Stand Up! Raise Your Heads!

Text: Luke 21:25-36

Focus: Advent preparation

Function: To help people embrace Christ instead of materialism this Christmas.

Form: GOK

Intro:

I can’t believe it is the first Sunday in Advent already! It always seems that I just get done remembering that the year is 2009 when all of a sudden, I have to get a 2010 Calendar.

Remember how long it took for Christmas to come every year? It seemed like forever. I have a theory about that, because it comes quicker and quicker every year. The older I get, the longer I have lived, the less of a percentage one year has is my life.

When I was 5 and waiting for Christmas, a year was one whole 5^th of my life. That was a long time.

But now that I am 52, that year between Christmases will be 1/52 of my life. So, the way that time feels between it is less of a chunk and so it feels like it comes quicker and quicker each year.

As those years pass by, and family holidays seem to measure the true successes of life, one begins to wonder about the future.

(SHOW) What about the future?

It is in the context of that, at Christmas time, that I want to look at this scripture.

That is exactly what Jesus is talking about to His disciples. He has just explained to them a prophecy that would soon be fulfilled. It actually happened in 70 AD. He tells them that this generation; those who heard His voice right then will not pass away.

And it happens just as He said it would. Before that generation passed away, before 40 years were up, Jerusalem was destroyed. The Romans had a particular policy: “When agreements are broken, punishments must be severe!”

The Temple was destroyed; almost all of the inhabitants were tortured to death. But before he destroyed the Temple, in order to offend the Jewish people, Antiochus, the Roman commander sacrificed a pig, which was an unclean animal according to the Jewish Kosher regulations.

Maybe you are thinking, Pastor, this is the first Sunday of Advent, it’s Christmas time, (SHOW) isn’t this a time for hope?

I want to preach about hope out of the midst of despair.

Jesus is warning God’s people about the coming destruction against them by the Roman Empire.

And He gives them a way to understand its approach. He illustrates it with the fig tree.

(SHOW FIG TREE)

He tells them this coming destruction will be just as obvious in its approach as the way trees grow buds, develop leaves and then the leaves begin to fall and the fruit ripens.

One preacher I read said it this way: “On the first day of advent, my Savior gave to me: A Parable about a Fig tree.”

It’s about looking for signs of His coming.

(SHOW) Advent is a time for us to look at the symbols of our own hope.

When we conclude this worship service, we will be sharing in the greatest symbol, the bread and the cup.

But we light the candles. The culture begins decorating their houses. The whole community adorns itself with bright lights, brilliant colors and greetings of good will, happiness and peace.

(SHOW beautiful Christmas scene)

We love Christmas because all of these signs build that expectation for the great day.

And every year, we hope for something wonderful.

The children hope they get the perfect present that they think will make them happy.

The parents can’t wait to give the perfect present that they think will make their children happy.

During the meal we hope. We hope the conversation will be happy. We hope the love expressed between family members will fill our hearts with this sense of peace.

So, I am struck by something in this passage.

Jesus is talking about this time of suffering that is coming on God’s people.

And this is a difficult Christmas financially for many people.

That first Christmas after my daddy died was hard to endure without his loving presence.

The presents, sometimes they brought joy, sometimes, they were a disappointment.

In the long run, the material things did not bring any real happiness at all.

Things do not make us happy.

Christmas has become the make it or break it indicator of our whole economy. It is the one thing retailers count on. It is the one thing manufactories count on in order to survive.

And at the beginning of this passage, right after He tells them of hard times, right before He tells them to look for the signs, almost in parentheses He gives a command to God’s people.

This is a command for those who trust in Jesus.

He says: (SHOW) Stand Up! Raise Your Heads!

I was struck by a scene from the Movie Schindler’s List.

The Jewish people again are subject to this kind of terror and persecution and a father is trying to communicate to his wife and children who are in another part of the camp when all of a sudden the commandant comes trotting by on his horse.

The people all stand and then bow their heads and avert their eyes. The commandant believes it is out of respect for his power, but the people know it is out of fear. If they don’t make eye contact with him, they won’t draw attention to themselves and that would be the safest way to avoid his cruelty.

But God, in the midst of this terror says to His people: “Stand up! Raise you heads!”

Why? Because God’s (SHOW) redemption is coming!

