Slices
Prepare
Who is a man or woman of faith whom you admire, and why?
Bible passage
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched round them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated – 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Explore
Two kilometres of sidewalk, embedded with more than 2,500 brass-rimmed stars, makes up the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’. Its objective is to ‘maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamour and excitement in the four corners of the world’.*
Hebrews 11 is our ‘Walk of Faith’! Yet, despite showcasing headline-makers like Noah, Abraham, Moses (vs 7–12,24–28), along with many anonymous (vs 29,30) and unlikely heroes (v 31), the victories it celebrates are not always visible. Alongside reports of glorious conquests (vs 32–35a) are records of crushing defeats (vs 35b–38).
But faith is ‘assurance about what we do not see’ (11:1b). The phrase ‘by faith’ recurs 21 times in this chapter. Inclusion in the ‘Walk of Faith’ isn’t dependent on daring feats, but on dauntless faith. By faith, Moses chose shame (v 25) over fame (v 24); his decisions were based on a different set of values (v 26) because by faith he cherished in his heart a vision that hadn’t yet been made visible (v 27). The heroes of Hebrews 11 may not have savoured ‘glamour and excitement in the four corners of the world,’ but they inherit greater, longer-lasting glory in God’s coming kingdom (v 40).
*http://www.walkoffame.com/pages/history
Respond
How will you live ‘by faith’? What might be written about you as you take your place in God’s ‘Walk of Faith’?
Deeper Bible study
I murmur or sing an adaptation of Michael Frye’s song: ‘Jesus be the centre; be my source, my light, my hope, my song.’1 And he will…
I give thanks and fortify my soul with these wonderful stories in the second half of Hebrews 11, starting with Moses’ parents, majoring on Moses himself, including the prostitute Rahab, mentioning by name six prominent Old Testament leaders and then turning into a kaleidoscope of men and women of faith, some of whom ‘gained what was promised’ (v 33) with amazing miracles and victories, and unnumbered others who, apparently, did not receive what had been promised (vs 13,39), whose epitaph is ‘destitute, persecuted and ill-treated’ (v 37). These men and women were not perfect, but they persevered in hopeful trust. The Vietnamese martyr Paul Le-Bao-Tinh (who died in 1857) wrote to his friends from the midst of a concentration camp with manacles, torture and solitary confinement that he had ‘thrown his anchor within the veil, to the very throne of God (Heb 6:19)’. I pray today for persecuted Christians, named and unnamed, of whom the world is not worthy, that they – and I – may persevere in hopeful trust.
Jesus Christ is named only once in this chapter (v 26) but is everywhere present; and of course the climax of the writer’s exhortation lies in 12:1–3. The noun ‘faith’ occurs very infrequently in the Old Testament – but ‘hopeful trust’ is everywhere present, ‘faith’ being an activity, living a life of trusting God’s promises, because he will do everything he has said. Hopeful trust is threatened by two opposite dangers: despair, which amputates the pilgrim’s feet and shuts the door between him/her and God; and presumption, which is faulty overconfidence, forgetting that there is a ‘not yet’ in faith.2 A lot of prayer is focused on fear, anxiety, apprehensiveness. There is a true, godly fear, but today I conclude my meditation with a prayer of affirmation and hopeful trust:
‘In the multitude of your mercies, the greatness of your grace, and the power of your presence, I am being made whole in the likeness of Christ.’3
1 Michael Frye, ‘Jesus, be the Centre’, © 1999 Vineyard Songs 2 Josef Pieper, Fortitude and Temperance, Faber & Faber, 1955 3 Robert Warren, An Affair of the Heart, Highland Books, 1994, p80
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Kings 18,19; 1 Corinthians 16
Pray for Scripture Union
This week we shall focus on the work of the South East region who have a vision to see children, young people and whole communities transformed through sports ministry across the city of London. Pray that churches will be encouraged to use sport as an evangelistic tool.
