There are a lot of things out there that people have a hard time understanding—myself included. For example:
- Modern Art — I think the guy in this picture is thinking, “Did the people who painted these walls accidentally paint over the paintings hanging here?”
- How to do income taxes — I don’t know about you but I can relate to this guy—which is why I pay someone else to do mine.
- Computer viruses — of course this is a tabloid—but viruses are hard to understand and stop! Agreed?
- Super-pacs — Actually this may not be far from the truth because at times it seems like one big video game!
- Women — because they are so wonderfully complex—at least from a male perspective.
- Men — because, let’s face it guys, as this picture shows we do some pretty silly things.
- And—teens—I want to make sure you can read this one. It says, “Welcome to being a parent of a teenager. Prepare for a large amount of eye-rolling, emotional outbursts, and thoughts of running away. And that’s just the parents.”
And—all kidding aside—another thing that people have a hard time understanding—even Christians—is FAITH. Faith can be a difficult thing to get our minds around because we all struggle at times when it comes to defining concepts that our five senses don’t allow us to perceive—like love or happiness.
To make matters worse attempts at DEFINING faith have led to many misconceptions.
- Some people mistakenly think of faith as some kind of magical potion or power and that if we could just work up enough of this remarkable substance or feeling—or whatever it is—we could do anything. In their minds it’s kind of like the FORCE in Star Wars.
- Other’s mistakenly think of faith as simple positive thinking.
- Some think of faith as a hunch.
- Many Christians act as if faith is a moral issue—like it’s WRONG or EVIL not to have faith. We say things like, “Hey—have a little faith!”
But all of these attempts at defining FAITH fall far short of an accurate definition. So, this morning I want us to dispel with misconceptions like these and set ourselves straight when it comes to understanding exactly what FAITH is—because FAITH is vitally important. In fact, there may be no more important word in the Christian life—than FAITH.
This little five-letter word is found throughout Scripture—from Genesis to Revelation—because faith is the means by which we receive anything at all from God. And—as we’ll see in our text—without faith, it is impossible to please God. It is not difficult—it is impossible! It can’t be done.
So it would be an understatement to say that an accurate comprehension of faith is important for any Christian or group of Christians—for—above all things—we should aspire to please our Heavenly Father.
Well, the eleventh chapter of Hebrews is an excellent place to look in order to gain a proper understanding of Faith because it not only defines this concept—It goes on to cite dozens of examples of men and women who are known for their accurate understanding of faith. Twice in this chapter it says that these people were COMMENDED for their genuine faith. Take your Bibles and turn there. Follow along as I read the first 13 verses:
1 – Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of 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 offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he 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.
Now, in his commentary on this text, Rick Warren cites several aspects of genuine faith and I want us to review some of them together this morning. So, take your outlines now, and let’s use his input to define FAITH together. First of all, Warren says faith is:
(1) BELIEVING—even when we don’t see.
Look at verse 1: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Now—the phrases “being sure” and “do not see” seem to contradict each other—but people who practice genuine faith know that they aren’t contradictory because the Bible teaches that real faith ANTICIPATES. It visualizes the future in the present—It sees in advance, so it IS being sure even of what you don’t yet see.
Verse 7 cites NOAH as an example of someone who embraced this aspect of faith. Remember? He was warned about an impending flood. He had never even seen rain before, much less enough water to flood the world, but he was so sure of this unseen future event that in faith He built the ark as instructed by God. You see, true faith does not SEE and then BELIEVE. No—it BELIEVES and then it SEES. Matthew Henry put it this way. “Faith demonstrates to the eye of the MIND the reality of these things which cannot be discerned by the eye of the BODY.”
