Sermon Transcript — April 28, 2007
Good morning everyone. It is nice to see all of you here on God's Sabbath day, and any guests who might be here. It has been awhile since we have been in the a.m. congregation. In fact, it has been awhile since we have been in Cincinnati at all for a Sabbath. This past week I returned from Ghana. I was in Africa last Sabbath. I spoke in a place called Elmina. Elmina is actually a Portuguese name. The Portuguese were very influential on the coast of Ghana. They actually built several large structures there that were used for the slave trade back in the 1400 and 1500s. Still today that little fishing village goes by the name Elmina, but I didn't see any Portuguese while I was there. They are quite an interesting group of people. We have 16 congregations in Ghana and we have 11 pastors. We didn't do a lot of traveling this time within the country. As I said, I did go down to Elmina last Sabbath from Accra. It is about a three-hour drive. We left at about I believe 6:00 in the morning. We thought services were at 10:00 but in Africa you just never know. We found out when we arrived they were at 9:00 and they had already started when we got there, but they were supposed to be at 10. We found out they had lost their hall the day before. Now the hall they normally meet in where I had been before has no roof on it, and it has only a partial wall. Part of it has caved in. So you sit in a building that has a dirt floor, partial wall, and no roof, and that is where you have services. Of course, they usually do it in the morning because the heat of the afternoon would be a little rough. Already at 9:00 it was 92 degrees when services started. We found out in route, or just before we left, that services were at another location, actually in another church, another church building, a Sunday church which would allow us to meet there on Saturday morning. Well, we come to find out this Sunday church had a wedding scheduled on Saturday morning. The wedding was scheduled for 9:00, and our service was scheduled for 9:00. So I showed up. What they had done, they put ushers at the doors and denied anyone entrance except our people. So they had all of the wedding people in their tuxes and their dresses sitting outside in the sun while we hold services. Needless to say, they didn't look real favorable when I walked in and began the services. Actually I thought it was rather impressive, they had ushers who had armbands on. I haven't seen those since the ‘50s or ‘60s. It said "United Church of God Usher", and it had a banner so they identified themselves. They were stopping people at the door and making them sit down outside. As services went on it became more and more disruptive; I thought it was going to be a riot around this hall, with all of the wedding people gathered outside and us trying to hold services inside. It was one of the shortest services I have ever conducted. I think we finished in about 45 minutes and got out of there as quickly as we could before the rest of the wedding party ran us typical. Typical of this part of Africa as they over-schedule or don't schedule. It is a bit lacking there as far as some of this organization. We did have services. We had about 150 people there that day. When we started services I think there were about 60 or 70 because a lot of the members didn't know it started at 9:00 either, but before we were done we had about 150.
They are very, very nice people, wonderful people to be around. The Ghanaians are a very friendly and warm people. They conduct themselves in that manner, whether they are in the church or not, we found out. Of course in Accra which is the major city in Ghana there is certainly a bit more structure, a bit more going on, a lot more building going on. In fact, one of the nights we were there was the first time a European orchestra had played in Ghana. So there was a big event going on in the city of Accra where they had an orchestra, I forget which orchestra it was, I think either from Austria or from…I don't recall, but it was the first time a European orchestra, literally a white orchestra, composed of white individuals, had come to Ghana to play and they had a performance that evening. It was quite energetic and quite exciting to be around at that particular time.
Flying within Ghana is a difficulty. Flying within Africa is a difficulty. We try to limit that. That is why we normally travel by vehicle, to avoid that. When you travel in Africa you take your life in your hands. There used to be a web site, and to my knowledge it doesn't exist any more, this is what Melvin Rhodes had told me in the past. I am sure he was correct. I never found it, but he said there was a web site called "goingdownoverafrica.com". You go there and you type in the flight number you are flying and it would give you the percentages of that plane crashing. You have a 10%, you have a 20%, and you have a 30% because it is so common to have airline crashes. The last time I flew internally in an African country was Nigeria. We got on the plane. It was a fairly large jet. When we got on all of the seats were tied up with bungee cords because they were broken. They won't stay up so they tie them up so they can take off. You sit in one…this one is broken…you go find another. There are no seats assigned, and you try to find the right one. The only thing there was it was safer flying on that plane we felt than it was driving at night in Nigeria, so we chose to do that as opposed to driving. Ghana is a bit different. It is a much safer country, much less crime, although it is beginning to appear more and more as the country continues to expand. The economy is actually a bit better.
