Hall of Faith - Foundations of Faith

Now, in week two of our hall of Faith series, we're looking at Hebrews 11. That's the focus. It's highlighting lots of examples of people who lived by faith as people who put their trust and confidence in God. That's what it's all about. And so Hebrews, it's an anonymous book.

We don't know who the author is, but we know that they had a close relationship with the apostles. And so the book is grounded in their teachings, it's anchored in it, and it does assume a lot of knowledge of the Old Testament as well. And that leads people to suggest that it was most likely written for Jewish Christians, people who had that background already. But for us, that requires a little bit of prior knowledge as well. And so that's also where the name of the letter comes from.

And it seems that this is. It's written to a group of people who have forgotten their first convictions about who Jesus is and what he's done for them. And so chapters one to ten in the lead up to what we're going to read today, they're all about exalting the person of Jesus. It's about who Jesus is, what he's done for them. He's this person who became human.

He's this person who became. Became the person that they could never be, who took on and conquered all the sin of the world. And he did that with his love. And so it makes the point that Jesus is worthy of their trust and devotion, and then challenges the readers to stay faithful to Jesus despite the persecution that they're facing. And so that's chapters one to ten, all right?

And then at the end of chapter ten, the author makes the point that they're living in this time that's after Jesus death and resurrection, but before his return. It's like this intermediate time that they're living in. And so they talk about the fact that we've seen evidence that God is good. We know God is good because Jesus gave his life for us. Right?

The death and the resurrection show his love. But we haven't yet fully experienced that renewed heaven and earth, the restoration of everything that is broken that comes with his return. And so we're in that intermediate time. And in light of this, the author says we need to live by faith. Right?

Need to live by faith. And the character trait that's most important to get through this world is living by faith, trusting, confidence in God, the character trait you need to cultivate in your life. And so that's confidence in what God says about you. That you are loved and. And confidence and trust in what the future holds, the things that God has promised will come about.

And so we need to live by faith is the point that the author makes right at the end of chapter 10. And that's like an introduction into what we're about to read today. Because from here, the author goes on to list a whole bunch of people who lived very different lives, but all had one thing in common, and it's that they lived by faith. And so faith, it's one of those religious words that we often use, and we don't often take the time to stop and think a bit deeper about what that means. That's what this series is all about.

And in its most basic sense, you can just say faith is trust in God. That's what it is. It's a confidence in his ability to do what is right. It's a trust in the promises that he's made. But our English word faith, I think for most of us makes us think of just some sort of maybe mental activity, right?

And the faith starts and ends in our minds. And I think actually a lot of people in Australia would probably agree that it starts and ends in our minds. A lot of people in Australia identify with a Christian faith. We know this. The Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that just over 40% of people identify with a Christian faith or a Christian tradition in their lives, but only 15% of those people are part of a church community.

Right. And so I'd say there's a big divide between people who say they believe in a Christian faith and whether or not they act on it. Right. And so that's those stats. They're showing us that there are a lot of cultural Christians, you could say, you know, a lot of people who identify with a Christian belief but don't necessarily act on them, or in this case, shown by their involvement in Christian community.

And so it does reflect a view that faith can be entirely a mental exercise. You know, that your belief in something doesn't necessarily need to be attached to any actions or changes in behavior. And we're going to explore that today. That's an important point to make. I'm going to explore that by looking at the first seven verses of Hebrews 11.

And this is where we're introduced in particular to three characters, Abel, Enoch and Noah. And they're examples of people who live by faith. And so what we start with in verse one here is not so much a definition of faith, but maybe more an explanation of what faith does. It says this Hebrews 11, chapter sorry, Hebrews 11 1. Faith shows the reality of what we hoped for.

It is the evidence of things we cannot see. And so what this is saying is that faith gives us a glimpse of the things that we're hoping for. And so this is a. This is a reference to Jesus return, right? The kind of things that will exist when Jesus returns and heaven and earth are reunited.

Our trust in God will lead to those things becoming a reality. All right, so this verse is telling us that actually, faith isn't just a mental exercise. It's something much more profound. It's an experience, one that requires action and one that puts us in touch with the reality that we're hoping for. And so consider for a moment the kind of things that Jesus is asking us to do in our lives.

He's asking us to live with forgiveness, with sexual integrity, with generosity, with grace, humility, lots and lots of different things. And this verse is telling us that if we trust in Jesus in those things that he's asking us to do, then we will see the reality of them in our lives. So if we trust in Jesus and forgive, we'll see the bitterness and the hatred leave us. We'll even experience healing from those things. If we live with sexual integrity, we'll see and experience healthy, lifelong relationships.

