A Sustainable Faith in the One Who Sustains us

A sermon based on Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Don Friesen
October 4, 2009
Ottawa Mennonite Church

www.ottawamennonite.ca

Every evening, as I watch the late-night newscast the news anchor announces that "we're on the road to Vancouver!" It's a recurring announcement of the 2010 Winter Olympics, of course, and each evening we are treated to a story featuring one of the promising Canadian athletes that will be excelling in his or her respective sport in February. Our athletes will compete with other athletes from eighty or more countries, a spectacle of great interest to many people. It's exciting! Who can forget the astounding feats of Michael Phelps at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Phelps has broken thirty-seven world records in swimming, one of those for holding the most gold medals at a single Olympics. And then there's our own Cindy Klassen, Canada's all-time most decorated Olympian, and who will appear on our 25-cent coin in January!

The Olympics feature outstanding winners, and alongside them, of course, are many losers. Many lose with dignity, competing to the best of their ability, but occasionally there are some entries that confound us. Who can forget lovable loser Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, the inept ski-jumper, or the Jamaican bobsled team? Both were dubious entries in the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.

Sometimes the organizers of the Games are inept. Margaret Abbott (1878-1955) won the 1900 women's golf competition without realizing that she was in the Olympics. It wasn't her fault; the games, held in Paris, were so poorly organized that many competitors didn't realize that the games they entered were the Olympic Games!

The Olympics have had their share of gaffes, sometimes made by athletes, sometimes by commentators. Paul Hamm, an American artistic gymnast, who won the all-around competition at the 2004 Olympic Games, said, "I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father." On another occasion a boxing analyst admitted: "Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious."

Sometimes the athletes just aren't ready. Ali Kazemi, an Iranian boxer, missed his bus to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, so he took a taxi, but when he arrived at his venue the officials disqualified him because he had forgotten his boxing gloves! And then there was Fred Lorz (1880?-1914), an American long distance runner who is best known for cheating in the marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics. It turned out that Fred rode in a car for eleven of the marathon's twenty-six miles.

On the Road to Trifle!

The Scriptures acknowledge the Olympics, particularly the Apostle Paul, who more than once appeals to the example of the Olympic runner. Paul was intrigued with this athletic image and he uses it to liken the Christian life to a race. Paul may have actually attended the Games, and no doubt a bit competitive himself, he treats the image seriously, using it to encourage discipline and determination in our spiritual life.

Paul's competitive runner is not the only runner in the Scriptures. There's a more obscure runner in the Old Testament, who has more in common with Freddy Lorz, the car-riding marathoner, than he does with the Pauline runner. The obscure runner appears in the book of Genesis, in the story of Lot, sandwiched there between some rather indelicate episodes in the city of Sodom.

We find, by about Genesis, chapter 19, that Sodom's days are numbered. To Israel, Sodom was synonymous with depravity. The broad range of biblical texts that use Sodom as a negative example, however, suggest its sinfulness was not only of a sexual nature. The prophet Ezekiel, for example, wrote: "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49) The prophet Isaiah considered Sodom's depravity to be the barbarity of its administration of justice. (Isaiah 1:10-17; 3:8-12) The prophet Jeremiah uses Sodom as an example of adultery, lying, aiding and abetting evil, and unwillingness to repent. (Jeremiah 23:14)

Israelite tradition knew Sodom as a proverbially wicked city, at the heart of its wickedness its abuse of those who were sexually and economically vulnerable, and because of this God decided to test Sodom's inhospitable spirit. (Genesis 18:21) God sent some messengers to check things out, and they confirmed that Sodom was rotten to the core. (19:13) They urged Lot and his family to leave the city. (19:14) And this is where Lot becomes the biblical runner that no one remembers, the less-than-Olympian runner. (treatment inspired by B.Ross, "Setting up Shop in Zoar," Faith Today, May/June, 1989)

Lot went to warn his family about Sodom's impending doom, but they refused to take him seriously. (Genesis 19:14) And when dawn came – and Lot still hadn't left – God's messengers tried to make Lot hurry. "Quick!" they said. "Take your wife and your two daughters and get out...." (19:15, TEV) Genesis tells us that Lot hesitated, (19:16, TEV) or, "lingered," as another translation (RSV) puts it. Lot was dragging his feet! (The Message) There's a tone of exasperation in the story. God's messengers can't seem to hurry Lot along, and Lot can't seem to convince his family of any urgency.

