Jeff Cummings, Jerry Vines, John Stevens, Tom Zempel, Charles Hauser, men you do not know, as well as others whom you may know bring fond memories into my mind of faithfulness and perseverance as they instructed me in the Word of God. They led me at critical junctures in my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. And remembering the investment they made into my life brings joy to my heart even in the midst of difficulty. Jeff Cummings was my College/Career Sunday School teacher in Jacksonville. He took me with him to share the Gospel with people more than once. Jerry Vines, John Stevens, Tom Zempel all took painstaking care to bring the Word of God to me through their careful and vibrant preaching at various times in my life. Charles Hauser was the dean at the seminary whose teaching manner was not the most compelling but it had a firm quiet power attached to it because of his walk with Christ.
Then of course, there is my Savior who has walked with me through thick and thin. When difficulty and hardship changed my circumstances it did not change my Savior. In every changing tide of life He remained the same. I could go to him in sorrow and pain as well as in times of joy and peace. He alone is my rock.
The author of Hebrews calls us today to look to these two sources of encouragement for our lives. There are those human servants of the living God who, may be unknown to the world, but are dear in our memories. And the key idea of this passage he brings to us is that the dual meditation upon the faithful lives of God’s servants and the changeless life of our Savior can be an encouragement to live righteously in the midst of difficult circumstances. In these verses, the author lays out for us two causes for encouragement. And in the midst of the two causes for encouragement he provides us with a word of instruction.
I. The Example of Godly Leaders
The first cause for encouragement the author of Hebrews gives us is the example of godly leaders. In verse 7 he says, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” In this verse the author shows us that godly leaders of the past are to be an encouragement to the believer.
The word “remember” that the author uses has several different connotations. The most relevant nuance for this passage has the idea of recalling to mind for the purpose of action. The word “remember” is used in Hebrews 11:22 in this fashion, though it is not translated as “remember.” It says, “By faith Joseph, when he was dying made mention of (or brought to remembrance) the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.” He caused his family to remember the promise God made to Abraham to bring them out of Egypt so they would take his coffin with them and bury him in The Promised Land when they arrived. He specifically brought this to their mind for this purpose. Another nuance of the word applies to this verse. It has the idea of being encouraged by the thought of. Paul uses the word this way in 1 Thessalonians 1:3. He says there, (starting from verse 2) “We give thanks to God…constantly bearing in mind (that is, remembering) your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope.” Paul was continually encouraged when he remembered what was taking place in the lives of the Thessalonians through the grace of Christ.
A. They spoke the Word of God
Now the author mentions two reasons why his readers should be encouraged by the thought of their leaders. First, he says, “They spoke the Word of God to you.” These people Paul described in 1 Timothy as those who, “worked hard in preaching and teaching the Word.” Some may think that there is little work in preparing to preach a Bible message. They may say, “All you have to do is get up there and speak on whatever you want.” I wish it were that simple. Some people may make it that simple. Some people may have no concern about preparation. But let me explain to you the factors involved in preparing a message, as I believe God would have me do. This isn’t how everyone prepares to preach, but if someone wants to preach properly the form of preparation should show great concern for the Scripture and the necessity to explain it. First, and perhaps the most simple factor in sermon preparation, is the time it takes to prepare. To prepare a typical Sunday morning message it takes me about 10 hours or so to prepare. First, I need to outline the passage if I am to understand it. Then I need to meditate upon it to discern the salient (or most important) points of the passage. Then I need to think some more upon it to give a key idea so you can have an understanding of the message in kernel form. Then I look at how certain important or rare words are used in the passage at hand and in other passages to help me understand their use here. After that preliminary work I consult some commentaries to make sure I am on the right track and not missing something about the passage. Then comes the time set aside to actually put the material down into a format to preach it. This is the time factor.
Now throughout this period there is much prayer that goes into the preparation of my message as well. I pray through the entire process. I pray for wisdom to discern an outline, I pray for the words to explain passages and I pray more when it comes to difficult passages. But in this I also pray for each one of you individually. I pray that God would use this passage in each of your lives individually so that you will come away from here changed by it. I pray that God’s Holy Spirit would work in some way through the Word spoken. I come here specifically, early on Sunday morning, to pray for each person by name whom I hope will be here that God would open their ears to hear what He has to say to them. Why do I do this? Because I know that this, this time of preaching, is a spiritual battle and that if you are not ready to hear and your hearts are not prepared to listen and the Word is not protected as it is sown then Satan will come and snatch the Word from your heart and it will not accomplish what it was set to do. And I recognize the futility of speaking words without spiritual power. I could be the most eloquent speaker but if I do not have God’s power then all that I say is in vain. Many weeks, the majority of weeks, when I am done with my sermon preparation, I will look at the printed pages and say, “It is worthless. God unless you breath life into this, it will not be of any lasting value.” I am serious about this. I come into this pulpit with a sense of fear and trepidation at the daunting responsibility of the task. The Scripture says, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.” We must recognize that this time of preaching is of great spiritual significance.
And along those lines I must repent as I prepare the Word that I am going to preach to you. Many times I have come under the weight of the conviction of the Spirit of God as I have been preparing the message and have been led to repent. If the Word does not affect me when I prepare it, how will it affect you when I preach it?
Then there is physical preparation for preaching into which I enter. I try to eat carefully on Saturday evening and eat lightly on Sunday morning so that my stomach is not stressed for this serious task of preaching. I also seek to get to bed early enough so that I will be rested and ready to worship the Lord early Sunday. Now I’m not legalistic on this. Sometimes there are opportunities to minister to others on Saturday evening and I will take these opportunities, however, this is my general schedule.
But being in the pulpit is not the only occasion for proclaiming the Word of God each week. I speak the Word to you in many other venues. There are Bible studies I have with individuals in order to disciple them. I counsel individuals on specific matters. There is the opportunity to write on various subjects to instruct you. These are all part of speaking the Word of God. As many of you know I try not to water down what the Word says. When it is clear on an issue I am very clear but I try to be gracious in the way I present it. Graciousness ought to accompany every aspect of teaching the Word, especially those areas that are difficult to cover. The truth must be spoken but it must be spoken in love.
Ultimately I see that what I am doing is speaking to you the very words of God. I am not at liberty to give you my own ideas. I am not at liberty to diverge from the Scripture. I am compelled by the Spirit of God to stick to the text. Woe to me if I fail to give you a healthy diet of food from the Word of God. I feel the burden of that very compulsion. And it is a burden I bear gladly for your sake. For one day I will stand accountable to God for the things that I have said to you. And if they are not God’s Words then woe to me.
In 1 Peter 4:10-11, he says, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God.” When I stand and speak to you here it would do you no good to speak as giving my own opinion or advice. I must stand here and say, “Thus says the Lord.” And this is what changes hearts and lives of people. It is the living and enduring Word of God and not my word that does this. I hope that you can look on the preaching of the Word that issues from this pulpit and be encouraged by it so that it might cause you to live righteously even in difficult times.
I think it happens in people’s lives (at one time or another) to minimize the effect of pulpit ministry to their own hearts. They might begin to doubt its effectiveness because they cannot see any recent great change that has come about by it. Perhaps this story will help to understand the ministry of preaching in a better way. A man once told a friend that he was no longer going to church, for in 50 years of going he cannot remember any one sermon in particular. His friend replied, “I have been married now more than 30 years and I cannot say that I remember any meal my wife has prepared in particular. Does that mean that my wife’s preparation and service to me has gone without benefit? Wouldn’t I be foolish to say that all this work has not nourished me these 30 plus years?
The greatest encouragement of the ministry of the Word is to receive its consistent testimony week in and week out.
B. They lived faithfully for Christ
The second reason the author gave for his readers to be encouraged by the thought of their leaders is that they lived faithfully for Christ. He notes in the latter part of verse 7, “considering the result of their conduct.” The outcome of their lives was something for the believers to consider. These leaders had faithfully lived for Christ throughout their lives and it was to be a shining beacon for the believers in the church to see. Not many in Christian ministry see this today because leaders are not around long enough to have ministry in someone’s life. Real ministry takes place when an individual leads for a very long time. People will not give their lives over to someone who may be in a place for a few years. They will not sacrifice for someone who is a hireling, someone who is simply using a ministry as a stepping-stone for “bigger and better” things.
Real ministry takes place over the long haul. When an individual sticks to a ministry, people are able to see the real character that is resident in that person. These people to whom the author was writing had individuals who stood the test of time in ministering to them. Now whether they had passed on or had been arrested and placed in prison the conduct of the life was evident. They faithfully served Christ until the end. And it showed.
