What is your reality?

A core message of the book of Hebrews

Intro: The principle of Faith

• Story of Christians at that time
• Hebrews 11:1-3
  1. Now faith is the celebration of what we hope for, the certainty of what we do not see.
  2. For by it the people of old were commended by God.
  3. By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.
  • certainty
  • celebration (my translation to capture the idea in the original)
  • invisible world
• Summary:
  • If you have a firm hold of the true reality (by means of faith)
    1. it will change what you value in this life
    2. you will have a different attitude to your problems
    3. you will have joy and hope for the future

1. The true Reality

• Describe our reality, the nature of our hope

2. Reasons for setting our eyes on the true reality

Abraham

• lived 4000 years ago in a prosperous city called Ur, (near modern-day Kuwait)
  • God told him one day to leave his home and to set off on a journey
  • He was to spend his whole life, travelling around, living in tents
  • He would have no home, because God had promised him a future home
• read 11:8-10
  8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going.
  9. By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise.
  10. For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
• There were two realities for Abraham:
  • Earthly reality
    • No home, living in a tent
    • no children
    • destined to die wandering around Palestine
  • Were those three things true?
  • Spiritual reality
    • God was preparing an eternal home for him
    • He was going to have children as numerous as the sand on the seashore
    • He had a destiny as one of the great figures of history
• Both realities were true
• Now which reality do you think was most real for Abraham?

Israel in the Wilderness

• Hebrews 3 gives an contrasting example of the Israelites crossing the wilderness
  • Earthly reality
    • They had left all their comforts in Egypt and were living in tents
    • The same food every day, and they were getting fed up with it
    • They often ran out of water
    • The land they were supposed to be going to was populated by large, well-armed forces
  • All true
  • Spiritual reality
    • They were promised great comfort and wealth in the future
    • They didn’t have to worry about food, drink or clothing
    • They would easily be able to defeat their enemies
• Both realities were true
• Now which reality do you think was most real for almost all the Israelites?

George Müller

• Ran an orphanage in Bristol, England
• Many times, events such as the following happened:
  • They had hundreds of children to feed and no milk at breakfast
  • There was no money to buy milk
  • Müller gave thanks for the meal, knowing there was no meal
• Spiritual reality
  • God has promised to be a father to the fatherless
  • he had never let George Müller down yet
• Which do you think he believed?
  • there was a knock on the door
  • a vehicle full of milk bottles had broken down outside their building

Gladys Aylward (the little woman)

• a poor servant girl in England
  • Spiritual reality
    • felt that God had called her to be a missionary to China
  • Earthly reality
    • no missionary society would accept her because she wasn’t educated enough
    • had very little money

A poor widow in the temple in the time of Jesus Mark 12:42-44

• Earthly: very poor, this money is all she has for food
• Spiritual: God has say he will honour those who honour him
• The earthly reality will end
  • This reality will be shaken 12:26-28 (Click on any underlined Scripture references to take you to the verses)

3. Results: Heb 12:12-13, 14

• Do not give up or become sluggish but endure 6:11-12; 10:23, 34-36; 12:1,3
• Love to one another 10:24; 12:12-14; 13:1-3
• celebrate 11:1

4. Route to this reality

• Jesus enables us 12:1-3
  • Eyes fixed on him
  • Jesus the pioneer
  • rest in him 4:1-11
  • he is the compassionate High Priest 5:2-3
• Set your mind on the promises 6:17-19; 9:11,15; 10:34-36; 13:14
• Meeting together regularly 10:25
• certainty 6:17-18
• security 13:5,6
• sense of perspective Douglas Adams

So what is your reality?

• Is life hard at the moment? —don’t give up!
• Are you having trouble with relationships? —put it in perspective!
• Need more money to make ends meet?
• anxious —what is the very worst that could happen? (die and go to heaven)
  • anxiety—worst case
• We measure ourselves and make performance goals for ourselves that God has not made for us —other people
• It is all about getting the right perspective

Andrew Fountain, 2007   Back to loveintruth.com/teaching