Author: Mark Mong

¹⁹ Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  Hebrews 10:19-25

Last summer, we received so much rain in such a little time that the road to our house was flooded.  The road has a low spot where the storm drains sit to move the water to the lake and the system can handle so many gallons of water in a minute.  But however, on that day the drainage system could not keep up and the water backed up onto the road completely covering it with about a foot of water.  To get home we would have had to drive through the foot deep flood waters.  I had no confidence whatsoever that I could drive through the road, and the car could stall or the moving waters sweep us away, at the time I could not tell how much was there.  So, we sat on the road for about an hour until the waters receded and we could with what courage we had drive through the water to reach home, and we did safely.

The author to the Hebrews is talking about his congregation having a road that the people could always have confidence in, no matter how much water was flooding the road, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh).  The road to our house was blocked by water, the road to the sanctuary or house of God is open and permanent.  We had no reason to rely on the blocked road, Christians can have ever reason to rely on the road Jesus paves and cares for because the road was paved in his own blood from his own body.  If he makes and cares for the road, every believer can have the confidence to travel upon it, and no barrier can flood or erode it.

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must still make the journey and go into God upon that road let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Through our baptisms, the inner soul and outer body is washed and forgiven and then able to approach the holy God.  Sins are forgiven and we can go in.  But the hitch always lies in the approach.  Quite simply, do we go in at all?  We can rely upon the road, the door is open, our sins are forgiven, but do we take the necessary steps to walk upon and to go in?  Do we have faith that the road will keep, and the door will stay open and even we are forgiven?  Do we approach or do we retreat?  Faith says, let us approach and never, let us go back.

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must still hold fast to the hope that while we are on the way, we are not done journeying yet, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.  To hope is to anticipate the filling of the promises of God, but in the present not possessing them, or to be on the way, but not finished yet.  We are still travelling as a community upon the road Jesus paves and maintains, but until we are finished, we must keep travelling, we must hold fast to hope and never waver.  Here is the second hitch, the road at times becomes challenging and overwhelming and the despair of the journey urges us to turn around and go back instead of pushing through.  Do we have hope and keep going or do we retreat?  Hope says let us hold fast, never, let us quit.

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must learn what it means to truly walk in the way of Jesus Christ, let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.  To provoke is like taking a stick and poking a hornet’s nest, the hornets will become angry.  We on the way of Jesus Christ are to provoke one another, but not to anger and offense, but to stir each other up to love and good deeds.  The love here is the self-giving love of God, and the good deeds are compared to the evil deeds or sins from which we are cleansed.  To walk on the way of Jesus Christ is to encourage or provoke each other to greater and greater love and goodness instead of judgment and insult.  Do we provoke each other to greater love and good deeds, or do we make the journey miserable for everybody around us?  Love says let us provoke each other to sacrifice and goodness, never, let us hurt and hate each other. 

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must remember that we can only encourage each other if we gather with each other, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.  I think the key word here is habit.  We will have circumstances that prevent us from gathering to pray, study, worship and serve, but the hitch is when our staying away from church becomes a habit and not an exception.  You cannot be encouraged, and you cannot give encouragement if you avoid the community.  For the Hebrews they started to drift away into other things because the road became challenging.  We have many more things to pull us away than they did in our society, but it becomes more important to still make church a priority.  Encouragement says, let us meet, never, I have other things to do.

Friends, the road to God has been paved and maintained by Jesus our great High Priest in his own flesh and blood.  This means that we can have confidence to walk and journey upon it.  But at some point, you need to come in by faith and never retreat.  At some point you need to hold fast to your hope that you will finish and never quit.  At some point you need to provoke love and goodness instead of hate and wickedness.  And at no point should your neglecting to gather become a habit.  If we truly are following in the way of Jesus Christ, we will walk in faith, hope, and love, and we will always do so together.  Now, let’s get moving.  Amen. 

¹¹ He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ ¹⁴ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. ¹⁷ Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. ¹⁸ Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.’ 1 Kings 19:11-18

If I have to pull any more weeds from my flower beds and garden, I am going to scream.  I feel like I have done nothing but pull weeds this entire summer and, in a few days, they grow back, plus some that were not there before.  We get a little rain and some warm weather, and they grow in abundance.  Covering them with mulch helped for like five minutes.  Using my Weed Wacker helped for about a week and then I must do it again.  I am at that point where I don’t care what grows and what anything looks like, I am done.  Until the leaves start.  Grrr.

Elijah was also done.  Not done picking weeds but he was burned out from trying to lead Israel from following and worshipping Baal.  He just has his great victory over the hundreds of Baal’s Prophets, but the Queen runs him out of town.  He’s done.  He leaves the country and runs back to God’s Mountain as a tired and frustrated failure of a prophet.  As disciples we can also become done in frustration and burnout.  We tried and nothing worked.  We need more people and more excitement.  We gave of ourselves and nothing much changes from week to week.  The weeds continue to grow, we try new things, and nothing stops.  Like Elijah we are done.

But God is not done with Elijah, nor with us for that matter.  God tells Elijah to meet him on the mountain and Elijah complies.  After the wind, the earthquakes, and the fire pass by, God comes, and Elijah comes out to meet him.  God asks him why he is here instead of being back on the job?  Elijah gives him a reason which looks totally like an excuse: everyone left you/me.  Amid his burnout, Elijah goes from advocating and working toward the goal of a Baal-less society to attending to God.  From working and toiling to conversation and prayer with God.  Instead of focusing on the plan and how to get there, Elijah focuses instead on God and enters a state of attending on God. 

What if we should also, who find ourselves in a similar place to Elijah, cease our fruitless, frustrating, and failed plans to instead attend to God?  What has changed around us and what might we need to change how we do things?  Attending to God and a new possibility and new potentials instead of spinning our tired wheels in the mud in frustration.  Asking ourselves God questions in discernment instead of endless organizational questions, which may not have an answer, about more members, more resources, and more building repairs.  Like Elijah when the plans or programs stop working and maybe never did, we should stop and instead attend to God.

What Elijah gets is a new focus, a new purpose, and a new call.  Instead of fighting the Baal prophets and Queen Jezebel, Elijah is called and commanded by God to go anoint another King, who will rule justly over 7000 faithful Israelites.  What is our new focus, new purpose, and new call?  The plans and programs don’t work, but we do have loving, connectional people.  How do we engage our neighborhood with what we do have?  How do we adjust the leaders and resources we do have?  How do we become covenantal people on mission, not just CEO’s and middle managers of yet another dying institution?  God’s answer is not what we want, but what we need: new focus, new calling, new energy, new tasks. 

We all get tired and burned out as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We all end up exactly like Elijah.  But while Elijah was done, God was not done with him, nor us.  But instead of running headlong to our destruction because we cannot imagine doing things a new way, we can stop the frustrations and life-taking ways from previous times.  Instead of doing things the same old way, we can attend instead to God and a new focus and energy.  Instead of going back to the failed mission, Elijah accepts the new purpose of God and finds renewal.  We can do likewise; to attend to God and to perhaps see and discern the emerging possibilities God is creating.  But we need to attend to God and the new opportunity, instead of putting our heads down and running in mud.  We might be done, but it might be done with the way things were, not the new things that God is doing.  Let us in faith attend to God and God’s emerging Kingdom instead of toiling in the failed enterprise.  God is not done with us, but let us be done with ways things were. Amen.

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶ We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸ the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.  Romans 12:3-8

We find ourselves in football and marching band season once again.  The sounds of the drums playing the cadences.  The sun reflecting off the sousaphones.  The color guard twirling flags and batons.  The brass section providing deep tones while the woodwinds creating a soaring descant.  But for the performance to be moving to the soul, all the performers must mesh.  No one section or group is enough to drive home the music, they must all contribute and do so complementing each other.  When the band works well together the result is breath-taking and soul-forming.  The band must mesh.

