Hebrews 11:1-3
"How incredibly sad. The destruction of the creek along the banks has left behind a real mess. Look at all those roots exposed," he said.
I thought we were looking at two different things.
"Gee, I was just looking at that and found it incredibly fascinating. I guess you see the loss and I see the lesson," I told him.
Marianne and I decided to have lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. The Bear Creek Cafe is actually located on top of one of the small mountains that create the
You can sit inside this small restaurant or dine outside among the wildflowers. The bird feeders provide entertainment of sorts as the native birds fly in and out regularly.
I'll admit the creek did wash away some of the most beautiful, natural plants leaving somewhat of an empty spot. But it also created something. A chance to see what lies beneath the beauty of the forest, the complex underground patterns created by growth, and I would guess survival.
The man standing next to me seemed a bit perplexed by my comment.
"Look at the root system of those trees. With the soil washed away we are able to see what made that tree grow so tall. Those roots run several yards in all directions," I said.
"But it looks ugly," he insisted.
"I would think that, too if I were to see the world in such simple terms, like black and white. Some see life and say, this is the way it should be and when it's not it's wrong. But look at what we can learn from this," I said pointing across the creek.
Taking a few steps closer to the man, I continued.
"That's life. That's humanity. The whole system works, exists there, because strength comes from a solid base. Growth comes from stretching far enough to find all you need to survive. The trees that didn't, dried up and withered. Our roots, grounded deeply in faith, help us weather the most destructive storms."
"But what about those fallen trees over there?" he asked.
"Look at their roots. They were mostly on the surface, not deep enough to hold them. They also stood alone," I said.
"What does that have to do with it?"
"The entire section that survived did so because they stood together. Look at how their roots are intertwined. The small trees and the bigger trees found their strength in unity," I said.
"So a person standing alone for what they believe in makes them weak?" he asked.
"If they stand on solid ground, rooted deep in moral principle, against all odds and for the good of all, they will survive, they will win. But unlike a tree against the mightiest storm, a human being has the ability to rise again after the fall," I said.
Then reaching for his hand I told him, "But that depends on whether one sees the "Loss or the Lesson."
We said our goodbyes and as we were leaving the restaurant I overheard him talking to another patron.
"Isn't that incredible? Look at that root system..."
He chose the lesson.
Are we busy looking at life from the tangible evidences that this world brings or are we looking deeper at the condition of our hearts and souls? We can live by the order of this world or we can live by faith and allow the Lord to be the judge of our lives. Without Faith it is impossible to please God. Do you seek to please the Lord?
In our passage today we see three lessons from faith.
First we see that through faith we are secure in all things. To start faith is the belief and the trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have faith that your chair will hold you for the entire time of this sermon. You may have faith that when you live here that your car will start and make it home. You may have faith that when you go to the restaurant to eat that they will have a seat for you to sit in and food for you to eat. But unless you have faith in God your faith is pointless and meaningless. Faith in things is insufficient. Faith in God is required and beneficial. Our text tells us that Faith is the assurance or firm foundation of things hoped for. What is hope? For a believer, hope is that which we believe and trust and have faith that God will do for us in the end. When all else fails we trust that there some things that God will still do for us. We hope through faith that God will raise us from the dead. That death is not the end. We hope that through Christ we will be in heaven with him for eternity. We hope that through the Spirit we will be completely made new spiritually and physically. We hope that in the end that God will be supreme and evil will fall away punished and destroyed forever. But faith is the assurance the firm foundation for our hope that these things will take place. It is the reservation for these things. Faith is what makes certain that it will happen. It is through faith that we are not left out in the cold in our beliefs. The passage also says that it is the conviction of things not seen. You cannot see that in the end you will raise from the dead. Have you ever seen someone literally come back to life after being dead for four days? What real basis do you have to believe that you will be raised from the dead? You never saw Jesus alive so how can you know if he ever died and rose again? Your faith is the conviction that it will happen. Your faith is that gut feeling and calm assurance in the midst of doubt that it will happen. Your faith given and empowered and sustained by God.
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." - 1 Peter 1:6-7
Jim Collins, the author of "Good to Great", interviewed Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest-ranking officer in the Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Admiral Stockdale was shot down in September 1965 and endured seven and half years of horrific imprisonment and torture. Regarding the prisoner of war camp, Collins asked Stockdale, "Who didn't make it out?" "Oh, that's easy," answered Stockdale. "The optimists." "The optimists? I don't understand," responded Collins. "The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-which you can never afford to lose-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
During the most difficult of times, optimism will be crushed. But our faith and trust in Christ is one that has overcome all that the world. Today in prayer, thank Jesus that He is the rock for your faith and look to Him for your strength during the most difficult of times.
"We grow and mature spiritually through adversity--not when everything is going smoothly. ... [I]n a time of adversity or trouble, the Christian has the opportunity to know God in a special and personal way." - C. Everett Koop
God's Word: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Faith is more than the positive mental attitude that so many people call it, but faith will give you a clear perspective on life. Faith is more than giving yourself a pep talk when things aren’t going so great. Faith is your solid unwavering foundation in the midst of difficult times. Faith is what keeps you attached to God the Father, the Creator, the Savior, the Redeemer when life, sinfulness and Satan would desire to pull you away from God.