I can’t help but think of a scene from the film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indiana (played by Harrison Ford of course) and his father (played by Sean Connery) are searching for the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus used in the Last Supper. If you’ve seen the movie you know that Indiana’s father is shot at the end of their quest. With his father dying, Indiana’s search for the Grail takes on new intensity, because the cup is said to bring healing to those who drink from it. In this scene, with his father groaning in the background, Indiana walks ahead—following a notebook book compiled by his father that gives clues to guide him through a maze of obstacles to the place where the Grail is hidden. The second obstacle is a chasm deeper than the eye can see. There is no visible way for him to cross. So Indiana is faced with the impossible. All he sees is the sheer cliff edge and the vast gulf beneath him. Then, as he studies the notebook, his face relaxes in realization, and he says, “It’s a leap of faith.” With his father whispering, “You must believe, boy, you must believe,” Indiana looks straight ahead, gathers his courage, and slowly raises one foot into the empty air in front of him. With a thud, his foot lands on solid ground. The camera pans to show Indiana standing on a narrow rock bridge, deceptively carved to match the exact outline of the ravine beneath it. Overcome with relief, he quickly crosses the chasm and discovers the Grail on the other side. Faith is like that—it’s believing in what you cannot see. A. W. Tozer writes: “A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One Whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see—expects to go to Heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up—is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies do he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible and knows that which passeth knowledge.”
This is all true of course—but it makes Christians seem like a bunch of fools—people who abandon all reason. And that’s not fair because faith is not baseless. In fact, it is rational. Using the minds God gave us can actually fuel our faith. And here’s why I say this: The ability to have faith depends on WHO we have faith in. The secret lies in the OBJECT of our faith because when it comes to GENUINE faith, QUANTITY is not all that important. This is what Jesus meant when He said you only need have the faith as tiny as a mustard seed. No—it is the QUALITY of faith that really matters—and the quality of faith comes from that which faith is fastened to—the object of your faith. So, our faith can be strong if the object of our faith is strong. You can rely on your faith if the thing or the person you are putting your faith in is reliable. And we know by experience that GOD is reliable. We can put our faith in Him even when we can’t see what He’s up to because we know His attributes. We know He is all-powerful and all-knowing and absolutely trustworthy. I like how Swindoll puts it. He says, “Faith is not a blind leap in the dark; it’s more like the sure step of a trusting child toward the loving arms of its mother. Faith is confidence in God, that He is there, that He cares, that He is faithful, that He intervenes and that He embraces us when we throw ourselves into His arms.”
Look at verse 3 again: “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.” God’s attributes—His fingerprints are all over the world—so the faith we have in Him is a rational one. As Paul puts it in Romans 1, “What may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain. For since the creation of the world God’s INVISIBLE qualities—His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”
Many famous scientists down through the ages have seen this—and have wisely based their beliefs in God on these observations. Here are some examples:
Nicolaus Copernicus wrote, “Who could live in close contact with the most consummate order and divine wisdom and not feel drawn to the loftiest aspirations? Who could not adore the Architect of all these things?”
Isaac Newton said, “The admirable arrangement and harmony of the universe could only have come from the plan of an omniscient and omnipotent Being.”
Carl Linnaeus, founder of systematic botany, said, “I have seen the eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent God pass close by, and I knelt prostrate in adoration.”
Thomas Edison said, “My utmost respect and admiration to all the engineers, especially the greatest of them all: God.”
Robert Millikan the great American physicist who won the Nobel Prize 1923 said: “I can assert most definitely that the denial of faith lacks any scientific basis. In my view, there will never be a true contradiction between faith and science.” Faith is believing even when you can’t see—but our invisible God gives us reasons all around us to believe anyway. A second characteristic of genuine faith is this. It is…
(2) OBEYING—even when we don’t understand.
You see, faith is not only a way of SEEING—it is also a way of LIVING. Genuine FAITH is more of a VERB than it is a NOUN. Look at verse 8: “It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country God had promised to him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.” So Abraham’s faith motivated him to obey God even when it meant leaving his homeland and heading off for some unknown destination—a trip that must not have made much sense to him. And the truth is many times God’s commands don’t make sense to you and me. Oswald Chambers was right when he said, “Common sense is not faith and faith is not common sense—” for as it says in Proverbs 3, faith often requires us to “lean not on our own understanding.”
