A Better Homeland – Hebrews 11:13-16

1. Pray & Intro:
   1. When I was growing up among the Yanomamö people in the Amazon rainforest, I was quite plainly a foreigner. The population that we came to love and serve and invest our lives in (and for) was completely homogenous in an isolated tribal village. Even with a decent tan and a learned native accent in the language we were plainly the only freckled pale faces around. Dad was a foot taller and certainly the only male sporting a mustache. Even my Brazilian sister was plainly unique (only “girl from ipanema” walking around there). Our Yanomamö brethren welcomed us like family, and we love them like family, but as missionaries we were always sojourners there with a mission to see a thriving church without us.
   2. (Let me give you a different example.) My wife is a foreigner here. You can’t tell by looking at Clara, nor even by listening to her speak. It’s funny that I should even say it that way because America has become a nation of wonderful diversity, which we as a society are continuing to learn to value and protect. (and not without great struggle in politics and culture and in our own attitudes) But by mere acquaintance you wouldn’t know that Clara is a sojourner here. If you get to know her on a deeper level, though, it becomes quite plain. She has priorities, values, sympathies, and concerns that give her away.
   3. (Where I’m going with this is that) I’m concerned for the true church of God—that this world isn’t foreign to us, that we may not be living like we’re sojourning here. I’m concerned for our community in Branson to be able to tell the difference btwn a merely moralized society and the genuine people of God. Therefore, I’m concerned for our local church, and my family, and my own heart.
   4. Here’s the bottom line: Those striving for a heavenly homeland don’t love this world and trust in its riches. (nor cling too tightly to its pleasures and promises) We desire and live for something far better—the promise of being sustained by grace here until we are welcomed into the presence of the fullness of God.
   5. According to Hebrews, living as foreigners and sojourners here in expectation of a better homeland was the demonstrated way of life for Abraham and Sarah and their immediate descendants. (And it should be for us as well.)
2. READ the text to Understand and Apply it: By faith we live as foreigners and sojourners on the earth because we look forward to a better homeland.
   1. So in Hebrews ch. 11, this is kind of an interruption in the flow of individual-by-individual examples of faith in the heroes of old. It serves to emphasize an eschatological perspective for this section overall (so v. 39). – [kind of like] Time Out: You get the critical spiritual implications for how you ought to live on this earth, right?
      1. So I’ll just tell you up front right now that this text is ripe for implication and application, so I intend to let the text of God’s word step on all of our toes. (It’ll get personal, and interpersonal, even political) – Do you live like this world is not your home? Do you give of your finances and your time and your energy as an investment in a better homeland? When handling differences with other believers, do you treat them first as beloved family in Christ? Is your lasting hope in a better version of America or a better homeland called Heaven? (These are some of the ways that I’m about to be as specific as I can today with application to try and make sure I catch all of our toes—with humility and gentleness, of course. J)
   2. [display v. 13] These – the patriarchs (Abe thru Jacob or Joseph), Sarah included, but not Abel, Enoch, and Noah (the travel motif doesn’t work, nor does being dead apply to Enoch)
   3. All died – death is sobering reality, but in faith (still living by faith in God when they died, knowing their future was in his hands) – The implication of everything that comes after this is, “So how were they living by faith (up to the time of their death)?”
   4. They didn’t actually receive the end result of the promises made to them (not fully realized in their own time – land, seed, blessing – Abe experienced the beginning of fulfillment through Isaac, but didn’t experience numerous descendants nor possessing the homeland); promises which you now can embrace the fulfillment of.
   5. But they did, even though from a distance, see (in the sense of perceiving and understanding) and greet (in the sense of welcoming with gladness, expressing happiness about the arrival of something) from a distance (temporally)
      1. Have you seen and welcomed with gladness the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to give spiritual restoration to God? Have you received God’s promise to save you through Jesus’ perfect life, his once-for-all sacrificial death, his sin-and-death defeating resurrection, and his permanent priesthood on behalf of those who are his? Have you professed that you are a sinner in desperate need, and that HE alone is savior and Lord?
      2. Respond today and you can experience his presence in you now and the promise of one day reaching an everlasting homeland he had prepared for those who are his by faith. (and a warning – Heb. 12:25)
      3. As for believers, sometimes we Christians seem to be suffering from Spiritual myopia – nearsightedness, shortsightedness – 1 Peter 2:9-12 – Stay focused:
         1. Not of the world but in the world. Must not lose sight of the mission (to live set apart to him, and to multiply mature disciples of Jesus who will multiply mature disciples) – My good neighbors – deeper level that permeates all aspects of life – the test of suffering (death, pain), the test of temptation, the test of big decisions