The members are doing well. As I said, we have 16 congregations in Ghana. Some of them are fairly remote, villages where they don't have electricity or running water. To get out to those areas is a bit more problematic but it was good to be there. We had training for the ministry there for a week and a half. We took them through doctrinal discussions similar to what we do for the ABC students, the fundamental beliefs of the church, to help them be able to teach the brethren. It was just a wonderful trip and very enjoyable to see them. It is the first time I have been to Ghana since 2004, I believe, which was my last trip. So it has been about three years. They have started a few new churches. There is one church Mr. Rhodes went to on the Sabbath that is brand new, and within about six months it has about 110 people that have started attending. They are advertising the Good News…I guess not advertising except by word of mouth, and circulation has built up to some degree. English is the national language so that helps. But many of the members speak a language called Twi. It is an interesting language and we have to have translators when we speak. They are very animated people. They are very humble and very quiet people until they get behind a mike. And they jack the power up and it is just loud, very, very loud. So you say something and then they are yelling over here beside you. I didn't say that…they have no idea what I said…and I have no idea what they are saying…I am assuming that the message I gave which was on how to keep the Sabbath was translated properly…and if it was the entire wedding party sitting outside heard what I had to say. I am not sure there were any new Sabbath keepers after that but it was an interesting day.
Brethren, when you hear the word hero you probably have different concepts that come to your mind of what a hero is. Sometimes you think of famous people who have done great things. These are some of the heroes people have. War will often identify people as heroes, often for one specific event that they participated in as opposed to anything else that has happened in their lives. And often in war an 18-year-old, 19-year-old, or 20-year-old does become a hero. Recently a survey was done to determine the most important photograph of the 20 th century. At least in this particular survey the conclusion was the photo of the raising of the American flag on Mt. Suribachi on the small volcanic island of Iwo Jima was the most important photo of the 20 th Century. This particular photo rocketed six men to the status of hero. The six men who raised that flag were immediately recognized as heroes, certainly throughout the western world. This particular picture appeared in newspapers all over this country in 1945. It was considered by some the key, the most significant public relations event of the war, the Americans planting the flag on Mt. Suribachi. This island that is called Iwo Jima was considered important at that particular time in February 1945, as the Americans were advancing toward Japan. The strategy of the Americans was to advance island by island until they came to Japan. The Japanese had dug in on many of these islands. Later on the strategy changed when the atomic bomb was introduced, and some have questioned whether these islands were worth the men who sacrificed their lives. The Americans brought a force of 110,000 Marines and Navy personnel just off the island of Iwo Jima, prepared to land. The Japanese had only 23,000 soldiers on the island of Iwo Jima. But as one soldier remarked later on, there were no Japanese on the island; they were all in the island. Because they had a year to prepare and they were all dug in. They were all underground. Over the next month they would pop up and appear here, there, and everywhere. Sometimes right in the middle and right behind the lines of the American troops. It was truly a brutal, brutal fight. These 23,000 Japanese soldiers were dug in on the tiny island four miles long and eight miles square, shaped like a pork chop. Mt. Suribachi was still an active volcano. It stands 516 feet above sea level; it is the highest point on the southern end of the island. The Marines planted on February 19, 1945, and on February 23, 1945, this heroic event occurred where one of the generals had ordered 250 men to climb the mountain and to plant the American flag. Of the 250 men who charged the mountain, ultimately there were only 27 who lived to leave the island of Iwo Jima. It was that brutal. In fact, of the platoon that the six men came from, five of the men came from the platoon and one was a naval personnel who was there and came over to help out and became one of the six men who raised the flag, five men were part of a 25-man platoon and only seven of them left Iwo Jima alive. Again, it was that brutal. Iwo Jima was the only battle in World War II in which the American casualties were higher than the Japanese. The Americans suffered 26,000 casualties on Iwo Jima, 6000 dead, and the rest were wounded. The Japanese, actually of the 23,000 Japanese soldiers, 20,000 were killed or committed suicide. There were only a few hundred who actually left the island alive eventually. Three thousand dug in caves and refused to come out, and Americans did not go in and get them. They either starved to death or they committed suicide as well. They were not going to leave. The six flag raisers were quite interesting. They consisted of Mike Strank who was a sergeant, leader of the platoon, climbed the mountain. Mike died on Iwo Jima on March 1 from a mortar attack. Harlan Block from Texas…Harlan's face can't be seen. He is the one who was leaning down with his back to the camera, planting actually the pole that was going to hold the American flag. Harlan Block, since his face could not be seen, was misidentified for 18 months after this identified. Harlan was identified as Harry Hanson from Boston. But Harlan's mother saw the picture in the newspaper and knew that was her son. It took 18 months before the U.S. State Department actually acknowledged that they had confused Harry for Harlan. Both Harry and Harlan were killed shortly thereafter. Franklin Souse from Kentucky also died on Iwo Jima on March 21, 1945. Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire. He is the one who carried the flag up the hill. He was the first survivor to arrive back in the U.S. He died a broken man at the age of 54 in 1979, never able to cope with the fact that he was called a hero when all he did was carry the flag. John Bradley was the Navy corpsman who jumped in to lend a hand. He is the one who does not have his hand on the pole itself. He actually has his hand around the man in front of him. He was wounded in both legs but survived and he died in 1994 at the age of 71, the only one of the six who lived somewhat of a normal life and a successful life after Iwo Jima. The sixth and final flag raiser was maybe the most interesting of all. He was a Native American, a Pima Indian from Arizona. His name was Ira Hamilton Hayes. Ira died at the age of 32 in 1954 in a drunken stupor. When asked how he liked being a hero, he said he didn't. He was a conflicted man after returning to the U.S. He was deeply bothered by the fact that the Marines had misidentified Harlan Block and he fought to have Harlan recognized. He walked a thousand miles from his home in Arizona to Texas to tell Harlan's mother that he was in the picture. He could not live until he had accomplished that. In 1954 President Truman asked Ira Hayes, "How does it feel to be a hero?" He said, "How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?" Ira hung his head and said, "I am no hero." In one brief moment in his life in the midst of a horrific battle Ira became a national hero, a national icon. He was brought back to the United States with the other two survivors, only three survived of the six, and they toured the United States, spoke to large crowds in ballparks, 70,000-100,000 people. They were introduced as American heroes. After the death of Ira Hayes, Johnny Cash wrote a song and sang a song about Ira Hayes. It's called "Drunken Ira Hayes". You can still hear it to this day. Some considered it an insult but it truly captured his life story.
Drunken Ira Hayes, as the song goes, was a Pima Indian. He was only a hero for a brief period of time. The chorus of the song goes like this. Call him drunken Ira Hayes, he won't answer any more. Not the Whiskey drinking Indian, or the marine that went to war. Gather around me people, there's a story I will tell, about a brave young Indian you should remember well.
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian, A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed
There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived
to walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
Ira returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored;
Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance
Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
like you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died
A very sad and mournful ballad about a man who was declared to be a hero and who was taken around the country in 1945 to be praised as a hero. Ira said, I am no hero. I stood on a hill in the middle of the pacific and I raised a flag. For that I became a hero. Clearly, from the historical record, Ira and the others were used to raise money for the war. They were part of the bond effort. They were declared to be heroes. Ira could not live with the fact that he really was no hero.
Over the course of time there have been many people who for one single moment in one event in their lives have been declared to be heroes. This morning I would like to talk about heroes. But I don't want to talk about heroes from war. I believe the tragic story of Ira Hayes makes the point that one act of heroism does not make one a hero. One particular place in time where you may stand and where an event may occur does not make you a hero. I would like to talk about what makes people spiritual heroes. The title of my sermon this morning is "Heroes of Faith".
How can you be a hero of faith? Are you a hero of faith? In thinking about the sermon and going to Ghana, whenever I Ghana or go to Africa you spend nights in lonely hotels and you struggle where there is no electricity at times, no running water at times, and it sometimes gets pretty brutal. You sit there and wonder, what on earth am I doing here? What am I doing here? I have a comfortable bed 6000 miles away. I have a place where I can go. I have people that I know who I can be around. I am going to a remote village in Ghana or Nigeria to meet some people who I have never met before, and I have no knowledge of what they are going to be like. You think that as you go to bed in the evening. You try to get some sleep. And the next morning you walk into a congregation of people who have walked for 20 or 30 kilometers because you were coming. Who crossed rivers, who crossed Lake Volta, 20 miles across, most of them unable to swim, in which almost every week there is the capsizing of a boat and people drown. It is absolutely incredible that around Lake Volta where many of the people live, they don't even know how to swim and they live on Lake Volta. They cross the lake because you are coming. We begin to realize the definition of hero is something quite different than most people in the world think, when you think of it in terms of spiritual. There are many heroes of faith around the world among the people of God and there always have been. Often they are not the deacons or elders…they are certainly heroes as well in many ways…or the pastors, but those people who sacrifice their lives to be a part of the Church of God. Those people who give everything they have to come and make a visit where there will be a pastor from the United States. They are in awe and they are thrilled to have you come to their house, to share a meal with them, to share a service with them. I never come back from Africa without feeling not only the pain that you see among the people, but feeling very, very small, because I have just met the real heroes of faith, people who give up so much for God's way of life. People who sacrifice their lives for God's way of life. And there are those people around the world.
Turn with me to Proverbs 29. First I would like to identify what the Bible shows to be a problem. It is a problem that has always been here. It is a problem that will always be here. It is a problem the Bible says will be worse as time goes on; it is not going to get better. Proverbs 29:18. The word used here in the King James is vision.The word used in the New King James is revelation. Where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint. But happy is he who keeps the law.The Bible speaks in terms of the people of God being able to see into the future, being able to see into the kingdom of God and willing to sacrifice their lives for something they have never experienced. Not a single one of us has ever experienced the kingdom of God. Yet God calls upon us to sacrifice everything for the kingdom of God. It is something you have never seen. The heroes, though, see it; the heroes understand it. The heroes know that the world that is coming is the true world, that today is nothing but make believe. There is nothing real about the world we live in because it won't last. The real world is yet to come. When you speak to a lot of the members in Africa, they asked me to give a presentation on prophecy in a previous visit. Talk about prophecy…tell us about end time events…we want to hear the story. Okay, so we go to Revelation. We go through events, the opening of the seals. We go through the great tribulation and I explain it. They kind of sit there. And then finally afterwards I talked to one of the deacons there and asked, well how do they feel? Do they understand what we are saying? He said, oh they understand it fine. The problem is the tribulation doesn't frighten them. They have been living in it all their lives. There is no way it can be worse than the way they live. One of the figures we heard in Ghana when we were there is 45,000 children are dying…I can't recall the length of time, whether it was a year or less…from malaria. It is still a disease that runs rampant, especially among children, and so many children die. In Kenya, almost 40% of the people have the HIV virus. It is an incredible land with incredible problems, and they know it. They can see the television. They know what we have. They know what I have. They know where I live. They are not afraid of the tribulation because they must see the kingdom of God. They cannot live if there is no hope for the future, and that hope is in the kingdom of God.
There were at least seven occasions during the life of Jesus Christ in which he used the term "little faith" when referring to his disciples. I have talked to people over the years and you probably have as well who say, oh, if I could have been around Christ I would have been a wonderful person. I would have all of this advantage. I would be someone really great, spiritually strong, spiritually great. And yet Christ over and over used the term with his disciples "little faith". Why did he say that to them? Why did he tell them they were of little faith? Because they only saw where they were standing. And Christ explained to them about the kingdom. Christ showed them the kingdom in the vision where the transfiguration occurred. That is described in the book of Matthew. They saw that. Yet they still could not envision what it was going to be like.
Look at Luke 22. This is the example of Simon Peter. If you had to pick an apostle who was the great apostle who had so much going, so much on the ball…he was really forward, he was really supportive, he was really helpful to Christ. And Christ used him quite a bit. But in verse 31 of Luke 22, Christ said this to Peter. And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you.I always find that interesting. He said, Satan has asked for you.The implication being that Satan cannot have him unless Christ allowed it. It was sort of like the example of Job where God had restrained Satan and then allowed Satan to go and do all of these things to Job. He said Simon, Simon!Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.What does that mean, sift you as wheat?He was going to try him, he was going to strain him, he was going to put stress on him. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail. That your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."
The implication was that Peter was going to take a wrong turn, which he did. But Christ knew that he would come back. And he said, when you come back strengthen your brethren. That your faith should not fail. Christ did not pray that you don't die; Christ did not pray that you don't get sick; Christ did not pray that nothing bad happens to you. He said, I pray that your faith should not fail.
This is Jesus Christ the head of the church. I would think that Christ would be praying the same thing for us today, that our faith would not fail. You can be ill, you can struggle with all sorts of trials and problems in your life, and you can be in the kingdom of God. But how can you be in God's kingdom if your faith fails? Christ did not pray that Peter should never experience a problem. I think that speaks volumes to us. Sometimes we think of faith as being something that will protect us from anything bad that will happen. We sort of think if something bad happens we must have been lacking in faith. The Bible does not support that view. Something bad can happen to people who have a great deal of faith. People can die who have a great deal of faith.
There was a time in the church when we were pretty judgmental. Maybe we have always been that way. Maybe the church has always been that way, or maybe that is just human nature to be judgmental. But we have to identify, if someone has bad things happen to them we have to find a reason why. It is almost like a conviction that we have to find a solution. And so the solution must be that he is doing something wrong. Or that he is failing in some way in his faith. Some of the most faithful people, and truly heroes of faith that I have known over the years, have died, and in some cases early in life. But I considered them heroes of faith. The length of your life, the lack of trials does not qualify you or me to be a hero of faith. It is something entirely different.
Look at Luke 18. Again, Christ makes a statement here that you are all quite familiar with. Probably over the years you have heard a number of sermons that would play right off this particular verse. Luke 18:7-8. Now do we doubt for a moment that Jesus Christ as the son of God, as our savior, could not look into the future and could not see what is going to happen. Verse 7. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?God doesn't answer sometimes, or it seems like he doesn't answer right away. He says he bears long with them.
Verse 8. He says, I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
Now that can be read in different ways. Some people have read that as a statement that he won't find faith on earth. It's a question. It doesn't have to be true. But here is the implication of this question, that in the end time it will be harder and harder to be faithful. It will try and test your faith in the end time. Because events of the end time are going to test you. They will test you in a way that you will either become a hero of faith or you will not survive. It isn't a matter of one single event or moment in time. Heroes of faith are those who are faithful. Heroes of faith are those who withstand trial after trial after trial, and are still faithful, and are still looking for the kingdom of God.