Eventually God's messengers took Lot by the hand, led him and his family out of the city, and told them, "Run for your lives! Don't look back and don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills...." (Genesis 19:17, TEV) To which Lot replied: "No, please don't make us do that, sir. You have done me a great favour and saved my life. But the hills are too far away...." (19:18, TEV) Lot wasn't up to any long-distance running. Glancing around, he saw a little town just a short distance away, and he began to bargain with God's messengers: "Do you see that little town? It is near enough. Let me go over there...." (Genesis 19:20, TEV)

Lot was acting a lot more like Freddy Lorz than a Pauline runner ready for the Olympics! Even when under great pressure to run, he was still negotiating. Paul would have been half-way to the finish line by now! Lot preferred a less taxing run – a sprint. The small town that Lot spied a reasonable running distance away was the town of Zoar, the name itself meaning "small," "little," or "trifling". In other words, Lot wants to make for "Trifling". He'll settle for a trifle.

It's an unusual story. One of God's remarkable rescues is underway, but God's messengers have a terrible time trying to get Lot to agree to be rescued! Time is of the essence, and Lot quibbles about his destination; he has his eyes on Trifle, because he doesn't want to run more than necessary. Even steroids wouldn't have done much for Lot. God is anxious to save Lot from destruction, and Lot wants to be saved, but not at the cost of his in-convenience! Lot was instructed to run with all of the discipline and determination encouraged by Paul, but it's a less-than-determined athlete leaving Sodom – it's a hesitant, lingering, lazy, ambivalent and short-sighted runner. On the road to Vancouver? Why? Saskatoon is so much closer! Or how about Perth? (less than an hour from Ottawa)

On the Road to the Finish Line

Lot, the ambivalent runner, has been lost in the obscurity of Old Testament lore, and it's just as well, for there's nothing inspiring about his example. The Pauline runner is a much more motivational example. For example, when Paul uses the image of a runner in his letter to the Christians in Corinth, he says, "Surely you know that in a race all the runners take part in it, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize. Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline; he does so in order to be crowned with a wreath...That is why I run straight for the finish line; I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; ...I pommel my body and subdue it, lest ...I ...be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, TEV/RSV)

In the ancient world the Isthmian Games were second only to the Olympic Games, and the Isthmian Games were held in Corinth, so it's not surprising that Paul used this image in his letter to the Christians there. The Corinthians loved the thrill of watching well-trained athletes competing vigorously for the top honours. They knew what was required for an athlete to qualify for the games. These were not part-time athletes, who walked or jogged in their spare-time. They concentrated everything on their athletic pursuit in order to gain the competitive edge.

Paul also uses the runner image when writing to the Philippian congregation. After making reference to his own impeccable religious credentials, Paul writes, "I do not claim that I already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.... ...the one thing I do...is to forget what is behind me and to do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above." (Philippians 3:12- 14, TEV) That's the Olympic spirit! Now we're on the road to Vancouver!

Paul was convinced that living a faithful Christian life was as challenging as any top-notch athletic pursuit. The Christian life requires just as much preparation, training, and whole-hearted dedication as is required of top athletes. Paul is encouraging believers to be as disciplined, determined, and goal-oriented as any first-class runner! Go for the gold!

Is our Faith Sustainable?

