HOW DO WE GAIN GOD S APPROVAL? HEBREWS 11:1-40 February 1, 2009 The film Gladiator tells the story of Maximus (Russell Crowe), general of the Roman army in 180 A.D. Following victory in a decisive battle, the dying emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) expresses his desire to appoint Maximus as his successor. When his son, Commodus, learns that he will not be the next emperor, he recoils from his father. Immediately the son brings up the painful memories of his childhood, saying, "I searched the faces of the gods for ways to please you, to make you proud. One kind word, one full hug where you pressed me to your chest and held me tight would have been like the sun in my heart for a thousand years. What is this in me that you hate so much? All I've ever wanted was to live up to you, Caesar, Father." Marcus Aurelius responds "Commodus, your faults as a son is my failure as a father." In this story, a son lives with the agony of not pleasing his father. In the same way, many of us live with a similar pain when it comes to pleasing our heavenly Father. We fall short. We re not even sure how to please the Father; we just know that we don t measure up. Is there any way to gain God s approval? Or like Commodus do we just live with the torment of knowing we don t live up to our Father s expectations? We ll explore that this morning. If you have a Bible please open it to Hebrews 11:1-40. We ll look at these verses and consider the question, How do we gain God s approval? Since it has been a couple of months since we ve looked at Hebrews, let s review our story. The author writes to a group of people who are thinking about abandoning Jesus to return to their Jewish faith. We re not sure why these people are considering abandoning Jesus, but as we look back at history, Judaism offers protection from the persecution they face in following Jesus. The writer points out that Jesus is superior to any spiritual alternative angels, Moses, animal sacrifices. Though he warns them that if they abandon Jesus they ll face God s judgment, the author expresses confidence that the readers will continue following Jesus. However, if they continue following Jesus they will need faith. So, starting in verse 1, the writer defines faith. 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith is the resolute confidence that God will fulfill His word. And because of that certainty, we obey the Lord in spite of circumstances. In this letter, the writer has promised the reader s complete access and intimacy with the Father though Jesus Christ. This means that God will be with them through any persecution they face and will then, upon their death, usher them into His presence. If these people are to endure persecution, they must take God at His Word. And so it is with us. We face various circumstances. My first response in the middle of any problem is, God, take me out of this. Remove these circumstances from my life. That is not God s guarantee. He promises to go through hard circumstances with us, and upon our death to usher us into His presence. In verse 2 we see that something about our faith touches the heart of God. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 1
To the readers, the author says, Remember, your ancestors faith gained them God s favor. Why would it be any different with you? Don t run from these circumstances; see them as an opportunity to express your faith in God. Living by faith means we trust God, regardless of our circumstances. Like the men of old, we gain God s approval by trusting in Him, regardless of our circumstances. So we have the answer to our question, How do we gain the Father s approval? We gain God s approval by trusting in Him regardless of circumstances. We gain God s approval by trusting in Him regardless of circumstances. Faith means that we trust in Someone we can t see. In order to reinforce the principle of trusting the invisible, the author refers to the creation of the world. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. In creating the world, God brought the visible out of the invisible. In trusting God we will have to believe that He can bring something out of the invisible world to help us in the visible world. Depending on our circumstances, we may need God to multiply our time or money or emotional energy, and we can t see how it will happen. Where am I going to get the time to finish these assignments? Where will we find the money to cover these bills? How will I get through this stress of my loved one s illness? In verses 4 and 5, the author gives two examples of people who pleased God with their life of faith, Abel and Enoch, and one person who displeased him, Cain. In the first part of verse 6, the writer let s us know that faith is the only way to please God, to gain His approval. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him. The only way we can gain God s approval is through faith. Faith isn t a preferred method of gaining God s approval, it is not one of many choices, it is the only way to please God. In the rest of verse 6, the author clarifies faith for us, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. To live as people of faith, I think this verse calls us to more than an intellectual assent of God s existence. Rather we are called to believe the Bible s description of God: good, loving, patient, holy, just and righteous. God wants us to build our faith on a biblical understanding of Him. For a faith grounded in a biblical understanding of God empowers us to depend on Him in hard circumstances. That kind of faith empowers us to keep trusting God, even when He seems silent because we are certain that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. I don t know about you, but I don t like waiting for my reward in trusting God. Before coming to Lincoln, we served in a church in Arizona. Within a year I realized it wasn t a good fit, so I struggled with the question, How do I leave? I could look for a new pastorate secretly and then, upon finding a new church, give them two weeks notice. But I hated the idea of sneaking around on them and then giving them so little notice of my intention to leave. On the other hand, if I voiced my intention to find a new ministry assignment beforehand, they might turn me out on the spot. And we had two small children and a mortgage. How would we pay the 2
