Main Idea: The actions of my faith define the dimensions of my life.

As humans we have a fascination with naming generations or eras of time. We have given names to periods of time to describe attitudes or styles. We have the "Greatest Generation" for those born before 1945 and the "Baby Boom" generation for those born after 1945. We have today the MTV generation for those born in the 1980’s and the ""Millennial" generation for those born since the mid 1990’s. Let me ask you this: What if the eras or ages of our Christian life were given a name? You might have the, "I’ve only just begun to believe" age as you start your walk with Christ. You could have the, "I can do no wrong because I believe" stage where it seems you have really matured. There could be the, "I can’t believe I did that" era where we struggle with our spiritual commitment. I wonder, though, if we ever have a time that we call the "I’ll only believe" era. A time so marked by our faith in God that faith defines the dimensions of our lives. You see faith has the power to shape the dimensions of our lives—its future, its past and its present. Yet that won’t happen unless we act on what we believe, unless we take the first step.

What is your definition of faith? For some, faith is merely mind over matter. You know the "little engine that could" mentality, "I think I can, I think I can." Or for some it’s the "Dorothy in Oz" attitude, "There’s no place like home…." Just hoping things will work out and you’ll wake up in Kansas. The question is, though, are those adequate definitions. The answer is no. What is an adequate definition? Beth Moore says, "Faith happens when believers believe." In other words faith isn’t faith unless there is a first step of belief on our part. That’s what I want us to explore this morning because the actions of my faith define the dimensions of my life.

I want us to open our Bibles to a very remarkable chapter on faith in the New Testament book of Hebrews. It is Hebrews 11. While we’ll only look at a few verses the entire chapter is a record of the great heroes of faith throughout the history of God’s people. Let’s look first at Hebrews 11:1-2, "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith."

This passage tells us that faith operates in the area of what will be (the future) and what is unseen (the invisible). The writer of Hebrews calls it the place where "what we hope is going to happen" and "things we cannot see." That is the realm in which faith lives: things that you hope are going to happen and things you cannot see with your eyes. People in the Old Testament days were given God’s approval because they lived by faith (v.2). All the people that are listed in this chapter trusted God for what they hoped would happen and what they couldn’t see. They lived their lives guided by the promises God made to them in specific circumstances. The promises of God were unseen yet for them they were the only way to the seen and the real. We think that we are people of faith but faith isn’t faith until you can’t hold it in your hand or see it with your eyes.

What does this accomplish? It’s this—faith when it focuses on "what we hope" will happen and for what "we cannot see" results in the certainty of what is hoped for and the reality of what you can’t see. Faith gives the foundation and assurance of things hoped for in the future. Things that do not yet exist become real and actual by the exercise of faith. That is the power of faith. It is the ability to so believe God in one or more areas of our lives that what we hope for is as good as guaranteed and what we don’t see is as though it was reality. For a believer, whatever future we desire, will only be realized by our faith.

There is, though, a specific requirement to have this kind of faith. There is an attitude we must have that is described in verse 6. "So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. The attitude is an understanding that I am in a relationship with God and that because I have a relationship with him, he rewards that relationship. We might think that God would require something more complicated but he doesn’t. All he asks of us is that we believe that he is and that because we believe that he rewards our faith. We are to believe that God wants me to be in a relationship with him and that as I maintain that relationship I reap the benefits! So here is the point: The only way that I can define the future that I desire and that God desires for me is by faith.

Faith does not deal exclusively with the future; it also enables us to make sense or comprehend our past. Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen." Faith about the certainty of the future rests squarely on our faith that understands the past. The writer says that it is only by faith that we are able to understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. For thousands of years people and scientists have debated and discussed the origins of our universe. One primary theory today is the Big Bang Theory. This theory postulates that 15 billion years ago, give or take 5 billion years or so, that our entire universe was compressed into one single atomic nucleus which exploded creating matter and energy as well as time and space. Yet what science doesn’t know is where did the one singular atomic nucleus come from? What caused it to explode and what causes the bodies out in the universe to speed up or slow down?

What science and reason cannot explain faith does. Faith goes back to the book of Genesis and reads, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…." Faith’s confession is that God spoke into existence that atomic nucleus, caused its explosion and is in charge of all else that occurs within our universe. Faith says that what we now see was not made out of anything that can be seen. It was not the result of random atomic particles bumping into one another but the creation of the hand of God. A believer accepts by faith that the very reason that all that is exists is because God willed it into existence.

The argument is one from the greater to the lesser. If we believe that all that is around us in this huge limitless universe was created by God and not a random accident of nature then we can believe that the events of our past have a plan and a purpose. It means that when you look at your life it is important to a God who loves you and cares for you. But only faith can see that. Only faith can see that where I came from and where I have been and what I have been through has meaning for my life.

Up until now the writer has been giving some very abstract definitions of faith. He gives us now actual illustrations of how a person puts their faith into practice. To do this he starts by using three people out of the Old Testament book of Genesis and then in the rest of the chapter uses examples of people from the rest of the Bible. He uses Abel, Enoch and Noah. He says in verses 4-5, "It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. God accepted Abel's offering to show that he was a righteous man. And although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us because of his faith. It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—‘suddenly he disappeared because God took him.’ But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God." Then in verse 7 he says, "It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. By his faith he condemned the rest of the world and was made right in God's sight."

