Hebrews Party-crashers
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Hebrews 11 is very well-known for being the hall of fame of the faith. It starts with this introduction about the nature of faith itself:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. 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” (v. 1-3).
Having explained the faith in this way, the author of Hebrews gives a list of people, of whom he specifically names 15, and references many others in v. 32 and following. A phrase that has always caught my attention and inspired me is in v. 38, “Of whom the world was not worthy.” The author gives high praise to these people: their faith was so great that the world was not worthy of having them around. And the world, did, in fact, react to their presence: society responded to them with torture and death. These are the heroes of the faith.
But hold on a second. What kind of heroes are these? The list has its share of liars, murderers, prostitutes, and cowards. Four names in particular always jump out a me: Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephtah. These were always considered the heroes in Sunday School. But look at the brutally honest picture that God paints of their lives:
Gideon defeated the Midianites, sure, but he hid almost from start to finish in his story; he fought against idolatry, but winded up returning to it in the end (cf. Judges 6-8). Barak won a great victory over Sisera, but had to hand the honor of killing his enemy to a woman because he refused to lead without Debora’s help (cf. Judges 4-5). Samson was a physically mighty man who was morally bankrupt, whose great feats of strength almost always happened in order to get him out of some trouble his love for forbidden women had gotten him into [to the purists: ending my sentences with prepositions is a guilty pleasure I love to bask in. It's something you "up with which you will have to put."]. And Jephtah was a great leader who was hated for being a prostitute’s son, famous for having made a rash vow that cost his daughter her life (cf. Judges 11-12).
The point isn’t to defame these men; far from it! God spoke honestly about their actions, good or bad, and yet still included them in the list of greats of the faith. I believe we need to embrace this kind of honesty to understand a valuable lesson, which is the purpose of this post: when God plans to do something, He will do it, even if He only has flawed instruments to work with. At first glance, it would appear that these men were party-crashers in the faith-fest of Hebrews 11. “Barak? What are you doing here? Who invited you, man?” But when we understand that the people on this list are being praised for their faith, we understand that, even with their flaws, these people demonstrated a faith of which “the world was not worthy.”
This should not become an excuse for mediocrity among believers. “Oh, so if God accepted the shallow faith of Gideon, I should be okay.” No, that’s not the idea here. The idea is that we should strive to remove the obstacles to arrive at a greater faith. To be a Joseph, a Samuel, a Daniel (who didn’t even make the list!); or, for you women, to be a Deborah, a Ruth, or a Mary (whose names also didn’t make the list)–those of whom the Bible does not relate moral flaws, grave sins; about whom God chose not to say anything negative.
The idea is to see the “great cloud of witnesses” as examples and as an inspiration for the walk of faith that we must take. To rid ourselves of “every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and [run] with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12.1-2).
The truth is that none of us is worthy of such high praise from God. But by His grace, through our faith in Him, His plan, and His Son, we are capable of living above mediocrity, of participating in God’s plans for mankind, and maybe even of dying for doing so. So now, keep your eyes on Christ, the race isn’t over yet!
