The Tragicomedy of Faith

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Psalm 115

Elder Steven Hoffer

Minister: The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us, he will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.

Congregation: Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. For the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness! You are our help and our shield!

Minister: You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!

Congregation: We will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE

“O Church, Arise”

†CONFESSION OF SIN based on Psalm 32

Minister: Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Congregation: O Lord, when we keep silent about our sin, our bones waste away. When we persist in unrepentance, your hand is heavy upon us. Our strength of self dries up.

But when we acknowledge our sin to you, you forgive the iniquity of our sin. We confess our transgressions to the Lord. Forgive us. Deliver us. Amen.

Minister: Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. In Christ, your sins are forgiven!

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE

Numbers 34:16-35:8 Pastor Austin Prince

Numbers 34:16–35:8 ESV

16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 You shall take one chief from every tribe to divide the land for inheritance. 19 These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 20 Of the tribe of the people of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 21 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. 22 Of the tribe of the people of Dan a chief, Bukki the son of Jogli. 23 Of the people of Joseph: of the tribe of the people of Manasseh a chief, Hanniel the son of Ephod. 24 And of the tribe of the people of Ephraim a chief, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 25 Of the tribe of the people of Zebulun a chief, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 26 Of the tribe of the people of Issachar a chief, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 27 And of the tribe of the people of Asher a chief, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 28 Of the tribe of the people of Naphtali a chief, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.” 29 These are the men whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel in the land of Canaan. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities. 3 The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts. 4 The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. 5 And you shall measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities. 6 “The cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight, with their pasturelands. 8 And as for the cities that you shall give from the possession of the people of Israel, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it inherits, shall give of its cities to the Levites.”

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

“Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.” (1 Chronicles 29:12–14, ESV)

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #170

“God, in the Gospel of His Son”

SERMON Hebrews 11:23–31 // The Tragicomedy of Faith

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

O Lord, as we open now your word, we pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened, so that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

TEXT Hebrews 11:23-31

Hebrews 11:23–31 ESV

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. 29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

AFTER SCRIPTURE

As for God, His way is perfect, the word of the Lord is flawless.

Introduction

The Christian story is, in many ways, a tragicomedy. It’s the collision of apparent defeat with what turns out to be a certain victory.

It’s when the world mocks, or our fear shrinks back, or our pessimism doubts, thinking God has been cornered—but heaven laughs louder, because the victory is secured. It’s when the cross looks like the end and turns out to be the beginning. Tragicomedy is when darkness is swallowed by light, when apparent tragedy is transformed into glory, when what seems like a loss becomes the very means of triumph.

It should be familiar territory for the Christian to live where all others would only see terror and tragedy.

Now, in calling it tragicomedy I’m not saying that the Christian’s response is comedic, in a sense that would promote flippancy or foolishness.

No, throughout Christian doctrine what I’m talking about sounds like this:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:4–6, ESV)

Throughout redemptive history, God has delighted in writing these kinds of stories. The flipping of the script. He turns Pharaoh’s river of death into the cradle of Moses’s deliverance. He turns a wilderness fugitive into the deliverer of a nation. He turns a cross into a throne. That is the tragicomedy of faith. It is faith that looks tragedy in the eye and knows that the Author has not finished the story.

Our text in Hebrews 11:23–31 gives us a sweeping panorama of this theme—from Moses’ birth to the fall of Jericho. Each scene is a living picture of what it looks like to trust God when it looks like a genuine crisis — when there was a genuine crisis.

Each scene is marked by defiance of worldly powers, endurance in reproach, and trust in God’s power to turn tragedy into triumph. And each scene calls us not only to believe but to live in the same pattern—to live out our faith as participants in God’s great tragicomedy. To know that God writes stories in the genre of tragicomedy. That all will turn out right in the end. That all things, including the genuine crisis in our lives, can be turned for good. That faith isn’t a gamble, a wish that God might make it all ok. It’s the belief, the conviction, that God will always work for the good of those who love Him.

I. Saying “No” to Pharaoh: Defiant Faith at the Beginning

Verse 23: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

We begin looking at this not with Moses standing before Pharaoh, but with a mother and father saying “no” to the most powerful man in the world. Pharaoh gave an order of death. Moses’s parents defied it with faith.

Scripture says they saw that the child was “beautiful.” That word is not merely about appearance. It means “beautiful in God’s sight.” They saw something that Pharoah did not, and often the world cannot: that this child was made in the image of God, and therefore worthy of protection, even at great cost.

And in God’s providence, their defiance not only saved Moses—it placed him right inside Pharaoh’s own household. The tragicomedy element was that their faith, though in the midst of crisis, was honored. Pharaoh’s daughter paid Moses’s mother to nurse the very child her father had ordered to be killed. God reversed the story in a way only He could.

Application: Faith in the genre of tragicomedy often begins by saying “no” to Pharaoh. Living by faith is often defiant.

Defiance to every voice of the world that demands our compromise. It is every cultural current that calls evil good and good evil. It is every system, every ideology, every smooth and polished catechism that teaches us to value the temporary over the eternal, the approval of men over the approval of God. It’s to see with the eyes of God, to see what is good and right and true, and to love and protect it at all costs. God’s ways. God’s people. God’s plans. God’s law. The preaching of God’s word.

When our world would have us sacrifice our children, we say no. No to abortions and the cult of death, seeing with the eyes of God that the children are beautiful. But so often the defiant no of walking away from what seems normal in our world: when we see the attack and onslaught against our influence as parents. When government schools would claim in loco parentis — that they get to act as parent and strip God away from influencing learning about His creation while welcoming and praising doubt and sin, we must say no. When the catechism is of self and sex and sin, in movies or music and art, we must say no. We are strangers and aliens in this world, not sticks in the mud or weak and scandalized who can’t look upon the world without fainting. We are deeply convicted by the goodness of God and will not and cannot live among those who would hide it, corral it out of the public square, or who would pervert it in the eyes and hearts of our families.

Pharaoh comes after our children through algorithms, and influencers, and stories that teach them to despise what God calls beautiful. Pharaoh comes after marriage and family, after our affections, our minds, our loyalties. The world is not neutral; it is catechizing us.

I was reading the other day that only 7% of what you see on social media is from your friends or people you now, the other 93% are curated and targeted ads. You are a product. Your eyes and passions are big business and beliefs to be ‘influenced’. We mustn’t forget that what we believe comes from what we love, and we must love what God loves. You have to fight in our world to see the good. You have to push back here and step out and say no to many things in order to calibrate your heart to God’s. You will be thought a fool or defiant or out of touch.

And here is where the tragicomedy shines. When the people of God say “no,” when we stand firm in faith, we don’t get crushed. When we “miss out” we are only dodging a bullet. God blesses those who seek after Him. He reverses the story that seems like loss. He uses weak things to shame the strong. He uses ordinary obedience to undo empires.

Call to action: So, guard your homes with defiant faith. Young people, do not surrender what God calls beautiful to the pressure of a culture that mocks it. As a Church, as part of the church, we must not compromise even when it’s costly. Say “no” in faith, and watch God write His reversal into your story.

II. The Reproach of Christ Over Pharaoh’s Treasure

Verse 24: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”

Here is the second movement of the story. Moses grew up in privilege, power, and wealth. He was raised in the halls of Egyptian royalty. But by faith, he refused to let Pharaoh’s house define him. He identified with God’s people instead. He chose reproach over riches. He chose to suffer outside the camp rather than bask in the pleasures of Egypt.

Initially, it seemed that Moses ran away from Egypt in fear. If you remember, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and he stepped in to intervene and ended up killing the Egyptian. And here he was a prince of Egypt standing up for the Hebrews, but they rejected him. So he was afraid and he ran away.

Here was this man that God had preserved into this unique position to lead. He was a Hebrew but had all the learning and the skill and the connections to lead them, but they refused him.

But going into the wilderness he learned what he didn’t know. He became like the people. He dwelt among them and knew them. And by faith, he came back to Egypt and told Pharaoh to let God’s people go.

Obedience is the great opener of eyes. [George MacDonald]

Moses needed to be humbled. When God calls us to faith, there is always a call to obedience. There is always a call to step away from what we have identified with and what we have become for the sake of being identified with Christ.

Faith isn’t just a feeling; it always accompanies action. You can’t be a liar and come to Christ without getting rid of the lies. You can’t be filled with pride and come to Christ without humility. You can’t be an adulterer or homosexual without turning to faithfulness and away from sodomy.

When Christ calls us, it’s always a call to follow Him — to be identified with his people. And there, in our obedience, is where he strengthens our hand for the work ahead.

By faith, Moses chose to be identified with these people. He chose to be a nuisance to Pharaoh. By faith, God blessed the baby whose parents defied Pharaoh to defy Pharaoh himself, and deliver his people from slavery.

This is what the world cannot understand. To the world, Moses looks like a fool. He’s throwing away status, security, and comfort for suffering.

Moses made a calculated choice, not an impulsive one. He looked and considered what Egypt offered and compared it with the reward of Christ, and he concluded that reproach with Christ was better than treasures without Him. Paul makes the same calculation in Philippians 3: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Application: [slow]

We are all driven by what we love most. You are only as durable as the object of your greatest affection. The whole book of Hebrews has been about endurance. And you are only as durable (able to endure) as the object of your greatest affection. If you anchor your life in anything less than The Infinite, then your security will always be threatened. Job loss, sickness, cultural shifts—anything can shake your foundation if your treasure is in Egypt.

But if your treasure is in Christ, reproach becomes glory. Suffering becomes gain. Endurance becomes joy. That’s why this book of Hebrews is about endurance. It asks us, “What will keep you going when the world offers comfort and mocks your faith?” The answer: the reward of Christ outweighs the treasures of Egypt.

Call to action: Don’t settle for Egypt’s comfort. Don’t build your identity on the approval of our world. “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—” (1 Corinthians 2:9, ESV)

III. The Passover: Fear and Trust in God’s Work

Verse 28: “By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.”

Here the tragicomedy shifts to fear—not fear of Pharaoh, but fear of ourselves. The Israelites had no power to defend themselves against the angel of death. No sword could protect them that night. Their safety depended entirely on the blood of the lamb.

The tragedy is our helplessness. The comedy—the good news—is that God Himself provides the covering. Their deliverance depended not on their strength, not on their moral superiority, not even on the strength of their faith, but on the object of their faith: the lamb.

Application: Often our fear is not just of the world, but of ourselves. We wonder, “Will I be faithful enough? Will I hold on to the end?” But the gospel reminds us: it is not the strength of your grip that saves you; it is the strength of the One who holds you. Faith receives what Christ has accomplished.

Call to action: Stop trusting in the strength of your faith. Trust in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When the judgment passes over, it’s not your performance that will save you—it’s the blood. Rest in that. Let it quiet your trembling heart.

IV. Faith in the Impossible: The Red Sea and Jericho

Verses 29–30: “By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.”

These are the moments when faith looks ridiculous to the world. Who crosses a sea with an army at their back? Who brings down fortified walls with trumpets? The logic of the flesh says, “Impossible.” Faith says, “God can.”

The tragicomedy is that what seems weak and foolish in the world’s eyes becomes the instrument of God’s victory. Faith trusts that God can do what we cannot.

Application: Too often, we live as though God is too big to concern Himself with our small needs, and too small to handle our big ones. We limit our prayers to what seems reasonable. We plan our obedience around what seems achievable. But the God who split the sea and brought down walls is the same God who hears you pray today.

Why not pray for impossible things? Why not pray for the revival of our nation, for leaders to bow the knee to Christ, for prodigal children to come home, for the walls of unbelief in our own city to crumble? Why not believe that God can flip the script?

Call to action: When obedience looks like disaster, obey anyway. Disaster comes from disobedience, not obedience. Choosing obedience is not choosing misery—it’s choosing real joy, lasting comfort, and the true treasure of Christ. Don’t try to write the script for God. Trust Him to write it better.

V. Rahab: Grace for the Shamed and the Outcast

Verse 31: “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”

This is one of the most beautiful turns in the text. After the great example of Moses—the revered leader of Israel—comes Rahab, a prostitute. And she is commended in the same breath, by the same Spirit, for the same faith.

Rahab’s story is the tragicomedy of grace. She forsook her homeland, her city, and her sin to align herself with the God of Israel. And the great reversal? She became the grandmother of Boaz in the story of Ruth, which makes her the great-grandmother of David, part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Application: Faith is not reserved for the spiritual elite. It is not too lofty for the guilty, nor too distant for the broken. It reaches into the brothels of Jericho and the palaces of Egypt. It rescues and rewrites stories.

Call to action: If you think your story is too far gone, look at Rahab. If you think your sin is too dark, look at Rahab. If you believe your shame disqualifies you, look at Rahab. By faith, even she became part of God’s royal story. So can you.

Conclusion: The Cross, the Ultimate Tragicomedy

Moses’s story is full of reversals. God preserved his life through his parents’ defiance, trained him in Pharaoh’s court, let him be rejected by his own people, then sent him back to lead them through death into freedom. But all of it points to a greater story: the tragicomedy of the cross.

Jesus, the Prince of Heaven, left His throne, humbled Himself, and identified with us. He was rejected by His own people, condemned to die, and crucified. To the world, it looked like the end of the story. But heaven laughed. Because on that cross, the greatest reversal in history took place: death was defeated, sin was paid for, and the door of life was opened.

With Jesus, what looked like disaster became salvation. When we rejected Him, He identified with us. When He could have saved Himself, He chose obedience. The world wrote “tragedy.” God wrote “triumph.”

This is the pattern of faith. This is the tragicomedy of the gospel. And we, church, are called to live inside this story.

We have seen more than Moses saw. We have seen the Lamb of God. So let our faith rise to the light we’ve received. Let us take on the Red sea or defy the Pharaohs. Let us trust the Lamb when judgment comes, resting in peaceful sleep as he passes over us by the perfect blood of the Lamb. Let us blow our trumpets around the walls of Jericho in prayer and in hope. And let us cast ourselves, whatever our shame, into the hands of Christ, who adopts us into His family.

With Jesus, what looked like it was going to be a disaster ended up being our salvation. With Jesus, when we rejected him, he identified with us and redeemed us. With Jesus, what looked like could’ve been a temptation to save himself he embraced in obedience, what makes us think that we are any wiser than Jesus. This is the way that God has made the world and this is the way that faith is defiant against it. This is the tragicomedy of faith.

†PSALM OF RESPONSE #46C

“God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength”

†THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

Congregation is seated. Tell them to turn to The Nicene creed (Pg. 852) in Trinity Hymnal.

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

// ad hoc invitation – use below if needed //

At some point during the service of worship every Sunday, each of us is hopefully reminded about the redemption we have in Christ and how we are washed clean by his blood. Perhaps it’s in the sermon, or maybe a hymn, or the prayers, and certainly the confession. We know that Jesus has died and that his death and resurrection have made us clean and able to live for him in righteousness.

Yet as we examine our own lives, or even just hear the law read aloud, we are very aware of the continuing presence of sin. Just as it can be easy to take God’s forgiveness for granted, we can also easily get discouraged with the progress we’re making in holiness.

It is a blessing of the Christian life that God is so patient with us and uses many means to call us to repentance and to remind us of his call to holiness.

Likewise, God uses different means to remind us of the forgiveness he offers to the repentant and the righteousness he provides for us in Christ. No matter how sanctified we become or how serious about obedience we are, no one can come to this table as a worthy recipient of God’s gifts. We strive to be like our savior and to live after his holy way, but those who come to this table recognize that in themselves they are entirely unworthy to receive it. Yet we come. We come because as we repent from that unworthiness, we trust by God’s grace that we are welcomed here on account of Christ’s righteousness and not by our own merit.

This meal provides a witness to the power of God’s love for sinners in the death and resurrection of his son. It provides the promise of grace to all who believe. It provides a means whereby his children, in public reception of these elements, and in response to the great gifts of God conveyed by them, can show forth their faith in God by offering themselves to Him in love and praise.

// ad hoc invitation – use above if needed. Always use below. //

This table welcomes all who confess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who have the hope of salvation brought forth by his life, death, and resurrection. It is for all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church.

This meal cannot make you righteous; no human action can. But this meal can covey the grace of God to you and unite you, by faith, in the one who is righteous. By the power of the Spirit, who meets with God’s people here; we, though still sinners, can endeavor by that same Spirit to live holy lives before God. Come, you who desire to be followers of God – taste and see that the Lord is good.

Let’s confess our faith together. Christians, what do you believe?

CONFESSION OF FAITH

The Nicene Creed p. 852

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23–26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

The body of the Lord, broken for you, take and eat.

The blood of the Lord, shed for the forgiveness of sins. Take and drink.

PRAYER

†OUR RESPONSE #572

“Gloria Patri”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen, amen.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13, ESV)

Grace Notes Reflection

Moses’s faith in Hebrews 11:23-31 is an example of what faith looks like in the midst of crisis.

When all seems to be wrong and headed for a dead end, and yet obedience is still given, the pattern that the Christian learns is that God brings about glory where we could only see disaster. It’s what we might call the genre of tragicomedy, a story written for tears and for smiles, a shocking reversal of calamity, a genuine dissonance that resolves in a major key.

We are told just this is Paul’s letter to the Romans: “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, ESV)

Meditate on stories of this type, from Moses and our text this week to the cross to your own life. Are you consciously aware that this is how God writes His stories over and over again? Where has this happened in your life? Consider telling that story to your family today or pausing to praise God for it.

Are you wrestling with God for the pen, trying to write your own story? When these crises come, will you trust enough to obey in the midst of them, or will you rage and panic and fear believing that the story is somehow irredeemable?

Do you think that God working all things for your good means that He is working all things for your definition of good (comfort, luxury, peace, prosperity)?

Take heart, Christ has overcome the world.