feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)
Dearest family,
So wonderful to have such a full church on Sunday at this time of year. I just love Sunday mornings with my spiritual family! Well, we launched the new “Summer Series” which doesn’t really have a name except that. Maybe we can call it “Stories from Faithbook – Hebrews 11 continued!” Maybe not! I made some comments on the Hebrews 11 text to orient you to what you need to be listening for, looking for in this series; to prepare you for what you should be expecting to apprehend and apply; to convince you as to why the study of other holy lives is so important for our own growth in grace, and for our encouragement and edification. We noted the context of these compacted biographies of saints. Christians are being addressed in this Hebrews, whose lives are under great pressure from surrounding culture. The daily context of their lives requires endurance in some shape or form. The section immediately preceding this list of heroes of faith is a call to persevere, a call to be confident in the face of subversive influences, a call to stand your ground in the face of suffering. Chapter 10 issues a strong appeal to the community of faith in troubled times and the focus is not on just a few famous spiritual individuals but on everyone in the community: “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full, assurance of faith…Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful…Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing…Let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the day approaching…” (10:22-25) Something is going on here that is about us, so when the writer goes straight into this summer series of biographical studies, he is clearly assuming that the fruit of these stories is going to strengthen US, the community of faith – the US! The writer tells us: “Do not throw away your confidence…You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he promised…” Then he quotes the great rallying scripture that became the transforming revelation of the Reformation that changed the history of the church and the world in the sixteenth century: “My righteous one will live by faith” (Hab. 2:3-4). So presumably, the purpose of these biographical cameos that follow has something to do with encouragement, with fueling our perseverance in our present circumstances, with boosting our spiritual confidence, with fortifying us, with strengthening our hope, with provoking our faithful actions, with increasing our expectations, with convincing us that we can indeed live by faith in a cultural context that constantly induces fear. Welcome then to a series biblically custom-designed to do all this. It is a way to call every one of US to renewed faithful endurance but also to courageous actions of faith. My favorite verse in chapter 11 is not actually about a particular individual who is singled out but it is v.29: “by faith the people passed through the Red Sea…” There is no question about Moses’ heroics of faith – the text is explicit and complimentary about them, but as a result of his example, something had been transmitted to the people. It wasn’t just his biography – it was now their story. It wasn’t about HIM but US!
The preface to our COSC series should be no different to the preface to the series of biographical presentations in chapter 11.What these stories are going to illustrate is the nature of faith experienced by ordinary people who are called to endure, and in the process, achieve great things for God against the prevailing current of evil and opposition. The first three verses tell us what to look for in the lives of those who are going to be presented to us this summer.
They obeyed God’s commanding word for their lives and circumstances;
They received God’s commending approval;
They believed in God’s creative power to do the extraordinary. Faith gave shape and content to things that had not yet been actuated.
Faith reached beyond the edge of normal human experience. This was not just about seeing beyond the end of their nose, which is difficult at best for most of us, but seeing beyond the horizon. This was a faith that was not just about things in the future but about things in the future that were beyond reasonable expectation.
Now let’s be honest. Any time we have to listen to the stories of the great heroes of faith there is an immediate problem: we elevate them to a league of spirituality that we will never engage or enjoy. We distance ourselves from them. They are unique, they are exceptional, they are so spiritual, they are chosen, they are anointed – but me? Did you read my T-shirt? “I’m a zero not a hero!” Compared to their miraculous and effective stories, we are ordinary, average. The whole point of these biographies in chapter 11 is not to convince us that we are not them, or could never be like them. On the contrary, the point is that the life of faith is utterly normal. As someone has commented, it is what Lewis called “mere” Christianity. The stories of these people challenge how we see the world and ourselves. This life of faith is not a once-in-a-lifetime experience but a daily one, it is our default, it is our constant posture and position in relation to circumstance, in relation to present and future. The stories you will hear, like these Hebrews 11 accounts, are meant to break the accustomed ways we just live in sync with the world around us, disturb the ways we have become acclimated to little expectation, little results, little hope. These stories have arms and hands that reach out to us and grab our lackluster sense of purpose by the neck, and throw us into this same roll-call of faith with a recovered sense of our calling and gifting and ministry and personal history. It is unsettling to be reminded by these stories of those who are certain of what they do not see, and consequently to be confronted by just how much our lives are conditioned and influenced by what is seen. The life of faith is reduced to a surprising interlude in an otherwise material existence.
But what is also unsettling is that all these so-called heroes of faith seemed to have flaws. Maybe that’s comforting. It certainly lets me reapply. Someone has put it like this: “These are heroes not because they are perfect but because they worked with God in his perfect work.” The text says that these were ordinary folk: “whose weakness was turned to strength” (11:34). So they began weak, not strong. It wasn’t their strength that got them to where they ended up. Have you examined this list of biographies in chapter 11? Really? Is God helping his publicity by holding these guys up as the ones to emulate? Wasn’t Rahab a Gentile prostitute and hardly inducted into proven discipleship?! And wasn’t Gideon fearful? And wasn’t Barak the one who wouldn’t do what the Lord told him unless he had a woman, Deborah, keep him company? And didn’t Samson know a girl called Delilah, and David one called Bathsheba, and Abraham one called Hagar? And wasn’t Jephthah plain hasty and a little arrogant? And didn’t Isaac lie and didn’t Jacob deceive? And didn’t Moses murder a guy? Isn’t the hall of faith’s fame more like the Hall of failure’s shame? And yet, despite the flaws and weaknesses, they made some decisions and discoveries, and they ended up featuring on God’s approval ratings and their example “still speaks” the text says. Speaks what? What do the lives of those we study and consider speak to us? That is what you’ve got to decide every week of this series. What is God still speaking to me through them, who though dead perhaps, like Abel, still speak. Does not Abel still speak to us about the way that what we offer to God publicly must be concordant with what is true in our hearts? Does not Enoch still speak of the way that God will respond to those that seek him and walk with him? Does not Noah still speak about how God will deliver someone who hears and obeys regardless of cultural responses: someone who will live pure in a promiscuous culture; someone who will be generous in an economic downturn?
The biography of Abraham here was referred to in the “Finding Father” series. As our father in the faith, we are given an insight into what we can learn from his life. When God called him, and spoke to him, he obeyed. God said “Go…and Abram went.” (Gen. 12:1-4) We learn about the trustworthy authority, power and reliability of God’s word. We learn that the life of faith has a price tag, a cost. He left his “father’s house” and lived the rest of his life in a tent with no fixed abode. We learn that faith requires patience and courage, because even when he got to Canaan the promise was not fulfilled. We learn that faith perseveres and that the life of faith is utterly dependent on God to do what he does best – raise us from our death. These are just ordinary people trusting in God’s extraordinary work. I believe that you are going to learn something each week from these better known examples of Christian achievement in God’s world. There are at least four areas of important interest:
Their experience of God
Their example of character
Their expectation of faith
Their exploits of courage and perseverance
May you be able to make their story your own, week after week as you apply God’s truth in them to your own life and circumstances. But don’t forget that nameless roll-call, those “others” (v35), that company of the unknowns. Because that includes you!
By faith…
Stuart
http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)