OUR FAITH AND GOD'S PROMISE

Hebrews 11:1-7, 39-40

 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and "he was not found, because God had taken him." For it was attested before he was taken away that "he had pleased God."
And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith....
Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

We are living in a very different world today. Our world has changed, and is changing fast. I first came to the U.S. in 2000, and went back to Nepal in 2002. The world had changed so much in those two years. This time I came in September 2008, and now it's August 2009; it's less than a year, but the world has changed so much more. One of the negative aspects of the change is that our world has become very unstable, and we are really not sure how it will be in coming days. And unconsciously, changing our faith as well.

In such a time like this, I believe the book of Hebrews has a special message for us. We do not know who wrote the epistle, but it was written to the Jewish Christians, at a time when the ages were colliding and everything in the society seemed to be shaking. Stability was passing away, and even their faith was wavering. In such times, the author encouraged the Christians who were struggling to keep their faith, saying, "Live by faith and not by sight," because everything around was shaking.

And we know, Hebrews 11 is the famous chapter of faith.
Verses 1-3 = Description of Faith.
Verses 4-40 = Demonstration of Faith.

We are Christians; "believers" is our other name. The word that makes a person a Christian is "faith," faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is to a Christian what a foundation is to a house.

Faith gives confidence and assurance that he/she will stand. We are justified by faith; we walk by faith; we see by faith, we live by faith; we please God by faith, we receive eternal life through faith. In short we Christians do everything by faith. Faith is the primary and central substance of Christians and Christianity. There is no question about this.

But the question I want us to explore this morning is "Do we have IT?" I know it's a strange question, but once someone asked me the same question.

That person asked, Do you have faith in Jesus?
I said, Yes.
Do you know what faith is?
What do you mean?
He said, the definition of faith, meaning of faith, do you know it?
I know...,but let me hear it from you first.
He explained. "Faith is to dive in a swimming pool, where there is no water believing that there will be water when you reach the bottom and you will be able to swim."
Do you understand? I said, Yes
He asked, can you do it? I said, No.
He asked why? I told him, Because I don't swim. I am afraid I will be drowned!

I thought I gave a very good excuse for not having faith. I liked the definition he gave, but I thought it's not practical. The term faith as such, does not have much value in today's world. Where there is a discussion about Christian faith, there is always an intellectual doubt. In other word we do not like to talk about Faith. We want to discuss something practical, something logical and something that makes sense to us, something that happens everywhere and anytime.

But the author of Hebrews has presented the subject of faith in a very special way, very systematically and logically. First the author gives the description of faith, and then proves it by demonstrating it in various people's lives. In Hebrews 11:1, the author writes:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

The word faith is translated from the Greek word pistis, which means Conviction or belief respecting one's relationship to God and Christ. It is a conviction, a joyful trust in the person of Christ and His coming kingdom. The hope here is not any other hope that we may have at any time but it is the ultimate hope that Christ himself has given. And the thing not seen is not any unseen thing but the ultimate unseen reality--God.

Our hope is His promise that says, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."(Rev. 21:3, 4). Today's world is passing away, but the promises of God will never pass away, they will be there for ever. The promises are for all those who believe.

Someone has said, "Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen." However, Faith is not anti-rational and anti-logical, neither is faith blind belief or blind commitment. Rather faith is a living trust, confident reliance, and loving surrender to Almighty God. It is the assurance of our hope. The only way in which faith is up against knowledge is that it is beyond our knowledge. When we try to measure faith through our knowledge we loose the faith.

There was a man in Nepal. He was a good Christian. One day he came across the scripture verse Matthew 17:20, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." This verse challenged him very much.

He thought very seriously about the verse. And he looked from the window of his room; there was one huge mountain he could see clearly. He thought, why not try to move this mountain. Jesus has said, "If you have faith the size of mustard seed, you can do it." He was sure about his faith that it was bigger than a mustard seed. After all, a mustard seed is so small.

To move the mountain he decided to pray for an entire night. He closed the window, knelt down and kept the Bible open turned to Matthew 17:20. He repeated the verse, and prayed, "I command you O' Mountain, in the name of Jesus move from here to there. "He spent the whole night praying and reading the verse.

At 5:00am in the morning he concluded his prayer with the Lord's Prayer. And he slowly, little by little tried to open the window. He opened the window fully. And there was the mountain, still standing at the same place. The mountain did not move!