Well, the fact that God’s instructions didn’t make sense to Abraham didn’t stop Him from ACTING on his faith. His example teaches us that authentic faith is always characterized by action like this. Look at the men and women of faith listed later in this chapter. Their faith in the future made them ACT in the present because genuine faith is not passive. It is dynamic and forceful. Truly faithful people actively obey God day in and day out. Listen to the achievements of some of these heroes of the faith recorded in this chapter, starting with verse 32:
“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” (Hebrews 11:32-35)
The faith-filled ACTIVITIES of these people have changed the course of history because their faith caused them to act in obedience to God! The fact is FAITH shows itself in obedience. Faith ACTS.
Does the name “Otis” sound familiar to you. It should—and not just because of The Andy Griffith Show. “Otis” should ring a bell because you have undoubtedly been on an elevator that bears his name. Otis elevators have been the industry standard for more than 150 years. Now—while Elisha Otis did not invent the elevator, he did devise the braking system that ensured its safety. At the time, most elevators were little more than open platforms, and they’d come apart and people would be seriously injured if the cable broke. Without a trustworthy braking system, elevators were earthbound and building heights were limited to a mere six stories. With the braking system, the sky was the limit. It made modern skyscrapers possible. But initially Elisha Otis had trouble selling his elevators—until 1854 when he concocted a creative sales pitch at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in Manhattan. Every hour at the exposition, the World’s Fair of its day, Otis stepped into his machine. He gave the order to an assistant who cut the rope. The crowd held its breath. The brake kicked in, the elevator stopped and Otis announced: “All safe, gentlemen. All safe.” With this demonstration, Otis quickly sold his first three elevators for $300 apiece. Today, New York City alone has about 70,000 elevators—and it’s estimated that the equivalent of the world’s population travels on an Otis elevator, escalator, or moving walkway every three days. In the same way that Mr. Otis showed his faith in his braking system by riding an elevator, we show our faith in God by our actions. Do you remember James’ words? “Show me your faith without deeds. I’ll show you my faith by what I do.” (James 2:18) You see, the truth is people know what we BELIEVE by the way that we BEHAVE.
So let’s ask ourselves this morning: What would people who know us and work with us—people who see us live our lives—what would they say we believe? This is an important question for us to consider because genuine faith is OBEYING, even when we don’t understand it and, one way we obey in faith is seen in the third aspect of genuine faith—for faith is…
(3) GIVING when we don’t have it.
Now, to explain this point let me ask you a question: Have you ever wondered why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s? Well, it wasn’t because God likes meat more than He does vegetables. No—the answer to God’s action in the book of Genesis is found here in Hebrews 11. Look at verse 4, “It was faith that made Abel’s offering to God a better sacrifice than Cain’s. Through his FAITH, God approved of his giving.” You see, Abel’s offering was better because he gave the best from the first offspring of his flocks. This ancient cattleman basically gave God his irreplaceable breeding stock. It took great faith to give this sacrificially. But Cain on the other hand gave so small an amount from his harvest that it required no real faith. Abel’s faith-FULL offering pleased God whereas Cain’s faith-LESS gift did not.
And Abel’s example gives us a clear picture of this third aspect of genuine faith—for it is giving even when I don’t have it to give. It is giving when I cannot afford to do so—because when I give in this sacrificial way I force myself to trust—or have faith in—God. Do you remember when Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth and told them of the faithful giving of other Christians in Macedonia? These givers were paupers—not knowing where their next meal would come from and yet Paul said that, “Out of their overflowing joy—they gave beyond their ability.” Another great example of this is the widow of Zarephath. Do you remember that story from 1 Kings 17? During a time of great famine in the land, the prophet Elijah faithfully obeyed God’s command and went to this widow and asked her for bread to eat and a room to stay in. Well, she had no bread. In fact, all she had was a little grain and some oil—enough for one more meal for herself and her small son but she took the grain and oil and made bread for Elijah. Now, for Elijah to ask for bread from this poor single mother may seem cruel but his challenging request was actually a service to her—because it provided her with the opportunity to give in a way that would allow her to see God supply her needs. And God did, for during all the years of that famine, her flour bin was always full and her oil jar never ran dry—no matter how much she took from it to feed Elijah and her son—because giving all she had gave her access to God’s limitless supply.
