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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Living by Faith, or Drawing Back? |
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Hebrews
10:39 Thirteenth
Sunday after Trinity September
6, 2009 The Christian life is not a destination, it is a journey. It is not the finish line, it is the starting gate. We are all familiar with horse racing, and we know that the horses come onto the track and trot and canter about for several minutes before going to the starting gate. This is called the “warm up.” They are in the gate for a very few seconds when the bell clangs and the doors open with a bang and the horses run for the finish line. We can compare this to the Christian life. The starting gate is the new birth. It is the awakening of our souls to faith in Christ. The race is the Christian life. In every kind of race there is a specific course to follow, and any aberration from the course disqualifies the horse. In a steeple chase the course may have many turns and be strewn with ditches and obstacles which the horse must jump. Flat racing takes place in an arena with a smooth, level, oval shaped track with broad, sweeping turns. In no case can a horse win the prize without completing the course. This too is similar to the Christian life, for, since it is a journey we must stay the course and complete the journey to win the prize, which is Heaven. Last Sunday I spoke about the need to be responsible for your own faith. Now, I believe in the Sovereignty of God and the perseverance of the saints. I also believe in personal responsibility. That means you can’t live another person’s life for him. You can’t give faith to him or make him believe in Christ or turn away from destructive behaviour. It also means you can’t do his praying for him, or his Bible reading, or his worshipping for him. You can’t live the Christian life for anyone else. Each person must do these things for himself. I know that is difficult to accept, because I, like you, would love to be able to do something to impart faith and obedience to people. I weep for people I know who should be much more mature in the faith, who will not make use of the means of grace, and are suffering the consequences of worldliness and misery. I mourn for people who are not in the faith at all. I often wish I could change them or do their believing for them. But I can’t. These are things they must do for themselves. I can pray. I can preach. I can encourage. But I can’t do it for them. Likewise, we cannot make another person “stay the course.” You will notice that as you make your journey towards what has been called the “Celestial City,” that not everyone who starts the journey continues on to the destination. The journey is too demanding for some, and they depart the faith to look for an easier way. Hebrews 10:39 calls this drawing back, and it means to turn away in fear and to turn around and go the other way. John Bunyan gives a sad but accurate picture of this in Pilgrim’s Progress. “Pliable,” hearing of the trials and dangers of the journey to the Celestial City says, “The hearing of this is enough to ravish one’s heart.” So true. The cost of following Christ is often very great. He always calls us to choose against ourselves in order to choose for Him. Like John the Baptist our motto must ever be “He must increase and I must decrease.” Like Paul our motto must ever be, “for me to live is Christ.” “Pliable” looked at this and his heart was afraid, but “Christian” told him of the joys and peace they would enjoy in the City, so “Pliable” started with “Christian” on the journey of faith, until he met the first obstacle, the “Slough of Despond.” Falling into the mud and being nearly suffocated by the fears, doubts, and worldly concerns which it represents, “Pliable” angrily cried,
“Is this the happiness you have told me all this while of?
If we have such ill speed at our first setting out, what may we
expect betwixt this and our journey’s end?
May I get out again with my life you shall possess the brave
country alone …. And with
that he gave a desperate struggle or two and got out of the mire on that
side of the slough which was next to his own house: so away he went, and
Christian saw him no more.” While this image tells the story of many people, it is but a literary image, so let me share the story of a real person. His name was Demas, and he is best known because of Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 4:10, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world ....” Demas had been a fellow evangelist and traveler with Paul. He is mentioned in Colossians 4:14 with Luke sending greetings to the Church in Colossae, so he had been on the journey of faith. But Demas drew back, and, like “Pliable,” we never see him again. From your notes of the Bible history study of last winter, you know 2 Timothy and Hebrews are the final letters of Paul, written just before he died in the winter of 69-70 A.D. Paul wrote from the misery and suffering of the Mamertine prison, knowing he faced certain death in the near future. Yet he obviously mourned for Demas. I can’t help thinking he must have thought about Demas when shortly after completing the letter to Timothy, he wrote to the Hebrews, “we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” To draw back unto perdition is to stop walking, even to turn around and go away from the goal. It is to leave the faith and return to the world, like Demas. I say with fear and trembling that it is possible to draw back, yet still appear to be on the journey. It is possible to keep the outward forms of the faith, and some semblance of belief, yet be double-minded, disobedient and rebellious in your heart. It is possible to do this and yet convince yourself that all is well with your soul. Therefore, let me conclude with this; only you can complete your own journey of faith. No one else can make you begin the journey, stay on course, or go on to the Heavenly Destination. Only you can do that for yourself. My exhortation to us all, is this; stay the course. Keep walking. Time is flying past with amazing speed. The days are short. The day of reckoning is coming. Be not among those who draw back to perdition. Be among those who believe to the saving of the soul. Let us close with the Collect for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, on page 207 of our Prayer Book. “Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Christ our Lord. Amen.”
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