Grow Strong in God’s Grace – Wk 9
Grow Strong in God’s Grace: Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
The Faith that Pleases God
Hebrews 11:4-6 (NAS95)
God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created and entrusted us to work in as His Harvest workers! All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers. Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by cultivating people with faith, sowing the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds, caring for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants, and reaping a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ. This is the strategy of a faithful farmer for God’s harvest, powered by the Holy Spirit!
Harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace by walking through these four steps of this strategy. Let’s take the first step by walking through the Hall of Faith, learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.
STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH
Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1-2, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men [and women] of old gained approval.” Today’s passage from Hebrews 11:4-6 builds upon this definition, while illustrating it with the first two transforming stories from which we are going to learn how to grow strong in God’s grace:
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Just like you and me, today, the “men [and women] of old” were real people – Abel and Enoch were real men, with real faith, in real history, and even their stories began with faith. But just like with them, we can’t remain at the starting point of our story, we must take the next step of faith. Faith is what made these men’s great; they are not great in and of themselves! The Bible never exalts men and women; rather, the Bible glorifies the God who uplifts men and women through the gift of faith to be used for His divine purposes. Today, you are invited to have faith like Abel and Enoch, so that you, too, can take the next steps in your faith life “to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is rewarder of those who seek Him.”
STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE
Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible – the kingdom of Heaven on Earth! God’s grace at work in our lives sows the assurance that God can and will do that which God promises to do! Let’s see how that worked with Abel. Hebrews 11:4 teaches, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” I love this testimony: “Through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Wow! Abel’s transforming story continues to proclaim the importance of offering God right sacrifices, as seen in Genesis 4:1-8:
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Both his life and testimony were cut short, literally, by his older brother Cain. Abel did nothing to deserve death. Cain became jealous because Abel’s offering was accepted by God, and his was not. From the beginning of the human saga, we see the curse of sin deeply rooted in the human condition, but we also find the seed of faith to choose a different path – God’s grace illuminates the way of faith that is counted to us as righteousness. Abel set apart the first fruits of his life for God and God accepted his sacrifice. We are called to be living sacrifices, as Paul urges us in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Abel’s story calls you to live differently – to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). While it appears that Abel was rewarded for his faith by being murdered, there is more to the story, much more! The story of those with faith lives on and continues to tell the better story of God, well beyond what appears to be the end of our stories here on earth. Just as Hebrews 12:1 communicates of these people from the Hall of Faith, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The same will be true for our lives, as we grow strong in God’s grace.
You are invited to be like Abel, a living sacrifice to God’s glory that allows your story to speak even when you feel like your story is being cut short by injury, injustice, heartache, hardship, disease, or death. When we sow with the good seed of God’s grace, then our stories tell a better story! Never forget that God loves to create something from nothing – trust Him to do so with your life. Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible – the kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We will now turn to the third action step of a farmer’s strategy and learn from the transforming story of Enoch.
STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT
God has planted a good seed of faith into your life so that you will mature and bear fruit, testifying to what you are (a disciple) and to whom you belong – to be a witness of God’s grace bestowed upon you by Jesus Christ. When you first believe and put your trust in Jesus your life is forever changed because you are made new – born again as a new kind of plant because the good seed has been planted into your heart and mind. Paul expressed this in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
We are to mature into ambassadors for Christ! Our maturing faith causes us to become witnesses of God’s grace. Hebrews 11:5 teaches us the transforming story of Enoch, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” The Enoch being referred to here is the one found in the generations leading up to Noah in Genesis 5:19-24 (as opposed to Cain’s son in Genesis 4:17):
Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
We learn more about Enoch from our New Testament passage than we do from the Genesis account. Genesis 5:24 stated with finality, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” That’s it! There are many traditions built round Enoch and multiple books written in his name, but no authoritative knowledge about him beyond this. We find only one historical parallel to Enoch’s story: the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11,“As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.” He went to be with the Lord without dying just like Enoch. While we don’t see Enoch again, Elijah had the honor of being chosen to stand next to Jesus in the Transfiguration, alongside of Moses (Matthew 17:1-9). That places Enoch in a very prestigious position of notoriety – Enoch is a witness to a life that pleases God, the life of faith.
Followers of Jesus Christ are given the promise to be like Enoch when Jesus raptures His church, to bring those who please Him home to Heaven without having to taste of death. This promise is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
You are invited to be like Enoch, a wholehearted person to God’s promises whose trust in God allows you to be a hope-bearer in a world that so desperately needs the grace of God. Choose faith, hope, and love – the currencies of Heaven – even when confronted with the evil in this world, including the ever-intimidating reality of death and dying. Never forget, that as an ambassador of Christ you are not a doomsdayer, but a hope-bearer!
STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE
The life of growing strong in God’s grace leads to a harvest of praise! Praise God for Jesus Christ who has defeated death and given us the promise of the resurrection and life. Jesus said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
The author of Hebrews concluded about Abel and Enoch’s transforming stories, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” What next steps of faith will allow you to be like Enoch – a wholehearted person to God’s promises? What next steps in faith will allow you to be like Abel – a living sacrifice to God’s glory?