And you know, one purpose of giving of our tithes and offerings in the first place is to help us learn to trust God on a deeper level. Giving helps us learn that we CAN indeed rely on God when it comes to providing us with our needs—but for many Christians it is very hard to embrace this aspect of faith. It is hard for them to put their complete trust in God especially when it comes to their money!
On his 75th birthday a man named Dudley was given a ride in an airplane. Dudley accepted the gift and so for about 30 minutes, they flew over his small town in West Virginia. When they landed, one of the old man’s friends asked, “Were you scared, Dudley?” With some hesitation he said, “No—but then again, I never did actually put my full weight down on the seat.” Well, when we follow God’s leading and give beyond our ability to do so then our faith grows and we learn that we CAN put our whole weight down on Him. We discover that, as 1 Peter 5:7 says, we can “throw the WHOLE weight of our concerns on God.” Real faith is giving in a way that teaches us to be more dependent on God.
This week I read about a man in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who wanted money. Maybe he desperately needed money. Perhaps he had a substance addiction or owed tens of thousands of dollars on a charge card. I don’t know. But, somehow he got the idea to go into a grocery store, hand the checkout clerk counterfeit money, and ask for change. If it worked, he would get real money in exchange for fake money. Brilliant! Well, this guy was a big thinker so he figured if he was going to risk attempting this fraud, he was going to do it in a way that would set him up for life. So he decided to try to pass off not a counterfeit $100 bill, not a counterfeit $1,000 bill, not even a counterfeit $10,000 bill, but a counterfeit $1,000,000 bill. Again, you can pat this poor fellow on the back for thinking big, but you also have to pity him for thinking badly. First, you have to know that there’s a fairly good chance that the average checkout clerk doesn’t keep a million dollars in her drawer. Second, you have to think that a one-million-dollar bill is going to attract some extra attention and might even bring the scrutiny of the store manager. Third—and this is the clincher—there is no such thing as a $1,000,000 bill. The largest currency printed in the U.S. today is a $100 bill! When the counterfeiter walked into the supermarket on that Saturday in Pittsburgh, holding that one-million-dollar-bill in his sweaty hand, just imagine his soaring hopes. Soon he would be able to pay his bills, buy a nice house and car, get all the things he had always wanted, never work another day in his life. This would be his lucky day! Needless to say, his high hopes were dashed. The checkout clerk refused to give him change for his bogus bill. The manager came and confiscated the forgery. Soon the police had the guy in custody.
We chuckle but many people are just as foolish. They base their decisions on their bank account balance—when it is much wiser to base them on God—Who promises to meet our needs. And friends, that’s a promise you can take to the bank! It’s very WISE to give in a way that reflects your belief in this promise.
Okay—take a moment to pause and examine your own faith in giving. I know 2015 is over and we don’t usually examine our giving until the END of a tax year when tax season looms and we’re worried about deductions—but let’s do it at the BEGINNING of 2016. Ask yourself. Is your offering to God so far this year more like Cain’s or Abel’s? Is it faith-FULL or faith-LESS?
Remember, 2nd Corinthians 9:6-8 says, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but whoever sows generously will reap generously—and God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”
A fourth aspect of genuine faith is this:
(4) It is THANKING before we receive it.
