HEBREWS-JESUS IS BETTER: What God is Looking For

What God Is Looking For Hebrews 11:1-3 “Something Hoped For” There is something God is looking for in us and it may not be what we think. We can find it in Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost, and His way of seeking and saving. It’s all summed up in one single word that we’ll see used over and over again in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. The word is used 24 times in the 11th chapter. In our English ESV there are 953 words making the word 2.5183 percent of the book. The word faith is so frequent it’s almost distracting and here is why - it’s something we hope for. To the first century Jew, they’d migrated away from faith in God and had begun to trust their systems, they’re actions, their character - and so Jesus would come and live out among the people as a man of faith, finding and pointing out faith. The Hebrews, who are being written to in this letter were first century Jews, who’d come to faith in God through Christ - and have started to slide back into what they know, and so the writer-pastor reminds them of the importance of faith. As we go through the chapter we’ll see a list of the notable names of Jewish faith, as he reminds them of their own need to have faith in Jesus. And let me tell you my definition of faith - because it’s slightly different than what you’d normally hear, I think. There are great resources that define faith: Wuest who I love says: “firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, reality or faithfulness” another good resources is Louw-Nida which says: “to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust” both are tough for me, because they miss fully capturing the concept for me. I say, faith is truth I’d argue for, and don’t you hope for faith like that? Here is why I say that, I tend to be cautious and through in soft language - like may or might like or other qualifiers when my mind *could be changed about something. When I have a matter of saving faith, I’d argue for that truth. That said, thinking for now of faith as a truth you’d argue for lets go to the words from the writer-Pastor on faith: Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV) By Faith 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. This is an interesting reflection or way of looking at the subject of faith. Maybe you’ve adjusted your angle on something when you’re trying to fully appreciate it, or worked to better see detail or dimension - that’s what the writer-Pastor does here. He sets the object of faith down on the table - he turns his head sideways and looks at it from the top down saying what is this “faith” - it’s the assurance the way I know something is true, that’s one angle, it’s the way I know. Next it’s the way I know what I’m hoping for. So it’s not just the way I know what I see in front of me, that’s not the subject of what the writer pastor is about to talk to them of, we’re catching angles and so it’s the conviction you’d argue for the way you know, what you hope for. And More than that it’s a CONVICTION - a conviction proof or proving, this word is so narrow, so specific, so leveraged to help describe faith - Kenneth Wuest says it’s the “certain persuasion” Louw-nida says it’s proof, verification or evidence for - this word is so rare it’s the ONLY usage in Scripture is to refine and dial in and understand faith, faith here is relative to what kind of things? Things not seen. 1. The way I know 2. What I hope for 3. Conviction, of what. 4. Things not seen So when scripturally defining faith, it’s the way you know, what you’re hoping for that you cannot see, and you’re convinced of it because of the power of FAITH- I hope for that! 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. For by it, FAITH: By trusting what they know, and hope for, and being convinced in what they cannot see (God) they were commended. These people of old, these people who had faith, will be roll called throughout the rest of the book - and the writer says, think they were awesome, NOPE they had faith. Faith circles back to God. People can tend to point to ourselves, even when pretending were pointing to God. God is good, look at all the great stuff we did. You can become a “me” monster (as one comedian puts it) you just keep pointing to yourself and it’s like you’re standing in a room screaming “me, look at me”. Faith removes you - because faith is the way you know, what you hope in, that you’re convinced of things you cannot see - and you’d argue for it. So when someone says we’ll how did the world come to be, the writer-pastor of Hebrews says: 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. And so he takes those elements of faith, that can feel so abstract and since he looked at them from every angle in verse 1, explained that this is how the people of old were commended by God, he now gives you a tangible understanding of faith he says to the believers, you know how you know that God made the world is by faith, and just like by faith you know things you’d argue for though they cannot be seen, God will reveal them to be true just like he created all the complexity of the world and of life - and mad them visible because you can see them. Church - if we walked in this morning and I there was this ornate frame 6 feet tall and it was like one of those photorealistic paintings inside, but you looked closely and could see brush strokes and could tell it was painted - if I said, I came in and it just showed up, you’d call me insane, how could something so complex just “show up”. But we believe that of the existence of the world, rather than trust God at His word, but faith (knowing, and hoping, and being convinced of things we cannot see) that He created everything. And that all the complexity of life isn’t something we can boil down and replicate or understand fully - it’s a reflection of His glory and it should inspire or faith in Him. Church - I get saddened, maddened, and sometimes frustrated at what I see coming out of our popular culture today. We make things up and pretend they’re true, it’s insane! We make things up about God - just the first things that comes to people’s minds and we just say they’re true. What if you and I make up something different is God schizophrenic, can he be anything to anyone - is he whatever I make up or you make up? What about many churches today - they don’t go to the Bible to know God and that’s dangerous and evil - we must know God from scripture. If we want to see God, we look to Jesus and time and time again, we see Jesus celebrating people’s faith. Home Groups look together at a few example passages - breakout your pen, if you don’t have one that’s ok there is one in front of you, we want to be the metro bank of pens. Remember how EVERYONE would have a metro bank pen, even though they’re bought out people STILL have metro pens, so take that Transcend Church pen, and write these down: 1) Matthew 25:21 2) Luke 7:9 3) Luke 12:28 4) Mark 10:52 What was Jesus’ point about faith in each of these important and how does the writer-pastors expounding upon and observations about Faith helpful in understanding Jesus call to faith? I have scripturephrenea that is to say, that I have memory verses in many translations - but the King James version of Hebrews 11:1 is the most poetic and impactful one to me: 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen - Church do you hope for union with God, acceptability before Him, and life in His kingdom - step out today in faith - he is justified to save you! Something Hoped For