Breaking Routine (Hebrews 12:1-2)                                                           2009.10.04                                  Leonard Hall 

As part of Charis Sunday, my message to the congregation is both a time to share recent experiences, and to provide an encouragement to follow the calling that God has placed in each of your hearts.  We should begin by looking to the example of Christ in the second verse of Hebrews 12. 

Christ knew that He had a calling from God.  There are many examples throughout the gospels in which He explains His knowledge of coming events.  For example, Luke 9:22 says, “And He said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed, and on the third day be raised to life.’”  Jesus knew that His calling from God was to suffer injustice, to be rejected and ultimately killed.

Yet Jesus followed through on His calling even though He knew it was one of hardship and suffering.  He followed God’s calling.  Why?  “For the joy set before Him.”  He knew that His own suffering and sacrifice would reunite mankind to its Maker and Creator, through grace, resulting in a beautiful example of mercy and forgiveness.  And for this act, Christ was then able to sit down “at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Unfortunately, we as humans do not have the benefit of knowing the result of faithful action, but we are asked to step out in faith, trusting that our God has a great and beautiful plan for our actions

As a young adult, my own personal experience has been that this time in life is very dynamic, exciting and absorbing.  Like others in my fellowship group are experiencing, it is a time to move on from years of schooling, in order to now create a life that each of us can call our own.  This may include many things like a new career, new home, new marriages, and the blessing of having children.  All of these things, especially together, can cause us to create comfortable routine in our lives.

I personally have put aside a calling that I feel is a calling from God, for the sake of creating this life of comfort and routine.  For several years, I have felt the calling to use my experience and education as a Firefighter/Paramedic to bring medicine and healing to underprivileged people around the world.  Yet, I have put this calling aside with excuses of being busy, and the resignation of “next year.”

Finally, this past summer, I took the opportunity to follow God’s calling.  I signed up for our church’s RAV annual mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico, devoting time away from work and my new wife, in order to serve others.  My experience in Mexico was, like many before me have experienced, physically, spiritually, and emotionally uncomfortable.  However, from the positive influence this trip had upon me, I know that by following God’s calling to serve in this capacity, I was blessed, and had the privilege to bless others.

In a similar fashion, an experience that I have had at work shows similarities of blessed service.  At the fire department I work for, there were 2 members who were devoted followers of Christ.  15 years ago, they made a decision to follow the calling to establish a weekly bible study in the mornings before shift-change.  Over the years, despite subtle hostility and ridicule to their endeavors, the bible study has grown to a regular group of attendees, with 2 separate weekly meetings.  As a current attendee, I can attest to the spiritual benefit that I receive from this bible study.  It is by their faithful service and devotion to a godly calling that I am blessed today.

            So what is the reason for running the race marked out for us, as the author of Hebrews writes?  And what is the reason for following after the example of Christ, who followed His calling to endure the cross?  The author refers, in verse 1, to a great cloud of witnesses.  The witnesses he is referring to are the pillars of the Jewish faith (those that he mentions in the preceding chapter – Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Samuel and all the prophets).  To the author, these great witnesses acted with great examples of faith, in order to receive the things that were promised by God.

In our young adult bible study, a recurring lesson is the idea of maintaining a “heavenly perspective” – that there is something better for all of us, besides what we see and experience here on earth.  Like Jesus, who followed His calling, endured the cross, and who was then able to sit at the right hand of the throne of God, we have the opportunity to receive a glorious inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is my encouragement to you, from the perspective of a young adult.

That the world around, the routine and the life that we build up for ourselves can be comfortable… But there are so many before us, including Christ, who acted in faith to follow God’s calling.  They were blessed, blessed others, but more importantly stand to receive so much more at the throne of our God.  And I encourage us all to follow their example.