Veteran's Remembrance (Hebrews 11:1-12:3)

As we honor of our American veterans today, I feel like it would be a shame not to remember the veterans who paved the way for Christ’s kingdom. Please hear these words from Hebrews.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Able still speaks, even though he his dead.

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country: he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because when considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

All these people were still living b faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; the only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasured of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not tough the firstborn of Israel.

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; by when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning is shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The Fight of our Lives, Matthew 18:6-9

⁶ “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. ⁷ Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! ⁸ If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. ⁹ And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

To begin, I AM NOT AN ADVOCATE OF SELF-MUTILATION. Even with that being the case, though, this command from Jesus still brings me to wonder, did He really mean that?

 

This is actually the second time in Matthew that these instructions come. The first is in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and follows teaching on murder/anger and adultery/lust. Considering the penalties in the Law about murder and adultery, removing of body parts was actually a calmer judgment. Exodus 21:12 says, “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death,” and Leviticus 20:10 says “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” For those of us who have ever been angry with or lusted after someone, we wouldn’t be here anymore, which means the human race would no longer exist.

What about the beginning of the passage, when Jesus talks about causing a little child (which is standing right beside him, by the way) to sin? Are we really supposed to have a large millstone hung around our necks and be drowned in the depths of the sea? Luckily, Jesus says, “it would be better for them to…” which lets us know that, on the positive side, He’s being metaphorical. On the negative side, though, the millstone is “better”, which is kind of unsettling. Causing a young believer to sin seems far worse than simply sinning yourself.

“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” Things that cause us to stumble must be here so God can forgive us. If we didn’t sin, we wouldn’t need grace or forgiveness. Jesus says that sin must exist, and in the following verses, He shows how hard we have to fight.

I’m blessed to say that it’s been a very long time since I’ve visited a friend or family member in the hospital or hospice care as they were nearing the end. However, one of my friends (Jill), along with her mom and grandmother, stayed right beside her great-grandmother (D) as she went into Heaven from hospice care. Jill and her family would swap stories and share memories along with her great-grandmother until the last few days. D had stopped eating and drinking and would anger quickly. She was ready for Heaven, but still wanted to be around her family. Periodically she would say a few words, at which point everyone would huddle around, listening intently. If she continued talking, it was slow and laborious, fighting to get words out.

On the last day, Jill’s grandmother sat right by the bed of her mother talking, sharing, hoping for a response. Jill was holding D’s hand and checking her pulse. When she lost the pulse, she checked a few more places, with no success. Her grandmother kept talking. D had fought hard to the very end, but went to Heaven in peace.

She was fighting for her life. She wanted to stay and talk with her family, especially with so many of them being there. She fought to speak, to open her eyes, to stay present. 

We, too, must fight for our spiritual lives every day. That is what Jesus means by these words. Have the will to do everything possible to avoid and remove sin, which leads to death. Do all that we can, and trust God to do everything we can’t. We must remove distractions, barriers, stumbling blocks, temptations in our life to be open to God’s commands. 

And there is hope. Jesus talks about grace and forgiveness of debt later in Matthew 18, verses 23-27. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.”

To put this in perspective, take a quick guess at your annual salary (minimum wage is $15,080) and put 5 zeroes behind it. Now double that. Congratulations, you just multiplied your salary by 200,000. That’s close to the personal equivalent of what this servant owed. Minimum wage, that’s $3.016 trillion, all demanded at once by the king, which is why he was going to take the servant, his wife and children, and all he had. The servant, recognizing his debt, begged for time and patience so that he could work enough to pay back everything. Suddenly, the king took pity on him, and cancelled 200,000 years worth of labor debt.

How in the world did the servant rack up that much debt? What did he need all of that money for? And how generous was the king in letting him have all of that?

Well, when we look at it in the broader context, this is part of a parable Jesus uses to explain how many times we should forgive. Jesus talks about money, even though that wasn’t the original question. Peter asked how many times he should forgive a brother or sister who sins against him. That really puts a new meaning on the servant’s debt.

How many times do we sin against God, the King? Short answer: more times than we can count. Any anger, any greed, any lust, any time we put ourselves before God, is sin. We have a huge debt of sin, but God is gracious to forgive us when we believe in His sacrifice and model our lives around His life.

The servant in the parable doesn’t remember the king’s grace. Instead he demands repayment from a fellow servant. When the other servant makes the exact same plea, the one who is owed throws him in prison because he can’t repay the debt. The king finds out about this, and has the servant tortured until he can repay his huge debt, which is never.

The servant didn’t learn. He didn’t keep forgiveness in mind when he approached his fellow servant. He didn’t fight with all he had to prevent sinning again and rebuilding his debt. The part of him causing the sin, his pride, wasn’t removed.

We have to fight every day, removing what causes sin, whether a metaphorical hand or eye, or literal pride. Is removing an eye going to keep someone from lusting? Not necessarily, because the other eye will still work. Removing both? Again, not necessarily, because we have really good picture memory. What about greed, the lust of things? Same answers. 

What Jesus is targeting is the heart. “Out of the heart the mouth speaks,” Luke 6:45. Our inner being, our id, is what needs to change. We fight to change who we really and truly are. Through the fight, we see the power of grace. We can remove all the barriers, obstacles, etc., but we’re still going to sin. Grace covers every sin, yes, but we can’t be passively acceptant of it. It leads to action.

Please join me prayer.

God, as we recognize our sin and the extent and magnitude of it, please help us to fight. Clothe us in Your armor that we find in Ephesians 6. Please be our sword and shield in every battle. Every time we don’t fight, please help us to be mindful of grace and to see Your kingdom growing in spite of our loss. I pray that it would not be something we take lightly, but hold firmly to. Help us to have a full realization of the demand You place on our lives. Lead us as we become more like You. Bring Your kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen