Series: Heroes of Faith in Hebrews
Hebrews 11v32-40 - Triumphs and Trials of Faith
Well, Alpha is coming up. I wonder how many of us are confident about inviting people and have already invited people along. We haven't yet, and the prospect of asking and being refused (or asking in the "wrong way" and putting someone off) is daunting. Or is that a task only for the particularly gifted ones? What does it take to be confident as a Christian anyway?
And what about those of us who are finding that keeping to the Christian way is really hard going? Those who feel let down by the church or by fellow Christians. Those who are under pressure from work colleagues, from schoolmates or student peers
We have been looking at some of the "heroes of faith" in Hebrews chapter 11, and as we draw this series to a close we find that God provides us, through scripture, with answers to just these dilemmas.
Remember what the original readers of this letter were facing? There was intense persecution, there were strong temptations to go back to their old way of living. The have already been encouraged to remember what it was like when they first trusted Jesus (10v32-34). The stand that they took against tremendous odds.
But now… their confidence was flagging, their perseverance was wearing thin. So the writer wants to encourage them. "we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved" (10v39) and he proceeds to this vast catalogue of faithful people throughout history, telling them to remember this too.
Lets read our passage, v32-40 (do the double take on v35)
Triumph of the Flawed but Faithful v32-35a
Most of the people we see in this first part are marked by tremendous success
due to their faith in God - and also terrible personal failures, flaws in their
character.
Gideon: didn't want to believe God, demonstrated in the "fleece"
- yet did what God asked & won.
Barak: Unwilling to obey Gods word unless the prophetess went with him
- yet he won the victory (if not the honour)
Samson: A man consumed by his own appetites and lusts - yet in his death
he turned to the Lord and won his greatest victory.
Jephthah: A stupid and unnecessary vow cost him the life of his only
daughter - yet he became the judge for 6 years over Israel.
David: He committed adultery and murder - yet repented, and won mighty
victories under God.
Mighty things were done: A tremendous catalogue of activities - but remember… these things were not accomplished by spiritual giants who strode the earth, but men and women just like you and I!
We can look at more contemporary heroes of faith too - George Muller, DL Moody, David Wilkerson, Jackie Pullinger. Yes, they accomplished great things because they trusted God in faith. Are they spiritual super-Christians who stride through life with no worries? No! Each has been willing to admit to their own fears, foibles and failings that keep them from the unattainable pillar of perfection that we tend to place them upon. (p188 chasing the dragon)
The Christians who received this letter were to understand - the great people of faith in the Old Testament were just like they were. Warts and all. What does James say of Elijah (Jas 5v17)?
We can do great things by faith too!
This is a tremendous encouragement to us… not one of us should feel that we are not special enough, not faithful enough, not talented enough to do mighty things for God. Not one of us should feel that past mistakes mean that God could never use us again.
God takes flawed but faithful men and women - people just like us - and uses them to bring glory to him.
So lets invite people to Alpha. Lets talk to neighbours and work colleagues about Jesus. Lets pray for God to move in our town, our community, our street and then play our part in taking the message out by talking to people too.
These triumphs are not accomplished by great Christians, but by a Great God working through ordinary, faithful people like you and me.
Trials of the Enduring and Expectant v35b-40
Halfway through v35 we have this sudden and dramatic turn of events. Its almost as if we've stumbled into a different story, but no - he is still talking about that same faith.
What do we see? Tortured and refused to be released, faced jeers and flogging, chained and put in prison (like Jeremiah), stoned (like Stephen), sawn in two (like Isaiah (traditionally), put to death by the sword (like James). Destitute, persecuted and ill treated.
Note that it is the same faith that rescued from the edge of the sword (v34) and led to others being put to death by the sword(v37). Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem and escaped the edge of the sword, living by faith, and James was imprisoned there and killed, dying by faith.
Include modern examples here - Richard Wurmbrandt, Chinese Christians,
How is it that these saints could endure so much? Were they like the stoics, who believed that you should be indifferent to pleasure and pain? No, these people were not shutting their minds and ignoring the reality in front of them - but they were able to endure because they were waiting for something better. There was an expectancy about them. They hadn't received what they had been promised yet, but kept faithful and endured trials because they believed that the promise was worth waiting for! We saw this in the text on Abraham and the patriarchs earlier in the chapter (v13, 16).
This is why Paul and Silas can sing their hearts out after being severely flogged and imprisoned in chains (Acts 16v25). Their attention is riveted on something greater, something better, something that makes everything that they are enduring at the present time pale into insignificance.
What could be so much better that it makes these things endurable? Look at that pivotal verse 35 again. In one breath we have those raised to life again, others who refuse to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection. What does faith believe in the moment of torture? That if God loved me, he would get me out of this? No. Faith believes that there is a resurrection for believers which is better than the miracle of escape.
Their focus was on their eternal future, the ultimate fulfilment of the greatest of Gods promises - that he would rescue us and have us with him forever in heaven!
Now to most of us here this may seem a little remote… and it has often been the case that when surrounded by comfort and pleasure we become less aware of heaven… we can get caught up in building our own little heaven on earth. The poor and downtrodden of this earth are less likely to make that mistake… They know that life down here isn't that great, and the promise of heavenly glory is all the more real and important.
If you are undergoing trials at the moment, you can get through them - whether it is persecution (because that still happens, especially at school or at university) or other things that shake your faith and trust in God: Bereavement, employment problems, family problems, even church problems… We must learn from those who have gone before us and look expectantly to the future, look expectantly to the fulfilment of Gods promises for us.
Lets peep into the next chapter for a little more detail on that…
Run with Perseverance 12v1-2
So we are surrounded by this vast cloud of witnesses (martyrs) - not like an athletics crowd cheering us on, but witnesses who testify of Gods greatness, of his faithfulness, of his tremendous promises.
Have you seen the recent BT advert about the Internet, with the vast, vast stadium and ordinary people in the middle, getting help from the surrounding folk? It is a little like that. The witnesses testify to us, today, that it is possible to be confident in God, it is possible to keep on keeping on, no matter how bad things seem, because God is faithful and is with
Consider Jesus, the initiator of our faith and the one who brings it to completion. Just as we remember Old Testament saints in this passage we remember Jesus in the communion that we have just celebrated… A regular opportunity to remind ourselves of the cross which he suffered. As the writer here puts it "endured the cross, scorning its shame". Why did he do this? "for the joy set before him".
When you can have it all, faith says that God is better; and when you lose it all, faith says God is better. In other words, faith is utterly in love with all that God will be for us beyond the grave. Faith loves God more than life. Faith loves God more than family. Faith loves God more than job or retirement plans or ministry or building the dream house or making the first million. Faith says, "Whether God handles me tenderly or gives me over to torture, I love him. He is my reward (11:6), the builder of the city I long for (11:10), the treasure beyond the riches of Egypt (11:26), and the possession that surpasses all others and abides for ever (10:34)."
Alex White
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