are defenseless
• You remove barriers so you can pull in the object of your embrace completely.
2. Creates intimacy - This is the traditional greeting for a friend, someone that you know and recognize.
3. When you hug, you draw someone close to you in an intimate fashion.
4. You cling to them using real strength in your arms.
That is how you create a conviction. Once you have a conviction, it determines your actions. Once you believe that “He is, and that He rewards” then that conviction determines your responses and not circumstances, temptation, discouragement, other opportunities, etc.
This is a faith which has substance of the things hoped for. This faith that becomes a conviction is one which is life-changing. It also permits God to use you to change other lives. That is living for more!
IV. Concentration -
“They confessed they were strangers…”
“They seek a homeland”
“They left that country from which they had come out”
Faith means you jumped completely out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Example of picture in my office re: Peter getting out of the boat.
When did he flounder? When he quit concentrating on Jesus.
You cannot believe that God is who He says He is when you create for yourself a security blanket or an escape hatch. That is what this portion of this passage means. They did not look back and therefore left no thought of returning. They stepped out on a conviction with no thought of returning.
What is your self-made security blanket? Where is that crutch that you rely upon for comfort and a sense of security?
See how stupid this view is…what we leave is not actually the safest place, it is simply the most comfortable at the present time. When Abraham left, he had to burn the maps. But I guarantee you that Abraham would not have traded his journey and all that he learned of God if you would promise to make him king of the land of Ur for 50 years.
Illustration: Cortez burning the ships in the harbor.
This only occurs, we are only freed from our security blanket, when we have confirmation and conviction - when we appropriate in our lives the “substance” and “endure.” When we develop our faith.
Summation: Question: “Where are you aiming your life?” Then ask yourself “what are you hitting?”
Self-analysis: Am I pursuing God’s commission for my life? Do I see in this week of my life a list of actions which required actual and real faith?
If no, then develop a plan of action:
1. Spend time with God seeking His commission.
2. Spend enough time with God that you develop confirmation.
3. Embrace His promises until they become conviction.
4. Create in your life the reality of concentration.