There are those who leave because times get rough. But these never see the real fruit of reward. I have used him as an example before but I want to mention something about the English pastor named Charles Simeon. In various ways he endured hardship in the ministry in which he continued at one church for 54 years. He endured such difficulty that most people would have quit if only one of these mishaps had befallen them. For the first 10 years of his ministry the regular “paying” members of the congregation refused to hear him and locked their pews to prevent anyone from using them. Those who came had to stand in the aisles. He wrote, “In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patience (notice he didn’t say that resignation was a remedy)…it was painful indeed to see the church, with the exception of the aisles, almost forsaken; but I thought that if God would only give a double blessing to the congregation that did attend, there would be on the whole be as much good done as if the congregation were doubled and the blessing limited to only half the amount.” He was also struck with an illness in the midst of his ministry through which he patiently endured. Piper, in his book about him said, “After 25 years of ministry, his heath failed suddenly. His voice gave way so that preaching was very difficult and at times he could only speak in a whisper. After a sermon he would feel ‘more like one dead than alive.’ This broken condition lasted for thirteen years, till he was sixty years old. In all this time Simeon pressed on in his work.” Later, Simeon wrote in his journal, “Through mercy I am, for ministerial service, stronger than I have been at any time this thirty years…preaching at seventy-six with all the exuberance of youth.” I think we have seen in Pastor Tom this kind of faithful work before the Lord. What I have noticed is that you do not have to see someone for a long time but only have to recognize that someone has served the Lord faithfully for a long time. I have seen this in the fact that many new people, though they have not known Pastor Tom for a long period of time have come to love him for His faithfulness to Christ and sacrifice throughout the years of his life.
Now a tiny six years is not enough for you to have seen my trust in the Lord in full measure. But I hope you have received a glimpse of it. It is only by viewing it from the perspective of a long time does one begin to smell the sweet fragrance of the grace of Christ. And it is my prayer and hope that God would grant me many years here in this wonderful place to serve Him faithfully with all His strength.
II. The Emulation of Godly Leaders
We have witnessed the first cause for encouragement the author gave to us, namely, the example of godly leaders. But he pauses for a moment to give a word of instruction. And we find it in the emulation of godly leaders. He says at the end of verse 7, “imitate their faith.” As you are able to see faith in Christ displayed in godly leaders then you should seek to imitate their faith. He didn’t say, “imitate their flaws but imitate their faith.” This is what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:1. He said, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
Christianity is more caught than taught. Yes, there is the necessity of teaching Christian doctrine but talk of someone’s mouth is hollow if their life does not follow. In every generation there must be a passing down of the baton. There must be a reequipping for ministry. Paul said this much in 2 Timothy 2. In verse 2, Paul says, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
I never learned growing up, the right way to treat a wife. I didn’t understand about commitment and tenderness and love. I learned how to mistreat a wife but not how to love a wife. How then did I learn this so that one wonderful woman would put up with me for so long? I had two instructors, the first was the Bible. You need never fear that you will not know what to do because you were never told. The Scripture gives us all the answers to equip us for every good work. But I also had a living instructor. Pastor Tom discipled me. And I saw in his home what it meant to show love to a wife.
Look to the example of godly leaders. Many here fall into this category. They wouldn’t use the title “leader” but they are just the same. And this says that somewhere along the line, as you seek to imitate godly leadership you too will become a leader. And this should cause you all the more to desire to live in a godly fashion. For you may never know who is coming behind you to follow your example as you follow Christ.
III. The Existence of a Changeless Savior.
The second cause for encouragement the author of Hebrews gives us is the existence of a changeless Savior. In verse 8 he notes, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
The key reason the author introduces Jesus Christ and His immutable (his unchanging) characteristics, is to make a contrast between the temporary leaders who direct the church and the permanent head of the church. When leaders pass from the scene often there is a let down, some discouragement, perhaps because the individual was looked up to, perhaps too highly. To counteract this the author secondly focuses on the fact that though leaders may come and go, Jesus Christ does not. He will not change, He will not be any less in the years to come. The author knew that to present Jesus Christ as the changeless potentate of time was an encouragement they needed. Whether the leaders had died or been pressed into prison through persecution, they did not need to fret. They didn’t need to back down for the Lord or give up because their leader had gone. No, the sustainer of their faith is still on the throne.
This church does not stand or fall with Pastor Tom or myself or any other human leader. This church can still thrive and flourish if, and only if, Jesus Christ is exalted here as the head of the church! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will be head of the church when I leave and the next, and the next, etc.
Focus on the unchangeable nature of Jesus Christ. As the author of Hebrews introduced Jesus Christ in the opening chapter of the book he said, in verses 10ff, “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.”
In the midst of turbulent times you can cling tightly to a Savior who does not change. In days of disturbing setbacks in your walk with Christ you can look to a Savior who has said, “I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” His faithful steadfast love toward us never changes. We can depend on these promises as His children.
Be encouraged by the example of godly leaders. Yes, there are still those who seek to do God’s will in God’s way. Imitate their faith. Be encouraged by the existence of a changeless Savior. Though all around you are blown about in the wind, your Savior never moves.