Weekly Reflection 2/5/24

Hebrews part 4: “You’re Hoping in Something.”

In 2022 a poll showed that 81% of people in America answered yes to the question, “Do you believe in God?” In the first half of Hebrews 11:6 it says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists…”  Do all of these 81% of people who answered that they believe in God have a faith that pleases God? In Hebrews 11:2 we read, “For by it (faith) the people of old received their commendation.”  These people of old, Old Testament men and women, were commended by God for their faith, they received a good report, were approved by God to be witnesses to real true faith that pleases Him. So again, the question is, do all of these81% of people who state that they believe in God have a faith that God commends? 

Now understand what he’s saying. They didn’t receive their commendation because they had faith. They received their commendation because their faith was in God.  Christians are not different because they live by faith. Christians are different because of the object of their faith. Everyone lives by faith, it’s impossible not to do so. Everyone hooks their life to something. Everybody lives by some set of convictions somehow, someway.  Everybody hopes in something, everybody longs, searches, looks for something that will get them up in the morning. Something that it’s worth living for, something that they can give their lives to.  So, what does it mean to believe in the existence of God? What is faith that God approves of?  “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” 2 Corinthians‬ 13‬:5‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Acts 17:16-31

• Paul was not all at all content with the general nebulous religiosity, God orientation, if you would, of the people of the culture of Athens, 
• This culture was very much like our culture, populated by people who had some kind of general belief in God. (Acts 17:22-23)
• Paul says, “No, this God has revealed Himself and in order to actually believe in God, there are some essential things about God that you must believe in. 

Believe in God as Creator.

Look at verse 24 and 26, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,” Acts‬ 17‬:24‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,” Acts‬ 17‬:26‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

You must first in order to be exercising true Biblical faith believe in God as creator.  You could argue that the most foundational doctrine of all is the doctrine of creation. Perhaps the five most important words in all of scripture are the first five words of the Bible, “In the beginning God created…” Because if God created the world, everything in life immediately changes.  Iif God created this world, by the very nature of that act, this world is His. This world belongs to Him. This world is His possession for His using. There’s nothing that exist wherever it exists whenever it exists, that does not belong to God. Every aspect, every dimension, every situation, every location, is the result of His creative glory and belongs to Him. 

But that’s not even enough to say.  You must say, “If God is the Creator than I am His creature.” That means you were born belonging to another. Your life has never belonged to you. Your mentality your emotionality, your personality, your gifts do not belong to you, all of those were created by another, they are His possession for His using. Bad, terrible, sad things happen when we begin to take life as our own. When we forget that God is creator, and we take life as our own we do inhumane things to one another as a result, we use people, we hurt people, we neglect people, we’re unmerciful to people because we think it’s all about us. 

True faith believes in God as Creator; and if God is Creator that means I am His creature.

Believe in God as sovereign.

• Acts 17:24-26
• Not only must you believe in God as Creator, but you must also believe in Him as Lord, the sovereignty of God, the providence of God. 
• Your world is a world not run by fate or chance. It’s not like a clock that was wound up and is ticking its way as designed. 
• The world is ruled personally and specifically by God. 
• Now this passage gets very specific. It says that God determines the exact place where you will live and the exact length of your days. 
• God is not somehow just generally sovereign over the general events of His general world.  He is intimately and personally ruling the very details of your life. 
• We like to think that we have more control than we actually have; but the goal of life is not to devise a plan for your life. The goal of your life is not to try to craft sovereignty over your situations and relationships and locations. 
• The goal of life is to live obediently and to rest in the sovereign will of the Lord of lords and King of kings and to know with deep rest in your heart His will will be done.
• That’s why true Biblical faith is the only solution to fear because true Biblical faith gives you the only place where rest can ever be found. Rest is found in the careful, wise, holy, gracious, loving, wise sovereignty of the Lord of lords and King of Kings. 

Believe in God as Savior.

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Acts‬ 17‬:30‬-31‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Paul’s discussion of the nature of God leads to a call to repentance and leads to a discussion of the resurrection.  God is our Savior, and the minute those those words come out of your mouth, you have to immediately confess the fact that you are a person in need of saving. You cannot talk about God as Savior without acknowledging we are not okay; we need the grace of His forgiveness.  We need the power of His deliverance because inside of us is something we can’t independently solve; we can’t independently lick, we need rescue.

Believing God exists is never just intellectual.

• What we’re confronted with immediately, is that intellectual faith is not enough. 
• “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” Acts‬ 17‬:26‬-27‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews‬ 11‬:6‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• Notice what he says, “He rewards those who seek Him.”  Seek is an active term. 
• And so true faith is never simply an intellectual thing. It can never be just academic, or mental. The study of Scripture and the study of theology must always be a means to an end. True Biblical faith is not something you just do with your mind. It must engage your mind, of course. But true Biblical faith is lived. 
• Faith is a radical new way of living, propelled by a deep, consistent and perseverant belief in the existence of God and in light of His promises. 
• “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews‬ 4‬:16‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• It’s a lifestyle that continually seeks God’s help, seeks God’s presence, continually goes to the throne of grace to get the help we so desperately need. 
• Biblical faith is a life that’s shaped, rooted, and controlled by a deep belief in God as creator and me as His creation; God as sovereign and me living and resting in His control; God as Savior and me as a sinner in need of His saving. That results in a functional life of worship, obedience and endurance. 
• Now, what that means is although we live in what is still a religious culture with people who would say that they believe in God, much of what is being exercised out there, and maybe even in the church is not true biblical faith, it’s religiosity. 
• True Biblical faith that God approves is a lifestyle that says, “God is creator, God is sovereign, and God is Savior, and my life is rooted in Him.”