Hebrews 11:1-16.                             Faith is active!!                                                  11/8/13

 {1)  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. {2} This is what the ancients were commended for. {3} By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

{8} By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. {9} By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. {10} For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. {11} By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. {12} And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. {13} All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. {14} People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. {15} If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. {16} Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

 This morning to help you to understand the message of our text I would like you to imagine that you are down and out, living on the streets, with no real hope for the future; no seeming way out from this life of poverty and misery. In fact things look as if they are going from bad to worse. Then out of the blue this lawyer comes up to you and gives you a letter, telling you that you have inherited a fortune; a great home, a good business and a couple of million dollars in cash.

 Now what would your reaction be? Would you put that letter in your pocket  and then continue on living the way you always have, on the streets? Then every now and then you would bring out that letter and say to yourself that you have this great inheritance and that you are wealthy person, but then put it back in your pocket and go back to fossicking in the rubbish bins for your next feed? Never taking advantage of, or living in and with that inheritance that is yours. Is that what our reaction would be?

I doubt that very much. I am sure most of us would be jumping up and down for joy. We would not only be telling everyone but we would rush to see and live in light of this wonderful thing that has happened to us. If it was the other side of the world and we did not have the money to get there, we would walk the whole way. Then with that great fortune that we had received we probably would even share some of it with our friends in the street. We certainly would want to make the most of that which we had so miraculously received. Surely we would, wouldn’t we?

 Sadly though it would seem that that is not the case. Yes it probably would, if it came to earthly wealth. But when it comes to God and the promises that he has given to us, our reaction is much more like the first attitude. Look, we have been saved from an eternity in hell and have been given an inheritance into God’s kingdom; we have a new life in and with our Lord Jesus Christ, freely given to us. We say we believe it. Yet it seems as if we would prefer to live as though this world and what it has to offer and especially our problems, is all that there is to life. We prefer to live ‘on the streets’ rather than in the light of Jesus Christ. All too often our thinking and activity is bound up in living in this life, by and for ourselves, rather than in our Lord and the wonderful inheritance that he has for us.

 Now I am not so sure that if that is our attitude whether God would credit that sort of attitude of ours as righteousness. To have faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. That reading goes on to say This is what the ancients were commended for. He then goes on and uses example after example from ancient times of the kind of faith that receives God’s approval. You I am sure would have noted from those examples, that the faith that is commended in this reading involved a changed way of thinking and action. There was an absolute trust that God was true to his word. There was a stepping out and living in light of the promises that were given.

 Think of Abraham. He believed God when he said that he would be given children and a country, even though he and his wife were way beyond child-bearing age. And because he believed God, he went forward and sought to do what God had told him to do. He didn’t just sit in his tent a do nothing about it. It was only many years later that he had a child and he only saw the country that he was promised.

 Even though from time to time it would seem that he had his doubts, and he did not always do what was asked of him, he still went forward trusting that somewhere, somehow God would give to him what he had promised. Even though he lived in the land that was promised, neither he nor his child, or grandchildren ever owned it. But their faith kept them going forward; clinging to nothing but the promises; and above all, the God who stands behind them. Now, of course, we know how it all turned out in history: everything that God had promised him had come to fruition and his descendants became a great nation and the saviour arose from within it.

 What do we read in this text: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

So there is a very important lesson here for us and for our lives today. Those examples of faith that are held up before us, are of people who did not walk by sight, or by continually having proofs, signs or experiences as evidence that they were on the right track. They had God’s promises bound up in a signed and sealed agreement; or covenant, that he had made with them. So they went forward in full anticipation. Because they believed that God was true to his word they stepped out in obedience.

 So in light of this and of God’s promises to us, we too can live by faith. Because of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation that he has made available to us all, we too have every reason to go forward with confidence and hope. Through our baptisms our Lord has made a covenant with each of us; giving us an inheritance into God’s family. A rich, powerful and everlasting inheritance, that has been granted to each one of us. On top of that he has for us an ongoing assurance, that all of this is there for us individually, as we are given his very body and blood regularly in Holy Communion. So again and again he reassures us of the forgiveness of sins and thereby of the gift of eternal life with himself.

 What an inheritance – what a promise it is that has been placed in our hands, and that we are reassured of over and over again, is ours. What I have mentioned here only scratches the surface of it all. But the fullness of it all is handed to us now already. We cannot see it all; nor understand it fully, but it is there and it is ours.

 So each and every day we can live as new people who have been given everything that is good and important. We can live with confidence and hope, in a world that fails to deliver. We now can be sure that we are loved and are important and that there is a future for us. Life does have meaning and importance. We can love and serve others, because we have all the riches of God having been made available to us. We can, most importantly, share the Good News of Jesus Christ, with those around us.

 Now we can also live according to his promises with regard to how we are to live and act as his people, day in, day out. We will want to be rid of all those things that God tells us are bad for us and for our relationship with him and the people around us. We will also desire to do all that he tells us to do that are good for us and our relationships with all around us. God and his Word will be the determiner of how we will live and act as his people. We will trust that what he tells us is what is good for us, rather than change it to suit ourselves.

 Our faith, that has been given to us and is at work in us, surely says yes to it all; and then goes boldly forth to live in light of it: Confident that these promises are sure and certain and good. We surely believe it, and so are willing to step into each new day to live and move toward that which is now ours. To God be the glory, great things he has done and promised.

 So go from here once again reassured that we are much the richer indeed. Go and be ready to make the most of the inheritance that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord. Go, having a faith that is sure and active. Go in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and serve him and the people around us. To him be all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish