The Journey of Life
Heb. 12:1-3
INTRO.- ILL.- Two preachers were having lunch at a farm during a certain anniversary celebration. The farmer’s wife had fried several chickens and told her family they could have what was left after everyone had gone home. But it was not to be. Those hungry preachers ate every piece of fried chicken.
Later, when the farmer was conducting his guests around the farm, an old rooster starting crowing loudly. One guest said, "He seems to be mighty proud of himself." "No wonder," growled the farmer, "HE’S GOT TWO SONS IN THE MINISTRY."
Brothers and sisters, you can start out one place in life and end up somewhere entirely different. You could start out as a chicken and end up in the ministry! Huh! Is that what I just said?
How many of you were born and raised in the Mattoon/Charleston area? And/or surrounding area?
How many of you were born elsewhere but came back here because of family ties?
How many of you came here to this area because work or marriage brought you here?
Life is a journey. We start out in one place and sometimes end up in a completely different place or area of the country.
ILL.- My older brother, twin sister and I were all born in Joplin, MO. My brother Larry now lives in Lenexa, KS, and manages a large grocery store called the "Price Chopper." We both started out in the grocery business and both worked for Safeway stores at one time. He’s lived in Neosho, MO, Springfield, MO, and the Kansas City area. He’s been in the grocery business all his life, ever since he was 15 years old. He is now 60 years old.
My twin sister Sharon married Mike Hughlett who graduated with us at Webb City High School, which is right next to Joplin. Mike is a computer engineer in the field of jet propulsion. His work has led them to many different cities: St. Louis, MO, Wichita, KS, Media, PA, Dearborn, MI, and Arlington, TX. And Mike’s work has also taken him to Seattle, WA, and Newport News, VA, while my sister stayed in Texas. My sister Sharon is now an Administrative Research Assistant for a doctor of education at the University of Texas at Arlington.
We never know where life will take us, do we? Life is indeed a journey. Our own Larry Combs has served with the Peace Corps many years ago which has taken him to such places as West Africa, a short time in Europe and in Washington D.C. And, of course, many of you may have lived in different places across the country and perhaps even around the world. Especially, if you served in the armed service.
Life is not only a physical journey, but also a spiritual journey. Some people don’t have a very good start spiritually speaking and don’t go too far either. It often depends on whether or not the right people come into their lives and influence them in a positive way.
ILL.- My neighbor whom I have talked about before did not have a good spiritual start in life. Remember? He told me that he got turned off to Christ and Christianity at the age of 8 when he heard a woman preach for three hours. That’s funny in one way, but very sad in another way.
ILL.- My mother dated a man for several years after my father died. His name was Ralph Lee. Ralph had worked most of his life. He was mainly interested in making money. He often worked seven days a week.
He had two daughters who died of cancer before he passed away several years ago at the age of 91. He was worth about a million dollars, but his spiritual worth was not much. HE WAS NOT INTERESTED IN SPIRITUAL THINGS. The only time he went to church was for a wedding or a funeral.
He told me that when he was just a youngster he got turned off to Christianity when some preacher told him not to visit his grandpa because his grandpa smoked and he was a bad influence on him. Ralph loved his grandpa and decided then he would never go back to church.
Sometimes we who preach don’t always say or do what is right. I apologize to you if I have turned you off to Christ in any way, shape or form! That has never been my intention!
Brothers and sisters, some of us get a halfway decent start by hearing about Jesus in Sunday School, VBS and church and end up doing fairly well. Staying with it and perhaps even progressing.
Do you recall the progression of your spiritual journey? It may have started out something like this:
ILL.- The preacher asked the little boy if he liked the church service. The little boy replied, "The music was ok, but the commercial was way too long!"
Maybe that’s how you felt at the beginning of your spiritual journey in church. You weren’t too thrilled at first, but eventually, it grew on you. And even improved on you!
Not many people start out their spiritual journey extremely excited, but hopefully in time their thinking starts to change. Christ and the church begin to grow on them and they begin to get more excited about the things of God.
Eventually, some people begin to devote more and more time to their spiritual journey.
ILL.- Someone said, "The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it."
Many people wait too long before they begin to walk with the Lord in their spiritual journey.
ILL.- Many years ago, I baptized a couple of men who were in their 80’s and one of them freely admitted that he had wasted most of his life. He only lived about six months after I baptized him into Christ. WHAT A SHAME! What a shame that he had wasted so much of his life following the world instead of following the Lord!
PROP.- From our text in Hebrews 12 I would like for us to consider what will help or hinder our spiritual journey.
1- The witnesses who encompass us
2- The weights that encumber us
3- The weariness that encounters us
4- The winner who encourages us
I. THE WITNESSES WHO ENCOMPASS US
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..." V. 1
ILL.- A longtime sinner opened the newspaper one day and was shocked to read in the obituary column that he had died. He immediately phoned his best friend.
He said, "Did you see the paper? It says that I’m dead." His friend replied, "Yes, I read that, and I know where you’re calling from."
Brothers and sisters, the dead do live on! We are spirit. We are eternal beings. I know, however, that many people are convinced that when people die and leave this world that they are in heaven watching us. But I don’t believe this is true.
Eccl. 9:5-6 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward... never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun."
What happens under the sun is here on earth. And those who have left this earth have no part in this life anymore. THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS LIFE. They do not know what we are doing!
If they did know what was going in this life and in our lives, how could they possibly be happy in heaven? They couldn’t.
Enoch, Noah, Abraham and the other people of faith who are listed, for example, in Hebrews chapter 11 are witnesses who encompass us. They are witnesses "to" us, but not witnesses "of" us.
THEY ARE WITNESSES "TO" US ABOUT GODLY LIVING. Of obedience and faithfulness to God. They are godly examples to us to encourage us to do better in life. If these people made it, then we can too!
ILL.- If Noah could preach 120 years and only had seven converts, then what about us? Shucks, we’ve done better than that! And old Noah even made it into the Bible!
If old Enoch, Noah and Abraham did what they did with what they had, think of what we can do with what we have?!
If the saints who have gone before us did what they did without telephones, cell phones, cars, pagers, TV’s, comfortable church buildings with AC, videos, transparencies, PA systems, church buses, church vans, contemporary Christian music, computers, email, and without TV evangelists, without John Hagee, without Charles Stanley, Max Lucado, and others, THEN JUST THINK OF WHAT WE CAN DO WITH ALL OF THESE THINGS AND ALL OF THESE PEOPLE HELPING US!
Can we do better? We could, if we wanted to! The witnesses who encompass us are a great encouragement to us. They were faithful to God under difficult circumstances. THEY MADE IT AND WE CAN TOO!
II. THE WEIGHTS THAT ENCUMBER US
V. 1 "Let us throw off everything that hinders..." Let us throw off the weights that encumber us.
ILL.- Two men were riding on a tandem bike going up a steep hill. They were panting and perspiring for all they were worth as they neared the top of the hill.
The first man said, "That was a tough climb." The second man said, "It certainly was. And if I hadn’t kept the brake on, we would have slid down that hill backwards."
There are times when we need to throw off certain things that hinder our forward motion. It could be a person or persons. It could be a bad habit. It could be a bad job. It could be lots of things.
ILL.- Many years ago (60’s) when I worked for Safeway in Joplin, MO, the produce manager, Tom Billings, and I became good friends. Both his father and older brother were Christian ministers. Tom was a Christian too, but I was not a Christian at that time. Still, we were good friends and talked a lot.
Tom liked shooting pool and soon I found myself shooting pool with him at the local pool hall after we got off work. And shooting pool was not a bad thing. Except that occasionally, we would bet against one another. Nothing big, just a dollar or two.
I liked drinking beer at that time and would often drive over to Galena, KS, and drink at Nina’s Green Parrot. One time I invited Tom to go with me. Before long, Tom was going to Kansas to drink occasionally. One night Tom went by himself, drank too much beer, got into a fight and got knocked clear across a pool table.
The next day when he came to work, he was all bruised up and sore. I asked him what happened and he told me. AND DO YOU KNOW ELSE HE SHOULD HAVE DONE? He should have said to me, "Steve, I’m not running around with you anymore."
Brothers and sisters, I was a weight that he should have thrown aside. I was a negative weight to my friend. I was bringing him down, instead of lifting him up.
Are you sluggish in living the Christian life? Has your zip for Christ been zapped? Are you not growing in your faith? Are you encumbered by some things that get in the way of your relationship to Christ? Things that keep you from church, Sunday School, Bible study, prayer time, and Christian service?
Well, perhaps you need to throw off some things that are weighing you down or dragging you down.
ILL.- Someone put it this way: "The Lord wants our precious time, not our spare time."
Matthew 6:33 Jesus said "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...."
III. THE WEARINESS THAT ENCOUNTERS US
V. 3 "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
Have you ever grown weary of this life or in this life? Who hasn’t? Life is hard on us.
ILL.- An elderly gentleman wasn’t feeling well, and became irritated with his doctor because he wasn’t getting any better after five visits.
"Look!" said the doctor, "I’m doing all I can to help you. I can’t make you any younger."
The old gentleman replied, "I wasn’t particularly interested in getting young. I JUST WANT TO CONTINUE GROWING OLDER."
All kinds of things happen to us in life that cause weariness of the heart and soul or weariness the mind and body. Our cars break down and so do our bodies. We have health problems and heart problems.
ILL.- In 1846 former president John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke. Although he returned to Congress the following year, his health was clearly failing. Daniel Webster described his last meeting with Adams: "Someone, a friend of his, came in and made particular inquiry of his health. Adams answered, ’I inhabit a weak, frail, decayed tenement; battered by the winds and broken in upon by the storms, and from all I can learn, the landlord does not intend to repair it.’"
I’m sure that’s how some people feel. "I’m falling apart and nobody can do anything about it." Health problems are a real part of the weariness of life. And so are heart problems.
ILL.- Many years ago while ministering in a small church in central Iowa, a lady knocked on my door.
