A Word About The Greatest Object of Devotion

Today we will continue in a series of sermons from the Book of Hebrews that I am calling the Greatest of All Time. In this episode, we will see that Jesus is the Greatest Object of Devotion.

A very common saying is to “keep the faith.” This sounds like a good and encouraging sentiment, but frankly it is an incomplete thought. It fails to state in what or whom that you are expected to place your faith.

Imagine yourself as a passenger on the Titanic during its maiden voyage. You have placed your faith in the designer of the ship, that it would be designed with safety in mind. You have placed your faith in the builder of the ship, that it would be built with safety in mind.  You have placed your faith in the regulatory bodies governing the ship, that with safety in mind, they would require sufficient lifeboats be provided to all passengers. You have placed your faith in the crew of the ship, that it would be sailed with safety in mind.  You have placed your faith in the officers of the ship, that it would be led with safety in mind.  If someone said to you, “keep the faith,” at 11:30pm on April 14, 1912, you’d have no problem doing so. Just ten minutes later, however, after the ship had hit the iceberg, you would not know who you could trust.

The power of one’s faith is not provided by how fierce or weak it might be. No, the power of our faith is found in its object. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus is the Greatest Object of Devotion. Let’s begin by reading Hebrews 11:1-6

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it. By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith. By faith Enoch was taken away so he did not experience death, and he was not to be found because God took him away. For prior to his removal he was approved, since he had pleased God. Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. 

Faith is Essential:

What we must understand right from the beginning is that many things in the Christian life are necessary, but they are not sufficient to please God. We must read our Bibles, we must be kind to one another, we must share the Good News, and we must support the ministry of the church with our time, our talents, and our tithes.  All those things are good, but as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13, we can do all those things and we can still sound like, “a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal” in God’s ear.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us, 

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.

The one essential factor that pleases God is faith. It is trust in Him and no one else. It is not having a “Plan B” or a “Plan C” or even a “Plan D.”

The Gospels give us some great examples of faith. In Luke 7, the Centurion, whose servant was ill, trusted that Jesus could heal him at a distance. This is certainly “evidence of something not yet seen.” Jesus then proclaimed, “I tell you, I have not found so great a faith even in Israel!”

You might say to me, “That’s great, Brother Otis, but I have been hurt so many times, I just cannot trust anyone.” I understand that. The Good News for someone in such a position is that, if we turn to Jesus, He will help us even with our limited faith.

For example: In Mark 9:22-23, a man with a demon possessed son pleaded for Jesus to help them, saying, “. . . But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ Then Jesus said to him, “‘If You can? Everything is possible to the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”  Then Jesus healed His son. The man’s faith was not perfect; it was Jesus who was perfect!

So, again, the key issue is not how strong our faith is. The key issue is how strong the object of our faith is. Any trust we invest in Jesus will never leave us disappointed. The lesson of the Parable of the Talents is, the more we invest our trust in Jesus, the more we will be blessed and the more He will be glorified.

Next let’s read Hebrews 11:7-12

By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she[f] considered that the One who had promised was faithful. Therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore.

Let’s continue with Hebrews 11:19-31;

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and he was offering his unique son, the one it had been said about, Your seed will be traced through Isaac. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones. By faith, after Moses was born, he was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin. For he considered the reproach because of the Messiah to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since his attention was on the reward. By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees Him who is invisible. By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being encircled by the Israelites for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.

Faith is Experiential:

We may have the best intentions at heart, but unless our faith is put into practice can we actually say it is faith? This is like the many laws in our nation that are never enforced. A law might exist, but unless someone enforces it, it has no practical effect. For example:

• In Alabama, it is illegal to play dominoes on Sunday.
• In Gainesville, GA, it is illegal to eat fried chicken, except with your hands.
• In Quitman County, GA, it is illegal for chickens to cross the road.
• In Little Rock, AR, it is illegal for dogs to bark after 6pm.
• In Maine, it is illegal to keep Christmas decorations up after January 14th.
• In Minnesota, it is illegal to cross state lines with a duck atop your head.
• In North Carolina, it is illegal to sing off-key.
• In Utah, the drinking of milk is mandatory.

No one is enforcing these types of silly laws, and so effectively they are not laws. In essence, these acts are only illegal in theory, but not in practice. In the same way, if we say we have faith, but we don’t have the opportunity to exercise it, is it really faith? Only in theory. It just so happens, however, that life provides us many opportunities to exercise our faith.

The writer of Hebrews listed many challenges faced by God’s people throughout the centuries. The variety beggar’s belief! The list includes everything from simply believing that Christ created the universe out of nothing, to making sacrifices and giving offerings to God, to having babies at an advanced age, to following God’s leading into a new homeland, and everything in between.

