October 22, 2001
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November 4 Lesson
Faith is so much more than wishful thinking
___Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-28, 32-12:3
___11:1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. ...
___8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
___11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
___13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
___17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
___20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
___21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
___22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.
___23By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
___24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. ...
___12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
___By Wesley Shotwell
___We are talking about faith. It is, of course, not such an unusual topic to talk about in church. After all, we gather together each week for Sunday School and worship because we have faith. If we have a lot of faith, we may even show up on Sunday night, or even on Wednesday night for prayer meeting. There really is no reason for us to gather to meet at church except for the faith we share. So since faith is our common tie that binds, it is not unusual that we would talk about faith in church. What is it about faith that is so important?
___Faith pleases God
___For one thing, faith is necessary to please God. It says so in the background text in verse 6, "And without faith it is impossible to please God ... ." If we have to have faith in order to please God, one would think faith is pretty important and certainly worth talking about. We are, after all, in the business of pleasing God, aren't we? Why do we come to worship week after week?
___In some sense, we worship because we believe that somehow worship is pleasing to God. Furthermore, we spend loads of time, money and energy developing strong Sunday Schools because we believe it is important to learn what the Bible says about how we as his children can live in a way that is pleasing to God.
___I read about a lady who was asked why she was constantly doing things around the church, most of which no one else wanted to do. "Why do you visit the sick? Why do you spend vacation time to teach in Vacation Bible School, or spend your own money to help the poor?" Her answer: "Because it is my utmost desire to please God, and I will do anything it takes to bring God pleasure."
___That should be the desire of every Christian. Our life goal should be to please God with a commitment to do whatever it takes to bring him pleasure. That's a different goal than most of the world has. Most people have a goal of receiving pleasure for themselves, and even when they pray they pray for their own pleasure to be fulfilled. But the task of the Christian is not to get pleasure, but to give pleasure to God. We are in the business of pleasing God, and if we cannot please God without faith, then faith must be rather important, don't you think?
___What is faith anyway?
___So what is faith, anyway? We sure talk about it a lot, but do we really know what it is? There seem to be a lot of misconceptions about faith. Many people confuse faith with wishing something would happen. They think, "If I can just muster up enough faith then God will heal me." Or, "If I have enough faith my dreams will come true," as if faith were the same thing as an optimistic attitude. Or if something bad happens some people might say, "She just doesn't have enough faith." But I don't think that's what the Bible is talking about when it talks about faith.
___Verse 1 gives us the classic, biblical definition of faith: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." In other words, faith is confident assurance of the reality of God's promises, and that assurance gives us the ability to carry on with confidence regardless of our present circumstances. Faith is not something that keeps bad things from happening to us. Faith didn't keep bad things from happening to Abraham or Moses or David or Jeremiah or Paul or even Jesus. But faith gives us the ability to keep pleasing God even when bad things happen to us.
___There is a story of a vessel that was moving along the St. Lawrence River in a dense fog. The passengers were very upset that despite the dense fog the captain continued to move the ship full speed ahead. They were afraid the ship would run into something since it was impossible for them to see where they were going. Finally they complained to the first mate. "Oh, don't be afraid," the mate said. "The fog lies low, and the captain is high above it and can see where we are going. Just trust that the captain knows where we are going."
___That's what faith in God is all about. Faith is trusting that God knows where we are going and that he knows what he is doing to get us there. Faith is certain that even in the foggiest circumstances of life, God is still in charge and knows what he is doing. Faith is the belief in God against the world. It is the belief in the Spirit against our senses. It is the belief in the future against the present. Faith means that even when life is at its lowest, we are certain that God is steering the ship and knows how to get us where he wants us to go. Faith is about being certain of what we cannot see.
___Hard to have faith
___No wonder it's hard to have faith sometimes. It's hard to be certain of something you cannot see. We even have a saying; "I'll believe it when I see it!" Yet faith says, "Believe it before you see it."
___That's not to say we believe without any evidence for belief. Just because we are people of faith doesn't mean we are gullible. Faith may well believe in a God we cannot see, but we do have evidence that our God has already proven himself trustworthy.
___Our text gives us the example of Abraham. Abraham heard the call of God leading him to a new land. He couldn't see God, and he didn't know where God was leading him, but he went in faith because he was certain God was faithful. He wound up in the land of Canaan, the land promised to him by God. But he never took ownership of the land. He lived as a nomad for the rest of his life and never saw the promise fulfilled.
___But still he had faith. It took another 500 years before his descendants received the land. But Abraham believed in and acted on the promise of God, even though he could not see it. He was certain that in the end God would keep his promise.
___It's hard to believe before we see, but that is what faith does. Faith believes in the end God will take us where he wants us to go whether we can see it now or not.
___This world is not my home
___By faith, we know this world is not all there is. By faith we know there is a world beyond this world, and we are just strangers and pilgrims in this world. Even though we cannot see it right now, we know our true home is not in this world, but in God's world. Verse 16 talks about the other world: "Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." We may live in this world now, but we are not really at home.
___How do you feel when you spend the night at someone else's house? They have everything you need to survive there. They have a refrigerator full of food, a comfortable bed (maybe) and a nice house. But it's not like being at home. There is always a little tension. The pillow doesn't fit right, the food is spicier than you would make it, and when the morning comes it is a little embarrassing to get up before your host starts stirring. It may be a nice place to visit, but you are never completely comfortable because it's not home. Faith reminds us this world is not our home.
___Faith makes us faithful
___Since we are confident our home is in God's world, then we are motivated by that faith to keep living in a way that pleases God. It was faith that motivated Moses to remain faithful. Read verses 24-26. "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." Moses was willing to sacrifice the riches of Egypt because he was looking to God's future rather than his own present.
___Sometimes people ask, "Why should I stay married to this person since I don't love her and want to be with someone else?" "Why should I suffer the ridicule of people at work and perhaps sacrifice a promotion just because I refuse to do something unethical?" "Why should I sacrifice the pleasures of the moment when the future is so uncertain?" Because faith tells us that the future is not uncertain.
___Faith brings a certain future into the present, and because we believe in that certain future, we realize our present actions have eternal meaning. Looking to the future with faith, we know that whatever happens to us in this world will be worth it if we are pleasing to God.
___Wesley Shotwell is pastor of Ash Creek Baptist Church in Azle
For thought and discussion
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