3. Finding Grit
Notes
Transcript
Welcome to week 51 in our core 52 journey! We have spent almost an entire year looking at core verses in the Bible and we are only one week away from wrapping this up. For those of you who have worked through this entire process, I hope it has been helpful working through the Bible and focusing on areas that I wouldn’t typically cover, which has been a good lesson to me. We need to continue to journey through every part of the Bible because it points us to Jesus, and reminds us of our place in his story.
I’m so glad that you are here this morning! Not only do we get to share together in some wonderful community worship and communion, we get to study a core verse that is incredibly applicable to your life right now.
Life is hard. There really isn’t much to argue about when it comes to that statement. Whether it’s been that Covid-Pandemic and all the issues that have ensued. Depression, anxiety, and hurt have made life difficult for many people, maybe even you. We step back and look at the world and we see the brokenness and hurt. There’s greed and evil leading to senseless killings and slavery. It doesn’t take much to see that life is indeed…hard.
One of my regular sayings is this: We know that life can be confusing and sometimes just plain hard. At Iowa City Church, we believe that the best way to live life comes through following Jesus. We believe that the answer to the problem in our world in our lives is a life devoted to following Jesus.
So one must assume, that if following Jesus is the best way to live life…then it must be an easier way to live life. It most certainly is a clearer way to live life, however it’s not the easier way to live life, in fact, it might be more difficult. Now, you may be thinking “hold on, so what’s the point?” That’s actually a great question, but if you think about it, any kind of life change is difficult. You want to lose some pounds…you are literally going to be trying to live a counter cultural life. You want to change how you handle money? You are literally going to have live a counter cultural life. It’s a good life, for sure, however everything in the culture is saying: “Don’t live this way!”
Following Jesus is counter cultural. You are literally trying to live a life that in some cases feels like the exact opposite of how culture lives…and that most definitely is not going to be easy. I know that you have felt the tension. Whether it’s how you handle relationships, treat people, sexual ethics, or money. There are some places in the world where they not only feel tension, they experience persecution.
VIDEO - Church in Nigeria
Life is hard. Following Jesus can feel even harder. So what can we do? What are our options? Most importantly, remember: God will never leave us alone and he provides us what we need to overcome and remain faithful no matter what the situation. He will provide us what we need to reach our destination.
If you have Bible or device, I want you to find Hebrews chapter 10. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, look for Events, the look for Iowa City Church and all of the sermon notes, and Scriptures will be available.
Here’s a little back ground on the letter of Hebrews and why it is so applicable to what we are talking about today. We are not sure who wrote the book of Hebrews, there are some interesting theories, but nothing for sure. We also don’t know for sure who the recipients of the letter were. Here is what we do know. The author was closely connected with the apostles of Jesus. Was an expert in the OT. The recipients were more than likely Jewish people who had become Christians and at the time of the writing of the letter were under intense persecution. So intense in fact that some were walking away from their faith in Jesus…thus the writing of this letter. It’s here that we call will be able to make a connection. These people were in the very realist of sense struggling to follow Jesus because of how difficult it was. The author helps them…and us with a plan to develop grit…grit to carry on when things get tough.
So what is grit? Grit is courage and resolve; strength in character. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term-goals. Grit is what empowers you to live life like a marathon and not a sprint. Grit is one of the most important factors in achieving success in life AND in following Jesus.
To be clear, the author of Hebrews doesn’t use the word grit. How, he teach a plan for developing strength in character, passion and perseverance.
To understand this plan for grit, we are going to work through parts of chapter 10, 11, and eventually landing on our core verse 12:1-2.
The last part of chapter 10 zeroes in on this call to persevere, Christians are giving up because it’s hard. So the author throws down this challenge:
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
For those of you who do any type of endurance running or races, you totally get this. When you are running a marathon, once you stop, how hard is it to get started again? It’s SO HARD. Don’t give up, you will fade. The author instead says that those who have faith and are saved.
So here is the first part of your plan for developing grit: Faith. However, we really need to go back to a better definition of faith. Faith is not a thought in your head or an idea or concept your agree with. I believe in God, that is not faith. A better more biblical definition of faith is fidelity or loyalty. The author of Hebrews is teaching that the plan to persevere, to develop grit requires loyal allegiance to king Jesus.
Grit starts by declaring our loyalty to king Jesus.
(Illustration of this)
Let’s keep reading.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
The author says that it’s this loyal allegiance to God that helped the ancient followers of God have confidence when things didn’t make sense or they could understand what was happening. It was their complete trust in God that helped them through.
