Miss Jones had the distinction of being the oldest resident in a small Midwest town. When she died, the funeral director wanted to publish an obituary in the local paper. Except he couldn’t find anything to write about her. Miss Jones had never had a public record. Never married nor had any children. Neither had she accomplished anything significant in life.
So, the funeral director met with the editor of the local paper at the café. He explained that he was having trouble writing her obituary and he couldn’t think of anything to write.
The editor told the funeral director that he would take care of writing and publishing the article. While he was returning to his office, he decided to assign the job of writing the obituary to the first reporter that he saw. When he arrived the first person that he met was the sports editor, who got the assignment.This was the result:
Notice the death of Nancy Jones,
For her life held no terrors.
She lived an old maid. She died an old maid.
No hits, no runs, no errors. (C. C. Mitchell, Let’s Live!)
The point; that might be the way a Christian could live their life. They’ve not done anything wrong in life, but they also do not accomplish anything significant for the Lord.
Peter Marshal, a former Chaplain of the United States Senate, once said: “Christians are like deep-sea divers encased in suits designed for many fathoms, but they bravely march forth to pull the plugs out of bathtubs.”
Every believer is able and equipped by God for what He called them to. A believer in Christ should want to trust God by living boldly by faith. And the Bible encourages us to have faith and live for God’s glory and purpose.
How are believers to live boldly by faith? In Hebrews chapter 11 records examples of believers who lived by faith for God.
Hebrews 11:23 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.”
LIVING BOLDLY BY FAITH MEANS WE WILL FEAR GOD MORE THAN WE FEAR ANYBODY ELSE.
Pharaoh made a decree that every new-born Hebrew boy was to be thrown into the river (Exodus 1:22). Yet, when Moses was born, his parents refused to obey. They hid baby Moses for three months, because they feared God more than any person.They honored the Lord, and they had the courage to do what was right.
That’s what faith is all about, by faith we should set our focus on honoring God. And by faith, we need to be bold, and obey God.
What an encouragement Moses’ parents are for those who are trying to raise a family in our secular culture. God blessed the faith of Moses’ parents. Their faith, their prayers, their bravery, and their creativity were used to raise Moses.
Eric Metaxas recently wrote a book describing how the birth control of the Romans allowed for expansion of the gospel. In Roman households, the father of the family was known as the paterfamilias. They made the decision about life and death. After a girl was born in many Roman house-holds they were subjected to what was called exposure, left outside to the elements and animals, and abandoned. This was because the society desired warriors and heirs. In many cases it was a poor Christian family that would find and adopt these girls and raise them. And when there was a shortage of eligible maidens to marry. These Christian families required men to go to church in order to marry their daughters. And this had a great influence on the spread of the gospel.
Back to Hebrews, the lesson Moses’ parents made for us is that living boldly by faith means believers can live in their culture. But a believer must refuse to be identified with the godless spirit of the age.
By faith, we must be bold to obey God. By faith, we need to have the courage to do what’s right even if the whole world is doing what’s wrong.
LIVING BOLDLY BY FAITH MEANS WE MUST TAKE A STAND FOR CHRIST IN THE WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE DAY IN AND DAY OUT.
Hebrews 11:24-27 “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”
The lesson we learn from Moses is that in bold faith we need to turn away from the worlds passing pleasures. Living boldly by faith, means you might face criticism and mistreatment.
Moses could have had it all. After all, he was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Unimaginable wealth and power awaited him in Egypt, but he forsook it all to be mistreated with the people of God. Why? In verse 26, God’s Word says “he was looking ahead to his reward.” This statement takes us back to verse 1, “faith is the substance of things hoped for.”
By faith, Moses rejected Egypt, and by faith, you can do the same thing, as well. By faith, you can forsake anything this world has to offer for a closer walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul wrote: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” – Romans 8:18
Ken Elzinga joined the faculty of the University of Virginia. A tenured colleague warned him that being explicit about his faith would hinder his career. After that, Elzinga was stunned to see a flier with his face on it placed at a prominent campus location. A campus ministry had posted it to advertise a talk he had agreed to give.
At the time, Elzinga was a believer, and he worried about what his colleagues would think of him. Might this harm his chances for tenure? He agonized over what he should do, returned to campus that night and secretly took the poster down. But the next morning, Elzinga put the poster back up. After hours of soul-searching, he concluded that his life was not about career ambition, but about faithful discipleship, and that being private about his faith was not an option.
Since then, Elzinga has been named professor of the year multiple times and is asked to speak more often than he can. He will be the first to say that serving only one master has been liberating. Why? Because pleasing an audience of one makes [you] less anxious, less sensitive to criticism, and more courageous… [You] become more secure and compete less for
[your]honor. (Alec Hill, “The Most Troubling Parable,” Christianity Today, July/August 2014; www.PreachingToday.com)
In verse 27, we read that Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Living this way is not extraordinary, rather it is ordinary, normal Christianity. Christianity is supernatural, and it is to be lived supernaturally.
