29 By
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. 30 By faith
the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By
faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient,[a]
because she had received the spies in peace. 32 And what more
should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through
faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the
mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign
armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection.
Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better
resurrection. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even
chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned to death, they
were sawn in two,[b]
they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats,
destitute, persecuted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not
worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the
ground. 39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their
faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had
provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made
perfect.
12 Therefore, 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,[c] and let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus
the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of[d] 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. ~ Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Hebrews is an interesting book because we don’t know much about it: who wrote it? To whom it was written? But we know it’s one of the earliest written Christian sermons, that it reflects some of the most thoughtful Greek in the whole New Testament and that the preacher of Hebrews is addressing real and urgent pastoral problems – ones that seem quite contemporary. His congregation is exhausted. They are tired – tired of serving the world, tired of worship, tired of Christian education, tired of being whispered about in society, tired of trying to keep their prayer life going, tired even of Jesus. Their hands droop and their knees are weak, we’re told (12:12). Attendance is down at church and they’re losing confidence (10:25). And what is his answer to such obvious pain and turmoil? What is the preacher’s prescription for a church that is struggling to find its way?
1.
Tell
the Story of Faith in all its forms
Not just any stories – but stories of faith – that evince
faith, extol faith, encourage faith, promote faith, and declare faith.
But what is “faith” in Hebrews? Earlier the preacher
declares – “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen” (11:1). The word translated as “assurance” is hypostasis. Previously, it’s used to
describe how the Son is the expression of God’s hypostasis – God’s “very being (1:3). So faith also is a hypostasis the “very being” of God’s
promises active and embodied in the world. It’s both an inward reality and an
outward force. Faith as an inward reality sings, “We Shall Overcome.” Faith as
an outward reality marches at Selma. Faith as an inward reality trusts God’s
promises that in the world to come “mourning, crying, and pain will be no
more.” Faith as an outward reality prays boldly for those who mourn, serves
tenderly those who weep, works tirelessly to ease the pain of those who are
wounded. Inwardly faith moves hearts; outwardly faith moves mountains. Despite
all the horror that we may see, faith reminds us that this is God’s world
(11:3).
Then, in chapters 11 and 12, our preacher begins a roll call
of faith. This is where I resonate because in vs. 32 the preacher declares that
he is struggling with the sermon’s length (so see, I’m biblical) – “time” is
failing him so he shifts from a fairly detailed use of story to an annotated
version. He assumes a level of biblical literacy as he races through stories of
the Bible at a break-neck speed. Stories of conquered foes, long-awaited
justice, and promises being fulfilled. Could you have kept up?
We now interrupt this regularly scheduled sermon for a Bible pop quiz – do you
know enough to tell the story? Do you know it without the Cliff Notes? Could
you find these stories of in the Bible?
Who was Barak?
Answer: Judges 4, Barak the son of Abinoam, was ordered by
the judge Deborah to take ten thousand men to Mount Tabor to fight Sisera, the
Canaanite.
Who was Jephthah?
Answer: Judges 11 - God placed his Spirit upon Jephthah the
Gileadaite in order to route the Ammonites.
Who “through faith”
shut the mouths of lions?
Answer: Daniel 6
How many women received their dead by resurrection?
Answer: At least 7
·
The widow of Zarephath, whose son Elijah
restored, even though she was not an Israelite (1 Kings 17:24);
·
the woman of Shunem who called Elisha to raise
her dead son (2 Kings 4:8-37);
·
the widow of Nain, whose son Jesus raised (Luke
7:11-17),
·
Mary and Martha who received Lazarus (John
11:38-44), and
·
the widows in Joppa who rejoiced when Dorcas was
restored by Peter (Acts 9:36-43).
How did you do? Not so good? Me either. But friends, we
can’t tell stories of faith if we don’t know them. And we tell them so that we
know where we come from and so we know who God is and what God promises.
