Following Jesus Is A We Thing, Not A Me Thing

Hebrews 3:7-19

Show horse race video

How you start the race isn’t nearly as important as how you finish it. Provided you start the race. Are you a starter, or a finisher? Some people are starters. They have all kinds of partially finished projects that they “never got around to finishing.” Or lots of new exercise equipment they bought and excitedly used for a month or two that are now collecting dust … unused.

Other people know how to finish things. They start strong, settle in for the long haul, and then finish well. They keep going when things get tough. They anticipate resistance, both from themselves (maybe I’ll just sleep in today instead of going to the gym) and from others (do you really need to eat SO healthy all the time?).

When it comes to our faith in Christ, the pastor who wrote the sermon that we call the New Testament book of Hebrews wants to make sure that we finish well, so he draws our attention to a group of people who didn’t. Turn with me to Hebrews 3:7-19.

Our first-century pastor quotes Psalm 95:7-11. It’s a Psalm of praise to God, expounding the greatness of God and the glory of God, and then it shifts to a warning. A warning about turning back from faith in Christ after we have experienced the goodness and seen the majesty of God.

The Psalm, and our pastor, refers back to the time when the Israelites were encamped just outside the promised land. God had let the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses with incredible displays of his power and provision, one after another after another.

God sent plague after plague on the Egyptians because Pharoah wouldn’t let the Israelites go – each plague designed to embarrass one of the false gods worshipped by the Egyptians. Even as he prepared to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God was revealing himself to the Egyptians, emphasizing his superiority over their entire system of worship. But Pharoah wouldn’t listen. Until the Passover, when the angel of death took the lives of every firstborn son in Egypt, passing over the houses of the Israelites whose doors were covered with the blood of the lamb they had sacrificed.

Egypt finally let Israelite leave. In fact, Exodus 12:36 tells us that not only did the Egyptians plead with the Israelites to leave, it says, “And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.” Israel plundered Egypt as they left, gaining wealth and provisions, without stealing anything! They Egyptians just handed over whatever they wanted when they asked.

And then God began to visibly lead his people, moving to the front in a pillar of cloud by day that changed into a pillar of fire at night. And the cloud and fire stayed with them the entire time, visible, tangible evidence that God was with them. When the pillar moved, they moved. When the pillar stopped, they stopped. Until they got to the Red Sea. God led them into a situation in which they appeared to be trapped so that they could see even more of his power and provision for them.

At the Red Sea, the pillar moved to the back, and stayed between the people and the Egyptian army while the wind blew back the waters of the sea and the people crossed over on dry ground, and then the seas returned to their normal place, decimating the pursuing Egyptians.

As the people continued on, God gave them his law through Moses on Mt. Sinai, made water come from a rock in the desert when they were thirsty, and miraculously provided manna and later quail each day for them to eat … just enough for each day. He was teaching them to trust him daily.

And then they came to the promised land. How long did it take them to get there? 40 years? Not the first time. Two years. Two years after they left Egypt, the Israelites were at the edge of the promised land. Moses sent in 10 spies to check things out. These were people who had in their possession things the Egyptians gave them as they left. They’d walked through the Red Sea on dry ground – not even muddy ground – dry ground, and seen the Egyptian army decimated even though they didn’t lift a hand. EVERY DAY they could SEE the pillar of cloud, every night they had God’s presence in the pillar of fire as comfort in the darkness. EVERY DAY they gathered manna in the wilderness, and they’d seen God provide enough water for all of them where there was no water.

You’d think they’d be mentally and emotionally and spiritually ready to do whatever God asked them to do next. Instead, when the ten spies came back, eight of them gave this report: “The land through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Num. 13:33). How much more from God did they need to see?

And the Bible says “Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron” (Num. 14:1-2). They actually voted to choose a new leader and go back to Egypt. Only Joshua and Caleb had confidence that God could and would lead them into the land safely.

38 years later, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive from that group of people. And Joshua and Caleb would lead their sons and daughters and grandchildren and great grandchildren into the Promised land. The people who cowered in fear on the cusp of seeing God’s promises to Abraham realized right in front of them missed out – their bodies falling one by one in the wilderness until every person over the age of 20 when Moses sent the spies into the land had died, except for Joshua and Caleb. They trusted God, and they saw God’s promises fulfilled.

