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1. Introduction
Birthdays and the secret to longevity
Birthdays are a time to celebrate and look back with thanks for the gift of another year, to reflect on all the good we have experienced in the previous 12 months and to particularly express our gratitude to family and friends who have enriched our lives. They are also of course times to take stock for the future as we inevitably grow older. At the end of July there was a brief film segment on the ABC in Canberra which featured five nonagenarians who are approaching their 100th birthdays. As expected there was speculation by the interviewer about the reasons for their longevity. Various predictable answers were given by the folk interviewed to the effect that a healthy lifestyle was needed, while a gerontologist wisely added that much actually depended on the genes a person inherited.
God, but if we are to persevere until the coming of Christ it will require that we all continue to exercise committed faith. This is the reason I have chosen to do two reflections based on Hebrews 11:39-12:3 39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect. 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. Today we will look back to the witnesses who were commended for their faith, while tomorrow we will look up to Jesus as we continue our race of faith.
This year we have been celebrating not the centenary but the sesquicentenary of the creation of this Diocese. We have been giving thanks for 150 years of ministry, mission and service in a large area of New South Wales that was excised from the Diocese of Sydney in 1863. It is a time to reflect with gratitude on our forebears in the faith upon whose shoulders we stand today. But as we take stock for the next stage of our life journey as the people of God it would be good for us to reflect on any reasons for our longevity. It is good to ask, for example, whether there is something in our corporate Christian DNA which should better enable us to push on to the next milestone. Of course, ultimately longevity is really a gift of
In the space of ten years the congregations in Rome for whom the Book of Hebrews was written had been tempted to give up on following Christ because the cost was too great. In the early 50s of the first century they had courageously experienced abuse, imprisonment and the loss of their property under the Emperor Claudius, but this was followed by a period of relative peace and stability for the Christian community. Now a decade later the world had gone mad under Nero, their world was falling apart and they faced execution because they belonged to Christ. So this book or letter or rather brief sermon (the authors own self-description!) was written to fearful men and women to encourage them to
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persevere with committed faith and costly discipleship no matter what might happen in the future. Although our situation is far more benign we still need to heed these timeless words. We too need endurance if we are to receive what is promised when Christ returns to vindicate us (10:36-37). We too can live by faith to please the Lord or shrink back and be lost (10:39). This is the context for the remarkable chapter on faith in which approved witnesses are paraded as models of faithfulness to God in difficult and uncertain circumstances. The faith which is celebrated is marked by firm reliability and steadfastness. It is unwavering trust in God and his promises. Lets listen to how our preacher describes faith and look at but one of his illustrative examples before drawing a conclusion and asking a question.
blessings. Moreover it is the means by which we look beyond what we can see and touch to that invisible and substantial reality which is ultimately more real than this world. These then are the two areas in which faith works, namely the future as opposed to the present and the invisible as opposed to the visible. This forward looking faith enables us to advance courageously into an unknown future supported only by the word of God. In the second place, two strong words are used of its nature, namely assurance and conviction which imply a definite action based on good evidence. Some examples of so called faith are not like this. I remember once being in a long line of traffic when I was overtaken by another vehicle utilising the overtaking lane on the other side of the road. It was absolutely impossible to see a long way ahead to see if it was safe to do so. Faith was being exercised in the power of the car, the other drivers in the line of traffic and drivers on the other side of the road remaining in their left lane. It was blind faith, a leap into the unknown and not biblical faith. Although directed to the unseen it could not be marked by either assurance or conviction because there was no reliable evidence. Our faith however can have both these qualities because it is grounded in what God has done and said. Verse 3 illustrates this. The universe was made by God out of nothing. God spoke and matter came into being in a beautiful and purposeful form. How do we know this? We know it by faith in the word of God. This is a clear reference to the opening chapter of the Bible. Faith is simply taking God at his word. Its certainty and assurance derive from his self-revelation. In other words, faith is a response to what God has said and done. It is human response to divine initiative. It is the means
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by which we can see the things which happen in our lives now from the perspective of God. It enables us to see beyond the present and the visible. It enables us to see beyond the boundaries of time and space. It enables us to discern what God has done, what God is doing and what he will do. It is the means by which we can embrace the future because it is guaranteed by the promise of God who cannot lie. It is this confident faith which takes God and his word seriously which wins his approval (verse 2). Without such faith it is impossible to please him (verse 6).
But let me return for a few moments to aspects of the example Abraham which are mentioned in this text to illustrate the fact that faith is directed to the future and secures hope 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 9By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he looked forward to
the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. While still grieving at family loss and at the age of 75, Abraham left familiar and comfortable surroundings in a civilised city in response to the call of God to go as a nomad to an unknown place. He responded immediately to the command and promises of God. He risked everything to find his reward in what he ultimately did not live to see and what was intangible, namely a friendship with the living God. He demonstrated an openness to a future which was guaranteed only by the promises of God. His entire pilgrimage was therefore both the response and an expression of committed faith. He was furthermore sustained by a future vision of the city of God. The striking conclusion to this unit of thought is found in verses 13-16 when our author looks back on the experience of the patriarchs 13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them. God is absolutely committed to those who respond to him in faith and he will never let them down. We need to take a leaf out of Abrahams book. We too need to be convinced God is faithful and reliable. We need to be convinced he can do the impossible. We too need to base our lives on the promises of God and keep living in the present as citizens of heaven.
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4. Conclusion
The relevance of the honour roll
years, seven months, and sixteen days. Reader, go thou and do likewise.
Tombstone in Tennessee
The DNA needed for Christian longevity is the committed faith demonstrated by all those listed in Gods hall of fame. To this honour roll we must also add all those who have since died in the faith of Christ, including folk from this Diocese over the past 150 years. They are now part of that great cloud of unseen witnesses that surround us and urge us to persevere in our race (12:1). So be please be encouraged as you press on in your Christian life. There are dozens, hundreds, even thousands of those who have gone before and who have finished the race by faith and surround us like a great cloud of witnesses who say: "It can be done! By faith it can be done." Moreover they are not just spectators, they are examples who also inspire us to emulate them in courageous endurance now.
What do you want on your headstone or plaque?
So bearing in mind that lawn grave and crematorium plaques are very small with limited space (too bad if you have a lot of names, degrees, qualifications or honorifics because they simply wont fit) I wonder whether you and I will be content with just two words which point away from self and to the One who is the source and sustainer of all we do. Will we be content with just two words - by faith?
Let me conclude with a question. What words do you want on your headstone when you die? As a history buff I like to potter around old churches and read the epitaphs inscribed on tombstones. It is moving to reflect on life lived in earlier times. Occasionally there are mistakes. These quotes I clipped from a magazine Erected to the memory of John Phillips. Accidently shot As a mark of affection By his brother
Tombstone in Northern Ireland
She lived a life of virtue, and died of cholera morbus, caused by eating green fruit, in the full hope of a blessed immortality, at the early age of twenty-one