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Get your own, Free HomepageHebrews 11:29-12:2
Jeannie was a devout Christian, a regular at church and at a variety of
small groups. That’s where she got the bad theology virus. "Faith," she was
taught, "can remove every mountain in your life." So she began applying the
mountain-moving faith to every area of her life and with amazing results.
Obstacles seemed to dissolve before her. Illnesses seemed to exit her body
quickly, she was able to secure better employment, better finances, and better
parking places at the grocery store. Jeannie had strong faith.
That is, until the afternoon when the hemorrhaging began. Then the
diagnosis came and hit her with stunning impact: cancer. The next six months
could have been a case study right out of Elizabeth Kübler Ross' book, On
Death and Dying, in which the author describes the various stages people go
through when faced with terminal illness.
First, she denied that she even had cancer. "The doctors are mistaken,"
she told herself, "I'll get a second opinion. This is a bad dream; it'll go away
by itself." But the dream came on stronger and loomed more menacing with each
day. Jeannie then became desperate. She went back to her study group for
support; they claimed biblical promises for her total recovery, prayed over her
and assured her that if she didn't waver in her faith, she would be completely
restored-- just like Job. But Jeannie's precious life was slipping away like
water draining through the crevices in cupped hands. Then came the stage of
anger and resentment: "Why? Why would God cut my life short? God, why are you
doing this to me?" Her resentment eventually yielded to unhealthy soul-
searching: Jeannie now looked upon herself as the problem. "If only I could have
mustered more faith; if only the right person had prayed for me. If only I had
not wavered in faith; if only I could discover the sin that had opened the door
to this attack of Satan. If only . . ."
Now at less than 90 pounds, Jeannie's shriveled body and intense pain led
her to finally accept the inevitable. She finally accepted the fact that she had
little time left with friends and family and the things in life that most of us
take for granted. During these moments, Jeannie decided to brush aside the
broken pieces of her defective faith and to try and start all over again. She
stopped bargaining with God; stopped her unhealthy introspection and began to
squeeze every ounce of life from the seconds she did have remaining. With God's
help, and the help of friends, she learned to accept her condition and cope with
it. She nourished hope, and hope carved a road back to God. And that is where we
must leave Jeannie this morning: with God.
Bad theology makes the rounds every once in awhile. It imposes itself
over good theology and presses so hard that it leaves no room for reflection or
correction. Then the theology congeals and hardens into doctrine. Bad theology
says that faith is all we need to live victoriously. That with the right kind of
faith, the right amount of faith, and with the right use of that faith, every
mountain in our life should crumble and blow away. The extreme version of this
bad theology says that with such faith, every sickness, every financial crisis,
and every problem will just disappear.
Yet,
the remarkable part of this particular bad theology about faith is that it can
be derived from today’s Scripture lesson! I feel sure that all of us here this
morning would affirm the importance of faith in our Christian journey, yet what
do we do when our faith flounders and that mountain stands unflinchingly before
us? When all you've ever believed isn't enough? If you've ever struggled with
this thing called faith, take another look with me at our lesson for today.
In the 11th chapter of the biblical book of Hebrews, faith
stands tall; it makes a smile break across God's face, because faith pleases
God. Faith conquers kingdoms, slams shut the jaws of lions, puts entire armies
to flight, and rescues its possessors from firing squads. In Hebrews 11, faith
throws a ticker tape parade and leads a triumphant group of heroes and heroines
before God's review stand with the two words, "by faith...." “By faith, Abel...," "by faith,
Noah...," "by faith Abraham...," "by faith Sarah...." This is the faith people
admire. The Sylvester Stallone kind of faith in “Rocky” where, against
incredible odds, the nobody kid from Philadelphia slams Apollo Creed around the
ring. You gotta like that!
But take notice: carefully tucked within the folds of that same chapter
is another group of heroes and heroines. And another kind of faith. In fact,
these "heroes" and "heroines" are so opposite to the Abraham and Sarah types,
they are all but forgotten by us. Listen for faith among this group of faith
heroes:
“Some were tortured, refusing to accept
release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking
and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were
sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep
and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill- treated...wandering over deserts and
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth”. [11:35b-38].
Who are these people? And what's wrong with their faith? What small
groups have they been attending? These are people who would have definitely been
voted off the island and singled out as “the weakest link.” They were laughed at. Beaten up. Thrown
in the dungeon. Severed into pieces like some gory horror movie. They don't even
have a name! How can these nameless persons possibly stand next to Abraham and
Sarah? Their faith hasn't worked! Hasn't made them very victorious. Their
prayers for protection and life apparently have gone unheeded. They're pathetic.
Is this some kind of a sick joke?
Yet, remarkably, incredibly, these outcasts are deliberately held up
before us as models of faith! Sounds fantastic, but it's true. By faith Noah
built the ark; by faith Abraham became the Father of a multitude. By faith Sarah
received the power to have a baby when she was pushing 90. By faith some guy got
beat up. By faith a woman got laughed out of class. By faith four children were
killed in church when a bomb exploded. By faith thousands moved around under the
cover of darkness, hiding in caves . . . What is it about these famous and
not-so-famous persons that make them examples of faith for us? What is the
common denominator between Abraham and Sarah and those who have struggled and
suffered? What is the writer trying to tell us about faith?
It’s that God calls us to tack some letters on to the end of faith:
f-u-l-n-e-s-s. “Fullness.” God wants faithfulness, not just faith. This may make
some sense when we discover who the recipients were who first needed to hear
Hebrews 11. We know from internal evidence that a missionary effort had reached
their part of the world. Was it Paul? Or maybe Apollos? We just don’t know. But
the result of the missionary effort is clear: many had, in their own first
century way, made a decision to become a Christian.
Then the missionaries had left town. These new Christians continued
meeting every week. And then it happened. The community grew tired of all the
hymns coming from that corner down at the end of the block. The neighbors became
bold in expressing their distaste for their strange Christian practices. Then a
few members woke up to burning crosses on their lawns lighting the night sky.
Dirty politics grabbed property away from their wealthy members on spurious
charges. Finally, several devout Christians had been arrested, some even
executed.
So you can understand when some must have said, "Enough is enough," and
had left the church and Christ and slipped back into easier religions. So when
the evangelist caught wind of this, he wrote back to them and said, in
essence: Don’t throw
it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But
you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan . . . we’re not quitters who
lost out. Oh no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the
way (Hebrews 10:35-39-The Message).
Another word for faithfulness is endurance; it means sticking it out,
hanging tough all the way to the end. People who endure are so convinced of the
outcome of God's promise that nothing will keep them from enduring. Endurance is
simply hanging on when your world starts to cave in; hanging tough when
mountains don't move, hanging in there even when family or friends bail on you.
Endurance is what is meant by the saying: "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you
stronger." That is, if we can stand strong in the face of problems without
running to the nearest exit, our faith will become even stronger.
“Swifter, higher, stronger” is the motto of the Olympic games. Those
words would also go a long way in representing what our calling as followers of
Christ embodies. Remembering the inspiring athletes in Sydney, we would do well
to mimic their dedication to the spirit of that motto. In fact, Olympic history
is rich with moving stories that show us that it’s not only important how we run
the race but that we finish it as well.
In 1992, when the Olympics were held in Barcelona, Derek Redmond competed
in the 400 Meter track and field semifinals. He had spent eight years to prepare
for that moment. Less than 150 meters from the tape he was maneuvering into
position when Derek unexpectedly crumpled to the ground. A severely pulled
hamstring had ended his chances of placing in the 400 meters. His face seemed to
say it all: he was contorted in pain and he was sobbing. Yet incredibly, he got
up and moved forward, dragging his right leg behind him. Though the race had
ended, Derek hobbled along toward the finish line. The crowd jumped to their
feet and began to cheer him on. Then one man jumped from the stands and broke
through the security police; it was his father, Jim. The father put his arm
around his son and five minutes later the two of them crossed the finish line
together. They had not finished first, but they had won.
Few among us are called to sensational feats of faith; but all of us are
called to faith-fullness. To endurance. To finish the race that has been set
before us. Our lesson concludes with two motivations to help turn us into
spiritual marathon runners.
First, we have surrounding us those who have already finished the race -
they’re all standing at the finish line cheering us on! Abraham, Sarah, Gramma
and Grampa, family members, friends and loved ones. You can call their faces to
mind right now. They’re all there urging us to endure, to do our best. But One
stands out among all the others. Jesus. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus," the
writer says, “who is the author and the perfecter of our faith.” Christ Jesus
urges us on and even supplies all the faithfulness we’ll need. We just need to
keep our focus on Christ.
So this morning let us add fullness to our faith and make it faithfulness, the very quality that makes all of us heroes and heroines. And if it is faithfulness, not sensational faith, that really counts, then I want to add one more name to our parade of faithful saints: Jeannie. For she finally discovered that it was not mountain-moving faith but faith-fulness, that carried her to the finish line. She could endure the pain, rejection, and questions of her situation, because she was able to look down the stretch to the God Who lives eternally and Who is always, always faithful. Amen.
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