Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12
so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Today we hear a lot of platitudes that are supposed to be an encouragement even that are called Biblical that are actually somewhat suspect. “Let go and let God.”
Maybe…or maybe not. “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” That is just plain silly! “God must do it all.” Ok, that is true, but don’t forget that most of the time God does it all, by His Spirit telling us to get off our flabby duffs and get to it.
And of course, theologically, it is not one or the other. As Paul tells the Philippians, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…for it is God who
is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” How that gets twisted into our coasting through our Christian lives because it is all up to God is quite confusing…and yet, we all do it.
I was reading a book by NT Wright on this passage and he uses this illustration: Sir Francis Drake was one of many Englishmen who became famous during the reign of
Elizabeth I. He sailed around the world, crossed the Atlantic many times, was involved in numerous sea battles in various parts of the world. He was twice a member of parliament, and perhaps most famously, defeated the Spanish Armada when it came to attack
England in 1588.
There are many well-known stories about him; how he insisted on finishing his game of bowls, which is similar to lawn bowling, even though the armada was in sight;
how he spread his cloak over a muddy puddle so that the queen could walk over it without getting her feet wet; how he once tried to claim California as a British possession.
Not so well known, however, but significant in revealing one of the secrets of his life, filled as it was with remarkable achievements, is a prayer he wrote which
is still in frequent use in churches today. It sums up, more or less, the message of this sections of Hebrews 6:
O Lord God, when thou givest to thy servants to endeavor any great matter, grant us also to know that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same, until
it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory; through Him who for the finishing of thy work laid down his life for us, Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, living things…grow. If we are alive in Christ, then we have potential to grow and every one of us is capable of more and better in our pursuit
of holiness. And I admit that at times we find that we are growing in our faith without a lot of intentionality or effort on our part. We have set up the liturgies of our lives so that we are being influenced by other believers, sitting under sermons, praying
as Christians do…And in all the push and pull of the Christian life we find ourselves maturing even without much conscious effort. That is the work of grace and for which we should be thankful.
But the preacher of Hebrews, while certainly not denying the work of God’s Spirit in such a manner, clearly doesn’t mean that there is nothing required of us, that
we will just continue to grow automatically or without any serious intention on our part. He is commanding that we not be sluggish, he is commanding that we are imitators of those whose lives are filled with faith and the patience of perseverance.
And it seems to me that here is the key point. What Hebrews is asking of us is to have a serious intention, a determination, a commitment to wake up each day with
an agenda to press on in faithfulness.
We are not to take our Savior or our Christian faith for granted; we are to seek it, we are to be purposed. I would guess we all know what CS Lewis was talking about
when he said that he had learned how poorly he did when he was not actively depending upon the Lord and looking up to Him…
…And that in such times it is vitally clear that all my confidence in myself is an illusion. So, we have, I trust, learned for some of us the hard way, that we cannot
trust ourselves…even in our best moments.
There is a dear woman that many of you have met whose name is Carolyn Thacker. She was the church secretary at my previous charge. She and her husband Bob were like
grandparents to my children. Carolyn and Bob love them deeply and have visited us many times here at the baptism of my grandchildren.
Carolyn is as dear a Christian woman as you could ever meet. One time after preaching a similar sermon to the devotionals over the past couple of days, specifically
about the care we must take in finishing well, Carolyn came up to me with tears in her eyes and said…I am getting older and I am counting on you as my pastor and my son in the faith, to never allow me to finish poorly. I’ve never forgotten that, a deep
desire to be ever-growing in her love for Christ, so that when the day comes, she would be able to see the Lord full of faith and without shame.
We must have that same desire, that same intentionality, and if we need to go to one another and ask for such a commitment from those who walk with us…to be by our
side, to make sure that in our lives there is accountability, that we are not so foolish to think we can finish well by ourselves, then let us do so. And together let us show the same eagerness to have the full assurance of hope to the end…so that we might
not be sluggish, but be imitators of those who through faith and patience, inherit the promises of our God.
Prayer: Father, please forgive me for my absorption with myself that often leads me to coasting in my Christian life. I too often demand others to revolve around
me and am self-referential in most things. I am too big when I have nothing to be proud of. I pray that You would give me the grace to put Jesus at the center this day and to leave Him there! I pray that my life; words, desires and behaviors would revolve
around Him who has loved me and given His life for Me, that I might enter into the fellowship of my God…and dance! In Jesus name, Amen.
Gospel Song: All to Jesus I Surrender