Just as it is with a marching band, so too is it with the church.  People and congregations must mesh.  Each person or group or community is insufficient by themselves but must contribute to the greater whole and must do so complementing each other.  Ministers administering Word and Sacraments.  Elders leading in wisdom and discernment.  Deacons giving care and compassion.  Teachers nurturing in patience and knowledge.  Advocates working toward justice and peace.  Each provides an invaluable piece of the whole and only when each contributes and complements each other does the result become breath-taking and soul-forming.  Each must mesh.

But we all too often imagine the connections in our own congregations and how each person must contribute and complement each other.  The dynamics can also be across congregations.  We at Trinity and Eastside have come to learn and perceive this dynamic.  Elders mesh with elders.  Deacons mesh with deacons.  Teachers mesh teachers.  Advocates mesh with advocates.  Cooks and planners mesh with cooks and planner.  Each provides an invaluable piece of the whole and only when each contributes and complements each other does the result become breath-taking and soul-forming.  Trinity and Eastside must mesh.

Over the summer months, we at both churches have begun exploring what it means to mesh as one Church across congregations.  We worshipped together in rotating worship spaces.  We combined mission committees rotating meeting spaces.  We shared our various activities with the other church.  We learned to be hosts and guests to the other church.  We ate together, we prayed together, we assembled around God’s Word together.  We worshipped together and we worked together.  Trinity and Eastside meshed.

In the next six months, how do we continue to mesh and perhaps even expand?  Could it be more integrated worship?  Could it be more fellowship activities?  Could it be sharing duties across boards and committees?  Could it be including the other churches in the city or even county?  Yes, it could be.  But it will take you, and it will take you choosing to mesh with others instead of choosing isolation.  I know too well the anxiety and risk it takes to enter such a space.  But, if we are following Christ in faith, we push through the fear and vulnerability and follow anyway in courage.  And the results might just be breath-taking and soul-forming.  We just might mesh.  Let the Church play on!  Amen.

44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.  Matthew 13:44-46

We have a store in the local mall, where a person can buy, sell, or trade movies, video games, comic books and many other things.  You can purchase a new DVD, yes, they still make and sell those.  You can trade in a well-played and finished game for another.  You can sell your old comic books for cash, yes, they still deal with cash.  But in this store, one can find just about anything and for the right price take it home.

Perhaps then, we can understand what is transpiring in our two parables about the Kingdom of heaven.  Both parables contain a person finding something of great value, a treasure, or a pearl, and in their desire to “have” the item, they sell everything they have in order to buy the item.  These parables describe a trading, the treasure for the money, just like buying a new movie, or trading in an old game, or selling your old Gameboy.  One person gives up something, the money or the property and gains the treasure or pearl.  The other person gives up the treasure or pearl to gain the prize.  But both parables describe a transaction or trading and paying a high price, they sold everything to gain the treasure because it was worth it.

Perhaps one of the main ideas for disciples to learn from these parables is the breaking from the old to obtain the new.  Everything is sold to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.  Now, this does not mean that it can be bought or sold, we know faith is how we enter and obtain the Kingdom of Heaven.  But the point is instead that to gain the Kingdom of Heaven, by faith, one must make a complete break with the old: everything old for the Kingdom of Heaven.  We break from the previous life and the previous lifestyles and the previous attitudes, and the previous goals to receive the new life, the new lifestyle, the new attitude, and the new goals.  Everything goes because the Kingdom of Heaven now comes.  God breaks the old life, to give us, by faith, the Kingdom of Heaven.

But when the Kingdom of Heaven breaks into our world and God breaks us from the old, many great conflicts begin over and within us.  The first is the desire for possessions.  We just simply want more stuff and someone in our community is selling it to us.  Advertisements are in every aspect of our line of sight.  Buy this coffee.  Buy this car.  Buy this phone.  And we become ensnared by the race with our neighbors over who can have more and have it before someone else gets it.  To make a break with this desire, God replaces the desire for more stuff with the desire to let go of our earthly possessions and share them in love.  God makes this great break in our lives, which is quite simply giving sacrificially, instead of taking greedily; and we struggle daily to do it.

