Defining Faith

Since January of last year we’ve been on a long journey to define Christian discipleship. We’ve described who disciples are through our study in the beatitudes. We’ve considered the boundaries of discipleship from the kingdom parables of Matt. 13. We’ve studied the beliefs of a disciple using the Apostle’s Creed as a framework. Now, we come to the last aspect of discipleship. Remember, way back in the first few sermons on this series, I explained that discipleship can be understood as the act of following the examples of godly men and women who have gone before us, whether that be examples of the OT, the Apostles, saints who have gone before us, or pastors and deacons. So, to end this series, I want to take a walk through Hebrews 11, otherwise known as the Hall of Faith chapter, to study more deeply the OT examples that God has given us for our discipleship.

To begin this mini-series on the Hall of Faith, we need to do some definition work. When we approach the stories of the OT, we could make the mistake of reading them as valuable moral stories, along the lines of Asaph’s Fables or Confucius’ stories of wisdom. Now, certainly, we can read those stories and gain some moral wisdom from them. But, that is not the purpose for which God ensured that these stories would make it to us. In 1 Cor. 10, Paul points to the stories of Israel’s wondering in the wilderness as a three-fold example. For one, those stories reveal to us what faithlessness looks like. Paul says that we should not be like the Israelites who grumbled and complained against God. Second, the stories show us what kind of faithfulness we should exhibit. Instead of grumbling like the Israelites, we should trust the Lord. And finally, the stories reveal the faithfulness of God. So, as you can see, the stories of the OT are stories of faith (or lack there of). When we read them, we should ask these three questions: How does this story serve as an example of faithfulness to God? How does it reveal a lack of faith in the characters? How does it speak to God’s faithfulness in this situation?

We also see that this is a proper reading of the OT, because this the way the writer of Hebrews sees it. But, putting the emphasis on finding the faith in these stories begs and important question: what is faith? This morning, I want to start where the writer starts this great Hall of Faith – with a definition of what faith is. To do that, let’s begin by reading Heb. 11:1-3. From this text, see three aspects of faith. Faith is reliable, receiving, and revelation.

First, faith is the reliable foundation of hope. The writer of Hebrews begins this chapter by saying that faith is a source of reliability for two reasons. First, faith is assurance of something. The Greek word for assurance there is hypostasis, which means “to stand under or to support.” In other words, faith is a firm foundation. Leah’s father, Billy Stevens, believed in a firm foundation. That man loved concrete. In fact, the first time I ever came to pick Leah up for a date, I met Mr. Billy first, his shirt off in the blazing sun, slaving away at a new concrete driveway. He believed that if one stick of rebar would do, two would do better. If four inches of slab was called for, maybe go six. Mr. Billy’s foundation work will be here long after all of us are gone. Foundations matter. And, the foundation for your hope matters just as much. Today, I want you to search your heart to answer this question: why do you have hope for the future? You might answer, well, I have hope because of the advancements of modern medicine. Great! There are marvelous things that medicine can do, but it won’t save your soul. You might say, I hope in my posterity, that my name will live on in my children. Great! There is something to be said for a good heritage, but more than likely, in a couple of centuries, your name will be forgotten. You might say, I hope in my good works, that when I get to heaven, God will see all that I’ve done and reward me. Good works are important, but Isaiah tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. Unfortunately, if you would be judged by your good works, your reward will be Hell. So, what foundation for hope will last through the suffering of this world, the forgetfulness of time, and the judgment of God to come? Faith. A deep confidence or trust in the promises of God is the only foundation that will last.

The writer also says that faith is reliable because it is conviction. To me, “conviction” isn’t the most helpful translation of the Greek here. Rather, a better word would be “evidence”. The writer is saying here that faith is evidence of something – namely, “things not seen.” Faith is the evidence that there are forces at work in this world beyond just what we can see and touch and feel.

This brings me to my second point: faith receives the promises of God. Again, my translation doesn’t really get at the full meaning of this statement. The King James probably says it better: “for by it the elders obtained a good report.” Better still, the idea is that the OT saints gave witness to the promises of God through faith. These saints waited on the Lord, and the Lord proved himself faithful. They trusted in what God said, and God proved faithful to his word. It is interesting, though, that the writer doesn’t say, “By faith the elders took a good report” or “made a good report” or “produced a good report.” Rather, he says they obtained or received a good report. The OT saints are passive in their witness. Their witness is not “Yeah, God gave me these five steps to follow, and I did them to the letter, and that’s how I got these blessings.” No. Their witness is consistently, “God told me to wait for him, so I did. And then, all of the sudden, I had a blessing.” So, faith is the conduit through which we receive God’s blessings. Or, as John Calvin put it, faith is the empty hand that receives a gift.

Finally, faith is the revelation of truth. In verse 3, the writer says, “by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.” Faith goes where facts and evidence cannot. To say that in our society is to invite derision. The modern man says, “If I cannot see, taste, or touch it, it is not real. It does not exist.” The skeptic disbelieves anything that cannot be proven by scientific inquiry. But, there are certain things that just can’t be known through empirical evidence. Let me give you a few examples. For one, if I hold up three fingers, what number does that represent? Now, if I take it away, have I destroyed the number three? We all chuckle at that because it’s ridiculous – but why? It’s ridiculous because we all know that the number three doesn’t exist in time and space. It isn’t something I can touch or see or taste. Rather, it exists somewhere else, and I experience it when I do math.

Second, what of the act of murder? If you go to any culture around this world and randomly kill someone, there is not one person in that culture who would find that acceptable. Certainly, we may have different opinions about self-defense and capital punishment, but everyone intrinsically feels that murder is wrong. Why? And, better still, what obligates me to obey such a law? Even if I said, well, I don’t feel that murder is wrong – the whole of humanity would beg to differ. Where does that come from? Morality exists beyond time and space. It exists because there is a God who is the great lawgiver.

Finally, what of meaning and purpose? Man cannot live without purpose. In fact, in the cruelty of the Soviet gulag, the jailers discovered that they could kill someone without ever raising a finger to harm them. In the bitter cold of the Siberian winter, they could assign men to build walls or cut down timbers, and as long as the men felt that their work had a purpose, they would live. But, if they had an inmate that needed to die of natural causes, they would assign him the task of moving rocks from one end of the camp to the other. Once the man finished, they’d tell him to move the rocks back to where he’d started. Over and over, the inmate would move rocks from one end to the other without purpose, until he died. Meaninglessness kills. But why? If we are the product of natural causes – chaos and evolution – then why do we search for meaning? Why do we find beauty in a world that, according to the scientist, is only a mechanism for natural selection? We long for meaning because there is more to this world than just dirt and grass and flesh and bones. There is a God who made the world by the power of his word, and that same God, though we cannot see him, holds all things together. So, faith is the only way to know the truth of this world in its fullness. It is the only way to see things the way God intended them. As Augustine said, “I believe so that I might understand.”

So, friend, the promises of God can only be received through faith. Won’t you trust in the promises of God, that he has paid the full penalty for your sins through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ? Won’t you trust in him today and be saved?

Brothers and sisters, through faith, we have a firm foundation of hope. Through faith, we receive the promises of God. And through faith, we see the truth of the world as God intended. So may we walk in faith as we live for our Savior.