If we show generosity, we'll see people lifted out of poverty. We'll see people given a hope and a future. And so each of those is a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Right? And so this is telling us, I think, something really profound about faith.

Right? It's an experience we have, but one does depend on our choices. So from here, we're given some specific examples of people from the Old Testament who lived by faith. And we'll see this. The emphasis here is on the actions that they took, right?

So it really does look at the choices that they made in faith. Let's keep reading. Verse 2. It says, through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. 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. And then from here, we're introduced into the first character, Abel. It says it was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel's offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel died long.

Sorry. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith. And so the first mention of someone who had great faith is Abel. And this is a reference to the story in Genesis 4. Humanity has just been exiled from Eden.

And what we find in this story is that the next generation, that's Adam and Eve's children, they're out there offering sacrifices to God. That's quite an interesting image to consider. This is essentially people outside of the garden worshiping God. And So in Genesis 4, it says this. It says, when it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord.

Abel also brought a gift, the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. And so the question that's at the center of the Cain and Abel story is around, why did God accept Abel's offering but not Cain's? And the clue there is in the verse that we just read, it's in Genesis 4, Abel offered the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock.

And so to the Jewish Christians who are reading Hebrews, they would immediately be associating this and recognizing this part of Genesis with pointing towards the Passover lamb, right? This is a significant and costly sacrifice. And so it's like Abel is saying to God, I trust you, and I trust your generosity so much, I'm willing to give you the most valuable thing that I have. And that's in contrast to Cain, who doesn't trust in God's generosity. He brings an offering, but he doesn't give it out of faith, Right?

So it's like he's just going through the motions. That's what makes the difference in that story there. It's about what Abel believed, not necessarily what he brought. And that's what God noticed. And so that's why it says in verse four, it was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did.

Right? So Abel is. He's the first character in the Bible to give back to God the most precious thing that he had. That's what this story is about. Abel trusts in God's generosity so much that he gave back, actually the most precious thing that he had.

And that's an act of faith. You know, Abel is giving. Abel's giving was an act of faith. We also know how that story ends, right? Cain murders Abel out of jealousy because of this, because of what happens here, because of the favor he's shown from God.

And with that, we're also reminded that faith can be costly. So from here, we're Given another example from a completely different viewpoint, and it's from a character called Enoch. It says this starting in verse five. It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying. He disappeared because God took him.

For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. And so we don't know much about Enoch. He's kind of a mystery character.

The few bits that we can piece together, we know that he's the seventh generation from Adam. And in the book of Jude, it recognizes him as a prophet. And he's one of only two individuals, the other being Elijah, who are taken by God without dying. And we're not given a lot of explanation about why that is the case. And the only other detail we're given about him comes from Genesis 5, which says this.

Enoch lived 365 years walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared because God took him. And so we start to get a picture, although very brief, about the kind of person Enoch was. So he was a person who was in close fellowship with God and placed God through his faith. And so the image you get is of someone who's in partnership with God, who's in agreement with what God is asking of them, and made those things a reality in their life.

Right. So in short, Enoch trusted God and he acted on that trust. And so we aren't given any specific reasons why Enoch was taken without dying. Right. But the author of Hebrews seems to suggest that he was spared from experiencing death because of his great faith.

And so the connection there is not so much that faith will lead to you not dying, but more that, you know, faith leads to blessing. Right? There's a connection there between living out your faith, acting on it, and experiencing a blessing. And so that's not to say Abel didn't experience God's blessing, just that each of these examples highlighted in Hebrews 11, it's shown you a different aspect of faith. And another aspect again comes from Noah.

In the next verse we read this. It was by faith that Noah built a large boat and saved his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that he had that had never happened before. By his faith, Noah condemned the rest of the world and he received the righteousness that comes by faith. So Noah's story is a dramatic one.

It's captured for us in Genesis 6 and it tells us that, for example, the Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything humanity thought and imagined was consistently and totally evil. And so this is a dark time in human history. It's full of violence, full of injustice. But one person stands out in the story of Noah. In Genesis 6, we're also told Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time.

And he walked in close fellowship with God. And so we know Noah is a person who had this close relationship with God, and that's important. You know, he had chosen to partner with God. And. And this is someone who knows what God is like because he's walked with God.

