Equipped and Strengthened to Last

Hebrews 13:20-25

What is the purpose of your life? Why are you here? Why has God put you here, in this time, in this place?

When I was in high school, we were traveling to an away basketball game at a place I had never heard of, even though it wasn’t all that far from home. Twenty miles, to be exact. We were playing a game in the gymnasium on the campus of Wilberforce University, just outside of Xenia. I’d been to and through Xenia tons of times. It’s the next town north of Wilmington. But I’d never heard of Wilberforce.

It’s a private HBCU – historically black college or university, and is America’s oldest HBCU operated by African Americans. It’s one of just three HBCUs founded prior to the Civil War. It was a northern stop on the underground railroad. That’s all really cool stuff. But what struck me was it’s name. Wilberforce. I thought it was a weird name.

Until I discovered that William Wilberforce was a white, British politician in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Why is an historically black university named after an old, white British politician –  one of those guys who wore knickers and buckled shoes and a white wig?

Then I began to study his life. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Christians became increasingly concerned about the slave trade. They gathered all kinds of information on the inhumane treatment of the slaves and believed that eventually they could generate enough  public support to overcome the slave trade interests in Parliament. But they needed political leadership.

William Wilberforce was elected to Parliament in 1780. He gave his life to Christ five years later, in 1785, in part as a result of the ministry of John Newton, once a slave trader and then a clergyman in the Church of England. Newton is the man who wrote the autobiographical hymn Amazing Grace.

Newton and others urged Wilberforce to investigate the slave trade and to consider whether he could fight for its abolition in Parliament. Wilberforce concluded, “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for the abolition. A trade founded in iniquity and carried on as this was must be abolished.”

His effort took decades. He was vigorously opposed by the slave traders, who had powerful allies in Parliament. Abolishing the slave trade would have a heavy negative impact on the economy, and we all know that doing something that hurts the economy, even if it’s the right thing to do, becomes almost impossible because people everywhere push back.

At one point, discouraged, he was about to give up. His elderly friend, John Wesley, heard of it and from his deathbed called for pen and paper. With trembling hand, Wesley wrote: “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them stronger than God?

“Oh be not weary of well-doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery shall vanish away before it.” Wesley died six days later.

The stress and threats Wilberforce endured impacted his own health. He developed colitis in his late twenties, and stress caused it to worsen. He was hospitalized more than once. He fought for twenty years to abolish the slave trade, and twenty more to abolish slavery itself throughout the British empire. But he kept going –  for forty-five years until in 1833 when, three days before his own death, he saw slavery abolished in Britain.[i] [ii]

I appreciate John Wesley’s advice: If this isn’t God’s purpose for your life, you’re GOING TO fail. I can guarantee it. But if this is what God wants you to do, you CANNOT fail. But it wasn’t easy. Wilberforce paid a heavy price. It negatively impacted his health in many ways.

Just because God is calling you to do something doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy or that you won’t pay a heavy price. But God IS calling you to something. It may not be something as big as what Wilberforce had to face. Then again, it might. But God has a purpose for you. God has a purpose for us. So how do we keep going when it gets hard? As we conclude our series on the New Testament book of Hebrews, turn with me to Hebrews 13:20-25.

The first two verses are a beautiful benediction. One of the most beautiful benedictions in all of Scripture. The first verse beautifully describes the foundation of a life built on God’s purpose. And the first brick in that foundation is God’s peace. But notice, it doesn’t say “the peace of God.” It says “the God of peace.” God is a God of peace.

When two people, or two nations, go from conflict to peace, it isn’t just that they’re no longer fighting, but are still sitting there simmering and hating one another. When real peace is present, the relationship between them has been restored. Peace is more than just the absence of conflict, or even the presence of tranquility. It is the restoration of right relationship.

God has opened the way for us to return to relationship with him. A way for the chasm between us and God, put there by our own sin, to be crossed. And so God invites us, through Christ, into a life of peace and wholeness as a part of his family.

Peace is also way more than an internal absence of anxiety. We all feel anxious sometimes. Sometimes, we SHOULD feel anxious. William Wilberforce dealt with anxiety and stress. It took a toll on his mind and body and emotions. But because his life was founded on the peace of God and the God of peace, he worked for peace even though it forced him into great conflict.

The second brick in the foundation of a life built on God’s purpose is God’s promise. Look again at V. 20. “By the blood of the eternal covenant.” By the blood of Christ. Christ’s obedient offering of himself in our place established an eternal covenant between humanity and God. His blood established that covenant. Every time we receive the sacrament of communion, we say the words, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).

And Christ’s work isn’t just what he did on the cross. God “brought him up again from the dead.” But the words “brought again,” which actually reads “brought up again” in the original Greek it was written in, mirrors the language used to describe God bringing Israel up out of Egypt and into the Promised Land through Moses and Joshua.

God didn’t just raise Christ to life and put him back on the earth. He walked the earth again for forty days and then was raised further by God as he ascended into God’s presence, where he is now seated at God’s right hand, and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. Why is that important? Because we cannot forget that just as God had a final destination in store for Christ, at his right hand, so God has a final destination in store for us as we are ushered by Christ into his presence in eternity. In a new heaven and a new earth. With justice completed and God’s peace present in its fullness.

