Faith that Condemns the World
Delivered 11/22/2009 on Hebrews 11:7 by Carter Sanger
One year when I was a kid our family was getting ready for a Christmas party at a neighbor’s house. I had been looking forward to it all day. It had snowed recently and there was still several inches on the ground – a lot for my hometown. My mother was making peanut brittle on the stove, which she did every year. It was my favorite Christmas candy. Of all the years I had eaten it, I had never seen how it was made. This year was my first to watch and I still remember with great awe as she poured cups of pure sugar into the saucepan to melt. The sight of that much sugar, I’m sure, made my eyes grow wider than ever. As I watched in sheer fascination my mother said, “son, don’t touch that, it’s really hot.” I remember hearing her say that. I think I even responded. But my wide eyes remained fixed. As she turned her attention away for just a moment, my hand started to hover over the pan until my finger swiped through the tasty-looking melted sugar for a sneaky bite.
I never knew there were so many home-remedies for second-degree burns until that night. As my tears began to subside and I took the stick of butter off the tip of my finger, it seemed it had grown half an inch in length from the rather large blister growing on the tip of it. The snow that I had expected to be a source of great fun took on a new purpose – pain relief. It was a sadly memorable evening.
Why do we do such stupid things? How is it that hearing and listening can be so far removed from each other? I heard the warning. I even believed it; at least I didn’t have any reason to doubt it. And yet my rational thought process never connected with my willful actions. This condition describes many people today when it comes to their belief in God. Most people believe that he’s there (it is hard to find a true atheist), and yet so few listen to what he says. Either we don’t believe what he says is really true or we don’t think what he says applies to us.
It was much the same in the time of Noah. Noah stood in stark contrast to the people around him. God spoke and Noah listened in a way that no one else did. As a result, he survived the flood.
Because God warns, we must listen. The writer of Hebrews invites us to look at the kind of faith that doesn’t just hear God, but listens too. It is a faith that fears God, condemns the world, and inherits righteousness.
