Morning Message Text: Hebrews 11: 29 – 12: 3
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets,
33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.
36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—
38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,
40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Morning Message:
We have been talking a lot lately about our faith and what it looks like to live out our faith in this world. I was thinking this week as I began to work on this message that in so many ways our expectations of this Christian life are part of what hinders us from being powerful witnesses for Jesus. The world has done this to us, and we have fallen into this trap of ease that the devil sets for us. We are called to be God’s people of peace, and we should always strive for peace in every situation possible. Do you feel a but coming? But, being peaceful, striving for peace, does not mean that we should expect a peaceful existence in this world. Satan has twisted this in our minds to make us think that unless we find a way to have peace with everyone, we are unchristian. What is the result of this type of thinking? We feel boxed in. We feel like the only way that we can be Christ-like is to meekly sit in our own corner and not say or do anything that might upset or cause unrest with others.
When I read the words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, I am reminded that as a disciple of Jesus the world will, and should have the same reaction to me as it did to him. Jesus says that He had a baptism to undergo, that was his death and resurrection. Then He says something shocking to his followers, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” He goes on to tell them and us just how divisive his presence on earth would be. Why is this so? Because this world is under the influence of the devil, sin is prevalent, and the ungodly will always resist the truth of the gospel of Jesus. What are we always told to avoid talking about at gatherings of family and friends? Politics and religion. I will agree with leaving politics out of conversations, but not talking about my Lord and Savior, the one who saved me, that should never be an option. We should live and breathe our faith, especially around the ones that we claim to love. To avoid telling them about Jesus might keep things peaceful, but it is not loving.
Running our race today. I want us to consider this verse as we think about running our race. “And he who overcomes, and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.” (Revelation 2: 26). The theme of overcoming is consistent in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. Christ promised blessings of various sorts to the churches whose members would overcome the resistance they experienced in the world. Let me ask this obvious question. How can we overcome the resistance when we never speak up for what we believe because we are afraid of causing the very conflict that we are called to overcome?
We need to hear this today. We talk about faith, but we need to show faith. There are so many examples in Hebrews of what true faith looks like. The people of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land, but to do that they had to be willing to walk in, that’s faith. Jericho was a mighty city with thick impenetrable walls. They fell because the army of Israel sat down and wished for God to make them fall, right? No, the army of Israel had enough faith to obey the Lord and walk around those walls for seven days. I wonder if some of the people looked at each other after four days and said, this is hopeless and stupid.
Rahab, a prostitute, had faith in putting her life on the line. She put her faith into action, hid the spies and was spared and blessed. You may not know this, but Rahab, the prostitute, is included in the lineage of Jesus.
This section of Hebrews is so vitally important for the church today. Just reading these verses reminds us of what true, working faith looks like. We forget about or dismiss the stories of Daniel and the lion’s den, or of the three Israelites saved from the flames and heat of the furnace. So many examples of faithfulness that for some reason we think don’t apply to our lives. We serve the same God; we are called by our Savior to be bold; to be the embodiment of Jesus, to carry out the mission of proclaiming our Savior to the world. We can’t do that when we are avoiding the conflict that Jesus told us his coming to earth would bring.
We should take the promises that Jesus made to the churches in Revelation as our own and see them as motivation for overcoming the world. We who are faithful with little in this world will be given much in the world to come (Matthew 25: 21). Whatever is before you today, remember that you can overcome through the power of Christ. Listen once again to what the writer of Hebrews is telling us to do. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Remember this, conformity to the world can be overcome by nothing but conformity to Jesus. Running our race for Jesus today is no different than those saints who went before us. We will one day live in peace with God for eternity, but while you are still here don’t look for peace at the expense of obedience.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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