Faith is both thinking and responding to good reason that something is changing, it’s actually living in light of that reality and as we do so, it puts us in touch with the substance or the reality of the thing that we’re hoping for. We experience this reality of that biblical faith, it begins with thinking and with reason, someone’s reason and they’re thinking. Hebrews 11:11, Sarah, she’s in her late 80’s, she gets a promise that she gonna get a kid and what’s her response, she laughs. But she went through this process, where she had to consider whether the one who’s making this promise is actually faith-worthy or trustworthy. They’ve been in the land that they traveled to for decades, God’s completely provided for them, even though they don’t actually have a home, kind of a shepherd crew wandering around the region and God has already been faithful up to this point. Sarah can point to the proof that God has been faithful to his word so far. Therefore, is it reasonable to think he will continue to do that, does she have absolute certainty, no. But does she have a reason to believe in her faith, yes. She’s thinking it through, doing the mental math. Hebrews 11:17-19, the story up through Abraham’s life is about this promise son, everything hangs on this promise son and then he’s told to do this crazy thing of giving up his promised son and what does Abraham do, he reasons. The reason Isaac exists, is because God has proven himself trustworthy, Isaac is proof. Therefore, Abraham reasoned God could even raise the dead, it put him in a situation of faith, he’s thinking it through, doing the mental math.
Many of us, because we live by faith, means we ditch reason at the door, our friends and family think we crazy for buying into this whole thing. We have a very good reason, an extremely good reason for why we’re gathering and why we’re staking our whole lives on following Jesus, what is that reason? The fact Jesus was a man, who existed on the stage of history over 2,000 years ago and there’s testimony of hundreds and hundreds of people about his life, about his death and about his resurrection. Paul appeals to reason, the life of Jesus didn’t happen in a corner on the stage, it happened at the center of one of the most prominent cities in the ancient world, that’s a reason. The whole worldview of a follower of Jesus, Jesus is life and death and resurrection, but sin and death and violence and the brokenness does not get the last word, resurrection life and grace has the last word. The reality of living in a broken world, but it’s by faith that we begin with a reason to believe Jesus rose from the dead, we believe that because of eyewitness testimony, it’s not a blind leap of faith, it’s faith based on reason. However, is faith only based on reason, faith begins with reason, but that reason is what keeps our faith only from becoming an interesting ideal we might entertain. Hebrews 11:8-10, Abraham considered Yahweh, this God who called him faithful and trustworthy. He responds in obedience to this call, faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin, they’re not different concepts, faith is action that begins by thinking it through of whether the one calling us to action is trustworthy, if he is, we act in faith.
This is biblical robust Christian faith, there’s a whole bunch of people who saw Jesus after the resurrection, but we begin with reason, it would just be entertaining a new ideal if we didn’t do something about it. It’s not faith unless we do something about it, but we can’t do something by ourselves, we rely upon the testimony of others in Hebrews chapter 11. We rely upon the guidance of community of faith to come around us and help us know where and how to do this following Jesus thing and then there’s a transfer of trust. Faith is the substance and the reality of the thing that we’re hoping for and acting in faith and experiencing God’s faithfulness that carries us in that act, it’s a transfer of trust, Jesus rose from the dead.
How we think about obedience, following Jesus is very difficult, he calls us to live in these ways that are so counterintuitive, they’re difficult and they seem crazy to the people around us in our cultural. Sexual integrity and sexual purity is laughable idea’s, it’s ludicrous to do that, but the resurrection has the final word, which means there’s a new creation on its way, the coming one will come as it says in Hebrews 10:37. Imagine a world of completely healed relationships, where we have intimate friendship and community with people who fully know us just as we fully know them and there’s unconditional acceptance. In that kind of world, sexual integrity makes all the sense in the world. What we are called to do, we find ourselves beginning carried by this empowering present and guided by those around us, who are also experiencing that same presence of Jesus empowering their faithful obedience. We experience this grace empowering us to obey, to do things we never knew we’re capable of doing, transferring our trust away from our own view of the world and actually following Jesus in faith.
Many of us, because we live by faith, means we ditch reason at the door, our friends and family think we crazy for buying into this whole thing. We have a very good reason, an extremely good reason for why we’re gathering and why we’re staking our whole lives on following Jesus, what is that reason? The fact Jesus was a man, who existed on the stage of history over 2,000 years ago and there’s testimony of hundreds and hundreds of people about his life, about his death and about his resurrection. Paul appeals to reason, the life of Jesus didn’t happen in a corner on the stage, it happened at the center of one of the most prominent cities in the ancient world, that’s a reason. The whole worldview of a follower of Jesus, Jesus is life and death and resurrection, but sin and death and violence and the brokenness does not get the last word, resurrection life and grace has the last word. The reality of living in a broken world, but it’s by faith that we begin with a reason to believe Jesus rose from the dead, we believe that because of eyewitness testimony, it’s not a blind leap of faith, it’s faith based on reason. However, is faith only based on reason, faith begins with reason, but that reason is what keeps our faith only from becoming an interesting ideal we might entertain. Hebrews 11:8-10, Abraham considered Yahweh, this God who called him faithful and trustworthy. He responds in obedience to this call, faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin, they’re not different concepts, faith is action that begins by thinking it through of whether the one calling us to action is trustworthy, if he is, we act in faith.
This is biblical robust Christian faith, there’s a whole bunch of people who saw Jesus after the resurrection, but we begin with reason, it would just be entertaining a new ideal if we didn’t do something about it. It’s not faith unless we do something about it, but we can’t do something by ourselves, we rely upon the testimony of others in Hebrews chapter 11. We rely upon the guidance of community of faith to come around us and help us know where and how to do this following Jesus thing and then there’s a transfer of trust. Faith is the substance and the reality of the thing that we’re hoping for and acting in faith and experiencing God’s faithfulness that carries us in that act, it’s a transfer of trust, Jesus rose from the dead.
How we think about obedience, following Jesus is very difficult, he calls us to live in these ways that are so counterintuitive, they’re difficult and they seem crazy to the people around us in our cultural. Sexual integrity and sexual purity is laughable idea’s, it’s ludicrous to do that, but the resurrection has the final word, which means there’s a new creation on its way, the coming one will come as it says in Hebrews 10:37. Imagine a world of completely healed relationships, where we have intimate friendship and community with people who fully know us just as we fully know them and there’s unconditional acceptance. In that kind of world, sexual integrity makes all the sense in the world. What we are called to do, we find ourselves beginning carried by this empowering present and guided by those around us, who are also experiencing that same presence of Jesus empowering their faithful obedience. We experience this grace empowering us to obey, to do things we never knew we’re capable of doing, transferring our trust away from our own view of the world and actually following Jesus in faith.
