5.23.24

We’re looking this week at what biblical faith really is. And we’re turning to one of the best places to study that, Hebrews 11. Because here we have listed the greatest “heroes” of the faith, and what it is that turned them into p of greatness.

So far we’ve seen that faith starts as a rational response to the deeper feeling and desires and convictions of the heart. As much as our world likes to think that everything around us is scientifically verifiable, there are longings for love, passions for justice and a drivenness to prove that we matter. Faith is the willingness to look beneath the surface of life and ask: where do these longings come from?

But faith that remains merely rational allows for an intellectual assent to the truths of Christianity without a deep commitment to pursue them from the heart. And so we see that faith moves from the rational into a personal call to respond to it. And God’s call always interrupts our safe secure world. And it leads us to begin thinking either/or. Either God is who he says he is - and it changes everything - or he’s not, and it changes nothing.

But the graduate level of faith comes after the rational and personal encounters with God, where God begins to functionally shift the foundations of our lives from the various fragile things we’re building our lives upon, and shifts them to Jesus. In essence, God brings and allows and directs all the unwelcome and challenging circumstances of life to show us how shakable and unstable these things are for the foundations of a life. And he contrasts that with the solid Rock of Jesus that he calls us to build upon.

The final aspect of faith shows us the foundation of grace beneath it all. Because we all come to the end of our challenging circumstances saying, “I’m not sure if I can do this or not!” And we cant! But God can - and does through his grace. One of the featured “heroes” of the faith highlighted in our passage is Abraham. And we’re told that he was looking for a city with deeper foundations than anything he had been building upon. But like us, he struggled to believe that God would really come through for him. He even asked God, “How can I know for sure that you’re going to do all that you promised? Because it seems impossible!”

And God shows the nature of grace beneath this faith. Because he answers Abraham’s question with an amazing promise. In his day, the way serious and formal agreements were made, two parties would cut animals in two, and walk between them saying, “If I fail to keep up with my end of the bargain, may what happened to these animals happen to me.” And so when God asked Abraham to prepare for such a ceremony, he was fully prepared to make his promises and seal his vows. But to his utter amazement, God showed up and passed between the pieces himself. And he never asked Abraham to do so. And what God said to him was, “If I fail to give you what I promised, may what happened to these animals happen to me. But if you fail to keep up with your commitment to me, even then, I will be torn apart like these animals and will pay that price for you.”

And this is the core of biblical faith. It’s based on the grace of God. And its foundation is the sacrifice of Jesus for us. Because he did have to pay that price for our disobedience. And he willingly and gladly did, that we might forever be his precious children.

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5.22.24