November 19, 2000
A sermon by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma
Would you give
up your career, your life-time dream, and annual salary of $600,000 for the
sake of your family? Not long ago a man named Tim Burke did just that. His boyhood
dream was to play professional baseball. In 1993 after four years in the minor
leagues, he was called up to pitch for the Cincinnati Reds. He quickly proved
how good he was, setting a record for the most relief appearances by a rookie
pitcher.
Along the way, he and his wife adopted four children with special needs. All of them were born with serious illnesses. Neither he nor his wife was totally prepared for the tremendous demands such a family would bring. Because of the grueling schedule of major-league baseball, Tim was rarely around to help. So, in 1993, only three months after signing a $600, 000 contract, he decided to retire. When reporters asked him to explain his decision, he said, "Baseball is going to do just fine without me. But I'm the only father my children have."
On a human level that is a considerable sacrifice isn't it? We wonder what we would do in that situation. Would we decide to be a father or would we hire someone else to do it for us? But the Bible talks about an even greater sacrifice-an infinitely greater one. It talks about a God who loved his family so much that he was willing to lay down his life so that we might have life. He was willing to pay the price for our wrongdoing so that we could be restored to the family. The writer says that in this single great sacrifice he destroyed sin and established forgiveness. Quoting the prophet Jeremiah, he says that our sin is forgiven and forgotten forever.
Well, when we receive a sacrifice like that, how should we respond? I don't know how Tim Burke's children responded to him, but I know how they should respond. We all know how they should respond. Such love should be answered by love. This man should be so dearly loved that his children model their lives after him. They should strive to be just like him.
And that's exactly what the writer of Hebrews says to us about how we should respond to Jesus. Right after he describes the incredibly loving sacrifice of Jesus, we see the word "therefore." And in the words that follow "therefore" he describes how people who are loved like we are should respond. And he is very specific.
1. He says that we should be confident in approaching God. We should be like that little child who doesn't hesitate to share anything with his parent. The child leaps into his parent's arms in time of danger, and the child leaps into the parent's arms just to share his joy. The point is that the child is always sharing everything with the parent. Does that describe our lives? Or are there parts of our lives we will not share with God, either because we are ashamed of them or because we think that God can't change them? We are called to approach God confidently, trusting that he can help us change and knowing that he will forgive and forget our sin forever.
2. And not only are we called to approach God confidently, we are called to live steadfastly. The writer says, "Let us hold steadfast to the confession of our hope without wavering." Are we being as steadfast as Jesus who knew what it was going to cost to love us but did not turn away. There seems to be a lot of suffering and illness in our community right now and, of course, such suffering always involves the threat of death. And nothing seems to shake us quite so much as having to look death in the face. And in our humanness we ask: where is God? And in the cross we receive the answer to that question-God is right there suffering with us. God will not abandon us. And the answer to those who must help those who are suffering and dying is: Jesus has put you in that place as his servant and his representative. Do not fear! Reach out and help in whatever way you can. Don't turn away from the person who needs you. Don't isolate yourself. Don't become self protective. There is nothing in this world that can save us except Jesus.
3. And not only are we called to live with confidence and steadfastness, we are told to "provoke one another to love and good deeds." That's a strange way of putting it, isn't it?
We think of encouraging one another to love and good deeds. We don't think of provoking people to do such things. Actually, the Greek word can be translated as provoke or encourage. But given the fact that this whole letter is really a sermon and that the writer is fairly upset with this congregation, the proper translation is probably provoke.
We might say that this congregation suffered from what many would call a "conspiracy of niceness." It is a common affliction among congregations. It is the situation where people are reluctant to speak the truth, because they might hurt somebody's feelings. And this "conspiracy of niceness" was literally killing this congregation. Fewer and fewer people were speaking the truth, and the congregation was going into decline. They preferred to be comfortable rather than truthful.
Now, I don't think the writer was giving people permission to be cruel. He was asking them to speak the truth in love and to be willing to put themselves on the line for the same truth.
One of my favorite stories of provoking a person to love and good deeds is a story I heard a few years ago when participating in a building campaign. The man who was conducting the campaign was asked how he got involved in the area of stewardship, especially this whole business of helping churches raise money for building. He shared that when he was a young adult in the early years of career and marriage, he had gotten really lazy in regard to his faith. He barely maintained his membership in his local church. He was rarely there, and he made practically no contribution. The day he was moving on to a new home and a new job, he stopped by his congregation to say goodbye and ask for a letter of transfer. The pastor quickly obliged. He made out the letter of transfer, signed it and said, "I hope your membership is more meaningful to your next congregation than it has been to us." That's all he said, but those words turned this man's whole life around. The man realized that he had been neglecting his faith and his church, and he needed to make a radical change. Because one person had the courage to state the simple truth, a man's life was changed.
It also interests me that this statement about provoking one another to love and good deeds is closely tied to worship. The writer says that we should not neglect to meet together. How are the two connected? Well, how do you encourage or provoke if you never see each other? The great evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, once visited a man who was becoming lazy about attending worship The man invited him in, and they sat before the fire and talked. The man told him that he simply couldn't see the importance of being at worship every Sunday. Moody said very little. He just went over to the fire, picked up the tongs and removed a coal from the fire. Very quickly it died out and ceased to burn.
The man replied, "I get you point. I'll be in church next Sunday."
Coals burn well when they are bunched together. They die on their own. The same is true of Christians. When we are together we can warm each other with love. We can also "put the heat" on each other when we aren't being what we are supposed to be.
There is our checklist for discipleship. These are the ways we can gauge whether we really love Jesus or not.
1. Do we confidently share our whole lives with Jesus, or are there areas we will not share with him?
2. Are we steadfast in our faith? Do we see hardship as an opportunity to serve and demonstrate our faith, or do we run away?
3. Are we provoking one another to love and good deeds, or do we remain silent
and participate in the "conspiracy of niceness"?
Copyright 2000 by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma