A Good Church Has Robust Faith

A Good Church practices Robust Faith

A Good Church  / Hebrews 11

When we are on a rickety foundation, we try to find balance. When we are in a difficult conversation, we try to argue back to find something reliable. 

We all want something reliable in our lives. And it is easy to find poor substitutions all over the place.  

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

That’s why it’s important for a church to have a robust faith.  Because the only we are a church is because we have a life line connection to God.  And it is the confession of our faith in Him that allows us to remain surrendered before Him and active in His will. 

In order to see what faith is we are going to be looking at Hebrews 11, specifically the first 16 verses. 

Hebrews 10:39 ESV

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Faith finds the One who is the most reliable

We are going to look at the way faith is defined in the Scriptures. 

It is “assurance of things hoped for” 

and the “conviction of things not seen.” 

Faith for the Christian is a trust, an allegiance to God who acts on our behalf and who is working in love in our lives. 

It is the activity of the church that reflects the activity of God. 

Probably the most famous sermon of all is the sermon on the mount found in Matthew ch 5, 6, and 7. 

Jesus tells us what life in Him is like.  It is one that is surrendered to Him. It is one that lives for others and for the Kingdom of God. He teaches us how to pray, and fast.  It is the building blocks for how to live in Christ.  At the end of this sermon He gives an illustration. Jesus says that if people hears His words and does them they will be like someone who build their house on a strong foundation.  When storms came and floods came, but the house did not fall. 

To be assured of things hoped for.  Meaning to trust that what Christ has said He will fulfill, and to act on those things, is to build our house on a good foundation.  No matter what comes our way, we don’t shrink back.  

Faith allows us to encounter God and live reliable lives. 

The second part of the definition is the “conviction of things not seen.” The word conviction mean that we trust it because it has held up under scrutiny.  Not only can it hold us up, it can also hold up our doubts. 

Faith is a supernatural gift, and in Christ in faith we can stand up and not shrink back. We can trust the testimony of Christ in our lives. We can trust His work. 

Conviction, in this sense is the product of cross examining.  IT is the ability to push and press and ask and prod to see if that thing is sea worthy.  

We have been taught that faith is the absence of doubt.  That is not true.  Faith is trust regardless of doubt.  I trust Christ and His work more than I trust my own ability to trust HIm.  I don’t have faith in faith.  I have faith in Christ. He is the One that sustains.  And that is learned in the cross examining of faith. 

It can be hard to be a Christian in a post Christian world.  But in some ways I say welcome it. Allow the world to cross examine your faith.  Because if Christ is who He says He is, then He can stand up and around and through and in and by any way we are cross examined.  

That is why as a church we don’t want to fear questions.  This is why we do ground floor.  Why we try and discuss things.  Why we pray through things.  Because we trust that God is working through the cross examining of our faith.  

Hebrews 11:13–16 ESV

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 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 for them a city.

Hebrews 11:3 ESV

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Faith will show the most reliable thing about us. 

Faith is assurance and conviction.

Assurance and conviction of that which is most real.  

To have faith means you have to walk on it and you have to work with it.,

Faith only becomes what it is when you use it,

Faith is our lives as we live through Christ

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