Again, remember it is not the faith of any of these people in itself that made the difference in their lives. It was the One in whom they placed that faith that made all the difference. 

When God’s people step out on faith in Him, He works in their lives. These steps may be small in the beginning, the way that David began by hitting targets and small game with his sling and smooth stones. Later, after David proved the worth of that simple weapon, he killed a lion, and then he killed a bear, and then he killed Goliath. He had faith in his sling because he had experience with it!

What was theoretical in the beginning for David became reality, and the same is true for us. In the Bible, many people came to Jesus seeking proofs of who He was. The best way for us to that proof is to have faith in Him in our daily lives. As we place our faith in Him, we see His work and we experience His blessing.

Now, let’s consider Hebrews 11:32-40:

And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength after being weak, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead—they were raised to life again. Some men were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection, and others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

Faith is Personal:

Sixteen individuals of faith are listed in Hebrews. These include men and women (Sarah and Rahab) and the young and the old. Those who were asked to do great things are included, as well as those who were asked to do smaller things. Those who started new things are there, and those who sustained existing things are there also. Some listed were fathers and mothers who demonstrated their faith for their children, but who had to allow their children to exercise their own faith. Half of these names listed are included in the genealogy of Jesus Himself.

So, why is it important that these individuals are named? First, it reminds us that individual people are important to God. God chose Enoch as an individual to rapture into heaven. God chose Abraham as an individual to create for Him a missionary people to share His love with the world. God chose Moses as an individual to redeem His people out of captivity. Later, Jesus would choose Andrew, Peter, James, and John as individuals to create His church and to take the Gospel to the whole world. Remember the saying, “Everyone’s job is no one’s job?” Faith is exercised individually before it is exercised corporately.

It is also important that all these individuals are named because it reminds us that all their challenges were individual challenges. None of them were the same.  Again, some were big challenges, and some were smaller. Some involved great nations, and some involved family dynamics. Some involved fighting battles and some involved giving birth to children.  We might think that their faith was the same, but that would not be true either. Some had great faith from the start, but, in others, faith had to build over time, and in some, their faith may have faded at the end. 

No! The real common denominator was not these individual situations nor their individual faiths, but the One Individual in whom their faith rested: The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and Joseph was their God and the God of all the rest. And He is Our God today!

One more thing we must note here before we move on is that not every faithful individual is mentioned here. The writer apologized for this because space and time did not allow him to mention everyone. That is perfectly fine. John, in his Gospel, said that all the books in all the world could not contain all the acts of Christ. Why would we think, then, that the names of all His faithful followers could be contained in a single book? Actually, they are! It is just not a human book, but it is the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 3:5 says that Jesus will never erase any names from that book, and that He will acknowledge every individual in that book to God His Father at the end of time.

Finally, let’s read Hebrews 11:13-16:

These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Faith is Potential:

As a liberal arts major in school several times over, I don’t understand much about physics. One thing that I do know, however, is that every object has energy, either kinetic energy or potential energy. When an object is in motion, it has kinetic energy, like throwing a baseball or firing a rocket. We can see that energy being expended and we can see the effects it has on its surroundings.

What we often forget is that sitting objects have energy also. This is potential energy. Some force exerted energy in placing a boulder on the side of a hill or a piano in the living room of a 10th story apartment. That energy is there even if it isn’t seen. When the conditions are right, like a landslide freeing the boulder, or the strap of a crane breaking under the weight of a piano, then the potential energy is released, and the bolder or the piano will come crashing down. 

God exerts kinetic energy in the lives of every believer as He leads us, and as He corrects us, and as He comforts us. We see Him acting around us and in us and through us. Our God is a God of action, and as we can see throughout the Bible and also as we can see in our daily lives. There is more to God than what we can see, however.

Our God is also a God of potential energy as well. If all we had to look forward to is what we have now, God would be good! But what we have now is not all that God has in store for us! Like the Old Testament saints, we are temporary residents in this place. We are all just passing through, and someday we will enjoy all, and I mean all, of what God has in store for us. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul said we currently “see through a glass, darkly,” but then we will see Him face-to-face!

So often, “we cannot see the forest for the trees!” We certainly cannot understand the entirety of the wonders that God has prepared for us, but we can invest our trust and faith in Him, because unlike people, God always achieves His potential

Conclusion:

As we close, one of the greatest promises in all the Bible is concealed here in Hebrews 11, specifically in verse 16:

But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

We know from the Book of Job that God brags on His people, and I think that is the most amazing thing. The God of the entire universe brags on His people. It’s hard to imagine that, but Hebrews 11 gives us the key to that reality: place whatever faith you have today in God, and He will make great things of it! You will be blessed, God will be glorified, and He will brag to Satan about all of it! Wow! What a God we serve!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt