"Places to Remember"

“Places to Remember”

Robert M. Thompson, Pastor

Corinth Reformed Church
150 Sixteenth Avenue NW
Hickory, North Carolina 28601

828.328.6196   corinthtoday.org

 (© 2011 by Robert M. Thompson.  Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures quoted are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright 2011 by New York International Bible Society.)

If the main course of your life is Christ, you’ll find that the dessert is worth waiting for.

Today we come to the final chapter in the New Testament letter titled “Hebrews.”  Nobody knows who wrote this letter; only that the early church accepted it as Scripture.  We do know its primary purpose was to urge Jewish Christians not to walk away from their faith in Jesus.  The letter is full of both encouragement and warning.

We’ll spend two weeks on the final chapter, saving the writer’s marvelous blessing for next week.  Before he gets there, he offers a series of staccato reminders.  They seem unrelated to each other.  They read like a Mom talking to her son before sending him off to camp:  “Be nice.  Take a shower.  Change your clothes.  Wear bug spray.  Eat your vegetables.  Have fun.”

I’m wondering what some of the best one-liners are that you’ve ever heard.  Maybe they came from your parents, perhaps from a political leader or candidate, maybe from a teacher.  Here are a few shared by my men’s Bible study group this week –

• What you see is what you get.
• It is what it is.
• Haste makes waste.
• All you can do is what you can do.
• You’ll have that sometimes.  (This is a variation on “stuff happens.”)
• You are what you were.  (This is about compassion for how others’ backgrounds have shaped them.)

The writer of Hebrews ends his letter with a series of these memorable mottos – keep loving, extend hospitality, honor marriage, remember your leaders, Jesus never changes, and so on.  I was trying to figure a way to group these mottos and make them memorable.  That is, after all, what this sermon is about.  I came up with some places to remember.

Remember Philadelphia

Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.  Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering (vv. 1-3).

The reason I associate this paragraph with Philadelphia is verse 1.  You probably know that Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love.  You may or may not know that the word philadelphia is itself a Greek word that means “brotherly love.”  Verse 1 of Hebrews 13 reads in Greek, η φιλαδελφια μενετω. In Greek it’s just three words, including the definite article:  “The – brotherly love – let it continue.”

I find it interesting that the writer uses this word for love.  The more common New Testament word for love is agape – John 3:16, for example, or 1 Corinthians 13 or 1 John 4.  Agape has little or nothing to do with feelings.  The consistent appeal in the New Testament is to act in love whether you feel it or not.

But here the writer wants you to remember philadelphia.  This word means you do have something in common, you do enjoy each other, you have a bond – like brothers, like family.  So he’s not saying, “choose to love,” but “keep nurturing the family love you have.”

We spent the last two days in Columbia, South Carolina, with our grown kids, celebrating our middle child Cara’s Master of Arts in Counseling.  We ate, took pictures, ate, went to the ceremony, ate, went to the zoo, and ate some more.  Linda and I left last night to come home, of course, but our three children and Philip’s wife, Mary Catherine, stayed and had a “slumber party” at Phil & MC’s hotel.

Few joys in life rival watching your grown children enjoy each other.  Living in three different cities, our kids have a “sibling chat” once a week on the Internet.  They support each other, encourage each other, share their struggles and joys.  In order to be at Cara’s graduation, Phil and MC had to leave Tampa, FL after work on Friday and drive until 2 AM to be in Columbia at 8 AM for commencement.

The writer of Hebrews is applying that “brotherly love” to the church.  He’s saying the same thing about the church that I would say as a father or as a pastor:  “Let brotherly love continue.”

Do you remember what it was like when you first came to Corinth?  You were eager to connect, you offered to serve wherever you were needed, you were enthusiastic and you told others about this wonderful church you had found.  Now you’re looking at the backside of the embroidered rose, and you’ve let you affection die down.

Recapture that first love, he says.  And he gives two concrete examples – generosity and empathy.  Don’t get hung up on the “hospitality to strangers” (v. 2) or argue about whether the prisoners he wants you to visit (v. 3) are there because they deserve it.  What he’s doing is showing you two sides of brotherly love – you have an attitude that says, “What’s mine is yours” (generosity) and “When you suffer, I suffer” (empathy).

Remember Philadelphia.

Remember Paradise

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral (v. 4).

Thirty-three years ago as of July 1, Linda and I were married in Paradise, Pennsylvania.  That’s why I call this next reminder, “Remember Paradise.”

Marriage is in trouble in our culture because we’ve come to understand marriage in the context of our more foundational commitment to personal freedom and the pursuit of happiness.  Marriage has become a form of narcissism, in the sense that we look for someone who can add to our happiness.  I suppose people have always married, or wanted to marry, for “love.”  And most people who get married believe they are doing so because they love their partner.  In reality, they get married because they love themselves. 

The evidence:  when they no longer feel loved, one or both will end the marriage.  Those who stay together do so because they really do learn what it means to love the other more than self.

But this verse talks about more than just honoring marriage.  It talks about keeping the “marriage bed” pure.  The Greek word is the one from which we get “coitus,” so he’s talking about God’s gift of sex.  He warns that God judges adultery and immorality.

This might be a good place to inject C. S. Lewis’ comment that there are worse sins than sexual immorality.  “If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong.”  I’ll tell you at the end of the sermon what Lewis said are the “worse sins,” but he is quite right that some Christians treat sexual sin as “the biggie” as if to say if you get that right, you’re good to go.  You’re not. 

Having said that, however, I hasten to add that the biblical record is quite clear and consistent that God designed the gift of sex for marriage between a man and a woman.  It’s a beautiful gift, and we abuse it to our peril.  We have distorted this gift in far too many ways to address here, but let me suggest one.

I’d love to see the church recapture modesty.  I’m a bit pessimistic about the culture recovering modesty, but can’t we do so in the church?  When men give themselves permission to treat women as objects of desire, even if in the privacy of their thoughts or on their computer screens, we don’t honor the gift of marriage.  We need to learn the discipline of maintaining eye contact and choosing to put our minds on a different track.  Men, if you need some help, check out books and resources like Point Man, by Steve Farrar.  There are also numerous web sites to help men stay accountable for their addictions.  Google “Pure Life Ministries” or “Every Man’s Battle.”

Similarly, when women dress in ways designed to attract attention for the wrong reasons, they don’t honor the gift of marriage.  A local author, Rachel Lee Carter, has just published a book titled Fashioned by Faith for young girls.  Shaunti Feldman’s For Women Only also has a chapter on modesty.  Purefashion.com (http://affiliate.purefashion.com/modesty) offers guidelines modesty.

Men need to remember that women who attempt to attract men’s attention in inappropriate ways are expressing their own brokenness and are not ready for healthy relationships.  Similarly, women need to remember that men who respond inappropriately and for the wrong reason are not mature enough to form lasting relationships.  Run the other way.

Remember Paradise and honor marriage.

Remember Hickory

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith (vv. 6-7).

We live in a small Bible belt town.  It’s enough for most of us, most of the time, but occasionally we’re reminded that there are more exciting things happening in Charlotte or Atlanta or New York.  Life moves faster there, and offers more options for entertainment and business. “Remember Hickory” is a metaphor for contentment.  Love where you are.

Contentment is an elusive virtue, isn’t it?  Someone has said, “It is better to want what you have than to have what you want.”  Wanting is never satisfied.

When the writer of Hebrews tells us to keep our lives free from the love of money and be content with what we have, he’s saying that contentment is something you can choose.  As we said last week, you can’t choose your obstacles and temptations in life.  You can’t say, “I’ll take the minor traffic accident, but no thanks to the cheating spouse,” or, “I can handle backaches but no migraines, please.”  You run the race marked out for you.

You can’t choose your feelings either.  Emotions are a response to what’s happening, and they need to be identified and expressed. It’s healthy to do so.

But you can choose contentment.  You can choose to say, “I have enough.  I will live within my means, stay with my marriage, love my church, and honor God right where I am.”

You do have some help in this journey of contentment, according to verses 6-7.  You’re not alone, because God has said, “I will never leave you.”  He will help you, and part of his help comes in the form of spiritual leaders and mentors.

Tomorrow afternoon we’re going to say farewell to one of Corinth’s saints who modeled faith, devotion to Christ, and humility.  Sometimes these older members fade out of our consciousness, but they were once visible, active servants and leaders.  Nancy Cline Shuford was one who spent hours every day reading her Bible and devotional literature, praying for family members and her church.  Her walk with the Lord gave her strength and wisdom through very difficult seasons of life.

People like Nancy, right here in our own backyard, show us what faith looks like in a flawed human being.  We need to remember them and imitate their way of life as they imitate Christ.  Remember Hickory.

Remember Jerusalem

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods....Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood…. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come (8-14).

Finally, remember Jerusalem.  The last section of today’s text is for the most part a little cryptic.  The writer of Hebrews mentions “strange teachings” in verse 9.  It’s hard to decipher exactly what “strange teachings” he is addressing as you read the next few verses.  If they were strange in the first century, they’re even more strange now.  Apparently he’s addressing some kind of distortion of the Jewish sacrificial system, the sacrifice of Jesus, or both.

What we do know is that this writer wanted his readers to remember that Jesus suffered as an exile and was disgraced – all for our sins.  He voluntarily endured this for us not only to save us but to remind us that what we have here is a temporary city.  Philadelphia, Paradise, Hickory – they will all fade away.  But there is a city to come, the new Jerusalem, that will be a place of eternal rest and joy.  It’s worth the wait.

So the crowning one-liner of this entire passage, if not the whole book, is verse 8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”    It’s rather remarkable, isn’t it, that we are still talking about him in much the same way they did 2000 years ago.  Think how the world has changed in those twenty centuries – technology, transportation, business, education, architecture, language. But Christ hasn’t changed. 

Linda and I were back in our old stomping grounds for Cara’s graduation – where we went to college and returned for seminary.  It was where we met and courted, and our kids wanted to see the places where our love bloomed.  But we both found in being on campus for all parts of the graduation and then listening to a CD on the way home of the legendary Bible teacher Buck Hatch that we remembered again how that institution shaped us.  Much has changed – buildings, programs, professors.  But what hasn’t changed is the motto, to know Christ and to make him known.  What hasn’t changed is grounding that faith in the Bible.

The one who suffered in Jerusalem for our salvation will take us to the New Jerusalem and make this journey worth it. Remember Jerusalem.

The biggie

That’s what this writer wants you to remember: Philadelphia, Paradise, Hickory, Jerusalem – brotherly love, marriage, contentment, and Jesus.

So what sins did C. S. Lewis believe are worse than unchastity?  What he called the “worst pleasures” are “purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred.”  In a word, pride. 

“A cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute,” Lewis wrote.  Then he added, “But, of course, it is better to be neither.”

I hope you’re striving for neitherness.  The writer of Hebrews wants you to remember a few things that are central to your life of faith, and they all add up to this:  it’s not about you.  If you spend your life seeking self-fulfillment, pursuing happiness, finding yourself, you will be disappointed at the end and frustrated on the journey.  If you humble yourself and make the main course of life about trusting Christ, staying faithful, learning, and serving, you’ll find the dessert is the happiness you long for.  Amen.