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this sermon as Jesus is telling them not only of the coming destruction by the Roman imperials, but also of His own second coming.

His command: “Look Up…” is a command to keep our eyes focused on Him and have faith.

When He tells us His redemption is coming, He is telling us that God is coming to set things right. So trust Him. Look to Him.

He is telling us that His Kingdom will reign.

And the Kingdom of God is not a nationality, it isn’t America, it isn’t wealth or human power, but it His peace. This is a peace that reigns in spite of any circumstance.

I have to remind myself that the gift giving is an expression of love and can be a beautiful thing. But behind it all is His Love.

The decorations give us a chance to feel that warm fuzzy feeling at home, they make each and every house a place where a family loves and cares for each other. It is a good thing.

But I have to remember that (SHOW) Jesus makes this possible.

That command, raise my head and look for Jesus in Advent inspires me. It is a call to keep our faith in Jesus –good times or bad.

There was a great Christian who was very wealthy. He was educated enough to read, and rich enough to own a copy of scripture since before the printing press all books were copied by hand and expensive.

He began reading the gospels and was overwhelmed by all the passages where Jesus spoke about caring for the poor.

So he, on Christmas Eve, over the course of the next few years gave all of his wealth away by buying presents for poor families and leaving them at their houses.

His acts of generosity and example to other Christians became so widely known that the Church declared him to be a Saint.

You know Him, Saint Nicholas. We know him better by a Spanish rendition of his name: Santa Claus. He started the tradition of giving at Christmas.

Mary Taynor visited with me last Tuesday. She told me she had an image in her mind while she was praying. She had this picture of Santa Claus bowing at the manger, worshipping Jesus.

(SHOW Santa kneeling picture)

I think of how important the materialism of Christmas is to our economy and the fact that our economy needs a boost.

And I pray that retailers do well this year.

But I have to remind myself of something very important.

Jesus told God’s people, in the midst of Crisis, look up! Raise you heads! Look for Jesus!

Unfortunately, Santa Claus has become something different than this wonderful Christian saint. He has become the symbol of the materialism of Christmas. He is a necessary part of marketing.

But as I was thinking about that, I had this picture in my mind as well: Santa Claus bowing at the manger, worshipping Jesus.

I had this image of Christmas being first and foremost a time of worship about Christ Jesus who came to Bethlehem as a baby

We are reminded this first Sunday of Advent to look up, to look for Jesus for He is coming again.

Jesus reminds us to look up and focus on Him, no matter what, good time and bad. Actually He warns us: (From “The Message”)

(SHOW) "But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once.

We are reminded that it isn’t just about the gifts, the meals and the decorations. Those things are there to point to the most important thing. Jesus

Invitation:

Jesus said: That day will come like a trap on everyone.

This is serious stuff, it is important that we keep our heads looking up for Him.

Are You Like the One?

Text: Luke 17:11-19

Focus: Gratitude

Function: To help people see the ease with which we can forget gratitude.

Form: Story-telling

Intro:

I have a friend, a medical doctor who lives very simply. He dresses in old clothes that show signs of wear. He drives a diesel Volkswagen Rabbit that is older than John Hepner’s pickup. He has a modest apartment in Brethren Village, in Lititz PA. I used to work for a building company that supplies material to FORUM group. FORUM group was a retirement community that specialized in luxurious retirement living. They were the kind of place that only the wealthy people could afford. Retired Doctors and wealthy businessmen were their clientele.

But this doctor friend of mine would have never been able to afford such luxury and the reason is bears mentioning. He was a Brethren missionary, a medical doctor to India. At one time, Dr. Pfaltzgraff was considered one of the world’s renowned authorities on the dreaded disease of leprosy.

Leprosy, the dreaded skin disease of the bible. It was the Cancer, or the HIV of the times. There was no cure and if you got it, your life was ruined.

(SHOW) Leprosy was feared then, like Cancer or HIV is feared today.

The OT law said, if a spot occurred on your hand, or a lock of your hair, and the scalp underneath it suddenly turned white, you had to be evaluated by the priest.

After one week, if the spot disappeared, you were safe, but if it remained you had separate yourself from everyone you know and loved.

Lepers had to leave town. They had to wear ragged clothes so that they stuck out. They had to cover their mouths with a rag so that they couldn’t breathe on anybody. Whenever they saw a healthy person, they had to cry out that they were unclean so that people would avoid them. They could never hug their wives, husbands or children anymore. As a sign of their condition, they had to let their hair grow wild. They joined a community of people like them and watched each other as the disease caused fingers to fall off, and patches of skin to rot away and death.

By crying: “Unclean! Unclean!” they signified that there was something wrong with them. The culture assumed that their disease was a punishment from God because they had some terrible moral transgression in their lives.

The only way they could live was to depend on the mercy of others.

This group of 10 lepers were living on the fringe of their cultures. (SHOW map)

They lived right between Samaria and Galilee. You probably know that the Samaritans were hated by the Jews. It was purely a case of racial prejudice. Often, the Jewish people would cross the lake, walk down the East side of the Jordan River just to get to Jerusalem.

But not Jesus. Jesus always traveled through this land and loved these people.

So here are these 10 lepers, living in a community. 9 of them are Jewish and 1 of them is Samaritan. Their common suffering has brought them together.

And it is interesting that Jesus and His followers are even near them. This is the deserted place. It almost seems as if Jesus has chosen this route in order to have this divine appointment with them.

And remember, Lepers depended on mercy.

Their pleas and cries to Jesus are repeated: (SHOW) Keeping their distance, ¹³they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Master, give me mercy. What a great prayer! It moves the heart of Jesus.

They probably know about Him. Earlier, Jesus touched a man with leprosy and the man was made immediately well.

This isn’t just them begging for food, but they are begging for a miracle.

They recognize who He is. Master! They cry.

Now Jesus is in a crowd of people. They are on the outskirts of a small village. The lepers know the law, they keep their distance. And Jesus, instead of going up to them, or inviting them into the circle of friends and onlookers merely answers them with a word.

Let me foreshadow the sermon a bit here, the real lesson in this is for the crowd, not the lepers.

I imagine He has to shout it back to them. “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

You probably know why He said this. Remember, if after one week the spot was gone, the person showed themselves to the priest and the priest pronounced them clean.

Jesus is telling them to show themselves to the priest.

Now, I am preaching on gratitude this morning and how much it is a part of our relationship with God.

And I want to say: (SHOW) Your singing, your giving, your sharing of testimonies, your participation in worship is a regular, ongoing chance to express your gratitude to God.

But, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk a moment about the faith exercised in this miracle.

Jesus instantly healed the earlier leper by touching him. I imagine these lepers were expecting the same: an instant healing.

But instead, He tells them to go, to start walking, to take steps of faith.

And the text says: (SHOW) “As they went, they were healed.”

Picture it, 1^st one step and nothing has changed. Then another step, it all seems the same. Then a 3^rd step and someone notices a little bit more energy. Then a 4^th step, someone else notices energy. Their spirits are lifted up and as they continue their journey to the local priest, they find themselves, gradually, step by step, getting better.

(SHOW) Sometimes, after we pray, we have to take action steps in faith.

10 lepers are healed. 9 are Jewish, one is a dreaded Samaritan. They were accused of being people who had muddied both race and religion with foreign wives and practices. They weren’t “pure” like the rest of the Jews.

But the 9 take the miracle for granted and return home.

Only the one, the one accused of being a pagan infidel expresses true, living, undying faith in Jesus.

So, after this miracle, only the one, the outcast, returns to say thank you to Jesus.

And immediately, Jesus asks the question as to where the other 9 were.

Now look at this. Jesus didn’t ask the other 9. He didn’t even ask the 1. He asked the crowd who was with Him.

He wants His followers to think about gratitude.

(SHOW) Jesus wants US to be intentional about thanksgiving.

It’s like He didn’t ask those outside the Church about how grateful they are; He asked those inside the church if there is a chance that they too, forget to be grateful.

The question is asked of the crowd following Jesus (not the 9 who didn’t come back).

The 9 got a miracle, but not eternal life.

(SHOW) Jesus is pointing out the contrast between those who pray only when it is convenient or they need something, and those who want to walk with Him in a loving, saving relationship.

It is the difference between being merely religious, and knowing Him.

The 9 didn’t get to know Jesus. They didn’t get to learn the lesson. Their lives went on, without God. God, for them, was just a temporary fix.

