Easter 30 The Resurrection and Faith

[HKHaugan]

Heb.11:1 “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”

This is a heart-filled quote that comes as a summary of all that has gone in the ten chapters before in a letter to Hebrew Christians. It is not just a statement about faith in general but a very specific follow-up to the one unique faith that is a gift to us and that is the faith of Jesus, the faith with which Jesus went to the Cross. This Epistle is built around the faith of Jesus and makes a very important point. Jesus unlocks the key to the nature of faith, what it is, what it is for and where it takes us.

But first let's just look at the quality of faith itself. What we need to see is that every person born into the world has this quality because everyone is an image of God, not a child of God but an image of God. Now follow what is being said here which is really important. There is a problem when human beings are born. “In sin has my mother conceived me” says David in Psalm 51:5. What this means is that the image of God has been separated from Him by the spiritual disease of sin thus the qualities with which we are born are directed by the spirit of fear making them self-centered in their application. So what then happens is that we become the directors of how the qualities of God are used. Sin opens the door to evil. Add a 'd' to evil and the devil finds a home in our choices and decision making. And he is good at finding the weak spots in our hearts.

Therefore where we place our faith will determine how we use every next moment. And every next moment is a moment written in eternity. Every moment holds a future that will either work into an eternity alone apart from God or will work toward being at one with Him. What you see in the world around you is what human beings have done to their image qualities with God and apart from God. One is full of light. The other is full of darkness. Light restores the image to God and darkness separates the image from God. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” and everyone who believes in Him is reborn spiritually, is restored to being a child of God and becomes a light in the world.

For purposes of being a witness to Christ let's look at faith from a secular point of view. Let's return to the three ways to observe faith.

First, the nature of faith. It is the 'substance of what we hope for' and how we project ourselves into the future of what we want to obtain but don't yet have. Faith and hope are part of the image of God in us. But apart from God what is it placed in? Is it all about getting ahead in the world? Is it being economically successful, well educated, a superior athlete, a religious leader, a respected politician, lawyer, doctor, painter, craftsman or musician? Is it having a family, a beautiful wife or handsome husband? Maybe it's just wandering around pondering the world and embarking on an endless search for whatever.

Second, what faith is for. Faith is given to look ahead at what we want to accomplish with our human nature. We are built to do and to accomplish. That drive is built in to us as well. Faith is a moment by moment adjustment based on the goal in which you have placed your faith. When you set a goal faith is the drive, the energy, the willingness to achieve the goal.

Third, where it takes us. Faith is always aiming at a goal. Faith is a propulsion system. We get an idea of what we want to do, devise a way to do it and then work at obtaining the goal. But, and this is the rub, the question will always rise up when what you hope for and have faith in is obtained. What then? What next? What now?

There is one thing about faith. It is our means to the future. Just like hope, it is centered on a future happening. Both together give us a picture of where we are going and the drive to get there. They are built into us from birth. Now return them to where we started, faith being the substance of what we hope for and the evidence of what you can't see. Let's put it in the God's spiritual perspective, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).”

Three immediate things bring faith into its eternal framework, our personal existence, our relationship with God and our inter-relational life with others whose eternity is secure. All three of these are secured in asking the Lord Jesus to be our personal Savior who rescues us from our sinful self-conscious aloneness. Let's take these three one at a time as well.

First, our personal existence. When you start here you are starting where every person starts every next moment defining themselves and others in terms of themselves. Unbelievers start with themselves. Believers start with Jesus because He is the definition of what human beings were intended to be like. To know you are not alone but have someone who you can be like verifies your existence, gives you a sense of relational foundation, meaning and purpose. You are supposed to be here because God wants you here to be like Him. He is the One who makes you significant. You are important to Him.

Second, you are awakened by the living fact you have a real relationship with God, a relationship where you grow because of a spiritual reality called grace, God's willingness to make your aloneness unique and beneficial for others. He knows how lost all of us have been in regard to our sinful separation and His grace is His attitude of acceptance and willingness to help us regrow our spiritual life in Him. That's what a relationship with Jesus does.

Third, after you get your spiritual feet on the ground, His ground, this is where the Lord Jesus comes in with His Holy Spirit and fills us with insight and power to reach out to others in love. He makes His Scripture come alive as we read it and learn to apply it in the Body of Christ so we can share it in the world around us. His Word retrains our mind to think spiritually, to open our heart to feel what others feel and then to follow the Spirit's lead to help them. The things to remember here is that His Word is Him working His Spirit into our mind, heart and spirit.

So Jeremiah was absolutely right.  The Lord has a plan for each of us to have a hope and a future to prosper (Jer.29:11), to realize what it means to be an authentic image of God, to be redressed in His Spirit, becoming like Christ to the local world in which we live. Then to join Him in His Kingdom forever. This is what hope and faith are all about, the future in every next moment.

Now when we approach every next moment we know it is faith in Jesus who is the substance of our future in the Kingdom, the One and the place that is our hope, a hope and a faith, a faith and a hope that brings eternity into the present, a present that never ends. This is the present that Jesus went in hope and faith to the Cross and rose from the dead to make it happen for us.