"Sweet, Sweet Surrender"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – August 18, 2013

Centenary United Methodist Church

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

 

    There is no other book in the New Testament that has inspired more mystery than the Book of Hebrews.  Numerous theological debates among scholars took place in the early Church concerning this book and it was not until the 4th century that it was included as part of our Bible.  Since the persecution of Christians was mentioned in Hebrews, its authorship is thought to be around 80 A.D. 

    Its style, depth and knowledge of Christianity’s early beginnings have provided evidence that the book was written by an informed Christian scholar to a small group or college of Christians living in Rome.  Church leaders knew that Hebrews was not written by the Apostle Paul.  However, the only way an early Council would agree to allow it to become part of the New Testament was to have it included among Paul’s Letters as though he had written it.  Politics prevailed, thus enabling the Church to preserve this fascinating book.

    New Testament Professor, William Barclay, once wrote, “To us, the author of Hebrews must remain forever a voice and nothing more; but we can be thankful to God for the work of this great, nameless author who wrote with remarkable skill and beauty about Jesus who to him – and to us – is the way to understand our reality and the nature of God.”

    This author has given us such gems as “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for and to be certain of the things we cannot see.” (11:1)  And, “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.” (13:8)  This book defines the power of faith as an uncompromising trust in God for the outcome of all things.  Our difficulty in energizing our trust in God is that we find it very challenging to let go of issues that affect us emotionally.        

   What separates people has been in place since the dawn of civilization.  The average person experiences life through his or her five senses.  Those that have awakened to their spiritual dimension have developed an attitude of openness to promptings, inspiration and guidance from a source not located in their five senses.  Not everyone has the desire to break free from what they can see, touch, hear, taste and smell. 

    This morning we are going to define and describe what it is like to live by faith.  Faith is not the collection of our personal beliefs that we have developed over the years.  Faith is not a label like United Methodist, Baptist or Roman Catholic.  Faith is the ability and power to trust God completely, an act that frees us from clinging to all the life-issues that relate to our material world, a world that is constantly changing.

    There is an ancient story about a man that went traveling in Africa.  He entered an enclave filled with magnificent parrots of every assorted color imaginable.  To his shock and dismay, the parrots could speak English fluently.  He had to own one of these marvelous birds, so he strung a net and captured one to take home as proof of his discovery.  

    He brought the parrot back to his country and put it in a spacious cage where he fed it sunflower and other assorted seeds that parrots enjoy.  Two years passed and this lover of birds said, “I am going back to your home.  Is there anything you would like me to tell your friends?”  The parrot said, “Yes.  You are very kind to ask.  Tell them that I am very happy and contented in my cage.  You have treated me extremely well and I have adjusted admirably to my new home.”

    The man went off and found the same enclave that was still filled with English speaking parrots.  He told the other birds about their friend – “He is happy and contented in his cage.  He has been treated very well and he has adjusted admirably to his new environment.”  He no sooner finished his sentence, when a bird fell from his perch and died.   He could not believe it!  He asked himself, “What did I say that could possibly have caused the death of this beautiful parrot?”

    When he returned to his home, he told his pet what had taken place.  He asked, “What did I say that would have caused your friend’s death?”  Just then his parrot rolled his eyes back into his head, fell off his perch and lay dead on the bottom of the cage.  The confused man became quite conflicted by this mysterious occurrence. He tearfully gathered up his friend of two years and placed him on the wood pile as food for other wildlife. 

    Just then, the bird awakened and flew up in a tree.  The surprised man said, “You tricked me.”  The bird responded, “Yes I did.  My friend was sending to me a signal.  He was telling me that I had to die to the comfortable living conditions of my cage in order to gain my freedom.  Thank you for your many kindnesses but now I must return to my home.”  With those words, the parrot flew away.

    This story is communicating a message of how secure and comfortable we often become in our cage, a cage represented by our bodies, the rules and boundaries associated with social customs and our unspoken need to conform so that others like us.  To live by faith, we have to detach from the limiting outcomes our cages can easily provide.  Such an act is what is often referred to as taking a leap of faith. We are not talking about a physical death; we are talking about a process that the Apostle Paul described in his letter to the Romans.

