Grace, Mercy and Peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Dear people of Faith,
Last week I posed this question to you: What does faith have to with Faith? Why is this the name that the people of God here at this congregation chose to be known by? And why is it a name that we, too ought to exemplify in our lives as God’s people?
Last week we studied Hebrews 11, verses 1-3 and 8-16. And we saw that Faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the conviction of what we do not see.
In other Words, faith is all about fixing our eyes on Jesus and His promises, even when we can’t see how they are coming to pass. Even when doubts and fears and frustrations come against us. Even when the devil and the world and our own sinful flesh tempt us…even then, especially then, we look to Jesus. We listen to His Word and Promise and we uphold what He says above anything and everything else.
Jesus says it, and so it is true. Period. Because He is the truth, and He speaks the truth, and His Word is powerful to accomplish exactly what it says.
And so when hear the Word of the Lord, which endures forever, we are assured. Our hopes are fixed not on something that is fleeting and flimsy, but rather on something that is firm. More firm than anything this broken world can offer us.
That is how faith assures us.
This week I was listening to the classic Christian allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. The story is an expounding of the Christian life. How do we live as the people of God in this broken and sin filled world? My older sons are reading it for school, and so I decided I’d listen a little on my commute. Amos may or may not be enjoying that part of his day as we drive to and from Faith.
Well, early on in the book, Bunyan describes two children named Passion and Patience. And he says, the boy named Passion corresponds to the people of this World. And the boy named Patience corresponds to the People of the World to come. The people of God. Passion wants everything now, even though the things of this world are fleeting and empty. But Patience is willing to wait for a glorious Kingdom that will never end and never wear out…the Kingdom of God.
And we, if we are like Patience, wait in faith, not on the basis of what see in front of us, but on the basis of the promise of God. The word and promise of God. That’s firm. That’s stable.
But… as we today move into the later verses of Hebrews 11, we see that there are many reasons that the people of God are tempted to turn away from Him. We see the many struggles and trials that God’s people face in this world. And we see that trusting in God’s promise involves more than just being assured that God tells the truth. It also involves endurance.
In July my oldest son and I went to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. We went on a 7-day trek and hiked nearly 90 miles. The trek the boys chose…the boys chose it, not the middle-aged men that had to accompany them as advisors…the trek that those strong young men chose was classified as “Super Strenuous.” Super-Strenuous. :O
I’ll be honest, I was scared. I mean I can hike all day on flat ground. Even with 50 pounds on my back I can go, if the trials are flat, and wide, and well maintained. But I started looking at the elevation gains and losses each day, and I was worried.
This will require training, and hard work, and endurance. And boy I don’t want to be the reason that we didn’t finish our trek. Phew.
But that kind of endurance is nothing, compared to what the author of Hebrews describes in our text today.
It says, that …
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 … through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
Now you might not think that sounds so bad. After all…the author of Hebrews is describing a series of historical victories that God’s people enjoyed as they overcame the kingdoms of this world. They conquered. They brought justice. They stopped the mouths of lions and escaped the sword…
But, let me point out that, in order to experience that victory, to know that triumph, they first had to face the hardest circumstances of their lives. An easy victory, without fear or struggle or challenges…that doesn’t require endurance. But these circumstances that God’s people faced…these were not easy circumstances.
Let’s take Gideon for instance. He was a great deliver of Israel, but He did not want to conquer any kingdoms. In fact, when the Lord called him to be a judge and rescuer of Israel from the hands of the Midianites, Gideon was hiding. We read this in Judges 6.
It says that
Because the power of Midian was so oppressive,the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. (Judges 6:2)
The people of God were hiding in caves. And Gideon, also, was hiding. God came to Gideon as he was threshing grain…in the winepress. That’s not the right place to be threshing grain. Judges 6 tells us that
Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. (Judges 6:11)
Gideon was afraid. If the Midianites knew what he was doing they would have come and stolen his food. He wasn’t planning to conquer them. He was hiding from them.
And even when God did call Gideon, he had a lot of excuses. Like Moses before him, Gideon questioned God and tried to avoid the call of God. He asks,
Why has all this happened to us? … The Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” (Judges 6:13)
and he says,
“How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (Judges 6:15)
These are not words filled with faith, but with doubt. And yet the LORD patiently and faithfully pursues Gideon.
I am sending you, God says. I will be with you, He declares. I will save you, He promises.
And even then after all these gracious Words, Gideon is still worried. He doesn’t want to face Midian. He’s afraid. So He asks for a sign. He puts the fleece before God and then when God gives hims a sign, just to make sure, he asks for another sign…which God also gives him.
And why? Why not just believe God’s promise? Why not just trust Him from the get go?
Because what God was commanding would be hard. It would require firm and steadfast faith; It would require conviction of what Gideon did not see…and a lot of struggle and endurance along the way.
You see,
In order to conquer kingdoms you have to endure war.
In order to enforce justice, you have to stand up to injustice.
In order to obtain promises, you have to push past doubt.
In order to stop the mouths of lions you have to step into their dens.