The Israelites had started will. They followed God’s leading in leaving Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, gathering manna and quail. But they couldn’t finish the race. They couldn’t trust God through to the end.

And so our pastor quotes Psalm 95. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says …” Who is speaking to us in the pages of Scripture? The Holy Spirit. Our pastor isn’t concerned about the human writers. Oh, they’re important. And their own personalities come shining through as they write. Each of the gospel writers had a different style and a different perspective. Luke, a  physician, includes more healing stories than any of the other gospel writers. John wrote in sophisticated Greek. Mark? Not so much. Matthew includes a lot of Old Testament quotes, befitting a Jewish man through and through. Paul wrote like someone who knew the law of God backwards and forwards. Of course he did. He was a pharisee.

But it is the Holy Spirit speaking to us through their words. This is the word of God. So what is the Holy Spirit saying in Psalm 95. Look at V. 7.

“Today.” Trust him, follow him … today. Yesterday is done. The part of the race you ran yesterday, whether you stumbled and fell or felt like a million bucks, is over. It’s in the past. And tomorrow isn’t here yet. What you have is right now. All you have to do is trust him right now. Trust him tomorrow when tomorrow becomes today. He isn’t saying, “live for the moment.” He’s saying, “live IN the moment.” Wherever God has you, be fully there, listening to his voice, following his lead.

Jesus said it this way, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt. 6:34). Today. Trust him today. And in trust follow him, obey him … today. How much manna did they get each day? Enough for … today. Except for the day before sabbath. They got enough for two days then. Why the difference? So they could rest! God’s provision always aligns with his plan for you.

What’s the opposite of daily trust? A hardened heart that sees the obstacles but not God’s provision. Look at Vv. 8-9. Hardened hearts refuse to trust God today, and are fearful of tomorrow, in spite of God’s faithfulness in the past. If your heart is hard, today’s troubles, and tomorrow’s anticipated troubles, cloud your perspective and take your focus off of God and his faithfulness.

That doesn’t mean today’s troubles aren’t valid or concerning. Only that God knows what’s happening and has a plan for you in them. It’s been a rough week on the global stage, hasn’t it. We still have the war in Ukraine, which we’ve almost forgotten about, even though people are still dying every day. And of course Gaza. And now Iran too. When things like this happen, as Christians we’ve kind of been programmed to go right to the book of Revelation and we start asking, “Is this a sign of the end?”

First of all, of course it is! Every war since Christ ascended into heaven is a sign of the end. “The beginning of the birth pains,” (Matt. 24:8) is what Jesus calls them. But Jesus doesn’t want to return and find all of his people staring at the sky while people around them are suffering. Over and over again in the gospels, he tells us that he wants to find his people trusting him today, obeying him, doing what he has asked them to do. Instead of asking a question we already know the answer to – Is this a sign of the end – we need to be asking “Who is hurting because of this and how can I share the love of Jesus with them and help them?”

So how do we make sure our hearts aren’t hardened? How do we set ourselves up to finish well? The first things we need to do is honestly search our hearts. Look at V. 12. Honestly search your heart. Your. Own. Heart. But that takes healthy relationships, because the human heart is really good at fooling itself. Leading people into taking an honest look inside is one of the most challenging aspects of the counseling work I do. Most people come to counseling wanting to complain about everyone else. My problem is my boss. My problem is my spouse. My problem is my kids. My problem is my parents. And honestly, sometimes those other people are A PART of the problem, and we work on developing healthy boundaries.

But the only person you have a right to change, the only person you can change, is yourself. And helping people realize that is harder than you think. When someone comes into my office and says something like, “I’m very self-aware,” I take that as evidence that they are probably not at all self-aware.

Healthy community and people who will be honest with you is one of the most important ingredients to finishing well.

John Wesley is one of the most influential people in the church in both England and the United States. As he led people to Christ, he had them meet together in little communities to help hold each other accountable for their deepest values and most important decisions. Wesley had a beautiful phrase for this: he called it watching over one another in love.

Before someone entered into this kind of  community, they would be asked a series of questions to see if they were serious about living in mutual accountability. These are the questions they had to answer …

• Does any sin, inward or outward, have dominion over you?

• Do you desire to be told of your faults?

• Do you desire to be told of all your faults – and that plain and clear?

• Consider! Do you desire that we should tell you whatsoever we think, whatsoever we fear, whatsoever we hear concerning you?

• Do you desire that in doing this we should come as close as possible, that we should cut to the quick, and search your heart to the bottom?

• Is it your desire and design to be on this and all other occasions entirely open, so as to speak everything that is in your heart, without exception, without disguise, and without reserve?[i]

This wasn’t intended to allow people to beat one another up. It has to be done with a desire to be an encourager, and in a way that is perceived as being encouragement. That doesn’t mean the words have to be easy to hear. But they have to be offered gently and in love, and not where they aren’t sought.

If we’re going to finish well, we’re going to finish well together. Look at V. 13. We have to become encouragers, and we have to be able to receive encouragement. The root word of “encouragement” is courage. When I encourage someone, I seek to give them courage when I notice that their courage is failing.

So let’s say that Jamie and Janet are chatting, and they decide that they are going to work together to each get a new family involved in Christ Church in the next six months. And they share with one another who they’re thinking about so that they can pray together.

Now, when they see one another at church, they check up with each other to see how things are going. And Janet might say, “You know, it’s really intimidating to thing about inviting a new family to join us?”

Jamie: Yeah, I know what you mean.

Janet: How are you dealing with it?

Jamie: Oh, you know, I always pray before I chat with them. Right now I’m focused on just being a good friend to them. They just moved in a couple of doors down a few months ago. I’m just trying to be a blessing to them. Jess and I have baby sat for them a few times so that they can go out.

Janet: That’s a great idea. Just focusing on the relationship. I’m going to try just checking in on the family God has me praying for too. Will you check in with me next week to make sure I’ve done that?

We have to be encouragers. We are exhort and encourage one another “every day, as long as it is called ‘today’” (V. 13). There’s that word again. Today. What day is called today? Today is, right? Yesterday isn’t. And tomorrow isn’t. It will be, if and when it comes, but until then, today is today. Be an encourager today. That’s why we set aside four worship services a year to share God stories. So that we can encourage one another.

Because if we’re going to finish well, we’re going to have to realize that following Jesus isn’t a “me” thing, it’s a “we” thing. And finishing well is absolutely critical. Look at Vv. 10-11. And then down at Vv. 14-19. This is a conditional statement. And it isn’t the only one in Scripture.

Romans 8:9 says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

Romans 8: 17 says, “and if [we are] children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Colossians 1:22-23 says, “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard”

Those whose faith is real, whose trust in Jesus is real, will finish well. 600,000 Israelite men left Egypt, not including women and children. It was likely over 2 million people in total. Probably somewhere around 1.2 million adults – men and women. Of that 1.2 million who stood on the cusp of seeing God’s promises realized, only two entered the promised land. Just two. Caleb and Joshua. Are our hearts hardened, or are we searching our hearts, keeping them soft, trusting God? Are we willing to keep trusting, even when it gets hard and there is resistance? You’ve started. Are you going to finish well?

Where’s Susan? That’s the innocent question Joshua Rogers’s daughter asked as they were reading the bookThe Last Battle, the final book in The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis. Susan is the child queen who helped her siblings save Narnia from the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. However, she is conspicuously absent from an early scene in The Last Battle that includes every character who traveled to Narnia as a child. Rogers writes:

“Daddy, where is she?” my daughter asked again.

“We’ll see,” I said, with a tinge of sadness.

Although I’ve read The Chronicles of Narnia dozens of times since I was a boy, Susan’s tragic end gets me every time. The book eventually reveals that Susan grows up and outgrows her love for Narnia. We get few details about her until the end of the book, when High King Peter responds to an inquiry into his sister’s whereabouts.

“My sister Susan,” answered Peter shortly and gravely, “is no longer a friend of Narnia.”

“Yes,” said Eustace, “and whenever you’ve tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says, ‘What wonderful memories you have! Fancy your still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.’”

Susan thought she had become too grown up for thoughts of a great king like Aslan and a blessed land like Narnia and, though she had once experienced it, she left it behind.[ii]

Don’t fall by the wayside. Finish well. And make sure those around you finish well too. This is a “we” thing, not a “me” thing. Let’s pray.

[i] John Ortberg, Everybody’s Normal ‘Till You Get to Know Them (Zondervan, 2003)

[ii] Joshua Rogers, “The Overlooked Hope for Narnia’s Susan Pevensie,” Christianity Today (3-17-16)