Faith vs. Sight

Transformed: God's Ways  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 30 views
Notes
Transcript

Introduction:
Imagine you are telling a story that you think its amazing. You’re trying to capture the vivid details of everything you saw and experienced. The setting, the colors, the feel of the wind on your face and the moment you saw it with your own eyes. You would have possibly believed it if you hadn’t seen it. It was amazing and you think everyone should know just how amazing it was.
But they look back completely disinterested as though it weren’t that big of a deal at all. In fact they seem completely unimpressed with your well crafted story!
And you’re forced to say the only words that can help you save face.
“I guess you had to be there.”
And there it is. That barrier to understanding. We are limited by our ability to be engaged without seeing. To be impressed without seeing. To believe without seeing.
But the entire concept of the Christian faith is predicated on the ability to believe what you cannot see. What keeps so many from embracing Jesus?
They can’t see him with their own eyes. It is their eyes though seeing keep them blinded to the truth.
And again, we are reminded by John of the things that get in the way of the transformation God is bringing in our lives.
1 John 2:15–17 ESV
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
The Flesh.
The Eyes.
The pride of life.
This week we look at eyes. In the Bible there is a contrast between sight at faith. So much is related to the eyes. Covetousness. Lust. Envy, Jealousy. All of these enter first through the eyes. The antidote to the desires of the eyes is a denial of physical sight in favor of spiritual sight we call faith.
Transition to the Text: For that let’s turn in our Bibles to Hebrews 11:1-6. We don’t know who wrote the book of Hebrews, but they were likely someone closely associated with Paul as many of the same themes are covered. A major purpose of Hebrews is to call the Jewish converts to Christianity to stand firm in the face of persecution that they are facing from their jewish brothers and sisters. The call is to stand firm in faith now, because God has something better for them in the future even if it’s not in this world.
The author gives us this amazing chapter many call the hall of faith showing that those of us who live by faith are in strong company. And in their lives they learned our transformational principle and set an example for us to:
Introduce:

Transformational Principle: Look past what is seen and believe what is unseen.

Read:
Hebrews 11:1–6 ESV
1 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. 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. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 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.

Transformational Principle: Look past what is seen and believe what is unseen.

Transition to the Points: And here in lies the problem for most people: while the ways of the world are usually on full display, the ways of God are not often seen.

Main Point #1 - God’s ways must be walked by faith. (Hebrews 11:1-3)

Explanation:
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The author of Hebrews here defines faith in contrast to sight. Faith isn’t about what you can, but about what you can’t see but are sure is there. He tells us that faith has always been required. And as Martin Luther taught us last week, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
The Bible acknowledges that faith is required to believe what it teaches. It immediately goes in on creation because the creation story of the Bible is hard to believe because none of us can actually see it happening. I’ll tell you if anyone ever invents a Time Machine, I have 2 things I’m doing. 1. I’m going to go see Jesus. 2. I’m going to go see creation. Because God created what is visible out of what is not visible. In a very real sense, you might say that God created the universe by faith. He took what existed only in His eternal mind and created it by the word of His power.
But many of us hard time believing what we cannot see. But the truth is, you’re eyes can deceive you. You can’t always trust your eyes. This is a difficult concept to accept since, so much of what we believe is based on what we have seen. There are people who will absolutely go to their graves swearing to have seen a ghost or bigfoot, or even a UFO because they have they saw something with their eyes.
However the same people might have a problem accepting that there is a God because God cannot be seen.
So as we look at our 2nd barrier to transformation, we see that our eyes can get in the way.
Now the eyes can get in the way in 2 ways.
We say, we won’t believe it unless we see it. This is the story of Thomas, the disciple of Jesus who refused to believe the resurrection unless he saw it with his own eyes. And even after getting his wish, Jesus said:
John 20:29 ESV
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
2. Secondly we are distracted by the things that we see. We look at the things of the world and we desire them. This can happen in lust, covetousness. In this case, our eyes convince us that the things and ways of the World are better than the ways of God.
And all around us there are bright lights and shiny things vying for our attention.
Illustration: I remember not too long ago, our girls were watching TV and for the first time, a commercial came on. In the netflix/huly/disney+ streaming world, they had never really seen a commercial like this. It was a toy commercial.
I remember growing up in between GI Joe and Transform the most ridiculous commercial for toys would come on and we wanted them all. And we never got them.
But Mia and Emily were both mesmerized by this toy and it’s funny to me that they were more interested in the toy commercial than the show. And without fail, they asked if they could have it. And if I learned anything from my parents, it was how to say no to a toy commercial.
Commercial pray on the desires of our eyes. And as we grow up it doesn’t change, the toys just get a lot more expensive.
Application:
We live in a fallen world that is full of pain and suffering in the midst of moments of joy and happiness. Our eyes can deceive us into thinking, if I can just be with that person or just have that new shiny car or phone or laptop or house, then I can subside the pain for a little longer. The problem is that the desires of the eyes are never satisfied.
it takes faith to know that the things of this world are passing away. It takes faith to sacrifice comforts now for the eternal joy of knowing Christ Jesus. By faith we sacrifice what we see for something better that we can’t see.
That takes a lot of faith.
Think about this, with regard to pain and suffering. Our eyes convince us that it will never get better.
At the same time, our eyes convince us that any bit of happiness we come across will never go away.
However, as Paul says:
2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
And then Solomon speaks of the alternative:
Ecclesiastes 2:22–23 ESV
22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
Don’t let your eyes deceive you. This earth is the only Hell a follower of Jesus will ever know. At the same time, this earth is the only Heaven and unbeliever will ever know. Keep perspective and keep the faith.

