Hebrews – Letter to the Jewish People

Scripture: Hebrews 11.1-3, 8-16; Luke 12.32-40


Please move to another seat.

How many of you sit in the same place every time you’re in church? I was telling someone the other day that, growing up in church, my family sat in the same pew week after week. It was our pew. I’m sure that if somebody else had sat in it, we would be okay with that, but it wouldn’t have felt quite right.

So if you’re feeling uncomfortable now, I quite understand.

Most of us may not be aware of how much we like to be in control of a situation. We like to know what to expect and not have anything unplanned for happen. Even those of us who pride ourselves in our flexibility and spontaneity like our spontaneity in manageable and friendly doses. The sudden onset of a stomach virus is not a rollicking good surprise no matter how rosy our outlook. A good surprise is spontaneous fun. A bad surprise is, well, I’m losing control!

Our need for control really gets in the way of living a life of faith. “Control” and “Faith” are, by definition, different ways of viewing and living your life.

Control – to keep within bound; Restrain; to have power over

Faith – the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Webster’s defines faith as putting absolute trust in a person. If you have to be control all the time, then there is little room for trust. Trust is about letting go of control.

The letter to the Hebrews is the great statement on the nature of faith and what it means to be the people of God. Biblical heroes are lifted up as examples of really ordinary people choosing to live their lives in faith with no guarantees of the outcome. Abraham set out on a life journey because he believed God told him to, “not knowing where he was going.” By faith he and his wife Sarah, when they were too old to buy green bananas, nevertheless trusted in God when God said they would have a baby. They laughed at God’s great joke and they laughed when the joke became true. They never had control, they just had faith.

I remember the summer God told me to go to Europe on a short term mission. How did God tell me that? Well, he didn’t write it in the sky or spell in out in my alphabet cereal. But when I asked God about it, he definitely didn’t say no, so I took that as a yes. I traveled to a continent thousands of miles away from my home, to a place where I knew not a soul. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. I felt out of control. But boy, did my faith sure grow! I left that summer mission feeling a thousand times more competent and powerful as an individual. I left feeling a thousand times more trusting, that come what may, wherever I go, God is going to be there with me. And that it a good place to be.

God doesn’t explain everything to us. He simply promises to always be there with us. And that is the key to having faith. Believing God is here.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. He would please God must first believe that He is.

Faith provides a secure place from which one can confidently face intangible things – things imperceptible or things in the future. Faith itself can seem to be the most illusory and imperceptible of things. And that is why we must not give in the doubts that sometimes plague us! Always believe in God! Question Him, badger Him, cajole Him, get angry at Him. But never let your faith in Him waver. If you’ve got that, you’ve got everything.

Fate is the worldview of the world. Fate says we are at the mercy of unseen and random forces. There’s nothing we can do.

Faith is the worldview of a believer. By Faith we understand that everything that is visible came from the invisible by the word of God (Hebrews 11.3). Faith says that there is a reality undetectable by normal means that is working for our good. Unpredictable things may happen. Bad things may happen but we are never at their mercy because we lean on another Mercy, the One who saves us for eternity.

So then, how do people with faith live?

Jesus tells people of faith to “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”

Faithful people live in an attitude of relaxed readiness. You know what I mean. It’s like the difference between two persons leaving on a trip. The first person has been preparing for weeks, maybe even months. Their plans have been made, destination reserved, extraneous details cared for. Their bags are packed, their car gassed up, their plants watered. They are ready to go. Unplanned things may happen, probably will , but they’ve done what they could. They trust everything will work out fine. They are excited for the adventure.

The second person, however, just started getting ready that morning. They think they want to go to the same place but they’re not sure. They have no reservation. They have packed nothing yet. They have a thousand details to worry about. They approach the trip with dread. They hope nothing bad will happen. They’re not sure if they want to leave.

Our lives really are in relentless change. As soon as we get comfortable we know that probably something’s gonna happen to disturb that peace. But people with faith can handle it. We can handle anything. The Bible says people of faith are special people. The world’s not good enough for people like us. God is proud of us. He has a lot of good things planned. Are you ready? Get dressed and light your lamp! It’s gonna be good!