The second great struggle within us, when God breaks-in our lives is our desire for fame and admiration.  We want to be known and to be admired.  Whether on stage as a performer, or on TV as an actor or actress, or having the highest gamer score or the most followers on social media, Human beings have an endless thirst to be known and to be admired by as many others as possible.  But what we see in the Kingdom of Heaven is Jesus leaving the throne to ascend a cross, and this Crucified Jesus breaks-into our worlds.  Instead of seeking honor and glory, we can take the least dignified places and be content with the less reputable situations.  Instead of wanting a throne, we can carry our cross. God makes this break in our lives, which is quite simply seeking the Glory of God instead of the glory of “me;” and we struggle daily to do it.

But I find to be the greatest struggle of all is when God breaks-into our families.  We must remember first that we are to love and to love even our enemies, this includes our families.  But when God takes hold of us, our families lose their hold over us.  God becomes the priority not the advancement of the family name, reputation, and success.  This also means that we are free from the difficult and unchosen relationships that families bring: failing parents, special needs children, broken marriages.  We can still love them, but not because we “have to”, but because we “can” and the freely given love will always be greater and more complete than a forced love.  But God makes this break in our lives, which is quite simply the Family of God instead of the family of “____;” and we struggle daily to do it.

Friends, not one of us is without these and more great conflicts as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We all struggle with loving God and each other instead of possessions, fame, and family.  But the point of the parables of the treasure and pearls is that God is the one who makes the break between the old and the new.  The Kingdom of Heaven comes, the kingdoms of sinful people go.  The Gospel is that through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we can trade one for the other because God has assaulted those kingdoms and overcome them.  The daily challenge then becomes living into this break.  As if the hold on us of our possessions, our fame and our families is broken, and the Kingdom of Heaven has invaded.  The challenge of discipleship is trading in the old life for Jesus’ new one.  Buy, sell, or Trade?  Faith and obedience say Trade!  Amen. 

24He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Matthew 13:24-30

I know some flowers by sight, but others I need help with.  This becomes very problematic when I am weeding my flower beds for the first time every Spring.  All the plants are beginning to grow, including the weeds.  I want to keep the flowers and I want to pull the weeds.  The problem is I cannot always tell which is which.  I have to ask someone who knows better than I what is a flower and what is a weed.  But at times I mistakenly pull a flower while grabbing a weed and when the weed is growing amid the flower, I pull out both.  Keeping the weeds away from the flowers is not always easy.

Perhaps then this is why Jesus cautions his disciples about weeding out people instead of weeds.  They ask Jesus, do you want us to go and gather them?  And he responds with No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.  You try and pull weeds and you get flowers instead; you try and pull the weed growing in the middle of the flowers and you get both, the same happens with people.  The moment you try and exclude an unbeliever and you will exclude the believer also.  The moment you try to remove the enemy among the brothers and sisters is the time you remove everybody; and we cannot run the risk of harming a brother or sister.

The difficult lesson is that the church has both wheat and weeds or children of God and children of the evil one in it.  We have in our worship services and in our membership both people of faith and people of rebellion.  At times we think we can tell which is which, but what we can never do is to remove the problem makers and keep the siblings in faith.  We will always damage the good to remove the bad.  We will always cause trauma in our fellow believers by removing the unbelievers; and we must never do anything to harm our siblings in Christ.

Does this mean that the Church will always be this way?  No, Christ promises a time when the grain and weeds will be separated, it just isn’t now, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.  At Christ’s return, the Angels are commanded to separate the believers from non-believers, one to blessing and the other to destruction.  But the point is that today is not harvest day.  It will come, and soon, but as long as we are waiting for the Judgement Day, that day is not to-day.

So, what day is to-day?  Let both of them grow together until the harvest.  Up until harvest time the farmer does everything to nurture the growth of the grain, even if the weeds grow instead.  One can till the soil, one can administer fertilizer, and one can irrigate the fields.  But the task is to plant and grow, not to harvest.  Until Judgment Day, the church’s task is to plant and grow, not to separate.  That time will come, but to-day is about planting and growing: to till the soil of the human heart with love, to administer to the barren mind the fertilizer of hope, and to irrigate the deserted soul with the water of faith.  But it’s growing time, not harvest time, and both grain and weeds can grow, both believers and unbelievers together.

