1. What a strange phrase in our Bibles: PROVOKE ONE ANOTHER TO LOVE AND GOOD WORKS.
2. When we hear the word “provoke” we don’t often think of good intentions or good outcomes.
3. We might think of the guy who cuts us off on the interstate, and he doesn’t even use his blinker when he does it . He provokes.
4. Or that person at work who always comes in and has a bad attitude and she knows exactly which button to push. In an instant we go from being in a good mood to being in a horrible one just because of a word or a look or an action that provokes.
5. We might think of what it was like when we were kids and we’d all be bunched up in the back seat, elbow to elbow. A cousin would start the game….”I’m not touching you” (y'all remember that one I hope?). Suddenly and without much thought we'd sock him right in the arm and mama would turn around and get onto YOU. I remember my response well: “I didn’t do it….he did it…” He provoked me.
6. Nowadays, we have professional provokers who use things like Facebook and Twitter and try to start fights. They might post or say something outrageous for the sole purpose of starting fights. They throw the fuel on the fire and then step back and watch the dumpster fire burn. The writer of Hebrews would call them provokers but today we call them trolls. Either way, they call forth something that's usually unwanted.
7. "Provoke" literally means the ability to call something out of somebody. To stimulate a strong emotion or reaction in someone that usually is unwanted.
8. Usually when we are provoked we don’t think of LOVE or GOOD DEEDS. We feel angered or the need to get even or prove ourselves, or just to get away and escape.
9. The writer of Hebrews does something cool this morning: He knows about the kind of provoking that we’ve felt in life. He knows the power that we have over each other. He knows how well, unfortunately, each of us have fine tuned this power to "provoke" throughout our lives.
10. And he asks us this morning to consider how we might use this power not for evil but for good. Consider, he says, how you might provoke (call out) the good in your neighbor, your friend, your husband or wife. Think about what you can say or do that might bring out the best in the person God’s placed on your path today.
11. In the words of a Christian who lived long ago, think about how God might use you to be an instrument of peace, of love, and of forgiveness.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.
12. There are two things this morning worth noting in our passage that I think are important if we want to be those who sow peace and not division, hope and not despair, light and not darkness. Two things to note if we want to fine tune our ability to call out the best in people. Both of these keys are found in our passage.
13. First, all of our actions and our words must become more and more shaped by our faith in Jesus. For the writer of Hebrews, the Christian life is a daily decision to place all of our faith in Jesus.
14. He writes, "Let us hold without wavering to the hope we profess..." (verse 23)
15. "Wavering" means going back and forth, from one side to the other, without ever making up one's mind on which side trust ultimately belongs.
16. We've all wavered before. Think of that time you wanted to purchase a new car and you couldn't make up your mind between the red one or the blue one. For days or weeks you might have wavered back and forth between the red one and the blue one until you finally made up your mind.
17. Jesus, though, does not give us the opportunity to waver. He demands full and complete trust in him.
18. "No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." (Matthew 6:24)
19. Every morning, we have to wake up and decide to follow Jesus. Everyday we must decide: will my heart be focused on the light or the darkness? The Christian faith calls on each of us to make this decision. If we are believers we can't just drift along through life wavering between one master and another.
20. Jesus must be Lord.
21. Why is making Jesus Lord important in our discussion about being those who call out the best in people? Because that's what Jesus did everyday of his life. He went out into the world and found those who never thought of themselves as anything more than a sinner, and he picked them up and showed them they were a child of God. He found the broken and showed them that there was a God who could make them whole. He went out and found fear and called out faith; found despair and called out hope.
22. We all become like the God we worship (Thomas Merton). If we are holding fast to our faith in Jesus without wavering we can't help but become more and more like our Jesus everyday.
23. The second thing to notice in our reading is the connection between being those who call out the best in people and the gathering of the church.
24. "Let us consider how we might provoke one another toward love and good deeds, not giving up the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but rather let us encourage one another as we see the day approaching."
25. Brothers and sisters, the church should be the one place in the world where the best in people is called out and encouraged.
26. This is why we work so hard to create an atmosphere of love and welcome, of forgiveness and mercy, of real authentic caring in our meetings. People will never know how much God loves them until they first know how much we love them. Our worship gatherings are the place where all of these principles we have learned from Jesus are put into action.
27. And we must do this more and more as we see the day approaching (the day of Jesus' return). In a world that is growing divided, more negative, more critical and judgmental, there has never been more of a need for the church to be the body of Christ in our community. To be a place of sanctuary and healing and encouragement.
28. Lord, may our church become an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, we pray we can sow love. Where there is injury, may we bring news of pardon. Where there is doubt, Lord may our church call forth faith. Where there is despair, may we create hope. Where there is darkness, may this congregation shine light. Where there is sadness, may the joy of Christ be seen in each of us. We ask for all these things in Jesus' name.
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Special thanks to Dave Clark and his sermon "Provoke One Another"
