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HOLY HELP FOR THE HOPELESSTHROUGH FAITH IN FUTURE GRACE IHebrews 11:8-16INTRODUCTION Little Johnny is excited as he waits for his dad to come home from work. He sits on the front step of his house with his baseball glove and his dad's glove and a ball. Dad promised him this morning that they would play catch when he got home tonight from work. While he waits he hears the phone ring. His mom answers it and after she hangs up she comes to the front door and tells little Johnny that his father has to stay at work to prepare for an important meeting tomorrow and so he won't be home until after he is in bed. Johnny bursts into tears and while running to his room yells out that he hates his dad; he never keeps his promises and slamming the door falls into his bed sobbing. Mary sits at the table with her eyes fixed on her plate, playing with her food. Her husband Frank cheerfully asks the kids about their day and talks about their upcoming vacation, oblivious to her cold silence. When he says, "Honey, please pass the salad," she gives him an icy stare and through clenched teeth says, "Don't you call me honey." Finally seeing her seething anger he asks, "What is the matter?" Unable to contain her rage she tells him he is the most insensitive man ever born and that he is only concerned about himself. How could he have forgotten that today was the first anniversary of her mother's death? He hadn't said a word to her or asked how she was. She storms away from the table, leaving her family in a state of confusion. Daryl and Joe, who have been friends for years, greet each other after church. When Joe asks Daryl how's it going, Daryl explains that his wife told him yesterday that she didn't love him anymore and wanted him to move out. Joe shifts uneasily from one foot to another and mumbles, "That's too bad, have you talked to Pastor Fred yet? I'll bet he can help you guys work it out. Oh, there's Bill, I've got to talk with him about that landscaping project we're doing next week." As he walks away he says, "I'll pray for you. Call me if you need anything." I made up each of these scenarios and so if they bear any resemblance to real situations or real people it is purely coincidental. The question I have this morning is this, can the gospel of Jesus make any difference in these situations? Does Christ being our high priest and perfect sacrifice have anything to say to disappointed and angry Johnny and his distraught mother and workaholic, faithless dad? Can the news that Jesus is seated at God's right hand help offended Mary or insensitive Frank or their distressed children? Does knowing that Jesus always lives to intercede for us provide any answer to crushed Daryl or his inadequate friend, Joe? I think most people when encountering these sorts of relational and personal crises do not think that the gospel offers much help. These people need a therapist, not a preacher. The gospel tells me how to go to heaven but not how to live on my way there. I am convinced that the gospel is the most practical, life altering, relationship healing thing in the universe. God's revelation of his plan to give himself to his chosen people through the work of Christ gives us the only true explanation of what is going on in every situation we encounter in life and it offers the only hope for change. The author of the letter to the Hebrews is convinced that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the most powerful force for transforming humans and their relationships. His assertion is that the message concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ creates and sustains a community of people who persist in loving God and each other no matter what it costs to do so. It is the claim of this author that human beings who have a true faith in Christ persistently love God and others. Christians live by faith in Christ and thus have what it takes to resolve conflicts, to bear with the insults and insensitivities of others and to assist others in their times of crisis. That is what we are going to see this week and next as the author continues his tour of the lives of OT saints. He aims to demonstrate that faith in Christ enables us to persevere in a life of suffering love for God and others because of what faith is and what it does. MAIN POINT All who have faith in Christ persist in a life of suffering love for God and others because… I. Faith acts on the bare word of God (v. 8) We saw last week as we looked at the first paragraph of chapter 11 that faith views the future events surrounding the return of Christ and the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth as absolute certainties. Then faith motivates a life in the present that is based upon the certainty of those future events. So faith while embracing and trusting in Jesus as the one who lived and died and rose again for us in the historical past also trusts in the promised future benefits that Christ has obtained and counts on them as being assured. It is this future orientation of faith that he aims to illustrate through the lives of these OT saints. After pointing to Able, Enoch and Noah he now begins an extended discussion of Abraham, the man of faith. He begins at the beginning of Abraham's story. While he was living as a happy idol worshipping pagan in Ur of the Chaldeans, which is modern southern Iraq, God called him. God chose him out of all the pagans living at that time and called him to himself. When God called him he also gave him a command to leave his country and his people and his father's house and to go a place that God would show to him. Abraham obeyed. He did as God told him to do. He packed up his belongings, his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and headed west to the land of Canaan. When he went out from his home he did not know where he was going to settle. The point of v. 8 is that Abraham believed in God and in his ability to lead and to give what he promised, a land to live in. He, like Noah before him, had no evidence that there was going to be a secure future. He simply took God at his word, believing that what God said he would perform and so he acted in accordance with that word. In the context of this letter you can see how helpful would be the example of Abraham. By trusting in Christ these people were leaving behind their family relationships, the security of their communities. Just as Jesus said while he walked the earth that he did not come to bring peace but a sword, "For I have come to turn a man against his father and a daughter against her mother… a man's enemies will be the members of his own household." As we saw in 10:32-34 some of them were going to lose their homes and possessions. To be a follower of Jesus meant leaving behind a life of security for a life of insecurity, just like Abraham. Abraham left behind a life of security for a life of insecurity as a nomad in a dangerous world because he believed God and what God said. He was secure because of who God is and what God promised. He believed that losing home and family relations and stability was to lose nothing when compared with the gain of knowing God and gaining the inheritance that God promised to him. Everyone who has faith in Christ believes that what God says is what is true and reliable. God's written word becomes the roadmap, the lamp for our feet, as the psalmist says to direct us in our day to day life. Christian's don't do what God says because they know what will happen when they obey but because they know that their future is secure in the hands of the one who commands them. We obey God because we know that the promised future is worth whatever risk or suffering may come to us while we follow along the way. There is a command from God to each of the people in my little scenarios. Each person can obey God because they trust God to fulfill his promises. The mother of the disobedient son can courageously and compassionately identify with her son's disappointment and then discipline him for not honoring his father. She can then humbly and boldly confront her husband when he comes home seeking to help him to be faithful to his word. The dad can ask his son for forgiveness and the son can give forgiveness. The son can not hold a grudge and be happy, even though he didn't get to play catch with his dad. The insensitive husband can ask to be forgiven and offer comfort to his condemning and angry wife. She can ask for forgiveness and rest in Christ's comfort rather than demand the comfort of her spouse. The awkward friend can find courage in Christ and can give his time and attention to his distraught friend in order to strengthen his faith and help him in his relationship with his wife. Each of these actions is commanded of these individuals in God's word. Each of these actions contain a risk, an element of unknown consequences and so they are done in faith, trusting that the promised eternal inheritance is more than adequate compensation for whatever negative consequence may be experienced in the way of obedience. There is no guarantee that obedience to God will yield a peaceful and secure life here. Our only security is that whatever happens here we have a secure eternal inheritance. Living by faith in Christ requires that we do what God says even when doing what he says is scary and puts us in a vulnerable position. We do this because we know that God has promised that though people may get mad at us or we may be put in an awkward situation or we may die because of our obedience to God's word, not a hair on our head will perish. All who have faith in Christ persist in a life of suffering love for God and others because…
II. Faith treats this world as a temporary residence (v. 9) The second act prompted by Abraham's faith was that when he arrived in the land God promised to give to him and his descendants, the land of Canaan, he lived in that land he owned by divine fiat as if he was living in a foreign land. He lived in tents, as a nomad rather than living in permanent dwellings. This is the main point, he owned the land but he lived in it as if he did not own the land. Not only he but also his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, both of whom were given the same promise that they owned the land by God's gift, lived like foreigners in tents. You might argue that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had to live like foreigners because God's plan was to give the land to their descendants, not them. That is what the Lord said in Genesis 12:7 & 15:18-19 and numerous other places. However, what the author to the Hebrews sees is that the promise was also to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God told Abraham in 15:7 that he brought him out of Ur to give the land to him. Thus the author to this letter concludes that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived in tents as foreigners, not because of necessity but by faith. They knew, as v. 10 points out, that the physical land of Canaan was not what God was promising to them. God was promising to them an eternal city that he designed and built, not a piece of property on the face of planet earth. The land of Canaan was only a type, a symbol of that eternal city of God. They continued to live in tents and to live as if they had no property rights in the land of promise because they knew it was not their home. They knew that God's promise to them was for an eternal, indestructible land. Therefore they lived in this world, in the land which God promised, as if it was not their home. They lived as if it was only a temporary residence, not their permanent home. They did this because they knew on the authority of God's word of promise that there ultimate residence was in the city of God. Before I talk about what this means for us I want to make sure we understand what this is not saying. Abraham living in a tent and not in a house and not owning any land except for the burial plot he bought to bury Sarah does not mean that it is wrong for Christians to own land and houses. Also, just because Abraham left his home and went to live in Canaan as in a foreign land does not mean all Christians are called to be cross cultural missionaries. Finally, Abraham living as a foreigner by faith does not mean we are to treat this physical world with contempt, as if it doesn't matter at all. We are not to treat this world like a garbage dump or to live in this world like a monk who possesses nothing. This world matters to God and how we treat it and live in it matters to God as well. We are not simply waiting for the end, indifferent to what is happening in this world. Rather the point here is that no matter where I live on this planet I am to make use of this world as if this world is not my home. Abraham made use of the resources available in the land of Promise, he related to the inhabitants of the land with cooperation and courtesy, he engaged in commerce but he did it in a fashion that communicated that Canaan was not his home; he was only a temporary resident. I think that living as if this world is but a temporary residence is the hardest thing for us affluent, consumption oriented American Christians to do. What appears to us as "normal" living is without question living as if this world is home. All of the advertising we observe, all the decisions that our neighbors make about what they will spend their money on are oriented to obtaining the highest and most comfortable lifestyle that can be had on planet earth. Jesus talked a lot about money and possessions. It is very obvious that he believed how we relate to money and possessions are an infallible indicator of where our ultimate affections and hopes lie. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in a steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." "You cannot serve God and money." "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat and what you will drink or about your body, what you will wear." "…your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor." The apostle Paul says, "…godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing with these we will be content. Those who desire to get rich fall into temptation, into a snare and into many senseless and harmful desires. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…" This author will say in chapter 13, "Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have." It seems to me that one of the best ways to demonstrate that our faith is in God's city and not in this world is to engage in a disciplined, growing giving away of money and time coupled with a fierce resistance to piling up debt in order to buy the toys and trinkets of this age. We should not be satisfied with the amount of money we're giving away now but should be looking for ways to give away more. The goal is not to give away 10% of our gross income but to give away an increasing amount each year. Giving away time is equally important to show that we are not just thinking about how to build our own kingdom but we are invested in building God's kingdom. We have to courageously evaluate where our affections lie by observing which enthralls us more, looking at catalogues or reading God's word, going shopping or going to church, getting new furniture or giving a large sum of money to support some missionary endeavor, thinking about the joys of retirement or thinking about the joys of heaven, spending time meticulously manicuring your lawn or spending time helping another person repair his house. We are to use the resources of this world to assist us and sustain us on our journey to the next. We are to use the resources of this world to display the superior worth of the city that God designed and built through our generosity and hospitality and investment in the kingdom of God. All who have faith in Christ persist in a life of suffering love for God and others because…
III. Faith expects life to come from death (vv. 11-12) If you compare English translations of v. 11 you will see that there is a debate about who received the power to have a son in their old age, Abraham or Sarah. The problem is that the main verb in the sentence does not have a stated subject and so you have to decide whether Abraham, who is the subject of vv. 10 & 12 is the subject or Sarah who is mentioned in v. 11. Personally, I think v. 11 says that Abraham who was "as good as dead" when it came to having a child, is the one who received the power to have a son even though Sarah was both sterile and past menopause. This is how the NIV has it whereas the ESV and NAS say that Sarah was the one who had faith and received the power to bear a son. I'm not going to get into the details. If you want to know why I think it is Abraham you can talk with me. The main point, regardless of which person had faith, is that it was physically impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have children and yet they became the parents of an innumerable number of descendants. Out of their deadness came a multitude of living beings. They became parents through faith, through their confidence that God was able to do what he promised. There is a significant difference between how faith operates in v. 11 and how it operated in vv. 8 & 9. In v. 8 Abraham by faith left the security and comfort of his home and family and went into an unknown future. In v. 9 he by faith lived like he was a temporary resident of the Promised Land. However, here he or Sarah trusts that God is able to do what he promised. God is able to give life where there is only death and decades of disappointment. He doesn't give just a little life but he gives life to multitudes of people by means of ordinary human activity that has never produced life in the past simply by Abraham or Sarah resting in his faithfulness. This is referring to that great passage in Genesis 15 where Abram complains that God has not given to him an heir as he promised. God takes Abram out into the desert night and has him look up at the stars and says to him: "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them… So shall your offspring be." Then we are told that "Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Abram didn't do anything. He believed God would do what he promised to do. He simply rested in the promise of God. The apostle Paul uses this incident in Abraham's life to show that salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone and never based on human work or merit. I believe the author to this letter to the Hebrews has this argument of Paul's in mind as he refers to this justifying faith of Abraham. The reason he inserts this description of faith in its passive receiving of God's gifts at this juncture is because all the other descriptions of faith he is using show that human action and lifestyle arise out of faith. So he inserts this basic description of faith as trusting God to do what only God can do apart from human effort to remind his readers and us that faith in its essence is always a passive receiving of what God promises to do. It is dependence on God's faithfulness which always does produce an effect in our lives but the effect is not faith and the effect is not the reason we are accepted by God. We do not do anything to create spiritual life. We are, like Abraham and Sarah, dead and can do nothing to create life. We rely on God to do the miracle of giving his life to dead sinners like us. As the apostle Paul says in Romans 4 Abraham became the father of all who trust in Christ to justify them. This is the multitude of