Standing on the Promises

August 13, 1995

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Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

I think I know why the letter to the Hebrews was written...WHY it was written. I don’t know WHEN it was written---maybe toward the end of the 1st Century...it’s hard to pinpoint. I don’t know WHERE it was written---Alexandria, Rome, Antioch...all these have been suggested but we can’t be sure.

I don’t even know WHO wrote it---Some scholars still argue for Paul, but most don’t think so...different words, different style, different thought patterns...very unPauline in makeup AND JUST WHO WERE THE “HEBREWS”, ANYWAY, whose name appears in the title? That’s not a part of the original manuscript. Some editor, later, tacked on that heading, and we don’t know what he knew. We don’t know whom he meant.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about the Letter to the Hebrews. But one thing seems clear: WHY IT WAS WRITTEN. And the answer to that is what makes it so enduring—TO GIVE ENCOURAGEMENT. Who doesn’t need to hear a message about that?

It was written, specifically, it would appear, to give beleaguered Christians something to hold on to....to infuse some steel into the ecclesiastical spine...to provide incentive to “hang in there” when things were looking bad, when everything seemed to be coming apart. Is it worth it to be a Christian? Is the Christian story even true? Does all this stuff we’ve heard about overcoming, and triumph, and victory hold water? WHY DON’T WE SEE MORE EVIDENCE OF IT?

It comes down to this, I suppose you could say: Does having faith pay? Does it produce the kinds of dividends we’ve been promised it would? Or is the whole business, as Shakespeare put it, just “a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”? Maybe there’s no future in holding on.

People back there, in the 1st Century, were saying that kind of thing when the Letter to the Hebrews was written, asking those kinds of questions, wrestling with those kinds of doubts. Transfer the mood to the contemporary scene and it sounds remarkably modern.

Now, granted. There are substantial differences between then and now. What they were facing was the threat of persecution.

Well, more than the threat---THE REAL THING, for many of them---ugly, brutal, physical

oppression....snarling dog, jackboot stuff. You never knew who might be at the door ready to haul you away. It’s hard for us even to imagine, much less comprehend the FIRE some of our ancestors in the Faith had to pass through.

What’s more, they were a minority group, a tiny handful in a sea of thronging humanity. The physical number of Christians in those early days was minuscule. Not only that, there weren’t many, by count. To find one, you had to look. And even those who didn’t hate them, didn’t like them much. They were too different, too distinctive, too set apart from everybody else, by choice. People kept their distance. That’s a tough role to assume with equanimity, over time. You start to wonder....
Maybe the world was right, some couldn’t help thinking....

Maybe we are out of step. Doctrine said something radical had happened not long before, something earth-shattering out on that hill outside of Jerusalem. But the world seemed to be going on...and on...just as it always had.

It is true, “WHY?” they were saying. “How much longer can we hold on? Is it worth it? We were told Calvary changed everything. Why can’t we see the consequences of what we were promised?

Christ is Lord, Christ reigns, they keep telling us. Well, does He? Show us where. What’s the point of keeping on, being faithful, guarding the doctrinal fort when there seems so little evidence of anything hopeful on the horizon?”

THAT WAS THEN. Look at us now. So different, in a way, so outwardly different. Nobody in this society is being persecuted for the Faith, not in a physical sense, at least. You don’t have to sneak around to worship, or to express your beliefs....There are no warrants out for any of us BECAUSE we’re Christian. If there were, some of us wouldn’t even be under suspicion.

We like to think we’re a Christian nation. We use Christian symbolism as jewelry and wear it openly.

We hear Christian music on radio and television...From Halloween to Christmas there’s no way you can escape it.

Our Church buildings and property are tax exempt....THERE ARE MORE OF US IN ACTUAL NUMBERS THAN THERE ARE NON-CHRISTIANS IN OUR COUNTRY. It’s not the same at all.

But isn’t it funny? In a way there IS a similarity. The feeling of discouragement certainly isn’t restricted to times of overt persecution.

You can be “down”, living in opulence...You can be “depressed” even in prosperity, and plenty, and outward peacefulness with the same degree of draining negatively inside as when you’re facing blatant hostility. Sometimes, in fact, the pressure of physical crisis brings out the best in people.

Unfortunately, that old sense of discouragement, disillusionment, doubt, and despair didn’t end when religious persecution ended. WE KNOW THAT MOOD, TOO. Different circumstance, but a common malaise.

Not many of us, in fact, are immune. Here’s a man who works 20 years for a company, giving exemplary service...and one day is handed a pink slip...laid off—No job, no income, until he can find other employment...IF he can....What do you do?

Here’s a woman trying her best to raise her children as a single mom...Then she gets a note from the school. “Come in and let’s talk about Johnny. We have evidence he’s been dealing in drugs.”  NOW WHAT?

Here’s a teenager knocking herself out to make the Honor Society, so she can win a scholarship for college. She makes a C in Physics, and right out the window go her chances.   IS THERE ANY HOPE LEFT?

Here’s a businessman who cultivates a client for 6 months...entertaining him, wooing him, gradually winning him over. And just when he thinks he has him in his corner, WHAM, the dunce signs a contract with his competitor....That’s bitter medicine.