But to only grow instead of judge takes patience on the part of Christ’s people.  Patience to “put up” with people.  Patience to suffer the slings and arrows of difficult and even adversarial people.  Patience to plant God’s Word of love in a hateful heart.  Patience to spread hope over a mind filled with conspiracies and suspicions.  Patience to water faith over a soul unable to trust and depend.  But it will take patience to plant and grow.  But the gospel is not that we must achieve patience, who could do that?  The gospel is that through the grace of Jesus Christ, we can receive his patience as a free gift.  This means that we can put up with each other: to till, to fertilize and to irrigate people, both challenging and easy because it is the patience of Jesus Christ living in us.  This means that until Christ returns, let us nurture instead of judge.  Let us plant and grow instead of judge and pull.  Amen. 

¹⁸ ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. ²⁰ As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. ²² As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²³ But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’ Matthew 13: 18-23

Everybody will take medication in their life.  From the over-the-counter pain medication to the prescription only heart medication, we all will in the span of our lives take medication for problems big and small.  But, while the medication may be the same for each person, the results vary greatly depending on the metabolism of the consumer.  Some patients cannot tolerate high level pain medication.  Some patients cannot tolerate oral antibiotics.  Some patients cannot tolerate chemotherapy.  Even in some patients a medication will not be effective or work at all.  The medication might be the same, but the results vary depending on the person taking them.

Perhaps then, we can understand the parable of the soils.  The one seed is the same, but the results of sowing that seed vary depending on the soil.  But Jesus is really trying to explain how he can preach and teach the same Word of God to many people, but the consequences of that Word vary depending on the receptivity of the hearer.  The same medication with varied results.  The same seed with varied growth.  The same Word of the Kingdom of God with varied acceptance and understanding, which continues today, the same Word of God, with different reception and comprehension.  In the parable, we have three negative results and three positive results.

The first negative result is when the Word of God is preached but not understood, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.  Rather ironically, the difficulty in this situation is understanding the word “understanding.”  I have many things I don’t understand, but I invest in the process of learning.  I think the difficulty when it comes to Word of God is the motivation to stay ignorant.  The problem is not wanting to understand, not the difficulty in understanding.  I don’t want to know; versus I have a difficult time knowing; and the Word of God produces nothing.

Next we have when the Word of God is preached and accepted, but without true commitment, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. Troubles and persecutions test one’s commitment to understanding and following the Word of God.  They require a root or commitment to continue despite the difficulties.  Many struggle with trials and difficult experiences and they shrivel up and quit following Christ under them because faith requires a life-long commitment in good times and bad times; and the Word of God produces nothing.

The last result is when the Word of God is preached but a love of pleasure and possessions prevents any change, as for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. Weeds steal energy and resources from the crops.  The cares of the world and the lure of wealth, choke out our understanding and steal the obedience from the Word of God.  We pursue comfort and wealth instead of faith and obedience, and the Word of God produces nothing.

But, while this parable invests more concern into the ways the Word of God can be stolen from the human heart, scorched by trials, and choked by temptations, it still possesses positive results.  The Word falls into good soil or good human hearts and produces good results, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’  The Word of God is heard, understood and it grows into the fruit of the Spirit.  Not each person may be the same, we have one with a hundredfold and another with sixty, but the Word grows results regardless.  The critical moment appears to be if a person hears, understands, and obeys the Word given.

Which are you?  Do you care to understand the Word, or do you expend energy avoiding having to learn it?  Do you have a life-long commitment to understanding and obeying the Word, or do the difficult moments scorch your discipleship and you leave?  Do you have some worldly temptation, some pleasure or possession that chokes the Word of God and you seek after them?  Or does the Word of God grow in your heart?  Do you hear, understand, and obey?  Which are you?  Each of our hearts is a field, which God has planted the Word into.  You are responsible for what kind of soil it is; rocky, shallow, thorny, or fertile.  Perhaps now is the time to grow, perhaps now is the time to hear, perhaps now is the time to be open to understanding and obeying God’s Word.  Amen.