And Christ has full authority and power to go about his work of reconciling humanity to God, calling out to those who are ignoring him, and joining us together as his family. He has full power and authority to use his people as instruments of his grace, seeking his justice. He is not just our savior. He is also our Lord. And he has a purpose for your life.

The third brick in the foundation is the provision of God. The care of God. Look one more time at V. 20. “The great shepherd of the sheep.” Shepherds know their sheep, and they care for their sheep. Not just emotionally. They TAKE CARE OF their sheep. They provide food and water and shelter. They fend off predators and thieves. I ancient days they lived in the fields with their flocks during the grazing season. They were with them.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, but he is also right here with you and I. With his people. Caring for us. Providing for us what we need, when we need it. Comforting us. Bandaging our wounds. Leading us to shelter and provision. Quenching our hunger and our thirst. Protecting us and guiding us. He isn’t far away. He’s right here with you. And he will never leave you.

God’s peace, God’s promise, and God’s provision. That’s the foundation. Now, look at V. 21. You are equipped. What does that mean? At its core, it means that God has already given you and I what we need to be his people in the world. But the word translated as “equipped” here means more than that. It means to perfect, to make good, or to mend. Matthew used it in his gospel when the disciples were mending their fishing nets. Paul used it in his letter to the church in Galatia to describe restoring a brother or sister who has gone astray and come back. In classical Greek, it was used to describe setting a bone.

In Christ, God goes to work in our broken places, those places of our lives messed up by sin or broken by the sin of others, those places that aren’t quite right, and he heals. He mends. He restores. He makes the broken good again. God doesn’t shy away from our brokenness. He doesn’t refuse to use us because our lives are too messed up. He uses us as he heals us, sometimes all at the same time.

As we grow in Christ, as we mature in our faith, as he transforms our hearts, he heals and makes us whole again. We will never be perfect so long as we live in this imperfect world, but God makes us perfectly suited to do the work he has for us. Sometimes spontaneously. Often through the work of counselors and mentors and friends and sponsors who challenge and sharpen us.

You are equipped … with everything good. What does that mean? Remember, Hebrews is a sermon written to encourage a small, struggling congregation facing increasing persecution. So what have we already seen in this sermon that are the “everything good” God has equipped us with in Christ?

First, we are cleansed from our sin. Hebrews 9:14 says, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, PURIFY our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

Second, God gives us hearts ready to obey him. Hebrews 10:16 quotes Jeremiah 31:33, saying, “his is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds …”

Third, we have continual access to God for strength. Hebrews 4:14, 16 say, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession … Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

And fourth, we have the promise of final entry into God’s unshakable kingdom. Hebrews 12:28 says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken …”

In Christ, you are equipped with everything you need: forgiveness and cleansing from sin, a new heart ready to obey him, continual access to God for strength, and the promise of eternal life.

You are equipped AND EMPOWERED to do God’s will. Look again at V. 21. In Christ, you’re forgiven and cleansed, your heart is being transformed, you can ask God for strength at any time, and you have the promise of eternal life. What more do you need?

And so, empowered by the Holy Spirit, but not without our cooperation, we begin to live lives that are pleasing to God, full of his purpose for us. It’s the kind of  life that brings glory to God. Now, look at Vv. 22-25. “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, bear with my word of exhortation.” In other words, PAY ATTENTION to this. KNOW this. ABSORB this. BUILD YOUR LIFE ON this reality that God has brought about in Christ. This is what grace is.

CNN told the story of Harmon Parker, a master mason who has found a unique calling in building bridges – literal bridges –  in Kenya.

One of the men who helps him is David Kakuko, whose parents drowned in a flash flood years ago because there wasn’t a safe way to cross the river. “Before the bridge, there [were] so many people, so many who lost their lives,” remembers Kakuko. “I know, because I have no parents. I have no parents, because this river took them.”

Motivated by his desire to love and obey Christ, Harmon Parker went to Kenya and started building 45 foot bridges. They are simply designed, with an average length of 120 feet and an average cost of $6,000. He uses basic, local materials and always engages the people from the community to work and to help contribute.

He said, “I have built many bridges in very remote areas for the ‘few and the needy’ that a larger organization may not consider. Knowing this bridge will probably save at least one life is what makes me tick …. I build bridges because I want to save lives, lives that I will never know about.”

Parker founded an organization called Bridging the Gap to help fund his work. He has paid a high price himself in experiencing long periods away from his family, being robbed at gunpoint, and contracting serious illnesses. Yet he says, “I feel I’m blessed … privileged to do what I’m doing. A bridge is a beautiful metaphor for many things. There are bridges of hope, bridges of peace, bridges of life. To me, bridges are beautiful.”[iii]

He isn’t a William Wilberforce. He isn’t a great statesman slowly shifting the perspective of an entire culture. He’s building bridges. Not even great bridges. He’s building simple ones, over and over again. Most of the humans in this world will never encounter one of them. Will never set foot on one. But they are lifesavers to those who will. That is God’s purpose for HIS life, so he’s doing it. What is God’s purpose for yours? Let’s pray.

[i] Carol Porter in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.

[ii] Daniel W. Van Ness, “Saving a Sinking Society,” Discipleship Journal (Mar/Apr 1988)

[iii] Danielle Berger, “Transforming Kenya one bridge at a time,” CNN.com (8-21-10)