LIVING BOLDLY BY FAITH, MEANS TO CHOOSE TO BELIEVE GOD ENOUGH TO OBEY HIM.
This lesson shows us that by faith, we need to trust GOD enough to do what He says. That’s what Moses did.
Hebrews 11:28 “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.”
While Moses was still in Egypt, God told the Israelites to sprinkle the blood of a lamb on the posts of their doorways. The death angel was about to come and kill every firstborn male in every house in Egypt, but anyone who was under the blood of the lamb would be spared. So that’s what Israel did in obedience to God. They by faith place the blood of a lamb overhead on their door post, and God delivered them from death; God also delivered them out from Egypt.
1500 years later, God Himself sprinkled the blood of His Lamb on two wooden posts. Those posts formed a cross on which Jesus died in our place so we wouldn’t have to. Jesus was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” -John 1:29.
Today, it is by faith, we look back at the cross. By faith, we depend on what Jesus did for us there, He shed His blood and the cross so we can have deliverance not only from death, but also from this world’s grip.
The point is that Moses and the Israelites so believed God that they obeyed God and did precisely as they were told.
LIVING BOLDLY BY FAITH MEANS TO BELIEVE IN GOD LIKE THE ISRAELITES DID AND FOLLOW HIM.
Hebrews 11:29 “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.”
In Exodus 14 records that Moses raised his staff, God divided the waters, and Israel went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
Through the blood of a lamb, God delivered Israel from death and from Egypt and Pharaoh, who had enslaved them for nearly 400 years. But Pharaoh changed his mind and came after them with his army.
That’s when Israel was backed right up to the Red Sea. There was a mountain to the right, a mountain to the left, and the Egyptian army was closing off any way of escape. Then God told them, “Cross through the sea,” and that’s exactly what they did!
By faith, do what God asks you to do even if it seems improbable or impossible.
Hebrews 11:30 “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.”
God told them to march around the city once a day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day. It sounds like a silly idea, but they did it, because they believed God, and God brought the walls down!
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By faith the walls fell after the people had marched. The key to the fall of Jericho is understanding the faith of Joshua and the people. It was one of the greatest acts of corporate faith.
Our lesson is that a life of living boldly by faith is evidenced by a life of obedience to God’s Word.
- Living boldly by faith means obeying God and His Word.
- Living boldly by faith means looking ahead to eternal rewards.
- Living boldly by faith means following God in a fallen world.
And finally,
LIVING BOLDLY BY FAITH MEANS WE MUST RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD.
It’s most significant that the final person we look at today is a woman, a Gentile and a prostitute. Rahab’s faith is given as an example for all who desire to have faith – especially those who know they are sinners and deep down want to please God.
By faith secure salvation for your own soul. Be rescued from certain judgment. That’s what Rahab, the prostitute, did.
Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”
All of us stand in Rahab’s place in front of a holy God. And many of us are worse, because she had little knowledge. We must at least be as wise as Rahab, who though she understood little, did understand that she was under God’s judgement and sought to be rescued.
Her background, her sin, her social status did not matter.By faith anyone can come to God.
The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
By faith, obey God, by faith, look to eternal rewards and by faith, follow the Lord; and most of all, by faith, find salvation for your own soul.
To sum it all up: By faith, we can boldly do what others cannot do and live a life pleasing to God.
On September 28, 1882 the Worcester Ruby Legs from Massachusetts played the Troy Trojans from New York in a pro baseball game. It was a famous game in pro baseball history because it set a record for the lowest number of fans in the stands. Six people watched the Trojans trounce the Ruby Legs 4-1.
That record stood for almost 133 years. Then on Aril 29, 2015, the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox played their game in front of empty seats. Zero fans. That was during the recent race riots in Baltimore, which became very dangerous. So, they decided to play the game without a crowd, avoiding the risk of riots spilling into the stadium. Here’s how an Associated Press article reported one incident from the fan-less game:
Chris Davis might have hit the quietest home run for the home team in Orioles history. As the slugger pounded the ball deep onto Eutaw Street, just a few feet from where fans normally would have sprinted after a chance to catch a souvenir, there was almost nothing to hear. The only muffled cheers came from a pocket of die-hards locked out of Camden Yards yelling “Let’s Go O’s!”
On this day, 30,000 Orioles fans had been muted. The wild applause had been silenced. There were no fans to stand for a standing ovation. Just Davis’ teammates in the dugout coming over for high-fives. “When you’re rounding the bases, and the only cheers you hear were from outside the stadium,” he said, “it’s a weird feeling.” (Dan Gelston, “Orioles-White Sox game with no fans believed to be the first,” San Jose Mercury News, 4-29-15; www.PreachingToday.com)
Sometimes, living by faith for the Lord is like playing in an empty stadium. There are not a whole lot of people to cheer you on, maybe a few of your “teammates”, but that’s about all.
However, by faith, we need to do our best, because we don’t live for the applause of people in this world; we do right because we know Jesus is glorified and there will be rewards in heaven. And more importantly by faith, you can be loved by God no matter who you are!
Our challenge from their example is to go and boldly live by faith because we have a great and awesome God.