By Faith

It is important for us to know and understand that God's intention for our relationship with Him was intended to be constantly changing, constantly evolving.  My hope for you is that your faith grows most of the time; however, there will be times when it doesn't but it is in these times that we will need our faith most.  

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword;whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.³⁷ They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us so that only together with uswould they be made perfect.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverancethe race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

As we go through this morning’s message, I would like all of you to think about how your faith has gotten you through difficult situations.  I encourage all of you to take a couple moments to reflect how your faith has helped you but also remember the times when your faith may have let you down.  For as long as I can remember, I assumed that it was Paul that wrote this letter to the Hebrews but the truth is that there are many questions about this letter.  As I was preparing for this message, I learned that the authorship of this letter was and always has been in question.  This letter was not accepted to be a part of the New Testament until 300 years after the death of Christ because there were questions about who wrote it and to whom it was written for.  Regardless of these questions, the book of Hebrews is one of my favorite books.  It offers us so much intellectual insight into Christian mindset of the time.  Many scholars believe it was written more as a lesson or lecture by a second generation Christian to a group of educated Christians believed to be in Italy around 80 A.D.  I often wondered why understanding who wrote a book, to whom it was wrote for, and the context of which a particular book was written was important to our faith.  But it is important that we understand the context of what we are reading so we can better understand what the author is trying to tell us.  As Christians, we use both the New and Old Testaments to form our faith, to form what we believe.  The writer of Hebrews was someone who knew and understand the Old Testament scriptures, who spoke excellent Greek and had second-hand knowledge of the workings of Jesus Christ.      

In our scripture this morning, we are given many examples of how the faith of many Biblical people helped them get through difficult situations.  From the very beginning of chapter 11 of Hebrews, there are many examples of how people managed to get through situations because of their faith.  All of the examples given start with the phrase “by faith.”  What have you been able to accomplish by or through faith?  Has your faith been there for you when you needed it most?  Or has your faith failed you at times?  And what causes our faith to fail?  Faith is the basis of our belief.  If we do not have faith, then our beliefs have no ground to stand on.  The author of this letter tells us that faith has conquered kingdoms, has shut the mouth of lions, turned weakness into strength but to us, in today’s world,  this all seems foreign.  It is difficult for us to imagine conquering a foreign army, being trapped in a den of lions, or crossing the Red Sea.  But we have seen other miracles.  We have seen faith turn weakness into strength.  We have seen faith turn the meek and lowly into the strong and powerful.  We have seen faith help kick addictions, faith has found us when we seemed lost, faith has answered some of the most difficult questions we have asked.  Yet we are so quick to give it up at times but ultimately it is that faith that pulls us through.  No matter how hard we try, no matter how fast we run in the opposite direction, it is that faith that finds us, it is that faith eventually draws us closer to God.  Sometimes our faith is in the forefront of our decisions but other times we go all in and hope that our faith pulls us through.  Our faith is absolutely crucial to our understanding of what we believe.  But this is a two-way street.  God also has faith in us.  He has faith that we continue to teach his message to others.  He has faith that we will not mistreat His precious and holy name.  He has faith that we will use His mercy and grace as a beacon of love to show the world.  For God, who is almighty and powerful, to have faith in us, people who are broken and imperfect, is an incredibly humbling experience.  If we take to realize just what it means for God to have faith in us and that He entrusts us with His message, then we begin to realize the love and compassion He shares with each and every single one of us.  When we think about how much faith God puts into each of us, it seems impossible to live up to such standards but that is the exact reason why this morning’s scripture is so important for us.  The author of this letter is giving us many examples of how the impossible became possible.  Most of the events listed in chapter 11 of Hebrews seem impossible and we have a tendency to discount them as stories, as events that did not happen but I am here to tell you that God turns the impossible to the possible by faith.  It may have seemed impossible that an entire community and other surrounding communities, came together to support a family in need.  Some may have seen it as impossible to keep a small country church alive and well.  I thought it was impossible that I could be standing in front of all of you today.  Yet God makes the impossible possible.

But the question remains: what happens when our faith falls short.  It is good for morale to read examples of how faith has gotten so many people out of difficult situations but what happens when we do not possess  that kind of faith.  The truth is that we all possess that potential and God knows that but we must find it within ourselves first.  I cannot force you to have faith, God cannot force you to have faith that is something you must find.  When the weight of this world is bearing down on us, we desperately search for the faith we need to pull us through.  When we unexpectedly lose a loved one, when we lose our job or whatever the case may be, we have a tendency to lose faith in God and in each other.  If we do not nourish our faith, if we do not feed it then it becomes weak.  It would be like an athlete who wins the top honor in their sport refusing to practice and train after receiving their reward.  When life is going well, we have a tendency to stop “training” our faith.  We have a tendency to lay a faith by the wayside.  We must always be preparing our hearts and minds to focus on God so when the time comes that we must fully rely on our faith it is there.  If the athlete stops training and practicing they will not be successful when the next season comes around.  They will not be able to make the pass, to make the shot, to sink the putt that wins.  Our faith does not grow during times of weakness because it is during those times that we need it most.  Our faith needs to grow when we are not relying on it as heavily.  We need to take the time to nurture and strengthen it so we are ready to use it when the next difficult situation arises.  The examples found in our scripture this morning help us to understand this.  It is because these people nurtured and grew their faith that they were able to use when they needed it.  

The last two verses of our scripture are so vital to our faith, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  These verses outline what a faith-based Christian life looks like.  First, it shows us that a Christian life has a goal.  We are not called to wander around this world lost; instead, we are called to be involved, to be an active participant.  God does not want us to be tourists of this life.  When we go on vacation somewhere, we may go out and see the sights but we always end back up where we are staying.  God wants our faith to be a pilgrimage, always looking forward, always moving.  Our faith is supposed to be going somewhere, it is always changing, always evolving.  We should be able to notice gradual changes in our journey.  Second, the Christian life has a handicap and that handicap is sin.  If we were to set out to climb Mount Everest, we would not take much with us.  We would only take the necessities.  In the journey of faith, if we are going to travel a great distance, we much travel lightly and this means ridding ourselves of the sin that weighs us down.  We cannot completely get rid of this handicap but we must do our best to get rid of that sin.  Think of it like a wrestler preparing for a match.  When they are warming up, they are wearing sweats but when the match starts they only wear a singlet.  We must shed our sin just as the wrestler sheds his sweats.  Third, the Christian life has a means.  And just like the prepared and ready wrestler, that means is perseverance.  It is a determination that refuses to be bumped off-course.  We must be determined in our faith that we will not allow the temptations of sin or the heartbreaks of this life to push us off our journey.  Obstacles and discouragements must not shake our faith and steal the hope and love of God away from us.  Lastly, the Christian life has an example.  That example is Jesus Christ, the perfecter of faith.  The one who did not let the handicap of sin deter him from his goal of bringing us closer to God.  God set the goal of eternal salvation before him and he endured all things to reach that goal.  

In closing, your faith is the basis of what you believe.  You must always be nurturing and growing your faith so that difficult situations do not throw you off the path.  There will be mountains on your path, some may seem as tall as Mount Everest, but you must approach them with preparation and an unshakeable determination.  By faith Jesus went to the cross and carried our sins with him.  By faith, we accept that grace and by living out that faith, we share this mercy, hope and love with the world.  And by faith, I encourage you to accept that mercy and love into your heart so you can live a life by faith.  Amen.