Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is
being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were
commended for. 3 By faith we
understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen
was not made out of what was visible. 8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his
inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the
promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did
Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the
city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was
past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him
faithful who had made the promise. 12
And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous
as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people were still living
by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only
saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners
and strangers on earth. 14
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their
own. 15 If they had been
thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to
return. 16 Instead, they were
longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to
be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
This coming
Sunday marks the first of four weeks in Hebrews 11-13, an extended meditation
on the nature of faith (this week & next), the awe-filled nature of the God
we serve and the salvation we have entered (in two weeks), and the implications
of these for our life as church (in three weeks).
Hebrews 11 is
sometimes referred to as the “faith hall of fame,” or the “roll-call of faith.”
Great ‘heroes’ of faith (and The Faith) are mentioned by name, along with a
synopsis of why they’re mentioned. For part 1 of the ‘mini-series,’ however,
the emphasis isn’t so much on a particular person or persons of this great
roll-call, but rather on faith itself. Of all of the comments I’ve read so far,
I particularly like the opening remarks of Wiersbe on this topic:
This is not a
*definition of faith but a *description of what faith does and how it works.
True biblical faith is not blind optimism or a manufactured ‘hope so’ feeling.
Neither is it an intellectual assent to a doctrine. It is certainly not
believing in spit of evidence! That would be superstition.
True biblical
faith is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and
consequences. This faith operates quite simply. God speaks and we hear His
Word. We trust His Word and act on it no matter what the circumstances are or
what the consequences may be. The circumstances may be impossible, and the
consequences frightening and unknown; but we obey God’s Word just the same an
believe Him to do what is right and what is best.
The world does not
understand true biblical faith, probably because it sees so little faith in
action in the Church today. The cynical editor HL Mencken defined faith as
‘illogical belief in the occurrence of the impossible’ The world fails to
realize that faith is only as good as its object, and the object of true faith
is GOD. Faith is not some feeling that we manufacture. It is our total response
to what God has revealed in His Word.
I would have a hard time improving on
Wiersbe’s comments. I once heard that old Mencken quote paraphrased as follows:
A Sunday school teacher asked her class of young ones what faith was. After a
long silence, one little boy ventured: “faith is belief in something you know
isn’t true.”
Two things make
Wiersbe’s observations worth reading: (1) the fact that faith is a response in
the life of the believer. It’s not intellectual ascent, it’s not a fuzzy
feel-good emotion; if anything, it is a way
of life. Others have keyed in on that way
of life aspect, citing the fact that the ‘heroes’ mentioned in Heb 11 didn’t
just make a ‘heroic once-for-all decision, but rather lived an ongoing
commitment seeking a ‘homeland,’ as the writer puts it, day by day, year by
year, as part of the very fabric of their lives. (2) The other great point he
brings out is that Christian faith is unique, and uniquely valid, because its
object is God. There is no shortage of faith in our culture. People put their
faith in politicians, in a political system, in a ‘vision’ of America and what
it’s supposed to be, in science, in medicine, even in their own friends. Only
God, and the promises found in his word, however, can ultimately support true
faith.
Cheers,
TM
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