So the nine don’t even hear the question: “Why didn’t you come back to thank me?”

Apparently (SHOW) they spent the rest of their lives in ignorance to the treasure they passed up.

He’s not asking the 9, He’s asking the crowd. This isn’t a lesson about the ingratitude of the world around us. It’s a question for us.

So I wonder: What was the crowd thinking?

Were they thinking: “why is He blaming us, we’re right here?”

Did they point to the one who returned and say: “I don’t know, ask him?”

Did they say: “It wasn’t me?”

Or, were they thinking: “What if that had been me? What if I was suddenly torn away from my loved ones, forced to live in squalor in the wilderness with people who smell? What if I watched people I bonded with suffer and die? What if I had to humiliate myself by crying out that I am unclean? What if I had to depend on the mercy of strangers to eat? The only thing cool about it was they got to wear dreadlocks. And then, what if suddenly all that shame was taken away? What would I DO?

(SHOW) Would I be one of the ones who ran back to my home, continued on with my life, showed myself to the Priests and done my minimum religious duty and forgot what truly happened?

Jesus is asking those people that question. He is asking the people who are there, in the crowd.

I think about that. When something truly great happens here, like Rosalie Derringer singing a special, or when the praise team brings us into that place of devotion and we feel the arms of God wrap around us. When the liturgy brings out a sense of awe and the scripture moves us to justice and love and then I look outside and I see the cars passing by and I think, if only they knew what they were missing!

I realize they are like the 9 lepers who missed the real blessing.

Let me put it more simply.

He is asking the crowd; He is asking us: (SHOW) Jesus is asking: Are you going to walk with me?

Are YOU going to love me? Are YOU going to be grateful to me? Have I changed YOUR life, or am I merely a convenience to YOU?

This is a question of true discipleship and faith.

This last one. This despised Samaritan received not only a physical healing, but his faith restored him into a saving relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

Don’t Give Up Hope!

Text: Mark 12:38-44

Focus: Living by faith

Function: To help people trust God for the future instead of their own wealth.

Form:

Intro: There are a lot of takes on this passage. If one does research on it, it always falls into the category of Stewardship Sunday.

That’s a Sunday that some people dread because the Church emphasizes the importance of giving to God.

And, the passage speaks of how a woman, who is completely destitute gives all the money she has to live on.

But it first starts out with the religious people loving the places of honor when they appear to glorify God.

And then it segues into this woman’s gift which is used as an example of living sacrificially here on earth with our eyes fixed on the heavenly reward.

But that isn’t what strikes me this morning about this passage.

Instead of looking at the monies involved, I want to look at the faith of this woman.

(SHOW) God is calling us to live by faith.

In the story of this passage of scripture, apparently Jesus is near the offering box at the temple with the disciples.

He is giving them some lessons from what He sees.

They see the Religious people acting haughty as if they were more special than others.

Jesus points out their hypocrisy. He says: “They want to take the best seats of honor at the banquets. They want everyone to think they are the best.”

They see how when they pray, it is well rehearsed and it is a great show.

And Jesus points out to them that their faith is meaningless. He even implies that they are going to receive eternal damnation because although they appear religious, they do not care that if in their business practices poor people suffer.

And you know this: (SHOW) true holiness is demonstrated by our compassion instead of appearances.

So, I have covered the stewardship aspect.

Let us move on and look at the faith of this woman who gives everything she has.

(SHOW) Is her example of giving everything she has a command for us to follow her example?

Are we put to shame because we spend enough on ourselves to survive?

Of course, we all know that we all spend more than what we need to survive. Maybe a little bit more for leisure since we work so hard. So, what is this passage telling us?

Does God want every one of us to give away everything and depend on the ravens to feed us like God did with Elijah?

Is that presuming on God for a miracle? Is it testing God?

Let me refrain the story with a more modern example.

A pastoral colleague was telling me about how they had a family who had relatives who lived outside of the US.

This man had a difficult time making ends meet and it was their church’s privilege to support and love him. He brought a lot of perspective to them and they enjoyed their relationship with him.

One day, he mentioned to someone else that he had sent several thousand dollars to his overseas family.

That caused a bit of controversy in their reaction to giving to him. The pastor explained to the man that although he had a lot more money than his family out of the country, it costs a lot more to live here in the US.

