THE ENDURING CITY

#1 · May 12, 2008, 11:39 am

Quote from Forum Archives on May 12, 2008, 11:39 am
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
THE ENDURING CITY

May 11, 2008

Text: Hebrews 13:7-16

Happy Mothers Day. Some people who are a bit more cynical than me claim that this day is celebrated for the phone, greeting card, and food service companies. Granted, they make some profit from the occasion of Mothers Day as we phone our mothers, give cards to our mothers, and take our mothers out to eat. But Mothers Day really does have an honorable beginning and history. Ill share more on that in a moment, but first I want to bring you some heartfelt Mothers Day notes from some others.

This is from Angie, who is age eight: "Dear Mother, I am going to make dinner for you on Mother's Day. It's going to be a surprise. P.S. I hope you like pizza and popcorn." This is from Robert, age eight, from Portland, Maine: "I got you a turtle for Mother's Day. I hope you like the turtle I got you this year for Mother's Day better than the snake I got you last year." This is from Eileen, who is nine years old, from Baltimore: "Dear Mother, I wish Mother's Day wasn't always on Sunday. It would be better if it were on Monday so we wouldn't have to go to school." This is from Diane, age eight, from Cincinnati: "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother's Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn't looking." Carol, who is eight from Los Angeles: "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a Happy Mother's Day." (John Maxwell, Enjoy Life Club, He Who Laughs Lasts and Lasts and Lasts, vol. 6, no. 5, 1990)

Motherhood and fatherhood, too have plenty of those moments when even two aspirin is not enough. Reflecting on lessons learned in her life, Alice Johnson remembers a time when, as a young mother with two preschoolers, she was often overwhelmed. Falling exhausted into bed on night, she poured out her frustrations to God. "The kids won't mind, the house is a mess, my husband doesn't seem to care ..."--the list went on. Alice remembers that, suddenly, a voice said to her heart, "Which one do you want me to take away?" That caused an immediate change: Everything I was complaining about was precious to me. Immediately, I began to thank God for everything on my list--something I continue to do now as a grandmother. (Alice Johnson. Christian Reader, Vol. 36, no. 5).

Alice was fortunate. She learned and applied an important and beautiful lesson from God without having to go through a physical trial. Marian Hammaren was not so fortunate. In an ad for a book entitled Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To by Anthony DeStefano, she writes, This coming Sunday is Mother's Day. For many it will be a very happy, joyous occasion. For me it's going to be very difficult. You see, my daughter, Caitlin Hammaren, was a much-loved 19-year-old sophomore at Virginia Tech. On April 16, 2007 one year ago a deranged young man shot and killed her... along with 31 other innocent people. When one of his bullets took my Caity's life, it might as well have taken mine, too.

When there have been tragedies at colleges Jill Behrman down at IU; Wade Steffeys accidental electrocution at Purdue; the shootings at Virginia Tech Lois and I have commented how terrible it must be to send a son or daughter off to college, full of hopes and dreams, and then to receive news of any kind of tragedy like that. As humans, we can feel some of the emptiness and devastation of a tragedy, but we could never experience the full extent of what those parents are living through. How can anyone get through tragedies like those?

As I remarked earlier, Mothers Day has an honorable beginning and history. In fact, it was born out of tragedy itself. It was 1876 and the nation still mourned the Civil War dead. While teaching a Memorial Day lesson in a small Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis thought of mothers who had lost their sons. She prayed that one day there could be a "Memorial Day" for mothers. The prayer made a deep impression on one of Mrs. Jarvis's eleven children. Young Anna had seen her mother's efforts to hold the war-split community and church together. As she grew into adulthood, the younger woman kept Mrs. Jarvis's dream in her heart. On the day of her mother's death, Anna was determined to establish Mother's Day in her honor. On May 12, 1907, a local observance was held which later spread to Philadelphia. By 1910, Mother's Day was celebrated in forty-five states, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico. On May 8, 1914, President Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day "for displaying the American flag and for the public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of the country."

People like Anna Reeves Jarvis and Marian Hammaren and many others harbor hope in spite of tragedy because they know the enduring promise of God. We have read in Hebrews 13:14, For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. If the kinds of events that I have already mentioned do not convince us of the truth the overwhelming truth of that verse, then I do not know what could convince you. Nothing that remains in this world is enduring. Nothing that remains in this world is everlasting. Everything and everyone in this world perishes. Not so in that city that is to come.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. This verse indicates the eternal nature of Jesus. Salvation through the Lamb of God is complete and everlasting. Elsewhere in Hebrews, readers are reminded that the priests continue to offer sacrifices whereas the sacrifice of Jesus is complete because his work of salvation is complete. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let that sink into us. We have been made holy. I spoke last week that we cannot allow ourselves to engage in self-righteousness because we have no righteousness. We have no holiness. Only God is holy. But look what God has done. Through the suffering of his only begotten son, He has made us holy.

Suffering and tragedy and trials of many kinds will plague us throughout our time on earth. If tragedy does not strike here, it will strike somewhere; just look at the devastation of that cyclone in Myanmar. Whether personal or overwhelmingly huge, how are we to cope with disaster? The Bible tells us, Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Well, what is this? Some kind of trivial advice intended to slap a band-aid over an arterial bleeding wound? An attempt to make us replace reality with pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking? It would be if it was not for the reality of the One making the promise. Turn in this same book, Hebrews, to chapter 11:35-40. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Events like this would certainly move us to offer God a sacrifice of praise. Certainly the mothers of Civil War soldiers killed in combat would want their dead raised back to life. Certainly Marian Hammaren would want her daughter raised back to life. But Hebrews goes on to include a very different scenario: Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

The reality is that the instruction to continually offer God a sacrifice of praise is backed by God Himself. The promise that there is an enduring city that is to come is backed by God Himself. God cannot lie; therefore, we cope by knowing and trusting that we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Marian Hammaren has been able to find this truth. Her story continues: When we finally reached the campus, we were ushered to a large room filled with other anxious parents. And that's when it happened. Two men a policeman and a minister started walking toward Chris and me. I'll never forget that moment. I wanted to run out of the room. I didn't want to hear what I knew they were going to tell me. But I couldn't move. With tremendous compassion and sympathy, the officer asked: Mr. and Mrs. Hammaren? When I nodded, he continued: I'm sorry. Your daughter was pronounced dead at five minutes after ten this morning. And with that, my world had ended. Or so I thought. The next week was a blur. And the days home in New York are fuzzy. But one thing I remember very clearly is opening Caity's laptop after we were given her belongings. Just above the screen was taped a short message that read: God, I know that today nothing can happen that you and I can't handle together. Unfortunately, it would be several months ...and a lot of tears... not to mention some real angry shouts at God... before my daughter's message penetrated my heart and soul. How, you ask? Because our loving God always and I mean ALWAYS brings good out of evil.

Since that awful time, Mrs. Hammeran has ministered to and with other parents whose childrens lives were taken that day. She has been a witness and a testimony to other families who have suffered traumatic tragedies. Because of the faith of her daughter her precious Caity and because she learned by faith what it means to trust God and to continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise and to look for the city that is to come, others have been led to also trust God for a healing now and for the eternal healing of salvation.

It is through disobedience to God that tragedies and their consequences have their way in the world. This broken world is not the creation that He set in place. Yet, when that first complete fellowship between humanity and our Creator was broken, God did not abandon us. Instead, in an act of sacrifice to Himself, He gave His only begotten Son. As the book of Hebrews teaches, Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. It is this truth and promise through which we can endure the tragedies that would otherwise prevail in this life. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

www.bhfirstbaptist.com
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org   

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

THE ENDURING CITY

May 11, 2008

Text: Hebrews 13:7-16

Happy Mothers Day. Some people who are a bit more cynical than me claim that this day is celebrated for the phone, greeting card, and food service companies. Granted, they make some profit from the occasion of Mothers Day as we phone our mothers, give cards to our mothers, and take our mothers out to eat. But Mothers Day really does have an honorable beginning and history. Ill share more on that in a moment, but first I want to bring you some heartfelt Mothers Day notes from some others.

This is from Angie, who is age eight: "Dear Mother, I am going to make dinner for you on Mother's Day. It's going to be a surprise. P.S. I hope you like pizza and popcorn." This is from Robert, age eight, from Portland, Maine: "I got you a turtle for Mother's Day. I hope you like the turtle I got you this year for Mother's Day better than the snake I got you last year." This is from Eileen, who is nine years old, from Baltimore: "Dear Mother, I wish Mother's Day wasn't always on Sunday. It would be better if it were on Monday so we wouldn't have to go to school." This is from Diane, age eight, from Cincinnati: "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother's Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn't looking." Carol, who is eight from Los Angeles: "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a Happy Mother's Day." (John Maxwell, Enjoy Life Club, He Who Laughs Lasts and Lasts and Lasts, vol. 6, no. 5, 1990)

Motherhood and fatherhood, too have plenty of those moments when even two aspirin is not enough. Reflecting on lessons learned in her life, Alice Johnson remembers a time when, as a young mother with two preschoolers, she was often overwhelmed. Falling exhausted into bed on night, she poured out her frustrations to God. "The kids won't mind, the house is a mess, my husband doesn't seem to care ..."--the list went on. Alice remembers that, suddenly, a voice said to her heart, "Which one do you want me to take away?" That caused an immediate change: Everything I was complaining about was precious to me. Immediately, I began to thank God for everything on my list--something I continue to do now as a grandmother. (Alice Johnson. Christian Reader, Vol. 36, no. 5).

Alice was fortunate. She learned and applied an important and beautiful lesson from God without having to go through a physical trial. Marian Hammaren was not so fortunate. In an ad for a book entitled Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To by Anthony DeStefano, she writes, This coming Sunday is Mother's Day. For many it will be a very happy, joyous occasion. For me it's going to be very difficult. You see, my daughter, Caitlin Hammaren, was a much-loved 19-year-old sophomore at Virginia Tech. On April 16, 2007 one year ago a deranged young man shot and killed her... along with 31 other innocent people. When one of his bullets took my Caity's life, it might as well have taken mine, too.

When there have been tragedies at colleges Jill Behrman down at IU; Wade Steffeys accidental electrocution at Purdue; the shootings at Virginia Tech Lois and I have commented how terrible it must be to send a son or daughter off to college, full of hopes and dreams, and then to receive news of any kind of tragedy like that. As humans, we can feel some of the emptiness and devastation of a tragedy, but we could never experience the full extent of what those parents are living through. How can anyone get through tragedies like those?

As I remarked earlier, Mothers Day has an honorable beginning and history. In fact, it was born out of tragedy itself. It was 1876 and the nation still mourned the Civil War dead. While teaching a Memorial Day lesson in a small Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis thought of mothers who had lost their sons. She prayed that one day there could be a "Memorial Day" for mothers. The prayer made a deep impression on one of Mrs. Jarvis's eleven children. Young Anna had seen her mother's efforts to hold the war-split community and church together. As she grew into adulthood, the younger woman kept Mrs. Jarvis's dream in her heart. On the day of her mother's death, Anna was determined to establish Mother's Day in her honor. On May 12, 1907, a local observance was held which later spread to Philadelphia. By 1910, Mother's Day was celebrated in forty-five states, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico. On May 8, 1914, President Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day "for displaying the American flag and for the public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of the country."

People like Anna Reeves Jarvis and Marian Hammaren and many others harbor hope in spite of tragedy because they know the enduring promise of God. We have read in Hebrews 13:14, For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. If the kinds of events that I have already mentioned do not convince us of the truth the overwhelming truth of that verse, then I do not know what could convince you. Nothing that remains in this world is enduring. Nothing that remains in this world is everlasting. Everything and everyone in this world perishes. Not so in that city that is to come.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. This verse indicates the eternal nature of Jesus. Salvation through the Lamb of God is complete and everlasting. Elsewhere in Hebrews, readers are reminded that the priests continue to offer sacrifices whereas the sacrifice of Jesus is complete because his work of salvation is complete. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let that sink into us. We have been made holy. I spoke last week that we cannot allow ourselves to engage in self-righteousness because we have no righteousness. We have no holiness. Only God is holy. But look what God has done. Through the suffering of his only begotten son, He has made us holy.

Suffering and tragedy and trials of many kinds will plague us throughout our time on earth. If tragedy does not strike here, it will strike somewhere; just look at the devastation of that cyclone in Myanmar. Whether personal or overwhelmingly huge, how are we to cope with disaster? The Bible tells us, Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Well, what is this? Some kind of trivial advice intended to slap a band-aid over an arterial bleeding wound? An attempt to make us replace reality with pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking? It would be if it was not for the reality of the One making the promise. Turn in this same book, Hebrews, to chapter 11:35-40. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Events like this would certainly move us to offer God a sacrifice of praise. Certainly the mothers of Civil War soldiers killed in combat would want their dead raised back to life. Certainly Marian Hammaren would want her daughter raised back to life. But Hebrews goes on to include a very different scenario: Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

The reality is that the instruction to continually offer God a sacrifice of praise is backed by God Himself. The promise that there is an enduring city that is to come is backed by God Himself. God cannot lie; therefore, we cope by knowing and trusting that we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Marian Hammaren has been able to find this truth. Her story continues: When we finally reached the campus, we were ushered to a large room filled with other anxious parents. And that's when it happened. Two men a policeman and a minister started walking toward Chris and me. I'll never forget that moment. I wanted to run out of the room. I didn't want to hear what I knew they were going to tell me. But I couldn't move. With tremendous compassion and sympathy, the officer asked: Mr. and Mrs. Hammaren? When I nodded, he continued: I'm sorry. Your daughter was pronounced dead at five minutes after ten this morning. And with that, my world had ended. Or so I thought. The next week was a blur. And the days home in New York are fuzzy. But one thing I remember very clearly is opening Caity's laptop after we were given her belongings. Just above the screen was taped a short message that read: God, I know that today nothing can happen that you and I can't handle together. Unfortunately, it would be several months ...and a lot of tears... not to mention some real angry shouts at God... before my daughter's message penetrated my heart and soul. How, you ask? Because our loving God always and I mean ALWAYS brings good out of evil.

Since that awful time, Mrs. Hammeran has ministered to and with other parents whose childrens lives were taken that day. She has been a witness and a testimony to other families who have suffered traumatic tragedies. Because of the faith of her daughter her precious Caity and because she learned by faith what it means to trust God and to continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise and to look for the city that is to come, others have been led to also trust God for a healing now and for the eternal healing of salvation.

It is through disobedience to God that tragedies and their consequences have their way in the world. This broken world is not the creation that He set in place. Yet, when that first complete fellowship between humanity and our Creator was broken, God did not abandon us. Instead, in an act of sacrifice to Himself, He gave His only begotten Son. As the book of Hebrews teaches, Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. It is this truth and promise through which we can endure the tragedies that would otherwise prevail in this life. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

http://www.bhfirstbaptist.com

-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org