13 When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, ‘I will surely bless you and multiply you.’ 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. 16 Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute. 17 In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. 19 We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.  Hebrews 6:13-20

My wife’s family has a cottage on a lake in New Hampshire.  At one time many years ago, they had a long, wooden dock further out on the lake to sunbathe, read and swim off.  In the winter months, the dock rests on shore with the individual pieces tied to trees.  This I found is a good thing, because during the recent rains, the level of the lake rose and being tied to a tree ensured that the dock pieces did not float off.  The water covered the dock for a time, but being tethered to the trees ensured they did not disappear during the torrential rains.

Just as the dock was tethered to a tree, so too does the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews describe the church being anchored or tethered in the soul, we have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain.  The docks were tethered to a tree to prevent floating off, Christ’s disciples are tethered to a sure and steadfast anchor in the soul, not to a tree but to the heavenly temple behind the curtain.  Since Christ is there as our High Priest, we are tethered or anchored in a place that is unmovable and when the hurricanes of life flood us, we can remain sure and certain, even when overwhelmed.

But to keep hope amid difficulty is an impossible achievement for anxious and fearful people.  To this end God gives his people clarity even in “muddy” situations, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath.  An oath is used by people to bring certainty and reliability in situations that are fragile and doubtful.  One swears by a greater power to bring security upon an insecure situation.  God, being the greatest power, invokes Himself, to bring stability into an unstable situation for his children.  This stability which God provides and injects into our human experiences, rests on the unchangeable nature of God.  Since no greater power exists, no entity can force or alter God’s purpose.  Therefore, God provides assurance to His people, that is cannot be destroyed or removed.  This does not mean that the daily struggles which we face, and which those not in the church also do, but it also means that those struggles which are unique to the Church of Jesus Christ are not to be avoided, but to be endured. 

Being tethered to Jesus Christ does not mean the removal of struggles and tests, but it means the security and certainty to persevere through them.  This means that when challenge or persecution strikes the Church, and they will, the Church waits patiently for God to fulfill God’s Promises and Oaths.  We don’t quit the Church to alleviate our difficulties or leave the Church to avoid persecutions or resign our Baptismal Vows to seek an easier and more comfortable lifestyle; to be anchored to Christ, means that Hurricanes will blow, but even when we are overcome, we remain secure, tethered to Jesus Christ; and we carry on.

The good news of the Gospel, dear friends, is not the impossible command to wait patiently, as if we were under our own power able to do so.  The good news of the Gospel is not just that God gives us unconquerable promises and oaths, but we have been given in Jesus Christ the Human capacity to wait patiently.  Patience is not a virtue we must achieve, but a Divine gift we can receive.  In Christ, we can wait.  We can wait through the next Pandemic, the next Political Revolution, the current seasons of Persecutions, both physical and social, and whatever “Hurricanes” will fall upon us.  We can endure in patience because in Christ we are tethered to an unmovable anchor, but we also share in the very patience of Christ.  Let us then, wait through the storms in life, anchored in Christ, given refuge both safe and secure.  Amen. 

6 Therefore let us go on towards perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith towards God, ² instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. ³ And we will do this, if God permits. ⁴ For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. ⁷ Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. ⁸ But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.  Hebrews 6:1-8

Building a house is an often long and tortuous process, that often has many steps that must be done on order to complete.  The first steps of digging and laying the foundation must be done before you can begin to build the framework.  The framework must be completed before you can install the roof and walls.  The roof and walls must be done before you can install windows, doors, plumbing and wiring.  Lastly, you install flooring, siding, drywall.  Would you spend your entire time laying the foundation and never get to the framework and then to the roof or walls?  Not if you want to stay in business.  The goal is to finish the house, and that means moving through the steps, to complete the project.

The Author of the letter to Hebrews was also in construction work.  But he was not building a house but a church or assembly of people.  His struggles lie in the group of people that had at one time learned the basics of faith and action but were struggling to press on in the process of learning and following Christ.  Perhaps this explains why he wrote, therefore let us go on towards perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation.  The process of building a church of people, not necessarily an institution, requires completing steps in order, but you never spend your entire time building a foundation.  Once it has been laid, you move on to the next steps.  The congregation was tired and apathetic and instead of moving past the beginning stages of life together, they were regressing.  So, he writes to move on past the foundation stage to the next, to move on to completion or maturity.

In our journeys of discipleship are we pressing on in the process or are we regressing?  Are we stuck at the foundation laying or moving on and through the next steps of growth?  He lists the foundation elements: repentance from dead works and faith towards God,instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement.  But they serve only as the foundation of the church, to be the support and grounding of God’s people, but once laid, the people need to press on to action.  Proper knowing always leads to proper acting, and here is our great struggle.  The entire goal for which the Father sent the Son and Spirit into the world is to create a people built on the foundation of Christ.  But we get stuck on the foundation instead of pressing on.  We become mired in the basics instead of living into and living from those basics into “right” actions.  We end up being an unfinished house with a foundation but nothing else: with good theology, if we have any at all, but no righteousness.

But the specific situation the author is writing to is not that the people are not progressing or stuck, they are regressing, they are wanting to go back and leaving Christ entirely.  The Author offers a warning to them, and us, for it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened … and then have fallen away since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. Once a person has left Christ completely, who could forgive their sins and re-create them?  One would need another Christ to bring them back to the first Christ.  Perhaps this serves as a warning, to take responsibility for our following Christ.  Not to fall or move away, but to press forward in following Christ. 

I think we all become tired in our discipleship.  Whether our burdens and experiences weigh heavy on our spirits, or our circumstances and situations seem impossible to overcome or resolve, our journeys following Jesus can exhaust us.  Friends rejoice, you are among the many disciples across the ages and globe who struggle following Jesus.  But what must never happen is our exhaustion and weakness cause us to quit.  God’s work upon us takes time, it takes training in discipline, and it requires the diligence of faith.  We must never stop at the basics but press forward to “right” actions.  We must never go back and leave Christ entirely but press forward to the finished building.  Our journeys will be at times sweat and hardship, but through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we can become the finished building, the body of Christ.  Amen. 

2 Corinthians 12:7b-10

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. ⁸ Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, ⁹ but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

I have always enjoyed the festivals where various Hot Air Balloon teams gathered to sail the skies.  I was able to see the many different shapes and colors flying through the sky in majesty and wonder.  But I was more fascinated by how the balloons were inflated to be able to fly.  A simple basket with sandbags and ropes tied to stakes were all that kept the balloon on the ground.  The operator filled the canvas with hot air heated by a gas jet and up the balloon went and when the air cooled the balloon would come down.  Both the gas jet and the weight of the sandbags were how one could control the movements of the hot air balloon.

The reason for the ropes and stakes were to keep the balloon on the ground until ready to depart, Paul speaks of something similar for the purpose of keeping him grounded in his work, therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.  The thorn in the flesh was specifically given to Paul to keep him on the ground to keep his ego or pride humble as he serves.  One can easily become inflated or boastful in one’s work and one’s achievements; Christ gave Paul something to keep him from succumbing to pride and to keep him humble.  We do not know specifically what it was, but we know it was present. 

I wonder if it is the same with us?  We also serve Christ, we have been equipped with spiritual gifts: wisdom in governing, charisma in preaching, compassion in serving, intelligence in teaching.  What if we all have also been equipped with thorns in our flesh?  It certainly feels at times that we don’t have a thorn in flesh, we feel we might have the entire rose bush.  But, how come we never look at our thorns in the flesh as also serving an important purpose, to keep us humble, to keep us from pride?  We might have our positive gifts to empower us to at times miraculous works, but we might also have our struggles to keep us grounded, to keep us humble.

Perhaps human nature wants to alleviate our struggles and our difficulties.  Paul certainly did, three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me.  I wonder how many of us have prayed, and maybe even more than three times for our thorns to leave us.  We seem to possess something in our nature that appreciates strength and success and disvalues suffering and weakness.  We want God’s positive gifts and ask for an abundance of them, we balk when it comes to the thorns in the flesh which also serve God’s purposes, to keep us grounded and humble.