Main Point #2 - If our aim is to please God, faith is required. (Hebrews 11:4-6)

Explanation: The author of Hebrews goes on to give us examples of people who demonstrated great faith. Now on one hand this list is extremely comforting because we see a ragtag group of sinners and people who messed up. Men and women.
But we also see that these people didn’t always have the best end. For Abel’s faithfulness, he became the first murder victim. Enoch had a cool departure in that he was so close to God that God just took him. One day he’s there and the next he’s gone. Probably confused some of his family members for sure.
And then the list goes on to prove the point, these people looked forward to promises not fulfilled in their lifetimes.
Abraham never saw his children outnumbering the stars!
And even several generations later:
Hebrews 11:13 ESV
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.
Now we know from time to time these same faithful people got distracted by the things and ways of this world. They gave into lust and covetousness. But eventually they all got back on track looking forward in faith to the promises of God.
Now we know that ultimately they were looking forward to Jesus, who would once and for all deal with the sins of God’s people by nailing them to the cross and suffering the punishment which was ours.
And even 2,000 years after that event still must take it on faith, having not seen it with our eyes. So let’s come back to:
Hebrews 11:6 ESV
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.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
You have to have faith in an invisible God. Even though you can’t see Him, you must believe that He is there.
That he rewards those who seek Him.
Now this second one is difficult for many of us to understand. And this is where the prosperity gospel goes off the rails. Many people are looking for God to give them the desires of their eyes. So what happens when you aren’t rewarded with these worldly things when you come to God? You start doubting that God exists and if He does, He must not care about you. So you follow your eyes to the things that please you.
But what is the reward? It’s a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
If you don’t have a relationship with God, you might be tempted to think that it’s a social contract. I do this, God must give me that.
I give God $10, he’s obligated to give me back $100.
I give my life to him, I nor my family are ever allowed to get sick.
God must give me a spouse and a house, and even children.
But that’s not the reward. The reward is the forgiveness of your sins and eternity of knowing God.
Illustration: Many of us know the concept of paying our dues and sacrificing early and it will pay off later on.
Two farmers prayed for rain in the middle of a drought. The first farmer simply prayed and waited for God to answer. The 2nd farmer, prayed and then tilled the ground and planted his seed and then waited. When the rain came only one was rewarded. Only one would reap a harvest.
Application: For followers of Jesus, we have faith that looks back to the cross and believes that our sins are paid for and no further payment is due on our part. Jesus paid it all.
But on the second hand, we have faith that our heavenly home awaits the faith. We can’t see it with our eyes, we can’t tour it with our real estate agent. But we have faith that it far surpasses the great joy and happiness we experienced on this earth and makes the sufferings and afflictions of this life irrelevant.
But like these people in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, we will all die having not received what was promised until we close our eyes on this life and wake up staring boldly into the eyes of Jesus.
And in that moment, this life will be a distant memory when our faith becomes sight.

Response: Do you believe that what God has for you is better than what you see in the world?

Closing Illustration:
James and Amelia Taylor loved their children and, like most parents, they enjoyed giving them little treats on occasion. But once in a while, when Amelia brought a dessert to the table for her family, James would say, “Who will see if they can do without today?” He explained it to the children this way:
By and by, you will have to say “No” to yourself when we are not there to help you, and very difficult you will find it when you want a thing tremendously. So let us try to practice now, for the sooner you begin, the stronger will be the habit.
The children were not punished if they chose not to give up the sweet, but if they were able to go the entire day without it they were rewarded with some other treat and most importantly, with the loving approval of their parents. Hudson Taylor took this lesson to heart and learned early how to say “no” to himself. He went on to live a life characterized by self-denial for the sake of taking the name of Jesus to inland China.
Taylor endured many hardships including arrests, insults, slander and poverty, but lived his life believing what Christ said in Mark 10:29 and 30—that if we give up anything for the sake of the gospel we will receive blessings one hundred times better in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.
On one occasion, the woman he loved refused to marry him unless he gave up his dream of serving in China. Taylor ended this relationship with tears. He trusted that God would have something better for him later if he denied himself for the sake of the gospel. And his faith proved true. God provided a wife in China—one who shared his passion for missionary work.
At the end of his life, he was able to boldly say: “I never made a sacrifice.”
God’s ways are always better. But God’s ways must always be taken on faith because they aren’t right in front of you. They require us to sacrifice the present desires of our eyes for something better.
By giving up the pleasures of this world that you can see, for something better is difficult. You have know way to know for certain that God’s ways will actually be better.
But if I’m honest, there isn’t a single thing that I have sacrficed for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel that I look back on regret. Not turning my back on a sinful lifestyle to pursue holiness. Not moving to giving up an opportunity to go to law school. Not saying goodbye to a relationship that wasn’t what God wanted. Not moving to California. Not letting go of another amazing church family to come and serve my North Hills family with love.
God has never failed to give something better. Has it been easy? Not a chance. Has their been disapointment, pain and heartbreak, you betcha. But each time God has shown me a vision of something better. And each time he does it gives me more faith to make an easier sacrfice the next time.
God has proved faithful and and He has proved that His ways are better than our ways.
So what about you?
Do you trust that God’s ways are better.
Are you willing to sacrifice the things you see for something better from God that you can’t see yet!
Don’t forget, it starts with surrendering your life to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. have you made that amazing first step into a lifelong journey with Jesus?
But then it is a daily challenge to choose to believe God over your eyes.
Are you ready to walk by faith and not by sight?
Are you ready to trust the God who won’t let you down?
Let’s get to it.
Let’s pray.
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more