The man was giving what he needed to live on to his relatives and then asking the church to help him make his own ends meet.

So, in a way, the church was supporting his overseas family.

And there was nothing wrong with that. The passage says that the wealthy gave out of their excess, while the woman gave all that she had to live on.

But I have to confess, it didn’t seem right to me that he was presuming on their generosity.

Isn’t that the way we feel sometimes when we help out some poorer people?

We wonder: are we encouraging laziness, irresponsibility or even funding their addictions?

We know that there are a lot of people who take advantage of those who are generous.

For myself, and me only, I would rather err on the side of generosity.

So, was the man foolishly taking advantage of God’s generosity?

Let us go back to this woman.

She gave all she had to live on. The amount given, the “widow’s mite” would equal about a fifth of a day’s wage. It was probably enough to live on for a few days.

If she had children, friends or others who were aware of her circumstances, would they have told her that she was foolish?

Remember, the wealthy were giving extravagant gifts, but those gifts came out of their excess.

This woman gave extravagantly because she gave all she had.

But what about it? (SHOW) Is it a foolish act of desperation or a genuine act of faith?

The widow gave everything she had.

It could seem like a desperate act. People would think her foolish.

But I don’t believe that is what was happening. Instead of giving up hope (in an act of desperation) she placed all of her hope in the Lord.

And look at it, the Pharisees would praise the rich for their bags of gold and excessive gifts, but their confidence was in their wealth.

The woman’s confidence was in God.

This passage exposes the core of where our own hope lies.

(SHOW) Is our confidence in God or in wealth?

Again, I am not asking these questions to shame anyone.

What I see in this woman is an unrelenting hope in God no matter what the circumstances.

She gave everything she had as an act of faith.

One could surmise that she since she was so desperate, one day’s worth of food, or two days worth of food, or a week’s worth of food was irrelevant because there was no hope for her beyond those two mites.

But this act of giving is her testimony, it is her witness, it is desperate cry to God to deliver her from her poverty.

We don’t know what actually happened to this woman.

We can guess that since Jesus praised her faith, she received an amazing miracle. But the scripture is silent.

What I find beautiful in this is that she was just like David facing Goliath. In the midst of impossible circumstances, she makes a public declaration that her confidence is in God.

Was that foolish? Was it presumptuous? Or is it the only choice we have?

I submit that compared to the wealthy who were giving extravagantly, this woman’s testimony isn’t about sacrificial giving of money, but learning to trust in God.

I mentioned two weeks ago when pleading for people to vote against the casino industry in Ohio that our first ministry was working in the Ghetto in Atlantic City, NJ.

I worked for a construction company, non-union, that paid a pretty small wage. We were in a situation where we were living from week to week, from day to day trusting God.

And God did some miraculous deeds to keep us solvent.

Then one day, the inevitable came and I was laid off from my job.

I remember Friday night, sitting at the dinner table. Kathy was pregnant with John, our third child and Philip and Candace were just 3 and 2 years old.

I was on the brink of tears, wondering how I would provide for them.

And my daughter looked at me with those big, pure eyes of confidence in her dad and said: “What’s wrong daddy?”

And just then the scripture hit me that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine and He is our daddy. I knew then that God would not let my children starve. And then, God’s peace went over me and I answered her: “God is giving me a new job; I just don’t know what it is.”

So God sent the blizzard of 81. The second casino in AC was not yet opened and housing was at premium. What was happening was that people were converting summer rental properties into year round residences. And all the plumbers here have probably figured this out already. The plumbing wasn’t adequately prepared for a cold snap and plumbing pipes burst all over the county.

A union plumber called me that night and said, “I hear you can sweat some joints.” That is a plumbing term for soldering copper pipe. I was a carpenter and thought he said something about moving some joists. So I said yes and he asked me to work that night.

I got to the shop and he handed me the keys to a plumbing truck and a whole stack of work orders to repair frozen pipes.

I worked for him for 3 weeks at union rates, double time since it was evening work and made more money that I ever made in my lifetime.

After the crisis was over, I found another job.

God does take care of our needs.

However, look again at the faith of this woman. She was content to trust in God.

Think about wealth and contentment.

Look at this scripture:

(SHOW) 1 Timothy 6:6-8: (The Message)

^6-8A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough.

