Hebrews 11: Faith Means Putting On Your Hiking Boots

Introduction

"Do you believe God is going to change you this morning, in the next thirty minutes?" With this question, Christian Bächtold opens a new series on faith at ICF St. Gallen. In the Bible, Jesus often says: "Your faith has healed you," "Your faith has saved you." Faith seems to play a central role. But what exactly is faith? And how can it grow and become stronger?

The preacher states a wish for the five weeks of the series: that everyone would receive a double, a triple, a quadruple portion of faith, and carry it into daily life.

To answer, he starts from a surprising offer: one million Swiss francs waiting at the top of the Säntis. From it he draws a simple conviction: faith is not a superhuman effort. It is putting on your hiking boots and setting out on what God has said, even while you still doubt.

Outline of the Message

1. Do You Really Believe What God Says?

The preacher imagines several people in the congregation. One answers: "Yes, I'm expecting something to happen, that's clear to me." Another: "Change? Let's say 50%." A third is not sure whether God loves him: "He likes me from time to time. On my birthday, he's kind and generous, but during the week, not really."
Another question: do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died for your sins and rose again, and that you have eternal life? Some say yes without hesitation. Others think the resurrection is only an image and do not know what eternal life is.
To each one he extends the same invitation: develop your faith, take a step of faith, trust that what God says is real and true, and let it become part of the life you lead.
He reads James 1, about the wisdom that anyone who lacks it should ask of God: "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:6-8) The preacher then asks: does God mean that we must live without the slightest doubt?

2. The Säntis Million

Christian Bächtold presents a "really interesting" offer: if you climb the Säntis, you can look for a million Swiss francs there. Not a million in Monopoly money, a real million. There is just one catch: the cable car has been under construction for a while. It is impossible to ride up. You have to lace up your hiking boots and set out, and time is limited.
First question to the congregation: who is ready to go and get this million? A few hands go up. Second question, for the skeptics who already smell fake news: who really believes the offer exists? Far fewer hands.
He then draws the parallel with worship. "God is great, God is King. Yes! God has the best for you. Yes! Jesus died on the cross. Yes! He is Jehovah Jireh, he provides. He is the healer, he heals. Yes!" On Sunday, almost everyone is on board.
Then comes the second question: do you really believe it? Do you believe that Jesus is King, that he paid for your sins, that you are born again, that you are washed from sin and a child of God? Do you believe he provides when your bank account says otherwise? That he heals when the illness is still there? Do you believe it is worth investing your life in your spouse, honoring and respecting them?
"If you answer yes, then I ask you the next question: why don't you live it?" You believe God's rules are good: why not live them in your sexuality? You believe it is good to be sober: why get high on weed, drugs or alcohol? You believe your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit: why eat as if there were no tomorrow? You believe you should spend time with God: why the whole day on social media? Why not entrust your finances to him, or dare to tell the truth in business? "Why do you behave as if you were on the losing team, when you believe you are on the winning team, team Jesus?"
He quotes James 2: "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17) A faith that does not translate into action is of no use.
Returning to the Säntis, he describes another person: "One hundred percent? I'm not so sure. I still have doubts. But you know what? I'm going to take a step and go see whether there really is a million. It could be true." That person puts on their boots and sets out. For the preacher, this person has full faith. Their doubts play no role: their faith is enough to say "I'm setting out" and to trust that what they hope for will become reality.

3. What Faith Is: Hebrews 11 and Noah's Ark

The preacher gives the definition of Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." The translation he reads speaks of the reality of what we hope for, and of being convinced of things we cannot see. What we hope for are God's promises. God makes promises, we hope in them, and in faith they become reality.
He takes the example of Noah. Along with his family, he suddenly receives from God the mission to build an ark, in a place where rain is a foreign word. No weather app to warn him of the storm: the forecast said the same thing day after day. It's not raining, it's not raining, it's not raining.
With reason alone, Noah would have waited for rain before telling himself: "Now that I've seen it, I'll start the ark." He does the opposite. He began to build without seeing anything, with only God's word and mission to lean on. He was convinced that God would make it rain, that it was important and right.
His faith had a reality, a foundation. What he did was not just any project: he acted out of his conviction, his hope and God's promise. He became a true ark builder, and he and his family were saved.
The preacher then quotes Romans 10:17: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Faith has its foundation in what God has promised and said. God is not only someone who tells the truth: he is the truth. When he says something, it is true. The only question is: do we trust him, and do we place our hope in his word?

4. A Step of Faith Without Seeing Everything

For the Säntis million, there is no webcam and no trick to check first that a suitcase is really waiting at the top. You cannot see it, you cannot know it. It is a step of trust, a step of faith: you put on your boots and set out.
It is the same with God. When you choose to live with him, you do not yet know everything it will change in your life. Christian Bächtold says it of himself: he did not know either. He took a step of faith because he was convinced that Jesus died for his sins and rose again.
He also mentions another decision, made because they were convinced that God had spoken. All around them, people frankly advised against it: "Honestly, we advise you against it, it's a huge headache." They did it anyway, not knowing how things would turn out, trusting that what God says is right and good.
All these decisions are personal and do not apply to everyone. But the Bible's question is addressed to each of us: do you have the courage to take the step, even if you have doubts? You live out your faith by starting to put it into practice, by taking a step in the right direction.

