Sermon from Sunday--The Adventure of Faith

Note: This is the manuscript for the sermon. I ended up abbreviating in points and clarifying other points on the advice of my wife. It came off fairly well.

We live in a culture that wants instant gratification. We want to mail things electronically instead of through the postal system so that people can have instant information. We get anxious if we have to wait more than 15 or 20 minutes for food in a restaurant. We pound our dashboard and tap our fingers if we are stuck in traffic. We shop and scan the store to see which lane is the shortest because we hate waiting in line. We rush everything from shipping to love and friendship. We rush our teens and children to grow up to fast. We are in a hurry for everything.

Perhaps it is not so unnatural then that when we think of the book of Hebrews, we want to rush to Chapters 11 and 12. We want to rush to the adventure of faith. We want to talk about the great leaders of faith and the great things that they accomplished. We want to avoid the hard work of working out our faith, and we want to get right to the good stuff. That is my temptation anyway. To take Hebrews 11 out of context, and talk about all of the victories and adventures of trusting Jesus.

I wish I could do that this morning for you. But I cannot. Why? Because in order to understand the beauty, the adventure, and the power of Hebrews 11 and 12, we need to first understand what has happened in Hebrews 1-10.

The book of Hebrews is packaged with the “epistles”, which leads us to often think that this book was written as a letter to be read in our living room. But the consensus of scholarship is that Hebrews is a sermon. A copy of a sermon of a pastor preaching to their congregation. There is no clear sense of authorship. Some have attributed this to Paul. Some even think this may have been written by a female pastor, and say that is why we do not have a name attached to the book.

Nevertheless, Hebrews is a message written by a pastor. The pastor’s heart is evident as you read through the book. Maybe it is evident because the author takes a long time to get to a point, and speaks about a lot of obscure theological stuff. But it is even more evident as you look through the book. As you read you see concerns for a congregation not too much different than you would find in America today.

See if any of this describes churches that you might know of:

Attendance is steadily declining (Hebrews 10:25)

Their church has experienced a recent financial crisis (Hebrews 10:34)

The church is theologically wishy-washy (Hebrews 4:14)

They have to be urged not to argue with one another (Hebrews 13:1-2)

They aren’t listening to Biblical teaching (Hebrews 5: 11)

They have been in the church a long time, but have not transitioned from being “babes” in the faith to “eating solid food”. People are content to be involved as long as they are not teaching and leading (Hebrews 5: 11-14)

They are struggling in being open to newcomers and their needs (Hebrews 13:2)

They are struggling to continue to pray and spend time in God’s word (Hebrews 4:11ff). And struggling in feeling that their prayers are even being heard.

Some of their number that used to attend the church have left the church completely

Others are considering leaving.

Almost all of them are tired. The preacher says that their shoulders are drooping and that their knees are getting weak (Hebrews 12:13)

Do any of these kinds of situations sound familiar to you?

I don’t know about you, but to me it is kind of comforting. It is a comfort to look at the early church and see that there are some things that are different, but in many ways the early church had many of the same struggles that many of us do.

We get tired. We have people that leave the church. We have financial struggles. We have arguments. We as a church struggle to find teachers and leaders. We struggle in believing that God is even listening to our prayers. We struggle to maintain spiritual discipline. We sometimes have trouble welcoming people into our church family. We even are tempted to stay at home on Sunday mornings and have a late brunch and watch the morning news. We are tempted to sleep off the hangover from the night before instead of worship on Sunday mornings.

This wasn’t only problem that the Hebrew church faced though. They were down and discouraged. This is true. But they compounded their problems by seeking out an easy button faith.

Maybe you have seen the commercial. It is a commercial for Staples. There are people in an office and they have an urgent problem regarding production. They need a quick solution. All of the sudden one of them finds the easy button, and all of the sudden the problem is solved. Usually by Staples products or a service that the store is offering.

The Hebrews did this with a Jesus plus one approach to spirituality. They thought that what they needed was to supplement their faith with other options from the spiritual marketplace. In chapters 1 and 2 we see that they tried to tie in some sort of teaching about angels and their special powers. Angels are gifts from God, but they are no replacement for a relationship with Jesus. As we go on we see that they want to have a Jesus plus Moses spirituality or a Jesus plus some sort of priesthood. The journey with Christ is hard. So they seek supplements, rituals, and programs to make it easier.

This may all seem strange to us…because it is written to Hebrews. We don’t understand all the technicalities that Jesus is getting into with the Hebrews. We don’t understand the priesthood. We don’t understand all of the cultic beliefs around angels and demons that drew them away from Jesus.

But we do know something about easy button faith. We do have a similar temptation.

We struggle as a church. And so we ponder how to fix it. And we come up with our own solutions. Instead of what the Hebrews did, we tend to seek out our own technological solutions to the challenges the church faces.

The first things churches do is they try and change the music. If we just got something a little bit more contemporary or upbeat, then our problems would be solved. If we had a few more musicians or were a little bit more reverent and reserved, people would become more serious about their faith. Don’t get me wrong. I love excellent music in worship. It is central to my experience of God in our time together whatever its form. But an electric guitar or a beautiful organ never died for my sins.

Then we start thinking about programs. Programs are good things. They are fun. They give us structure to connect to one another, and give us opportunities to invite friends to connect with Jesus. We have youth programs and children’s programs. We even have Purpose Driven Life Programs, Baptist Identity Programs, and Lenten Supper Programs. We think if we just find the right program for our demographic than all our problems as a church will be solved. If we just find the right business model for our church, or change our structure in one way or another that our problems will be solved and we will have our easy button. Programs are good things, but there isn’t one program that will save your soul.