bills? Eventually, I knew it was time to leave. But I still faced the same dilemma. Do I look secretly or do I tell them up front? This lesson from this chapter on faith was a motivator to me to tell them up front. God sued a particular conflict to give me the opportunity to express my discontent. And in the midst of that discussion, He gave me the grace to tell the men of my desire to seek another position. Though it was a huge step of faith, I knew that God rewards those who seek Him in faith. The elders appreciated my forthrightness and together we decided on a 6 month transition period. When it got near month 5 and I had no viable options, my faith began to weaken. I called God into question. Then, I got a call from Lincoln Berean church. But I didn t think there was any way a church as big as Berean would be interested in someone from a small church. After a couple of phone interviews, my contact at Berean, Mark Kremer, asked for references. Though I feared doing it, God again gave me the grace and I gave him the name of the chairman of the elder board at our old church. After I was hired at Berean, Mark told me when I gave him the contact at the old church, I about had the job locked up. He said it spoke volumes to him about my character. On top of that, the guy gave me a good reference even though we d had disagreements. It stretched me, but God rewarded my faith. Sometimes it takes 6 months, sometimes 6 years, sometimes 6 decades, sometimes longer, but God always rewards those who seek Him in faith. As has always been the case for people who follow God, the original readers faced a delayed reward, perhaps delayed until death. For this reason, the author reminds them that many of their ancestors died without receiving the full promise of God. We won t be able to talk about all of the examples but let me highlight a few. In verses 8-10, the author spotlights Abraham. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Abraham left his homeland not knowing where he was going. Why would he do that? He did it because he trusted in God. He was willing to forsake real estate in this world, for a place designed and built by God. Verse 11 talks of the faith of Abraham s wife, Sarah, in conceiving a child in old age. And verse 12 underscores God s promise to Abraham of a multitude of descendants. Then, in verses 13-16, the author points out that Abraham and Sarah and their son Isaac and their grandson Jacob all died without receiving the fulfillment of God s promises. 13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. 3
Though they died without receiving the fullness of God s promise, they continued setting their heart on what He had for them. If they would ve focused on what they were leaving to follow God, they wouldn t have continued in faith. Instead, they set their heart on what God had prepared for them. In the same way, if we are to live a life of faith, we must set our heart on a heavenly place and reward, on what God has for us. In verses 17-19, the author again highlights Abraham s faith when he offered up his son Isaac to God. In verses 20-21 the author recalls the faith of Isaac and Jacob. In verses 23-30, the writer features the faith of Moses. Moses lived such a long and storied life; let s focus on his example of faith in verses 24-26. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. Though he had access to the wealth and comforts of the world, Moses turned his back on all of that to follow God. Moses believed that the reproach of following God was of greater value than the riches of the world. The author compares the reproach Moses endured to the reproach Christ suffered while on earth. Faith in God invariably means that we give up the comforts and amenities of this world to follow God. There is a cost, but there is a reward. God promises to reward those who seek Him. Verses 30-38 spotlight the faith of numerous people. Some won great victories through their faith. Others triumphed over life threatening circumstances. However, some lost their lives due to their faith. Still others lived destitute lives as a result of their faith in God. In verses 39-40, the author summarizes the lot of all these who lived by faith. 39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. Though these people gained God s approval through their faith, while on earth, they missed the climax of all God s promises, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the something better of verse 40. The perfection of verse 40 refers to unrestricted intimacy with God that comes through Jesus. In the next chapter, the author claims that Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith. Because He is the author of our faith, a life of faith starts with Jesus. He is the object of our faith. If you ve never trusted in Christ, I invite you to do that right now. Remember faith is the only way to gain God s approval. When you trust in Christ, He forgives you for living for self instead of living for Him, the way God designed you to live. Many of you have made the decision to follow Christ. Remember that as the perfector of our faith, Jesus gives us the strength to continue a life of faith. Jesus, through His Spirit who lives in all His followers, empowers us to express the kind of faith we ve explored in this chapter. As we ve seen in all our examples, a life of faith costs us something in this world. We shrink back from that cost. Jesus gives us the strength to continue in faith, in spite of circumstances or cost. Where can you take a step of faith in which 4
you will have to depend on Christ to strengthen you? Perhaps you need to share your testimony with a co-worker, believing that Christ will strengthen you in the case of possible rejection. Maybe you need to break-up with a girl or guy you ve been dating, trusting that Christ will meet your need for significance and intimacy. Maybe you need to cut back on some unnecessary purchases so you can give to God s work. In that process you ll need to trust that Christ will meet the emotional needs that those purchases filled. In SPY: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America, author David Wise tells of his exclusive meetings with Dr. David Charney, the psychiatrist who evaluated Hanssen. During his years of spying, Hanssen received $1.4 million from the Russians. According to Charney, Hanssen wanted money for one reason: to assure his wife that he was not a failure. Dr. Charney commented: Bonnie [Hanssen's wife] was the one person who brought life into his life. She was the last person he would want to think he was a failure. He reached to prove to her he was a good provider and good husband. So that when she would express wishes for various things, he would always buy them for her. He felt it was necessary to sustain his image in her eyes as successful. That put him into a financial corner, because he agreed to take on various financial burdens, by buying a house out of his reach financially, in Scarsdale. It's not that it's wrong to say that he did it for the money; you have to go deeper and ask why he wanted the money. Why did Bob Hanssen get into a corner financially? Because he had to keep up his reputation with his wife. Because that was the one person in the world whose opinion mattered. Hanssen s story reminds us what we ll do for approval. Maybe we won t sell out our country, but we ll risk our health or our family to be successful on the job. Or we ll drink to excess so our friends will think we re cool. Or we ll spend thousands on plastic surgery or deny ourselves food so people will think we look good. Whether we realize it or not, we bear a cost trying to gain approval from people who might or might not give it to us. God wants to deliver us from these costs. He offers Himself to us. How do we gain the Father s approval? We gain God s approval by trusting in Him regardless of circumstances. We gain God s approval by trusting in Him regardless of circumstances. 5