Rocks In The Water | Dionna Carter Sermon | One Church Columbus

So a couple years ago, I went on a birthday trip for one of my really close friends.

And we went to Hawking Hills.

I don't know if y'all are familiar, but it's about an hour away from Columbus.

I won't play and tell you which direction because I don't know Cardinal Directions.

So I think it's like South-ish or something like that, but it's an hour away from Columbus.

And it's a really vibey spot if you've never been.

It's super like nature forward.

So you have all of these outdoorsy activities.

It's very beautiful.

I love me a good like walking path and some beautiful scenery.

So it's really, really nice out there.

If you haven't been, I recommend it.

We all got together, we got a really nice Airbnb because I am not an outdoorsy girl.

I am very bougie, very bougie.

And I own it, and my friends also thankfully have a little bougie in them, too.

So we all decided an Airbnb makes the most perfect sense.

Especially because I'm pretty sure all of us are scared of bugs.

So it was very nice for all of us to be on the same page for that.

And so it was kind of just like kickback, chill, not really the best service, which for some people is terrifying.

For me as an introvert, it was lovely because no one could reach me, so that was great.

And we, you know, grilled out, we had a hot tub, like it was a great weekend.

And so Birthday Girl decided that she wanted to do an excursion.

I told y'all I'm not outdoorsy, but you know, you try to be like adventurous when you're with your friends, and she was like, Let's go canoeing.

I didn't want to go canoeing.

Um, and I'm pretty sure I told her that I didn't want to go canoeing, and she didn't care because she's the birthday girl.

The birthday girl gets what she wants, right?

And I'm not usually one to be bullied, like I kind of don't care.

I'm not gonna do it if I don't want to, but I was feeling really like in the mood.

And so I said, you know, we're gonna do it.

It's your birthday, let's go for it.

So we go to the place where we rent the canoes, and you know, we're getting fitted with our life vests, we're getting our paddles, we're pairing up in our partners.

Thankfully, I had someone in my canoe who also was kind of on the same page as me, but she she knew what she was doing.

Like, we were in this together.

God bless the birthday girl and her partner.

We kind of figured they were gonna capsize in like the first two minutes.

Um, but you know, we're getting all geared up to go out.

And the guide tells us, hey, just so you know, we haven't had a lot of rain recently.

So there are parts of this river, lake, whatever it was, body of water that will be shallow.

And because it's shallow, you will likely encounter some rocks.

If you do, just go ahead and like use your paddle to push past the rocks.

Or if it gets too rocky, you can get out of the canoe, you can give the canoe like a quick push and get it back into some more water and then go on about your way.

And so everyone's like, okay, cool.

I may have verbally said, okay, cool.

Internally, okay, not cool, because here's what's not gonna happen.

I'm not stepping out into this nasty water to push a canoe anywhere, actually.

So I decided that means that as for me and mine, we will not encounter rocks, actually.

And so we get started and we're doing our thing and we're getting along and everything's great and it's beautiful, the scenery is awesome, and we get to about halfway down this body of water, and it starts to get rocky.

And we're pushing with our paddles and like getting it off the rocks, but we got to a point where it just felt like instead of being like on a lake or a river, whatever it was, it just felt like we were in rocks, and there may have been some water sprinkled throughout, but this was just pure rocks.

So now I'm irritated because I didn't want to do this in the first place, and that irritation turns to frustration, and I'm like, can we just go back?

Like, how far away are we from the beginning?

Can we turn around?

Obviously, we're too far.

When I get frustrated, I get a little emotional.

I'm not emotional by nature, I don't like to cry, but like my eyes were a little stingy because I'm frustrated and I don't want to be out here.

And we get to this point where there's like this embankment, and we see people who are on the embankment and they're in lawn chairs, and they have coolers and music and food, and they're living their best lives, and I'm living my worst life.

I don't want to be here.

And so one of them, I think he must have seen just like everything on my face, all the despondency and the frustration.

And he was like, Keep going, you're almost there, you got this.

