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Teaching Outline Week 34
The Joy in Responsibility
(An In-Depth Study of Hebrews)
Commentary
Run the Race of the Faithful
Hebrews 12:1-2
Outline
My youngest child turned thirty last week. This milestone gave me reason for reflection. My thoughts focused on how quickly thirty years can pass; in the blink of an eye. Memories flooded in of one adventure after another with this son of mine. He never sits still. From the time he could crawl he drags me along on almost every adventure. It was, and is, a great way to live. However, I found myself thinking about how old I have become. Suddenly the adventurous memories made me grow weary. I began to justify slowing down a bit. By the time this reasoning had reached its apex, I was semi-retired and coasting.
I nearly got away with it until I came to Hebrews chapter 12. Our author’s words, “let us RUN!” shattered my portrait of relaxing in the recliner. Our cultural view of a successful life is a short sprint culminated by years of ease discussing the glory days. The author of Hebrews, on the other hand, views the life of faith as an enduring marathon.
With 11 chapters under our belt, we now see that this letter is addressed to a church that is most likely getting old and allured into retirement. Our author’s warnings are those that would confront any Christian more concerned with recliners and rest than the Gospel. Chapter 12 opens with the reason we have just studied the life of so many Old Testament saints. The main point of this chapter is one command…RUN! Everything else supports, explains, and gives motivation for it. Run the race set before you. Don’t coast, don’t stroll, and don’t wander about aimlessly. Run as in a race with a finish line and with everything hanging on it.
Let’s Run! (vs 1)
Things to lay aside (to help us run)
Sin
Encumbrances
We have motivation
Cloud of witnesses (vs 1)
Race is waiting on you (vs 11:39-40)
Jesus is for us (vs 2)
Author/Perfector of faith
Joy!
LIFE APPLICAION
The lowest form of question in the life of faith:
“Is it a sin?”
The highest form of question in the life of faith:
“Does it help me run?”
A Marathon is only successfully run with a plan
The Joy in Responsibility Week 33 (Audio and Video)
Tonight’s Study – The Life of Faith
Let’s face it, our external circumstances often determine how we feel about God and how we perceive God feels about us. Tonight we study the closing verses of Hebrews chapter 11. The picture painted in these verses is of our God and how he works in the lives of his faith-filled and loved people. This look at who our God is and how he works in our lives is as valuable as any practical understanding can be. This passage is tremendously important at shedding light on what faith is and what kind of life it guarantees.
If you have ever felt that God was happy with your performance because life was good or God was dissatisfied because life was hard and getting harder, then this study is for you. Hope to see you tonight at 6:00PM Arizona time (7:00PM Mountain; 9:00PM Eastern).
Here’s the link to the GoToMeeting session if you want to participate online…
Teaching Outline Week 33
The Joy in Responsibility
(An In-Depth Study of Hebrews)
Commentary
Faithful Love of God
Hebrews 11:29-40
Outline
It would be easy to get lost in the number of names of Old Testament saints that pepper the final thoughts of the author of Hebrews as we come to the closing verses of chapter 11. I believe it would be a mistake to focus too closely on each person of faith mentioned even though their stories unfold in thrilling fashion. Instead, I feel our author is making a much needed point at a level much higher than any one individual mentioned.
The picture painted in these verses is of our God and how he works in the lives of his faith-filled and loved people. This look at who our God is and how he works in our lives is as valuable as any practical understanding can be. This passage is tremendously important at shedding light on what faith is and what kind of life it guarantees.
I see these final verses as icing on the cake. I also see them as a crushing blow to the corrupt thinking that if you have enough faith you would be healthy and wealthy. Our author wants us to know that despite our external circumstances, the faith-filled heart is loved by God, approved by God, and ultimately rewarded by God.
God provides escape from suffering (vs 29-35a)
By faith we see:
Miracles and Deliverance
Amazing Efforts and Victory
God does NOT provide escape from suffering (vs 35b-38)
By faith we see:
Killed by stoning
Killed by being sawn in two alive
Example from Acts chapter 12:
James is killed
Peter is set free
Having faith is not the ultimate factor in whether you live or die; God is!
