HEBREWS 11:4\u20137<\/b><\/p>\n
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God<\/i><\/p>\n
(Heb. 11:5).<\/i><\/p>\n
Enoch is a contrast with Abel. Abel\u2019s act of faithfulness to God led to his murder, while Enoch\u2019s life of faithfulness resulted in his escaping death altogether. This contrast is highlighted toward the end of Hebrews 11, where we read that some \u201cescaped the edge of the sword\u201d (v. 34), while others \u201cwere put to death by the sword\u201d (v. 37). The message of the text is clear: Whether we live or die, God is taking care of us.<\/p>\n
Perhaps this was a message needed by the early Jewish Christians. Perhaps those who had experienced persecution were beginning to question the faith of those who had escaped persecution. Perhaps the idea was circulating that those who had been martyred were the ones who really pleased God, and those who had been spared such suffering were not really worthy.<\/p>\n
Today we see the opposite evil. Sectarians on the fringes of Christendom proclaim a vicious and demonic \u201chealth and wealth\u201d Gospel. The idea is that if you are suffering, it must be because you lack faith. Real believers escape suffering like Enoch; they don\u2019t become martyrs like Abel. That is today\u2019s heresy.<\/p>\n
Both of these ideas are wrong. The Bible does not say that God spared Enoch death because he pleased God. It simply says that Enoch pleased God. Abel also pleased God.<\/p>\n
What does it mean to please God? Watch a child and you will see. If a small child does something cute and the adults laugh, what will the child do next? He\u2019ll do it again and watch to see if everyone laughs again. This is how we should relate to God. Unfortunately, we more often behave in such a way as to gain the approval of other people. Our goal should be, however, to hear Him say, \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without faith we cannot please God, says Hebrews 11:6. Faith means believing that God exists and thus is present with us, watching everything we do (this is the meaning of coram Deo<\/i>.) Faith also means believing that He will reward everything we do. We must cultivate an awareness of His presence, so that like a child we do things to win His smile of approval. This not only satisfies us, it glorifies Him.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Chronicles 4\u20136<\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Chronicles 7\u201312<\/p>\n
Do you find yourself feeling even slightly superior to others either because you suffer more or because you have been blessed with material comforts and peace? Both are insidious errors from which you need to repent. Ask God to replace any superiority you sense with humility.<\/p>\n
For further study: Gen. 5:18\u201324 \u2022 Psalm 73:21\u201328 \u2022 Jer. 9:23\u201326<\/i><\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HEBREWS 11:4\u20137 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God (Heb. 11:5). Enoch is a contrast with Abel. Abel\u2019s act of faithfulness to God … Continue reading “FAITH THAT PLEASES GOD”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}