Hebrews 12:1-11 page 1

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[NOTE: references to slides are to the PowerPoint presentation for this sermon.]

[SLIDE 1]

[SLIDE 2]

Perhaps you feel sometimes like giving up on the spiritual front. Some ministers feel like quitting the ministry: it's all too discouraging when nobody is interested in your faith - they aren't hostile, but they're only too happy to manage with out it. After all, if religion is a consumer choice and it's of no greater consequence than whether you buy a Mars bar, a Twix bar, or don't eat chocolate at all, then who cares. Nobody seems to listen to you in the church, either, you may think. The church keeps on declining, so why bother?

Others want to give up in a more radical way. They don't simply want to quit spiritual leadership, they are thinking about taking their leave of God, because their life circumstances are too hard for them to believe in a God of love. They may not feel like the Christian church cares about their predicament, either.

If you feel like giving up, the Letter to the Hebrews is for you. It is addressed to first century Christians who felt like throwing in the towel. They lived in a society where to be a Christian was to attract trouble. It seems like these believers, who were from a Jewish background, thought that the solution to their troubles would be simply to return to their original faith. Judaism was a religion that was officially recognised by the Roman Empire, so if they just defaulted back to that they could have a happier life.

There are many strategies the writer of this letter uses to convince the readers that it's wrong to give up on Christian faith, even when being a Christian is a disappointing, depressing, or even dangerous thing. In our reading he has something particular to say about seeing the tough times as a Christian as being like the discipline a top athlete endures. So I'm going to use a series of images from the world of sport: [SLIDE 3] to make four points. Basically, it's about where we gain inspiration and encouragement when we'd rather not endure the hard discipline of going through bad experiences to make us better Christians.

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Copyright © David D Faulkner, 2006 except where other sources are attributed or noted as inspiration.