And the author of Hebrews goes on. He speaks about God’s people being threatened with fire, the sword, torture, mocking, flogging, shame and death.
None of these things sounds like a lot of fun. These are hard things. Things that we do not want to do. Things that will require struggle and endurance.
In a word, the hard things that we face in life in this broken world are CROSSES.
Jesus bore the cross for you and for me. He took the weight of our sin and our shame…a weight that we could not bear…a weight that would kill us forever. He took it. And it was hard. In the garden, Christ our Lord prayed, Father if it is possible, remove this cup from me. But not my will but your will be done, O Father.
And likewise when Christ calls us to come follow Him, He says to us, take up your cross and follow me. And he teaches us pray, Thy Will be Done, O Father in heaven.
Now are you strong enough to do that? By no means. If we had to do any of this in our own power, we would surely fail. No, we are able to endure only because Christ has endured. And He walks with us and bears our burdens with us, for us, day after day, year after year. He is longsuffering, patient, and powerful over every one of our enemies.
And so Dear Christians, I ask you, what crosses are you bearing these days, with the help of God? What hard things has God called you to endure with His power working in you, for the sake of the Gospel?
Perhaps an illness, or a personal loss. Maybe its a struggle with temptation. Maybe it’s leading your family though a challenging time… and doing it without compromising your values. Or maybe it’s standing up to tell the truth in a world that has ignored or rejected the truth.
How about as a church? What are the crosses we are called to bear? What are the hard things we must endure in order for God to refine us? Do our egos need to be taken to task, set aside, put to death, for the sake of the Gospel? Are there things that we need to let go of, frustrations and anger and bitterness that we just need to release with the help of God, so that patience and love and unity will prevail?
Do we need to seek forgiveness from one another? And extend forgiveness to one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us?
And are we willing to endure those hard things, knowing that Christ has endured far more? Are we willing to endure His Work in us, as God refines us? As the proverb today says, Take away the dross, take away the impurity from the silver…and you know how impurity is removed, right? With fire!
Martin Luther in his study of Psalm 119, noted that there are three things that characterize the Spiritual Life of a Christian. First is prayer, second is meditation on the Word of God and the third is struggle. The Latin word for that is tentatio. From which we get the English word, tension. It’s that tension that arises when the Christian hears the Word of the Lord, and Prays for God’s will to be done and then must wrestle and struggle with the devil, the world and their sinful flesh. That’s the refining fire of God’s holiness at work in poor miserable sinners.
But that fire, that struggle, that cross, produces something precious and holy.
First it produces contrition, sorrow for our sin. Then faith that trusts in Christ and Him crucified. And then good fruit of love and good deeds.
For us at here at Faith, I pray that our struggle together would lead us toward a God-sized vision for the future of ministry here. That it would help us to focus on the pure and simple Gospel at work in the lives of faithful people — People who don’t have it all together, but who are willing to devote themselves to the Reading of the Scriptures, to the breaking of Bread and to prayer, and to loving and serving God and neighbor.
These simple things are the core of who we are as the people of God, they are precious and holy.
You see, our Lord has never promised us a life of easy leisure. Make no mistake, the Christian life is a blessed life, but not in the way the world counts blessings. Not in wealth or possessions or reputation or fame. These things come and go. And we are grateful when they come, but we are wise enough to know that they do not endure forever. Only the unbreakable promise of God in Christ lasts forever.
And so we endure the hard things of this life, by faith, and we know that through this tense struggle, the cross is doing its work in us. We suffer, knowing that Christ also suffered, for us. And we struggle, knowing that the cross puts to death sin, and worldly desires. And it prepares us for the resurrection an the life of the world to come.
Here again, the author of Hebrews points us to this reality.
He (or she) says of all those who suffered and struggled faithfully, that the world was not worthy of them…and that God was preparing something better for them and for us, that together with all God’s people we would enjoy the perfection of the new heavens and the new earth.
But for this we must wait like the little boy, Patience, in John Bunyan’s tale. We wait, knowing that the best things are yet to come and that when they come, they will last forever.
So also, the Gospel reading today bears this out. Jesus comes to bring us healing, like He healed the man with dropsy. He comes to pull us out of the well like any good master would do, even for his animals. He comes to say to us, who are humble before Him, Friend, move up higher.
And indeed even today He comes to us here in the Divine Service. With His Strong Word He forgives your sins, and works faith in your heart, and welcomes you to His table. He feeds you His body and His blood, to strengthen your faith, and to prepare you for the feast that is to come.
And as it is with that little boy, Patience, in the Pilgrim’s Progress, so it is with us. We come week after week. We read and learn God’s Word, day after day. We pray and we go to Him with our struggles moment by moment.
We endure. We do the hard things that God has called us to. Because we know that God is with us. We know that Christ has come to save us and He helps us, each and every day. For He has forgiven all of our sins by His Work on the Cross; and He has given us hope and a future, all of which we receive this day, by Faith in His Holy Word. Amen.
Let’s pray…
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Now the Peace of God, which surpasses understanding, guard your hearts and minds in the one true faith in Christ Jesus. Amen