The description of the end time in other verses, you can read them in Revelation, is one of faithlessness, lack of trust, lack of faith, lack of confidence in God and his kingdom. This is the world in which we live. Among the true believers though is a warning about becoming lethargic, about being worn out. There is a verse in the book of Daniel that has always struck me. It talks about the end time, and you know what it says? It says, Satan will be victorious over the people of God. Now that shocks me! I don't think in those terms. We will always be victorious. We will win every battle. And yet it says that Satan will be victorious for a time. It says he will wear out the saints. We live in a society that will wear you out.
Going to Africa is also interesting because you see an entirely different lifestyle. A different way of doing things. In the cities it is very, very busy. But if you get out away from the cities they operate on what is called either African time or Ghanaian time; which means 9:00 church may be 12:00 but we will be there sometime. The stress we live under to be here at 8:00, to be there at 10:00, to be there at 1:00 is so incredible today that it will wear you out. And sometimes even on the Sabbath it is very difficult to leave it all behind, to walk into that island of time called the Sabbath and become the hero of faith and to leave the stress behind.
There is a different stress certainly in Africa. I would not say that they have no stress. They have to find food. They wake up on many days in some of these areas not knowing what they will eat that day, or if they will eat that day. They have to get out on the streets and try to sell. The Sabbath, though, is such as day to them. When we first started meeting with the group in Ghana they held services starting at 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning and they didn't leave until 5 o'clock in the evening. Sermons were normally two and three hours. Services lasted all of that time. This wasn't that they just stayed and fellowshipped. They did that as well. But that was just the length of services. And one of the first things we asked them to do was to cut their services down to the two-hour format that we use. They said, well we will do that. But we want to explain to you why we have services all day. These people live such a hard and arduous life that the Sabbath is the only day they can come out of the world and be in a place that is peaceful and happy. You go and visit them in their homes and you will find out what it is like. There may be 20 or 30 people in a room or two rooms. We met one man who is a member who had seven children. He and his wife lived in a room that was 12 feet x 10 feet. That was it. That's where they lived. They put a table down in the daytime and at night they rolled all of these foam mattresses out and they slept in that one room. So he said, we want to come out of the world. It is the only day of joy in the whole week. We said, well okay. It still would be better if we did this but we can do something…you can have a Bible study afterward, you can have two Bible studies afterward, or you can have three Bible studies afterward if you want to stay. And you can fellowship. Obviously, this is what they did. One of the first services I attended they had almost 600 people present and we walked out of the school onto the soccer field, and they said everybody wants to shake your hand. Okay, so you stand in the corner and 600 people line up and walk around and come by to shake your hand. You feel very, very small when people look to you for the help they need. They are not looking to you, they are looking to God. But you are someone who is there to help with the spiritual food that they hunger for. It is an incredible experience.
We live in a society today that is so busy, that has little time to focus even on the issue of faith, or what it means to have faith. What does it mean to you? What does it mean to me? Barna who does all sorts of religious surveys recently wrote about our society. He said, currently sociologists identify four generations of adults living today. The frightening trend is that the gap between the oldest generation and the youngest generation is the largest it has ever been when it comes to morality, when it comes to values, standards, and trust. The youngest generation of adults are those in their 20s and 30s and have not difficulty with the shifting morality. Sex is okay. Marriage is optional. Living together is not a sin but a different lifestyle. Any church that declares these a sin risks losing its younger people who are leaving churches in droves anyway. Only one out of three teens will ever attend church as an adult. Churches who cater to the alternative lifestyles do no better in the long run than those who refuse. In other words, those who choose to live life in this manner are not a part of the church for very long. You keep them for a little while longer but not much. Lack of values, or different values, different standards and a lack of trust or confidence or faith are the issues that Barna identified in the youngest generation coming along, a jaded group of people who have seen all in society. Therefore, religion is not all that important to them.
But the problem that comes up over and over again in all of these studies is this issue of faith. Where is your faith? How much faith do you have? What kind of faith does God expect from you? And of course pertinent to the sermon this morning, how do you or how do I become heroes of faith? What can we do? What should we do? How do we identify this principle of being a hero of faith?
Christ gave a principle. Let's go to Luke 17:5. This question was asked of Christ. 5 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." How do we become heroes of faith? How do we become people of faith? The disciples wanted more faith. They didn't want to be lacking in faith. I don't think people want to be lacking in anything. God called you. You come into the church. You want to have everything. Look at the fruits of the spirit. It is not just love, joy, and peace. It is all of the fruits. You want to have it all. We are constantly teaching in the church, which is a true thing, to grow in all of these areas. You don't stop with one. You grow in all of these areas. The apostles said, Lord, increase our faith.
Christ gave them a parable beginning in verse 6. So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. 7 And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat'? 8 But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? 9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 10 So likewise you(here's the point), when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'"
Now what's the lesson here? Christ way saying, when you want to increase your faith…if you don't want to increase your faith go ahead and take care of your daily responsibilities. Keep the Sabbath. Don't break the ten commandments. Kind of march along in a particular order and do what you need to do, but nothing more. You will never increase your faith. Didn't say you wouldn't have faith. Didn't day you wouldn't be a Christian. I suggest you would not be a hero of faith because you have only done what was expected. To become a hero of faith, to increase your faith, by extrapolation from this parable you must do more than is expected. Now that is a foreign principle today in society. To give more than is expected is simply not the way most people think. But as a Christian and a hero of faith, that is the way we must think. That we will give God more than he has asked for. We will do more than he requires of us.
When you first came into the church, when I first came into the church, how could you do enough? You couldn't do enough. And here we are 30 years later, 40 years later, and how much do you do for God? I am not talking about…of course you serve people in that way as well, but I am talking about God. What is your motivation? Your motivation should be for God.
I think we all know that if we want to talk about faith and talk about heroes of faith there is one particular place to go in the Bible. Let's go to Hebrews 11. This is the key chapter. Hebrews 11 is an interesting chapter because it is going to describe faith. There is no other chapter in the Bible where faith is described in more detail than in Hebrews 11. But Hebrews 11 tells the story of faith through people. Remember I talked about heroes of faith…these are heroes of faith from the past. You know, there are two categories of people listed or found in Hebrews 11. There are those who are named by name…Abraham, Moses, Abel…they have their names here. And then there is a whole group of them that there is no name but simply acknowledging that they existed as heroes. These are people who were no Abraham, they were not Isaac, they were not Moses, but they were heroes of faith. These were those who were sawn in two. These are the ones who suffered trial by fire. These are the ones who went through all of these things and they developed their faith. They are heroes of faith.
In order to understand Hebrews 11, though, you must understand Hebrews 10. One of the problems that often happens in scripture in understanding the Bible is that we begin at a certain place and we end at a certain place without taking into account what happened before or what came afterward.
Hebrews 10 is an interesting chapter that leads into chapter 11. Hebrews 10 actually identifies the qualities of a hero of faith and Hebrews 11 names them. But Hebrews 10 is the chapter where you find out what you need to do to be a hero of faith.
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Do you want to know how to be a hero of faith? Here is how you become a hero of faith. It talks about pureness of heart. It talks about sprinkling from an evil conscience, removing an evil conscience.
Verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Then he talks about if you sin willfully there is no more sacrifice for sin. Going down to verse 30.For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But recall the former days (think of the time when God first called you)in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;
When you came into the church you suffered trials and difficulties, you were reproached through your family, and you became companions also of those who were reproached. You joined a group of people who were not well liked by their families or by other people, and you bonded with those people because you both were the same situation when God had called you. There was a time early in the church, at least early in my experience in the church, when it was very common to come to church every Sabbath and find someone who had lost his job the week before because of the Sabbath. It was very common. And especially after the feast. After the Feast of Tabernacles every year that I can remember as a youngster growing up in the church there were families who had lost their job, where the father lost his job for going to the Feast. This was back in the days of the Big Sandy Feast site as the only site, and most of the people attending the feast there farmers from Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi. That is where most of them came from…of course, other parts of the country as well. We had very little money. I think back when we went to the feast with back in those years and it was very small, because our income came from sharecropping. We were sharecroppers. We raised cotton and the only money we had was what we could get from that crop, and often when the feast came the crop was not yet harvested and we had no money. We would scrape together money, or we would go down to the gin, at least where I grew up in Arkansas they would give you what was called a doodlum book. A doodlum book was a book of receipts, and when you went to the store you got something, they signed in your book that you had gotten this and you owed this much. We would go and get groceries and it would get signed again. And in the fall of the year when you brought your cotton to the gin they would look at your doodlum book and you owed them so much money, and what was left was what you had to live on for the rest of the year. And when that did not happen when the Feast of Tabernacles came you had to go and borrow money from the gin against your crop in order to go to the feast. That's how you went. And that's how many people did it back in the ‘50s and all the way into the ‘60s. You went to the feast because God commanded it, and you had faith that whatever happened when you returned if the crop was still in the field it would still be there when you came home, and you would be okay because God would take care of you.
You read here it says reflect back on what that was like. Reflect back on what that was like and compare it to what your life is like today. Would you do the same thing today? Would you make those sacrifices today? Would you stand as a hero of faith or would you not? You probably would. It is rather odd in one sense…and certainly this is no reflection on any one of us today, but the facts are when we first came into the church in some ways you probably had more faith, or some would say ignorance, I'm not sure which it was. But you would do things because God said do them, and you wouldn't worry about the consequences. Whereas here we are 25-30 years later and would we do that? Would we do that? I am not talking about making foolish mistakes. We all did that as well when we came into the church. But it is that heart and attitude that we are talking about.
