10. Don't Give Up

Welcome to Iowa City Church and part ten of Long Obedience in the Same Direction. If you have the YouVersion Bible app, I would encourage you to open it up and look for Events. In that section you should find Iowa City Church. Click there and you can follow along with all of the sermon notes and Scriptures.

If you are new with us, we are focusing in on the journey of being a Christian. There are a lot of definitions of being a Christian. People will talk about being baptized or dedicated at a baby, or being raised in the church. Some people will reference a point in their life when they asked Jesus into their heart or maybe an emotional moment when their mom died or a time at a church camp or tent revival meeting where they were overwhelmed with this desire to have Jesus in their lives. Those are important, pivotal moments that are significant. However, being a Christian isn’t just about a starting point. In fact, how you finish is just as important as how you begin!

When I was a kid, my mom thought it would be a good idea to get us kids into some hobbies. So I chose collecting stamps. She got me started and I started to arrange and collect all kinds of stamps. My grandmas even started sending me all of kinds of stamps so that I could add them to my collection. After a while it became a bit overwhelming as I looked at the piles and piles of stamps I had to arrange and organize. It was becoming difficult and a lot of work…I lost interest. As my mom would say, “Tommy, you just need some stick-to-itiveness!” Last year, my mom brought me two big bags from home. She had been cleaning out closets and such. In those two bags were all of my stamps and books for mounting the stamps! She wants me to finish what I started! There are a lot of projects, tasks or hobbies that I started, with great intentions, but when I realized they were going to be difficult or require more of me to finish…well they just got pushed to the side. My mom was right, Tommy needs some more stick-to-itiveness!

Being a Christian is very similar. While admittedly it is not easy for everyone, for a lot of people, especially second or third generation Christans, the need of a savior can be an easy sell. If we’re honest, we know we need help with our sin and brokenness…not to mention we don’t know what happens when we die. Following Jesus makes sense for those problems…it’s almost a no brainer!

What becomes difficult is when following Jesus becomes hard. There’s no way around it, a life following Jesus will have seasons of struggle. Last week we talked about how following Jesus leads us to happiness. I had a very astute person in the service ask me a legitimate and fair question: What about persecution? A summary of my reply was this: Just wait, we will talk about that! There are seasons when we will experience happiness in our journey of following Jesus. However, in a flash a struggle will hit, we will face opposition and life will become hard.

I’ve seen people leave church with a happiness and joy in their heart only to get a phone call that a loved one was in a car accident. You get done reading Scripture, and your heart is filled with joy and get a message that a friend has passed away. Our Christian brothers and sisters in Ukraine, just a few months ago were going about life as if everything was normal, and now they are in a country of war, where they are refugees. How quickly things can change.

Or maybe you chose to follow Jesus and you announced it to your family…only to find they are opposed and making life difficult. Or, you have been sharing your faith at work, and now your a belittled or made fun of. Following Jesus can be very hard at times, and it will challenge our stick-to-itiveness! To walk this path of long obedience in the same direction, how can we persevere through the tough times?

Let’s take a look at our next Psalm in our journey through the Psalms of Ascent. In your Bible, Psalms 120 through 134 are designated at the Psalms of Ascent. They were sung by Jewish pilgrims as they journey to Jerusalem for one of the three big feasts celebrated every year. Each Psalm was sung as a reminder of the various steps on their journey of following YAHWEH. Early Christians used these psalms is a similar manner. They would use these psalms to remind them of their journey Jesus. Psalm 129 points us to the need for perseverance, let’s see what it has to say. Why don’t you join me in standing as I read it.

Psalm 129:1–8 NIV

1 “They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,” let Israel say; 2 “they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. 3 Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. 4 But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.” 5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame. 6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow; 7 a reaper cannot fill his hands with it, nor one who gathers fill his arms. 8 May those who pass by not say to them, “The blessing of the Lord be on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.”

Just a quick reminder about Psalms. These are poetic, artful, worship songs. They use powerful metaphors and images to express truth, emotion, and life. This is very evident in this psalm. There are some very powerful images and a lot of emotion!

We do not know when this psalm was written, but honestly it doesn’t really matter because it is descriptive of their entire journey of following the LORD. They had been oppressed by the Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians and the Babylonians…and many more in between. They had experienced blessing, but the had been oppressed. But there was always a remnant that didn’t give up on God, and He never gave up on them. They persevered, whether they were in bondage or exile, they didn’t give up. Even when they were beaten or tortured. Honestly, what other image do you get from verse three? A plow making furrows in your back?

Here’s a picture of a plow.

Powerful image isn’t it? Imagine that moving down your back. This is the kind of opposition that would cause a person to give up. But they didn’t. That’s the emphasis of verse two, the enemies didn’t gain victory over them, they didn’t give up…they persevered!