Listen how Eugene Peterson translates Paul’s words: 

 

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You will be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what God wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of conformity, God helps you to focus on your true nature.  When you do, you will begin making well-formed decisions and develop attitudes that reflect his likeness. (Romans 12:2f)

    We have always heard that “perfect love casts out fear.”  (I John 4:18)  Fear is the basis of our anger, resentment, bitterness, jealousy and feelings of abandonment.  When our senses filter our responses through our fears, highly charged emotional reactions are what we broadcast to everyone around us.   Just look at what is happening right now in Egypt and in other countries if you need examples. 

    Our lesson today contains a listing of people that lived by faith.  The list covers the gamut of human experience, from the miracles performed by the giants of our faith to the suffering and death of the early martyrs.  These people were willing to take enormous risks, trusting God for the outcome of their circumstance.  This is how faith has been passed from those early generations to the present.  Living in this spirit allows us to experience peace regardless of our circumstances.    

    In 2007, Lois and I were driving to Dawsonville, Georgia to visit our daughter.  On the way we stopped in Pinehurst, North Carolina to visit our friend, Russ Stokes. Russ was a well-connected businessman.  He had pictures of himself with well-known politicos, socialites, and athletes throughout in the metropolitan area near our home.

    The occasion of our visit was the news that Russ was dying from bladder cancer. Several years before, Russ and Nan had retired to Pinehurst because of their love of playing golf.  As I sat next to him on the bed, we both understood that this would be the last time we would see each other on this side of the curtain.  This was a very special time for both of us.  Russ was a man that knew how to make things happen by knowing the right people.  He said,

I can’t fix this, Dick.  When the doctors told me that I had a very short time to live, it was the greatest shock of my life.  But, I need to tell you, the doctor’s words were transformational.  I am at the end of the line and soon I will be getting off the train.  I have been thinking about all the things that I will be leaving behind.  I knew one day I would have to let go of all of it and I now realize that such a task is not as hard as I had thought it would be. Tell me, Dick, what do you know about what happens next?

    I told him to relax and to trust God for what happens next.  “The experience will be painless,” I said, “and way beyond looking at any portrait my words might paint,”   He listened very attentively to my stories. Then I used his business language.  I said, “Russ, I happen to have a number of well-connected friends on the other side.  I’ll have my people talk to your people, and I promise you, together they will make your transition to the other side very smooth.”  He laughed in his typical fashion. 

    I had a prayer with him and Lois and I were soon on our way again to Georgia.  Russ transitioned from this life painlessly and very much at peace.  He surrendered his control over his life, just like the parrot, and pulled on his oars so that his boat floated gently down the stream until it emptied into the vast ocean of God’s love.   Some time later, we flew back to Pinehurst where I helped to celebrate Russ’ life.

    Faith is not about clinging to what our senses tell us is important nor is it about controlling our destiny.  Faith is about following the inner voice of intuition and trusting God completely for everything.

    Richard Bach wrote an intriguing book entitled, Illusions, the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.  In that book, he wrote the following parable:

Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river.  The current of the river swept silently over all of them -- the young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self.

 

Each creature in its own manner, clung tightly to the twigs and rocks on the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current is what each had learned from birth.  One creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging.  Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going.  I want to let go, and let it take me where it will.  Clinging, I will die of boredom.’

 

The other creatures laughed and said, ‘You are a fool!  Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than from boredom!’ But the one did not listen to them. Taking a deep breath, he let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current against the rocks.

 

Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.  And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger cried, ‘See a miracle!  A creature, like ourselves, yet he flies!  See a messiah who has come to save us all.’

 

And the one carried in the current said, ‘I am no more a messiah than any of you.  The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go.  Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.’  But they cried the more, ‘Savior!  Save us!" all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again, he was gone.  And they were left alone making legends of a savior.

    Trusting in what will always remain unseen is a remarkable skill.  Like the creature that lived at the bottom of that river, when we have understood our fear and have let go of our need to control our destiny, what happens next is beyond anything we could have imagined.  We have to die to our sense of self and all our fears connected to it before we will experience the blossoming of our true spiritual nature. When we can do this, we will understand the meaning of living by faith.