God's Country

Hebrews 11:1-16New International Version (NIV)

Faith in Action

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

The rise of social media has allowed Christians to give the appearance that they are more faithful than they really are.  In other words, if someone was to look through my Facebook profile, they would see plenty of pictures of my kids, they would see the sermons that I share each week, they would see #datenightselfies with my wife, and they would see my sometimes unhealthy fandom at work with the Chiefs, Hawks and Cubs.  From a simple scan of my online social media account, it would be easy to gather a lot of possible assumptions of me.  My profile can give the appearance of having a life put together, free of conflict, struggle and doubt.  However, the path is much more difficult and complicated than the pictures and posts illustrate.  The truth about me is way more difficult to comprehend than the series of pictures and posts from my online social media accounts.  Whether or not we have social media accounts, it is likely that each of us is way more difficult to understand than the appearance we give.  Our scripture for this morning is about appearance and more specifically the appearance of faith in our lives.  

I know I have shared this with you before but it is important to mention again here: Paul is credited for writing this letter to the Hebrews but modern theologians aren’t so sure.  No matter who the writer is, Hebrews offers a lot quotable scripture because it is one person’s attempt to show and convince the Hebrew people that Jesus is the Christ.  This means there are a lot of appeals to the scriptures they hold most dear: those found in the Septuagint.  Our scripture for this morning points to some of the biggest characters to help make the author’s point on faith.  The reason I chose this scripture over the others is because I felt like it kept with the theme that I spoke on last week about the conundrum of Christianity duality.  You remember the scripture that directly tells us to “be in the world, but not of the world”?  Can you recall the scripture that says this? Is it in the Gospel of John?  I think Paul wrote it in one of his letters, actually... (open Bible to a random page and point to it like it’s there and close Bible quickly).  Truth is, these words are never printed in this order.  This phrase does not exist biblically.  However, it is a theme that is consistent with several scriptures (1 John 15:19, John 17:14-16, Romans 12:2, James 1:27 to name a few).  One pastor's blog I read this week said this phrase better serves us by saying “not of the world, but sent into the world.”  This coincides with the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20): “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  The start of our commission is being in the world.  We are born here.  This is where God has placed us.  But.... being in the world is only the beginning and the Great Commission serves as our directive.  Being in the world is our reality but being of the world ought not to be reality for the Christian.  The reason I can say that Christians are not of the world is because Jesus prays this is on the eve of the Crucifixion in John 17:14-19: “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”  This backs up the phrase in question but simply saying “in the world but not of the world” does not give us a direction.  It almost gives us an excuse to distance ourselves from real life evils and injustices.  We can excuse away taking care of the poor, the widowed, the hungry, the mentally ill because we can say those issues are “of this world.”  Adding the point that we are to be sent into and to engage with the world is our calling.  Christ has sent us, even commissioned us, to not only be in the world but to engage with it.  We are here to make this world a better place through the unconditional love and grace of God.  And this is where our figurative “online religious profile” has our appearance somewhat confused with reality.

After mentioning some heavy hitters in the scriptures they are most accustomed to, the writer of Hebrews says this in verse 13: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”  We are strangers in the place where we are placed.  It can be confusing and only piggy backs off of last week’s sermon.  Our faith is not worldly.  Our faith is heavenly.  We spend our whole lives looking for a country (in other words a religion or a purpose) of our own.  And instead, we ought to be longing, striving and actively seeking a better country, “a heavenly one.”  God has prepared a city for us.  It is neither “of this world” nor is it “in this world.”  Our mission takes place here but even if we were somehow able to make this world perfectly filled with God’s love and grace by ending depression, racism, prejudice, injustice, mental illness, and hatred, there is still something better awaiting for us.  

So now the question of why?  Why strive for these things if God has something better planned than the figurative perfection we could possibly attain on earth?  We strive for this for a very simple reason: our earthly life is not the end game.  Does God want your service, your loyalty, your devotion, your love while here on earth?  Of course He does.  But there is more.  Life as we know it and understand it happens on earth but no matter the greatness of this life, it will someday perish.  Our earthly bodies will die.  We are strangers here because death is not what we are meant for.  If there was nothing greater than the world as we know it, then this death would mean the end.  However, Christ broke down the barriers of death when God resurrected him.  We are not of this world but we have been sent into it and as Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”  In other words, by faith we ourselves are formed at God’s command.  By faith we are formed out of things that that are not visible ie God, Son and Holy Spirit (the same things in which we are baptized by).  By faith we are actively on a mission in this world to find God’s Country and show it to all.  Our job as Christians is to be actively engaged in the world, to give the people of the world more than the appearance of faith.  By faith we are called to God’s Country (in other words, to His Kingdom) but by faith, we have a job that we are called to pursue here on earth first.  Our faith ought to be more than it appears.  It has to go beyond the label of Christianity.  By faith, we ought to live, and not only live on earth but through eternity.  Amen.