You see, this woman had her confidence in her relationship with God. It changes everything in the way she lived her life.

Wealth isn’t about pleasure, or having enough, it’s about contentment, peace and relationship with God.

Kings and paupers have both discovered this truth. And this is how we live by faith.

This woman didn’t give up hope in an act of desperation, she told God and the angels that her hope was in God when she gave her gift.

May we live in that same hope.

The Church in Heaven

Text: Hebrews 12:1-3, 22-24

Focus: Relationship instead of Judgment.

Function: To invite people into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Form: God Only Knows

Intro:

Today is All Saints Day

Praise God, last week we brought into the fellowship here at Bear Creek, Jim and Pat Shephard.

Today we are baptizing (baptized) Sheri Wine Benges in her desire to rededicate her life to Christ and join us in her Christian journey.

Although Church membership is not a biblical doctrine, the covenant to community has always been an integral part of what it means to be a believer.

There is a lot of meat; I mean solid spiritual food, in these verses read. I could preach several different sermons based on the theology underlying these principles.

But the Holy Spirit has led me this morning to talk about the nature of the Church.

I titled the message, “The Church in Heaven.”

Now in thinking about that, we could imagine something like the Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey, the Sistine Chapel, Saint Patrick’s church in New York City, the Crystal Cathedral, take the greatest image and architecture of all of that and then say, “it doesn’t even begin to compare with the image of the Temple of God in heaven.”

When I talk about church, and you know this already, I am not talking about the building.

The church is the body of Christ. The Church is the people who belong to Jesus. They make up many denominations, races, nationalities, and political ideologies.

You, if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, and I are the church.

(SHOW) The Church is EVERYONE who has trusted in Jesus.

To get technical, we can’t really “go to Church” because we are the Church and everywhere we go, the Church goes with us.

Now, I am not so nit-picky about words to say that it was wrong to say: “Go to Church.” Because it is also an expression in our common understanding of the English language to mean that we are going to worship God in this building.

But here is a dimension about the body of Christ that you may not have pondered on. I don’t think I have ever heard a sermon on it. I know this is the first sermon I have preached about it in 24 years of ministry.

The Church is in Heaven as well as on earth.

When we leave this earth to go to our heavenly reward, we don’t leave the Church; we just get relocated to another group.

The neat thing about that group is that there will be no denominations, no segregation, no civil religion that anoints one country over another. Nope, we will all be one in Spirit, mind, theology, care for each other and worship.

So the author of Hebrews, in the twelfth chapter is striving to encourage Christians to remain faithful in the midst of good times and bad, in the midst of trials and tribulations, in the midst of poverty or wealth.

(SHOW) Keep your eyes focused on Jesus.

He tells us first; to be a part of the Church, keep your eyes focused on its founder, Jesus Christ.

In verses 1-3, we get this picture of God’s family, and if I can get familiar, we got Jesus, as our big brother who is the one who has gone before us and set a standard that is really high.

This isn’t like the classic story of the younger brother who went through school and didn’t live up to the expectations of his older brother.

There is nothing in shame about this.

But what we have is a man whom we have an awesome respect for that is clearly a great example that we strive to live up to.

Jesus set a very high bar for us and we’ll look at that as we finish this sermon.

But for right now, let us look at this great leader, this tremendous example that Jesus, our Lord and Savior set for us in context.

I love Hebrews Chapter 11. It is a chapter of faith. It tells the story of the great men and women of the faith who were amazing in what they did and accomplished.

He tells of Moses who gave up a Kingdom to follow God. And he parted the Dead Sea and delivered God’s people from oppression.

He tells of Daniel, who was faithful to God and when thrown into the Lion’s den for his prayer life, God shut the mouths of lions.

He tells of Gideon who rescued Israel against an army of 100,000 with just 300 men.

He tells of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to worship the idol, were thrown into the fiery furnace and survived.

It is a great adventure. I tell you, if you haven’t read Genesis through Esther, then you have missed some really wonderful adventures. It is exciting reading (except for endless genealogies in 2 Chronicles).

He sums those books up in verses 32-38 of Hebrews 11.

Let us start by looking at vs. 32 through the beginning of 35.