But recall the former days , verse 32, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated.34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods,(joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods) knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.(You gave of your possessions joyfully. Now that is hard for people to do. And you know what, as you get more and more possessions it seems like it gets harder and harder to give those, as opposed to when you had very little.
We had so little when we went to the Feast of Tabernacles in those years, but everybody shared. I have told the story as a teenager growing up in the church, you could eat as many times a day as you wanted to from one tent to the next tent to the next tent. Everybody fed you. Everybody provided for you. And you didn't lack. It reminded me in so many ways of what you read in Acts 2 where it says no one lacked but they all had everything in common. That is truly the way it was in those days at the Feast of Tabernacles. But he said you joyfully did that because you know you have a possession in heaven. You know there is a better world because you see it. You are a hero of faith. You know it.
Verse 35. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward . 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
Then you go to chapter 11. Now you have the background to the stories of heroes of faith. This is what they were like. You compare what you find in chapter 10. You find that a hero of faith is someone who is pure of heart. Verse 22. It is someone who holds fast what he believes. Verse 23. It is an individual who considers himself to provoke others to love and good works. Provokes them to love and good works…we could all provoke people but the key is to provoke them to love and good works. That is the challenge. Call to remembrance the former days. Reflect back on what you were like when God called you. And of course, verse 38 is the final key, a hero of faith is someone who walks by faith…does not walk by sight but walks by faith. Those are the things that lead us into chapter 11 where we find the heroes. The heroes, as I said, are divided into two parts. Let's go to verse 30. The well-known names you can read through there, you find out how they were heroes of faith. What about the last part of chapter 11 where in many cases you don't even have the individual's name. Verse 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab(some are named but not all are named) did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again.
And then you go in a different direction with this story. These were all of the people who did great things, and great things happened to them. But there is a category of heroes who suffered greatly. Notice this. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others(these are the others, no names, no information but they are heroes of faith) had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
It is like you had two distinct categories. You had the walls of Jericho fall down…good things happened to the Israelites. Rahab, the story has a good ending. Barak, Samson, Gideon, David…all had good endings. Then he says, here are the others. Here are the heroes of faith who died, or who suffered, and they never changed from their faith. You talk about real heroes. You talk about people who laid it all on the line. You talk in sports…he left it all on the field. People who left it all out there. These are the others, the nameless, faceless people who have given their lives over the years for the truth of God. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37 They (these others) were stoned, they were sawn in two. (Isaiah was sawn in two evidently. I don't think they had anything to give him for the pain. I think he endured being sawn in two while he was alive. Heroes of faith. Were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—These are heroes of faith. We often operate under the premise, I keep God's law, I am a person of faith, therefore everything is going to turn out right. Now it will turn out right. These people felt the same way. Notice, I have always been intrigued by verse 38. God allowed all of this to happen. Don't we all agree that God could have stopped it at any point in time. He could have stopped Isaiah from being sawn in two, but he didn't. But verse 38 he, the author of Hebrews, does say this. Of whom the world was not worthy. God's opinion and thoughts of these people is what really mattered to them. Not what the people of the world may have thought. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.They didn't have mansions or big nice homes or automobiles or any of those things. They obviously didn't exist at that time. But even for their day they did not it in their whole lives. There are people in Africa who will never have a small percentage of what you and I have in their whole lives. They are born, they will live out their lives and die never having experienced what good I have, and they will be the children of God. You see, this life is temporary. And what you gather in this life is of little importance if you have no faith. If you are not a hero of faith it does not matter what you own. You would be better off to live in a cave and have faith than to live in a mansion and have no faith. This is what we read in Hebrews. Verse 39.And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.God has a plan in which all of these individuals, all of these heroes of faith at that time and in our day, will receive the reward at the same time. And that reward is the kingdom of God.
Over the years in the church I believe I have met many heroes of faith. I remember people and faces…I see them every now and then in my minds eye going back over the years. I remember the people that when we first came into the church the people I saw there that I thought were heroes, the individuals who were strong personalities, who led in the church, who were the songleaders and the sermonettes, as a young child I was very impressed. I thought they were the heroes. Some of them were. But later on some of them weren't. A hero is not someone who has to impress anyone. A hero of faith is someone who stands true to his faith.