And the man said, "Actually, I knew it, it is not going to happen. I simply wasted my time and sleep."

The man knew it is not going to happen even before he prayed. Many times we try to believe but we know it's not going to happen. We want to believe in the Word of God but our knowledge always betrays us. The more knowledge we gain, the harder it is to have faith. That's why Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew18:3)

Jesus said if we have faith like a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible! How big is a mustard seed? Why did Jesus say this? What does Jesus mean? When we were young, we use to tell our friends, if you show me five rupees, I will give you ten rupees. It means we are sure that the friend does not have five rupees.

I do not know what Jesus meant, but in Luke 18:8, Jesus said, "And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth"? When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith in us? When the Son of Man comes, Will he find faith in you and me? Jesus is really concerned about this.

Faith has been a critical issue from the very beginning of the human history. Hebrews 11:4 recalls the story of Cain and Abel and says, God accepted Abel's offering and did not accept Cain's. As we all know the story Cain was a farmer. He brought some of the fruits of his fields as an offering, where as Abel, who kept the animals, brought some of the firstborn of his flocks to the Lord. God looked with favor only on Abel and his offering. At first when I read the story of Abel and Cain, I could not figure out why God did not accept Cain's offering and only accepted Abel's. The book of Genesis was not very clear to me. The only reason I could find was God's saying to Cain, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" And I was not quite sure what was wrong with Cain's offering.

And the author of Hebrews writes the issue was faith. "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man...."(Hebrews 11:4) Cain was not accepted, because he did not have faith. The first human ever to be born in this world, was declared faithless. How do we know our offerings and devotion toward God is like Abel's and not like Cain's?

Hebrews 11:5 recalls the story of Enoch. Enoch was one of the two persons in the whole human history that was taken alive to heaven by God. And the book of Hebrews says it was because of his faith. By faith he walked with God, and by his faithful walking, he pleased God. And sometimes I wonder, how pleased is our God, when he sees our faith?

Hebrews 11:7 recalls the story of Noah. In the time of Noah, only Noah was regarded as a person with faith, a blameless and righteous man among the millions of people. In God's sight the earth was corrupt and full of violence. Therefore, God decided to destroy the world with a flood and asked Noah to make an ark.

Today our world is no better than the world of Noah. And I wonder how many there are like Noah. How can we guarantee that we are like Noah and not like the rest of the World?

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, having fifteen years of preaching experience, came to realize that he did not have faith when he encountered the storm in the sea while traveling to America. "Give me faith or I shall die!" It was his cry. He writes in his journal, "I went to America, to convert Indians; but Who shall convert me? Who is the one who will deliver me from this evil heart of mischief." And he almost decided to give up preaching, saying, "How can you preach to others, when you have no faith yourself?"

It was Peter Bohler, a German, who encouraged him saying, "Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith." Therefore today I am also encouraged to preach faith. And I also encourage you to preach faith because in Christ Jesus, the only thing that counts is faith.

But we are in the modern age of this 21st century. It is very hard for us to acquire faith. We are surrounded by so many things of the world, and we are engaged in so many activities of the world. We have to worry about so many things, our career, our jobs, our families, etc. We are so uncertain about our future that in everything we need Insurance. But the Word of God says to have Assurance. Because even though we do not know what the future holds, we know Him who holds the future.

Therefore let us strive hard for faith and have IT. By our own strength and wisdom we cannot have faith, but when we rely and trust in the power of the Spirit of God, we each of us can be a people of faith and do great things for God. Even though our faith is small like a mustard seed, because it is like a seed, it grows like a seed. For now our faith is not perfect but let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

I would like to read once again the last section of the Hebrews 11 before I close the sermon.

Hebrews 11:33 says, "...who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented--of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised."

Yet all those heroes of faith did not receive what was promised. Do you know why they have not yet received what was promised? Hebrews 11:40 says, "Since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us be made perfect." They will be made perfect only with us. There is the good news for you and me. The list is not yet complete and perfect. Still some names are being added, and only together with us would they be made perfect.

The heroes of faith have not yet received the things promised because they are waiting for you and me. I believe you will be more than joyful to see your name written in the second version of the Book of Hebrews chapter 11.

Therefore, Let us have faith. Amen.

August 23, 2009

Manoj Shrestha

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