And I'm jaded, like, you're not encouraging me.

Is this like, are you being honest?

Are we really almost there?

Because if we're not and you're lying to me, this is gonna make this so much worse.

And he's like, No, if you round the bin and you go straight, like you'll get to the shore.

Thankfully, he was right.

And we rounded the bin and we went straight, and I've paddled like I never paddled before in my life, but I've never been canoeing in my life, and we got to the shore, and we got out, and I decided, cool, check done, don't ever need to do this again.

Wasn't on my bucket list before, definitely not on my bucket list now.

But the crazy part about all of this is that the guy told us, you're going to encounter some rocks.

And call it confidence, call it ego, whatever you want to call it.

I decided that may be for y'all, I'm not gonna encounter these rocks.

And I think a lot of us treat our Christian faith the same way.

Where Jesus told his disciples, in this world, you will have trouble.

But we've decided that trouble is for y'all, it's for someone else.

Those rocks ain't for me.

And so then when that trouble comes, we're like, what is this?

This wasn't what I was expecting.

Because the hard truth is when your expectations of following Jesus don't align with the reality of following Jesus, that's when you start to lose heart.

You want to give up, you want to turn around, you want to go back.

And so today we're gonna be in the book of Hebrews.

We're gonna look at a group of believers who encountered their own rocks and see what it took for them to endure and how do we then apply that in our own lives.

The writer of Hebrews is writing and telling these people, let's endure.

But first, he knows that in order to endure, you need to recalibrate your expectations.

So, just the context of the book of Hebrews to have an overview.

Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish believers who had converted from Judaism to Christianity.

And so what that means is leaving Judaism came with its own set of challenges for these believers.

This is the faith of their forefathers, their ancestors, and so deciding to turn from that to say Jesus is the way means that they may have countered some own rocks within their community.

They may have been ostracized, they may have been given the side eye by some of their friends and family who they used to vibe with, who they used to kick it with, they may have been kicked out of the synagogue, they may have completely been pushed to the outskirts of their community.

But then converting to Christianity wasn't a cakewalk for them either.

Because especially during this time when there was persecution, in fact, chapter 10 of Hebrews tells us that they were going through heavy persecution at this time, where they were being beaten and imprisoned and having their property taken from them.

These are the things that the Hebrews were going through and they were tired.

They were tempted to go back.

They said, I know I chose Jesus because he is it, he is the way.

But at least if I went back to my old traditions, I could maybe be accepted by my community again.

I maybe wouldn't have to deal with these problems that I'm facing right here, right now.

And the writer of Hebrews is going to write to them and say, Hey, I see your struggle.

I want you to know that everything that you were doing up until this point, all of the traditions, all of the sacrifices, all the things were pointing to Jesus, Jesus is better.

But help, let me help you recalibrate those expectations so that if you're going to endure, you can at least know what to expect.

So we're gonna be in Hebrews chapter 12, and we're gonna be reading in verses 1 through 3.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

It says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

For the joy set before him, he 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 sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Because witness was directly tied to even their legal system.

This was ingrained in their cultural context.

Back in Deuteronomy, when the law was being set forward, there's this precept that basically says if you are going to bring anything to court, if you're gonna make any type of legal claim, then you need to also bring two or three witnesses.

What you are saying alone does not have as much weight than if you bring along witnesses.

And so this writer is saying, hey, I've given you all of this evidence up until this point, but let me go ahead and remind you that this isn't just me talking.

Let me show you the witnesses that validate everything that I'm saying.

Now, I don't know if you grew up in church like me and you've seen this verse before, and you kind of think that these witnesses are like this ethereal like audience that's cheering you on and saying, go, and you got this, you can do it, maybe.

But I think there's this deeper underlying kind of description of they're not just an audience, they're not just spectators watching you, they are evidence of God's truth that this writer is laying out for these believers.

And so that word, therefore, at the beginning, is a clue for us that everything that we've just read is contingent on what has come before.

And so we're gonna look at chapter 3, or excuse me, chapter 11, which essentially is known as the hall of faith.

