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"Determined"
The human capacity for endurance and unrelenting determination
is an awesome and inspiring thing. Consider for example the
story of Todd Huston:
An organization advertised for climbers interested in setting
new records for climbing the highest point in each of the 50
United States within a 100-day period. A young man named Todd
Huston saw the article and decided to go for it. Seeking the
advice of expert climbers, he trained hard. The expedition
was scheduled to begin in April 1994.
Everything was on track up until the last two months. The
sponsoring organization called Todd, telling him funding
for the expedition had fallen through. The project was
canceled. Todd was devastated. His hopes and dreams — all
of his effort and dedication—were wasted! He wrestled with
the bad news. He had worked so hard, yet, the heart and
determination he put into the project still existed. He
made up his mind, "I will not quit."
In the days that followed, Todd went to work organizing
funding for a new expedition. He told himself and his
supporters, "God willing, I'll find a way to make this
expedition happen." His hard work and determination paid
off. With the logistics of each climb in place, Todd
called the project "Summit America." On June 1, 1994,
Todd's first climb began on Mt. McKinley in Alaska. One
by one the highest point in each state was conquered.
All went well until the 47th climb. Two days before Todd's
arrival, two climbers were killed on Mt. Hood, Oregon. Everyone
advised Todd the climb was too dangerous. Filled with apprehension,
Todd contacted an old high school friend and expert mountaineer,
Fred Zalokar. Fred reassured Todd, saying, "You've come too
far to quit now. Together, we'll get up Mt. Hood safely." After
careful planning, Todd and Fred stood on the summit of Mt.
Hood. On August 7, 1994, just 66 days after he started, Todd
climbed the last peak in Hawaii. His expedition shattered the
old climbing record by 35 days. Todd had triumphed over many
obstacles, fulfilling his dream project — "Summit America."
There is one thing you should know about Todd, one detail that
made him a very unlikely mountain climber. Thirteen years before
"Summit America," Todd Huston had his right leg amputated
after a boating accident. The human capacity for endurance and
unrelenting determination is an awesome and inspiring thing.
Our gospel lesson for today is a hard reading. Jesus speaks
dark and troubling words about fire and distress and division.
They are words that if there had been a committee voting on
what to include in the Bible and I was on it I certainly would
have said, “Let’s leave this one out.” To suggest that the end
result of Christianity is fire and judgment and division all
the way down the most intimate level of family seems, well,
it seems rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.
And yet the fact remains – Jesus did say it. Today God seeks
to take hold of you and transform your heart and mind for
the 10,000th time or the first time to see life, real life,
the eternal life you were created to have as the focus, the
goal, the destination of everything that is happening and
work in you – not just the human capacity for endurance
and determination – but a supernatural perseverance that
cannot be overcome.
It will help you to know that Jesus’ words in the Gospel
are part of larger context that began back in chapter 9 verse 51
with these words: As the time approached for him to be
taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
It is the turning point in Luke’s account of Jesus life.
From 9:51 on Jesus is on his way to the cross.
The closing words of our reading from Hebrews summarize
it all nicely: (Hebrews 12:2) "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God."
You see endurance and determination begins with God. Now
you either buy into this story or you don’t but this is
what the Bible claims: that God created the world; that
human beings are the pinnacle of His creation and His
greatest and most precious treasure; that God has been
at work through the rise and fall of every empire,
through the often times messy interactions of human beings
with each other, through every detail of reality to make
it possible for you to spend eternity with Him.
That means that all of time and history has been guided
by God to deliver His one and only Son, Jesus, who is
true God with the Father, into the world to secure your
future. God fixed his eyes on us, on you and me, and
never took his gaze off of us, even though it meant
turning away from Jesus as He went willingly to the
cross. That is the baptism Jesus says he must undergo,
the torture, the mocking, the humiliation of the cross.
And you can here God’s determination in Jesus’ voice
when he says, “I am distressed until it completed!” From
the cross Jesus utters those very words, “It is finished.
It is complete.”
The human race’s future is now secure in Jesus. Nothing
can undo what He has done. He lived out His entire life
as one of us, trusting perfectly, obeying the heavenly
Father flawlessly and then taking effects and power of sin –
our inability to trust God perfectly, our failure, even
our refusal to try and obey the heavenly Father – He
absorbs it into Himself and receives the end result of
sin, namely death.
Jesus died and in so doing finished the work of God’s
plan for our eternity by rising again from the dead. Jesus
resurrection, physical, bodily, return to life marks the
end of death’s reign and power over the human race.
Folks, that endurance, that perseverance for you and for
me exceeds all human capacity and is more than just awesome
and inspiring it is life changing. Like I said, though, you
either buy into the story or you don’t.
And that’s what Jesus is finally saying in our Gospel. When
he says, “I have come to bring fire on the earth,” he’s
talking about the final judgment. That at the end of time
he promises that he will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead. Anything that has sin on it will be
burned up and destroyed and only that which is perfect
and holy will remain. Now take a look around folks, do
you see anything in that is perfect and holy?
Yes, in fact there is one thing and one thing only, namely
Jesus. And anything that is connected to him will not perish
in the fire of judgment but will have everlasting life. You
are connected to him by faith, which is simply believing
that what I am telling you about Jesus is true.
When Jesus says, “How I wish it were already kindled!” He
is expressing the very real desire to get to the end and
get on to the good stuff, the heavenly stuff, where sin
is no more and we dwell without interruption in a perfect
state of joy and contentment. In Jesus God experiences the
human frustration of having to wait!
Jesus didn’t come to bring peace on earth. He came to bring
the peace that passes all human understanding, peace between
us and God, peace with each other that only comes when all
sin has been removed from the human equation.
In the meantime the reality exists that we are not in heaven
yet. And sin and its effects are continually shredding us,
tearing us apart from God and from each other. The division
Jesus speaks of shouldn’t be any big surprise. We see it and
experience over and over. But it goes beyond the everyday
troubles of human relationships of fathers and sons, mothers
and daughters and in-laws.
Listen again to the writer of Hebrews: “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.”
Back up a few verses and look at what it says about Moses. “He
chose to be mistreated …rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as
of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because He was
looking ahead to his reward…he persevered because he saw him
(that is Jesus) who is invisible.”
Folks if you buy into the story of God’s plan of salvation in
Jesus you cannot stay the same. You can’t hold on to Jesus with
one hand and the sinful ways of this world with the other. You
can’t believe that the riches and treasures of God in heaven is
your inheritance on one hand and focus your daily existence on
a greedy accumulation of wealth. You can’t believe that the
riches and treasures of heaven are yours on the one hand and
then live to indulge your mind and body in whatever the world
says will give you a momentary thrill. You can’t believe that
the riches of God in heaven is your inheritance and disobey and
disrespect your parents, your teacher, or your boss.
And here’s the thing, if you actually start living seriously
focused on the greater reward of heaven and you start to pull
away from the things this world holds most precious you will
also start to feel the division Jesus describes in our text.
Some people will pull away from you, maybe even become critical
of you.
And when they do the writer of Hebrews concludes with these words,
“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so
that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
The human capacity for endurance and unrelenting determination is an
awesome and inspiring thing. God’s endurance and unrelenting determination
in Jesus exceeds it all and it is yours again today as a gift. Where
do you want to start? What’s the first mountain of change that faith
inspires you to climb?
Consider the facts. If the story of God’s salvation through Jesus is
true, then you stand forgiven for all your past and eternity with God
is your guaranteed future. So is the glory of eternal life sufficient
motivation for you today?
Amen.
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