The Foundation of Faith

Introduction

So you may know that we have been in a sermon series called “Enduring by Faith,” and in this series we have been considering what it means to have faith and how faith can help us endure this life. To that end we have read about various people who have lived lives of faith worth serving as examples for us today. We’ve looked at Abel, and compared him to his brother Cain, we’ve looked at Enoch who by the grace of God was taken up to heaven, and last week we looked at Noah who faithfully obeyed in building the ark- all men of persevering faith. Today, we will be introduced to a Semitic descendant of Noah, named Abraham. If you have a Bible on you, please join me in Hebrews 11:8-10, and stand for the reading of God’s Word.

READ and PRAY

As we walk thru this passage today and if you return to it later on, a helpful question to keep in mind is “how does Abraham’s life serve as an example of faith in God for me today?” In a world where we have so many examples of how to live and where there are so many opinions on what we should believe in, why is the way that Abraham chose a better way in the opinion of the author of Hebrews? What is it that God wants us to learn from Abraham’s life that should ultimately encourage us to persevere in faith to God?

Some of us who grew up in church and Sunday school probably already know a little bit about Abraham, after all he does have that song about him: Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham, I am one of them, and so are you...

BUT, before Abraham had many sons, before Abraham had his own soundtrack, Abraham was just a regular dude. We are told his story in Genesis 11:27- 25 and if you take the time to read it (which I encourage you to do) you will get through it and probably find yourself asking what made this dude so special that God would pick him to be beginning of a nation that would ultimately give birth to the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ? See Abraham was just a guy, a son of Terah, who was a descendant of Noah, who lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, which would become Babylon and eventually modern day Iraq. Eventually they move to Haran which is more like modern Syria and then BOOM, God speaks to Abraham. I always wonder what that was like too, like was it like bruce almighty and a morgan freeman, James earl jones- esque voice comes out of nowhere...And I want to invite us to just try and put ourselves in Abraham and his wife, Sarah’s shoes. You are just mindin your own business. Migrating with your peoples, taking care of flocks, bartering, eating, drinking. You’ve got your crew, you’re just out here tryna make it. And out of nowhere, you’re up there in age, and God just says, “hey, grab your stuff and lets move cuz I’m taking you somewhere you’ve never seen but ima show and it’s gonna be dope, one day you’re gonna be a whole nation.” Now keep in mind, Abraham and Sarah have ZERO kids, all they know is life with their family, which as far as we know, is fine. And God says, listen to this, “leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s house.” In other words, leave everything you know: every comfort, every routine, every rhythm, everything that is familiar to you.

I mean can you imagine? having to make a decision and your two choices are blatantly disobey God and stick with what you already know is good enough in the short term, or you take the leap and do something you have never done before, go to a place you have probably never seen, be promised something you can’t even imagine coming true by this being you can’t even see? The weight is crazy b/c neither of those routes are painless. It’s not like choosing where to get breakfast...

On the one hand, you’ve got the option of disobeying God, which even if you get to keep your comfort zone, you’re always gonna be looking over your shoulder probably if you’re Abraham. Or you do it, not really having clarity on what the whole experience is gonna be like. I am not even a planner type of person, like you’ve got people who love itineraries for trips/vacations and then there’s me who I could go anywhere and just figure it out as I go, but even what Abraham was facing builds a little anxiety in my chest. And yet, we are told that Abraham took the leap. And How did he do it? Not based on confidence in Himself, but BY FAITH in God’s Word…which leads me to my first point for us this afternoon:

Point 1: Faith is a response that leads to Action

Look at the text, all of Abraham’s actions are characterized by (2) things: faith and God’s initiation

Abraham does not act by faith before God initiates with him first. This is a pattern we can find all throughout Scripture, starting with creation itself. This story of redemption that we come to celebrate every Sunday started with God, not with us. It is God who created the heavens and the earth. It is God who created man in His own image, not the other way around. Look at any other role model of the faith throughout the Bible: Adam and Eve were given instructions, Noah was instructed on how to build the ark, Moses was called by God before leading the Exodus, literally ANY of the prophets, Elizabeth and Mary were chosen by God to give birth to John the Baptist and Jesus. And whether or not you recognize it, you were called by God before you ever confessed Jesus as Lord and savior. Paul tells us, “4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 1:4–5).

Just like Abraham, our faith is a response to what God has already done, is doing, and will do. Abraham’s obedience and migration is in response to the promise of a gift that God has already planned to give him that had NOTHING to do with Abraham’s merit.

Why is this important? because in today’s culture, it is all too easy to get caught up in our own actions and efforts. We get caught up in thinking, “I have to make this happen” “I have to lead this small group and make it succeed” “I have to convert these people” “I have to make sure people are living right” “I did this” “I did that” When what we really need to do every day is recognize the greatness of our smallness. I loved what Joel said last week about being ordinary, and God being extraordinary. We need to recognize that like Abraham, we’re just ordinary people (john legend), we don’t know which way to go. But it is okay that we don’t know on our own, because we serve a who God invites us into His plan. We need to see that we need God’s Word to speak into to our lives, so that we know how to live well instead of trying to secure our own comfort in our own power.

Abraham’s life is also a testament to this, every time he tried to control the situation, it ended up in pain:

Gen. 12:10-20 Abe in Egypt

Gen. 16 Abraham and Haggar

Abe laughing at God

In all of these cases, Abraham wasn’t responding to God in faith or obedience, but instead he was saying, “your ways aren’t enough for me right now” And we do the same thing when we know the right thing that God calls us to, but choose to do what we want instead. We want control

Point 2: Faith is not based on Control/Understanding

Speaking of which, that is the second point for us today, Faith in God is not based on our level of control or ability to understand. See how the author of Hebrews points out that Abraham obeyed and went by faith, NOT knowing where he was going. SO not only was Abraham being given something he didn’t earn or work for in his inheritance of the land and promise to be made into a nation, he also had no idea where he was going - he did not even choose where to settle, but was led by God - and by faith, he still went

Has anyone here ever been lost? Like maybe you were on a trip or something and you had an idea of where you going but you got so lost you had no idea what move to make next? It’s a terrible feeling, you are totally out of control, and all you can do is hope you luckily figure it out OR you run into someone who can help you.

Senior year of college, me and 3 of my good friends wanted to go on a trip together, so we “planned” an RV trip to go up to Luray to see the Luray caverns, and camp for a night or two in the area. We actually came up to Richmond to rent said RV, and then we hit the road. it was not long before we all realized this trip was gonna be a little different than what we planned. On the way up to Luray we stopped for some take out mall food court chinese food, and then we called a camp site not far from the caverns and no one picked up. Long story short we slept in this RV in the parking lot of a camp site with a note in the windshield in case someone came in the next morning and was wondering why we were there. Next day, we saw the luray caverns and then went on a short hike, that was the only day that anything really went according to plan. The next day, the plan was to hike Old Rag, which is pretty well known, though most of us had never been. The one guy who had been, couldn’t remember how to get there once we got on Skyline drive, and at this point none of our phones have service. So we pulled off at one of the trails we were passing and saw that it was a loop, which felt like a safe bet. It was supposed to take maybe 3 hours and we ended up out there for 6ish hours. What had happened was we took a wrong turn and ended up on another trail. We truly had no idea where we were going, one of us was blue in the face, my right leg was cramping repeatedly and we had no choice but to keep going if we wanted to get back to our RV.

I think Abraham may have at times been in a similar situation, tired, confused, frustrated, questioning whether or not he made the right decision. One commentator said Abraham may have had the idea to try and build his own settlement/city, but God had him living in tents, which was the sign of temporariness, it would have represented the fact that he wasn’t yet home. Faith requires us to relinquish our control, leaving behind what is “seen” and looking forward to what is unseen but promised by the Lord who sees all and knows all.

