Noah

"Nothing is ever simple," I disagree. Some things are very simple. A man proposes "Will you marry me?" An employee says "I quit." A doctor says "if you don't have this operation, you will die." There may be confusion and uncertainty before we get there, but it all comes down to a simple choice.
We either choose to obey God or to disobey. There is no third option. Either we do what God says or we don't. If we obey there is forgiveness, comfort, assurance, and eternal life. If we don't, there is confusion, death, and destruction.
But simple things don’t stay simple. A woman accepts his proposal, and then there is a lifetime of making marriage work. A man quits his job and it may take a year to find another. We have that operation, and spend months at home recuperating. What begins with a simple choice continues as a long, difficult path.
When Noah chose to listen to God, it was the beginning of a long process. He had to remake that choice day after day, every day of his life, until the ark was built.
We read his story in Genesis 6 through 9.
Gen 6:5-8 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Why did Noah find favor? Perhaps the next verses will help us see.
Gen 6:9-14 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
The words describing Noah are translated "just and blameless." But that's not what they actually mean. The word "just" or "righteous" is a legal term meaning "fair," or "even." A righteous judge respects the law. He judges by the law alone.
Biblically, a righteous man cares that way about God’s law. If he has some habit, of which God disapproves, he will stop it. If God says to help the poor and the needy, he will do it. If God says avoid hanging around with sinners, he does that, too. Sometimes, he fails to live up to his own standards. Other times, he misinterprets God’s will. But his heart is right. He will return to the Lord when he comes to his senses.
“Blameless." would better be translated as "real" or "authentic." He doesn't pretend to be a better man that he actually is. He says what he is, even to his own disadvantage. He is real.
Honesty is not the same as perfection, but it is a necessary step towards it. An honest, righteous will always correct himself. A dishonest person is building a house of lies.
Noah was a builder before he ever started on the ark. His life as a work in process. Using God's Word as ca blueprint, he was constantly remaking himself. He was a project that was never finished. This is the person who finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.
The Bible describes Noah’s contemporaries with two words, too--"corruption" and "violence." While Moses was getting better through his life, the others were falling apart. The word "violence" doesn't just mean physical violence, but unfairness and dishonesty. The truth was setting Noah free while lies were destroying everyone else. God could do something with Noah. He could do nothing with a bunch of deceitful liars.
13-22 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
It took only a little faith to get into the ark. If took no faith to stay in the ark. But faith was absolutely necessary to build the ark. Every day Noah and his sons worked on that ark, they showed faith. The ark had no useful purpose unless God was real.
A common misconception about the ark was that it was a ship. The ark was not a ship. An ark means a box. A ship had sails or oars. It has a wheel and rudder. It has a bow and a stern. It has a keel to keep it from slipping sideways in the water. The ark had none of that. It was only designed to stay afloat. It was completely at the mercy of God, under His command.
For two or three hundred years, Noah and his sons built a big waterproof box.
The path to success often seems impossible. School means years of sacrifice. Going on the mission field means fundraising and language instruction. Diets are—well, they are tough. But if we want to be real about following God, we will stay with it.
Faith is a long obedience in the right direction. It is not getting saved in a revival. It is getting up every morning and having devotions. It is not saying yes to a call to tdhe ministry, it’s paying seminary tuition, learning Greek or studying for Presbytery exams. And fool can start. It takes faith to finish.
For years, Noah got up and worked on a box, with no earthly idea what he was doing, enduring the laughter and scorn of others. Yet he kept on, because God told him to.
Now, that’s faith!
Gen 7:6-12 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month — on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
In the hall of fame of faith were a real hall, with portraits on the wall, the portrait of Noah would not show standing on the ark or under the rainbow with the animals. It would be him in those long days before flood, swinging a hammer and chopping wood, while the rest of the world called him crazy. It would be Noah believing that the world was going to end, because a voice inside his head said so. That is the true picture of faith we need to emulate.
In Israel, there is a mountain outside Jerusalem called Herodium. It was the location of one of King Herod's many fortresses. The top of the hill is flat. There is a story that when Jesus said in Matthew 21:21 "if you have faith, you can say to this mountain be cast into the sea, and it will be done" He was looking at that mountain. That is literally what happened to that mountain. The top of it had been removed and cast into the Dead Sea.
But it did not happen at once. Soldiers and slaves took the top off, one shovelful at a time. It was taken by carts down the road, where it was used as fill in some of Herod's other projects towards the Dead Sea.
If that story is right, it gives us a very different picture of how faith works. We can move mountains, but not all at once. Most mountains don't fly. Instead, we take them way by God's command, one shovel full at a time. We accomplish God's will because we have enough faith to believe that what God says we can do, we can do.
Most people never accomplish the goals they set before them. There are two reasons for this. The first is that most never begin. They look at the mountain and say it cannot be moved. Noah could have looked at the blueprint for the ark and said. "I'm six hundred years old, and you expect me to build this?" But he believed that God would accomplish what he needed to accomplish. He sincerely and authentically believed that this was God's purpose for him.
The other reason people fail is because we lose faith along the way. We don't expect the obstacles or the setbacks or the distractions or the moments of discouragement. We take these setbacks as signs thact God really didn’t want us to begin, or that we cannot do it.
In Hebrews 11:7, there is a single, sobering statement.
By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
How did Noah’s faith condemn? Here's how. When we see what God wants for us to do and which we fail, we make all kinds of excuses. We say it's tough luck, or it was impossible. Then we see Noah--a man who finished and impossible task--and we know ourselves to be lying. If Noah can build a giant box, fill it with animals, and live with them in it for a year on the open sea at the age of six hundred, what right do we have to say there’s something we can’t do for God?
Faith is not the best way to salvation. Faith is the only way. It is only when we persevere by faith that we can find eternal life.

Enoch

The second exhibit in the hall of fame of faith is Enoch.
No other person in this list is as obscure as he. This is the sum total of what the Old Testament says of him.
Gen 5:18-24 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
That’s it. The only thing anyone knows about Enoch is that he walked with God, and that God took him. The Hebrew is the same phrase that described Elijah disappearing in a fiery chariot. This had led most readers to believe Enoch did not die, but went directly into heaven.
Enoch was one of two people who did not die. We are not told why he did not die, or what deeds he did. He simply did not die.
To us it’s an interesting footnote, no more. But to the Jews of Jesus’ day, Enoch translation into heaven was considered one of the great mysteries. He became the subject of at least three books which claimed to be written by or about him. None of these books were the truth, since any records of Enoch's life would have been lost in the flood. Even so, two references to these books show up in the Bible. These references are used to illustrate points, not to propound doctrine. They were illustrations based on popular literature of the time, not on history. Like we might quote Shakespeare, they quote from the books of Enoch.
Can we blame those ancient Jews for about being so curious about Enoch? Aren't you curious? What did he do that was so great that he alone escaped death? Wouldn't you like to know his secret of escaping death? What did Enoch do that was so right.
The writer of Hebrews believes that he knows Enoch’s secret. He tells us in Heb. 11:5-6
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. 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.
Here's Enoch’s secret--he had faith. The writer of Hebrews did not discover this by divine revelation but by logical deduction. Enoch pleased God. Faith is the only way to please God. So Enoch must have been a man of great faith.
Most people don’t believe that. They think that if we get anything special from God, it must be because we are an exceptionally good person. It is based on what we do, not what we believe. But the Bible teaches it is faith, not good deeds, by which we please God.
Let’s assume that Enoch was a good man. How good do we had to been to escape death? What could he have done that was so good? Was he kind to his neighbors? Did he give everything to the poor? Did he dedicate his life to preaching? I have known people who did all those things and more, and yet they had one thing in common. They are all ded. What could Enoch have done that was beyond the goodness of St Francis, Martin Luther, or Mother Theresa?
Then there’s another problem. There was another man who also escaped death— the prophet Elijah. We must assume that Elijah knew the same secret, since he got the same reward. We know more about Elijah than we do about Enoch--too much, in fact. He was a great prophet to be sure. but he was also at times suicidally depressed. He was quick to fuss at God, and think God had forsaken him. I know men today who are better than Elijah, at least in that respect. They don’t doubt God, and they don’t give into pessimism. Yet none of them rode to heaven on a fiery chariot. They died in bed and were buried like most men do. If they were superior to Elijah in their outlook on life, why weren't they translated into heaven like him?
We all die, but we would rather not. We'd rather just skip all that. I think that is why books like Left Behind are so popular. We all hope to be in that generation that gets to skip dying. But so far, only Enoch and Elijah are the only ones who did.
No one pleases God by what he or she does. Our actions are not what makes God happy. It is ourselves who make God happy. The people who receive great things from God are not the extremely good, but those how have faith in a God who is better than we are. It's not up to us, but up to Him. Blessings come to us, because we believe in Him.
So the writer of Hebrews deduces that Enoch must have had faith because he pleased God. And no one pleases God except by having faith in Him. It is God’s goodness that saves us, not our own.
When God wanted to turn the world from sin and back to Him, He did it in a most peculiar fashion. He had given us commandments, but we didn't keep them. He had given us blessings but we did not recognize them as coming from Him. He had given us guidance, but we ignored it. But finally, his own sacrifice to us. He did not require we sacrifice from us, but that we receive the sacrifice He made for us. He sacrificed Himself on the cross. He set Himself to please us. All he asks is that we believe have faith.
Faith is more than belief. Enoch did not escape death simply by belief. Enoch had faith. That is why the writer of Hebrews adds a footnote to the Enoch story, in verse 6.
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Here the writer of Hebrews tells us three things that were from the story of Enoch.
First, trusting God pleases God.
It is impossible to respect someone we do not trust. When someone puts their trust in me, they are saying that I am worthy to offer them help. They are saying I am strong, and that I recognize how much they love me.
God more than anything wishes to be trusted. When we trust Jesus, we trust the Father. When we think we must earn our own salvation, we are not pleasing God, because we are not recognizing the love He has for us.
Second, Believing God pleases God.
We must believe that God exists.
Atheism is a growing threat in the world, especially in this country. Atheists are organizing against faith. If we think that Christians are evangelistic, in this world we don't hold a candle to the atheists.
We aren't atheists, of course—at least, not outwardly. But there is far more doubt of God's existence in the church that we like to admit. We know this, because of worry. If we really believe God existed, what could worry us? If we really believed God existed? Then why do we fear leaving this world? If we really believed in God's existence, then how could we call anything impossible? To believe in God is to believe in miracles. To believe in God is to believe in God is to believe that death itself has a master, and that it cannot take us away.
Third, believing His existence is not enough. We must also believe he rewards us.
William Barclay paraphrases this statement this way "We must believe that God exists, and that He is pleased with us." That second statement is harder to believe than the first.
God is pleased with you. He is pleased with you, because you are His child, and Christ had died for you. He is pleased with you because He chooses to be.
This is terribly hard for us to imagine. We have trouble believing this because it is not the way we are. We expect something out of those we are pleased with. We expect proper behavior, and respect. The thought that God might be pleased with us simply because he chooses to doesn't seem right.
We cannot believe it because we know ourselves too well. We know the stuff that no one else knows. We can make a list of things we have done wrong that would shock everyone else in church. Yet God sees all that and does not care. He is still pleased with you.
We cannot believe it because the Devil is screaming in our ear that it is not true. People always think of Satan as the great tempter, who wants to tempt us to sin. He is that, but it is not is main line of attack. He is called in the Bible the "Accuser of the brethren" His main attack is by suggesting to us that God will not reward us, if we diligently seek Him. Satan brings up everything we have ever done wrong--all the evil thoughts, all the evil deeds done in the shadows--and he builds a case against us. Then he argues that case in the court of our own conscience. He suggests to us that God is not pleased with us, so there is no point in having faith. Others may have faith, but it will do us no good, since are not so righteous.
Few Christians will admit to doubts about God. But many Christians walk like orphans before him, because they do not think themselves worthy of His reward.
What did Enoch do right? One thing for sure, Enoch was not a perfect saint! He sinned just like the rest of us. But the difference between us and Enoch is that Enoch did not dwell on his sins. Instead he forgot his sins, as God did. Instead, he concentrated on the goodness of God, and God's ultimate reward. Enoch so rested in God's arms that God gently lifted him oup and took him out of the world.
In all probability, we won't escape death. But that doesn't mater. Whether we die or not, we can rest in Jesus' arms. We can know His love nd forgiveness, because God has given it to us. For those who seek him, that forgiveness is there. All we have to do is to reach out fo Him in faith.

Abel

The first exhibit in the "hall of fame of faith" is Abel. Hebrews 11 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.

Why is Abel here? Other than his death, the only thing we know about Abel is that his sacrifice was more acceptable than his brothers. But the Bible is not clear as to why it would be.
Scholars have all kinds of theories about this. Adam Clarke, for example, says that Abel, being a keeper of sheep, offered a blood sacrifice, while Cain offered grain. But nowhere are we told that God required animal sacrifices from them. It was not until Abraham where there is any specific command for animal sacrifices is given.
Other commentators, such as Barnes, suggest that Abel pleased God not by the content of the sacrifice, but by his attitude. Abel was humble before God, while Cain was proud But again, the Biblical evidence is spotty for this. We do know with certainty that this was the reason.
Maybe Abel’s inclusion in the hall of fame of faith has nothing to do with what he did, but the unique place he occupied in history. Maybe we remember Abel not for being the best or most faithful, but simply the first. He was the first man in heaven. He was the first to receive eternal life by faith.
Abel gave us no great inventions, made no great journeys, wrote no books, built no kingdom, endured no hardships, of brought forth no great generations. He was an ordinary man who died before his time, leaving nothing behind. But he was a fortunate man, because he trusted God. His trust gave him the first home in heaven.
Or maybe there was some other reason. Let’s look at the story closer and see if we can see what Abel had to do with faith.. Gen 4:1-12
Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man."
Whenever we look at the Bible it is important to remember the context from which hit came. Genesis 4 follows Genesis 3, which contains the story of the first sin, and our first parents’ banishment form Eden. Before they left paradise, God punished them for their sins. But along with that punishment, God gave them a promise. The promise came in Genesis 3:15, , when God said to the serpent.
"And I will put emnity between you and the woman, and between your seed and the woman' seed, and he will crush your head, while you will bruise his heel."
Today we take these words to refer to Jesus, the Messiah. The seed of the woman is one who was to come, who would be born of a woman but not of a man--a virgin-born man. This is Jesus, the messiah who would put to death the power of the serpent--Satan.
But Adam and Eve did not have the luxury of seeing it through the lenses of history. They thought of it as something that would happen to them in their own lifetimes. So when their first son was born, they saw him as the fulfillment of this prophecy. So when she became pregnant, and brought forth a son, they named him Cain, which meant "received from God." –in Hebrew "quaanyity."
But “Cain” may not actually actually mean “received from God.” The Hebrew may come from "quayin," which literally means "pierce through," or "lance." Thus name seems to refer to the warfare that would exist between the woman and the serpent. He was God's spear to crush the Devil. This first born son was to be the promised one that would win eventual victory over Satan. Or so they thought.
Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
The Bible doesn’t bother to say what Abel means, but we know. It means "emptiness or transitory, unsatisfactory." In other words, they did not know what to make of Abel. He wasn’t the chosen one, so he must be second best. Imagine your parents naming you “the other kid!”
Abel didn't measure up to Cain in his parents’ eyes.. He was the other one, the weaker one. Cain was the promised child. Abel was just an extra, or so they thought. That was why they gave him the least important job. He was to tend the flocks, which producd wool, while Cain tilled the ground, which produced food.
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
We don’t know what the “course of time” means. Some suggest that it might be the anniversary of creation. Others suggest that it was the Sabbath day. But whatever it was, it was a time of worship, where each member of the family expressed their love for creator and sutainer, God. Worship was part of our existence from the earliest days of earth. Sacrifice just seemed to be a natural part of worship.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Why was Abel favored? Maybe the key is sacrifice. Cain offeed the fruit of the ground, knowing that the next year there would always be more fruit. Abel offered the sheep themselves, not the wool. Abel offered something that was substantive, and hurt him to offer. Cain just offered what was left over after the harvest.
Cain out of his pride, offered a small sacrifice. Abel, out of his humility, offered a bigger one. Therefore, God was pleased with one and not the other.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
This was not about the size of the sacrifice, but the attitude of the heart behind the sacrifice. God may not have favored Cain’s offering, but he did not regard it as sin. It was just indicative of a heart not fully surrendered to Him. As long as he continued to worship and obey, he would eventually come to understand what a proper sacrifice was. But Cain had never been bested by his brother before. He was filled with jealousy. He could not stand it.
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Here we have two boys---one loved and one hated, one a hero and one an extra. Cain was the leader. Abel was the follower. Cain was the strong one. Abel was the weak one.
Now most of us would think that it should be Abel who resented Cain not the other way around. But Abel did not. He accepted his place in God's plan without complaint. Abel knew that the position we have on earth has nothing to do with our Father’s love in heaven. What a man owned, or how others looked at him did not make a difference to God. All that matters is what God thinks of us.
Cain’s sin was one which was basic to all of us. He was proud. He saw himself as God’s chosen instrument, and the thought of God choosing someone else was a thought he could not stand.
What is real faith? There are two faith stories. There is a secular, worldly faith and there is Biblical, Godly faith. j world is pushing a secular faith story, which in most cases obscures the Biblical view.
The secular faith story goes like this. We are strong. We are capable of doing great things. All we have to do is to believe in ourselves. We just need a little positive thinking. Whatever we set our minds to do, that is what we are.
Cain did not lack self confidence. From the earliest days he was told he was special, and his brother was not.
Abel represents Biblical faith. He had no illusions of competency. But his weakness turned out to be his strength. Instead of looking to himself. Abel looked to God. He knew he was unworthy. So he made a larger and deeper sacrifice. He offered a sheep, trusting God to give him another. Abel could have given a sacrifice similar to Cain's. He could have set aside some of the wool at sheep-shearing time, and burnt it before God. He had plenty. Besides he could be certain that the wool on his sheep would grow back.
The self confident express gratitude to God for what they have. But the God confident express their need for God to meet what they don’t have. They are willing to surrender to God everything, if it means gaining God’s favor and love.
We have a confidence that Abel did not have. We know that our redeemer lives. We know that if we give our live to him, he has already given His life for us. God accepted Abel's sacrifice, because it truly was a sacrfiioe. Cain's was only a light inconvenience..
Abel reminds us that it isn't what we do in life, it is who we do it for. If we do what we do for God, then God will reward us. But if we are rewarde dwy the whole world, and we do not have God's favor, then nothing matters anyway.
What was Abel's reward? First of all, he was rewarded by being the first man in heaven, and the forgiveness of his sins. His name was ascribed in the Bible, in the hall of fame of faith.
Cain's did not understand his own sinful nature. He denied that sin was a problem in his life, until he murdered his brother. His name became a curse upon him and his family forever. Instead of being the chosen child, Cain became a hunted man.
Faith is not for exceptional people. It is for ordinary people. Anyone who puts their faith in God, and takes hold of the sacrifice of Christ, can receive eternal life in the end. If we have confidence in ourselves, we fail. But if we have confidence in God, we succeed.

Faith

Hebrews 11:1-6 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

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.
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.
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.
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.

There has never ever been a better time to have faith than today.
Some people might dispute this. This is the age of skepticism. People are leaving churches in alarming numbers. In its place, they follow no religion--only a worldly materialism. Many of those who remain are troubled by doubt and wonder if it isn’t true that one religion is as good as another.
But all of this doesn’t make it a bad day for having faith. In fact, that is why it is a good day for faith. Sometimes it is all we have to count on.
In the next several weeks, we are going to be looking at what it means to ha ve faith. Our guide on this will be Hebrews 11, the "hall of fame of faith.”
Hebrews 11 begins Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Faith differs from belief. Any fool can believe in God. Belief is common, but faith is rare. Chances are good that as you read this, you believe. Very few people read religious articles or listen to a sermon will not at least believe something about God and Jesus. But that does not mean we act upon our belief. We may believe, but still worry about dying. We may believe God will provide, and still worry about our finances. We may believe God wants us to spread the Good News and we not act upon it. There is a huge gap between what we believe and what we have faith in. We believe, but God help us our unbelief.
Even so, it is a good day for faith.
What it always this way? Probably not. Never in history has this gap been so wide.
There are, I believe several reasons for this:
First, are our miraculous scientific advancements. Today all the miracles we see are scientific ones The scientific method has replaced faith. The result of this has been the advancement of human knowledge to the point that e have been able to produce secular miracles. The machines we have in our pocket and we take for granted would have been considered magic by our ancestors.
Second, is competition of world religions.. Thanks to the shrinking of the world through communication, we have knowledge of other religions. It is easy for us to think that our religion is no different. But if all faiths are the same, then no faith has any merit.
Third, is rampant materialism. Many proponents of the “health and wealth” gospel insist that if we just turn to Jesus, we’ll be rich and prosperous. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is not the case. In fact, many godless people are more prosperous than we are. When our faith fails, we look to things. We expect them to give us what God will not.
