"RESTORE AND RENEW OUR FAITH"
Hebrews 11:1-7
Main Idea: The dimensions of our life are shaped by the definition of our faith.
Introduction: 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. A radio station will describe itself as playing the best of the ‘70’s, 80’s and 90’s. We gave the name "baby boomer" to those born between 1945 and 1960. To those born after that we’ve called them "baby busters." After this has come "Generation X". The generation born today is called the "millennial generation".
What if the eras or ages of our spiritual 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 in our life 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 life. You see, faith has the power to shape the dimensions of our life—its future, its past and its present.
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? That’s what I want us to explore this morning because the dimensions of our life are shaped by the definition of our faith. Our definition of faith must be able to make our future certain, explain our past and give us the ability to please God in the present.
This passage is not really an exhaustive definition of faith. Rather it gives the major characteristics of faith. The emphasis is on any kind of faith. In other words, if it is going to be called faith then it will have these qualities. What are those qualities?
Faith, first of all, operates in the area of what will be (the future) and what is unseen (the invisible). The writer of Hebrews calls it the "hoped for" and "things not seen." That is the realm in which faith lives: things that you hope for and things you haven’t seen with your eyes. To verify this principle the writer adds that people in the Old Testament days were given God’s approval because they lived by faith (v.2). They trusted God for what they hoped and what they couldn’t see. 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? Two things: assurance and conviction. What do I mean? It’s this—faith when it focuses on the "hoped for" and the "unseen" results in the certainty of what is hoped for and the reality of what you can’t see. Faith gives solid ground and acts as the title-deed to things hoped for in the future. Things which 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 an area that what you hope for is as good as guaranteed and what you don’t see is as though it was reality.
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. 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. Isn’t that amazing! It’s a little like those commercials for a national realty company that make lending you money, selling and buying a home seem too good to be true. Of course we all know that in real life it isn’t that way but in the life of faith it is. 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! The truth is no matter how simple it is we make it so hard. All He wants is our consistent trust but what we give Him is consistent doubt in His power, His love and His grace.
Faith does not deal exclusively with the future; it also enables us to make sense or comprehend our past. Only faith explains history. Faith about the certainty of the future rests squarely on our faith that understands the past. Faith as a result helps us to understand the two most significant things about 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 the last almost 200 years scientists have debated and discussed the origins of our universe. As the generations come and go one theory after another is proposed and then disposed as we understand more and more about our universe. The 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. Then in a way unexplained that atomic nucleus exploded with just the right amount of temperature, density and subatomic particles to create matter, energy as well as time and space. All of that matter and energy has since that moment been rushing away from its source. Depending, then, on how fast these bodies out there are moving or how slow they are going determines the age of the universe. Yet here is what science doesn’t know: 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. We accept this by faith that the very reason that all that is exists is because God willed it into existence.
Another confession of faith is that what is seen was not made out of anything that can be seen. In other words, the world or universe does not contain its own explanation. Scientists used to believe that the universe was endless. Now, by using the laws of gravity and measuring the distances of light, we are beginning to see that it isn’t endless. That if you were to look down upon it from the outside it would appear as one body with all of the stuff (galaxies, stars…) inside it. That raises the question: What’s outside the limits or who is outside the boundaries. Faith looks at that information and says God is not only outside of the universe but within the universe. It was not the result of random atomic particles bumping into one another but the creation of the hand of God.
Here’s the point: All of our past, from the very moment of creation as a universe by God’s word to this very hour of existence, is only understood and accepted by faith! Faith and faith alone explains our past.
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 uses three people out of the Old Testament book of Genesis. He uses Abel, Enoch and Noah.
Abel shows us that only faith can enable us to please God with our giving (v. 4). What he means is that Abel’s motive in offering a gift to God was done out of a motive based on faith. Then because it was given in faith his sacrifice still has the power to motivate and move us today.
The only thing we know about Enoch was that "he walked with God and was not for God took him." That’s it. Yet his life or his way of life was lived in such a way that he pleased God. The writer of Hebrews says that the reason he did this was by faith. What Enoch’s life illustrates is that only faith can enable us to please God in our living daily. Our faith is the evidence of our fellowship with God.
The last figure he uses to illustrate faith is that of Noah. Noah’s faith was different because it was the result of a specific warning from God. Noah was told to prepare for what had never been done on the earth. Noah’s faith consisted of taking God at His word and then preparing as God said. As a result of his obedience all the rest of the world was condemned before God. His faith in God’s word enabled him to serve God in the present when the proof of his faith was not yet seen. Only faith enables us to please God in our serving.
When we give we are to give on the basis of and motivated by faith. The way we live our life is to be because of and based on faith. The service of our life is to be the result of and driven by faith! We please God today only by faith.
What does this have to do with me? Here it is: 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? You look at the need that we are proposing to you of 1.5 million and you look at your resources. The question is will you give on the basis of faith or your own human reasoning. Faith sees the need and looks beyond to what is hoped for and unseen in the future. Faith sees the need and looks back to what has been done and knows that even our very existence is because of God’s plan and purpose in the past. Faith sees the need and knows the only way to please God now is by faith. Faith sees the need and makes room for God.
Franklin Graham writes in his autobiography, Rebel with a Cause, about the principle of "God room" that was taught to him by the late Bob Pierce. [Bob described "God room" as when you see a need and it’s bigger than your human abilities to meet it. But you accept the challenge. You trust God to bring in the finances and the materials to meet that need. You pray and wait but after all is said and done, you only have a portion of the resources required. Then you begin to watch God work. Before you know it, the need is met. At the same time, you understand you didn’t do it. God did it. You allowed Him room to work. (p. 139).] He said, "Faith isn’t required as long as you set your goal only as high as the most intelligent, most informed, and expert human efforts can reach…nothing is a miracle until it reaches where the utmost that human effort can do still isn’t enough. God has to fill that space—that room—between what’s possible and what He wants done that’s impossible. That’s what I mean by ‘God room.’" (p. 140-141)
The question all of us must ask is, "Will my commitment make room for God?". It will if it’s made by faith.
Sunday, May 16, 1999
Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jonesboro, Arkansas
btippit@fbcjonesboro.org