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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues
No going back
Faith moves in one direction only: forward (Hebrews 11:15).
Context
- When the future finally catches up with a forward thinker.
- Some people need proof of a heavenly home.
Ideas for sermons or interactive talks
The main problem with dwelling on the past is that there’s no future in it! In general, we humans spend far too much time thinking about the past: decisions we made, bad relationships, people who wronged us, etc. As Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, such worries will not add any span of time to our future lives (Matthew 6:27). In fact, they detract us from living in the now and into our future.
Read Hebrews 11:13-16a. For Christianity’s detractors, this is merely 'pie in the sky by and by'. This might be true if we were only created for a simple biological existence. However, our Judaeo-Christian faith makes clear that we are not mere biological organisms functioning in an environment. Rather, we have been made in the image of our Creator who is Life itself and relationship itself: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Like our Creator, we are part of a Life that is larger than ourselves and which has no beginning and no end. Our faith is as large as the cosmos.
The deeper we go into Christian spirituality the more we learn that life is not about us, but that we are about life - each of us is an individual expression of life, an expression that only we can live. As a friend of mine was wont to say: 'We are in the process of becoming forever what we are freely choosing and loving most right now'. Each moment and day we live is one not to be repeated and adds up to the sum total of this life we have been given. Like light travelling ever forward through the universe, we cannot bring back time or our words and actions.
Questions for discussion
Jesus came that we might have life in all its fullness (John 10:10).
- What does that mean for you and me as individuals?
- What does that fullness say about how you are conducting your life as an individual?
- How might you change aspects of your life which detract from its fullness?
We are called by an invisible God to live by faith as we move into an unseen future.
- How might both be made visible?
- What about love in action?
The Revd Dr Jack Lawson is a freelance writer and novelist: Doing Time, No Good Deed, Criminal Justice, The Woods and Dirty Business. His newest novel, Joab (Wipf & Stock), is based on the life of King David.
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Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people
'Life gave me some lemons
But my Jesus, He be makin' lemonade...'
These are some of the lyrics to Forrest Frank’s latest summer worship hit, Lemonade (which was only released on 1 August!).
Forrest is increasingly becoming one of the fastest-growing Christian artists for his uplifting worship beats, with TikTok dance crazes and a growing fan base. His music is great to listen to and think about how life can ‘be better’ with faith in Jesus.
The real test of that faith literally hit Forrest in the past few weeks, however, when he fractured two vertebrae skateboarding...
Instead of being down, blaming God for his circumstances, and being bitter about how he will need to postpone his world tour at what seemed like the height of his career so far, Forrest kept going in faith. He continued to praise the Lord, he continued to seek refuge in him and he even continued to use his situation and make more worship music from his bedside: the new hit Lemonade!
Just like the Bible figures throughout the opening of Hebrews chapter 11 - and especially with our focus on Abraham in this week’s passages - Forrest Frank was able to not just see the situation where he had been taken from, not just focus on the sorrow which he was feeling in the present, but he was able, through God’s grace and his faith in Jesus, to look forward to the future and how he can continue and keep going.
The faith of Abraham leads to great things! God blesses him and makes him the father of all nations, both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 4); something which he would never have been able to comprehend. We don’t know the full extent of how God has used, and will use, Forrest Frank’s music and this ongoing story to bring people to faith - and neither does Forrest! But he will (we hope!) keep on going through life’s trials in faith. We do know that the first outpouring of Forrest’s faith has turned into what can only be called a miraculous recovery. Forrest reports that, within two weeks of his accident, scans show no sign of the fractures.
Almost as miraculous as a 90-year-old Sarah giving birth!
So what does this mean for us? Keep on going in the faith, and whenever you feel as if life has handed you lemons… remember that Jesus will always use them to make lemonade!
Natasia Bullock is director of Christian theatre company The B Tales.
Views expressed are the authors' own. Hypertext links to other websites are for the convenience of users only and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by Roots for Churches Ltd.
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