         2. Brace for impact – In preparing ourselves for hard days ahead: for battle and for suffering – 12:3
      4. Grumpy Christian? – welcoming promises with gladness – happy about prioritizing a spiritual kingdom with a BETTER future
   6. [13c] And they professed that they were foreigners and sojourners on the earth (in the land).
      1. Professed/confessed (means a spoken proclamation), so v. 14 makes more sense when it says for people who speak thus… - When Abraham needed to bury Sarah, his wife: (Gen. 23:4) “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
      2. We are foreigners and sojourners here because our faith makes us citizens of a spiritual kingdom that has a future fulfillment. – For them the promise was future (recall v. 10); for us it is both present and future. (God’s kingdom – already… not yet) – and see 12:22-24, 28 & 13:13-14,
      3. Are you a self-professing sojourner? Do you identify who you are by worldly criteria or by heavenly ones—by the gospel?
      4. Do you demonstrate your identity and unity with God’s people? You are not the only one living as a citizen of a better homeland. We’re a team.
         1. Forbearance and forgiveness
         2. Kindness & generosity (they cost you something – Abraham with Lot)
      5. [display v. 14] So people who talk like that make it clear that they’re… Seeking a homeland, fatherland (or hometown) – patris (where do you think we get our words patriarch and patriotism?)
         1. God has made us creatures who seek for security, for hope, for comfort, for connectedness. But where are those things ultimately to be found? – In ourselves? In our earthly political kingdom? – Or do we trust in Jesus and his plan and his work in this age through his body, the church?
         2. Clearly, we need to pray for Wisdom to navigate being good citizens down here while prioritizing the rule of Christ in our hearts and lives. (and in the hearts/lives of others)
            1. Submission to our earthly authorities, paying our taxes and respecting offices.
            2. But we also fear God rather than men – That not only means that our obedience to him is our higher priority, but our allegiance to him is our higher priority. (We must measure and act based upon his standards and his spirit.) Frankly, it scares me to talk about this because some of us I fear have wrong attitudes in this area. But in this context from God’s word it needs to be said.
            3. I am concerned that in our zeal for our earthly patris that we can be poor reflections of the spirit of God’s character and compassionate heart. While we are commanded to be good citizens under our governing leaders, I want you to ask yourself if abrasive patriotism and nationalism can be substantiated scripturally as emanating from the heart of God?
            4. How do we stand for what’s right in the political sphere without behaving badly or endorsing ungodly behavior and characteristics? Very carefully, and with far more humility and tact. With prayer and wisdom.
         3. (transitioning back to our text) For the Patriarchs, “The homeland they sought was not their earthly place of origin (v. 15) but a heavenly one (v. 16)” (O’Brien)
         4. [15] IF they had been thinking of (remember with a reaction/response – if they had been longing for it)… that homeland (understood from previous phrase) from which they had gone out. – If they had been focusing on that and longing for it, surely there would have been an opportune time (a season) for returning. (But we know that they DIDN’T do that. Even when Abe sent for a spouse to be found for Isaac from his kindred, he made his servant swear not to take Isaac back there.)
         5. Here’s why they don’t go back. (v. 16) – But now, they desire (with idea of striving for) a better (greater, superior – better in excellence or quality or desirability or suitability) country (again, understood is patris – a better homeland). – a heavenly homeland (originating from heaven, the presence of God)
         6. To live for a spiritual kingdom and a heavenly homeland is a pretty tough sell unless we believe it’s BETTER. – Your greatest satisfaction in this life will not be found in earthly comfort and security but by resting in the secure character and promise of God. Your greatest joy will not be found in worldly temporal pleasures but in experiencing God’s presence and His pleasure in a heart devoted to him. And for that kind of faith in this life there is eternal reward in the perfect presence of God, in his city where you will forever rest in comfort and security. Trust in God to sustain you as a foreigner and sojourner for the gospel here on earth. Jesus is better than what this world offers.
      6. [16] “God is not ashamed to be called their God because they took him at his word. So for them and all who tread the same path of faith he has prepared a heavenly city.” (O’Brien)
         1. Not ashamed, embarrassed, or remorseful about being called their God. (the language is somewhat shocking. I wonder if it isn’t meant to contrast what God must feel when those who are supposed to bear his name and faithless and disobedient – recall the wilderness generation)
         2. He has prepared for them (those who have faith to believe him and strive for a better homeland) a city (polis - town) called heaven. (“Heaven is a wonderful place”)
         3. As with the Patriarchs, God is not ashamed to be called your God if the true object of your deepest desire is God himself and His kingdom and His city.

• Conclusion: Christians, people belonging to God – How shall we then live? By faith we live as foreigners and sojourners on the earth because we look forward to a better homeland. – Evangelistically we sometimes ask, “If you die today, where will you go?” I’m asking, “If you live today, how will you live?” (Living like a visitor down here. Like a citizen of a better kingdom. Who is your king?)

Jonathan Edwards, in a sermon titled “The Christian Pilgrim”:

God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.-- To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean.-- Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for, or set our hearts on, any thing else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?

We’re going to sing a song together now to reflect on what the Lord is doing in our hearts and to prepare for taking the Lord’s Table together.

[Song]

Communion:

I don’t know about you, but after a lesson like that from God’s word in Hebrews about living for a better homeland, I have had some confessing to do.  Take opportunity as we distribute the bread and the cup to make things right with God.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[Song]

Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

[Welcome to membership, Mitch & Dinah Vaught]

A Better Homeland – Hebrews 11:13-16

By faith we live as ______________________ and ______________________ on the earth because we look forward to a better ______________________.

Abraham & Co. Do you live like this world is not your home?

The Patriarchs didn’t “receive” the fulfilled promises, but they did “see” and “welcome” them from afar.
They “professed” that they were “foreigners” and “sojourners” on the earth (in the land).
They did seek a “homeland,” (Greek patris) but not like the one from which they had gone out.
Instead, they “desired” something “better,” a heavenly homeland.
Therefore, God is not “ashamed” to be called their God and has prepared for them a “city.”

Branson Bible Church [see reverse side for further application] November 5, 2017

Further Application: (Re-read Hebrews 11:13-16, Review sermon outline, and Use the following list by Thomas Manton to encourage discussion and deeper application)

The great Puritan writer Thomas Manton expounds on the spiritual meaning of a stranger...
(1) A stranger is one that is absent from his country, and from his father's house: so are we, heaven is our country, God is there, and Christ is there.
(2) A stranger in a foreign country is not known, nor valued according to his birth and breeding: so the saints walk up and down in the world like princes in disguise.
(3) Strangers are liable (subject) to inconveniences: so are godly men in the world. Religion (specifically Christianity), says Tertullian, is like a strange plant brought from a foreign country, and doth not agree with the nature of the soil, it thrives not in the world.
(4) A stranger is patient, standing not for ill usage, and is contented with pilgrim's fare and lodging. We are now abroad and must expect hardship.
(5) A stranger is wary, that he may not give offense, and incur the hatred and displeasure of the natives.
(6) A stranger is thankful for the least favor; so we must be thankfully contented with the things God hath bestowed upon us: anything in a strange country is much.
(7) A stranger, that has a journey to go on, would pass over it as soon as he could, and so we, who have a journey to heaven, desire to be dissolved.
(8) A stranger buys not such things as he cannot carry with him; he doth not buy trees, house, household stuff, but jewels and pearls, and such things as are portable. Our greatest care should be to get the jewels of the covenant, the graces of God's Spirit, those things that will abide with us.
(9) A stranger's heart is in his country; so is a saint's.
(10) A stranger is inquisitive after the way, fearing lest he should go amiss, so is a Christian.
(11) A stranger provides for his return, as a merchant, that he may return richly laden. So we must appear before God in Zion. What manner of persons ought we to be? Let us return from our travel well provided.

[From http://www.preceptaustin.org/hebrews_1113-16#11:13 on 11/2/2017 at 10:15am]

Branson Bible Church [see reverse side for further application] November 5, 2017