Looking to the Reward

Hebrews 11:23–31 “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. 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. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. 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. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”

Other Passages: Ex 2:2, 14-15; Matt 10:28; Ex 2:11-12; Phil 2:5-11; Lk 6:22-23; Phil 3:8-11; Josh 5:13-14; Josh 2:8-9, 11-13; Heb 13:2; Is 62:11-12

Words to listen for: Feasible, Riches, Rewarding

Introduction

What’s your reward?

I’ve been a bit of a neuroscience nerd for a few years now. Partly trying to understand some of my own struggles in high school and college which I later discovered match some traits known as ADHD, but partly just because I’m fascinated with how things work, including our brains. 

One of the things that has become clear is that there are important connections between our physical bodies and our brains, especially in terms of exercise. But exercise by nature is challenging and it’s often hard to keep people motivated to do it.

In fact, they did a study a number of years ago on how to help people keep up with their exercise goals. They advised different groups of people to focus on different things while they exercised. 

But the thing that worked the best to keep people consistent with their plans over the long-term was focusing on their goal, the long-term benefits. Trying to just enjoy the moment, planning an indulgent cheat meal, or focusing on negative aspects they were trying to fix ended up causing them to give up sooner than the group that focused on their final positive reward. 

It’s similar with a life of faith. The only way to make it to the end is to focus on the reward.

We’ve seen in our study of Hebrews the language of reward show up recently in chapter 10 and 11. Hebrews 10:35 “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” Then also in Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” 

Up to this point in the examples of Hebrews 11 we’ve mostly seen how faith empowers personal acts of piety and sacrifice. Abel and Enoch worshiped and walked with God by faith. Abraham sacrificed comfort and security to become a nomad. But in our passage this morning we see the importance of faith when there are hostile forces involved. While Abel was killed for his faithful sacrifice, he probably wasn’t conscious of the risk of his obedience. In our passage this morning we encounter numerous instances in which faithful obedience involved great risk and could only be followed through by faith.

What does it mean to live by faith? In Hebrews 11—the great hall of faith—we see ordinary people doing extraordinary things, not because of their strength, but because their eyes were fixed on something greater: the reward. This isn't a fleeting prize like a lottery ticket or a promotion at work. It's the eternal inheritance promised by God—His presence, His glory, and the unshakable kingdom that outlasts every earthly empire.

Today, as we unpack Hebrews 11:23-31, we'll explore how faith reshapes our reality when we look to that reward. We'll see it through three lenses: 1)  Faith makes facing fear feasible, 2) Faith turns reproaches into riches, and 3) Faith makes realignment rewarding. These three elements which are found woven throughout the passage aren't abstract ideas; they're battle-tested truths from Moses to Rahab, calling us to the same kind of bold, reward-focused living.

I. Faith Makes Facing Fear  Feasible 

We see this concept present in the first verse of our passage: Hebrews 11:23 “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.” 

Some of you might read this verse like I did and ask what does Moses being beautiful have to do with faith? That’s a good question and I’m not sure what the answer would be. But I don’t think that’s what the author of Hebrews is focused on here. The word for beautiful here is where we get our word “aesthetic” but it’s just a quote from Exodus 2:2 “The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.”  I don’t think the author of Hebrews is intending us to find deep meaning in the fine features of Moses. 

Instead I think our focus ought to be on the next phrase “they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” Moses’s parents refused to comply with Pharaoh’s new order that all baby boys be killed. It is quite likely that the first readers of this letter to the Hebrews were facing hostile authorities in their own contexts. Moses’s parents already had at least two children, Aaron and Miriam, so they could have just said, two’s enough, we’ll comply with the king’s command and kill our third child. 

Despite the danger they knew this would be wrong and so the took a quiet stand, refusing to comply with the command to kill their child. They had no idea who Moses would grow up to be and what he would do, but they faced their fear of the king through faith. By faith Moses was hidden for three months because his parents were not afraid of the king’s edict.

But Moses’s parents aren’t the only ones facing fears in our passage, in verse 27 Moses faced down his fear of Pharaoh as an adult.

Hebrews 11:27 “By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” 

This verse poses a couple challenges at first glance. First, it describes Moses as not fearing Pharaoh, when we’re told in Exodus 2:14–15 “Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.” 

But I think we can resolve this by considering that the author of Hebrews is doing what he already did with Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac when he spoke of their overarching faith which ultimately characterized their lives and actions. Moses did experience initial fear, and he did leave Egypt, but ultimately instead of succumbing to fear he faced it by faith. 

The second challenge comes in the next phrase of the verse “for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” The word “endured” seems a little out of place. What is Moses enduring? The wilderness? The fact is, the translation here is a little bit challenging. The author of Hebrews writes very compactly, requiring the translator to put in a little work to figure out how the words relate. The ESV translates the word the “endured” as something Moses is doing because of or while he is seeing. 

Now “endured” is the main verb, but it’s not meant to stand alone, and in fact, it might be better translated as “persisted” in this case. One reason for the slightly confusing grammar is that you can’t actually see something that is invisible. So the writer of Hebrews sticks in the word “as” to say that it was “as though” Moses saw him who was invisible. Look down at verse 29 to see a similar use of “as” Hebrews 11:29 “By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land,” a more literal translation would say “as if/as though dry land.” 

