Hebrews 10:19-25
{Prayer}
Today is a day with all sorts of things going on. We have the blessing of the Bibles and Catechisms. Even though some are back in school, we have the blessing of the backpacks. In the late service we will have the recognition and blessing of our Sunday School volunteers, Confirmation teachers, Bible Study leaders, as well as having the Sunday School kids sing.
With Rally Day Sunday, there is this sense of things starting up. Confirmation starts today. A new young adult Bible Class begins today. Sunday School kids move up to their new class today. Next month a new GriefShare, LifeLight, and Adult Instruction classes are beginning.
With all these things starting up and happening … it would be really easy to focus our attention on them. It would be easy to raise the question for us … what are you going to begin?
But life isn’t just about beginnings, and it isn’t just about how things end. No, life is about holding on, holding on to the right thing.
When the kids were younger, Jessica and I would take them places like parents do. We weren’t a fan of those backpacks kids could wear that essentially look like a leash for kids. Instead, we would walk around and ask the kids to hold on to our hands. There’s something about the contact, that physical holding on that provides a sense of safety. The kids knew that no matter how many people were around us … they were safe. And they were safe, not because they had a hold of us, but because we had a hold of them.
Martin Luther once said, “It’s not by our holding on to God that we are kept safe, but by God holding on to us with a stronger grip than we could ever have.” And that’s exactly what the writer to the Hebrews reminds us of when he says we have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (10:19). Our safety, our security, our salvation … these things don’t depend on the strength of our grip, but on God’s grip.
If it was left up to the strength of our grip, we’d be sunk. How often does a kid try to get away when mom or dad are holding on to them? How often do you and I try to get away from God? All the time, right? We confess it often, “We are by nature sinful and unclean. Daily we do the things we ought not do and do not live up to our calling as Your people.” Daily we try to run away from God.
And this is why it’s such good news that it’s not our grip that saves us, but His. “By the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body … let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (10:19-22). Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have access to God. Just like a child has direct access to mom or dad, we have access to our Heavenly Father.
Knowing this, believing this … gives us strength. Strength from the One who is holding on to you. Strength found in the Word that He gives to us. The writer of Hebrews says, “Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” (10:23). God holds on to us, and we hold on to His Word.
Martin Luther once said, “God’s Word is the rope to which we must cling, for it alone will not fail us in the flood.” In the flood of emotions, in the rocking waves of distractions inthis world … God’s Word is our lifeline. If we let go of God’s Word, if we stop spending time with Him … our grip weakens, and we can easily drift farther and farther away from Him.
We are called to hold on to God’s Word. This morning we are giving out Bibles to our 3rd graders, catechisms, which helps us understand the Bible, to our 6th and 7th graders. We recognize those who give of their time to help teach our youth about the good news of Jesus and the promises of God. All this is not so much us giving these things to our youth, but God is giving them to each and everyone of us so that we can abide in Him.
And we don’t do it alone. We abide in Jesus together. It’s not just “me and Jesus” but “we and Jesus.” God puts in a community of faith so that we can encourage one another, strengthen one another, and “stir up” one another. The author of Hebrews says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another” (10:25).
And while some would say, “Pastor, you’re preaching to the choir. We’re already here.” Yes, that’s true. But I truly believe this passage is about more than Sunday attendance. “Let us not give up meeting together” is about community, about being a family. It’s about more than hour, or maybe two if you attend Sunday School or a Bible Class. It’s about fellowship and hospitality. It’s about inviting people into your home for a meal, visiting someone in the hospital or in a care facility. It’s about visiting and checking in on our college students as they get ready to head out. It’s about talking with our youth and being truly interested and invested in their lives. It’s so much more than just inviting someone back to church who hasn’t been a while … it’s about walking alongside them in life.
God places people in our lives, teachers, parents, friends, church members, people who God uses to keep us holding on to His promises and the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
We all know there are seasons of discouragement, seasons of suffering and temptation. I once knew an older gentleman in the Nebraska who had from prostrate cancer. When they discovered that the treatments weren’t working, they quit them all together. He suffered a lot in those final weeks and days. But he didn’t suffer alone. He was surrounded by his family and friends.
But there was something else that was near him. Next to his bed he had a cross. Not just any cross but a cross that he could very easily wrap his fingers around and hold on to it. It’s called a formed cross or a clinging cross. In the midst of the pain, in the midst his struggles he would wrap his fingers around it and hold on to that cross. When he passed away … he was still holding it.
The call for us this Rally Sunday and each day of our life is to keep holding on. Keep holding on, not because life is easy, but Christ is worth it. Christ is worth it to you and you are worth it to Christ. He says in Hebrews 13, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (13:5).
So even so much going on today as we begin a new Christian Education year … remember this daily truth: cling to the One who has clung to you from before time began, to cross, and into eternity.
A child feels safe when their parent holds them tight. That is your daily reminder in Christ. The nail-scarred hands of your Savior have you … and they will never let you go. Amen.
The peace of God that surpasses all human understanding, guard and protect you, now and forever. Amen.
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