November 15, 2009

2009 11 15

Caught Looking

Psalm 16
Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
Mark 13:1-8

How many times, have you watched your kids or grandkids, or looked at your nieces and nephews and though to yourself, “I wonder what they are thinking?”   Behind the cute faces and the occasional dirty looks are some truly magical thoughts.  Jen and I are slowly figuring out Katie.  Like all kids, she has good days and bad days.  She will do something that has us scratching our heads one moment.  Then she will be completely the opposite the next.  Like I said, we are slowly figuring her out.

As many of you can imagine, Ben is a bit more of a mystery.  Because of his autism, we might just about never understand what he is thinking or feeling.  A lot of time, and in a lot of ways, he is very much a regular little boy.  When he wants something that he knows he is not supposed to have.  He will go look at it.  Then look at us to see if we’re watching him.  Then he’ll smile at us a sneaky smile.  He knows we’re watching him.  It quickly becomes a little game.  He’s just sizing us up.  Can I get what I want before they can stop me?  And he will just keep grinning at us until we say no, or he grabs it and runs off.  Remember folks, Ben is autistic.  He’s not stupid.  When he engages us, and we engage him, you can get a little idea what is going in behind those cute blue eyes of his.

But there are other times…when he is in his own little world.  Because of his autism, he will focus on an item, a person, or maybe even a situation, and that time will be his world.  That is the self-stimulating part of his condition.  His focus is one this one thing, and the rest of the world is insignificant. 

There have been times where I have seen him with an object in his hand, walking backwards.  He is facing one direction, walking another, but focusing on something altogether different.  Trust me, it’s dangerous.  He can trip and fall over something.  He might walk into a wall or get right in our way when we are trying to do something.  I am surprised that this kid does not wind up with more bumps and bruises than he already does.  Again, it is a dangerous thing to try and walk, but have your focus somewhere else.

In our Thursday night Bible Study, we have just finished up the Book of Hebrews.  Thirteen chapters in only seven weeks.  Maybe that was a bit much…a bit fast.  My approach to Bible Study is pretty much, sit down, buckle your seatbelt, and get ready to take off.  I may have to change that a little bit.  Anyway, Hebrews was written to early Jewish Christians.  Jews who believed in Jesus Christ. They were converted from Judaism to a new faith.  However, many of them were faltering in their faith.  They had been under pressure from friends, relatives, and people in the community to keep the old Jewish traditions.  Many were under pressure to give up this new religion and convert back to their old ways. 

But as the author of Hebrews tells these new believers, Jesus is greater than all of these old things.  Jesus is greater than the angels and all created beings.  He is greater than the prophets, the laws, and the high priests themselves.  That sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross is greater than all the sacrifices made at the altar in Jerusalem.  By all means and by all standards, Jesus, the son of God, is superior to any of the old laws and customs they used to observe.  If the Book of Hebrews were a legal case or treatise on reasons to become a Christian, it would be an open and shut case.

But if these reasons were so obvious, then why did the author have to write it?  Focus.  These early Jewish Christians were losing their focus.  Where they once lived their lives with their hearts and minds squarely set on Jesus and his teachings, they were now beginning to wander.  They missed their friends and family who had abandoned them.  They missed gathering at the temple and the communal gatherings they had once been a part of.  When they received faith, and they received the salvation that came though faith, their lived had become new.  They had a new life and a new way of life, but after a while, they began to look back.  They began to look back at their past and the way things used to be. 

Do you remember Lot’s wife in Genesis 19?  Lot and his family were told to leave Sodom.  They were told not to look back as the city was being destroyed.  But as they left, Lot’s wife did and was turned into a pillar of salt. 

In Hebrews, these Christians were looking back at a way of life that no longer applied…a way of life that could not save them.  They were in danger of being frozen in their tracks as well.  You can’t get caught up looking at the past. 

In the passage from Mark 13 this morning, I see something of the opposite.  As Jesus and the disciples were leaving the temple, the disciples were remarking on just how large and incredible the structures of the temple were.  "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" ² "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

If you look at 1 Kings 6, you can get an idea of just how large and massive the temple was massive stones inside and out.  It took Solomon 13 years to complete its construction altogether.  For the disciples to hear that the temple would be destroyed…overturned…would be fairly shocking.  It might the same as if someone told us in 2000 that the World Trade Towers would be destroyed.  We would certainly want to know how and when. If the temple were going to be destroyed, the disciples would want to know the same.

Later while at the Mount of Olives, it is Peter, James, and John who asked Jesus about what he had said.  ⁴ "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" 

If we knew that the earth was coming to an end, we would want to know to when.  It’s true.  People have been trying to predict the end times for centuries.  And the TV and movie industries have recently been adding their two cents to the topic.

There have been all sorts of end time scenarios.  Right now, the big deal is 2012.  Are you familiar with this?  On December 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar comes to an end.  It just stops.  And because the Mayans was this civilized mystical civilization, people believe that when the Mayan calendar ends, there will be natural disasters on a global scale, the magnetic poles of the earth will reverse, and the world will likely come to an end.  It’s big business.

But this is exactly the kind of things that Jesus addressed

⁵ Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁶ Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. ⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

These are the dangers we face today…not of natural disaster or global terrorism or nuclear annihilation.  The danger we face is when we get caught looking.  We get caught looking back at things, of people, or a lifestyle we had and knew be fore we knew Jesus.  We get caught looking ahead at rumors and possibilities of wars and end time devastation.  But God wants us to focus on him…here and now. 

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

Jesus has overcome all the old ways or religion and created a new faith.  He is the way to God.  Through Jesus we can know God in a way never known before him.  A first-hand intimate relationship with God.  And because of this, the author of Hebrews encourages us…

²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

²⁵ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Don’t get me wrong.  It is important to remember your journey of faith.  It is important to remember your testimony, the place in your life where you once were, and see where God is bringing you now.  Remember the saints.  Remember those who have shown you God’s love in the years gone by.  Again, always remember your testimony.  But you cannot live in the past.

Keep your eyes open to the future.  Jesus will come back.  Jesus will return and call his faithful servants to him.  We are to eagerly await his arrival, and our hearts must always be ready for his return.  But we cannot overlook the life he has given us here today.  We will miss what he has called us to do here on earth. 

In Christ, we draw near to God, hold on to our faith, spur each other on to love and good deeds…and we are continue meeting together and encouraging one another.

Don’t worry about the future, don’t obsess over the past.  Live in faith today…Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.