They then go on to contrast two early biblical characters. The first one is Able, one of Adam and Eve’s two sons. Able was loyal to God and brought him sacrifices…and then his brother Cain murdered him. Able was loyal to God and it got him killed. Sometimes our faith will get us killed.
However, the author immediately contrast Able with Enoch. A great man of faith who evidently never died. He lived a very long life, and then just disappeared. Able is loyal and he get’s murdered. Enoch is loyal and he lives forever. But both are commended by God because they are devoted.
Here is what the author says about their faith.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
God is so pleased when we give our loyalty to him, to the extent that he rewards those who do so. Let me give you an example about what this looks like. Nothing pleases me more when my kids put their faith in me. When they give their fidelity to me, I also want to reward them and give them good things. Think about it, God want to do the same thing when we give him our loyalty.
The truth is we don’t know from the text exactly what the rewards are. They might be a combination of things now and in the future. All we need to know is that our devotion to God will not go unnoticed.
Grit starts by declaring our loyalty to King Jesus.
The author of Hebrews then makes this amazing list of people from the OT who demonstrated this loyalty to God. From Noah, to Abraham to Moses, to people who were killed for their faith…the list is impressive. The author’s point is that many, many people have walked this path of faith, we are not alone. This leads to our core verse in chapter 12.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
2. Grit requires us to look around. We are not alone on this journey of faith.
The author says, that it’s because of this audience of witnesses, this legion of faith, that we are able to press forward. That we are able to get up off of the mat, to get up off the floor and take another step forward. It’s because we are cheered on from these people who have walked this path before us that we can have the courage to throw off our sin, poor choices, and hurtful habits. It’s the crowd from the past, but also in the present who root for us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Our grit comes when we look back. I find grit when I remember that Peter and the other apostles were beaten by the Sanhedrin and they rejoiced because they suffered for Jesus. I find grit when things get hard because I remember Paul and Silas being beaten and thrown into jail and they start to sing and pray.
I get grit when I remember the lives of my grandparents who lived through the depression and World War 2, who faced many challenges…yet I always remember both of my grandpa’s studying and teaching the Bible. I have grit today because my grandma Steele devoted her life to praying for all of her grand kids.
My grit comes from my parents, who faced a multitude of struggles themselves, like moving to Iowa to farm at the beginning of the farm crises. Life was hard for them, but they had the grit to not give up and make sure that they were in church every Sunday along with their kids.
Listen, my grit comes from some of you. You have been so faithful even in the midst of adversity, and I feel a personal responsibility to keep pushing forward even though things can get tough…and never giving up. But that’s what grit is.
Look back, look around and you will find the grit to carry on.
Let’s keep going.
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
3. Grit is a result of looking ahead.
When we focus on Jesus, through our worship or daily moments of prayer and Scripture reading we lock in on the end goal, the rewards.
I love how the author describes Jesus in the throws of agony and suffering, looks ahead…the joy set before him endured the cross. The joy of knowing that people will be liberated from sin, guilt and shame. It was that joy that gave him the grit to endure.
God rewards us for our faith. Whether it’s in the here and now, things like seeing people that we desperately pray for finally put their faith in Jesus, or it’s the reward of finishing the race and being with Jesus. Maybe it’s the reward of Jesus return and making everything right at the resurrection. Maybe it’s the reward of living in the new heaven and new earth of Revelation 21. But through our faith in Jesus, we hold on to the hope of a bright, and amazing future.
Have you ever heard of the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment? In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. During this time, the researcher left the room for about 15 minutes and then returned. The reward was either a marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child's preference. In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes.
Is it possible when you get knocked down in life, that instead of looking to future rewards, you seek temporary comfort? It is possible that most of your hurtful habits and addictions have come from an inability to focus on future rewards…and instead seek temporary hits from food, alcohol, pornography, or damaging relationships? Is it possible that you have no grit because you are settling for temporary marshmallows instead of waiting for bigger and better rewards?
Grit happens when we put our eyes on the prize!
Here is what I want you to take away from our time together:
When we look around to our allies, and lock our eyes on the prize, we develop the grit to faithfully put one foot in front of the other.
So what does grit look like today? Remember the church in Nigeria that was bulldozed? Do you know what those church members did the Sunday after their church was destroyed? Well, watch this video:
Nigerian Church Worships
That church worshipped on the destroyed ruins of their church…because the church isn’t a building, it’s a people of grit.
Grit can be found in places like Afghanistan right now, where Christians are being persecuted. Grit is found in the church in Haiti as they continue to press forward after a devastating earthquake.
Question: How many of you if our local government decided to bulldoze our church building would join me in a worship service? Could you join me in singing with joy because our God reigns?