Faithfulness in Times Like These

Well, hey, we're still in or uh in week two in our sermon series, like we said, times like these.

And we're looking at faithfulness in times like these.

And as I was kind of preparing for this message, uh, there was this word that kept coming to mind, right?

And it was this word weary.

Weary.

I don't know about you, but oftentimes I find myself feeling weary.

And I want to submit to you that weariness is the enemy to faithfulness.

Weariness is the enemy to faithfulness.

How many of you would say that in the cultural moment that you find yourself in, you find yourself weary?

Right?

As you read headlines, as you navigate relationships that are becoming more and more challenging and hostile, as you try to engage in a culture that seems antagonistic against you, as things keep evolving forward in the cultural moment we find ourselves in, it might be natural that what we would feel is a sense of weariness.

Like I said, weariness is the enemy to faithfulness because when we grow weary, we become exhausted in strength and unable to endure.

Get that this morning.

When we grow weary, we become exhausted in strength and unable to endure.

You see, ultimately, weariness tempts us to become unfaithful.

Think about this in the context of marriage, right?

When there's unfaithfulness in marriage, I would say that oftentimes it's because of weariness.

Weariness that you're never gonna actually obtain the true happiness that you thought this marriage was going to bring to you.

Weariness and that you don't really believe that your needs are gonna be met in this other person.

Weariness that you made the right choice, and what have I done?

And the rest of my life is just to this one single person.

Weariness that your spouse is ever actually going to change in the ways that you believe they need to.

When we grow weary, I would say that we're tempted to be unfaithful.

What about in our jobs, right?

Some of us experience career choices that really don't fulfill us in the ways that we thought that they would, right?

That paycheck isn't enough to satisfy the longing in our hearts.

Maybe we don't believe that what we're doing in this life, what we're what we're spending almost a third of our adult life doing, think about that for a moment, isn't making any real difference.

Because you're you're just plucking away at a keyboard and a cubicle, filling in blank spaces.

Maybe you think that the money's not worth the hustle, and that you're just exhausted, and so we grow weary, and in that weariness we become unfaithful even in our employment.

What about in our faith?

What about growing weary in our faith?

I've been there.

Man, this week I was weary.

I was probably more weary than I've been in a long time.

I felt really disillusioned about who I am and what I'm doing.

I felt full of doubts about the reality of all of this.

Right?

Seriously wondering if if this being a Christian was worth the fight.

I've often wondered if this thing called faith is really just a house of cards, and at some point in time it's just gonna crumble down and be brought to ruin.

If I'm honest with you, I've even thought that this life exists from just some cosmic chance, and actually to be hedonistic is the only true and meaningful endeavor.

I've wrestled with those things.

I've had my doubts, and at times it's caused me to grow weary.

And every time I've grown weary, I've been tempted to be unfaithful.

You see, we're prone to grow weary in this life.

And because of that reality, the author of Hebrews says that we are in desperate need of something, right?

He he talks about this in chapter 10 and verse 36.

He says, For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.

Why do we need endurance?

Why is he posting this up as some virtue that is absent in our life, but we need to strive to have it within us?

It is because we are tempted to be unfaithful because we are prone to growing weary.

And so what we need within us is this virtue of endurance.

We said last week this kind of functional definition of endurance is this that endurance is the patient ascent along the strenuous path of the shared sufferings of Jesus.

Endurance is the patient ascent along the strenuous path of the shared sufferings of Jesus.

You see, the author of Hebrews knew that he was writing to weary Christians.

And we see this all throughout the letter.

He works to encourage them, right?

To plead with them, to discipline them, to compel them.

He throws out any possible tactic that he can to try and encourage them in their faith because he knows he's writing to a people who are weary.

He knows that those of whom he is writing to are so weary that the thought of taking one more step in the race of faith seems impossible.

It seems unbearable, it seems like it's not worth it any longer.

Look what he says in chapter 10, verse 35.

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

Can you sense even the tenor in his voice when he's pleading with them?

I know where you're at.

You're on the edge of just forfeiting everything, of being unfaithful to the one who has called you into this living hope, and you're ready to throw it all away because you're weary.

But he works relentlessly to encourage these people.

Hebrews 12 equips us in the fight against weariness so that we might remain faithful even as we find ourselves in times like these.

So we're gonna work through the whole chapter of Hebrews 12, and we're gonna highlight big chunks of it at a time so we can get the big picture of what they're trying to, what the author's trying to communicate to weary Christians.

So, first off, in verses 1 through 2 of Hebrews chapter 12, we would say this this call to run with endurance.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Run with endurance.

The author of Hebrews compares our life to that of a race.

The life of faith is one that is compared to a race.

Throughout the New Testament, right, we see that this life of faith that we live is compared to several different things, but here the author wants to highlight it as comparable to that of a race.

And we have a starting line, which is new birth, right?

When we experience new birth in the spirit, by grace through faith, we begin this race that we are part of.

And the finish line is glory.

Whether glory comes through uh physical death or the return of Jesus to consummate his bride, the church, uh, the finish line of this race is glory.

And as we set forth on this race, the writer of Hebrews tells us, he gives us this command.

And he starts off with the command, lay aside, right?

To put down, to forfeit something.

Because we're tempted to forfeit our faith and become unfaithful, he's trying to work to get ahead of that and call us to forfeit something else.

And there's two things that he calls us to forfeit, to lay aside every weight and every sin.

Every weight and every sin.

If we look at just weight, some Bible translations actually translate that word into hindrances, but it can also be seen as garments.

You see, when the writer is trying to compare this life of faith to a race, he would have in mind uh the Olympic Games, and that there would be these runners who would compete in long-distance races.

And oftentimes what would happen with these runners is because they typically wore kind of like man dresses, right?

And that's kind of hard to run in.

Have any of you tried to run in a man dress?

No.

There's a reason for that, right?

And because they didn't have pants or like phabletic shorts, they would take off all their clothes and they would compete naked.

That's literally how they would compete, right?

Because what were they doing?

They were stripping themselves of any hindrance, any weight, so that they could run the race that was set before them.

And I kind of started thinking about this analogy.

And I started to think about what is the first thing mankind sought to clothe themselves with?

What was the garment that we worked to adorn ourselves with first?

Because there was a time where we experienced life in creation, naked and unashamed, right?

That's how the Genesis story communicates our existence in perfect fellowship with God.

But somewhere in our existence, we decided to clothe ourselves with something.

And the first thing that we clothed ourselves with was shame.

It was when Adam and Eve's eyes were opened and they were aware that they were naked, they experienced shame.

And their first response was to put garments on them.

In their book, The Cry of the Soul, How our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions about God, they say this about shame.

Shame is the traumatic exposure of nakedness.

Shame is the traumatic exposure of nakedness.

And there's so much harmony with what we see in the scriptures and the Genesis account, but let's look at it even from our own experience.

What does shame do?

Shame vocalizes for us a core question of our soul.

Does God love me?

Or will he hate me if he sees me as I really am?

Does God hate me?

Does God truly love me?

Or will God hate me if he sees me as I really am?

That's the clothing of shame that we adorn ourselves with.

And shame does something.

Shame, because it's the enemy of intimacy, it always justifies avoidance, and it demands isolation from us.

Because it's the enemy of intimacy, it justifies avoidance, right, of any true, deep, vulnerable relationships, and it demands isolation that we pull back from others.

And there's a reality for all of us.

I think that we have a hard time casting off this garment, this weighty clothing of shame.

And you can see it, right?

That that's a core fear of all of ours.

If the people around us really knew who we were, if our thoughts and desires, if our hearts were projected into public, if people actually knew us as we were, they would hate us, not love us.

And so we try to stay clothed, and we're wondering why we're having such difficulties in running this race.

But the gospel liberates us from shame.

It's the very gospel of Jesus that liberates you and I from shame because it was Christ who was taken outside of the city gate to be hung naked on a cross, despising the shame.

He endured such cruelty, such hardship, such suffering.

But think about that for a moment.

Think about the parallel of these two realities.

That in shame Christ was hung naked, that the restorative work of the gospel is that we can be naked and unashamed with one another.

That our souls can be vulnerable and without clothing, without garment that seeks to conceal us.

Because we've already been fully accepted in love in Christ.

Here's the reality of the truth, church is that Jesus does see you.

He sees every thought, every desire, he sees every aspect of your innermost being, and you know what?

He loves you.

That alone should give us confidence to cast off such weighty garments that we might run the race that's before us.

Some of us, though, are carrying other garments or hindrances upon us.

And I think that we should ask ourselves a question to kind of help us self-assess and identify what garments we might be carrying on us that are weighing us down.

Here's a question for you.

Is this a help or a hindrance to me spiritually?

Is this a help or a hindrance to me spiritually?

Because here's the reality.

And this is what we have to understand.

Not everything that is a weight is a sin.

And for some of us, there are weighty things that aren't sinful things, but they slow us down or they hinder us in our race, unlike they do other people.

And so there might be things that I can participate in because of my liberty in Christ that doesn't weigh me down in the same way that it weighs you down.

And so you have to assess that so that you might be aware and discern what you need to cast off, what you need to lay aside.

Maybe it's career or educational ambitions.

Maybe it's certain hobbies that you find yourself consuming your resources and time and energy with.

Maybe it's habits that you just can't seem to break, but it keeps you from the disciplines of the Christian life, of your prayer life, of studying and reading God's Word, of being in community and fellowship with one another.

Maybe it's relationships that you have.

Maybe it's simply unfounded expectations that you carry around with you that no one can seem to meet.

It could be a wide variety and spectrum of different things, but we have to ask ourselves: is this a help in my spiritual life?

Or is this a hindrance in my spiritual life?

And I think that all of us can probably think of one, two, seven right things.

Right now it comes to mind that you say, you know what, I've been fighting this for how long?

I've been knowing that this is a hindrance in my spiritual life for how long?

Man, make war against it.

Lay it aside.

Cast it off of you.

But he goes on to say it's not just weight that we have to lay aside, but it's sin also.

And this sin language it speaks of entanglements, things that wrap themselves around our feet and trip us up.

You see, he says, sin which clings so closely, sin which entangles us.

This isn't just sin that is present, though he's definitely speaking to that end, right?

Sin that we know that we have in our lives.

Maybe many of us can think of different things that we're battling, sin that we are trying to go to war against that's present in our lives, but we just haven't discovered or experienced victory over it.

But it's not just sin that is present, it's sin that is waiting for us also.

Genesis 4, 7B talks about the kind of nature and the personality of sin.

He says, sin is crouching at the door.

Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

It's almost as if sin is waiting for us.

And what's it waiting for us to do?

To entangle us, to trip us up, to get us off track in the race that we're running.

Because here's the reality: hindrances might weigh us down, but sin will bring us to the ground.

Hindrances might weigh us down, but sin brings us to the ground.

He goes on to say, then, after we've laid aside these things, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

This is a marathon, not a sprint.

We got to get that in our heads, right?

That this is something where we are in this long-distance race, and the primary virtue is endurance, not speed.

It's endurance, not speed.

And even Jesus talks about this type of person who runs with this kind of speed, and what happens is that they actually don't have any roots and they get burnt up.

When he was talking about the sower who would sow seed on certain ground, there was one of those soils that was rocky.

And when they threw the seed down, what happened?

There was some kind of green life that sprouted up quickly, but it didn't have roots that penetrated the soil.

And the sun scorched it because it didn't have what it needed to down deep to be able to sustain itself in this life.

This is some of us who try to run with speed.

You might see friends or family members who come out the gate hard, right?

They're Christian now, and they're gonna go through and they're gonna live this Christian life with a ton of enthusiasm and excitement and speed.

And oftentimes, I'm not saying this every time, but oftentimes we see those same people fade and extinguish that flame in their heart as fast as we saw it come up.

And we wonder why.

We're not running a sprint, we're running a marathon.

And we the virtue of this race is endurance.

And we need endurance because we're prone to growing weary.

The preeminent way that we foster endurance, he says, is looking to Jesus.

We talked about this a lot last week, but what we said is that we must be a people who are fixed on the promise, whose eyes are set on Jesus, fixed on the promise, rather than a people who are fixated on the present.

You see, church, we're in the midst of a race.

We must lay aside all that would hinder or entangle us.

We must look to Jesus and we must set a pace to endure.

That's what we're here for at Sacred Mission.

We're here to set a pace to endure.

We're not trying to be a church that starts up quickly and then dies quickly.

The average church plant, more than more than the average church plant, dies within three years.

That's the average lifespan of a church plant.

Because a lot of them try to go hard and they try to come up with this quick life, but they find themselves not able to endure.

We want to be here for the long haul.

I know I prayed on my way in this morning that we would be able to put such deep roots down in this area for the Gospel of Jesus, that we could hand off this ministry to our children's children.

A generational reality.

As we work to foster faithful endurance in the way that we do ministry, in the way that we foster church community, in the way that we reach our city for the gospel, we want to foster first and foremost faithful endurance.

Because we're here for the long haul.

We're here to see the race to its finish.

Then as we look at verses 3 through 17, we see this that we as a people are prone to growing weary.

Verses 3 through 17 will show us that we're prone to growing weary.

It's fascinating.

The author here gives us kind of two occasions for what might cause weariness in our hearts.

The first occasion that he gives us is the hostility of the world.

The hostility of the world.

And we can understand that, right?

We can understand where that would cause us to grow weary.

And some of you have experienced that even now.

As you've tried to live a life of public faith, not private faith, right?

Not one that's only expressed and lived out behind closed doors, but one that actually impacts the culture and the people that surround us.

We've experienced this hostility from them.

And there's a lot of us who have grown weary in that.

We talked about this last week, that we we've convinced ourselves, we believe the lie of culture, that it's better for us if we just stay quiet.

And that weariness has crept in and overtaken us in many ways.

He says, consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself.

This is his remedy of growing weary from hostility from the world, that we would actually consider Christ, who he himself endured and suffered under the hand of a hostile culture, even to the point of death.

He says, consider him, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.

And then he kind of puts our sufferings and our trials in perspective.

I love this, right?

Because sometimes we kind of have this spectrum, right, of exaggeration.

How many of you are just like, oh man, it's the worst day ever?

It was the worst day ever.

And it really wasn't that bad.

You might have, I don't know, maybe your tire blew up on the way to work or something.

It was the worst day.

Or this situation was the worst, or whatever it is.

We kind of hyper-exaggerate stuff.

I think as a culture, we kind of get off on that, right?

We make everything like hyper-exaggerated and big for no reason but attention.

Um, and that's fine.

Like we're dealing with that psychologically.

But uh here's what he says he puts our sufferings into perspective.

He says, You think that you've experienced sufferings and hostility from this culture?

You haven't even warred against sin to the point that you would shed your own blood.

To put into perspective of what Christ endured in his suffering at the shedding of his own blood, have we yet experienced that?

We think that because someone's mad at us because we spoke the truth to them, that now our life is just over, or we lost a relationship because of the stance that we took on righteousness and holiness, or because now our coworkers look at us differently because they saw us reading our Bible at our desk.

Guess what?

Have you gone to the point where it cost you the shedding of your own blood because of the faith that you lived in this culture that we find ourselves in?

No.

In some ways, he's like, lighten up.

Look at Christ at what he's done.

Because here's what the reality is: what he's trying to help us understand is that when we experience hostility from the world, we are identified with Christ.

It is in the shared sufferings of Jesus that we could suffer in the ways that he had.

It reminds me of what Paul said in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

He says, I count the momentary light affliction, these minuscule sufferings of this life as nothing compared to the glory that awaits me.

And we're talking about a dude who was beaten to the point of death, who was whipped in his back until the exposing of his spinal cord.

We're talking about a guy who ultimately knew he was going to Rome to be beheaded because of the faith of which he confessed with his mouth.

And what does he say?

I have been convinced that these light, momentary afflictions are nothing compared to the glory that awaits me.

And we get bent out of shape over what?

If we could only suffer more.

He says this, and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.

And so here's what we see in this short little section of the text, we see three kinds of personalities in the ways that they respond to the discipline of the Father.

The first personality that we come into contact with is those whose regards discipline lightly.

Those who regard discipline lightly.

When you experience trials and hardships and sufferings, you're not concerned about learning the lesson that's in front of you.

You have one primary concern: escapism.

Can I get out of this as fast as possible to get to the other side that I might see the sunny day that I long for?

Instead of being stuck in this thunderstorm of the soul.

What is that?

That's a person who regards affliction and the discipline of the Father lightly.

You're not really looking to learn anything from it, you're not looking to be refined by it, you're not looking to be matured through it.

It's just escapism.

And here's how one of the primary signposts that this is an issue with our heart is that when our prayer life heightens in the midst of suffering and diminishes and wanes in the midst of comfort.

Did you catch that?

If you find yourself praying only or mostly when you're experiencing afflictions and trials, you're this person.

God, just get me out of this.

I don't want to have to face this.

I just want whatever's on the other side, the blessing, the good life, the not having to experience this any longer, reality.

The second person that he brings up is those who would grow weary from discipline.

Those who would grow weary from discipline.

And here's these type of people.

This this may be you, this may be someone you know.

When they experience afflictions and sufferings, there's two primary responses that follow: self-pity and anger.

Self-pity and anger.

Why do I have to be the one that goes through this?

Why are you always so hard on me?

Why can't I just have what this person has?

And then that grows into anger.

And it's anger against a loving God who's trying to bless you through his discipline.

But the third type of person is the one that we should strive to be.

Because the third type of a person receives the discipline for conformity to sonship.

Receives the discipline for conformity to sonship.

Listen to what he says in verse 7.

It is for, right?

It is for discipline that you have to endure.

That sounds like a crazy statement right there.

I have to endure in this life for what?

We would think I have to endure for blessing.

I have to endure for favor.

I have to endure for prosperity.

I have to endure for these things.

No, the writer of Hebrews is saying the reason you have to endure in this moment is for discipline.

And he goes on to say this: God is treating you as sons.

What is the benefit of discipline?

It's to experience the fullness of sonship.

That's why we've got to endure.

That's why we can't give up.

That's why we can't toss away our faith.

We have to toss aside every garment and hindrance.

We have to toss away every sin.

But we can't toss away our faith because it's being disciplined by the Father that we're going to be experiencing the fullness of sonship.

And so we can't grow weary or faint-hearted, but we have to endure.

For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

And listen, some of us, some of us, we mistake the discipline of God for the hostility of the world.

And I think that that's like a mantra of our culture right now, and it creeps itself into the church where anybody, anytime you might experience suffering or affliction, it's because all these people are against you, right?

And so what are you try what are you trained to do?

You're trained to brush off the haters, get them set aside.

Make sure that only the people you surround yourself with are those who actually want to help you achieve your dreams and goals and aspirations.

You have to see what are you being trained to see?

You're being trained to see as everyone and everything that doesn't prop you up in your unrealistic, crazy and wild expectations of what this life should be and look like is an enemy against you.

And sometimes it's a loving father trying to discipline you that you might experience sonship rather than being handed over to the damning reality of having whatever you want.

Because what does he say in verse 8?

If you are left without discipline, in which we all have participated, then you are bastards and not sons.

That's literally what he says in verse 8.

You are illegitimate children.

It means you're someone who has no father, you have no home, you have no name.

So we should embrace the discipline of the Father.

Because it's for conformity to sonship that we must endure in this faith.

And there's a purpose in our discipline.

Verse 10.

But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

J.C.

Ryles said it this way.

He was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool.

He says this about the discipline of the Father.

By affliction, he teaches us many precious lessons, which without it we should never learn.

By affliction, he shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, makes us long for heaven.

In the resurrection morning, we shall say, It is good for me that I was afflicted.

We shall thank God for every storm.

And that is powerful.

In the resurrection morning, we shall thank God.

We shall say it was good for me that I was afflicted.

We shall thank God for every storm.

We got to move on.

Verse 12.

He says, Therefore, lift your drooping hands, strengthen your weak knees, make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

He walks us through faith rehabilitation.

Right?

He's speaking to a weary congregation, and he's telling them to no longer be weary, but be encouraged, to not cast aside their faith, but lay aside these other things.

And though they might be weary, he calls them to actively fight against growing weary through this faith rehabilitation.

He says, first, lift your drooping heads.

What's he telling them to do?

Fix your gaze on the promise of Christ.

He says, strengthen your weak knees.

What do we need?

We need fortitude in our life.

We need fortitude.

We need courage in pain or adversity.

We need to have strong knees.

And he says, make straight paths for your feet.

He's speaking to obedience to God's word.

It's actually in obedience to God's word that we might be strengthened against weariness.

The psalmist says in Psalm 119, 105, for your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

And he says this to end this section of the text.

So what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

See, though we're prone to growing weary, we can't actively fight against its end result of becoming unfaithful people.

And in working through this faith rehab, the author of Hebrews is trying to encourage us that your pain now will be your peace later.

As we go through the end of the section of this chapter, we see in verses 18 through 29 that the race is worth the reward.

The race is worth the reward.

There's a promise at the end of this race.

And this is what we're running for.

That we might be united eternally to Jesus, that we might have perfect fellowship and relationship with Him for all eternity.

This is all of Him is waiting for us at the end of this race.

And this is the promise.

And it's an unshakable kingdom.

He says, at that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, verse 26, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken.

That is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

My uh stepdad's family is in South Dakota.

And from my stepgrandfather's house, you can see uh the General Custer State Park, right?

And so if you ever go into South Dakota, they have this fascination of carving things in rock.

That's just like that's what we do here in South Dakota.

And so we we went and saw the stuff carved in rocks, right?

And then there's this always these side attractions of panning for gold.

That's a big one in South Dakota.

So we stopped at one of these little sideshow attractions to pan for gold.

And I remember like getting this sifting pan and going out to the river, and you're kind of digging in.

And what do you do?

You take this pan and you shake it back and forth.

And what happens?

All this stuff falls through the holes in this sifting pan.

And all the I remember being like 11 years old and geeked out because there was gold.

There was gold there that remained.

What was most valuable, what was most treasured, what was most precious remained in the midst of all the shaking that I put it through.

That's what Jesus is trying to help us understand.

That He is going to shake everything.

And the things that we think are precious to us, right?

Our careers, our families, our homes, our social status, our dignity, whatever it might be, the things that we might hold on to precious as precious to us are going to fall through that sifting pan.

They're going to shed away so that what might be exposed is the unshakable glory and beauty of his kingdom, which should be most precious to our hearts.

Because there is joy in the promise.

He says in verse 28, therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

We get so worked up over the culture we find ourselves in.

Guys, this is gone in the blink of an eye.

This government system, this economy, this land that we call the USA, these nice suburban neighborhoods that we uh uh uh strive to place ourselves in, the the cars that we work relentlessly to try and drive, the things that we do in this life that are of this world, they are gone in the blink of an eye.

What are we doing?

If we're not living for the unshakable kingdom, that when all of this is done, we'll be the one thing that still stands.

That's what our hope is in.

That's what our joy is in.

Our joy is in that because through Christ we have been brought into that.

It says in the last section, and thus, verse 28, section B, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

God will consume all of the chaff that is in his presence by his holy fire.

And it is only those who are in Christ that will stay.

And so he deserves all of our worship, he deserves every aspect of our lives for his glory.

Here's the main idea for this morning: the faithful fight against growing weary.

I'm gonna kind of hit this real quick.

The faithful fight against growing weary.

Um, in the letter to uh in the in the epistle, or I don't know what it's called.

It's probably a book thing, like a book, uh, Revelation.

Um Jesus is pulling back the veil of the cosmos so that John can see into this spiritual realm.

And in the first part of Revelation, we see these letters to these seven churches.

And I want to read something from the Church of Ephesus that Jesus tells him to write down this so that the church of Ephesus may know what I have to say to them.

He says this in Revelation 2, 2 through 3.

I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance.

There's that word again, endurance.

And how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

I know you are what?

Enduring patiently, and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not what?

Grown weary.

Look at what Jesus is saying to the church at Ephesus.

Three things your works, your toil, and your patient endurance.

That's one thing that he highlights.

The steady, patient, faithful work of the kingdom.

My prayer for us as your elder team, my prayer for us as this church in every life who calls sacred mission this home is what?

Faithful.

At the end of time, we want to be found one thing.

Faithful.

I don't care what that looks like.

I really don't.

How it expresses itself at the end of all this, if we can be called faithful, I feel like we will have accomplished what Jesus set us out to do.

Second thing he says, that you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false.

What did this church have?

This church had discernment between truth and error.

Discernment between truth and error.

Here's a root of our weariness.

When we allow ourselves to be discipled by culture, and we continue to experience their empty promises, it's going to cause our hearts to grow weary and we're going to be tempted to become unfaithful.

So what do we have to do?

We have to know God's word so rightly that we're equipped to discern truth from air and that we would have no business with those who are evil.

Last thing he says, you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake.

Again, that word endurance, we talked about that.

But then he says, bearing up.

Here's what he's talking about: the indispensable purpose of biblical community.

I think it's fascinating that he ends his exhortation of them, encouragement of what they've been doing, in the way that they have lived life with one another.

You've bared up with one another.

When your burdens are my burdens, when your joys are my joys, when we have lived life with one another in such a way that we are encouraged and supported to endure.

Because I'm not running this race by myself.

I'm running this race with y'all.

And it's when we live in faithful biblical community that we are able and strengthened to endure.

And what is his last, and you have not grown weary.

Amen.

And here's the beauty of the gospel, and then I'm done.

Jesus endured the cross.

This is our hope.

When we talk about endurance, we have to look at the very beginning of Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

Hebrews 12:1

Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.

What do we talk about when we look to Jesus who endured the cross?

There's two realities that I want us to look at first is this.

And because he set the pace, because he endured and finished the race, we can look to him as our great example, and it can give us encouragement and strength to keep on running and not grow weary.

But if we just look at Jesus as some divine pace setter, we've missed the mark.

It is that, but it's even more than that.

Because we don't just see ourselves with Christ in this race, but we see ourselves in Christ with this race.

And when we see ourselves in Christ with this race, we see ourselves what?

As a finisher of this race.

Because Christ is no longer running.

As Hebrews 12, 1 through 2 says, Christ sat down.

And when we are seated with him in Christ, what does that communicate to us?

That we are living in this already not yet tension that we find ourselves in, that we are to fight against weariness, that we might continue running.

But ultimately, because of our faith in the finished work of Jesus, at the end of time, we will find ourselves as those who have already finished, because we find ourselves in Christ who has finished faithfully the race that was set before him.

In him, we find ourselves as faithful finishers also.

That's our hope.

That's ultimately what all of our faith, all of our hope gets put into is the finished work of Jesus.

In the end, we will have finished because we are in him who has already finished church.

And here's my hope for us.

Now close.

That we would be found faithful.

We talked about this throughout the sermon.

I just want us to be found faithful.

In Hebrews 12, 3.

We see this becoming weary and the strife against sin.

In verse 5, we see growing weary under the disciplining hand of God.

Both Hebrews 12, 3 and 5 communicate the very opposite of another section of the New Testament of 1 Peter 1 through 13.

He says, Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What he says is instead of growing weary, that Hebrews 12, 3, and 5 communicate, prepare, gird yourself up.

Is really preparing your minds is gird yourself up.

And I wish I could go into like the imagery of what that looks like.

It's it's awesome.

For man dresses, you pull it up, tie it around, you go.

Um prepare your mind for actions.

Why?

So that you might set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you when at the revelation of Jesus Christ, Peter is saying, fix your eyes on the promise.

And I think all of us in this room long to hear something when we reach that finish line.

When we've endured, when we haven't let weariness cause unfaithfulness, we long to hear this.

Matthew twenty five, twenty three.

His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.

Amen.

Let's pray.