Faith and Worship

First Reading: Genesis 4:1-26

Second Reading: Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon Text: Hebrews 11:4

In Hebrews 11, the inspired author uses several examples of faith from the Old Testament to show us how faith operates—what saving faith looks like in our daily lives as Christians. In Hebrews 11:1, faith is described as the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The word  “assurance” means, among other things, that saving faith is the beginning of a journey that we can be  certain will lead us to glory. We cannot see that glory now, but we have the foundation, the beginning  of something that God will bring to full and final completion in the Last Day. Abel lived with this  kind of assurance and his faith was evident in his worship. He had the small, obscure promise from  Genesis 3:15 that a descendant of the woman would overcome the serpent. And yet, despite how  little he knew, he lived by faith. And what do we have? Not just the small, obscure promise, but we live in the bright, noonday sun of God’s revelation. To us have been made known the things that angels long to understand. John Calvin writes, “We now have the Son of God, who is calling us to heaven. He offered himself in sacrifice. He shed his blood, granting us the full confirmation of the  covenant between God and ourselves. We have his only Son, who has his nature, so we may lean on  him and be made his brothers and friends, for he is not ashamed to call us that, and he even says he  came to serve us.”