The contrast between these two biblical runners is cause to reflect on our spiritual lives. Some of us begin our journey of faith with enthusiasm. We have an experience at camp, or in church, or out walking – they can happen anywhere – but at that point we acknowledge God, and invite Jesus to be our life companion. And then somewhere along the way – it could be a year later, five years, ten years, twenty years – the going gets tough, or life proves disappointing, or church is a drag, and we fizzle and fade out. Perhaps we were still living on the memory of our initial experience, and we haven't really advanced much. We're like the little boy who fell out of bed during the night, and when his mother heard the thud and asked him what happened, he said, "I don't know, Mom. I guess I stayed too close to where I got in."

Perhaps, like Lot, we prefer a discipleship that isn't too strenuous. Perhaps, like Lot, when faced with a choice between a marathon and a sprint, we prefer the latter, especially if no car is available! We opt for that casual spot easily within reach. We head for Trifle because we already know a lot of people there, and together we can craft a discipleship moulded to our mediocre expectations.

It's interesting that we demand excellence in our apparel, our gadgetry, our cars, our computers, our cameras and such, but in our faith journey we're content to linger quite close to where we got in, to where we started our journey. It reminds me of the person who asked my brother, after a lecture on the philosophy of education, to suggest some additional resources. "Sure," said my brother, "do you want something light or heavy?" To which the fellow replied, "Oh, I don't care; I've got the car with me!" True story!

God beckons us to a journey rich in purpose and spiritual depth, and lest we become what Shakespeare called "a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." (Winter's Tale, Act 4, Scene 3), we need to put some effort into our spiritual growth, asking ourselves: Is my faith sustainable? Does my faith sustain me for more than a week? Is my faith of the quality and depth that it will last fifty years rather than just five?

Our culture is rife with invitations to start new things. Start a new diet. Start a new exercise program. Start the latest nutrition program. Start French classes. Start music lessons. I have no trouble starting all of these things; sustaining them is quite another matter. It's relatively easy to start the journey of faith, it's quite another to keep on keeping on when the going gets tough. Many people start the Christian journey, but there's a dreadful attrition rate. Many people are interested in religious experience but there is very little appetite for the challenging aspects of obedience, discipleship, and holiness.

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

A sustainable faith requires some fibre in our spiritual diet. It requires some toughness of spirit. I think of another Olympics contender, someone quite un-like Freddy Lorz, the runner who had trouble grasping the marathon concept. I think of Wilma Rudolph, a track star who won three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics. Wilma had to overcome enormous hurdles to accomplish that feat. She was born prematurely, weighing only four-and-a-half pounds. She caught "infantile paralysis," caused by the polio virus, when still a young child, and it twisted her left leg. She had to wear a brace. Before the age of twelve she also suffered through scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox and measles. She lost the use of her left leg because of the scarlet fever, which she got at the age of four, and she had to learn to walk again when she was seven. She underwent many treatments to straighten her twisted leg. She persevered, and at the age of twenty Wilma won three gold medals in track and field at the Olympic Games in Rome, despite running on a sprained ankle. That's an amazing and sustained Olympic spirit!

None other than Friedrich Nietzsche bequeathed us a phrase that captures the Olympic spirit for Christians. He called it a "long obedience in the same direction". In his book, Beyond Good and Evil (1907) Nietzsche talks about how every system of morals is a tyranny against "nature" and "reason," and he says that the "essential thing ...is ...that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living ... virtue, art, music, dancing, reason, spirituality – anything whatever that is transfiguring, refined, ...or divine." (Beyond Good and Evil, page 140)

A long obedience in the same direction. It sounds a lot like perseverance – well-directed perseverance – a sustained, focussed perseverance. The Greek word for perseverance (hupomone) means, literally, steadfastness. It means hanging in there no matter what! It means taking the long view, keeping our eyes on the finish line. It means being faithful, and being so until the very end.