I had never seen the lady before in my life. And why she knocked on my door, I don’t know. I guess she wanted to talk to a Christian minister.
But she was clearly shook up. In fact, I could see tears in her eyes. Her tears flowed even more freely as she told me about her three children. The oldest child, a teenage daughter, was giving her all kinds of trouble: running with the wrong crowd, smoking, and I don’t remember what else.
I talked to her about Christ and the church and invited her to our services. She came and eventually got her children and husband to come as well, but they continued to have trouble with all three of their children.
Their second child, a boy, was constantly getting into trouble at school and with the law. When he was only about 19 years old he got married and everyone figured that would help to settle him down, but it didn’t. He was just a rebellious young man.
Their third child, another daughter, ended up getting pregnant by some traveling carnival worker who had come through town.
Brothers and sisters, that poor husband and wife were plagued with children problems. They were very heavy of heart. They were very weary.
The journey of life makes us all weary at times. It’s because of people problems, personal problems, financial problems, health problems, etc.
I Pet. 5:9 "Resist him (the devil), standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."
One of the things that makes our burdens somewhat bearable is the fact that we are not alone in this world. We humans are all in the same boat!
We all suffer. We all hurt. We all experience weariness in some form or another. BUT WE ARE HERE FOR ONE ANOTHER! We should be here for one another!
Gal. 6:2 "Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."
We may not be able to solve everyone’s problems, but we should be sympathetic, supportive, and try to give strength to one another during times of weariness.
WE MUST BE THERE FOR ONE ANOTHER!
IV. THE WINNER WHO ENCOURAGES US
V. 2-3 "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. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
Consider Him. I love those words. I wish more people would consider Jesus! I think if they would truly consider Him, give Him a good, strong try, then they would hang on to Him!
It’s always nice when someone who has "been there and done that" is there to give you encouragement, hope and help.
ILL.- In the 1970’s I was an aspiring Olympic weightlifter. I went to the 1972 Olympic weightlifting trials in Detroit, MI, that summer. While there I attended a workshop by a former world and Olympic champion named Tommy Kono. He was/is a Japanese American and now 71 years old.
At the age of 11 years in 1941, Tommy stood 4’8-1/2" tall, and had a 29" chest, a 26" waist, and a body weight of 74-1/2 pounds.
In 1952, the Olympics were held in Helsinki, Finland and the weightlifting events took place on July 25-27. Despite an attack of food poisoning the night before, on July 26, 1952 Kono won a gold medal and set a world record in the snatch.
In 1954 at the age of 24, Kono set nine US records and four world records. In 1957 he took first place in the US Senior Nationals. That November he also took first place in the World Championships in Tehran (the only US lifter to do so) plus won Mr. Universe contest.
Tommy Kono went through a lot in his life to become a winner! And he was not just a winner. He was also a winner who constantly encouraged others! He was a constant source of help to others!
This is the way we need to be in the Christian life. If we’ve been there and done that, whatever that is, then we should encourage others!
Brethren, there is a greater winner beyond all winners. Beyond all athletes, beyond all Nobel Prize winners, and beyond winners of every kind! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith! Consider Him!
Do we realize everything that Jesus went through in His life, His ministry and His death on the cross? What pain He endured? What opposition He incurred? What burdens He bore?
Jesus is the real winner, the greatest winner there ever was! Calvary was not defeat. CALVARY WAS CONQUEST! Calvary was victory! Calvary was the triumph of light over darkness, salvation over sin, the Savior over Satan!
He is the one who can save us and motivate us and encourage us to make it in the journey of life! Because He won, we shall too! Because He endured, we can too! But only with His strength and Spirit.
II Cor. 12:9 The Lord said to Paul in regard to his thorn in the flesh: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
And how did Paul respond? He said, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."
It was only in weakness that Paul gained power and strength!
It was only when he recognized his weakness and Christ’s power that he gained strength from Christ.
The only way up is down! Down in humility. Down in admission. Down in recognition of the only person who really has it all together!
Christ is the winner who encourages us! HE IS ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE THINGS RIGHT WHEN THINGS GO WRONG!
He alone knows our sorrows, our burdens, our thorns, our pains, our heartaches, our weariness. And He longs to support us, to help us, to strengthen us, and encourage us! He is the winner who can encourage us better than anyone! We need to look to Him, His Word, His Spirit, His church, His people for help, hope and encouragement! This is one of the main reasons for our 50 day spiritual journey. We need Christ and His Word!
CONCLUSION---------------------------------------
ILL.- When Lloyd Douglas, author of The Robe, attended college, he lived in a boardinghouse. A retired, wheelchair-bound music professor resided on the first floor.
Each morning Douglas would stick his head in the door of the teacher’s apartment and ask the same question, "Well, what’s the good news?"
The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say, "That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now.
"The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C."
Brothers and sisters, we all need a middle C. Relationships change. Health changes. The weather changes, but Jesus never changes! HE IS OUR MIDDLE C!
Our journey in life is forever changing, but there is always one constant that we can rely on. Jesus!