(SHOW) Hebrews 11:32-35a: And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection;

We used to sing this chorus: “I got the Victory.” It was a great song about how Jesus helps us through every trial that we have.

It is a great thing that faith does for us. God cares about every situation and if we have faith, wonderful things can happen.

When he talks about the Church that is already in heaven, he is talking about these people who have gone before us as great examples.

It is easy to be a Christian when we read those stories of victory that those people experienced by faith in God.

But then look at the rest of verse 35 to vs 38:

(SHOW) …and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

This part doesn’t sound so good. Some were poor, some, unlike Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t get miraculously delivered from the wicked people, but instead they became Martyrs.

Did they have less faith?

No, the whole chapter is a litany of people who have gone on before us as great men and women of faith: people with faith to receive a miracle, people with faith to trust without.

I particularly like the end of verse 38 when he is talking about those who suffered in great faith: “People of whom the world was not worthy.”

With those who remained faithful even though they did not see blessings, but suffered.

That is the context of this command to consider the actions of Jesus so that we don’t lose heart and stop being faithful.

Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind. Sometimes, He miraculously moved from one location to the other. He walked on water. He turned the water into wine.

But he was also abandoned by His friends. He also cried out in terror the night before His crucifixion. He lost his cousin and His father.

(SHOW) This command to remain faithful is given to us in both good times and bad.

So, I want to talk about the theology of the Church.

That is exactly what it is. A whole supporting cast of people who encourage us, lift us up, enable us, lead us and help us until we too get to heaven.

Then, remember that this family, this body does not stop when we die.

We are in unity with those who have gone before us.

We don’t pray to saints here because it looks to Roman Catholic. But let us not throw out the baby with the bathwater on that issue.

(SHOW) The saints in heaven are rooting us on.

Jesus, when proving His divinity says, in John 8: 56-58: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He knew I was coming and was glad." The Jewish leaders: "You aren't even fifty years old--sure, you've seen Abraham!" Jesus: "The absolute truth is that I was in existence before Abraham was ever born!"

Now, I use this verse in theology to prove the Deity of Jesus Christ. The next verse tells us the leaders thought it was blasphemy and picked up stones to kill Him and that was one of the times that He just disappeared so that they couldn’t kill Him.

However, do you see the conversation He has with Abraham? He tells them that Abraham, their ancestor is in heaven and in heaven he is caring for his children. Abraham is both aware and excited about what is going on here on earth.

That is why the text says:

(SHOW) The Spirits of righteous men made perfect:

• We are declared righteous by Jesus Christ.
• But while we are here on earth, we are not yet perfect.
• Perfection (complete maturity in our Christian faith) will only come when we get to heaven.

God sees us as perfect, because He sees us forgiven through faith in Jesus.

We are declared righteous, but He knows we haven’t obtained perfection yet.

So, the passage is talking about the Church, the community of believers who are here both on earth in heaven as a group that God has given us to help us succeed in our Christian walk.

But we are called to press on to that prize.

Now the history of the Church has been less than stellar.

Too many times, the wrong thing has been done and people have been hurt.

Remember this:

(SHOW) Only Jesus was perfect.

We need to focus on His example.

When the Church loses sight of Jesus, it loses sight of everything.

We can’t look to a man, a denomination, a group of people and certain creed; we need to focus on Jesus Christ.

And look at the example He set for us and his endurance comes from these principles in the first 3 verses.

The example he asks us to consider is:

• (SHOW) For the joy set before Him
• He had hope in a reward
• He had confidence in God’s promise
• In other words, He lived by faith
• (SHOW) Endured the cross
• Only Jesus can die as a sacrifice for our sins
• But we are called to live for others, just as He did
• Make that happen in your home
• Make that happen in your business
• Make that happen in your school
• (SHOW) Despised the shame
• That doesn’t mean we have to like it
• I know He says, “consider it all joy…”
• I know the apostles rejoiced to be counted worthy to be persecuted for His name
• But that doesn’t mean that the pain of it isn’t real

So, we are called to live together in this community, this body, this family

We accept that some of us are weird, some of us are weak, some of us are strong, all of us have victory in one area

All of us have weaknesses in another area.

(SHOW) We live with each other in weakness and in strength

Making up our minds not to judge weaknesses in others because we have our own, albeit different weaknesses.

CONCL:

Come join this family