I think of the early Anabaptists, who knew full well what it meant to be faithful. Their faithfulness carried an enormous cost. Our tradition has been entrusted with a spirituality of the tortured. Our confessions of faith come from places that look more like Guantanamo Bay than a university or a seminary. Our songs come from places of darkness and loneliness, from dungeons where people sang to sustain their souls until the next beating. Our first hymnal was called the Ausbund, the core of it consisting of songs composed by imprisoned Anabaptists and called "songs of the cross". Our current hymnal still has a few of these songs; we're still singing prison songs! (Isaac Villegas, "Spirituality from Prison: a sermon on Mennonite spirituality," July 21, 2008) The finish line, for many of the Anabaptist martyrs, was closer than we'd prefer, but the spiritual distance they travelled was amazing! This is tough discipleship, a tough faithfulness, a faithfulness that can persevere through very difficult times when there is little to sustain it.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn had to endure the horrors and privations of the Russian Gulag. He thought he would die there. All he and the other prisoners did every day was shovel, and one day, at the brink of despair, Solzhenitsyn laid down his shovel and sat down on a little make-shift bench with his head between his knees. He had seen others beaten severely for such an infraction. He felt someone approaching him, and he braced himself for the first blow. It was another prisoner, however, an elderly man who reached down and picked up a twig, and used it to make the sign of the cross in the dirt beside Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn understood and he got up and started shovelling again. In certain circumstances, a small gesture is enough to sustain us.

A Sustainable Faith in the One Who Sustains us

A sustainable faith is possible because of the One Who sustains us, which brings me, finally, to our reading from the book of Hebrews. I never got very far in unpacking this passage, because my mind, and spirit, were arrested by the phrase, "he sustains all things by his powerful word". (Hebrews 1:3) The text is speaking about Jesus, saying that Jesus "reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word. ...he (is) in heaven at the right side of God, the Supreme Power." (1:3, TEV) Another translation expands it by saying that he is "upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe...." (1:3, AMP)

The book of Hebrews develops the idea of Jesus as our High Priest. In the Old Testament the High Priest was the person who represented the people as they approached God in time of need. It's a lofty Christology that emerges in the book, but, says Hebrews, "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, ...we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are," and so we can "approach the throne of grace with boldness, (to) receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:15-16)

The Hebrews congregation was in need. The book of Hebrews was written to a church that was suffering. (Hebrews 10:32-34) There is reference to "hard struggles" and "sufferings" (10:32), and to "being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution". (10:33) The Hebrews church felt discouraged, and here too the runner image crops up; the author encourages the beleaguered believers to "run with perseverance the race that is set before us...." (12:1) He reminds them that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen...." (11:1)

The book of Hebrews has a high view of Jesus, as one who sustains the universe and everything in it, but such is the nature of God, and Jesus, says Hebrews, "reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being". (Hebrews 1:3, TEV) It's a view of God with deep Old Testament roots. God, says Deuteronomy, "sustained (Israel) in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; (God) shielded (Israel), cared for (Israel), guarded (Israel) as the apple of His eye." (Deuteronomy 32:10) "Forty years," says Nehemiah, you sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell." (Nehemiah 9:21) "The Lord sustains me," says the psalmist. (Psalm 3:5) "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you," he adds. (Psalm 55:22) Isaiah acknowledged, "The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word." (Isaiah 50:4) "When you pass through the waters," he adds, "(God) will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you...." (Isaiah 43:2)

A sustainable faith is possible because of the One Who sustains us – God, our Redeemer and Sustainer. So when our walk of faith begins to feel like a marathon, and we're tempted to sit down on the curb, and take a long break, let's keep on keeping on! God may not take away the load we are carrying, but God will give us strength for the journey. God will sustain us.

One of the hymns in the Ausbund was written by George Blaurock, who was later tortured and burned as a heretic, but he wrote in this hymn:

"God ... through his faithfulness
Will never forsake us.

Lord, ...
We know your faithfulness and love
Along ... our pilgrim's way."