Pastor Jonah Sage preached Hebrews 12:1-13 (1-6 for slides). He encouraged us to take courage and run to Jesus. Lector: Kara Tichenor
Pastor Jonah Sage preached Hebrews 12:1-13 (1-6 for slides). He encouraged us to take courage and run to Jesus.
Lector: Kara Tichenor
Next week we celebrate Mother's Day and Child Dedication as a family.
We know it's a day of joy that also stirs up grief.
For those who experience infertility, infant or child loss, or displacement of a child from your care, know you are not alone here.
We promised to rejoice and weep together here.
Free resources are available in the app to help us grow in our ability to weep together through may types of loss, both personally and with each other.
Available under member services tab in the app.
We've also created physical space to remember those we are missing
We commissioned a painting in the lobby to help us do that.
You're invited to take a leaf and add the name of a child to the painting.
Perhaps your child, or a foster child, or the hope of a child in the future.
We can comfort one another by reminding one another we are not alone, we carry each other's stories, and most of all the Lord holds all things together.
Finally, there will be many oohs and ahhhs over adorable children next week
We will celebrate. If you would be comforted by the presence of someone who knows the kind of pain this can bring, though, please let us know.
We have a team of people ready to be pillars of comfort and strength who would be glad to sit with you, eager to hold the pain of your story as we rejoice with those who are rejoicing.
A life worth living is a life immersed in the people of God, in good times and bad
That's the essence of this series in Hebrews. It sounds nice, we want that.
But nearly everything that sounds nice is actually quite difficult.
A satisfying marriage sounds nice...
But we always marry a sinner. Things are always more complicated than we expected
An inviting home sounds nice...but between here and there is yard work, leaks in the bathroom, piles of laundry, pictures to hang...
A meaningful job, raising children of consequence, deep friendships...it all sounds nice, but it's incredibly difficult.
Repeatedly in Hebrews the Preacher commands and provides encouragement.
Take courage, run to Jesus. That's Hebrews in a nutshell.
What does it mean to give courage, though?
Every culture/philosophy has a theory about a life worth living, and across culture and times, every philosophy has agreed that courage is a main ingredient to the good life.
We don't talk about courage much anymore as a society.
In many ways, we are anti courage.
Recipe for courage:
Nothing is more important than our personal comfort
We love the grandiose "take a bullet for my wife" stuff. but how likely is that?
How much harder is it to be committed to a marriage day in and day out, through simple practices like honesty and vulnerability?
New priorities that may not be your preferences?
America is drunk on self-expression and individual achievement.
The only principle we commit to is ourselves.
To talk about "courage" is an affront to our culture, because it requires us to love something more than our comfort.
2. Awareness of the danger
Our culture seeks to remove danger, not confront or overcome it.
If something is difficult or if someone else is bothered, it must be wrong.
You do you as long as you doing you doesn't do me in a way I don't do, ya know
If your commitment to a principle offends me, then it must be wrong
To talk about courage is to risk offending those who disagree, and we don't do that anymore
3. Acting in spite of the danger
We don't do difficult things anymore. Perhaps individually, but not collectively
What do we do with someone we don't like? We cancel them, just ignore.
What do we do with books we don't like now? We ban them. Incredible!
A culture that removes anything offensive or fearful is a culture void of courage, no greater principles compelling us into the unknown.
Courage is loving something so much that, despite seeing the danger so clearly, you act anyway. You accept the risk. That's courage.
And it's not possible to sustain a life worth living without it.
I once thought courage was something you had or you didn't.
Like leadership or being fast. Got it your don't.
But Hebrews tells us to give each other courage. Something we can give and produce
Christians are uniquely equipped to take courage and run to Jesus.
Let me show you.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
-Hebrews 12:1
"therefore" connects this to chapter 11...do you remember?
By faith, Abel, Abraham and Sarah and Enoch and Jacob and David and Rahab and Gideon and Barack and Samson, Jeptha, Samuel...
By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death.
-Hebrews 11:33-35
Feel like Ric Flair! WOO!
The starting place of courage is knowing the story you're in
You're part of the greatest family in human history.
