Jesus Is Better - 14

Jesus Is Better - 14

Introduction

According to a recent book [pic] by Read Mercer Schuchardt called Media, Journalism, and Communication: A Student’s Guide, right now in America there are 1,780 commercial television stations, 15,503 broadcast radio stations, 1,331 newspapers, 2,000,000 billboards, and 5,821 movie theaters. Worldwide there are 7 billion cell phone subscriptions (comprising 4.77 billion mobile users, many of whom have more than one phone) and 1,276,011,353 billion websites.

We live in a world that contains a lot of knowledge, but not necessarily a lot of wisdom. We are overwhelmed by the amount of communication, but not necessary by understanding. Much of this lack of understanding and subsequent villainizing happens because we are not communicating well. Words matter. And beyond that, the definitions of those words matter. Our culture cannot agree much anymore on what words mean. 

Gender. What is it? Who gets to decide it? Truth. Who has it? Does it apply universally? Our political discourse today shows this lack of agreement on definitions. In our day, the very definitions of Republican, Democrat, Conservative and Liberal are in the midst of being redefined. 

ILL - One of my grad courses this semester is called “Science, Theology, and Philosophy.” It is all about how those three worlds intersect. More than anything, it is a Philosophy of Science class. Meaning, instead of doing science, we are studying the origins of, and different views of science. One of the first things we did early on in the semester was highlight this definition issue. What is science? When you say it, what do you mean by it? Because do you know who disagrees most about the definition of science? Scientists. Same with religion. Which one? One of the 10,000 unique religions on the planet? Or one of the 32,000 unique variations of Christianity?

Words and their definitions matter. This issue is not just cultural, it happens in our homes as well. Words don’t often translate well between spouses and with children. Somehow with my kids, words like “maybe” get translated as “yes” and “no” is translated as “let’s debate this issue.” For some households, the word “expensive” means vastly different things to a husband than to a wife.

TS - today we are going to talk about a word that we all need to agree on because it is the core of what we believe. What does it mean to have “faith?” is often referred to as the “faith chapter” of the Bible, mainly because its 40 verses are all about faith. After urging his audience to maintain their faith in Christ and faithfulness to Christ, the Preacher of Hebrews spends this entire chapter telling us exactly what faith is and what faith does. He begins the chapter with one of the most majestic definitions of faith ever given:

- Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.

What a great definition. Faith is the certainty of things we cannot prove, the assurance of truths we cannot see. There is the natural world that we can see, touch, and study. We can poke it and prod it, apply the scientific method, verify with empirical results. Then there is the super-natural, that which is beyond the natural. Another way to say it is that we have the physical world and the meta-physical world, that which is beyond the physical. Faith is having a certainty that that world exists.

TS - But as great as that definition is, how does it apply to our lives today? What does having “faith” really mean? As it turns out, Hebrews not only defines faith for us, he spends the entire chapter describing it. The rest of takes us on a whirlwind tour of the OT, looking at the people of God who have gone before us. Through them, we get a clear picture not only of what faith is, but what it looks like to live out. There are 3 phrases we can use to help us better understand the concept of faith. Faith is…

TRUSTING WHO GOD IS

- 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.

Faith begins when we acknowledge that God is our Creator and that he is greater than we are. Without that core belief, there is no faith. In order to believe in God, we have to believe he is there. We have to believe he is the source of everything we see. Even more than that, we must believe he is OUR creator. 

Yet, even this belief, as fundamental as it is, is not enough. Just a few verses later, Hebrews tells us that having faith means trusting not only in God’s existence, but in his character as well.

- 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.

It is not enough to merely believe in God. The next book in your Bible, the practical letter of James, says that “you believe in God. Good! Even demons do that!” We must believe that this God who created us is the God who loves us and is good to his people. We can’t just believe there is A God, but believe in this good one.

To say it another way, we must believe in the right God. Let’s face it, you can believe in the wrong God. You can put your faith in a God that does not match the God revealed in the Bible. People today do this in a number of ways:

—some believe in the “Grandpa God.” He is the sweet old man with the white hair and long white beard, sitting on a heavenly throne. He’s a bit senile but really likes it when his kids come see him. We hang out with him on Sunday, he pats us on the head, gives us a little piece of candy, and tells us how great we are. He just wants us to be happy. 

—others believe in the “Incredible Hulk God.” Sometimes he can be mild-mannered Bruce Banner, but without notice or hesitation he gets angry at us and blows up. He is perpetually disappointed in us and puts up with us because he has to.

—these views of God can continue on with the power of anyone’s imagination. There is the “Absentee Dad” God who got things going but isn’t there when you need him. There is the “Anemic God” who is loving and kind, but can’t actually do anything. He’s not powerful enough to make a difference. On and on it goes.

Most of the time when people say they don’t believe in God, it isn’t the God of the Bible they don’t believe in. They are rejecting some fabrication of their imagination. Believing in God means believing in who God has revealed himself to be. Fait is trusting that God is who the Bible claims him to be. So that means when the Bible tells me that God is good, I believe he is good. When it tells me he is holy, I believe he is holy. When it tells me God is faithful, I believe God is faithful. So not only do I trust that God is, I trust that God is who he says he is.

TS - All of Hebrews is based on the foundation that God is knowable and has revealed himself to us. In fact, this is how Hebrews began:

- Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

God has always been revealing himself to his creation, since the very beginning. That revelation came to its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Who Jesus is, is who God is. So first and foremost, faith involves trusting in both God’s existence and his character. But faith is not merely an intellectual exercise. When we believe in who God is, it changes who we are. When we believe that God “rewards those who earnestly seek him,” then we spend our lives seeking him. Faith doesn’t only change the way we think; it changes the way we act.

2. DOING WHAT GOD COMMANDS

In walking through these great OT heroes of the faith, Hebrews doesn’t tell us what these men and women believed about God. We are not given their personal doctrinal statements. We aren’t given Abraham’s theology or Moses’ views on heaven and hell. We are told what they did because of what they believed. Let’s look at a few examples:

- 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

- 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

- 27 By faith he [Moses] 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.

Each of these stories feature a character who did something incredible simply because God told them to do it. They heard his call and were obedient to it.

—God told Noah to build an ark - boat nearly 101,000 square feet in size. That is a massive building project. Let me try to put it into perspective. This is the Ark Project [pic] part of the ministry of Answers in Genesis outside of Cincinnati. It is the largest timber-frame structure in the world. 55 miles of flooring, 76 miles of decking, 3.1 million board feet, taking a professional construction crew of hundreds over 6 years to build. And that is with today’s technology. God told Noah to do it…and he did it.

—God told Abraham to leave his home to go to a land he had never seen before. Abraham had to pack everything up and leave everything he knew to gain hold of God’s promises. But, God told him to do it, so he did it.

—God told Moses to go into Egypt and take on the most powerful man in the world. Moses had to walk into a king’s throne room and demand that he release his entire labor force. Once he was successful, he was then responsible for getting over 1 million people out of Egypt. Certainly not the easiest thing to do. But God told him to do it, so he did it.

Faith requires obedience. If we trust in God, then me must move on what he tells us to do. Obedience is not separate from faith. Obedience is the result of faith. How can we say we have placed our trust in God if we don’t trust him enough to follow his commands? How can we say we believe in God if we don’t believe that what he is telling us to do is right and best? We can’t say God is King and not do what he says. We can’t call Jesus “Lord” and then tell him “No.”

Having faith in God means doing what God tells us to do. Our responsibility when we open up the Bible or when we pray is to be relentlessly responsive to what God asks of us. If we don’t have faith in God’s authority, we don’t have faith at all.

TS - So, faith is trusting who God is, and faith is doing what God commands. There is one more phrase that I think describes faith here in . And it is the most difficult one.

3. ACCEPTING WHAT GOD GIVES

ends with a quick statement about several other OT characters and some of the things they did. Unfortunately, Hebrews also focuses on some of the things done to them.

- 32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Though all of these people had faith, they were not all able to show it the same way. Some of God’s people were given incredible things to do. They confronted kings and shook empires. Others simply wandered through the desert wearing only sheepskins. Some of God’s people found comfort. David and Solomon, for example, lived in the king’s palace. Yet for others, following God only brought pain. They were tortured and thrown into prison for their faith. Some of God’s people were given the ability to heal. They could cure diseases and raise the dead. Others found only death. “They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.” All of these people had faith. All of them believed in the same God. Their lives, their faith, however, took radically different paths.

At the end of the day, faith is not about doing unbelievable things. Sure, there are times that following God will bring that. Faith is not about success or fortune. Faith is all about being faithful. It is about following God no matter what happens. These people from knew that. They knew following God wasn’t going to help them win any popularity contests. They knew it would cost the dearly. But they followed anyway. How could they do that? Let’s go back to the definition of faith in v. 1 - “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for…” It was their hope that helped them live out their faith.

- 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

Remember, it is our hope that fuels our faith. And we see it over and over again in .

- 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

- 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

- 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

- Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.

All these great people who did all these incredible things “by faith” did them all because they were driven by hope.  They were looking forward, expecting that God had something better for them. It was precisely that hope that motivated them to do what did. Friends, we can accept what God gives here because we know it is not all that God has to give.

At times I think it is hard for us to really grasp this because there is this false theology that permeates Americanized Christianity…if we follow God, he is going to make us happy and successful. Isn’t that what so many mean when they say, “God bless America”? God give us safety, security, prosperity. God does not owe us that. God did not give those things to everyone from , and he will not give it to all of us. This idea of prosperity theology seeps in everywhere. In following God we come to almost demand, expect, feel entitled to all the blessings we can handle. Well, the fact of the matter is that this is not the fact of the matter. 

Sometimes God may lead us to success. He may grant us comfort. Other times, however, he may push us forward into very uncomfortable territory. He will ask you to do something that will cost you dearly. Faith is about staying faithful no matter which path he leads you down. We accept what God gives, always looking forward, because we know that what God gives now is not all that he has to give.

- 39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

All these great heroes of faith were commended, but it was incomplete. There was something better for them. Something better for us. Jesus was coming…and because of him we have been forgiven and can look forward in hope to eternal life.

Conclusion

For centuries New Zealand had no inhabitants.  No one had been able to sail out away from land far enough to even know it was there. But eventually Polynesians came, sailing thousands of miles in canoes to inhabit it.  How did they know land was there? They had always seen a long white cloud over it. Where a cloud is, there is land. Faith is like that. Voyaging to an unseen land, journeying an unknown future. Because of Jesus we are all traveling to a land we have never seen but that we know is there.

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