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November 28, 2004
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Hebrews
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Proceed with Confidence"
Hebrews 10:19-39
- My friend Carolyn Moore, to whom I introduced you last week with some of her testimony, was on a flight from Atlanta to Florida. As she took her seat she and her seat mate exchanged greetings. Carolyn was flying to Florida to attend the Seminary's conference and meeting. The woman asked Carolyn where she was going and after hearing her reply, nearly shouted: "Oh God! Here I am going to Naples to sin for the weekend and God puts me next to a nun!"
You never know when your testimony of whose you are will illicit a response you don't anticipate. However, that does not mean you are not to share, but that you are to share all the more boldly. My friends live your faith boldly.
I was surprised by the cover story in the October 31st edition of the New York Times Magazine written by a non Christian researching the "rise of religion and evangelism in the American workplace".
The article, entitled, "With God at Our Desks" mainly tells the story of Chuck Ripka, a mortgage banker, who with a partner began the Riverview Community Bank in Ostego, Minnesota as a Christian Financial Institution about 18 months ago. In that period deposits have jumped from 5 million to 75 million dollars.
If you ask Chuck or Duane, the president, or "Gloria (one of the tellers) who prays with customers at the drive-up window, all will explain the bank's success in the same way. Jesus Christ has blessed them because they are obedient to his will. Jesus told them to take his word out of the church and bring it to where people interact: the marketplace" (With God at our Desks, by Russell Shorto, the New York Times Magazine, 10/31/04, p. 42, ubp).
Ripka's bank is not the only Christ-based business, of course.
The article lists "an auto-parts manufacturer in downtown Philadelphia. An advertising agency in Fort Lauderdale. An Ohio prison. A Colorado Springs dental office. A career-counseling firm in Portland, Oregon. The Curves chain of fitness centers. American Express. Intel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The IRS. The Pentagon. The White House.
Thousands of businesses and other entities, from one-man operations to global corporations to divisions of the federal government, have made room for Christianity on the job, and in some cases have oriented themselves completely around Christian precepts" (Ibid. p. 43).
Those leading this movement are being called "marketplace pastors" as they live out what Billy Graham predicted, saying: "one of the next great moves of God is going to be through believers in the workplace." That movement is already beginning. As the article states: "To listen to the employees of the Riverview bank and those of the country's other 900 workplace ministries - you would think that churches were almost passé" (Ibid. p. 46).
- I suppose the church would become passé if we refused to deal with the faith in a real way but sink to a level of just "doing church" on Sundays and not have it impact our Mondays.
Some in the younger generations believe that is what we do with church. They wanted something more of their faith so a movement has begun within the Christian realm called Imago Dei. There are eight of these "congregations" meeting around the Portland area. And they seek to live God loud with worship, Bible Studies, and the call to live a transformed life 24/7. That is the call of the Bible overall and of this passage in Hebrews 10 specifically.
It speaks of an active and lived faith based upon what God has done for us.
Hebrews 10: 19-39 reminds us that God has given us confidence for living the life. He has done this by putting the law in our hearts and minds, by setting us free from our sins, by forgiving us. We have been given a boldness or confidence - so this passage says: "Hold onto it! Live your faith boldly."
The author brackets this passage with this idea of confidence in the 19th and 35th verses. The author encourages: "So, do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded."
The Holy Spirit says for us to live with this confidence or boldness in two ways:
First, live your faith boldly with God.
Since you have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place -- by the blood of Jesus, by this new and living way opened for us, then, ENTER!
Let us draw near, the author writes.
It is a strange thing that many know they can pray, that God welcomes them into His presence, that God wants to hear their voices, yet they do not pray. God encourages you and me, saying: "DRAW NEAR!" Since you know God welcomes you into his presence, "draw near!" Live your faith boldly: pray!
Draw near, the passage says, with full assurance of faith that the God you come to meet with already knows your needs, has cleansed you from guilt and washed you with pure water. The sprinkling and washing images used here are from the OT temple practices.
