Faith Is Mandatory

 As we have continued our look into the book of Hebrews, we have reached chapter 11.  Until now we have considered how the New Covenant that centered on the work of Jesus far excels the Old Covenant centered on the work of man.  Now we arrive at the solitary ingredient that must be mixed in to activate this New Covenant.  Faith.  For us to enter into this new and glorious contract between God and man, we must have faith.  

Faith can be defined in a variety of ways.  It can be defined as to trust or to rely on.  It has been defined as "having a settled persuasion regarding a matter" or even "persuaded to the point of action".  Faith does not require physical muscle but belief muscle.  Its beginning is found in a heart conclusion having been confronted with God's revelation.  Its completion is seen in the change that occurred in our lives.  Hebrews 11:1 introduces us to this word "faith".  However, it is not really a definition of faith but what faith does.  It reads, "Now faith is the substance of thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".  

Let's unpack this description of faith.  It is something. It is the substance of something.  The Greek word for substance is "hupostasis" - stasis meaning under and hupo (defining the stasis) meaning stand.  So, to "stand under".  So, something upon which something stands or a foundation - the firmness of a thing so as to build upon it.  Now this substance is one of "things hoped for".  There are many things hoped for, but particularly in the Christian life, we hope for eternity with God, Christ's return, God's judgment of the earth, etc.  Taking this into our verse, these things we hope for are substantive - they are firm and I can build upon it. So, faith takes the future promises of God and makes them present realities on which to build my life.  Faith changes the way I live.

The second description of faith calls it the evidence of something.  Evidence means conviction or surety.  Thayer defines it this way, "that by which invisible things are proved and we are convinced of their reality".  So, we are convinced of "things not seen".  The unseen things of the Christian life become visible.  In the Christian life, I cannot see the things that Jesus has done for me.  I have a record of what He has done, but I cannot see them.  Faith takes the unseen work of Jesus on the cross for me and convinces me of its reality.  God said that Jesus died to pay for ALL of my sin.  He tells me to repent and believe in Jesus and I will be forgiven by God.  

We notice that faith is not without reason or without evidence.  It is responding to something that God has said.  We know that God is real and that He only speaks truth.  Scripture is written by 42 people over 1500 years telling me one great story.  It speaks of miracles that happened, prophecies that came true, lives that were forever-changed.  It is upon this fixed witness that faith awakens.  We must have faith.

He Found Fault With Them

In our home group, we are going through the book of Hebrews.  This obscure book has a clear purpose - to bring believing Jews onto the better foundation of Jesus.  It is a powerful argument of the new covenant (covenant means contract) in Jesus Christ being far, far superior to the old covenant given through Moses.  The Law (nothing else) came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).  It has been useful for us to go through the book and place two columns on the whiteboard to consider just how many contrasts are seen between the old and new covenants.  

In Hebrews 8:7-12, we find one contrast regarding the problem of people.  People have a big problem.  It is called sin.  Sin is the corrupt nature within all people that causes us to completely disobey God's Law.  The old covenant was essentially a list of rules for Israel - hundreds of rules that God asked them to follow.  The people at Mt Sinai agreed to follow them and so they entered into a covenant.  If Israel obeyed the Law, then God would bless them.  If they did not obey and thus break the contract, then God would forsake them (Deut 31:16,17).  Now, because people are sinful, their corrupt nature chaffed against God’s divine Law and caused them to disobey entirely.  So, He found fault with them, not the contract. 

Now, God loves people.  He LOVES people.  But sin had broken the ability of God to have a loving relationship with people.  God is loving but He is also just and cannot be in fellowship with any form of sin.  However, God’s people didn’t want a relationship.  Because of their nature, they preferred sin.  Even if they knew God’s laws, they didn’t want to obey them.  Further, they wanted a relationship with anyone or anything but God.  People also needed human teachers to help them relate to God - and that didn’t work.  Finally, people just couldn’t get rid of the problem of sin that killed the whole idea of relating to God.  So, God needed to change the very nature of people.  The contract could not depend on man’s effort or ability - he has none.

