Thursday, November 29, 2012

Fifty Two Weeks / Hebrews 11


Faith

This chapter is generally considered to be the definitive word on faith. It plainly defines faith. It gives examples of faith by introducing what many call the Faith Hall of Fame. It gives us insight into what faith does, and doesn’t, mean for our lives.

This is a short blog so I obviously cannot go into great detail about any of this but here are some brief random observations about there three areas.

Definition

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” 

Two brief observations here. Faith starts with hope. Hope is not some sort of inferior type of faith. It is the starting point for faith. 

Faith concerns the invisible. That makes faith a very big topic indeed. Astro Physicists estimate that the visible universe makes up only about 3% of matter. This does even start to take into consideration the impact faith has on such other invisibles as love, worry, conflict, the future… etc. We are so taken with the visible world that it is easy to lose track of how very insignificant and transient the visible is compared to the invisible.

Hall of Fame

Most of the names mentioned in this list are fairly obvious to anyone somewhat familiar with the Bible. Here are three brief observations.

Abel presented a better sacrifice by faith. What does that mean? The Bible doesn’t specifically answer this question but I have pretty good idea. On the day Adam and Eve sinned God killed an animal to give them clothes but more importantly to allow them to live. Animal sacrifice was instituted that day and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Cain and Abel must somehow have been taught this. Abel believed. Cain had a “better” idea.

Abraham was enabled to sacrifice Isaac because he believed that God could raise the dead. I have alway been attracted to Genesis 22 and the story of Abraham offering Isaac because it is such a beautiful and powerful picture of God the Father and Jesus the Son. Here the writer of Hebrews even tells us that Abraham was able to do this because he thought Isaac could be raised from the dead! This is exactly the same reason that enabled the Father to allow Jesus to be sacrificed.

Rahab was a resident of Jericho and a fairly minor character in the Old Testament pantheon; yet, she is included in this list and also mentioned by James as an example of faith. At first glance what she did doesn’t seem to be very noble. Basically she committed treason against her city. Ah, but when you read why she did what she did things come into focus. This is what she said: 

““I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Everyone else in her city apparently knew the same facts she knew but she was the one whose faith led her to believe, “… the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

For Us

There has been a lot of “logical” but weird teaching on faith come out of the USA the last few decades. Logical? Yes, but in a carnal sort of way that is foreign to the people on this honored list.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. But what kind of faith are we talking about here? We are talking about a faith that sees the invisible. This is a faith that looks beyond this world and sees the one to come. Yes, our faith can indeed impact this present world and circumstances, but more importantly it impacts us and how we view things and live our lives. 

I personally don’t trust a faith that it too focused on this world and its “things”, its stuff. The world and its stuff is not worthy of this kind of faith. The one thing all of these had in common was that regardless of the exploits they did they still did not receive the reward of their faith in this world. How could they? How can we? This world doesn’t have the capacity to fulfill the object of hope which produces godly faith. Regardless of what happens in this world, or what some would teach us to focus our faith on, we should remain mindful that the real goal can only be described as “something better”. Don’t settle for less.

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