And so he knows the characteristics that God has, and he trusts in him because of that. And so when God says something crazy like a great flood is coming, you need to build a boat, Noah looks at God's faithfulness in his own life. He looks at those blessings that God has already given him, and he decides that God is worthy of trust, right? And he builds a boat. And so this example highlights another aspect of faith.

It focuses on obedience. And so that that faith is connected to a change in behavior, right? So it's about choices and actions. And Noah, based on his fellowship with God, determined that God was trustworthy. And from there, he took action.

He did those things that God asked of him, even if they looked a bit crazy. And so Noah, he was warned of something that had never happened before, something that would have sounded totally unbelievable had it come from anyone else. And so the point here is that Noah responds to God with faith in obedience.

And so if I can leave you with one main point that I'd like you to take from this, this morning would be this. It'd be that faith requires action. And really, it's two points. Faith requires action, and it allows us to experience the reality we hope for. So in each of those examples that we saw, the one thing that ties them all together is that these people are all taking action based on their faith.

Each person acts because they trust God. And we see that in Abel, right? He takes action by giving back to God the most precious thing that he had. And also shows us in that situation, faith is about trusting God with everything, even our most precious possessions, even when it's costly. Enoch, he took action by being in close fellowship with God throughout his entire life.

He didn't let that slip. And there's another note there with Enoch that says that that faith comes with a blessing. Noah then takes action by being obedient to God in his instructions to him, right? And even when it didn't make sense, even when he couldn't see the result of what that was going to look like, he still chooses to be obedient to God because he knows God's character and that action and obedience, it gives us a glimpse of a future reality. We can look at those and see a glimpse of this future reality that we can expect as well.

Abel gives us a glimpse of a world where everyone is worshiping God, where everyone is giving God their best. Enoch, give. Enoch gives us a glimpse of a world where there is no more death and suffering. Noah gives us a glimpse of a world where there's no more violence or injustice, where those things don't exist. And so each person on this list kind of builds on the last.

I don't think you're supposed to look at all the people in this list in Hebrews and contrast them against each other. I think they each help us see something deeper about what faith is and they build on each other. And so for you this morning, faith is all about trusting in Jesus, right? For us today as Christians, it's all about trusting in Jesus. And I know that what Jesus asks us to do is often countercultural.

People often look at the things that Jesus asks of us and think that those things are ridiculous, right? We all know that. And maybe Jesus is asking you this morning to consider those things that we spoke about right at the start. Forgiveness, living with sexual integrity, giving generously, living with grace, humility, all those sorts of things. They are the things that the world will tell you are ridiculous, right?

To forgive someone is often the furthest thing from people's minds, you know, when they've been hurt. It's just not part of our modern day culture. Living with sexual integrity is laughable to other people, right? It seems ludicrous to live in that way, right? To give generously.

It just doesn't make sense. There's no financial return on that investment. But Jesus is calling you to trust in him and to follow in his ways. And Hebrews 11:1 tells us that when we trust in him and do the things that he's asking of us, we will see the reality of what we hoped for. We will see the reality of what we hope for.

When you forgive, you'll let go of the bitterness and hatred in your life. And I do believe you'll experience healing when you live with sexual integrity. I do believe that you will see healthy, lifelong relationships, relationships forming with other people. When you give generously, you'll see the Disadvantaged being given the hope and a future. In other words, you get a glimpse of what heaven and earth will be like when Jesus returns.

You get a glimpse of God's presence here on earth. You are called to live in the present like that future reality is already here and to live with a faith that is based on action. Let's pray.

Dear Lord, I just want to thank you this morning for those amazing examples of faith that are captured for us here, things that we can look to, Lord, and just delve deeper into what it means to actually trust you. And I pray, Lord, that we delve deeper into those and we go deeper, Lord, even. Even into looking at the people in our community and how they live out their faith and how they have shown faithfulness to you. And Lord, I do truly believe that that faith will result in the reality of what we hope for, that through our faith and our trust in you, Lord, that we'll be given a glimpse of that future reality, a future where Jesus returns and heaven and earth are reunited and. And just thank you so much for that, Lord.

So I pray that you would help us to just go deeper into this, Lord, to really look at the things that you are asking us to do, Lord, to follow in Jesus ways and his teachings. That we would be people who do forgive, that live generously, that live with humility and integrity. And I pray, Lord, that even in those times when people are telling us we're foolish, that we look ridiculous, that what we're doing is not in our best interest, Lord, that we can look back to you. We can look at these examples from the hall of Faith and we can look and say, lord, no. We know that this is for our benefit, that this is how we bring heaven to earth.

In your mighty name, Lord. Amen.

Sa.