The second lesson we see this morning is that through faith we are accepted before God. In verse 2 of chapter 11, we see that it reads For by it men of old gained approval. Now what approval do we need? Do I need the approval of men in my life? No, but it is comforting and assuring. Do I need the approval of my wife? No, but it is even more comforting and assuring and securing than anyone else’s approval. Do I need the approval of other pastors and friends? No, but it is nice. Do I need the approval of God? Yes. What approval from God do I need? I need the approval that in the end God accepts me to enter his presence. How do I gain God’s approval so that I may enter his presence? Through Faith. How do I gain that faith? Through Christ. How do I know how to gain that faith? Through the Word of God. Who are these men of old? Are they old men? No they are not all old men but some were. This is merely a reference to what we call the Old Testament. For the author it was a reference to those who came before. I believe even at that time they had a clear division between the time of anticipating Christ and the time of Christ. The men of old would have been people like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and also people like Joshua, David, Solomon and the prophets such Jonah, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Even these men and every other person gained God’s approval through faith. Their sacrifices did nothing but demonstrate their obedience and faith. Their actions and lives demonstrated their faith. Their willingness to suffer for the Lord and be attacked with insults and accusations demonstrated their faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Acceptance with God has always depended upon grace. "For by grace are ye saved through faith." Salvation begins with grace and ends with grace. Adam, the first sinner was justified and accepted before God by grace and so also the last sinner who is ever to be saved just before Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven will be justified and accepted before God by grace alone. The grace of which we speak is called the "unmerited favor of God". This means that we are adopted into the family of God only because of His pity and mercy for us as "ungodly" and unworthy of acceptance. "To him that believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." In Christ, God accepts the unacceptable; He loves the unlovable; He forgives the unforgivable. This is so at the BEGINNING of our life of faith and at the END of our life of faith. Whether we are new born babes in Christ or whether we have walked the way of faith for many years, we are always dependent upon the unmerited acceptance of God. We are always God's children only because He does not treat us as we deserve. He grants merciful favor towards us who are always unworthy, unlovable, and yes even "ungodly". But some may say, "Ah, but I am not the same person I was when I first came to Christ. I can praise God that I am now chaste, sober, kind, gentle and not the person I used to be." Yes, we Christians are not what we were when we first came to Christ. We can give honest and sincere thanks that we are not the people we once were. But having said that, we must also in the same breath always confess that we still are not what we ought to be. Christians are always "righteous yet unrighteous". We have all things in Christ that pertain to eternal life: justification, sanctification, wisdom, adoption, regeneration, and rebirth. Yet Christians still must always confess that we are poor, blind, miserable, and naked. Our prayer is always that of the poor publican who stood "afar off and would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. this man went down to his house justified. for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Our acceptance before God is based in his grace and not our ability to live righteously. Because of Christ alone are we able to stand before the Father. Because of our righteous King do we have any ability to be justified. May we live in grace to all people because of the grace given to us.
The third lesson we see this morning is that through faith we accept God’s Word. Verse three states that the believer knows and comprehends that the world was created out of nothing. It is through faith that we accept the words of God. It is through faith that we accept that what is written in God’s word is true. How else can you explain other than rebellion against the “acceptable scientific proofs” that we believe in creation and not evolution? It is through faith that we understand the origins of the universe and human life. When we understand where we come from then we understand where we truly stand. We are not the center of the universe God is. We may possess dominion over creation but we are not supreme. Christ is supreme. Through faith we are grounded in truth. Christ said that the Truth shall set you free. When we live in truth we are living freely in how God intended for us to live.
“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 3:11
On Sunday morning,
It began at
She got her son Allen out first, and her animals next. She moved the Jeep and leaned on a tree across the street, watching her twenty-five year old house slowly slide into a 120-foot-wide, 40-foot-deep sinkhole. Less than an hour later the house was destroyed. Half of her neighbors’ house and a good part of the neighborhood were also destroyed.
Hysterical from the events, Swainston had to be sedated by emergency workers.
“It’s a large sinkhole, but it’s a fairly typical sinkhole” said
A year later, Rebecca reflected on the disaster. The sinkhole "has made me alert to what's really important in life," Swainston says. "Not stuff. People. My son."
In this world, everything can be lost from our grasp except our assurance in Jesus Christ. Today in prayer, thank Christ that He is our firm foundation and we can never be separated from Him.
“The doctrine of our Savior and his mediation is the principal doctrine of Christianity. It lies at the bottom, and is the foundation, of all the rest.” – Matthew Henry
God’s Word: “So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.” – Isaiah 28:16
When we live according to God’s Word we demonstrate our faith. When we live and work and serve according to the order set in the Word of God we demonstrate our faith. Our way of doing church may be called archaic and out of touch but if the church is structured and centered on the Word of God then it is faithful and accurate and demonstrating of our faith in God. The church is not intended to set the new trends in hip living but used of God to touch the lives of his people and those who are outside of the church.
As we close this morning some thoughts of response to our Lord.
If we are secure in him in all things may our convictions for life be based in his Word and full faith in Him.
If we are accepted before God may we live in His grace and extend that grace to all people.
If we accept God’s Word may we be faithful to reading His Word daily.
I challenge you this year to read His Word daily. Each month that has 31 days read Proverbs. One chapter a day. Each month that does not have 31 days read another book of the Bible. Each of those months read a different book. By the end of the year you will have read Proverbs 7 times and five other books of the Bible.
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