For every one of these examples of faith the writer starts each one by saying, "By faith…" "By faith Abel…By faith Enoch…By faith Noah…" he does that for thirty-one more verses and numbers of examples. While each one’s faith did something different, what is consistent is that they were people whose belief in God moved them to take action in some area of their life. Their belief in God compelled them to take some physical step, some tangible demonstration of their belief in God. Faith happened when they believed and acted based on what they believed. Here is what is important for us: Faith only happens when we act on what we believe. We can say we believe God and believe in God all we want but until we let our belief lead us into action then it really isn’t faith. Until we take a step of faith, an action of faith, all we have are words.

Where is it you most need to take a step of faith? If faith shapes your future, then what’s the next step? If faith explains your past, then what about your past do you need to accept? If faith isn’t real until you act, then where do you need to act? There are many places where we need to take a bold step of faith and believe God but the one place that is most glaring and pressing for 99.9% of us is with our material possessions or as Jesus called them, our "treasures."

Jesus said, "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be." (Matt. 6:19-21) What Jesus defines for us is what Randy Alcorn calls the "Treasure Principle" which simply put is: "You can’t take it with you-but you can send it on ahead."

It was common for people to store their "treasures" in Jesus day just as it is ours. Last month some archaeologists excavating a site in northeastern Portugal discovered 4,500 ancient Roman coins tucked away inside a wall. The bundle of 4,526 copper and bronze coins was hidden inside the wall of a 4th century blacksmith's home. The sack holding the coins appeared to have disintegrated. It seems that someone was trying to hide them but they never went back to get them. (Oct.10, 2007, © 2007 The Associated Press.) Two weeks ago piles of old coins worth as much as $200,000 were found in a long-abandoned home in Winber, PA. As Jeff Bidelman, who was helping the family clean out the house after the death of the owners was dragging a bag of old coins down the steps he noticed the hole in an upstairs wall. There were always rumors that the owners threw their money in a hole in the wall. Within minutes of tearing down the first-floor wall below the hole, Bidelman was wading in piles of old coins. The coins, some dating back to 1793, are expected to bring over $200,000. (Oct. 27,2007, © 2007 The Associated Press)

Those stories remind us that humans always struggle with the foolish idea that what we can accumulate in this life is what is real and all that really matters. So what we do is put our stuff in all kinds of "holes in the walls" of our lives-houses, cars, clothes, property and investments. None of those in and of themselves are wrong. The problem comes when forget that all that we stuff into the holes of our lives, whatever name you want to give them, will not last. They are not permanent. We think that if we put more of our stuff into our own holes in the walls of our lives then we can somehow deny that eternity is waiting. We know deep down that that isn’t true but we live like it is. Jesus says that a person who is a believer is to do the opposite; we are to put our treasures in eternity. I’m saying to you that the only way you are going to do that is by faith. It won’t be because it makes rational sense to your mind. It won’t be because you are a very highly disciplined person. You will only do it when you accept Jesus’ words as true and real by faith.

"Faith happens when believers believe." How will that be true for me about my money? It will be true when you take a step of faith and act on what you believe. You see you really don’t believe Jesus’ words until you do what he says. Until I decide that I can’t take my treasures with me but I can send them on ahead and I do that by my giving to his church and his kingdom. Doing that requires a step of faith.

I am asking you to take a step of faith this year regarding your giving to our church. Our budget for all ministries and maintenance is over 2.3 million. Many of you need to stop pretending you believe that your real treasures are in heaven and start putting them there. Many of you need to take a step of faith and begin tithing, giving 10% of your income to this church. You can make all the excuses you want but sooner or later it will come down to your willingness to take a step of faith. Some of you need to take a step of faith and adjust your lifestyle to match the reality of your resources. There can be unlimited places where you need to take a step of faith but faith doesn’t happen until you believe and belief isn’t real until you act.

I began to ask myself this week, "What if I lived, really lived like the promises of God were really true, especially in the area of my resources?" I face the same challenges that you face and I am totally dependent on your being faithful to God with your resources. But what if I began to act more on what Jesus says about eternity? What if I put less time fretting over how much I’m putting into the holes in the walls of my life and acted on faith? What if I really believed, "Store your treasures in heaven" where they will really matter and be waiting for me in eternity. What if I really believed, "You can’t take it with you-but you can send it on ahead"? The only way I will know is if I take a step of faith.

Are you going to miss the opportunity to let God describe this time in your life as the "I’ll only believe" era of your story? The question is will you take a step of faith, letting faith define your future, explain your past and direct your actions today? You see you can hear this message today and totally ignore what is said and go right on living as if what Jesus said wasn’t true and doesn’t matter. Who’s to say that at the end of your life that the holes in your walls won’t be full of your stuff? The truth is that is where it will stay and you will miss the rewards that really last all because you refused to take a step of faith.

"What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see." "Don't store up treasures here on earth…Store your treasures in heaven…" Is it true? You’ll never know unless you take a step of faith!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org