So why are there seasons of struggle and opposition and even pain for those who follow Jesus? Well, there are no easy answers for sure. But here are some reasons why. We live in a fallen and broken world. We must deal with the consequences of our own sin. We must deal with the consequences of other people’s sin. We have an Enemy. As the apostle Peter famously said, the Enemy, Satan is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Maybe Jesus made it even more clear when he said this to his disciples:

John 15:18 NIV

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

Sobering isn’t it? While I personally will face struggles as a follower of Jesus, I’m reminded that there are brothers and sisters around the world who have it much worse then I do…and they don’t give up. So how do we do it? Look at verse four. This is the center and main idea of this Psalm

Psalm 129:4 NIV

4 But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.”

Highlight the word righteous. This word describes a faithful relationship; covenant loyalty. In other words, God will do right by his people, He will stick with them no matter what. God has stick-to-itiveness with his people.

One Psalm that should immediately come to your mind is Psalm 23. You have this image of God shepherding his people, leading them to all of these good and happy places and then verse four comes along.

Psalm 23:4 NIV

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

God isn’t promising that you won’t walk through dark valleys, where death may feel eminent…what he does promise is that you won’t walk alone. Not only will you not walk alone, but the wicked will not prevail…they will not overcome. The cords of their control or enslavement have been cut, God will prevail.

So how does this help us to persevere on our discipleship journey? Let’s let our relationship with Jesus be our guide. Remember in Matthew 28, he said that he would be with us even to the very end of the age. Our good shepherd walks with us in the good times as well as the bad times. Here is what Jesus instructs us with.

1. To Persevere You Need Deep Roots - In his parable of the sower Jesus describes one soil in particular.

Matthew 13:5–6 NIV

5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

In the seasons when things are good, we need to continue to put our roots down deeper into our relationship with Jesus. As the psalmist says, the LORD will never leave you…but are you deepening your relationship with him? Are you pursuing him, loving him by being obedient to what he says, loving others by serving people and living in community with the LORD and his people. Our ability to persevere does come from our strength but from our deepened connection with Jesus.

2. We Can Persevere Because Many Have Blazed the Trail Before Us

One of the reasons we have the Bible, is to shows us a collection of broken, sinful, messed up people who trusted God and didn’t give up. Hebrews 11 lists these misfits and call them people of faith. Another example is Jesus. In Jesus we have one who knew no sin, and on the night of his arrest was overwhelmed with agony at the thought of going to the cross, yet he persevered to death…only to rise in victory over death and sin. That happened only because he didn’t give up, he persevered.

Thus the charge is given to us to walk the same path knowing that our God will prevail in the end, so today…tomorrow we won’t give up. Here is how the author of Hebrews describes this journey.

Hebrews 12:1–3 NIV

1 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 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. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Our stick-to-itivness, our perseverance, our grit comes because we don’t walk this path alone. Even if we fall down, take a wrong turn or even tap out for a season…if we focus on Jesus, the one who knows what we are going through, the one who has overcome, we can get up and continue on this long obedience in the same direction.

Through the good times and the bad we can walk with perseverance because when you walk with Jesus, you never walk alone.

The last three verses of Psalm 129 end with an emotional plea. They ask that no blessings come upon their persecutors. We see this type of request a lot in the psalms as people wrestle with the pain of persecution. When someone pushes against us, our first inclination is to push back. If your son or daughter runs out into the street and a car almost hits them, you get angry and emotional…at your child and the driver. The psalmist is expressing their emotion.

The consistent teaching of Scripture OT or NT is that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. It doesn’t mean we won’t have feeling or emotions where we want bad things to happen…we will. So how I interpret these last three verses is that the psalmist is being transparent with their emotions, and then turning it over to God to deal with their enemies.

That should be our model as well, be it our enemies or someone who is being difficult in our lives, our response is to lean into our relationship with Jesus, love our enemies, and let the LORD deal with those who oppose us. It’s what Jesus did and we must follow his lead. So remember:

Through the good times and the bad we can walk with perseverance because when you walk with Jesus, you never walk alone.

Japanese Marathon Runner Shizo Kanakuri competed in the domestic qualifying trials for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Kanakuri set a marathon world record and was selected as one of the only two athletes that Japan could afford to send to the event that year.

However, Kanakuri shockingly disappeared during the 1912 Olympic marathon race. He had had a rough 18-day-long trip to Stockholm, first by ship and then by train all through the Trans-Siberian Railway, and needed five days to recover for the race. Kanakuri, weakened by the long journey from Japan, lost consciousness midway through the race, and was cared for by a local family. Being embarrassed from his "failure" he returned to Japan without notifying race officials.

Swedish authorities considered him missing for 50 years before discovering that he was living in Japan. In 1967, he was offered the opportunity to complete his run. He accepted and completed the marathon in 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds, remarking, "It was a long trip. Along the way, I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren." But his finished. He never gave up. No matter where we are on our journey, may that be our story as well: We never gave up.