Curiously, Jesus responds to Paul’s prayers with the answer no one wants to hear, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that the Creator is sufficient for every creature.  The power and strength of God is given to every creature to provide for daily existence.  Anyone can become strong because God gives them strength.  God is sufficient for everyone.  The challenge lies in staying grounded.  One taste of God’s power and we can become tempted to become gods in pride, not needed God any longer.  We are given God’s power, but God’s power is made complete in our weaknesses, not strengths.

My friends, we all have been blessed with spiritual gifts, but we also have been blessed with thorns in the flesh to keep us grounded and humble.  The challenge of daily discipleship is our perception of those thorns as blessings instead of curses and stop asking that they be removed.  God’s grace is sufficient for anyone, but God’s power is made perfect in our weaknesses or thorns.  Perhaps faith then does not seek our sufferings, that would be masochistic.  But faith does accept our thorns as teachers, training us for the Kingdom of God.  Therefore, let us every day be content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.  Amen.

Matthew 8:5-13

⁵ When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him ⁶ and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.’ ⁷ And he said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’ ⁸ The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ ¹⁰ When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. ¹¹ I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹² while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹³ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And the servant was healed in that hour.

When you first enter any branch of the military, you enter at the lowest rank possible.  Everyone has a higher rank than you and that means that anyone can give you an order and you must follow them.  Whether the drill sergeant orders you to dig a hole and then an hour later to fill it back in, you do so.  The sergeant has authority over you, and you must obey without question if you want a future in the military and have a strong aversion to pounding rocks in Ft. Leavenworth.

In the same way as soldiers obeying the orders of a higher ranking officer, the centurion in Matthew’s Gospel knows all about authority, I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’   As a centurion, he has a general give him orders and he obeys.  As a centurion, he has officers and soldiers below him and he gives orders, and they obey.  As a centurion, he recognizes the greater authority of God in Jesus Christ, and he yields. 

Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.  Knowing his place as a Gentile but also a soldier, he recognizes and acknowledges that Jesus has authority to heal but also a personal sense of inadequacy of having the Jewish Messiah or King in his house would be an insult to Jesus.  So, a Word of authority is all that his servant and his servant’s condition needs to be healed because the Centurion obeys and the paralysis will obey also.  He recognizes the greater authority of God in Jesus Christ and believes that even the paralysis will yield to this greater power.

Do we?  Yield that is to the greater power of God in Jesus Christ.  Faith might include having a proper understanding of God and oneself.  Faith might include trusting God by placing yourself into God’s hands.  But the greater part of faith is the faith of the centurion: to acknowledge the greater power of God and to submit to Christ Jesus.  Do we have faith like this?  Perhaps in some small ways and in some small matters we do, but we are yet to have faith like the centurion, to acknowledge Jesus by complete obedience and self-surrender.  Perhaps this is why Jesus says, truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.  Jesus was amazed to find one who believes so completely to acknowledge Him.  We might be sorely tempted to think this is Jewish problem, after all Jesus says Israel, but one only needs to look within to see that this is a Human problem.

Because our temptation is power.  We spend our entire lives trying to hoard, procure and defend whatever power we can come across, and in pride we do not and perhaps cannot admit to ourselves that anyone, including Christ is greater.  Perhaps we balk at taking orders, preferring to give them.  Perhaps we desire to self-rule in independence from the power of God.  Perhaps we trust instead in other less greater powers in our world: money, politics, fame, and pleasure.  When it comes to our faith, we do not acknowledge or submit to the highest power, the power of God in Jesus Christ, we cling to our unbelief.

This is why the Word of God became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, to be the perfect human in place of us flawed humans.  To surrender and to acknowledge completely the Father’s greater power and will in his body on the cross.  To forgive us our moments of falling short of the centurion’s faith, and to create a new heart within us that clearly sees the power of God greater than any other.  This means hope for us friends.  Hope that our guilt and failures can be taken away and we can become new.  But new in the sense of acknowledging and submitting to the greater power of God in Jesus Christ.  We can stop fighting against God and we can start acknowledging Jesus is Lord.  Amen.