(prayer)
intro: faith review
faith (in the bible) is not how you decide something is true.
faith is what you do with truth: faith is holding onto it.
faith regarding things in the present tense: belief, showed externally by obedience
faith regarding things in the future tense: belief, for us especially tied to hope.
heb 11:8-22
8. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for
an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;
10. for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since
she considered Him faithful who had promised.
12. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS
OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.
13. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from
a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
15. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
17. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering
up his only begotten son;
18. it was he to whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED."
19. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.
20. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.
21. By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
22. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.
abraham
narrative: (the call to leave)
setting:
living in mesopotamia
leaves to go to canaan with his father terah.
they stop and settle down about half way there, in haran (kurdistan).
terah dies.
call to leave:
gen 12:1-4
1. Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
2. And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3. And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
4. So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was
seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
heb 11:8
8. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for
an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
god told abraham to leave. that had a number of problems...
- he was leaving his relatives, his family, and everything he knew
he was leaving his family, the relationships he had, and the support structures that went with that.
- he was leaving to become an alien
being an alien was a bigger deal then than it is now.
the alien was an outcast in the land; rather like being an illegal now.
we'll see abraham wander for a while, living a nomadic life on the outsides of cities.
- he wasn't told where he was going to.
go to the land "which i will show you"
god only told abraham enough for him to obey; he didn't tell him where he would end up.
god also promised abraham that he would make him a great nation.
at this time abraham was 75. his wife was 65.
granted, if god shows up and talks to you, you may be more likely to believe in the reality of the supernatural.
but 65 is still pretty old to start having kids.
we'll come back to this.
faith demonstrated:
he trusted god, and did what he was told to do by god.
god's plan for abrahams life: camping
so...abraham obeyed god and moved to canaan, where god told him to go.
when he got to the oak at mamre, god appeared to him again and said, "this is it. i'll give your descendents this land."
he basically spends the rest of his life camping.
mind how important the idea that your son would be a nation might be when you are a family without one.
hebrews comment (11:9-10):
9. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;
10. for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
faith demonstrated:
living based on hope.
christianity requires us to value the unseen, unexperienced eternal over our present, to look forward to
a life we don't see or experience currently.
"for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God."
(anti-materialism? or maybe more accurately 'meta-materialism'?)
baby problems...
back in the beginning, god promised that abraham would be a father of many nations.
problems galore in getting there, not the least of which was the fact that his wife couldn't
seem to bear children.
and that she was 90 by this point.
think about this:
ever see woman who wanted to have kids who wasn't able? have you seen how they react to other babies?
sarah had this...plus she was way outside child bearing years. she was 90.
on top of that, she wasn't able to give up and move on. she had a promise that she had to hold on to.
hebrews comment (11:11)
11. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since
she considered Him faithful who had promised.
faith demonstrated:
she trusted in god to do what he said.
notice that the debate isn't whether or not god said something...the faith is not applied to her struggle
to determine what god said.
her faith is shown in her trusting in god rather than believing the problems would mean god was wrong.
the result of her faith?
a son...and a nation.
note: check how the author kicks abe in the groin over his old age...
heb 11:12
12. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS
OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.
commentary
the author takes a little break to remind his audience that they did not see the promises they lived for fulfilled in their life.
they were living for a 'heavenly country', for the ultimate fulfillment of god's promise to abraham, which they did not see.
they had a part to play in a story that goes way, way past their lives.
13. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from
a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
15. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
christianity requires us to be strangers and exiles on the earth, living for something beyond.
two halves of the problem here.
holding on to belief apart from experience:
this sets us up for conflict; we can give reasons that there is something beyond life, that humans don't cease existing when
we die, that there is a god.
but we don't see this day by day; so even if we can demonstrate that these things are true, we don't wake up to them.
we will often have to rethink through our reasons for what we think. we should often remind ourselves of these things.
the endurance of hope:
we spoke about the need for endurance at the end of 10.
we endure through life, complete with its difficulties, holding out for something with patience.
the result? god's pleasure.
this is a huge idea that we could talk about for a while.
suffice it to say that this is so worthwhile that god looks at our hope and endurance and is pleased.
he "is not ashamed to be called their God; for he has prepared a city for them."
i have really strong emotions associated with this phrase; not sure i can convey this very well...
i was tearing up reading this.
reminds me of the feeling of having a father be proud of his son.
very emotional to me to think of god associating with us because of our virtue.
abe! ultimate win!
abraham shows beyond human faith.
17. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises
was offering up his only begotten son;
18. it was he to whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED."
19. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also
received him back as a type.
so...genesis 22.
100 year old abraham has had a son, the son god promised him, the son god said would father a nation.
god tells him to sacrifice his son.
does god test us?
yes.
and when you do what is right in those times you do great honor to yourself and to god.
faith and kierkegaard
this moment is the supreme act of faith for soren kierkegaard, with good reason.
for kierkegaard, god is asking abraham not to offer just his son on the alter, but his logic.
i believe that kierkegaard was incorrect here; the text says that abraham had a stronger
belief, one that made more sense than disobedience.
abraham was not illogical to believe that god would do what he said.
abraham "considered that god is able to raise people even from the dead"
resurrection and christ
tossed in here casually is the phrase, "from which he received him back as a type".
genesis people, the fords are going to cover this more in a week; the rest of you can corner them on your own.
isaac, jacob, joseph...all looking ahead.
the author moves pretty quickly through isaac, jacob, and joseph.
he emphasizes their blessings/prophecies which focused on the future beyond their lives as a way of
reminding us that they lived with the hope of a future they wouldn't see in this life.
isaac
20. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.
referencing gen 27; jacob steals esau's blessing, which turns out to be a bit of prophecy regarding jacob.
isaac then blesses esau with another bit of prophecy; this one is definitely intentional.
the focus here seems to be on the continuing thread that the promise was unfilled even through isaac.
jacob
21. By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph,
and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
genesis 49.
jacob is dying; he gathers his sons together "that i may tell you what shall befall you in the days to come."
he issues blessings and prophecy to each of his sons.
all of this is based on his hope in god, that god would fulfill the promises made to his grandfather, his father, and himself through his sons.
he died without seeing these things come to pass, but he hoped and believed that god would do what he said.
joseph
22. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons
of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.
joseph, when he dies, gathers his brothers, and tells them (gen 50:24,25):
24. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up
from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob."
25. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely take care of you, and you
shall carry my bones up from here."
he as well believed that god would fulfill his promises, though he wouldn't see them.
so much so that he asks for his bones to be carried out.
this is an echo of what god told abraham in gen 15:13, that "your descendants will be strangers in a land that
is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years."
summary: cognative dissonance
from wikipedia, cognative dissonance:
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously.
The "ideas" or "cognitions" in question may include attitudes and beliefs, and also the awareness of one's behavior.
1. admit that you have a problem.
- the patricarchs had conflicting thoughts to work through.
god says you will have a child...
but...your wife is infertile and 90.
god says to move away from your family to a new land...
but...you'll be an alien there.
- we have all sorts of thought conflict
we want to do more with our lives, but we want to watch more tv
we want to be healthy, but we want more bacon.
we believe in god, and 'see' nothing but this earth.
this is true for truths and desires.
(you know i'm gonna have something in the application section about desires)
- conflicting thoughts are normal, but consistent thoughts are more peaceful
we all have some level of thought conflict.
the more consistent we are with our views the more pleasant things are.
we need to let the more important views drive us.
we need to work to let our views on eternity matter more than our desires to have fun.
- all kinds of trouble come out of inconsistent thoughts...
internal conflict is the easist way.
lots of what drive us to sin are a valuing of the immediate over the long term.
you want to run a marathon? better be running more than on the weekend.
you want to learn to speak spanish? start studying more than once a week.
the 28 year old engineer who wants a bmw 3 series? he puts pictures of it
as his desktop background and on his fridge. and that's just a car.
'thought-action'
- thoughts are all tied up in choices
faith is hugely linked to obedience; but much of this is all in the brain.
we are not a helpless victim of our brains.
repitition and reminder
basic stuff:
bible study. personal reading. prayer. even verse memory
without reminders we lose our data.
me and phil 2:3; as soon as i'm done i start to forget it.
we have to keep putting our goals in front of us, thinking them through.
prayer