There were two ladies in Atlanta, Georgia, when I first went into the ministry in1972. We called them little Mrs. Cobb and big Mrs. Cobb. Big Mrs. Cobb wasn't big, but little Mrs. Cobb was 4'8". Big Mrs. Cobb was probably 5'1". But that is how we separated them. They had the same name. So little Mrs. Cobb and big Mrs. Cobb…and they were quite a team. They were probably in their 70s at that time and the church was going through, maybe you can recall, a very difficult time in the early 70s. We had revealed to us from the very top in the organization of malfeasance in certain cases, and even immorality, and some of those things were very, very discouraging to a number of people in the church. It is also a fact that the church had taught a great deal about the coming of Christ, and of course the tribulation, and 1972 played prominently in things we talked about the ‘60s. So from 1972 to about 1974, 1975 there were some very difficult times. But you could go and see little Mrs. Cobb or big Mrs. Cobb and you could talk to them and they were always encouraging, they always had something positive to say, and they would encourage you that everything would be all right because Christ was the head of the church. If I could have I would have had them give the sermons. It was exactly what people needed to hear, because some people were certainly shaken by events that were transpiring. Little Mrs. Cobb and big Mrs. Cobb are memories of my heroes of faith.
There was another man by the name of Mr. Skoggins who lived in a nursing home. He was 90+ years old, and he had a smile on his face every time you came to see him. And he would tell you the same thing in his own words. "Christ is the head of the church. And I am so excited that God game me the truth." He didn't come into the church until he was well up into his ‘80s. He only was able to go to church for a few years until he was in a nursing home. He had no family to take care of him. Until his mind was no longer there he had one thing to say. He had a smile on his face and he said it, "God is in charge. The kingdom is coming. And I am so thrilled God gave me this opportunity." Over the years I have met more and more of these people. Heroes of faith. People who have stood the test. People who were not flashy or out front or the ones you would recognize in any congregation. But they are the ones, they are the glue that holds the church together. Because they have the faith God has given to them and that God wants us to develop.
Heroes of faith I believe they are. And I believe there are many, many of those around the world. Certainly I believe there are those among deacons, elders, and deaconesses as well. But there are also many that you do not see Sabbath after Sabbath. I have told the ministry when you move into an area to get to know the church the best thing to do is to visit all of those who are less fortunate. Visit the shut ins, visit the elderly, go to the nursing homes and be sure you know them first. Because when you get to know them you will know the heart and soul of that congregation. And then you can begin to build and grow within the congregation. But if you don't get to know them, you will never reach the heart of the congregation. That is where you want to be.
The subject of being a hero of faith is something that is very, very important for all of us today. As the end time approaches there will be less and less faith, but it doesn't have to be that way. Christ only asked the question. He didn't say it had to be that way.
I would like to illustrate in conclusion through a story the whole subject of faith and what is required of you and me. This is a story that is told of a man crossing the Mohave desert in the days of the pioneers. An old timer by the name of Desert Pete had blazed a trail through the desert. He had actually lived in the desert for much of his life. Before he died he dug a well in the middle of the desert deep enough to reach the water table. He put an old hand pump on the well and left a message for anyone who came by from Desert Pete as to what he should do. Well lo and behold of course a man comes along who is dying of thirst, and he comes up to this well. Sitting beside the well is a jug of water, and here is a note from Desert Pete. It says this, there is enough water in this jug to prime the pump but not if you drink some first. This well has never gone dry even in the worst times. Pour the water in the top of the pump and pump the handle quickly. After you have had a drink then refill the jug for the next man who comes along. If you drink the water you may survive but no one else behind you will.
The subject of faith and the subject of being a hero of faith is very similar to that story. You and I can choose to drink the water now, or we can prime the pump. By that I simply mean, we can look to the kingdom of God, we can look to the future, or we can do what we want to do here and now. We all have that choice all the time. Faith is a matter of the future. Faith is something that carries you to the future. Faith is what you and I must live on and must live through. We must become heroes of faith. We must be those who are faithful to God in everything we do.
Ira Hayes is an example of a man who did one very brave deed in his lifetime. He walked up a hill in the face of Japanese fire, and he put a flag on a pole and raised it high on a hill. It was an exhilarating moment. It is considered one of the highlights in the history of American warfare in which that pole and that flag was put on. But Ira Hayes was not a hero. He looked like a hero. It was great to have him as a hero. He raised a lot of money for the United States. But he wasn't a hero. He died a very sad death. He died angry and resentful. He wasn't optimistic of the future. He could not see beyond the here and now. When he got out of the war he could not see anything but what happened to him and happened to others. He could not see the future. He saw no future. In fact, there was nothing ahead.
Christ warned us that in the end time faith would waver. He warned us that we need to build our faith. He warned us that we need to build more faith. He warned us that it will be easy to fall away the closer we get to the return of Jesus Christ. Heroes of faith are those who don't simply do one good deed and one heroic deed. Heroes of faith are those who stand the test Sabbath after Sabbath, week after week, year after year. They are the glue that holds the Church of God together. Hopefully you and I are a part of those. We certainly owe those from the past a great deal of thanks and appreciation and today we need more heroes of faith. One can say that Christ wants us all to be heroes of faith.