These are the witnesses that the writer is talking about.

The hall of faith, if you've ever read in chapter 11, is kind of this documentation of all of these heroes of the faith that we have seen and read and talked about in scripture.

We have people like Abraham.

Abraham, who is a witness that God is faithful to keep his promises.

God called Abraham and said, I'm gonna make you the father of many nations.

And Abraham didn't have any kids at the time.

And there were moments in Abraham's journey when he heard God's promise, but God wasn't coming through on his promise.

And I'm sure, like the rest of us, there starts to be this wrestle of maybe God forgot about me actually.

Maybe he got distracted with someone else, or maybe he changed his mind.

He said this, but maybe he changed it, and this promise isn't all in void now.

But God came through, and Abraham is a witness that if God made the promise, he will see the promise through.

It may not be on our timing, but God will come through.

And so Abraham is a witness to that.

He is evidence of that truth.

Or you see someone like Moses.

Moses, who God called to say, you are going to be the deliverer of my people.

And Moses said, Not me.

I'm scared, I don't speak well, I stutter, this isn't for me.

But Moses is a witness that if God calls you to something that feels like it's beyond your capacity, beyond your capability, beyond what you anticipated, that he will then equip you to do the work that he set before you.

So the writer is saying that everything I'm telling you is not just empty words, but these are witnesses of the truth of what I'm saying to you.

But if we're not careful, we will read this hall of faith and we will gloss over the verses that directly precede chapter 12, which is also included in this cloud of witnesses.

We're gonna look at chapter 11, verses 33 through 39.

And it says, By faith, these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them.

They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the sword.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free.

They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.

Some were jeered at and their backs were cut open with whips, others were chained in prisons, some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword.

Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.

They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

Verse 39 says, all these people earned a good reputation because of their faith.

This cloud of witnesses tells us that sometimes following Jesus looks like I'm conquering kingdoms and I'm being snatched out of fire, and I'm seeing the dead being raised back to life, and I am administering justice.

God is working through me.

Sometimes that's what it looks like to follow Jesus.

But then we have the witnesses who say sometimes following Jesus looks like wandering around homeless and hungry and helpless.

Sometimes following Jesus looks like hurt and pain.

And the scripture tells us that neither one of these groups were more commended for faith, neither one of them were necessarily closer to Jesus, that all of these people were commended for their faith, which forces us to examine our own expectation.

Which side of Hebrews 11 did we expect to be on in our faith?

Did we expect that it would only go well for us, that it would only feel good to us?

Last week, Pastor Greg talked about this false security and how the Israelites had false security in their wealth, in their allies, in their military.

They decided if all of the things are going well, then God must be with me.

Some of us have treated faith the same way.

That if I'm in a Christian, I'm a Christian and I'm in this protective bubble, that nothing can come my way, because God is protecting me, and these witnesses are challenging that theology.

This is what the writer is saying, Hebrews, you need to understand.

Because if you're going to endure, then you need to know what to expect, what is accurate according to the truth of God.

We read further on in verse 1, and it tells us something very interesting.

It says, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

I think it is noteworthy that the writer says to throw off every weight, especially the sin.

Which tells me that yes, sin is a weight.

But every weight is not necessarily a sin.

I'll give you an example.

Not because I'm a morning person, because I am not, but it is super quiet in my house because no one is awake yet.

And I know if I'm gonna wake up and spend time with God early in the morning before everyone gets up, that I need to prepare.

And so that means that I need to go to bed early.

That means that I need to wake up early.

So I usually set like two, three, or four alarms, and I need to wake up by like the second or third alarm if I'm gonna get that time in.

And then when all of the stars align, we do that, we go downstairs, we get our coffee, we're gonna vibe with Jesus in our Bible and our journal, and it's gonna be beautiful.

There are some mornings that I wake up and I do all the things, and I go downstairs, and I'm getting ready to like settle in, and I happen to look down, and there's like a shirt and like a spoon on the floor because kids, like, it tracks.

And so obviously, I'm gonna do what I tell my kids to do, which is don't you dare just walk past this and not pick it up.

So we're going to pick it up and put it where it belongs.

So I take the shirt, I go put it in the hamper, but then I see that the hamper is full.

So because I'm the queen of efficiency, I tell myself, oh, I'm gonna throw a load in the laundry really fast.

So then that way, as I'm spending time with God, the clothes are being washed.

It's a win-win.

So I go put on a load of laundry.

And then I have the spoon.

So obviously, spoon, dishwasher, but I ran the dishwasher last night, which means I can't put a dirty spoon in here.

But if I'm efficient, then that means I can unload the dishwasher really quick.

So then that way when the kids wake up and they eat breakfast, then they can put their dirty dishes right in the dishwasher and it's seamless.

And before I know it, my whole kitchen is clean, my whole first floor is clean, my kids are awake, my coffee is cold, I spent no time with God.

Nothing I did was a sin, but it was a distraction that kept me from going the course that I had set for my morning.

And that tends to be what happens in a lot of our walks because if Satan can't stop us with sin, he will absolutely try to delay us with distraction.

And we know that the Hebrews, I'm sure they had their own distractions, which is why the writer is saying to throw off these weights, these distractions, but I think their distractions were probably really similar to ours.

Where maybe one of the distractions was this deep desire for approval or acceptance, which isn't a sin.

God created us for community, he wants us to be in community with one another.

We want to feel loved and accepted by our community.

But when that acceptance causes us to veer off course because that is what we're focused on, maybe the Hebrews were so thirsty for the acceptance of their community to be welcomed back in that they were willing to get distracted off the course that God has set for them, and we do the same thing.

Because how many times do we post a picture of our Bible in our coffee before we actually dig into it?

And maybe we don't get around to it because we had to find the right filter and make sure that it looked really cute, and then dang, that took 30 minutes.

Now I have to get ready.

Acceptance.

Approval.

Maybe it's comfort.

Maybe they were so anxious to hold on to comfort because they didn't want the persecution.

Maybe some of us are clinging to comfort.

I know comfort is a love of mine.

I love to be in my comfort zone.

It makes me feel cozy and very, very, very, very comfortable.

But if that's not the route that God has for me, that becomes a distraction.

And so the writer is saying, throw off all of these weights, identify those distractions, and then also throw them off.

Instead of just relying on the Christian knees of is this sin?

Because we don't want to sin, we shouldn't stop there.

We should be asking, is this helping or hindering me from running my race?

Verse 1 continues and bleeds into verse 2 saying, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Fixing our eyes.

It's a phrase for us, but it is one Greek word.

They're gonna put it on the screen so I don't have to try to pronounce it, but it is essentially two parts to it.

Away from to see.

So when it says fixing our eyes, it is an intentional turning away from something so that we can see Jesus.

Some of us have been struggling to see Jesus, and we think it's because he's absent.

But maybe we're struggling to see Jesus because our attention has been captivated by every burden, by all of the suffering that we're enduring.

And so this writer is saying, hey, I'm inviting you to not allow suffering to be the only thing that you see.

My mom is one of my heroes, one of my favorite people in the world.

She is so strong mentally, emotionally, she's been through so many things.

And when I say so many things, literally a book cannot contain all of the things.

Y'all would be mind-blown, all the stuff that she's been through.

One of the things that she constantly battles is her health.

And when I say her health, I mean like she's in doctors' offices, she's seeing specialists, she's being on medications, she's going to hospitals, and people still can't figure out all that's wrong with her and how to fix it.

She wakes up in pain, she goes to bed in pain.

She wakes up sick, she goes to bed sick.

But what I have noticed is that she doesn't allow her attention to be stuck on the fact that she's suffering.

I have asked her before, how do you manage?

Because I would be irritated with the world if I was as sick as you are all the time.

But she's decided I am setting my attention on Jesus.

And to be clear, fixing your eyes on Jesus does not stop your suffering.

It doesn't stop it.

But instead it changes your perspective and how you see suffering.

Because a lot of us have been seeing Jesus through the lens of our suffering.

So we have decided if we're in pain, that means God is not good.

Or that if I don't have enough money in my account, then God is not a provider.

If I'm not feeling well, then God can't be a healer.

If I feel lonely, it's because God has left me.

But when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we see our struggling through the lens of Jesus.

Because Jesus is proof that you can obey perfectly and still suffer.

The scripture tells us that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross.

The reality of the cross did not negate the reality of the joy that was set before him.

The cross didn't diminish.

It didn't disappear, it didn't become easier.

But the joy didn't diminish.

The joy didn't disappear.

The joy didn't go away.

It was still the same.

And so for us, the reality of our suffering does not diminish the reality of the Savior who is set before us.

His character doesn't change because we suffer.

Just worn out, fatigued, weary.

You're tired of hoping.

You're tired of believing.

You're tired of praying and waiting.

And these Hebrews, they were tired.

They were also tired.

And what I love is that the writer does not rebuke them for being tired.

He doesn't shame them for being tired.

He doesn't say, hey, let's just modify your behavior.

He says, let's just point you back to Jesus.

We read in verse 3 in the final part of our text.

It closes with this admonition.

It says, consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Now, the writer said, fix our eyes, and then he said consider, which may feel redundant and may feel like, okay, he's just really trying to drive a point home, which to an extent, yes, but this word consider in the Greek, this is the only time that this word is used in the New Testament.

And what this word means, it's not just a glance at Jesus, it's not just a look at Jesus, but it's saying, let your gaze linger at Jesus.

Consider means to deeply reflect, to ponder.

Take in this evidence and draw your conclusion based on the evidence that I've given you.

Don't draw your conclusion based on temporary hardship, but temporary struggle.

Don't draw your conclusion just based off of your feelings, but look at the evidence, look at the witnesses, look at everything I've laid out before you and draw your conclusion based on that.

When you feel weary, when you feel like giving up, consider.

Consider Jesus who endured shame.

Consider Jesus who endured injustice.

Consider Jesus who endured suffering.

Consider Jesus who endured betrayal.

Consider the one who endured, but he still made his way to that cross.

It's saying to consider.

If I could just do more, if I could just, if I could just, that's not the place of where and your endurance is found.

It's saying endurance is found when you've considered Jesus and you've decided that He is worth it.

I want to leave you with just a few questions for you to take back to your own time with Jesus to really ponder and to be honest with yourself and allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart.

The first question: where have my expectations of following Jesus been shaped more by preference than by scripture?

Where have I just decided that I won't encounter the rocks and so the rocks won't come?

That is not a scriptural basis for your expectation.

Two, what distraction is causing me to veer off course?

Where have I stopped with the question, is this sin?

When I need to continue and ask myself, is this helping or hindering me from running my race?

And third, what am I considering more than Jesus?

Maybe I looked to Jesus for a second, but then I got distracted again and I turned away.

Maybe I looked to Jesus for a minute, but I didn't consider all of the evidence.

I only considered what I was feeling right there in that moment.

Where have I let my gaze linger when I need to continue looking to Jesus?

Let's pray.

Holy God, we come before you.

Humbly.

So many of us are hurting and in pain and want to give up.

And part of the reason that we want to give up is because we didn't expect this to be our lot in life.

We didn't expect the rocks to keep coming, and it feels like we're facing boulders, not just rocks, but boulders that are blocking our path, Lord.

I pray that today, God, you would help us to see you.

That you would be the one that captures our attention, that you would be the one where our gaze lingers.

That as we take in all of the evidence, God, that we will decide you are worth it.

God, meet every one of your people exactly where they are.

Reveal your truth.

Your word tells us that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free.

I pray for freedom right now, God.

Freedom not just from the fire, God, but freedom from the lies that tell us we shouldn't go through the fire, Jesus.

You're a God who's able to deliver, but you're a God who's also able to keep in the midst, God.

Help us, Lord, to see you as both.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.