A Steadfast God

 

Text: Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Focus: faith

Function: to remind people that even in suffering, God is faithful

²⁹By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

³²And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned to death; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

12:¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Good morning to the beloved children of God. It is important for us to understand that we are precious in God’s sight. We are God’s children, and just as we love our children and have their backs, even when they fail, God loves us and has our backs even if we fail. God has our backs in the midst of the suffering and trials that come into our lives.

We conclude the chapter on faith this morning by being reminded again that it is by faith that the ancient peoples found favor with God.

It is by faith that we find favor with God today.

Abraham did it by following the promise of God and took a great risk to leave his own people and immigrate to a foreign land.

And again, the chapter reminds us of the importance of the story and how remembering the story and what God has done, all the higher power moments in our own lives, because remembering and reciting the story keeps the power of its lessons fresh in our minds. That is why believers throughout the centuries celebrate Advent and Lent before the big holidays in our calendar.

When we remember the story, then the story is reinforced and the story is this: God is with us and cares for us.

The chapter speaks of how all these people were looking for a different kind of kingdom, a different kind of city dwelling, a heavenly one created here on earth by our just and loving responses instead of greed and evil.

Just like one side in politics this week succumbed to a practice that denies fair elections because the other side did it, we too, are faced with evil and with the choice to respond in kind, or in faith and in Christian love.

It isn’t easy to turn the other cheek in this society. It takes faith.

Christians cannot stoop to the level of evil that their oppressors use. We trust God for deliverance remembering that God has already given his own life for our salvation.

And this chapter helps me to build my faith.

The author reminds them of the suffering and either miraculous victories of supernatural origin, or the strength to endure persecution and even martyrdom through the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

He mentions the fire. I love the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

They refused the evil and the king threw them into the furnace and the Angel of God appeared to them and rescued them. Their bold statement to the enraged king was that even though God can rescue them, God may not, and either way, they will not participate in the wickedness.

They lived by faith. These men didn’t die for their boldness, but the text goes on to mention several who either died for their faith or faced terrible circumstances without wavering in their convictions.

It kind of reminds me of Corrie Ten Boom and the way her family rescued hundreds of people whose existence became illegal. She eventually went to a concentration camp and suffered terribly herself. She lived by faith resisting the evil that was present in the fascist regime of her day.

She lived for the heavenly kingdom of peace and justice that cared for the least of these and saw the humanity in every single person they met.

May we live the same way, by faith, regardless of the culture that seems to care less and less for people who are different from us white folks.

I am glad the chapter includes those who did not receive a miraculous deliverance but instead endured during the suffering.

Christian faith is not a magic formula for a perfect life.

It is the power of the Holy Spirit to see life better from God’s perspective through the Holy Spirit and have the discernment to see that the mission of Jesus, to redeem humanity, is still going on through us: the Church.

We do have an ultimate reward in heaven. I love the verse that praises these people of faith as people of “whom the world was not worthy.”

Heaven, is the implication. God loved them and brought them home to him.

God’s love for us is steadfast, both here and in the future in heaven.

So, let us take our courage from the faith of these ancients as well as our courage from the faith of each other as we share our journey together in the name of Jesus.