5. Two Misunderstandings About Faith

First misunderstanding: faith would be an effort of the will. You would have to believe even more, force yourself even more. The preacher acts out the scene: on your knees, "Jesus, give me more faith, I need more faith!" His answer is clear: "That's not what faith is."
Faith is the promise God has given, or what the Holy Spirit tells you personally, and the response: "I trust you and I act accordingly." It is not an immense force that you would have to muster, trembling. It is taking the step: putting on your hiking boots and setting out with God, because you believe what he says.
Second misunderstanding, drawn from Jesus' words about faith like a mustard seed: "I don't need more than that, just a tiny bit, and everything comes to me, the million comes to me." That is not what God means either. Yes, when you believe in God's infinite greatness, nothing is impossible. But that does not mean slipping your desires into a mustard seed so that God automatically delivers the million and everything else.
God wants to walk the path with you. You cover the first few meters, it is slippery, you can no longer see the trail, you are wet. You begin to doubt, to wonder whether it is worth it. And the first inn looks far more comfortable.
He uses a very concrete image: winter tires. You book an appointment with the mechanic, or fit them yourself, because you believe winter and snow are coming. If you did not believe it, you would say: "Why spend money on changing tires?" You expect it, so you act. Whoever waits for December and the first snow says too late: "I should have put on my winter tires."
It is the same in faith. If you believe that God wants good for you and that it is right to entrust your finances and your time to him, start investing, whether it pays interest or not. Many of God's promises concern the future, but you already act like someone who believes they are real.
After mentioning Abraham in the letter to the Romans, he asks: do you believe at 100% that Jesus is the Son of God, who died and rose again for you? Maybe you are at 10%, at 50% or at 80%. The percentage matters little. What matters is to say: "I may believe at 20%, I still have big doubts, but I put on my hiking boots and set out." Noah surely doubted too, but he chose again and again to build the ark.

6. Three Obstacles That Hold Faith Back

Comfort. The Säntis cable car is closed for construction. So you tell yourself that at the Hoher Kasten there is a cable car, the view is beautiful too, it is comfortable: why climb the Säntis rather than any other mountain? But the prize is at the Säntis. In the same way, to get to the Father, the way is Jesus. Him alone, no one else, not Buddha, not just anyone: Jesus.
Disappointment. Maybe you already set out, you trusted, and then you felt it was leading nowhere. The preacher invites you to set out again and to believe that what God says is right. Life with God is not a single stage up to the summit, but a series of steps that sometimes seem absurd. He imagines someone who has already collected the million, and God asks them to give it to their next neighbor.
If you took off your hiking boots saying "count me out," you can say today: "I was disappointed, I imagined life with you differently. But I know that you provide along the way and that you do not let me down." Then set out again on the adventure with God.
Shame. You lace up your boots in front of your house, your neighbor sees you: "What are you doing?" "I'm climbing the Säntis." "You're one of those who saw that million story? Are you really that naive? I thought you were smart, but apparently you're foolish enough to waste your life on this."
The question then is: whom do you believe? The neighbor who is a coward, who maybe would like to climb too but does not dare? Or do you say: "It doesn't matter that people mock me for holding on to what God says. My step of faith is walking the path." And you will discover already now, not only in the future, that God's promises are solid: his blessing, the new birth when you believe in him. It happens from today.

7. The Invitation: Put Your Hiking Boots Back On

The preacher prays and thanks God for his Word, which we can count on because it is true, for the Son he sent, for Jesus who went to the cross out of love and whom the Father brought back to life: "You are a living God, not a dead God."
He first speaks to those who have never made the decision to live with Jesus, because doubts hold them back: "I'm not completely sure." He invites them to free themselves from the idea that they would first need 100% faith. You can choose life with Jesus from now on, put on your hiking boots, walk the road with him and discover that your faith grows stronger and stronger. He reminds them that, in the Bible, whoever believes and confesses is saved.
He then speaks to those who have already made this choice, but who see areas of their life where they are not living in faith, held back by disappointment, comfort, shame or something else. He invites them to say: "Jesus, I want to walk the whole way with you again. Forgive me where I did not believe you or trust you. I want to come back and take the step, even if I do not yet see any fruit."
The service continues with communion: the bread and the cup remind us that Jesus, having committed no fault, went to the cross for our sins in order to bring us back into relationship with God. His blood is the sign of the new covenant.
At the end of the service, the person leading holds onto one sentence: "Faith is the response to what God says." They add a piece of advice: anchor this step with your spouse, friends or a small group, so that Sunday's momentum does not fade by Monday.

Key Takeaways

Faith is not the absence of doubt: it is trusting what God says and setting out, even when believing "at 20%."
According to Hebrews 11:1, faith makes real the promises we hope for, like Noah, who built the ark without having seen the rain.
A faith that does not translate into action is dead: the question is not only "do you believe?" but "why don't you live it?"
Faith is neither an effort of the will nor an automatic way to get what you want: it is walking the path with God.
Comfort, disappointment and shame hold faith back. In each case, you can put your hiking boots back on and set out again.

Personal Application

Which promise of God do you say you believe on Sunday, without yet living it during your week?
In which area (finances, time, sexuality, sobriety, truth at work) could you take a first concrete step this week in the direction of what God says?
Are you waiting to be 100% sure before moving forward? What would change if you set out with your doubts?
What are your "winter tires": what preparation can you start now because you believe a promise that is not yet visible?
Which of the three obstacles holds you back most today: comfort, disappointment or shame? With whom can you talk about it to anchor your next step?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to be free of doubt to have faith?

No. For Christian Bächtold, it matters little whether you believe at 20% or at 80%. What counts is being ready to put on your hiking boots and set out on what God has said. Noah surely knew doubt, but he chose, again and again, to build the ark with his family.

What does Hebrews 11:1 mean according to this sermon?

Faith makes real what we hope for and convinces us of things we do not yet see. What we hope for are God's promises. Faith rests on what God has said, and those promises become reality when we act on them, like Noah, who built the ark while it was not raining.

What keeps us from living our faith day to day?

The preacher names three obstacles: comfort, which prefers an easier mountain; disappointment, when the path with God did not go as planned; and shame, when others mock. In each case, he invites us to put our hiking boots back on and set out again with God.