The Faith Adventure
The pastors of our church have been preaching a series through Hebrews 11 during Advent (2024). It has been extremely encouraging to us in this season of our lives as we step out in faith following God in what he has called us to. There are times in this season when we just can’t see around the corner. We can’t seem to figure out how it’s all going to work out, or how we will pay the bills, or when we will be doing the kind of ministry we know God has prepared for us. But God’s word (in Hebrews 11) gives us the reason and the courage to hold fast even though these things are not visible.
Hebrews 11:1 gives us the definitive description of faith when we read “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” In the face of extreme persecution for their faith, the Author of Hebrews had just called his readers to not “shrink back” from their faith because “…we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:39) Next, the author highlights several people from the Old Testament who “by faith” risked it all to follow God in the face of the unknown, the perilous, and the more difficult path. Why? Because they knew that God is faithful to keep his promises.
Like Abraham, we cannot see the promise of heaven with our eyes, but we can have the assurance it is true and real and make our way through this life knowing that heaven is our true home (Hebrews 11:8-16). Like Moses, we can nurture the conviction that “the reproach of Christ is greater wealth than the treasures” of this world, (Hebrews 11:24-27) as aspirations for financial security give way to trusting that in Christ we already have “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). We can hope with deep conviction that all God’s promises in Jesus are true and will come to pass. We can bank our today on God’s promises for tomorrow.
This is the kind of adventure God calls us to. Webster’s online dictionary defines adventure as “an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks.” Of course, there are those who seek adventure for adventure’s sake. YouTube is full of vlogging adventure-seekers who risk life and limb for the next great adrenaline-pumping thrill. That’s not what we are talking about when we encourage ourselves and others to “live the adventure of holding fast to God’s word.” We are talking about a faith adventure. A faith adventure is an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks based on our assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things not seen, yet promised to us by the steadfast word of God.
The adventure of faith is a calculated adventure that reasons: I have the assurance that what I might gain by avoiding the present or potential danger and unknown risk in following Jesus, does not begin to compare in value to my future reward that is promised by God who always keeps his word and always proves faithful. This is what emboldens us to face dangers for the gospel, take risks for the advancement of God’s kingdom, and even to suffer for the greater glory of God in this world.
The Apostle Paul encourages his readers in this same way in countless places in his epistles. One of the most arresting occasions for me is the defense of his apostleship he gives in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-31 he recounts:
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
Do you see how many times he repeated the word “danger?” Not to mention his imprisonments, countless beatings, and near-death encounters (including beatings with rods or being stoned and shipwrecked!).
Why? Why put yourself in the way of such difficulties and life-threatening trials? Why take such risks? Not for adventure’s sake, but for the sake of the gospel. Paul detailed these events as a defense of his apostleship. To be an apostle is to be a “sent one.” An apostle was someone who had encountered the risen Christ and was sent by him to advance his gospel. How could you tell who the real apostles were? Paul says, look at their track record of risk and danger taken to see the gospel proclaimed and God’s kingdom advanced.
You and I are not apostles in the First Century sense of the word. We have not physically encountered the Risen Christ, and we are not writing Scripture. But we are no less sent into our own spheres of influence by Jesus for his fame. The more we participate in God’s plan to increase his word in this world, the more our resume will resemble Paul’s, with varying levels of “danger” depending on our context. This is scary news for the risk-averse. This does not sit well with the safety-worshiping values of our culture.
The author of Hebrews was writing to regular people like you and me. To a certain degree all followers of Jesus will have to count the cost of rejecting sin and following the Lamb wherever he goes (Revelation 14:4). Indeed, the primary concern of the author of Hebrews for his readers is not necessarily living on mission like the Apostle Paul. The author of Hebrews is calling his readers to live a life that is worthy of the name of Christ. He is imploring them to not turn back to their former way of life before they knew Jesus, simply because living as a believer has brought upon them greater trials. We are reminded of what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” But why is this the case? Because living a godly life in Christ Jesus always involves telling others about him and taking a stand for what is righteous in an age of opposition (2 Timothy 3:1-9).
Many times I have described our ministry as an endeavor to pursue a mission approach like the Apostle Paul and his fellow workers Priscilla and Aquila. In descriptions of the Great Sea Commission I invite people to envision a ministry that equips, strengthens, and encourages local churches and church plants “explaining the way of God more accurately,” (Acts 18:27) like Priscilla and Aquila did with Apollos. And nearly every time I write these words I hear the Holy Spirit saying something like, “So, you want to do ministry like the Apostle Paul…?” and I am pointed to passages like 2 Corinthians 11-12 along with the encouragement of Hebrews 11. Then I pray that God, by his great grace, would give us the courage to live by faith and not by sight like the men and women described there. How do we do that? We, along with the original readers of Hebrews, are encouraged:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Do you want to embark on a faith adventure? It is this same vision that must be set before us if we are going to embrace a life on mission and endure. To this cloud of witnesses, we in the 21st Century must add the apostles themselves and the many martyrs and missionaries through the ages who counted the advancement of the gospel worth their very lives. The vision of Jesus “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,” with his eyes fixed upon his promised place “at the right hand of the throne of God” is the same vision we place before our own eyes of faith as we, each in our own way, in our own contexts and callings, endeavor to live the faith adventure of holding fast to and proclaiming the good news of salvation in Christ alone according to God’s word.
