Faith
Hebrews 11:4-6
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
A Boeing 747 can produce as much as 390 tons (850,000 pounds) of lift, which is necessary for it to take off. This lift is generated by its large wing area of about 510 square meters.
To determine how much lift a Boeing 747 needs to become airborne, we can look at its wing area and the lift it can generate.
Wing Area and Lift Generation
- Wing Area: Approximately 511.0 m²
- Lift Coefficient: Typically around 1.0 to 1.5 during takeoff
- Air Density: Approximately 1.20 kg/m³ at sea level
Lift Calculation
The lift generated can be calculated using the lift equation:
Lift=Cl × 1/2 ×ρ×V2×A
Where:
- Cl = lift coefficient
- ρ = air density
- V = velocity (takeoff speed)
- A = wing area
Typical Lift Values
- At takeoff, a Boeing 747 typically requires around 390 tons (850,000 pounds) of lift to become airborne. This is achieved when the aircraft reaches its takeoff speed, which is generally around 250-300 km/h (155-186 mph).
Hebrews 11:1-16
[1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] For by it the people of old received their commendation. [3] By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
[4] By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. [5] By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. [6] And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. [7] By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
[8] By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. [9] By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. [10] For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. [11] By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. [12] Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
[13] These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. [14] For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. [15] If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. [16] But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
I’ve had it on my heart for a while for us to study and preach on our “Heroes of the Faith,” our Patriarchs, to learn about them and their walk of faith. These are real people with real problems and flaws. We can watch their ups and downs and their struggles and understand that God loves them and us and He is always working. So, we will take some time starting next week in the Book of Genesis and see how the Lord works in our lives regarding faith.
Faith you might think is just “religion,” but it’s not. You see everyone has faith…faith in something. Something that you are trusting to help you “know”
Faith in the pilot
Faith in the doctor
Faith in you brakes on your car
Faith in the chair or pew you sit on
Faith in the construction of this building
Faith in the cook at the restaurant
Faith in the seams in these pants
And it’s more than just mathematics and laws of probability, it’s about trust and commitment. “The persistent hope in the promises of God”
Here’s what Tim Keller says about faith and I think it will help us greatly.
- Faith begins with understanding
- Which leads to conviction
- And always completes itself in commitment
Let’s explain
“Say, you know you have to have surgery, you’re going to find a doctor. First of all, there’s a rational process. You get recommendations from people that you trust.
You get opinions, you get references, you sift through the evidence, you sort out competing claims, and you decide which is the best doctor for me, for this situation, for this. In other words, it’s a rational process. There’s reasoning that goes on.
You don’t just leap to a conclusion. You think about it at first. But then secondly, if you truly come to understanding, there’s a point in which you have to go make a decision. (conviction)
If you’ve gone through the process that this is the right doctor, you see, at a certain point you have to decide, this is the right doctor for me. There has to be a decision. But what we hate about faith development, what we like about mathematics, what we hate about faith development is at that point in the process, you’ve reasoned, you’ve taken all the references, you’ve thought it out, you have lots and lots of evidence, this is the doctor, this is the best person, this is the one to go to”
And you make a decision, you can only do that on the basis of probability. You can’t know for sure yet. Faith hasn’t completed itself until you move through that decision into commitment.
What do I mean by that? You’ve got to make yourself vulnerable. You lay yourself out on the table.
That’s commitment. You let them put that thing over your mouth. You know that you’re utterly and completely vulnerable.
You made a decision on the basis of reason, but it was just probability. You couldn’t know for sure until you make yourself vulnerable to that person. And after you’ve done that, and you’ve rested in that decision, and you’ve lived out of that decision, and you actually put yourself in the hands of the mechanic, put yourself in the hands of the doctor, put yourself in the hands of your fiancé, and actually marry.
Only after you’ve done that can you ever be certain. Only after that can you be certain. If the person is trustworthy, then as time goes on, the certainty grows.
And that’s the way it works. You understand, you reason to probability, but then you decide and you commit to certainty. “And faith only completes itself in certainty.
So you see what’s happened? You reason, but you can never know anything simply through reason. You reason and then you have to commit.
You have to live out of it. You have to rest in it. You have to stick to it.
You have to follow through. And then you come to certainty. That is the way in which people make decisions.”
———
So the reality is your faith is yours alone. It’s not your parents or family or even friends. It’s yours.
I want to challenge you to not only understand your faith, but to understand what all it affects. It’s not just your eternity which is the biggest question of them all, right? But hey you’re at church and if you don’t understand that what we are saying is that your eternity hinges upon your faith. We’re all going to live through eternity, just a matter of where that soul will reside.
I’m saying your faith isn’t something that you have in your back pocket in case of emergency “just break glass”…it’s everything and dictates everything you do and think.
Luke 1:37
[37] For nothing will be impossible with God.”
The theme of Hebrews is
Christ is greater than any angel, priest, or old covenant institution; thus each reader, rather than leaving such a great salvation, is summoned to hold on by faith to the true rest found in Christ and to encourage others in the church to persevere.
Can you understand that in that context that’s all they had? They are commanded to remember those in prison and being warned against strange teachings. They are under severe stress from being under the Romans. We really can’t imagine how stressful this was.
So then what’s our context. How would we be warned to rely upon our faith in Christ in this manner?
Maybe remember Christ is greater than any:
Politician
Sports Figure
Actor
Singer
And you’d say okay. But what if I said He’s greater than any:
Career
Money
Fame
Recognition
That you could ever earn?
What I’m saying is that your faith should make you think. This is active faith, forward looking faith…….LISTEN
If you say I believe God created the world and everything in it and I believe in Jesus as Savior and that gets me to heaven…..then you must say then I believe everything Jesus tells me to do, even the uncomfortable, difficult stuff.
Habakkuk 2:4b
[4] “……but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Living by faith means I am a new creation. I don’t have to behave like I used to. I can behave and act and think differently…holy, Godly.
I do not have to one up my neighbor, my value is in Christ.
The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less. – T Keller
