In 1940 the German theologian, Paul Tillich, wrote a book
called The Shaking of the Foundations.
The title came from a famous sermon he preached with the same title. In that
sermon Tillich said that Isaiah 6:1-7 was one of the greatest texts of the Old
Testament, for it revealed the essence of biblical faith.
In the presence of God’s holiness the prophet’s world
collapses and he pronounces woes upon himself. The very foundation of his life,
his royal heritage, his Toranic & Talmudic education, his prophetic career
– all crumble. And we know this because Isaiah exclaims, “Woe is me for I am lost.”
And Tillich says that such a shaking is the necessary first step to true,
biblical faith.
Brennan Manning learned much from Tillich. In fact, Tillich
is one Manning frequently cites throughout his own writings. In the first
chapter of his classic work, Ragamuffin
Gospel, Manning says:
If a random sampling of 1000
American Christians were taken today, the majority would define faith as belief
in the existence of God. In earlier times it did not take faith to believe that
God existed – almost everyone took that for granted. Rather, faith had to do
with one’s relationship with God – whether one trusted in God. The difference
between faith as “belief in something that may or may not exist” and faith as
“trusting in God” is enormous. The first is a matter of the head, the second a
matter of the heart. The first can leave us unchanged; the second intrinsically
brings change.
Then, drawing from Tillich’s The Shaking of the Foundations”,
Manning quotes Tillich:
Grace strikes us when we are in
great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley
of a meaningless and empty life…It strikes us when, year after year, the
longed-for perfection does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us
as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes
at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a
voice were saying: ‘You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which
is greater than you, and the name of which you don’t know. Do not ask for the
name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now;
perhaps you will find it later. Do not seek for anything, do not perform anything,
do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.’ If that
happens to us, we experience grace.
This Sunday we are going to define faith as the preacher
does in chapter 11 for these weak, weary, persecuted Christians. As we’ve noted
every week, the question they are asking is the same one many of us ask: “If
God loves me, why is my life so hard?” And in answer to that question, the
preacher directs his audience to sixteen full-frontal portraits of Jesus
Christ, the full disclosure of God Himself.
This week we look at the tenth one. We turn to Hebrews
10:19-22(a) and 11:1-13; where the preacher shows us Jesus as “Our Foundation”.
It is by faith that we know Him. It is by faith that we grow in Him. It is by
faith that we accomplish those good works that He has prepared for us to walk
in. Indeed as the preachers says in 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to
please God.” So what is faith? What is this foundation that the preacher talks
about? This week we are going to dig in deeply.
In preparation for Sunday’s message you may wish to consider
the following:
- What did Charles Spurgeon mean when he said, “A little faith will take your soul to heaven; but a great faith will bring heaven to your soul”?
- In 10:22 and 11:1 the preacher uses the same word – “assurance”. What do you think it means?
- The word assurance is hupostasis in Greek and it’s used in Hebrews 1:3 to describe the essence of Jesus. What connection is there between what the preacher is saying in 1:3 and these two later texts?
- What does the word “conviction” mean in 11:1?
- How does the preacher tell us that faith is rational?
- How does faith go from being rational to personal? (see verse 6)
- How does one draw near to God?
- How does faith in Christ shake our foundations and reorient us?
- How does Jesus’ faith become our faith?
- What does the preacher mean in verse 13? How do the examples the preacher gives us in this text help us apprehend what true faith is?
