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Get your own, Free HomepagePt. 3 of the series: "Reclaiming the Bible for Real People"
This morning our sermon series on "Reclaiming the Bible for Real People" continues, and we’re going to take a look at all the people in the Bible. First, of course, was Adam, then Eve. They had Cain and then Abel. Cain killed Abel. That’s bad. Then Cain’s wife – it really doesn’t say where she came from! – gave birth to Enoch. "To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son...." This is starting to sound like when someone tries to explain the characters on "Days of Our Lives."
Maybe we better not try to look at ALL the people in the Bible; so far we’re only up to Genesis, chapter 4. This could take a while!
Suffice to say, the Bible is full of stories about people. In fact, that’s a big part of what the Bible is. A whole bunch of stories and teachings and poems and reflections about people – people and their relationships with God. I told you in part 1 of this series that the Bible is, essentially, a "confessional witness." It’s a collection of people’s reports, experiences and insights about the nature and presence of God in their lives.
Through the years, some of the people in the Bible have been labeled as "heroes of the faith." Our Scripture reading this morning came from the 11th chapter of the New Testament book of "Hebrews" and that particular chapter has been called the great "Hall of Faith" because is contains so many references to the lives of ancient "saints."
"Heroes" and "saints" like Noah. The story goes that, of all those who lived before the great flood, he was the only one God considered good enough to spare. Noah worked for 100 years building the ark, and he also spent that time preaching to his neighbors.
Abraham: he was willing to obey God even when it required him to risk everything most precious to him.
Moses. It was said of Moses that he was more humble than any man on earth. Moses worked great miracles, gave the law of God to the Jews, and was a pillar of righteousness to the nation of Israel.
David. Little shepherd boy David. Great king David. Like all the folks mentioned in Hebrews 11 – a "hero" and a "saint."
Of course, what are not covered in Hebrews 11 but are brought out in other parts of the Bible are the things all those folks did that weren’t so "heroic" and "saintly."
Noah once got drunk and ran around naked, exposing himself to his family. That’s bad. Abraham doubted God’s promise that he would have a son and, taking matters into his own hands, tried to produce one with his wife’s servant girl. Also, on at least two occasions, he lied and said that his wife was his sister in order to save himself from harm.
And Moses. Well...Moses had a little "anger management" problem. He had a bad temper and he was a little quick to strike things. He struck and killed an Egyptian. He struck the rock at Meribah when God had told him to speak to the rock...not hit it! And he actually threw down and broke the first stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments! That’s bad!
And as for David...I told you the scoop about him last week. That little incident where he committed adultery with Bathsheba and she got pregnant...so he worked out a scheme to send her husband up to the front in a battle so he’d get killed. Now that really does sound like "Days of Our Lives."
And it’s all in the Bible! The proof that even "heroes" and "saints" were, after all, ordinary, fallible, regular, human-like-us...PEOPLE!
How is it that people who did some pretty bad things ended up being used for such good things by God? Faith. That’s really what Hebrews 11 is about. Faith. Heck...that’s what the whole Bible is about. Faith. People living in faith. Faith that was not just a "belief" but an action -- a way of living that allowed them to move beyond what was and toward the possibilities of what could be...of what was promised to be. One way to describe it is this: true faith is action taken in response to the promises of the unseen God. Hear that again: true faith is action taken in response to the promises of the unseen God.
We probably all have a tendency to look at the people presented in the Bible and say, "Well, those people are very different from me. After all, they are in the Bible." So of course, we reason, it was no sweat for them to act with faith in relation to the unseen God and in response to a hostile world! We see ourselves, by contrast, as much too normal, or worldly, or powerless to live extraordinary lives of faith.
But when we think like that, we miss the whole point. Through the stories of ordinary, flawed people in the Bible, God is calling us – with all our habits and hang-ups, warts and worries – to step out of the march of the ordinary world, hop up on the stage of history, and take our place in God’s roll call of "heroes" and "saints." Of course we’re inadequate; but so have all the others been whose lives have evidenced the grace of God. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be grace; it would be greatness. And only God is great.
When we place our lives in the hands of this great God, God can use us – even in our weakness – to accomplish amazing things. In fact, that seems to be God’s preferred way of working. Hear these words from 1 Corinthians, chapter 1: "...consider your call, my friends; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast.... ‘Let the one who boasts, boast of the Lord.’"
In the verses of Scripture we heard read this morning, there is a litany of the many trials that people in the Bible endured with faith. And yet, verse 40 says, only "together with us" would they be made perfect. God’s working in the world did not end when the lives of people in the Bible ended. God’s ongoing, unfolding promises include us today. We are part of a parade of saints through history that is still, through our lives, revealing God to the world even now.
Imagine that passage reworded to reflect the people and stories of faith that we have heard over the last couple of months here in our own church and which we know exist in the lives of people in this place. Imagine that the Scripture said, "And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Susan, Mary Lou, Jim or Jackie...Kelly, Warren, Kate, Toni or Gary...or all those who have battled breast cancer and who live with AIDS...who have rallied for human rights and stood for arrest in the protesting of injustice...who have ministered with confidence amid the confusion of the world...whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle with prejudice and hate. Others were knocked down but never gave up. Some faced rejection to be who they are. They were pelted with words and cut up by looks. Others have faced all manners of trials in order to be faithful in the best way they can. They are all commended for their faith...."
That’s an awesome thing to realize, isn’t it? That in the Living Word of God, we, too, are to be counted among the "heroes of the faith." "Not me!," we say. "Not us!" "Not here!" But listen to what Jesus said in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John about the incredible works of ministry he did: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. That one will do even greater things than these...."
To our doubt, through the words of Scripture, Christ says, "Yes, you! All of you! Here! Now!" We are not called to look back in nostalgia and admiration at the people in the Bible; we are to look at the people in the Bible and say, "Wow! Now it’s up to us!" God’s work goes on...God’s Word goes on -- living and breathing and waiting for expression in us!
Leonardo da Vinci once started to work on a large canvas in his studio. For awhile he worked at it – choosing the subject, planning the perspective, sketching the outline, applying the colors, with his own inimitable genius. Then suddenly he stopped, with the painting still unfinished, and, calling for one of his students, invited him to complete the work. The student protested that he was both unworthy and unable to complete the great painting which da Vinci had begun. But the great artist stopped him and said, "Will what I have done not inspire you to do your best?"
The "saints" and "heroes" of Scripture are there to inspire us to do our best for God. To live with faith – taking action in response to the promises of the unseen God who provided for and guided them...and who will provide for and guide us, as well. We have a spiritual ancestry of God’s great grace coming out through ordinary human beings, just like us. In fact, God has planned something even better for us. That’s what the Bible says. Amen.
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