So, God made a way.  He took the problem of people out of the way.  He took sin out of the way.  The New Covenant speaks to people’s deepest problem - sin.  Jesus died on the cross to take my sin out of the way.  So, the new covenant no longer depends on my obedience to Laws, but my belief in Jesus.  I exchange working for a relationship with living in a relationship by receiving Jesus into my heart. 

Now I find that I have an awareness of what He wants me to do AND I want to do it.  Second, I find that I want to be in a relationship with Him and with no other.  Third, I find that I don’t need to rely on anyone to teach me what He wants but He instructs me directly by His Spirit (though he still uses teachers in our lives).  Finally, I find that the problem of my sin has been removed.  I know that He is full of mercy and remembers my sin no more.  This is the power of the New Covenant.  This is now CHRIST IN ME.  

Going Deep

 Job.  A season of pain and misery for no apparent reason.  As he wrestles with why he is suffering, Job is inspired by God to go deep down into the mines of the earth for more insight.  His pondering of the unseen mining realm begins in Job 28:1.  Mines are dug into places of intense pressures far below the surface of the earth.  Men dig deep into the crust of the earth searching for valuable gems - gold, silver and other minerals.  These valuable items are of great value, but they need to be purified.  Man searches every recess in the dark and forgotten caverns of the earth for anything valuable (v 3,4).  Job's pen began to flow as he identified with the pressures deep down in the mines.  Maybe there were areas in his own heart that he had not yet seen and were yet being purified.  

The surface of the earth is the place of our routine lives - the visible, the known.  I tried on a new pair of pants.  We had tacos for dinner.  Our daughter is at a friend's house.  Here, at the surface, bread is produced.  Bread is found in the routine paths of our lives.  We may eat bread daily.  It is a common food.  This is the area of the visible, the known.  But deep under the crust of the earth, something is going on that no one sees or even thinks about.  The earth is moving deep beneath our feet creating intense heat and pressure.  And deep down there, sapphires and gold are created (v 5,6).  

It is interesting that the animals mentioned are predators - falcons and lions (v 7,8).  They are scouting out the surface of the earth, looking to capture their prey.  Maybe we have been around people who have desired to take advantage of us.  People looking for our weak spots to accuse us or take us down  They can add to the pressures of our lives and maybe Job's friends fit into this category.  However, they cannot see the activity going on deep beneath the surface, things that reside in the depths of our heart.  Sometimes even we cannot see the things that are going on deep within us.  

Job then considers how man will go to extreme lengths to clench the valuable gems deep down.  He overturns mountains at their roots, cuts channels out of rocks and dams up streams from trickling.  Mining is a massive undertaking with a goal of bringing out the hidden gem into the light (v 9-11).  God will arrange the same for us at times.  And here we find the end of the mining process.  All that pressure and heat in the unseen realm produced something of extreme value that has now been brought into the light.  It has come into the realm of the seen on the surface of the earth for people to see.  There was an unseen place within Job's vast heart that needed the touch of God.  So infinite are His ways (so all-seeing and all-knowing) that He would bewilder us for no apparent reason, touch an unseen place and bring us forth as gold (23:10).  He goes deep.  

Men Were His Method

 We are deep into the book of Acts in our home group.  The seasoned disciple Paul has been at work for some years when we find him in Acts 20.  We find him on the road.  But he is not alone.  Certainly Jesus is with him in a special way, opening and closing doors, sewing seeds and establishing churches.  But more are with him.  There is a group of men travelling the dusty roads of the Mediterranean coast line.  Men from various places and various times.  There are eight men in company with him - counting Luke (given the account is written in first person).  Let's meet them briefly.

Sopater was from Berea.  The place known for searching the scriptures to see if what Paul said was true.  Many came to know Jesus from this place.  He may be the same person as Sosipater in Romans 16.  Artistarchus is mentioned several times in Scripture and is known as a fellow prisoner and fellow laborer of Paul's.  Secundus is only mentioned here.  Both he and Aristarchus were from Thessalonica - a place that Paul wrote to twice.  Gaius was from Derbe.  Paul was in Derbe several years earlier (Acts 14:20, 21) where many disciples were made.  He is not to be confused with several other Gaius's mentioned in Scripture.  Timothy was probably from Lystra (Acts 16:1,2) and became a spiritual son to Paul.  He was the recipient of two pastoral letters from Paul that helped him implement God's program for the local church at Ephesus.  Tychicus was a beloved brother, faithful minister, and Paul's fellow servant in the Lord (Col 4:7).  Trophimus, at one point, became ill and Paul left him in Miletus sick (2 Tim 4:20).  

There must have been something about these men that Paul had noticed.  Maybe he saw openness of heart, general availability, or a quiet faithfulness as they served in their local churches.  So, he called them to be with him.  These men, I want these men, to be with me.  To travel with me.  To live with me that they might feel the life of God alive and moving in me.  They need to see the pattern of a disciple (Phil 3:17, 4:9).  To hear, smell, see and touch true discipleship.  They need to not only hear of fearlessness in a sermon, but to see fearlessness.  What does a true disciple do when he is tired and hungry?  What does a true disciple do when the world is against him?  They would learn these, . . . and so much more.  

Jesus began this pattern in Mark 3:14.  He called his disciples that they might be with Him.  Paul was only doing what Jesus did.  God's program is not accomplished by recipes or algorithms for success.  It is accomplished by the Spirit of God at work through the lives of people.  Men were His method.  

Let's Go Home

Jesus gave His final instructions to the disciples on the second floor of a home in Jerusalem.  He was to be wrongfully arrested in a matter of hours but had some very important things to tell his followers.  The One they loved was leaving and the disciples were grieved and confused.  But Jesus shared with them what the relationship with Him would look like after His death and resurrection.  And, it would be better!

In John 14:15, Jesus says, "If you love Me, keep my commandments."  At first glance this seems presumptive and demanding.  In a sin-filled world, this statement can trigger anger.  But Jesus says this for our blessing.  It is for us.  (As everything He said and did was.)  If they truly loved Him, they would obey Him and their obedience would produce three things.

First, if they love Him and so keep His commandments, Jesus will pray that the Father will give them a helper to be with them forever - the Spirit of truth.  He has been WITH them, but will be IN them.  The very Spirit of Jesus, that loving, pulsing ocean of grace and truth, giving them the very thoughts and power that belong to Jesus alone - this will be IN them (14:17).  Heartening indeed.

Second, if they love Him and so keep His commandments, they will be loved by the Father and the Son AND the Son will manifest Himself to them (14:21).  This is extremely insightful for us today.  We all want to know Jesus better.  We sing various songs telling God that we want to know Him more.  John 14 tells us how to do this.  He is telling us that if we obey Him in the things He has already shown us, then He will show us more of Himself.  Obedience becomes the avenue for "more Jesus" in our lives.  Conversely, not obeying His commandments, can leave us idle in the Christian life.  How do I grow in Jesus?  Obey Him.  

Third, if anyone loves Him and so keeps His commandments, something even more spectacular will happen.  The Father and the Son will come to him and make Their home with him (14:23).  This is the ultimate goal of life itself - the primal aim of all humanity - the call upon the deepest fundamentals of the human heart - to be at home with God.  This is more than God ruling or reigning in your life.  This is the final reality of you in God's home.  At the culmination of creation, Revelation 21:3 reads, "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people."  The future reality is ours to taste . . . now.  Love prompted obedience truly brings us home.  

Rent Time

In our home group we are walking through Isaiah.  The book is usually divided in two.  Chapters 1-39 are focused on prophecies related to Judah's problems while chapters 40-66 are focused on God's answers.  The two sections of Isaiah correspond easily with the two main sections of the Bible itself.  The old testament has 39 books which present Man's problem while the 27 books of the new testament provide God's answer.  

Chapters 36 through 39 of Isaiah conclude the first section and contain two historical events pertinent to Isaiah's prophecies.  The first of the two events fulfills the prophecies that Isaiah has been declaring to Judah for 30 years.  Judgment was coming because of their departure from God and that judgment was coming in the form of an invading nation.  Chapter 36 recounts Assyria's invasion of Judah in 701 BC. 

Assyria was a terror, well known throughout history for its brutal military tactics.  It's king at that time was a man of rage (37:28) known as Sennacherib.  He once described his personal qualities when conquering the king of Sidon.  [I] attacked and "the king of Sidon whom the terror-inspiring glamor of my lordship had overwhelmed, fled far overseas and perished."  It is this King Sennacherib we find at the doorstep of Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah in 701 BC . . .  with an army of hundreds of thousands.  

King Sennacherib sent a prominent commanding officer called the Rabshakeh to Jerusalem.  He came with a message for King Hezekiah demanding submission.  The message seems to be conveyed to us in full and contains all manner of bullying tactics.  For this is what the enemy does - he demands submission.  

You have no strategy to beat me.  You have no strength.  You are all talk.  (36:5)

You are relying on weak friends/alliances. (36:6)

Your religion is being torn down by its leaders - even they don't believe.  (36:7)

Your group is so small!  (36:8)

God told me to conquer you.  (36:10)

I will hurt you if you don't submit.  (36:12)

Your leaders are deceiving you.  (36:14)

Don't listen to those telling you to trust in God (36:15)

Surrender to me and it will go well for you.  (36:16)

I will provide you with everything you need.  (36:17)

Your God is no different from any other god.  (36:18)

God will not work on your behalf.  (36:20)

These are the tactics of the enemy when he invades.  Wisely Hezekiah had instructed those receiving the message not to answer.  There was only one response that made sense.  The King's advisers rent (tore) their clothes.  This action contains two main elements - an expression of complete bankruptcy to meet the situation and, at the same time, an appeal to God for help.  And so it is when the invader comes to the people of God.  We confess that we have no strength of ourselves to meet the enemy and we look to God in hope.  

Comfort, yes, comfort My people

What comes to mind when you think of the word "comfort"?  Was there a time in your life when someone drew alongside you and gave you comfort?  Was it a gesture, a comment, a look?  Comfort has many forms but for our purpose I am going to focus on words that comfort.  For example, someone may find themselves waiting to hear from the doctor about a biopsy result.  To hear the words, "it's benign," provides you with comfort.  Or maybe you are waiting to hear from the surgeon about the cancer that you were recently diagnosed with.  You may not sleep at night.  To hear, "we got all of it," provides a strong measure of comfort.  

The church at Ephesus was particularly concerned for Paul because he was in prison.  A Roman prison was harsh and deadly.  Naturally they wanted to hear some news of how he was doing.  They were afraid for him.  Their thoughts may have kept them up at night too.  Some may have been praying for him.  Some maybe not.  

So, he sent Tychicus.  Paul writes to them saying, 

    "But that you also may know of my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother, and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts."  (Ephesus 6:21,22)

Tychicus was sent four times in Scripture!  (Eph 6:22, Col 4:8, 2 Tim 4:12, Tit 3:12)  Twice we read that he was sent to comfort.  To provide words and to listen to words for the purpose of comfort.  And how much comfort he must have brought!  Paul was doing well and wanting to know how they were doing.  One man sent on missions of comfort throughout the mediterranean world.  What a guy.  What a role.  The traveling comforter.

The Greek word for comfort in this verse is "parakaleo" - one of the primary words used to describe the Holy Spirit.  It means "to call to one's side - to beseech, urge, exhort, comfort". Through Tychicus God has given us a palpable example of the work of the Holy Spirit.  Tychichus gave comfort, but even moreso the Holy Spirit gives comfort.  What words has He said to us?  An entire book!  For me, Romans 8:29,30 are just such comfort - Predestined, called, justified, glorified - all in aorist tense - completed actions done in the past.  So, by Divine Decree, God has already concluded the matter, I am already glorified.  It's a done deal.  That will help me sleep at night!  The real Comforter.