descendants referred to in v. 12. Abraham is our father and we are all his sons through faith in Christ. We are not related to Abraham by our race or our religious performance but by our faith in Christ. On the last day, when the countless multitude of the redeemed gather around the throne of the lamb who was slain we will all realize that we are there because God was faithful to the promise he made to Jesus to reward his obedience with the salvation of all the elect. Christ will be the center of all our attention and affection because we will see that through him we have been given life. We who were dead in trespasses and sins were made alive through the life giving Spirit who gave to us the gift of faith, which is that resting and depending upon God to count us righteous and fit for heaven on the basis of the work of Jesus. We are people who are convinced that God gives eternal life to dead people and who raises from the dead those who have physically died. This is our faith and so we live now as if we are going to live forever. We live now in accordance with the laws of heaven which is a world of love for God and others. All who have faith in Christ persist in a life of suffering love for God and others because…
IV. Faith longs and lives for God's city (vv. 10 & 13-16) In v. 10 and then in vv. 13-16 the author aims to prove that while faith rests in the finished work of Christ it also anticipates with certainty all the future benefits obtained by Christ. Follow with me how the author works out how faith longs for and lives for God's eternal city. He begins by thinking about death in v. 13. Death is the great nullifier, the eraser of all hopes and all certainties and all possibilities. Death is the end of existence in this world. All these, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah died according to faith. That is, they did not die in despair. They did not die bitter that they never experienced what God had promised. They came to the end of their lives and they viewed the loss of all the pleasures of this world as gain because they knew that death could not rob them of what God had promised. They had seen that coming city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God and they had greeted it from afar. That is, they recognized that the city was yet to come. Death could not keep them from living in that city one day and so they died content and joyful and hopeful because they saw that city and greeted it far in advance of its arrival. As Jesus told the Jewish leaders, "Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad." By faith all the OT saints saw Christ and his coming kingdom and that eternal city that would be their permanent residence. They faced death in faith because while they lived they acknowledged that they were merely strangers and aliens in this world. The author is thinking of the several occasions when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob stated that they were aliens and strangers in the land of promise. What the author concludes from these statements is that they are clear testimony from the mouths of the patriarchs themselves that they did not view Canaan as their home. They were looking for their own homeland and it was not the land of Canaan because they called themselves foreigners while living in the land of Canaan. Then he says in v. 15, if they called themselves strangers in the land of Canaan because they viewed their real home as either Haran or Ur, where they had come from, then they could have easily returned to either place. However, they did not return and thus they prove that they were seeking a better country, that is, a heavenly one. They were not foreigners in the land of Canaan because their home was in Ur but because their home was in heaven. The thing I want you to notice is the three words describing the attitude of these people in regards to the city that God built. In v. 10 Abraham looked forward to the coming of that city. In v. 14 the word "looking for" is actually the word " seeking." Then in v. 16, they were longing for a better country. All of us know what it is like to look forward to something, to seek it and to long for it. As some of you know our second son, Justin and his wife Anne and our two grandsons, Max and Evan, moved to Lexington, KY last December. We miss them greatly. We made arrangements for them to fly from Lexington to Green Bay to join us on our family vacation up in Door County this past June. We longed for and looked forward to their arrival for many weeks prior to the vacation. These feelings only intensified as we arrived in Door County several days before they were to arrive. We prepared for their arrival by making their bed, buying gifts for the boys, buying food to feed them, and planning fun things to do. I drove the hour to the airport and waited in the terminal for quite some time. In short, we were seeking their arrival by all of our preparations for it. Our faith in their arrival did not simply create emotions in us but also motivated action on our part. What a thrill it was to see the four of them walking down the hallway and then what a party we had when we arrived back at the house. This is how all who have faith in Christ live their lives here and how we die. We look forward to the arrival of this city. We long for it and we seek it. We live our lives here in preparation for the arrival of that city. No matter what happens to us here we know nothing can take away this city. We live this way because we know that God is not ashamed to be called our God. Or to say it the other way, he is delighted to be known as our God because we are trusting in Jesus. He has prepared this city for us who have faith in Christ. What are you looking forward to? What are you seeking? What are you longing for? If God's eternal city made available to us by the work of Jesus is not what you are looking forward to then you are going to be finally disappointed, if not in this life than surely when you die. Even if you obtain all you wish in this life, death will remove every object of longing from you. The only certain thing you can look forward to and seek and long for with confidence is living with God in the city he designed and built. It is only by longing for and seeking this city that you will ever be able to live a peaceful, purposeful, loving life here. All who have faith in Christ persist in a life of suffering love for God and others because…
© Copyright 2007 John Swanson.
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