But did you also notice something about most of these
stories? They’re messy, tragic, many are even R-rated. So the preacher is
trying to get the congregations attention – maybe they’re sleepy – and alludes
to stories that are hardly “good” in any conventional way. It’s not simply
Rahab but Rahab “the prostitute.” Barak was chastised for a lack of faith and
Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, will kill his own daughter. Many times a story
of faith is about sinful people who do stupid things. The family of faith has
crazy cousins that are part of our stories – own them. Tell them anyway - all
of them, even the hard ones, the awkward ones in which God uses sinful people, tragic
stories in which people fail even as God is faithful. So feel free to tell the
story of Pastor Jon the divorced guy if you see me acting faithfully. I’m happy
to be a story of faith “out of weakness” (11:34). These stories are not meant
to be moral tales. They are fundamentally stories about God who uses broken and
messed up people to get done what God wants.
Why are we shocked at scandalous stories in the church?
Scandal has always been part of our story – also human weakness, frailty and
failure and the inability of any of those things to stop God. Faith sees all
that is; it does not pretend there is no army of pharaoh breathing down our
neck, no evil, no wickedness, no disease, no sin. But faith also sees God, the
God who promises to bring an end to all that harms and destroys. The God who
will not allow sin, particularly our own, to thwart him. Why?
We must tell awkward stories of faith, even about bad people,
because otherwise we might be fooled into thinking we did it ourselves or that
God chose us because we were good or cute.
2.
Remember
that we are part of their story – and they are a part of us.
He doesn’t only tell Biblical stories but begins to weave stories
from the Old Testament with the present - of those recently or currently in the
community vss. 35-39 (N.B. the use of “other” instead of names). Illus. Pauline’s
story about the family in the post card (go to mcchurch.org/sermons to hear the story). The story of the Bible and these
people of faith is our story as well. We are both spectators and participants.
This is always the Biblical way of speaking about covenant identity: to speak
of long-dead saints as with us, as us and ourselves as them.
What about vss. 39-40? 39 Yet all these,
though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since
God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be
made perfect [whole].
Now the congregation could surely see how we need the
previous generations. These biblical ancestors are after all, the heroes and
representatives of the faith; helped us get to where we are. What was
staggering to the imagination was the claim that these faithful of old somehow
need us, that “apart from us” they could not be made perfect [whole].” God’s
faithfulness, his covenant loyalty, has always been to make a people – to bring
together the near and the far, the Jew and the Greek, the male and female, the
slave and the free. We are their inheritance. Salvation has always been a team
sport of which Jesus himself was the captain, the anchor leg. They need us to
finish the race that they were running – to continue carrying and passing the
baton of faith – our own stories of God’s covenant faithfulness. So we need to
keep telling our stories – they are important for the dead as well as the
living. But despite their importance, always remember to . . .
3.
Tell
“something better”
In vs. 40 the
preacher speaks of God for the first time and declares that “God provided something better.” The word “better” is a
constant refrain in Hebrews to talk about Jesus: Jesus is better than the
angels (1:4), introduces a better hope (7:19), and guarantees a better covenant
(7:22) with “better” promises (8:6), sealed with “better” sacrifices (9:23),
allowing all of us to possess an inheritance from God that is better. So even
these faithful people of old needed Jesus. Jesus satisfied and fulfilled the
covenant requirements that, even in their faithfulness, they failed to perform.
So tell stories of faith that help us look at Jesus – to fix our eyes on him.Tell the Gospel story and how it changed your life, helps you persevere,
informs how you live.
So I would like you to end with a visual parable of today’s
sermon. To invite you to put on your spiritual goggles and see through the eyes
of faith. To watch this clip as a spiritual parable for what we have been
talking about today. The clip is from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona where
Derek Redmond was poised to medal in the 400 meter dash.
Watch the clip: Derek Redmond's Emotional Olympic Story
Given all that you’ve heard today I want to leave you with
one word – run. The crowd is cheering, the victory is secure, God is good, joy
is on the horizon – run! Let go of the weight of sin and run! Run with
abandonment. Run without fear. Run as if you can’t fail and when you do
remember that Jesus is better – better than Moses, better than Jephthah, than
me, or you. Put your faith in Him and run!