The Faith-filled believer NEVER need think:
I’m dying because my faith is lacking…
The Faith-filled believer always knows:
To live is Christ, to die is gain! (Phil. 1:21)
LIFE APPLICATION
God rewards ALL people of faith
People of faith are a gift to the world
The Joy in Responsibility Week 32 (Audio and Video)
Teaching Outline Week 32
The Joy in Responsibility
(An In-Depth Study of Hebrews)
Commentary
Faith’s Journey
Hebrews 11:23-28
Outline
Moses takes center stage as our text spotlights a large portion of his life. It begins with his birth and moves forward through his life until it comes to rest at the Passover during the exodus. Surveying the first 23 verses of chapter 11, one can easily see that Moses and Abraham hold the most prominent places in the roll of faith; and the central event of both their lives, as Hebrews presents them, is a journey. The author of Hebrews doesn’t attempt to show these heroes of the faith in a single snapshot. The reason our author unfolds this view of the faithful by looking at life’s journey should now be obvious. Our faith has many aspects. Studying the life of faith cannot be done with sweeping generalizations.
The role of faith in life’s journey… justification by faith alone, working out our salvation, bearing fruit in the Spirit, resting in the promises, and looking forward to the reward for our works, is the beautiful panoramic picture painted by chapter 11. Even though the aspects of faith in chapter 11 are many and diverse, they fit together like hand in glove and are by no means contradictory. If you take any one of them and treat it as the whole picture, you will be lead astray. Tonight we continue our journey as students of this full, grand, and glorious truth.
How HOPE and FAITH work:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The Picture: Faith in Crisis
Kill the baby boys
Disobey and you die
Life Risking Faith (vs 23)
Faith delivers from fear
The future provides all our satisfaction (Assurance of things hoped for)
Value placing Faith (vs 27)
Enduring the chosen path of life
Looking for reward
LIFE APPLICATION
Faith is a desire for God that burns bridges to sin, fear, and comfort
Faith is reflected in loving what God loves in the power of the Spirit
The Joy in Responsibility Week 31 (Audio and Video)
Teaching Outline Week 31
The Joy in Responsibility
(An In-Depth Study of Hebrews)
Commentary
Faith’s Foundation
Hebrews 11:13-22
Outline
The author of Hebrews breaks with examples of the faithful to once again drive home the idea of the nature of our faith. In verses 13- 16 we see the inner life of faith. It is clear that faith has no foundation in doing, but is founded only in our being.
Two key words used in these first four verses are seeking and desiring. The life of genuine faith is not deterred by looking to the future for the fulfillment of the promises. As a matter of fact, the life of genuine faith considers this time of life to be that of sojourn. Primarily, this week we explore what it is to live a life of faith that accords so with God that he states that “he is not ashamed to be called our God”.
The Inner Life of Faith (vs 13-16)
What is it to die well?
To die according to faith.
Abraham as an example:
Seeking another country (vs 14)
Ur is no longer an option (vs 15)
His desire is for a better country (vs 16)
God is not ashamed of those who:
Desire the better country
The one He prepared for you
Great Act of Faith (vs 17-19)
Abraham offered his only son by faith (vs 17)
Sometimes obedience seems like the end of a dream (vs 18)
It was settled in Abraham’s inner being, not outward act. (vs 19)
By Faith, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (vs 20-22)
They all lived as sojourners
They all trusted in the promises
LIFE APPLICATION:
Faith is fundamentally a fight for DESIRE
DESIRE for God is the only way to declare His greatness
A Balanced Life
About 400 years ago Galileo conducted an experiment with remarkable results. According to the NASA website, the remarkable observation that all free falling objects fall with the same acceleration was first proposed by Galileo Galilei after he conducted experiments using a ball on an inclined plane to determine the relationship between the time and distance traveled. He found that the distance depended on the square of the time and that the velocity increased as the ball moved down the incline. The relationship was the same regardless of the mass of the ball used in the experiment. Simply stated, all free falling objects accelerate at the same rate. An object that falls in a vacuum is subject to only one force, gravity.
If a Christian makes a ball out of the major life categories, they end up with at least four balls to juggle. Mine would be family, work, community, and personal. As I juggle these four balls it is easy to see that some are larger and weigh more than others. The work ball is much larger and heavier than the community ball. I sometimes feel guilty having to spend much more effort and time keeping the work ball in the air than the rest. My guilt attempts to balance this juggling act. I attempt resizing the balls. It doesn’t work. The work ball is always the largest despite my best efforts. This frustrates me to the point of walking away from this juggling act until I realize that all the balls, despite their size and mass, are subject to one force; the Gospel.
If I believe the Bible, I must believe that all of life is all for the Gospel. If family, work, community, and personal time is accelerated by one force, namely the Gospel, then they are all in balance despite their size and weight. My life can never be balanced by resizing the balls. It can only be balanced by applying one single force toward all the balls…The Gospel.
One last thought…notice I don’t have a God ball in my juggling act. I don’t have one because there is no such thing if ALL of life is the Gospel. Besides, if there was a God ball it would be too large and too heavy to juggle.
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