Take courage, Christian! It's in your blood!
We are immersed in a story greater our comfort
The story of cosmic rebellion and restoration. A king who has come and will come again, of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation.
We are part of something far greater than ourselves, more spacious and compelling than simply being comfortable. This is what we love, this story is what we commit to, and because we do...
We are called to Strip off every weight that slows us down.
Forgetting the story slows me down. Day to day, I forget i'm in THE GREAT story
Feels like I write sermons no one remembers. Take my kids to school to learn things they won't remember. Put away dishes that will get dirty again.
Pay someone to cut my lawn that will grow so he can cut it again.
Forgetting the story kills my imagination. The monotony, the ordinariness of everyday life slows me down, makes me ask "is this worth it? what am I doing?"
Remember the story, Christian. Take courage and run to Jesus.
We have to strip off every weight, especially the sin that trips us up
Ryan M said something profoundly true to me this week.
He said you can stop sinning without repenting. Do you know what he means?
You can white knuckle your way out of a bad behavior without coming home to Jesus
You can stop sinning without being healed and transformed.
Repentance means to come home. Turn around and run to Jesus.
You can't stop sinning by trying to stop sinning.
You can't run fast by trying to not be slow.
You have to see the story you're in and want to be in it.
What do you tell kids learning to run the bases?
"don't watch the ball. Don't run to not get out. it slows you down! Focus on the base"
We have to take courage and run not away from sin, but TO JESUS:
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
-Hebrews 12:2
You don't run AWAY from sin, we run TO JESUS
We lay down our sin so we can run to Jesus FASTER.
We TAKE COURAGE, and run TO JESUS.
And knowing WHO JESUS IS changes everything.
Preacher calls him the initiator of our faith, said this earlier in ch. 2:
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God...should make the PIONEER of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.
-Hebrews 2:10
This word typically only shows up in Greek when talking about Hercules
It's often translated as HERO.
Maybe Herc is what you think of when you think HERO...but do you think courage?
If you want to focus on Jesus, you have to focus on WHO HE IS, and he is the only courageous God.
This is one of many points where Christianity is absolutely unique.
You know why we can't call Superman courageous? He's invincible!
You cannot be courageous if you have nothing to lose.
Christianity is the only religion with a courageous God, because our God accepted the vulnerability of being human.
It was through suffering that he has made our faith perfect.
You see divine courage in the garden of gethsemane
Jesus was afraid. He knew the pain waiting for him, both physically and emotionally.
He knew the pain of the wood scraping his back, nails piercing his hands, and the agony of soul as he experienced the agony of hell
That's what it means when he cries out "why have you forsaken me?"
We worship a God who was afraid and went to the cross anyway.
No God but Jesus is courageous.
His courage saved us, and it is now his courage that fills us by his spirit.
Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.
-Hebrews 12:2
Courage is fueled by joy. Joy over the kingdom that has come and is yet to come
Joy from knowing we have been purified by the hero of our faith
Joy from knowing the sweetness of his presence today
Joy knowing we will be kept eternally secure
Joy knowing that we shall overcome because he has overcome already.
Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won't become weary and give up.
-Hebrews 12:3
The joy of worshiping a courageous God!
Commit to the story of God, the great gospel that promises to transform the world.
Know we will experience difficulty, hostility, pain and hardship.
But know there is joy set before us so we follow despite the pain!
Take courage, Run to Jesus!
In our times of hostility and loss, we reflect on the life of Christ and find him there
Take courage, and run to Jesus.
We see how his story intersects with ours.
We see Jesus was a man who was afraid, but he was honest and vulnerable anyway.
When you see the beauty of Jesus' story and experience his presence in yours, oh you will find courage there, Christian.
He is the founder, the hero, the initiator and perfecter of our faith
He marched to hell and won for us heaven
take courage, Christian. Run to Jesus.
All of our giants, all of our sufferings, all of the monsters and demons this life has to offer, are small compared to the victory already secured by Christ.
And now, for the joy set before us, let's take courage and follow him.
Let's pray
Works Cited: Courage: the Impossible Dream? a lecture by Dr. Timothy Keller, 5/18/2003