I was SO blessed today. Before I tell you why though, I want to take a minute and give credit where credit is due, and publicly thank this brother who put us in touch with this brother, who recommended the church that our family began attending last July, after our last church fell apart at the seems and left us (and several other families) churchless. As a result of that sequence of recommendations, our family has been blessed time and time again by the preaching of our pastor, the fellowship and newfound friendships at this church.
This is a direct benefit and tangible evidence of the blessings of the Christian blogging community, even when it seems like the more "controversial" junk gets all the attention. I sure wish we'd give as much attention to the blessings and the friendships formed. Don't you?
In any case...
My pastor has been preaching through Hebrews, and today he began Hebrews 11, the hall of faith. His text today:
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 ¶ By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
He never made it to verse 7, as he spent so much time on Abel and Enoch. He could have easily kept right on preaching until dinner time, I would have loved that. I doubt most folks would have enjoyed missing lunch but it would have made up all those Sundays we've missed in the last few months due to viruses and being snowed in.
What stuck with me the most today was the way the pastor went into what it was about Enoch that landed him in the hall of faith to begin with. It doesn't really say much about him there in the text except "for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God". In contrast with so many other men and women in history, you might wonder what it was about Enoch that was so much more, or deeper, or more pleasing to God, than any other believer.
Turning back to Genesis 5, it's most interesting to notice something:
21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
I remember the first time I ever read through that line in Genesis 5, I was fascinated with the wording, the names and the lifespans. Geneaology is very interesting to me, so unlike many people I don't find such things boring or tedius at all, it's exciting! (yes okay I'm weird, we all knew that anyway). It stuck out to me like a sore thumb though, that every other name listed also has listed after the lifespan, that they died. Look:
Mahalaleel - eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
Jared - nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Methuselah - nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Lamech - seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
I realize this is elementary Bible teaching, but it's great stuff to revisit again and again. Right there in the middle of these verses: Enoch didn't die like all the others listed. He simply went into glory without tasting death. But why?
The one thing about this passage of Scripture that I never noticed before the pastor pointed it out today, was that Enoch is also the only one listed in this line that is described not once, but twice, as someone who walked with God. Clearly just like the text in Hebrews states, Enoch was someone who pleased God with his life.
In Hebrews 11, right after it says that Enoch pleased God in verse 5, it says in verse 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
No mistake at all that Enoch not only believed God is who He is (not just believed in some sort of a generic "power up there" that some called 'God'), but that this same God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. Enoch lived according to a desire to be held accountable to the one true God, to offer Him reverential fear and worship, and live purely according to His standards, and in no other way.
While quickly taking notes during the pastor's sermon (and yes, drawing smiley faces on my little one's hand, it keeps her occupied and lets me listen at the same time), it was the 'desire to be held accountable' comment that my pastor made that really jumped at me. If you are a person who is diligently seeking to live according to God's ways, you're a person who willingly places yourself into accountability settings. You want to be held accountable and you would go out of your way to humble yourself to others and have it understood that you're not flying solo but someone who desires to be on the straight and narrow path. I absolutely loved hearing this affirmation of what it means to live a humble Christian life this way. I wonder what it would have been like to meet Enoch face to face? Can you imagine knowing a man who was so devout to our Lord that He was pleased to simply take him, without allowing him to suffer through physical death?
Contrast this with what is so incredibly common for most of us: excuses.
Yep, every excuse under the sun from our bad childhood, introverted (or extroverted) personality types, bad teaching, authority issues, yada yada yada and blah blah blah. No matter what the issue we always seem to be so quick to find a scapegoat for ourselves. (Yep, I am ashamed to admit that do it too, so don't think I'm sitting here like some sort of pious windbag pointing at you, I'm no different than anyone else).
- "Well, I have a hard time trusting my pastor because he has red hair and when I was 9 a red haired teenager but a bug in my Dairy Queen milkshake". It sounds ridiculous and petty but that's a realistic type of excuse that you might hear.
- If we sin with anger (or a variety of other issues) we're quick to blame our upbringing and say things like "well I come from a family that has a lot of short tempered people". Well, many of us have backgrounds in childhood that are less than stellar in a wide variety of areas, but we don't blame our sinful conduct on them, we own it and we repent of it and seek His grace to no longer participate in it.
- "I don't ask people to pray for me because I did that once and the church gossip told everyone my most embarassing secret". Ever been there? I have, and I assure you it's no walk in the park. It is embarassing to have something about yourself or your past that grieves your heart, revealed and made the gossip of the day. However, we spend far too much time (in my opinion) dwelling on self and making martyrs of ourselves. Sure it hurts, but our allegiance is to God and following after Him, so we pull up our socks, as it were and we obey Him. When we are weak and where we are weak, we seek out those that will give us wise counsel, pray for us, and help keep us accountable before the Lord. We don't retreat into Lone Ranger mode because someone, at one time, way back when, had a sin issue of their own with being a gossip.
We walk like Enoch did. We take a lesson from someone listed in the Hall of Faith, and we diligently seek Him, in every area of our lives.
I can't wait for next Sunday. This trip through the Hall of Faith is going to be such a blessing to me.
