What is Faith?

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,

the conviction of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1-3; 8-16    Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6                                   Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                                                  August 8, 2004

What is faith? If you were asked to give a definition, what would you say? We’re going to explore this topic this morning, including some biblical and theological definitions.

But before we get to that, perhaps the most important point to get across in this sermon is that faith, like God, is mysterious. One thing we can be sure of: if we think we have God and faith all figured out, then we’re deceiving ourselves. That being said, we still need to get a foothold into what we understand faith to be, especially as Presbyterians. So let me begin with a quote from Presbyterian author Fredrick Buechner:

Faith is better understood as a verb, than a noun, as a process than as a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once and for all. Faith is not being sure of where you’re going, but going anyway. A journey without maps. And theologian Paul Tillich said that doubt isn’t the opposite of faith, it is an element of faith.

Another great 20th century theologian, Karl Barth, was adamant about making the distinction between organized religion and faith. Religion, he said, is humanity’s search for God, which always results in our finding a god that we want to find. Barth, therefore, had deep reservations and criticisms directed toward the Christian religions. Perhaps his was a message we need to hear afresh in our day and age of rampant religious fundamentalism.

What is at the very heart of Christianity, then, is not belief in religious doctrines (that’s a church thing), but faith in God.

As for an actual definition of faith, I would suspect that for most of us faith is something more we experience than something we can describe in words. The various authors of the books of the Bible recognized this as well, including the author of the passage we read this morning from Hebrews 11. He uses stories of peoples’ lives to illustrate what faith is, like the life of Abraham and Sarah, as we heard in both Scripture lessons this morning.

Before we get into the author of Hebrew’s classic definition of faith, I need to back up just a bit to put this passage and the entire book into its historical context. Unlike the Apostle Paul’s letters to the various churches he founded (like Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Thessalonians, etc.), we do not know who the author of Hebrews is, nor do we know to whom it was written. Like all New Testament books in the Bible, it didn’t come with a title. The name, “The Letter to the Hebrews” was given to this book after the fact because of it’s content, which indicated that it was written to Christians who were originally Jewish. Scholars believe this is the case because it makes so many references to the Old Testament – the Jewish Bible. And unlike the grammatical form and literary style of a letter, biblical scholars believe that Hebrews is really an extended sermon. Knowing that influences how this book should be interpreted.

Perhaps most important to its interpretation are clues in the book itself as to the audiences current situation. And like with every book of the Bible, perhaps we can find some parallels with our own situation.

The audience, a congregation whose members were of the church’s “second generation,” was experiencing persecution. Most likely they had become disappointed that God’s promised kingdom (with the return of Jesus) had not yet come. Some members may even have begun to abandon the community of faith. The author confronts this situation with a combination of exhortations to be faithful and warnings not to fall away.

In other words, the congregation to which this sermon was written is exhausted and a bit disillusioned. Church attendance is down and they are losing confidence. The threat to this congregation is not that they are charging off in the wrong direction, for they don’t have the energy to charge off anywhere! The threat is that, worn down and worn out, they are going to just drop out of existence.

The overall purpose of the author of Hebrews was to forcefully argue that through Christ, faithful Christians have direct access to God. The text urges the faithful, confident of their covenant relationship with God, to follow Christ’s example and live as he did: faithful, hopeful, loving, and patient in the face of persecution and obstacles. That message of encouragement, then, is indeed as relevant to this congregation as it was to that ancient one.

I think we’re ready, now, to look at the words in Hebrews 11:1, the most famous passage in this book. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." The Contemporary English Version translates it this way, “Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.” The Jerusalem Bible states, “Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen.”

While we might debate what these statements actually meant in their original context, it seems clear, according to the author of Hebrews, faith and hope cannot be separated. Faith and hope, by their very nature, are mutually supportive.

Notice how faith ISN’T defined in this biblical context. Faith is not a blind submission to church teachings, nor is it an adherence to a set of religious beliefs and practices. Even the Apostles Creed begins not with “I believe that God is the Father Almighty,” but rather, “I believe in God.” There is a big difference!

Yet another early 20th century theologian and existentialist, Soren Kierkegaard, said that faith does not mean the believing of doctrines that cannot be proved; it means the giving or commitment of one’s whole life. Faith, when understood this way, is less an intellectual exercise and more a heart exercise. It is what puts our beliefs into action – the ethical component to being a disciple of Jesus. For true faith always expresses itself naturally and unpretentiously in the love and service of God and neighbor. Faith, therefore, is not only personally renewing, it is also world transforming.

Yet ultimately, for the congregation to which Hebrews was written, and for us here today, faith is about the confidence to persevere and go on. It’s not the assurance of a particular destination, it’s the assurance that God is with us in our journey.

This is the point the author makes when he relates the example of the faith of Abraham and Sarah. As we learn in the original story itself from the book of Genesis, Abraham was willing to set out for a land which God promises him, even though he had no idea what or where it was. This act of faith is defined by courage and risk. Faith in God, in this instance, meant change and movement. Moving from where one is comfortable and familiar to uncharted and unfamiliar territory.

Do you suppose Abraham and Sarah had doubts along the way in their journey – undoubtedly! Having doubts didn’t mean they didn’t have faith in God. Their faith gave them assurances of what they hoped for, it gave them conviction of those things they could not yet see. Another theologian puts it this way, “Faith thus becomes a confident wandering.”

Like Abraham and Sarah, does it not seem that we are always being nudged to move on to new horizons? Like Abraham and Sarah, are we not also being called by God to venture into the unknown? This congregation has a long history of this kind of wandering journey into the new and unknown. We recognize that while our ministry decisions have involved risk and uncertainty, we also trust that we are heading in the direction God is leading us.

Abraham and Sarah never knew where the road of life would take them, but they believed that God was present and active in their lives. Their story reveals to us that faith is to be found in our response to the journey, not in the arrival at a particular destination. Our faithfulness is determined in the relationship revealed in our assurance of God’s call, not in the assurance of where we’re going to end up.

Well, if all this talk about us moving into the unknown may sound a bit cryptic, I do so intentionally at this point. If you are not already aware, we are discerning that God is again asking us, as a congregation, to perhaps pull up the tent stakes of the familiar and comfortable and move to where God may be calling us to follow. There will be more about this at our Congregational Meeting in two weeks on August 22.

The point of this sermon, much like the author of Hebrews’ sermon to that ancient, exhausted congregation, is to provide encouragement, hope and confidence in our covenant relationship with God. Faith is about the confidence to persevere and to go on.

It is my hope that this biblical message will strengthen our faith: our assurance of the things we hope for, and our conviction in the things which are yet unseen at this point. And in this discernment process, let us follow Christ’s example and live as he did: faithful, hopeful, loving, and patient in the face of all obstacles.

Amen.