This outline may be used as sermon notes or as content that may be incorporated into a sermon on a related topic, eg, holiness and Christian living. The Theology Hub offers additional material.
Key Passage: Hebrews 12:1-3, NIV
In considering our dependency on Christ, these sermon notes take the first three verses of chapter 12 of Hebrews and consider how they might instruct us to live our lives. It is clear from these verses that Christ is central to the life of a Christian who, in following Christ, should display His holiness. The challenge is to be ‘Christ-focused’.
Of course, the temptation is always to be focussed on the wrong things; the irresponsible use of drugs is one of these. For some users of illegal drugs their overriding concern in life is for a good ‘fix’, one that is ‘pure’ and results in a good ‘trip’. Coincidentally these words can be most instructive for those seeking a Christ-like life, and the following notes give some pointers on such a link-up.
References to different scriptures linked with the main narrative are given to stimulate ideas and point to alternatives. There is no single ‘right’ way to use these notes – they are offered in the hope that they will provide a ‘way in’ to this topic.
Introduction
The great American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem called ‘The Brewing of the Soma’ about an Indian tribe’s dependency on drug related experiences. At the end of the poem he included six stanzas which, strangely enough for this Quaker poet, have become one of our best known hymns and express the fact that the ‘ultimate’ experience is an experience of God.
“Dear Lord and father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind;
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence praise.”
The average amount consumed in a week by 11-15-year-olds who drink has increased in the last 17 years from 5.3 units in 1990 to 12.7 units in 2007. The average level of consumption increases with age, from around 8 units per week for 11-13-year-olds to 15 units per week for those aged 15. (Drug Use, Smoking and Drinking among young people in England 2007, Fuller, E (ed) 2008)
(Further statistics on use of drugs within the UK can be found in the Fact Sheets in the Hope UK website. Some examples of drug issues in the local community may provide an appropriate starting point for any sermon. Look in your local newspaper – especially in the section on local court cases, you may be surprised at where some of the defendants live! Some of the ‘news’ stories located in this way may provide pointers for prayer.)
Why do people drink alcohol, smoke tobacco or take illegal drugs? This is a question that has many different answers. For the Christian, the problem has been a very difficult one for a surprisingly long time. Should we make distinctions between legal and illegal drugs? Why? Should we place conditions on our Church membership? Why?
Different churches and individuals will wrestle with this in different ways. But the Bible clearly teaches us that to depend on anything or anyone more than God is to invite spiritual disaster, as well as impacting on physical, mental and emotional aspects of our lives. The challenge is for each of us to live our lives as ‘Christ-dependent’.
Quick Fix
We live in an instant society. Add hot water and you have a ready made meal. Drive into ATS or Kwikfit and your puncture is repaired while you wait. We shouldn’t be surprised if we recognise that within our society the pursuit of pleasure in these times also often results in ‘a quick fix’. One consequence is that people turn away from healthy sport and exercise, to over indulgence in food, for example. Other people have turned to the use of drugs, many of them misleadingly labelled as ‘recreational’.
The trouble with quick fixes is that they need to be repeated time and time again for physical and mental stimulation.
In reality we have been so designed that we do not need ‘quick fixes’. Yet we need to understand that a quick fix can obscure the benefits of longer term strategies.
Our scripture advises us:
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…”
This is not something we need to keep on and on repeating, but rather a long term focussing, a long term search, a long term commitment.
People should not need to experiment with substances if they can find Jesus. When we have found Jesus, we have discovered ‘life in all its fullness’ (Jn 10:10).
We are invited to explore what that means.
‘Life in all its fullness’ means to have a superabundance of life. This is more than existing, this is transformation. The Gospel message is above all a message of transformation (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:5, Philippians 3:10).
“I believe in transformation,
God can change the hearts of men,
And refine the evil nature
Till it glows with grace again.
Others may reject the weakling,
I believe he can be strong,
To the family of Jesus
All God’s children may belong.”
John Gowans
Another starting point for living ‘life in all its fullness’ and the need to focus on Jesus is the reply of Jesus to the question he received from John the Baptist (Luke 7:18-23).
Purity
The Bible takes the whole issue of purity and perfection very seriously indeed.
Holiness means striving to live by God’s righteous standards.
We know that in our own strength we fail. We know that, judged on our own merits, we are impure, like snow splattered by the spray from a passing lorry. But the promise is that Jesus guarantees purity:
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Is 1:18)
(See also John 13:8)
People who use drugs are concerned about purity. Why? Because that governs how much of the drug they will consume and it governs the reaction of their body to the drug.
Some of the arguments in favour of legalising all drugs are to overcome concerns about the purity of what is sold illegally – about where the drugs come from and whether or not the supplier can be trusted.
But we can have confidence in ‘life in all its fullness’ because we know exactly where it comes from. The one we ‘fix’ our eyes on – Jesus – is the one who gives us a pure supply of his holiness. Jesus is the ‘author and perfecter of our faith’.
He is the originator of purity. Perfection and purity are what he confers on us. He has nothing to gain from it, having had to ‘endure’ death on a cross, identifying himself with our shame. But God justified him, and he is now seated in the place of honour at the right hand side of God the Father. Jesus is the supplier of righteousness we can trust.
And yet there is the challenge of communicating this to others who would not accept this statement of faith.
Jesus is seen as the selfless Son of God, and at the same time as worthy of majesty in the Philippian hymn (Philippians 2:5-11). Jesus hit rock bottom, but was focussed on his heavenly Father, obedient and consequently ‘exalted’ (transformed).
The writer to the Hebrews is at pains to point out not only the purity of Jesus, but his complete understanding of the nature of man (Hebrews 2:18, 4:15).
Trip
According to our scripture passage, life with Jesus is a race. Not a 100 yard dash, but a very long marathon, something where ‘endurance’ is the keynote.
We look forward to a positive experience of life – mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional. A life that is stimulating, rewarding, that helps us to feel good about ourselves and about our relationship with God. A life where our faith will enable us to meet the inevitable challenges that arise en route.
The classic Christian picture of life is that it is a trip, a pilgrimage. This entails the idea of movement, a journey with a definite beginning and a definite end – the Kingdom of Heaven.
People who use drugs are often focussed on the ‘trip’ which the drug will give them, now. This is inevitably a short term experience based on short term feelings and sensations.
For the Christian, the ‘trip’ is not a short term experience, it is something which will last for a life time. We are invited to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’ because this is the only way that ‘we will not grow weary and lose heart’. We are not guaranteed worldly happiness, but we are guaranteed the presence of Christ to help us in every circumstance. Again, the contrast may help us to understand the differences between a trip of faith and one fuelled by chemicals. Yet the challenge remains to reach out to those who prefer the chemical fix.
In the wilderness 10 of the 12 spies were overwhelmed at the size of the task of entering the promised land. They wanted things to be quick and easy. Unfortunately, lacking the insight of Joshua and Caleb, they spent 40 years going backwards in the wilderness, rather than forwards into the promised land. Journeying in either direction was not a quick process, but it is at least better to go in the right direction! (Number 13,14).
Paul liked to talk about the Christian life as a race – Philippians 3:12-16.
Conclusion
As human beings we are dependent on many things – food, shelter, friendship, and love. Above all we are dependent on the love of God for our salvation. We are exhorted to ‘throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”, anything in fact which is superfluous, so that we can have an unobstructed relationship with God. This is where God wants us to be.
You see, anything which reduces our dependency on him, whether it is self-reliance or drugs, will lead us to focus wrongly upon things that must ultimately cause our spiritual downfall.
The Bible is full of stories of man putting his trust in things or people instead of God – Exodus 32, Isaiah 31:1, Matthew 23:25 etc.
In closing, let us embrace the task we have been given to clearly demonstrate that depending on Christ is far better than dependency on anything else.
A benediction – Jude 24
Devised by Majors Carol and Martin Whybrow, Salvation Army