So the “enduring” or “persisting” that Moses did was persistently seeing the invisible one. The best Greek Lexicon paraphrases the end of verse 27 as “he kept the one who is invisible continually before his eyes (i.e., in faith), as it were.” Moses was unafraid because he persistently fixed his eyes on God.

The point is that in this verse the writer of Hebrews is saying that Moses left Egypt and conquered his fear by persistently “seeing” God even though he is invisible. How do you see something that is invisible? Well, you have to use a different faculty than eyes. Eyes can only see things that are visible. If you want to see someone who is invisible you need faith. 

Remember verse 1 Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So that’s precisely what Moses did. He used faith to see God. 

The examples of faith facilitating the facing of fear continue throughout our passage. In verse 28 Moses led all the Israelites to face down fear by sacrificing the passover lamb and smearing its blood on their houses. Then verse 29 when facing a horde of angry Egyptians, Moses led the Israelites to walk through the heart of the sea which promptly closed back over their enemies. In verse 30 they march around a heavily fortified city waiting for God to give them victory.

The writer of Hebrews knows the checkered reality of the Israelite’s faith throughout this time—that was chapter 3 and 4 of Hebrews—his focus in our passage is on the factor of faith in facing fear. It does this by making the invisible more real that the visible.

Jesus told his disciples to consider reordering their fear. Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” There is a right and proper fear of the Lord. But when the Bible talks about fearing the Lord it means more than being more scared of God than anyone else. It’s a way of treating God as more real, more holy, more important than anything else.

Moses’s parents feared Pharaoh a little bit, but they feared God more, and the same with Moses, Israel, and the other examples. You and I must adopt a similar mindset. Fighting fear with faith means seeing the invisible as more real than the visible. Having an eternal perspective will allow you to face fearful situations because it will put them into perspective. You must look to the reward.

Another perspective-shifting thing that we see faith doing in our passage is:

II. Faith Turns Reproaches into  Riches 

Look at Hebrews 11:24–26 “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. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” 

Although Moses’s parents saved him from immediate death in the Nile, his mother did eventually sort of obey Pharaoh by putting Moses in the river. However, she put him in a basket, and perhaps according to her plan, Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the nautical infant. Moses was preserved from death, but he was raised from childhood in the household of Pharaoh. This was not the same Pharaoh that had been friendly to Joseph and the Israelites, this Pharaoh was utterly opposed to Israel and their God. We don’t know how much contact with the Israelites, or his birth family, Moses had while growing up. 

Despite this Moses somehow came to understand his own identity as not originally Egyptian and rather than embracing his life of luxury and prestige he chose poverty and reproach as an Israelite. 

Presumably the author of Hebrews is talking about the incident we have recorded in Exodus 2:11–12 “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” 

This act put Moses at odds with the Egyptians, but it didn’t immediately endear him to the Israelites either, requiring him to flee Egypt entirely. But the author of Hebrews is looking at Moses’ act in a larger context, its greater significance and implications. 

The author of Hebrews is writing his letter to Christians who are facing some of their own challenges and hostilities for their faith. They were being insulted, called names, and possibly threatened for their identity as Christians. So that author of Hebrews pauses in his story on Moses to make sure his readers get the point. Moses had a similar choice before him that they face, except perhaps more stark. 

Moses was royalty in Egypt, but as an Israelite he was a slave. He had the right of Egyptian sonship by adoption, one of the most prominent empires in the world at that time. Yet he gave up that for a Israelite-slave identity.

As the author of Hebrews makes this point the parallels are too strong between this Moses, the redeemer of God’s people and one whom Moses pointed to not mention him. Paul’s letter to the Philippians was likely in the mind of the author as he wrote our passage.

Philippians 2:5–11 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

Christ traded royal treatment for a season of servanthood for the sake of our salvation. 

Moses made a calculation when he gave up Egyptian riches and took on Israelite poverty. On the surface it looked like a terrible deal. Moses was never welcomed back into Egypt, he never even made it to the promised land. He left jaw-dropping wealth to wander in the wilderness for 80 years with a people that often hated him and tried to kill him multiple times.

But Moses was looking far beyond his brief 120-year life span. He was looking at eternity. With an eternal perspective suddenly everything shifted. Suddenly decades of Egyptian wealth, comfort, and power looked instead like “the fleeting pleasures of sin.” What good is a few decades of sinful pleasure that ends in never ending punishment? Or what’s a few decades of slavery now and treasures in heaven forever? That’s what Moses thought. I’d rather spend eternity as one of God’s people even if that means spending my whole life here as a slave. What’s 80 years in the wilderness when I get eternity with God?

Hebrews 11:26 “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” Moses wasn’t making a foolish calculation, he was making the calculation of faith. 

Faith doesn’t ask, How can I be miserable? That’s what the world, Satan, and your own sinful flesh will tell you faith is all about. They do their best to convince you that faith is foolish and miserable, while sin in satisfying and fulfilling. Sin asks how can I be happy right now?