A good example of this principle of faith occurred under the leadership of Joshua. It’s referred to in Hebrews 11:30 where it says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.” Remember this chapter from the history of the nation of Israel? God’s people had come to conquer the land He had given them and they found this fortified city. Understand—they had been slaves for over four hundred years so they had almost no training as an army. They had few weapons. And yet they faced the heavily fortified city of Jericho so God says in essence, “Here is the plan. Walk around this city, once a day, for six days. Put Bill Archer and the orchestra and the choir and the ark in front—and have them blow the horns of worship as you walk in silence. And then, on the seventh day, march around it seven times in this way. And on the seventh time give a great shout of praise and the walls will fall down.” Notice they were to put the priests and the music of praise first in the procession so they were to PRAISE God for the city’s destruction BEFORE it actually happened. Another example of this aspect of faith is seen again in 2nd Chronicles chapter 20. Under the leadership of King Jehoshaphat the people asked for God’s help in dealing with the invading armies of the Moabites and the Ammonites. God instructed them to form a choir and put the choir in front of the army as it marched into battle, and as they marched toward the enemy hoards, the choir sang, “Give THANKS to the Lord, for His love endures forever.” When they arrived at the battlefield all they saw was the dead soldiers of the enemy.
The principle here is this. You praise God before He blesses you. You thank Him before it happens—because He is GOD—and You know He is the source of every good and perfect gift.
Warren says, “If God tells you to go after Moby Dick in a rowboat, you better take along the tartar sauce—” because, real faith is thanking God before I receive it.
And then finally FAITH is…
(5) …TRUSTING even if we don’t get it.
Describing these heroes of genuine faith, Hebrews 11:39-40 says, “They were all commended for their faith yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better.” You see, all these godly men and women had faith in something they never benefited from in this life. Abraham never saw the descendants God promised Him. Remember—they were to be as numerous as the stars in the sky and countless as the sand on the seashore? He never saw them but He still had faith that this promise from God would be fulfilled.
Joseph never saw the people of Israel leave Egypt to return to their promised land but he had faith in it and before he died, he basically said, “When you do leave—and I have faith that you will—take my bones with you!” Moses had a dream of going into the promised land but he died in the desert. All of these people were truly great people of faith because they believed that God would give what He had promised even though they never lived to see it.
Verses 35-40 contain a list of people, who risked their lives and even died faithfully working for dreams they never saw fulfilled. Why would people do this? Look at verses 13-17 for an answer, “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 and they admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth. They were hoping for a better country—a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
Now—the principle here is this. Faith is focusing on God’s kingdom. It is orienting our lives around things of eternal significance. It is living for the there and then instead of the here and now.
Kayla Mueller, 26 years old, was captured by ISIS. On February 10, 2015 U.S. officials confirmed that Muslim extremists had murdered her while in captivity. In the spring of 2014 as a captor she wrote to her family. The letter begins with Kayla’s assurance that she has been treated well—and was “in a safe location, completely unharmed and healthy.” The 26-year-old aid worker goes on to apologize touchingly to her family for the suffering that she has put them through because of her captivity. Then comes her central proposition: “I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else.” Kayla, who was involved in the campus ministry at Northern Arizona University, goes on to relate how “by God and by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall.” She adds: “I have been shown in darkness, light and have learned that even in prison, one can be free. I am grateful. I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it.” She concluded, “Please be patient, give your pain to God. I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I. By God’s will we will be together soon. All my everything, Kayla”
Kayla’s faith enabled her to see the unseen—see good even in a horrible situation—feel safe—tenderly cradled by our unseen God—even in the midst of terrorism. Kayla was never reunited with her family on this side of eternity—but she had faith in that coming day when we will all be together.
Well, where is your focus this morning? Are you living for the things of this world…or are you faithfully living for the things of the Kingdom?
So to summarize—if we want a faith that pleases God we must, believe when we don’t see it, obey—even when we don’t understand it, give when we don’t have it, thank God before we receive it. and trust Him even if we don’t receive it in the here and now.