A friend of mine once said that the Christian life is a life of learning how to be led places you wouldn’t go on your own, and I think that is helpful point to keep in mind. Our faith is not about controlling the outcome, about putting our hope in the one who knows all outcomes. It is not about our control, but the one who controls all things. You see, no matter what trials or tribulations you find yourselves in today, nothing you are going through can be separated from God. Christian or not, God sees everything that is going on. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:15) . And the good news is for the Christian, is that He works all of these things that we go thru for our good, that our faith in Him might be deepened! And this is the final point today

Point 3: Faith is only as Secure as its Foundation

As I mentioned earlier, there were indeed times throughout Abraham’s life where he put his faith in his own efforts and ability to solve his problems. And I know that you all have those moments in your lives too, at least I know I do. When I was a kid man I used to say whatever I could to make people think I was cool, not only putting trust in myself and the image that I wanted to create, but also putting trust in people around me to give me the approval that I thought I needed. Only to realize that they could never give me the security that I was seeking, at least in the way that I needed it. Has anyone ever put too much faith in another human being and been disappointed?

What is the problem with doing that? Humans are flawed, right? Like we let each other down all the time! Look at the past year! Not even just on the national level, but the community level too. Even within our own church we’ve let people down.

When I was reflecting on this passage, I kept thinking about the significance of verse 10. I kept thinking, why does it matter that Abraham was looking forward to a city built by God? Why does it make difference that instead of building something for ourselves/himself, does Abraham choose to hope for the city of God?

And then I considered what are the cities like that are built by man?

Tower of Babel - built to glorify man not God

Soddom and Gomorrah - hella wicked

Empires and Kingdoms murder each other for power

Rome - burned and destroyed

U.S.A. - built on slavery (happy independence day by the way)

While all of these places probably had well meaning people in them, they have unavoidable sinful natures that ultimately lead to destruction

So what of this city that Abraham was hoping for, out of conviction? Let me read just a little bit about this city...

. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Re 21:13–27).

Sounds like a dope city if you ask me! C’mon now nothing we’re building is touching that. Isn’t this something like what we are all searching for at the end of the day? Getting to a place where “we’ve made it?” Where we can finally just rest from all of our striving to feel like we’ve left our mark and that we belong? Abraham during all of his sojourning had some sense of that. that nothing he created or that would be created by his people would compare to what God had promised Him, a life of blessing - that blessing ultimately being living in God’s full presence forever.

Abraham had probably seen enough to know that no matter how skilled the architect or how wise the designer, all man made cities have imperfections and come to an end. The question for us today is, have we come to recognize that? Do we know that nothing we try to build for our own glory will last? More than that, nothing we do try and build ourselves up can save us from our flaws, from our Sin.

While my friends and I were lost on that mountain, there wasn’t much we could do on our own. We had no cell service , we were running out of water, and once we got off the path, we still weren’t even where we were supposed to be. So we eventually we could cell service and tried to determine which way to go, and we walked along the road that passed by all the stops. The sun was going down, and we had yet to reach our RV. As we walked, several cars passed us by, including a park ranger, and it wasn’t until 2 guys in a pick up truck stopped for us as we flagged them down. They were 2 guys from UCF also on Spring break, and they helped us get back to our RV. That timing had nothing to do with us, we had no control over that, but God had clearly had a plan to get us back to where we needed to be. The fact that we made it back to our RV is all because God had seen us and ordered our steps. We could have never planned it out like that. Maybe you are in a place right now where you feel lost, confused, frustrated, or just wandering and you don’t know where you are going or feel like you have a place to rest and call home. You probably know deep down, you can’t generate that on your own...

Friends, it is in fact better that God is building a city for us/His people. You and I know that nothing we do in this life is going to be permanent, nor will it save you from feeling less than or unsatisfied. Only God can do that, that is why the author of Hebrews eventually concludes: 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Heb 13:14–15).

God is the ultimate foundation for our hope because He is unshakeable and unchangeable.