Fourth, are hidden sins. We live in a very private society, where no one outside of our homes know what we are doing or what we are watching. This was not always the case.Now there are dozens of hidden addictions which are sapping our faith--pornography, video games, television, shopping, to name a few. These addictions stand between us and God. They are a form of spiritual adultery. They replace God in our soul.
Fifth, is the frantic pace of life. There is no time to ghik about anything longer than the day. We must race on impulse, not on thoughtfulness. So we have no time to think about anything unseen. We are too busy reacting to what is right before us.
Remember, faith is acting on what we do not see. The more difficult faith becomes, the more pure it becomes.
Today many are losing their faith. But the faith they are losing is not true faith. It is a half-faith, based partially on belief in God and partially in believing in an old way of life that is disappearing. When that old way of life disappears, for many people so does their faith in God. But for those who continue on in faith, who trust in God in spite of their circumstances, they experience a deeper kind of faith than they have ever known.
Before coming to this church, I left a church with a large manse and a good salary, because I believed God wanted me to. It was frightening to say the least. Both of us had to find new jobs, and new ways to live. Like Abraham, we started off into the wilderness. We did not know what would be out there for us.
The very first day we arrived in our apartment in Pineville, I received a call from a pastor I did not know. He had heard about me, and wanted to check to see if I was all right. I had acquired a new friend. I went to the bookstore and got a job there. God provided in little pieces for us. In the story of Elijah, there is was a time when Elijah was out in the wilderness, and God fed him by ravens, dropping off their tiny loads of food. I felt like Elijah. We were walking not by sight but by faith. It was a most uncomfortable experience, but it was real.
In order to have true faith, we must lose our half faiths. We must put aside those props which keep us secure, so we can completely follow Him.
What are those props?
One is the Christian community. If we surrounded by those who have faith, then how will we even know when we don't? Our faith must be more than the faith of our fathers. It must be our own.
Another prop is our own strength. This shows up in our own expressions. "God helps those, who help themelves." If we are able to help ourselves, how do we know that God is helping? Trust in God, but keep your powder dry." Sure, God will defend us, but just in case God doesn't, we'd better be armed and ready. What we are doing is to imagine the world as an equal partnership between us and God, where he works only if we do, and he works only to the amount we do. There is no real room for faith in such a view. Faith that risks nothing, that costs nothing, that dares nothing is not faith. It is complacency.
A third prop is caution. We play it safe. We never take risks. Then we thank God that we haven’t had to risk anything.
Paul had no such timidity. He dove into his work with a reckless caution, trusting God would protect him,and he did. Jesus had no such caution. He mixed with the criminal element, yet never feared for his own safety. Peter had no such caution. He stayed with the Roman authorities—the same group that would later kill him. Yet he did it by faith, and God kept him safe until his work was done.
Toda is a great time for faith. Real faith begins when all reason for faith ends. It is standing on belief when there is nothing else to stand on. It is a leap, not a casual walk.
You don't have faith when you stand in the middle of the church to testify. But when you are stand on a street corner, and people all around you are shouting for you to sit down, yet you keep on testifying, then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you are wealthy and testify of God's blessings. But when you are poor, and you've been out of work for a year, and the bank is going to repossess your car, and you still thank God for His blessings, then you hfave faith.
You don't have faith when you love your friends. But when you love your enemies, as Christ loves them. then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you give God what you can afford. But when you give what you cannot afford, then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you praise God on Christmas Eve. But when the church is filled with strife, when Christians around you are judging you and acting like hypocrites, yet you still thank God for Him being there, then you have faith.
Faith is not reacting to what you can see. It is reacting to what you can't see.
One of my favorite testimonies of faith comes in the sixth chapter of John. Jesus had just said some difficult words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The people in the audience didn't know what he was talking about. They thought he was a nut and walked away. Even his own disciples didn't understand.
Then Jesus asked them if they will go too. They answer "Where else will we go? You only have the words which lead to eternal life."
That's faith. Nothing is going right, but they believe anyway.
Sometimes, faith is a desperate holding to what you believe to be true, even when everyone else says it is false. For generations, we have been denied the privilege of learning what faith truly is. We have not been comforted by faith, because we have no need no be comforted. We have not been strengthened by faith, because we have so many to strengthen us. It is only when there is no one, and no place else to go that we have to rely upon the evidence unseen and can enter the hall of fame of faith.