To be cleansed of a guilty conscience is to be freed from the voice of condemnation. That voice of shame and condemnation is so slippery to oust, but we must hear that we have been freed from it. Jesus' death and resurrection cancelled and took away your sins. God remembers them no more. Live your faith boldly! Turn from the accuser's voice, listen for Jesus, and be set free from sin. So live your faith boldly with God by drawing near to God and by…
… holding unswervingly to the hope we profess.
The hope God has given us is faith that looks toward the future. God has promised us a future with him, and he will keep his promises.
Don't let go of hope. It does not matter if it is a bad report from the doctor, or a huge storm that buffets your life, let your hope remain firm in who God is and what He has promised. He has promised to make you holy. He has promised to prepare a place for you. He has promised you a hope and a future, so hold onto hope in relationship to God. Live your faith boldly with God.
Second, the passage says, live your faith boldly with others.
As we draw near to God and experience His love for us, that love will prompt us to look around us - so we are encouraged to stimulate those around us to love and good deeds. The passage reads "Let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good deeds
How can we spur one another on toward love and good deeds? That's simple: by showing love and good deeds to them. As we are impacted by God's love and express that towards others, they too will be likewise impacted to do the same.
The Samaritan's Purse worker in Africa was distressed because he had mistakenly delivered Christmas Boxes to a village which had received gifts the previous year. One of the Samaritan's Purse desires is that all the children will have a chance to receive at least one gift. So the worker had to return to that village to take the boxes back in order to take them to another place. So, he made the journey but when he arrived he discovered that the children had already made a trek into the jungle and given their boxes away to another village full of children. They said they were so thankful to have received the gifts the previous year they wanted to share with someone else.
Love and good deeds prompted love and good deeds.
To whom can you show love today through some good deed?
We have encouragement notes in the pews. Every week we tell you those blue cards are available. Have you written a note to encourage anyone this month?
This is a simple expression of love. It is a simple good deed. Could you make it your goal to write at least one such note each month? Why wait until someone dies before you say something that might have encouraged them? Why say at the funeral of someone: "Well, I really appreciated this and this and this about this person," but never tell them that while they are alive?
Why wait that long when your outreach of love may have assisted their growth in Christ in a significant way.
When we fellowship during and after worship each week, there is much sharing of love in that time. Blessing flows from person to person through word and action. Continue to "live your faith out loud".
The passage tells us to encourage one another in ministry to one another and also to encourage one another in meeting together. It says, "let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the DAY approaching."
The author says that some are pulling away from one another, developing a habit of missing out on worship times. These are most likely withdrawing because of the persecution this chapter details, but we sometimes miss worship because of numerous excuses, and once we begin to miss worship, our absence can become a habit.
"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken," wrote one forebear of this nation. (Samuel Johnson http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf /0/26A45FCFC0A153B180256C00004D171B/ 11/28/04)
So, the Bible says encourage others not to give up meeting together. Who do you need to encourage?
Live your faith boldly - draw near to God and encourage one another.
- There is a fire of faith blazing in the younger generation. Today there are many web logs available. These are journal sites which are available for others to read. Some are confessional and prayer entries, others are questions, others devotional essays. But the thing that amazes me is that many are written with such a transparency and honesty, perhaps more than they might use if speaking in person. However, there they are sharing from the heart and seeking to live their faith out loud.
On one such site, a 20 year old named Erik Herrera whom Anna worked with while at the Honor Academy, wrote about living your faith boldly. He put his thoughts into the analogy of surfing. This entry is from October 19th. Erik wrote:
"You have everything you need.
How you ride the waves and how deep you go, is up to you… but go.
Whether you go deep, go against a tide, or go under… go.
Even if you look like a fool and get stung by a jelly fish.. take the initiative and go. Even if you go in the complete opposite direction, go.
How you live your life is up to you,
but if you hesitate and wait for the perfect wave, you'll never live. Go"
(quoted from Erik A. Herrera, from his Xanga.com site, October 19, 2004 journal).
- Go friends! Live your faith boldly. Live with confidence.
Don't tiptoe through life. Don't walk around a problem like stepping on eggshells. Face the difficulties.
Encounter God day by day.
Remember to draw near to God and encourage others around you, for the end is coming. This might be your last second. Don't waste a moment. Don't waste your life, live it.
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