Maybe that is why the preacher in Hebrews went a little different route.

Instead he has the audacity to take his finger, lift it up, and point to the cross. He points to Jesus.

You may look at angels, he says, but Jesus is greater still.

You may seek your answers with Moses he says, but Moses was just preparing the way for Jesus.

You may try to find your answers through some mysterious tradition, but the Lord Jesus is bigger than your traditions, and all of that history is the point to his love and his grace.

What is the preacher’s solution to the problems of the congregation? What is the preacher’s challenge to his struggling church? What does this preacher say to help his congregation endure?

He challenges them to take their focus off all the petty, smaller stuff as something that they put their trust in to save them, and encourages them to refocus on Jesus.

Church I want to encourage you to stay strong this morning. I also want to encourage you to refocus your lives, your church, your hopes, and your dreams toward a trust in Jesus.

Jesus is bigger than Moses, Abraham, Mechizadeck, angels, and any other created thing. Jesus is bigger than our current struggles as a congregation. Our willingness to trust him and refocus upon him and his will for us is more important than any gimmick, any program, any style of worship, any building improvement, any one persons opinion or agenda, as important as those things may be, He is more powerful than any problem. His purposes will not fail. You can trust him.

It is easy for us to get shortsighted. To just see what is front of us. To get overwhelmed with the challenges of life. To get overwhelmed with the challenges of being a community of Jesus followers. And to miss the big picture.

That is why we have Hebrews 11. We see a great number of people that kept their focus on what is eternal. Who stayed connected in relationship with God. Who didn’t give up. Who did not run away when things got hard. They endured.

Moses spent years in the desert.
Abraham wandered around away from home.
Prophets beaten, ridiculed, tortured, and put to death.

But they were certain of what they hoped for…
They trusted that God would bless them one way or another

All of them believed that the trails of this world were not worthy to be compared to Jesus.

One by one, from Abraham, to Issac and Jacob, from Isiah and Jeremiah, to John the Baptist, they endured.

The Bible says all of the people in this book (hold up Bible) trusted in God, ran toward Jesus, trusting in faith.

Then God says through the preacher says, like a relay racer, they are holding out their hands toward us, and it is now our turn to run the race.

Will you run? Will you focus on Jesus? Will you set aside all those things that are getting in the way of your relationship with Jesus? Will you trust him?

Will we run? Will we trust Jesus with our church? Will take the time to take our focus away from the million other things that are good but not good enough, because they are not about Jesus, and they are not eternal. Will we trust him?

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. Before anything was, he was. He created us. When each of us has gasped our last breathe, he still will be. We can trust him.

It’s a little like a story one person told about a bike ride…

At first, I saw God as my observer, my judge,

keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.

He was out there sort of like a president. I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I really didn't know him. But later on when I met Christ, it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride, but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal. I don't know just when it was that. He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since. When I had control, I knew the way. It was rather boring, but predictable...It was the shortest distance between two points. But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places at breakneck speeds, it was all I could do to hang on! Even though it looked like madness, He said, "Pedal." I worried and was anxious and asked, "Where are you taking me?" He laughed and didn't answer, and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure. And when I'd say, "I'm scared," He'd lean back and touch my hand. He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance and joy. They gave me gifts to take on my journey, my Lord's and mine. And we were off again. He said, "Give the gifts away; they're extra baggage, too much weight."
So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving I received, and still our burden was light. I did not trust Him at first, in control of my life.
I thought He'd wreck it; but He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners, knows how to jump to clear high rocks, knows how to fly to shorten scary passages. And I am learning how to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I'm beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful companion, Jesus Christ. And when I'm sure I just can't do anymore, He just smiles and says... "Pedal."

Hebrews says he is the author and perfector of our faith. He knows our story. He is working toward writing a happy ending. You can trust him.

Jesus is the Way. He is the gate. He has made a way for us through a painful world we would otherwise be deceived and lost in. He urges us to follow. We can trust him.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He is eager to care for even the weakest and most helpless of us. Your addictions will fail you. Your friends will let you down. Jesus will care for you more than you can care for yourself. You can trust him.

Jesus is Bread of Life and Living Water. He can touch the deep parts of our soul where nobody or nothing else can. You can fill yourself with knowledge, activity, food, booze, or even religious activity. It all will leave you hungry and empty in the end. Jesus will fill that void in your soul. You can trust him.

He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is more powerful than any political party, any thug, gangster, or terrorist. He stronger than any other person or power on earth. And as a King he wants to make you princes and princesses. You can trust him.

He is Immanuel, God with us. He left the comfort of heaven to live with us, teach us, heal us, comfort us, and show us the way. You can trust him.

He is the Lamb of God. He lived a sinless life. He was nailed to a cross, so that he could make a way for us to be reconciled to God through giving his own life. You can trust him.

He is the Resurrection and The Life. He conquered sin and death. He trampled the enemy underfoot. He rose again three days after he died. He offers you the opportunity for New Life and new hope as well. You can trust him.

The question is…will you?

Will you trust him with your life by committing to follow him? Will you trust Jesus?

Will you trust him by setting aside all those things that are getting in the way of you and your relationship with Jesus? Will you trust him?

Will you trust him by refocusing as a church to make our mission about loving Jesus and serving him instead of ourselves, our attitudes, and our agendas? Will we trust Jesus?

I hope you will. I hope I will. I hope we will.