Hebrews 11:1-3
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see --created by what we don’t see.
We’ve spent a good bit of time these past two weeks dissecting the misnamed Letter to the Hebrews – what the writer possibly meant and how it has been misquoted and misused in recent centuries.
Last week we talked about the Jewish priesthood and sacrifice – how the writer compared Jesus to them them in metaphorical terms – and ever since we’ve been reading it in literal terms, thereby often missing the mark completely.
What we have not talked about in all this is what the letter has to offer us in encouragement and expanding our understanding of Jesus and our role as followers of Jesus. Quite possibly the most important lesson we are given in Hebrews is found in chapter 11, which opens with the reading we started with today and this assertion: faith is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living... The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
In a piece that is beautifully written, but unfortunately too long to read here in it’s entirety, the writer then gives a condensed rundown of Old Testament history and the role that faith played through all those centuries. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version:
The kind of faith that our writer is talking about here is not based on quick resolutions of our problems. The people described here didn’t just announce they had faith in God, then sit back and expect God to fix all their problems right then and there.
If we have faith, it is because we trust the one who gave the promise. I can’t tell you how many times, as a minister, I have had perfectly sincere people explain to me that they prayed once, but God didn’t answer – so they felt completely justified in their assumption that there is no God. That was never faith in God – that was “faith” in the correctness of their own desired answer. When that particular answer didn’t occur, it apparently never entered their minds to look for another answer – maybe a different answer, a better answer, maybe an answer already on its way – possibly even “no” because what they asked wasn’t right for them.
Every one of us, I’m sure, has been lied to, betrayed at some point in our lives. Someone has promised something with all the sincerity at their command, and still fallen short of keeping that promise. People are fallible – even those of us right here. Even the best of us will fail someone some time. We humans can fail to keep our promises – our faith believes that God never will.
In the first letter to the people of Corinth you may recall, St. Paul stated right up front that the message of the Christ followers is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Paul later goes on to add that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Centuries later, St. Francis would acquire the nickname of “God’s little fool” and happily rejoice in rejecting any idea that he was who he was through any great power of wisdom of his own. He was God’s fool, and nothing more – trusting God all the way - even against the evidence of his own eyes.
When we trust God, we are trusting beyond what we can see. Trusting the one who gives the promise and basing our trust on centuries of promises kept and our own belief in promise still to be kept. We trust, not because it’s “magic” in any way, but because we are already living in a trustworthy relationship with God.
And we trust God because Jesus trusted his abba – trusted with every fiber of his being. All the way to the cross and beyond. And we trust Jesus, and trusting, we follow, and following, we imitate.
To those who do not believe, faith is an impossible and foolish act. For those of us who do believe, having faith is the easiest thing ever.
It’s easy now, but it may not always have been so. It may have been a struggle to get here. There may be times when it still is a struggle – that’s OK. Jesus had a couple of wavering, doubting moments himself – why on earth should I ever assume I can do better than Jesus?
The point our writer made with his long list of Old Testament saints was that most of them never lived to see the fullness of the promises made – and yet they still believed. They still trusted.
We, like they, still have faith, and the time we spend together learning and praying, and sharing our stories can only help each of us build our faith a little stronger, and a little stronger. We may never in this life see the final resolution of our efforts to build God’s kingdom here and now. It’s unlikely that we will, and yet we go on, “foolishly” trusting in a promise given.
I believe because I trust God. I trust God because I believe. And I believe because Jesus tells me I can, and I trust Jesus, because he remains always worthy of that trust. As our writer reminds us: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Last week we talked about the Jewish priesthood and sacrifice – how the writer compared Jesus to them them in metaphorical terms – and ever since we’ve been reading it in literal terms, thereby often missing the mark completely.
What we have not talked about in all this is what the letter has to offer us in encouragement and expanding our understanding of Jesus and our role as followers of Jesus. Quite possibly the most important lesson we are given in Hebrews is found in chapter 11, which opens with the reading we started with today and this assertion: faith is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living... The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
In a piece that is beautifully written, but unfortunately too long to read here in it’s entirety, the writer then gives a condensed rundown of Old Testament history and the role that faith played through all those centuries. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version:
- By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference.
- By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely.
- By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told.
- By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home.
- By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time.
- By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God.
- By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.
- By an act of faith, Moses’ parents hid him away for three months after his birth.
- By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house.
- By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground.
- By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.
- I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. [this is still the writer of Hebrews speaking] There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves
- Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised.
The kind of faith that our writer is talking about here is not based on quick resolutions of our problems. The people described here didn’t just announce they had faith in God, then sit back and expect God to fix all their problems right then and there.
If we have faith, it is because we trust the one who gave the promise. I can’t tell you how many times, as a minister, I have had perfectly sincere people explain to me that they prayed once, but God didn’t answer – so they felt completely justified in their assumption that there is no God. That was never faith in God – that was “faith” in the correctness of their own desired answer. When that particular answer didn’t occur, it apparently never entered their minds to look for another answer – maybe a different answer, a better answer, maybe an answer already on its way – possibly even “no” because what they asked wasn’t right for them.
Every one of us, I’m sure, has been lied to, betrayed at some point in our lives. Someone has promised something with all the sincerity at their command, and still fallen short of keeping that promise. People are fallible – even those of us right here. Even the best of us will fail someone some time. We humans can fail to keep our promises – our faith believes that God never will.
In the first letter to the people of Corinth you may recall, St. Paul stated right up front that the message of the Christ followers is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Paul later goes on to add that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Centuries later, St. Francis would acquire the nickname of “God’s little fool” and happily rejoice in rejecting any idea that he was who he was through any great power of wisdom of his own. He was God’s fool, and nothing more – trusting God all the way - even against the evidence of his own eyes.
When we trust God, we are trusting beyond what we can see. Trusting the one who gives the promise and basing our trust on centuries of promises kept and our own belief in promise still to be kept. We trust, not because it’s “magic” in any way, but because we are already living in a trustworthy relationship with God.
And we trust God because Jesus trusted his abba – trusted with every fiber of his being. All the way to the cross and beyond. And we trust Jesus, and trusting, we follow, and following, we imitate.
To those who do not believe, faith is an impossible and foolish act. For those of us who do believe, having faith is the easiest thing ever.
It’s easy now, but it may not always have been so. It may have been a struggle to get here. There may be times when it still is a struggle – that’s OK. Jesus had a couple of wavering, doubting moments himself – why on earth should I ever assume I can do better than Jesus?
The point our writer made with his long list of Old Testament saints was that most of them never lived to see the fullness of the promises made – and yet they still believed. They still trusted.
We, like they, still have faith, and the time we spend together learning and praying, and sharing our stories can only help each of us build our faith a little stronger, and a little stronger. We may never in this life see the final resolution of our efforts to build God’s kingdom here and now. It’s unlikely that we will, and yet we go on, “foolishly” trusting in a promise given.
I believe because I trust God. I trust God because I believe. And I believe because Jesus tells me I can, and I trust Jesus, because he remains always worthy of that trust. As our writer reminds us: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
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