Enduring Faith

TranscriptioN

It's very good to see you all this fine Sunday. My name is Steven Myles, and I'm a member here at Corpus Christi Anglican Church. For those of you who are new or visiting with us this morning, I'm not the person that you would normally see in this space. Father Morgan Reed, the beloved vicar of our church plant, is on a well-deserved vacation with his family. And in his stead, he asked me to speak this morning and not mess things up too badly. So I have had the opportunity to deliver the homily once before. And if you recall, the last time I was up here, I openly admitted that I am a baby Anglican. It's true. The majority of my life I've spent with Baptist and non-denominational communities of faith.

And so the rhythms of the Anglican Church calendar, the commemoration to the Saints of old, the different holy days, are still relatively novel to me. So bear with me here, the newbie, but for a few moments, I would like to call our attention right at the onset to two things. The Saint which we commemorate on this day and where we are positioned in the church calendar. It's marked to commemorate St. Lawrence. And St. Lawrence was a deacon and martyr of the Catholic Church in Rome around the third century. And so in this very month, this month of August, 1,767 years ago, the Emperor of Rome, Emperor Valerian, made the decree that all bishops, deacons, and priests were to be executed and that the riches of the church were to be put into the coffers of the Roman Empire. And the next day, Pope Sixtus, the Pope, was executed, and Lawrence, the Saint that we're commemorating this day, was ordered to go and collect the riches of the church to surrender them before he would be executed. And Lawrence worked swiftly, and over the course of the next three days he did, he collected the riches of the church and then he distributed them to the poor. And as he stood before the prefect of Rome three days later, he was asked to present the riches of the church. And he pointed to the poor, the indigent, the blind, the crippled, and the one suffering, and he said, "Here are the riches of the church." And then he was executed. It's a powerful testimony.

So that is the Saint, St. Lawrence, that we commemorate on this, the 10th of August. And in regards to the church calendar, there is a period of time after Pentecost and before Advent known as ordinary time. Right? There are no major feasts or holy days. Each week is numbered, and this week we are smack dab in the middle of that stretch. This is the 14th week of ordinary time. And although the time is ordinary, by God's grace we have the opportunity this morning to redeem these moments and to once again focus our minds and our intentions on abiding with God.

So please pray with me. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but Your word, O Lord, will stand forever. Lord, the word that goes out from Your mouth, it shall not return to You empty, but it shall accomplish that which You purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which You sent it. And so, Father, we cling to this truth, and we ask that You would speak to us this morning, and may Your word accomplish that which is needed in each of us. In Christ's name. Amen.”

So before we jump into today's text in Hebrews 11, I want to give you a rough outline of what the next few moments are going to look like. So I will attempt to briefly summarize the book of Hebrews prior to chapter 11. Bold task. And then we will look at Hebrews 11 and the two distinct categories that faithfulness falls into that we encounter in the text. A conquering faith and an enduring faith. And then finally, I'll close with a few words which I hope will encourage us to remain steadfast despite our situation. Now, why do we have to go back and summarize the entire book of Hebrews, you might ask? That's a fair question, okay? But when we get to chapter 11, where our text is today, it's kind of the culmination of this argument that the author has been making for the past ten chapters, okay? This assertion that Jesus Christ is superior to all the other previous ways that God has revealed Himself in the past.

And so this is very similar to other authors of the New Testament who have crafted a very particular message. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these authors would systematically and methodically argue the case for Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the veracity of what He claims. In John's account of witnessing, right? Witnessing firsthand with his eyes the miracles and teaching of Jesus Christ, he states very plainly that his purpose in writing these things is that you may believe, and that by believing you may have life.

In Paul's letter, he declares very explicitly that it was necessary to first preach the Word of God to the—But because they rejected it, the gospel of Jesus Christ is extended to the Gentiles. And so Paul's subsequent letters are intentionally meant to plant and nourish faith in people without an understanding of God's involvement throughout history. So in the same fashion, the author of Hebrews has a very distinct purpose.

He's writing to Jewish believers, as the name of the book implies, right? And so understanding his audience, there's this baseline assumption that the reader is intimately familiar with the Old Testament. He doesn't explain the covenant with Abraham, Mount Sinai, the Torah, the sacrificial system. It's expected that these things are already to be understood.

So the book of Hebrews, prior to chapter 11, the author very methodically lays out this four-point argument, okay? To prove that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God's love and mercy. So the author elevates Jesus above all the other prior revelations from the Old Testament, from the Torah. He's greater than the angels. He's greater than Moses. He's greater than the priestly order. And Jesus is greater than the sacrificial system. Those are the four main points. And then coupled with those four points are four warnings. Because Jesus is greater than the angels, beware of rejecting His message. Because Jesus is greater than Moses, beware of abandoning Him. Because Jesus is—beware. So those are the four points and the counter four warnings.

That's what the first ten chapters have set out to accomplish. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God's redemption, so you, the reader, do not turn away from the One who fulfills everything that the law and the prophets have directed you towards. And so that's the first point of this homily, right? Everything prior to chapter 11.

Now we get into today's text. Chapter 11 is sometimes often referred to as the Hall of Faith, right? Hall of Fame, Hall of Faith. You guys got it.

So now that we've arrived at the culmination of this argument, right, that he's been making for the last ten chapters, the author has demonstrated now that Jesus is not nullifying their traditions, right? He's not rendering moot everything that they have been brought up in, but rather He is the fulfillment of everything that the Jewish reader would have been taught as a young man in the synagogue. So now in chapter 11, he is encouraging them to continue in this same tradition of faith as those that have gone before. And he provides a litany of examples.

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Because even though Jesus is the new revelation, nothing has changed in regards to the prescribed manner in which mankind is restored to a right relationship with God. Throughout all time, the prescribed manner in which man is restored to a right standing with God has remained constant.

We are saved by God's grace through faith. And the very first act of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 goes all the way back to Abel, right, very early on. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel.

And so in the Genesis account, it is inferred that God initiated a blood sacrifice the moment Adam and Eve sinned against Him. Genesis tells us that God killed an animal in order to clothe Adam and Eve with the skins of those animals. What is inferred there is a blood sacrifice as an atonement for sin.

So this is an indication to us of why Abel's sacrifice was acceptable and Cain's was not. For the Genesis story in chapter 4 recounts that Abel brought an offering of the firstborn of his flock. It was an animal sacrifice. And Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. The profundity of this interaction between Cain and Abel and God cannot be overstated. Why was Abel's offering accepted and Cain's was not? Why? Is it better to be a shepherd than a farmer? Was his offering more costly than his brother's? Abel had followed the prescribed method that God had given for atonement. He exercised faith and obedience, and he offered a blood sacrifice. Cain, on the other hand, tried to circumvent God's prescribed method and offered the fruit of the ground, or in other words, the fruit of his efforts. Cain's offering was rejected because he tried to approach God through the merit of his good works.

Mankind has always and will always be deceived into believing that they can earn God's favor. This idea of earning something from God is pervasive. And even for the people who have matured in faith, you don't automatically become immune to this line of reasoning. Especially in our Western world, we are taught that the punishment should suit the crime and payment should be commensurate with the level of effort. And so through nature and nurture, we kind of develop a transactional view of relationship. And this is the portion of my message I was most conflicted about.

Because here in chapter 11, we're presented with this list of elders, and they fall into one of these two categories. Either a conquering faith or an enduring faith. But how can we judiciously examine both of these categories without favoring one over the other? Let me try to explain this a little bit better.

Because more than anything, what I want to do is I want to reach for examples like David and Daniel and Samuel, right? And I want to place them here at the forefront of our attention. And I want to be able to point to the amazing things that they accomplished through their lives of faithfulness. Right? They shut the mouths of lions. Literally conquered kingdoms. Administered justice. Obtained the promises. And more than anything, I want to use their examples to encourage you to not lose hope, to persevere, because you all know just as well as I do what is outside in this world.

It is a cold and unjust world in which we travel. And what's more than likely, though, is that our problems and our struggles — they didn't have the decency to stop at the door. Right? But they're right here with us, and the tension is pulling on us. The financial struggles of losing work. The slow slip into a cold marriage. The quiet suffering of a miscarried child. The pain in your body that won't go away. And I don't think that the intention behind highlighting these types of conquering faith stories is meant to be misleading. Right? It's natural.

We love a happy ending, and these stories of conquering elders can certainly strengthen our resolve and spark hope. And so, I don't know — maybe it's just me on this point — but when those are the examples that are predominantly celebrated, predominantly in the spotlight, then I get this idea in my head that maybe that's what a faithful life should look like.
If only my faith were stronger, then maybe I wouldn't be stuck in this situation. And that step is so subtle. Right? It's almost an unconscious progression of logic.

Of course, in our transactional minds, we can kind of make the leap that a faithful life equals a fruitful life — a life that conquers all obstacles. And yet, when we come to the text, we learn that man's economy and God's economy on this point cannot be farther apart. And yet, too often, the former is projected onto the latter, and we end up with this distorted view of God's will. We end up with a muddled and watered-down understanding of the truth. Right? The number of young men and women in our country that are escaping Christianity as soon as they're out of their parents' sight — statistically speaking — is on the rise. And I'm not going to stand here and reduce it down to this one reason — that's too simplistic — but I do believe a contributing factor is this prevalent understanding in the American church that a life of faithfulness to God is a path to comfort, a path away from suffering.

And so, when our next generation of young men and women are faced with the reality of this world and their faith isn't fixing everything, it isn't utilitarian, it's cast aside. And so, too often, these examples of a conquering faith are lifted up, but it can come at the expense of a richer and deeper understanding. And I think, though, Hebrews 11 brings balance to this propensity towards the conquering faith by reminding the reader of tremendous examples of enduring faith.

Abraham would never see the covenant fulfilled. Moses chose to suffer alongside his brothers rather than live comfortably in Egypt. Others were afflicted, many more were mocked and imprisoned, and some were put to death.

And we know that Jesus himself, the author and perfecter of our faith, was betrayed and died alone. And so, the profound truth that Hebrews 11 is instructing us in is that God does not measure faith by the result that it achieves, but by the obedience it maintains. Scripture gives us a glimpse forward to the day where a servant will stand before his God, and the words that he longs to hear are, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Faithful, not fruitful. God is the one who produces the fruit, and all that we can do is bear that which he chooses to bestow. Noah labored for a hundred years, toiling in the sun, building an ark, and at the end, eight lives were saved.

Jonah preached to the city of Nineveh, and over a hundred thousand souls repented and were saved. And yet, both of these men were faithful to what God had revealed to them. God recognized both of their faiths, yet the results were wildly disparate.

So even now, God is searching. Right now, he is seeking men and women of true faith. Verse 6 rightly states that without faith, it is impossible to please God. And true faith is not a collection of beliefs; it's not this intellectual pursuit of a perfect theology. True faith ignites action. Abel offered when there was no manual.

Enoch walked when there was no example to follow. Noah built a boat though he had never seen rain. And Abraham ventured out into the unknown without a map.

These men and women were driven by what verse 1 calls an assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. They did not require the guarantees of safety and security before they went out, and they did not demand God to prove himself before they would believe. They did not require constant validation in order to earn their loyalty.

And so, this path to a restored relationship with God, like I mentioned earlier, has remained constant — that we are saved by God's grace through faith. And we're not called to strictly adhere to a set of rules and regulations. We're not called to sacrifice animals to atone for sin. Right? The time for those revelations is past.

We live in the age now where Jesus Christ has been revealed, and the faith that God will honor is the faith placed in the finished work of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. And maybe you've heard this before. Maybe it all makes sense. But the one thing you can't wrap your head around is why? Why, though? The last verse in our passage from today, in verse 16, is what I've been holding on to after praying and preparing for this sermon. And it's a small phrase that says, “Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God.” So after the author has gone through this litany of examples of faithful men and women, he adds this small phrase — that God is not ashamed to be called their God.

My prayer is that the same could be said about me. My prayer is that the same will be said about you. There is a love that you simply cannot understand until you experience it. The power of God's love is the only force that I have experienced in my life that has not only changed who I am, but has literally changed the desires — the things that I desire in my heart. You all might not know, but I am keenly aware of the depravity of the things that I used to chase after. And God understands our nature. He knows that we are weak, and so he provides his Spirit to fill and empower us to live in the way that he always intended. This satisfaction of not only being loved unconditionally, but being restored to a true purpose — I think this is why it makes sense. Because otherwise, it looks crazy. Right? To the world, these things look foolish.

Why remain when others have left? Why endure when there's no relief? Why trust if it doesn't make sense? These men and women in the Hall of Faith tasted and saw that God is good. And like Job — Job who lost everything in this world — he lost his wife, he lost his children, he lost his wealth, his occupation, he lost his friends, he lost his health. And when he was stripped of everything, his words were, “Though he slay me, yet I will trust in Him.”

The truth is that these men and women were wholly satisfied in God alone. They did not need the joys of this world. They did not even need the blessings that could come from his hand. He alone was their portion, and God was not ashamed to be called their God.

And so, today, do not be lured into the temptation of putting your life in the scales and deciding that my life is a wreck because my faith is weak. Or don't fall into the trap that because God is remaining silent, He is far from you. Rather, maybe you're closer to the heroes of faith who are called to endure rather than conquer. And so, do not lose faith. Do not be discouraged. For lo, He is with us, and He will not forsake us. Amen.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Edited using ChatGPT.