After the Ashes: Finding Refuge in a Shaken World

Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning. Father, we just ask you to

speak to us today with tenderness and truth.

And God, help us to remember rightly, to grieve honestly, to trust you deeply,

Lord, and to live faithfully as people whose hope is anchored in you alone. In Jesus' name, amen.

Today, we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 25 through 29.

Hebrews 12:25–29

We'll be there in a moment.

You can be looking it up, Hebrews 12, 25 through 29. But there are moments in

life when everyone remembers where they were.

You remember the phone call. You remember the breaking news,

in other words. You remember the silence in the room when the words finally sank in.

You remember the look on somebody else's face when the world,

at least for a moment, felt like it had shifted under your feet.

But we remember back to September 11th. We know what happened with the two towers,

right? And do you remember where you were?

I do i yeah you remember where you were classroom yeah.

I was at work but i was i was in i was working for international paper and i

remember right then where i was what i was doing,

and so but you probably other things too that you hear earth-shattering news

that's what we're talking about,

some kind of tragedy or something that happened in the moment and you remember

the look like i said on somebody's face and some memories don't fade and it's

not just 9-11 we're talking about, but they leave a mark.

They become part of a nation story, maybe even a family story for something

else, a church's story possibly, and sometimes our own private story that we

don't always know how to talk about.

And after tragedy, in other words, people often ask questions they weren't asking the day before.

And really we're talking about after, I guess you would say after the ashes

or Coda would want me to tell you all this, Skillet's coming out with a new

album on Friday called After the Storm, and it would fit really well in with that title as well.

I could have called it After the Storm, but it's true. So we ask questions like,

what's safe? What lasts?

Where is God when the smoke rises, right? When the buildings fall,

when the diagnosis comes, when the casket closes, when the future that we pictured

sometimes suddenly just disappears, at least for a time.

And to be honest, many of us believe God is faithful. How many of you believe that? Amen?

Yet we still live at times as though our peace depends on everything going according

to plan. And by that, I mean our plan.

We believe heaven is real, yet we spend most of our energy trying to make earth feel permanent.

We sing about trusting God, and then we panic when the things we leaned on begins

to shake a little bit. You ever felt that shaking?

And we sing about all that. And that's where today, where the scripture meets

us, where God's word meets us. And Hebrews was written to believers who were

tired. How many of you tired?

They're pressured. They were tempted to drift a little bit, tempted to loosen

the grip on Jesus because following him was costly.

And the writer here doesn't often, he doesn't offer them a shallow comfort, so to speak.

He actually lifts their eyes up and he reminds them that God is speaking.

The world is fragile around us, and the kingdom of Christ, though,

get this, is unshakable.

And so let's step into Hebrews chapter 12 this morning, and I want y'all to

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

listen carefully to what God says to his people after the ashes.

In Hebrews 12, 25 through 29, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth,

much less will we escape, who turn away from him who warns from heaven.

Verse 26, and his voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying,

yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

Now this expression, yet once more, indicates the removing of those things which

can be shaken as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Verse 28.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken,

let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe,

for our God is a consuming fire.

That leads me to point number one today, and that's everything earthly can be shaken.

Everything earthly can be shaken.

Hebrews 12 begins this section with a warning, doesn't it? Look back.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.

Church, that sentence matters because tragedy has a way of making life louder, doesn't it?

Sirens are loud, right? You know, you can hear those sometimes.

Sometimes in the night, we don't like that, right?

Headlines are loud. Fear is loud.

Anger is loud. Grief can be loud, even when it sits quietly in your chest, right?

Yet underneath all of that, who's speaking? Who's still speaking? God is still speaking.

And the writer of Hebrews actually points back to Mount Sinai when God spoke and the earth shook.

And then he says, God has promised that once more he will shake,

look at it, not only the earth, but also the heavens.

And then comes the explanation.

The shaking actually reveals what can be removed.

Look at it in the text. So that what cannot be shaken may what?

Remain. That's sobering to us. Created things, in other words, can be shaken.

Don't miss that. Buildings can be shaken. Economies can be shaken.

Nations can be shaken. Health can be shaken. Plans can be shaken.

Relationships can be shaken.

The confidence that we place in human strength can be shaken.

Even the version of life, again, that we thought that we would or could control can be shaken.

That doesn't mean that those things don't matter, does it? Homes matter,

don't they? Cities matter.

Jobs matter. Bodies matter. Safety matters, all that.

And people in general matter deeply to God.

But scripture, God's word, never asks us to shrug at suffering or pretend that

loss is small in any way. After all, remember this, Jesus wept at a tomb, didn't he?

And he knew he was about to raise Lazarus.

So grief is not a failure of faith. Tears are not disobedience.

Still, church, when the world shakes, it tells the truth about created things.

What are they? They're gifts, and they are fragile.

That's hard for us because we often build our emotional life,

I think, on things God never promised would hold us forever.

We depend on routine, I think, that gives us peace. We depend on money at times to give us confidence.

We depend on comfort to give us joy. We depend on tomorrow actually being predictable

so that we can feel okay today. Have you ever done that?

Then what happens? Something happens. And suddenly we see how thin some of those

foundations really are, right?

Maybe your world's been shaken by national tragedy. Maybe it's been shaken by

betrayal, sickness, maybe anxiety, a job loss possibly, or the death of somebody you loved.

But maybe nobody else can see the damage is what I'm saying at times.

But you know the ground inside you has moved.

Hebrews doesn't say here nothing will shake, does it? It says God is revealing what remains.

You see, the shaking is not the end of the story. for the people of God. Amen?

It becomes, church, a moment where we stop pretending that temporary things

are eternal, and we begin asking the Lord to teach us how to live with our hope in the right place.

How many of you got your hope in the right place this morning?

That leads me to point number two, that God remains our refuge. Amen?

You know, when Hebrews tells us that created things can be shaken,

it doesn't leave us exposed and helpless.

The Bible actually gives us language here for the exact place where faith and fear meet.

You ever thought about it? Faith and fear meet?

Psalm 46 actually says that God is our refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall

into the heart of the sea.

Notice the psalm doesn't say trouble isn't real, does it?

It doesn't say the earth will never give way.

It actually imagines the most stable parts of creation collapsing.

Mountains falling, who would have thought that? I mean, Lord willing,

we're going to the mountains here in about a month.

I mean, I don't think of those mountains collapsing, right? It's just not something

I think about. It seems like, boy, this is stable. This is strong.

Water's roaring, the ground moving.

And right in the middle of that picture, Eastwood, scripture says what? God is our refuge.

A refuge is what? It's where you run when danger's real, isn't it?

A refuge is not a decoration, is it? It's not a religious idea that you keep

on shelf for emergencies.

A refuge is truly a place of shelter, and the promise of Scripture is that God

himself is the shelter of his people.

Whoo, come on. God is our shelter.

And quite literally, the Lord is our Sabbath. He is our rest.

This is where we have to be honest today. Many of us call God our refuge, right?

Though we often run first to distraction.

We scroll, right? We work, we eat, we spend, we numb out. Anybody ever numbed out?

We try to gather enough information to feel somewhat in control.

Some of those things are understandable and information can be helpful at times,

but none of them can carry the weight of my soul or your soul.

You know who can? God can.

He is ever present, it says, which means he's not late to suffering, right?

He's not watching from a distance.

He is not confused by the chaos in our lives.

He is near to the broken heart, the scripture says. He actually sits with the grieving.

He strengthens the weary. He holds his people when their hands are too tired

to hold on to him. Aren't you thankful?

There's a kind of faith, Eastwood, that only grows in the shelter of God's presence.

It's the faith that learns to pray honestly instead of performing spiritually.

It says, Lord, I'm afraid. It says, Lord, I don't understand.

It says, Lord, I need you to hold me steady today.

Reminds me of that song, Hold Me Jesus, right? That kind of prayer,

church, is not weak. It's deeply faithful.

So when tragedy strikes the world, don't push past the grief.

Bring it to Jesus. Bring it to God.

Don't pretend you're fine when you're not.

Let the Lord actually meet you in that ache.

Open the Psalms when you don't have your own words. Sit in silence if words won't come.

Call someone who will pray with you.

Come back to worship even when your voice trembles.

Keep praising him. God remains with our refuge.

And refuge is experienced by those who actually run to him. Do you run to him? Is he your refuge?

Point number three today.

Good news, y'all. Christ's kingdom cannot fall. Come on.

I'm telling you, Hebrews 12 moves from morning to worship.

After telling us that what can be shaken will be removed, the writer says, look at it.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.

That one sentence changes how we stand in a shaking world.

We are receiving a kingdom. That means our hope is not built on the strength of this age, is it?

It's anchored in the reign of Jesus Christ.

His kingdom is not fragile.

It doesn't depend, well, come on, it does not depend on election cycles,

stock markets, military power, cultural approval, personal comfort,

or human achievement of any kind.

Jesus actually looked at his disciples in John 16, 33, and he said this,

in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

He didn't hide trouble from them, did he? He named it, actually. He prepared them for it.

Then he gave them courage rooted in his victory. Evil's real. Suffering's real.

Death is real. Grief carry is real. The grief we carry.

Scripture never asks us to minimize any of it.

Yet Jesus has overcome the world through his life, his cross, his resurrection.

The grave could not hold Jesus, Eastwood. Sin could not defeat him.

Darkness could not extinguish him.

And because he lives, his people have hope that survives the worst this world could do. Amen.

That hope shapes how we live after the storm or after the ashes.

Hebrews says what? Look at it back in the text. Let us be thankful and so worship

God acceptably with reverence and awe for what? Our God is a consuming fire.

That's not casual spirituality is it it's not treating god like an accessory

to an already full life reverence and all church,

mean we remember who he is he is holy he is merciful he is patient he is just,

he is near he's not manageable though.

And he's not indifferent. Man, gratitude, y'all, becomes more than saying thank

you when life feels good.

I like it when life feels good. What about you?

But that's not all gratitude is, right?

It becomes a settled response to the gift of this unshakable kingdom Christ talks about.

Worship becomes the way that we actually let the Holy Spirit reorder our lives

around what's eternal instead of temporary.

So what does unshaken worship look like on Mondays and the rest of the week?

Well, it looks like forgiving because Christ has forgiven you.

It looks like refusing to let fear disciple your family instead of Jesus.

It looks like telling the truth when lying would be easier.

It looks like serving people who are hurting.

It looks like praying for your enemies and comforting neighbors it looks like

holding your possessions with open hands it looks like gathering with god's people because you know,

your soul needs more than private thoughts about god it looks like repentance,

if tragedy reveals that we've been building on the wrong foundation then mercy

invites us to just come on home to jesus god speak in church and his voice is not background noise.

He's calling us to listen, to trust Christ alone, and live as citizens of the

kingdom again, church, that cannot fall.

So let's wrap it up. Today, we begin with the kind of moments that nobody forgets,

and you probably think of some in your life.

Moments when either tragedy shakes the world and exposes how fragile life can

be, or moments maybe that's touched you or your family in some other way.

Hebrews has brought us to a clearer place this passage. Everything earthly,

don't forget this today, can be shaken.

Things we see, in other words, touch, build, and manage depend on our real gifts

that God gives us, but they're not eternal foundations.

God, don't forget it, God remains our refuge. God is your refuge.

When the ground moves beneath you and he invites us all to run to him with honest

grief when it comes, honest fear, honest need, Christ's kingdom, again, cannot fall.

And because we're receiving that kingdom according to his word,

we all can worship with gratitude, reverence, and hope. Woo, I love that word, hope.

So here's the call today. Don't ignore the voice of God.

If he's exposing something temporary that you've been treating as ultimate, surrender it.

If he's calling you back, possibly from spiritual drift, come back home.

If grief has made your heart numb, bring that numbness to him.

If fear has been leading your decisions, place your trust again in Jesus.

If you've been living as though the world is all there is, lift your eyes to

the kingdom that can't be shaken.

So after the storm, after the ashes, God's still speaking at me.

Eastwood, let's be a people who listen. Let's pray together,

all right? Lord, we thank you so much this morning for your word.

God, I thank you that, Lord, you are our refuge, our rock, our fortress.

Today, I pray as your Holy Spirit moves in our midst, God, I pray that you'll

move in each heart, Lord. Help us to come before you, Lord.

Help us to repent where we need to. Help us to surrender where we need to.

And help us to obey your word and submit to you, Lord. in Jesus' mighty name.

Help us to know what's temporary, what's eternal. In Jesus' name.