Faith asks, how I can be truly happy forever? What truly makes the most sense in the grand scheme of eternity? When you look at it that way, there’s no question. But that’s our problem even as believers. We get sidetracked, we get distracted, we start to lose sight of the reward.

That’s why the letter to the Hebrews was written and preserved for us to read. It’s why Jesus said this in Luke 6:22–23 ““Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” 

Not all believers will have the exact choice that Moses faced, but all believers will suffer in one way or another. The Apostle Paul says that it’s part of their union with Christ: Philippians 3:8–11 “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” 

Christ’s crown came after his cross, and he has ordained that the same is true of those who are his, by faith. The suffering of believers is not the basis or means of their salvation. Christ’s suffering for our sins is what brings us peace with God, cleansing from sin, and new life. But if we are truly connected with Christ we will experience collateral damage from the world’s hatred of Christ. 

But instead of being something to be discouraged by, we are to see it as a sign that we are connected to Christ, which is a reason to be very happy. For if we suffer with him we shall also be rewarded with him, just as Moses was.

The third aspect of faith in our passage is that:

III. Faith Makes Realignment  Rewarding  

In many ways much of what was said about Moses would fit under this heading as well. Moses made a conscious choice to realign himself with God’s people rather than the Egyptians he was raised with. But we also see this idea in the stories in verses 30 and 31.

Consider Hebrews 11:30 “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” 

When Joshua was on his way to Jericho he encountered an imposing warrior. Joshua 5:13–14 “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”” 

Joshua had an understandable inquiry of the heavenly warrior, who’s side are you on? But he had overlooked a more fundamental question: who’s side is Israel on? The commander of the Lord’s Army reoriented Joshua and asked if Israel was on God’s side. Joshua wisely immediately renounced allegiance to himself and changed his allegiance to God alone.

Joshua’s renouncing of allegiance to himself was rewarded by sharing in God’s victory over Jericho. It wasn’t Israel or even Joshua’s powerful stomping around Jericho that brought the walls down, it was the Lord’s Army in response to Israel’s faith, which was demonstrated by their obedient marching. 

We see another instance of realignment being rewarded in verse 31 Hebrews 11:31 “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” The story referred to here is found in Joshua 2, with the conclusion coming in Joshua 6 when Jericho fell. 

Joshua sent spies into Canaan to understand what he was up against since it had been 40 years since he and Caleb had spied out the land under Moses. One of the major cities the spies came to was Jericho. By this point in time word had apparently gotten around Canaan that the nation of Israel was coming to conquer. Looking for a place to stay they found a prostitute offering lodging. We don’t know if they were originally there for other reasons besides a place to stay, but it turned out to be very providential.

Because it wasn’t long until someone who saw the spies enter Jericho realized who they were and what they were doing and reported it to the king. He ordered a furious search to be made starting with Rehab’s house where they were last seen.

However, instead of turning the Israelite spies over to the authorities, Rehab bravely hid the men on the roof and claimed that they had already left the city. Once she got rid of the authorities she told the spies that the reason she had hid them was because she wanted to renounce her former allegiance to Canaan. She asked the spies to remember her when they came back to conquer Jericho.

Joshua 2:8-9, 11b-13 “Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.…for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”” 

Rehab was not merely trying to extract a favor from the Israelites, she made clear that because of her faith in God, she had switched her allegiance to the God of Israel. Her fraternizing with the enemies of Jericho was fruit of her faith in God who was coming to conquer Canaan. Like Joshua, Rehab desired to be on the Lord’s side, and like many others to come, Rehab’s faith saved her from perishing.

Rehab’s act of hospitality was treason and put her life in jeopardy. But the writer of Hebrews may have been particularly interested in it for that reason. In the previous chapter we saw the author commend his readers for similar actions Hebrews 10:34 “For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” And in chapter 13 we find another exhortation to practice hospitality: Hebrews 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” 

Many of the first readers of this letter might have been tempted to pull back from offering dangerous hospitality, but the author wants to remind them they’re in good company, and it won’t go unrewarded.

Of course, Rehab has always been a controversial figure in biblical history. Not only was she a gentile outside the Israelite community, but as a prostitute her profession was not reputable either. She had nothing to commend herself to God and every reason to be rejected. Yet, she came in repentance and faith. In faith she could see that there was no going against God, but instead of doubling down like the rest of the people of Jericho she laid down her arms, surrendered, and sought to be realigned with God’s people. That’s what repentance is. It’s a realignment from being an ally of sin, trying to be god of our own lives, and asking God to instead make us one of his people.

What’s amazing is that Rehab wasn’t just made one of God’s people, she was woven into the Israelite community and became an ancestor to king David and even Jesus himself. 

All throughout our passage this morning we’ve seen how looking to the reward by the faculty of faith transforms our view of reality. We’ve talked a lot about people looking to the reward, but perhaps the reward is still a little fuzzy in your minds. Here’s how God sums it up in the words of the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 62:11–12 “Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.” 

The reward is being with God as one of his people. When you belong to God you can face fear, since reproaches indicate you belong to Christ faith considers reproaches riches, and when you lay down your arms and realign with God you find the reward of salvation. Amen.