Here’s a preacher, who works 20 hours on a sermon...building, crafting, polishing...getting his illustrations perfect...moving toward a climax...and some clown on the second row goes to sleep. IS IT WORTH IT?

We all know discouragement. WELL, SO DOES THE CHURCH. I think we’re experiencing a season of it now. Numbers is a part of it, I’m sure. With all we have going for us, we ought to be growing in leaps and bounds, BUT WE’RE NOT....

In the United Methodist Church, we’re not growing at all. We’re celebrating this year because the rate of decline dropped slightly. Some cause for celebration.

But it’s more than numbers. It never was just a matter of numbers. Sometimes losing members can actually be a productive thing, if you lose the right ones. No, it’s more than statistics. I don’t know all the factors at work here---the sheer size of the task, changing times in general, economic conditions, a greater resistance to our sales pitch, too much reliance on technology, not enough reliance on technology....laziness, a crisis of faith, a crisis of communication, pressure from a hierarchy above ALSO increasingly nervous....I don’t know all the factors. I ONLY KNOW I CAN’T REMEMBER A TIME WHEN THERE WAS A HIGHER LEVEL OF DISCOURAGEMENT IN THE CHURCH.

The clergy I know are wrestling with it, both within their congregations and within themselves. It’s not a time of soaring morale.

We talk about it sometimes when we’re honest and we think nobody’s listening in---Why is it so hard to get things done? Why can’t things move faster? Why does the burden seem to fall on just a handful, a remnant, to use the Biblical word, while so many are content just to sit by and watch from a distance? You knock yourself out and what difference does it make?

Why hasn’t the Gospel, the Gospel of transformation, made a greater impact on people’s lives? Has it lost its efficacy? Are we fooling ourselves? Things just seem to rock along, as they always have, and nothing much ever changes. Discouraging.....And we see the results in pastoral burnout, family breakup, increased clergy divorce, and a kind of timidity that casts a pall over risk taking. We seem more concerned with guarding our flanks, with protecting our treasure than in offering it.

Does it sound like the 1st Century all over again? Different circumstances, different setting, but a similar kind of mood.

That’s what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews was addressing. He was talking to HIS day, to THAT setting, but without being aware of it, he was saying some things that have perennial application, some things that have pertinence for us, too, when we’re tempted to throw in the towel, and need to be encouraged through disheartening circumstances.

2 things from this passage this morning especially jump out at me, and they’re both personally applicable. There’s more here, of course, than just these 2 things. There’s always more than you can get your hands around when you study a Biblical passage, but these are the ones that particularly scream for attention today, at least for me.

Maybe one, or both of them, will speak to your situation.

1) I notice first of all that he’s saying to his despairing, disillusioned, tired readers: When you’re discouraged, REMEMBER YOUR ANCESTORS. Remember your ancestors. You’re

not the first to face a tough situation, and you’re probably not going to be the last. Look at those who have gone before you who had it just as hard as you have. THEY DIDN’T GIVE UP.

They hung in there. Don’t disappoint their expectations.

And he runs through the roll call of honor of their predecessors. Most of the 11th Chapter of Hebrews is a recitation of the greats of the past, their forebears in the Faith, who bore the heat of battle and prevailed.

Our passage this morning focuses on Abraham and Sarah, stalwart, strong figures, but others are listed in the chapter....Enoch, Noah, Moses, Gideon...and women---Rahab, specifically, is lifted up. Those saints of the past hung in there...through everything that was thrown at them....NOW IT’S YOUR TURN.

That’s a powerful resource when the insidiousness of discouragement nips at your heels, or when you’re tempted to lower your standards, or when you feel like giving up...REMEMBERING THOSE WHO WENT BEFORE YOU AND ENDURED.

Will Durant says that in the days of the Roman Empire, well-to-do families, at least, would train their children in rooms that were ringed with busts and statues of all the illustrious personalities of the family’s past, and the nation’s past.

As the children studied and learned, they would see those eyes looking down at them. They would feel the influence of heritage impinging on them.

Edward R. Murrow describes something similar from English history. He was in London during the early days of the 2nd World War, when the German Luftwaffe came in incessant raids, day and night, dropping bombs on the city. It was a nightmare.

How did the people cope? How did they take it, day after day, week after week, wave after wave? How did they stand up
under the relentless pounding?

Murrow says the English people dug deep into their collective memory, and remembered the heroes of the past---Nelson, Drake, Wellington...They pictured those greats of their history looking down on them and encouraging them. Murrow says they determined not to be unworthy in the eyes of their ancestors.

Isn’t that what the author of Hebrews is talking about? Remember your ancestors. They made it, and they’re pulling for you. I can think of people in my own life, and I bet you can, too, who were highly influential to me at a critical time.

I can think of some who believed in me when I didn’t even believe in myself. I can think of some who inspired me. I can think of some people I admired, from afar. They didn’t even know they were influencing me.

