Dear friends in Christ.
In 1893, engineer George Ferris built a machine that bears his name--the Ferris wheel. When it was finished, he invited a newspaper reporter to accompany him and his wife for the inaugural ride. It was a windy July day, so a stiff breeze struck the wheel with great force as it slowly began its rotation. Despite the wind, the wheel turned flawlessly. After one revolution, Ferris called for the machine to be stopped so that he, his wife, and the reporter could step out. In braving that one revolution on the windblown Ferris wheel, each occupant demonstrated genuine faith. Mr. Ferris began with the scientific knowledge that the machine would work and that it would be safe. Mrs. Ferris and the reporter believed the machine would work on the basis of what the inventor had said. But only after the ride could it be said of all three that they had personal, experiential faith.
In the same way that Mrs. Ferris and the reporter fixed their faith on Mr. Ferris assurances that his Ferris Wheel would work, so also the writer to the Hebrews is calling on each and every one of us to fix our faith on what he has to tell us. In fact, he is calling on us to fix our faith on Jesus our unchanging Savior as he writes in Hebrews 13:1-8. I invite you to open your Bibles to Hebrews 13:1-8 to hear firsthand what he is telling us. As you’re looking that up, let me bring you up to speed as to what has been happening. As I’ve told you before, the letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were seriously considering giving up their Christianity and going back to their old way of life in Judaism. For the first 10 chapters the writer demonstrated why belief in Jesus Christ was far superior to anything Judaism had to offer. In Chapter 11 he talked about how faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. In Chapter 12 he spoke about how God does discipline his children to bring them closer to him and to prepare them for works of service in his kingdom. Now in Chapter 13 he is calling on his hearers to fix their faith on their unchanging Savior as they live their lives according to his will. We read in Chapter 13 beginning with verse 1: “Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:1–8, NIV)
Wow! Those are some powerfully comforting words right there in verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, NIV) In fact, what greater comfort could we find than words that tell us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior! Though everything is constantly changing in the world around us, Jesus remains the same. Though we may find that some of our best friends are merely our good friends and sometimes even our worst enemies depending on the day and the fluctuation of their emotions, Jesus Christ, our Savior never changes. Though we grew up learning Acronyms like, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles to help us remember the order of the planets, now that Pluto is no longer a planet, teachers have had to change their Acronym and so many of us feel the loss of our beloved planet named after Mickey’s dog. Yet, even though Pluto’s status has changed, the status of our Savior remains unchanged. He is still the Son of God. He is still our Savior. He is still the one who came to free us from our sins. He is still our unchanging Savior who is the heart of the Gospel message—the message that has been proclaimed from generation to generation.
What greater comfort could there be as we fix our faith on our unchanging Savior, than the comfort that comes from knowing that the message of salvation, the message of Jesus Christ has never changed! For the truth is, the message of salvation that you have heard me preach for the last 5 years is the same message that all the all the Pastors who have served this congregation have preached to you for the last 60 + years of Grace’s existence. The message of salvation that was preached to you is the very same message of salvation that so many immigrants brought with them when they came to the New World. The message of salvation that we hold today is the same message that Martin Luther struggled to return to the church as he fought to proclaim it to the people of Germany. This is the message that the disciples proclaimed as they went forth, making disciples of all nations. This is the message of salvation that Jesus, himself, taught and then fulfilled when he gave his life on the cross. This is the message of the Old Testament, which promised a Savior who would come to take away the sins of the world. This is the message that the prophets proclaimed to the Israelites time and time again. This is the message that Abraham believed when the Lord credited his faith as righteousness. This is the message of salvation that Adam and Eve were given when the Lord told them that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.
Because Jesus is our unchanging Savior, whose message of salvation has remained constant since the beginning of creation, we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus and trust in him for eternal life. We can be certain that when Jesus went Jesus went to the cross for us, he was forsaken by his heavenly Father so that we would never have to be. We can be certain that he endured the punishment of our sins, suffering the pains of hell itself in our place so that we might never know the torment of eternal damnation. We can be certain that when he took our sins upon his shoulders, he completely emptied us of our sins; filling us instead with his own righteousness, declaring us not guilty in the sight of God our Father. Because of this, because of all that Jesus has done for us we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus Christ our Savior confidently trusting that he is our unchanging Savior who has indeed provided us with eternal life!
This is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews is telling us today! He is assuring us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior. He is assuring us that we can fix our faith in Jesus because he is the one who has provided us with the very salvation he has promised to all people and delivered to all who believe in him. He is assuring us that through faith in Jesus we have been declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. And now that we have fixed our faith on Jesus, our unchanging Savior, he is calling on us to serve the Lord with our lives! Let’s take a look, once more, at the first 6 verses of chapter 13: “1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”(Hebrews 13:1–6, NIV)
These are but a few ways that we can serve the Lord now that we have fixed our faith on our unchanging Savior! Let us not live as people who feel that they have put in their time and now they can coast on to eternal life. Rather, let us live as Christians, serving the Lord by putting our faith into action. Let us show our love for each other by greeting each other before and after church. Not just our friends or the people we get along with, but make every effort to get to know the members of this family of believers. Let us serve the Lord, especially during these troubled times, by setting aside a specific portion of our income, and giving what we have decided to give with a happy and a joyous heart out of thanks for all that our Savior has given us. Let us serve the Lord by honoring his gift of marriage! Not simply by living an honorably married life, but by helping couples in their marital distress rather than simply gossiping about them.; by keeping our lives free of the lust that movies, TV, and off color Internet sites hope to inspire in us; by keeping ourselves from crude jokes about sex, adultery, and married life.
Let us also serve the Lord by trusting him. For now that we have fixed our lives to our unchangeable Savior, we know that we don’t need to be worried about what we will eat or what we will wear, because we know that the Lord will provide for us. We can find confidence in his promise that he will never leave us nor will he forsake us. We can find confidence in this because this is the very same promise he gave to Abraham when he said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1) This is the same promise that Isaac received from the Lord when he said, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” This is the same promise the Lord gave to Moses and all of Israel when he said, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) This is the promise the Lord gave to Joshua when he said, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5) This was the promise that Jesus gave to the disciples when he said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
There is great comfort in these assurances from Scripture that our Savior will never leave us nor will he ever forsake us! And, again, because he is our unchanging Savior we can be certain that what he promised to these believers also applies to us. We can be certain that everything he has told us is true. Thus, in the same way that Mrs. Ferris and a reporter fixed their faith on what Mr. Ferris told them about his wheel, we can fix our faith on our unchanging Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church,--Le Sueur, MN
