Who were your heroes when you were growing up? Perhaps it was an athlete- someone who could hit a baseball, score a goal, slam a basketball or run for a touchdown. Maybe it was a musician, someone who could play or sing really well. Or perhaps it was someone on television or in the movies that you really wanted to be like.
While it’s true that the supply of heroes never quite seems to meet the demand, you can still find some real heroes within the pages of the Bible- especially in Hebrews chapter 11. In fact, this portion of Scripture has been called the Bible’s “Hall Of Fame” for it’s great list of heroic people who stood up for God in the face of tremendous obstacles. Looking at the experiences of these men and women can tell us a lot about God and how He can work in people’s lives.
Before we start our look at these great heroes of the faith, let’s first see what made them so special…
“What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. Men of God in days of old were famous for their faith. By faith– by believing God– we know that the world and the stars– in fact, all things– were made at God’s command; and that they were all made from things that can’t be seen” (Hebrews 11:1-3).
The people who did great things for God in the Bible all had one thing in common- faith. So what is faith and what makes it so important? Well, one dictionary defines faith as “A belief in or confident attitude toward God, involving commitment to His will for one’s life.” (1) Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (NIV).
You see, faith involves the confident expectation that God is who He said He is and will do what He said He’d do even when we may not understand why things are happening the way that they are in our lives. In the Scripture quoted above we’re told that “faith is… certain of what we do not see.” This make good sense because if you can see or touch something then there’s no use for faith, is there? Faith is necessary for those things that you can’t see or physically touch.
That being said, it’s important to note that there’s a big difference between “faith” and “blind faith.” For instance, let’s say that you have to move some furniture but you need some help to do it. So you call a trustworthy friend and they agree to help you move your furniture at 10:00 am on Saturday. When Saturday comes, you’re not likely to assume that your trusted friend has backed out of their promise if it’s 10:05 am and they still haven’t arrived.
After all, a trustworthy friend will always do what they promised- that’s what makes them trustworthy. Even if it looks like they might not show up because they’ve been delayed for some reason, you can still have confidence that they will follow through on the promise they made.
A good friend can be trusted no matter what the outward appearances look like and this would be a good example of faith. In this situation, faith is the confident belief that your trusted friend will follow through on their promise even if the outward circumstances might seem to indicate otherwise.
“Blind faith” would be like picking a random name out of the telephone book with the belief that the person you’ve chosen will agree to drive to your house and help you move furniture on Saturday. This kind of belief would require blind faith or faith without any kind of basis in reality. Since there is no basis for believing that a random person chosen from the telephone book would agree to help you move furniture, this belief would have no foundation other than blind faith.
Real Biblical faith is different from blind faith because there is a reasonable basis for Biblical faith. For example, you can look in the Scriptures and see the many Biblical prophecies that have come true. You can look in the Scriptures and see how God came through in the lives of people who had confidence in Him. Even today, you can look and see the example of God’s provision in the lives of people who trust Him. These things help provide a reasonable basis for faith in the God of the Bible. Real Biblical faith is not blind faith- it involves belief in a God who has already proven Himself and we’ll see some good examples of that in Hebrews 11.
Now some of you may be familiar with the quote from the famous American writer Henry David Thoreau who once said, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” (2) Well, beginning in Hebrews 11:4 we’re going to look at some people who marched to a very different drummer than the rest of the world- people who served as living examples of the kind of faith we’ve been talking about.
“It was by faith that Abel obeyed God and brought an offering that pleased God more than Cain’s offering did. God accepted Abel and proved it by accepting his gift; and though Abel is long dead, we can still learn lessons from him about trusting God” (Hebrews 11:4).
Now before we get into the story of Cain and Abel, let’s set the stage by taking a look at Genesis chapter 4 first. The background to this story is pretty simple: after Adam and Eve were ejected from the Garden of Eden, Eve gave birth to a son named Cain (Genesis 4:1). Later on she gave birth to another son named Abel (Genesis 4:2) and this is where we pick up the story…
“…Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. At harvest time Cain brought the Lord a gift of his farm produce, and Abel brought the fatty cuts of meat from his best lambs, and presented them to the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s.
This made Cain both dejected and very angry, and his face grew dark with fury. ‘Why are you angry?’ the Lord asked him. ‘Why is your face so dark with rage? It can be bright with joy if you will do what you should! But if you refuse to obey, watch out. Sin is waiting to attack you, longing to destroy you. But you can conquer it!’
One day Cain suggested to his brother, ‘Let’s go out into the fields.’ And while they were together there, Cain attacked and killed his brother. But afterwards the Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother? Where is Abel?’ ‘How should I know?’ Cain retorted. ‘Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?’
But the Lord said, ‘Your brother’s blood calls to me from the ground. What have you done? You are hereby banished from this ground which you have defiled with your brother’s blood'” (Genesis 4:2-11).
Now why would God look favorably on Abel’s offering but not on Cain’s offering? Well, there are a few possible explanations but let’s consider this: how did Cain respond when God did not accept his offering? Well, he clearly responded by getting angry- and that anger expressed itself through the murder of his brother. With this in mind, listen to what Jesus once had to say about this subject…
“…the things that come out of a man’s mouth come from his heart and mind, and it is they that really make a man unclean. For it is from a man’s mind that evil thoughts arise- murder, adultery, lust, theft, perjury and slander. These are the things that make a man unclean…” (Matthew 15:18-20 Phillips).
So after reading this, what do you think that God is more concerned with- the actual offering that someone brings or the thoughts and attitudes of the person bringing that offering? Well, The Doctor believes that God is mostly concerned with our internal thoughts and attitudes first. This means it’s likely that Cain’s internal attitude caused his external sacrifice to be rejected. (You can also see Matthew 5:23-24 where Jesus has some more to say about our thoughts and attitudes in relation to God).
If Cain’s attitude towards God had been right, his offering would have been right too. Perhaps this is why the book of 1 John tells us this…
“Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (I John 3:12 NIV).
(1) Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary © 1986 Thomas Nelson Publishers
(2) From Walden (1854). Some of Thoreau’s other famous works include Maine Woods, The Ultimate Guide To Skateboarding and Earth vs. The Giant Radioactive Horseshoe Crab From Outer Space