I could name you some of my heroes...some teachers, a coach, a Scoutmaster...some former ministers of this Annual Conference....Many of those people aren’t living now, but more than once, when I’ve been “down” because of some crisis, or because of a temptation to let something slide, or because I seriously wondered if it really was worth it to keep on...

I’ve thought about Mr. Ames, and Coach Stevens, and George, and others...and felt the strength of their influence, even from some distant realm. I couldn’t let those people down.

You know that experience, don’t you? There are people like that in your life. Keep the memory of those people fresh. Hold on to that resource in the discouraging times. This man knows what he’s talking about. Others have been through tough situations before you. They form a great cloud of witnesses around you. Remember your ancestors in the faith and draw strength from their example.

2) Now, that’s one thing. He says something else important, too, doesn’t he, this unknown author from early times. Isn’t he saying to his readers: When you’re discouraged, remember your ancestors, and above all as Christian people, REMEMBER THE PROMISES.

They haven’t budged....They haven’t budged one iota. What appears permanent now may not be the last word. Immediate circumstances are not always a reliable guide to what is ultimate.

God’s been in business a long time, and God can be trusted. Things may not look promising now, just as they didn’t look promising to Abraham and Sarah, 
but what seemed a dead end, a closed door, a brick wall, a shutting off of any avenue of forward movement...what seemed like an absolute conclusion, was turned by God into ultimate triumph, and the work of God went on.

It’s a mistake to judge too quickly, even in the purely human realm. You never know.

Back in the 19th Century, some parents in New York had a child who was extremely weak and sickly, even from birth. They did their best, they tried, they took him to the finest doctors, they worked with him, but he didn’t get any stronger.  AND THEY LOST HEART. They said, “It’s no use. He’s never going to be strong and healthy.”

But do you know what happened? That frail child, who looked as though he’d never be strong, grew up to become a Rough Rider, and his name was Teddy Roosevelt.

Some years ago, a college student bogged down in the sophomore slump. He was actually suffering from dyslexia, we call it now, but that word hadn’t been invented at the time. He saw letters and numbers backward....He couldn’t focus properly, and his grades went down and down. He was right on the verge of throwing his books and everything into the trash can and leaving school forever. He was discouraged. “What’s the use? There’s no point in staying here...”

Do you know who that college student was? Albert Einstein, who went from that point of discouragement to do some rather notable work in the field of physics.

In the 18th Century, a musician went deaf. His hearing deteriorated to the point where he literally couldn’t hear it thunder. he thought he was through, thought he was finished in his work. How can you be a musician if you can’t hear?

“What am I supposed to do?” he said. What can I possibly do with my life now?” You’re way ahead of me, I bet. That musician was, of course, Ludwig von Beethoven, who, when totally deaf, wrote the magnificent 9th Symphony, which he was never able to hear performed.

Even on the human level, it’s a mistake to judge too quickly. We shouldn’t evaluate all of life by the immediate, bad circumstances, BECAUSE THAT MAY NOT BE THE WHOLE STORY.

We have something more solid than that to cling to. The author of Hebrews is saying God has made a commitment to His people....GOD HAS MADE A PROMISE---no matter what the circumstances, no matter what happens, I will be with you...and I am directing my story, my cosmic drama to an eventual triumphant conclusion.  When you’re discouraged, when you’re faint, when you’re tired, when you doubt the reality of any of it, HOLD ON TO THE PROMISE. How does the writer put it? It’s “the assurance of things hoped for”...ASSURANCE....the “conviction of things not seen”...CONVICTION.

There are going to be discouraging times, “down” times. There are going to be times of setback, even defeat. The Promise doesn’t guarantee an unbroken series of victories.

But when it seems hopeless, remember that it’s hard to think of a more completely hopeless situation than that which confronted the disciples on that afternoon of the Crucifixion. What prospect for triumph was there that day? How much would you have been willing to bet on God’s ultimate victory about 3:00 that Friday afternoon?

But history’s darkest day turned into the brightest sunrise this old world has ever known. THE PROMISE HELD.

The promise will always hold. That’s what the author of Hebrews is saying. Our part is simply to do our part, to hold the line, to stand, and to believe that even though we are strangers and sojourners now in a land where terrors have not been totally overcome, we are headed for a better country someday. The Father has promised it, and we can trust Him, until that day.

Now I close with this old story. 2 scientists were on a field trip in the mountains. They found a baby eagle in a nest on a jutting rock just below the top of a dangerous cliff. The eaglet had apparently been deserted, and the scientists wanted to rescue it.

They had a guide with them, who had brought his young son along, and they asked the boy if they could lower him on a rope to retrieve the little bird. The boy was something less than enthusiastic about this plan, and said he didn’t think he wanted to do it.

They offered him money, then doubled it, but the boy still refused.

Finally, one of the scientists asked in despair, “Well, then, what can we do? How do you propose to save the eagle?”

The mountain boy said, “I’d be glad to go down to rescue the bird for free, if you’ll let my Daddy hold the rope.”

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews would smile at that, I think. When you’re discouraged, when you’re afraid, when you’re tired, when you’re anything, remember Who’s holding the rope, and put your weight in the strong hands of the Father. His promises are secure, and in His strength we will not fall.