Anniversary Sunday (2008)
Tom Shrader anchors his anniversary message in Hebrews 10:23, calling believers to hold fast to the confession of their hope because God always keeps His word. Drawing on the storm account in Mark 4 and Jesus' question 'What are you afraid of?', he walks through five common fears — including fear of death, insufficiency, suffering, loneliness, and insignificance — and applies God's promises to each. He closes by urging the congregation to embrace trials as the very means by which faith becomes real, and to find their significance not in personal achievement but in submission to Christ and participation in His body.
“The only thing truly significant in this life is knowing Jesus Christ, and being part of the most significant organizations, movements, in the whole world — it's the body of Christ.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: EVBC Anniversary Sunday - 2008
Recorded: 2008 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 24 min
Themes: fear, hope, faith, suffering, God's promises, courage, trials, significance, struggling with fear, feeling insignificant, facing loneliness, dealing with suffering, anxious believer, going through trials, new believer, grieving loss
Scripture: Hebrews 10:23, Hebrews 10:24, Mark 4:35-41, Acts 2:22, Acts 2:24, John 15:22, Matthew 6:24-25, Matthew 6:32-33, James 1:2-4
Theological Themes: perseverance of the saints, holding fast, eschatology, sanctification, theodicy, the body of Christ, biblical hope, God's faithfulness
Full Transcript
Holding Fast to Hope
Have your Bible open to the Book of Hebrews. We will be looking at a couple of passages today, spending the majority of our time there. The passage I want to anchor us in is Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23. The author of Hebrews says this: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." One paraphrase renders that verse this way: "Let us keep up the firm ground where God's promises keep us going — He always keeps His word."
I want to work through that verse and the implications it carries. Over the last twelve weeks, and extensively over the last month, I have had conversation after conversation with people at all different stages of life — young and old, employed and unemployed. In each of those conversations, I keep coming back to the same recognition: these are really worrying times. And for me, those two things suddenly came together — this sense of concern, uncertainty, and fear on one side, and on the other side, the reality that He always keeps His word.
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope." All of this — Jesus Christ in the world — is what we hold to. "For He who promised is faithful." When you get hold of His promises, you have something real to stand on.
Everything's Going to Hell — But Are You?
One of the thoughts that kept coming up in those conversations was this: everything's going to hell. And then it turned into a question — everything's going to hell, but are you? We kept working with that, and we realized this is actually a wonderful opportunity for us as the people of God.
God tells us in His Word: do not be afraid. It is almost like a prohibition from Jesus Himself. He who created us, who came to this earth, says to you and me directly: do not be afraid. And because He is realistic — because He understands terrible circumstances, sees life in its fullness, and holds it all together — He also understands that we are people who are easily frightened. There will be times in our lives when we are anxious. And into those times He speaks: do not be afraid.
These are uncertain times. There have always been trying times, but the uncertainty we are living in now is accelerating, and we can see nations beginning to pull apart. Into all of that, the word remains: do not be afraid.
The Storm on the Lake
I want to take you to Mark chapter 4. Turn there if you will. In Mark chapter 4, verse 35, Jesus has had a very busy time — He has been teaching large crowds. Then we read this: "On that day, when evening came, He said to them, 'Let us go over to the other side.'" They took Him along in the boat, just as He was, and other boats were with Him. And then: "There arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up."
You get that sense — there is nothing abstract about this. In the stern, Jesus Himself was asleep on a cushion. He was asleep while the storm raged. They woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." The wind died down and it became perfectly calm.
And then He said to them — and this is what I say to you today — "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" What is it you are afraid of? That is the question I want to sit with.
Faith Tested by the Storm
I have looked at five things that are common sources of worry and concern, and we will work through those. The point is this: identify what that thing is that is a source of worry or fear for you. Understand what God's Word says about it — what promise He has made. And then live in that reality, because faith is not theoretical. It is real.
Here is what I have learned about promises and faith. If you do not know whether a warranty is genuine, when something breaks you go back to the manufacturer to find out. You can read the promises of God, but until you are in the middle of the storm — until the waves are breaking over the boat and it is already filling up and the wind is holding on to you — you do not know from experience whether those promises are real. That is what it means to live by faith, not merely to hold it as an idea in your head.
The Resurrection as the Ground of the Promise
Jesus said, as recorded in Acts 2:22, "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know." And then in Acts 2:24: "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."
This is foundational. We have all made choices that have introduced something into this world that is not as God intended, and we will physically die in the world as it now stands. Some of you in the last week or two have been watching a television program, or listening to a discussion, or hearing people talk about what happens afterwards — what comes after death. That question is precisely where the promises of God meet us.
Insufficiency and Serving Two Masters
For those of us who are followers of Christ, we understand that Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again. On the resurrection day, the disciples themselves came to believe in the resurrection. You have been living through the gospel, and the church is still alive, yet some have never come to Christ in repentance and faith. If an ethical vision falls short of the glory of God, the fact remains that God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
The reason this gospel is so important is that it is absolutely true. You are going to die, no matter what you believe. That overriding issue — how you face death — is more important than anything else we will deal with in our lives. Every time someone dies, people say, "He's in a better place." But you can only say that with confidence if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
One of the most important things we can do is understand the reality of heaven. When everything is said and done, being in the presence of the Savior exceeds every wonder this life offers. If you are afraid to die, Jesus is the antidote.
You Cannot Serve Two Masters
Jesus laid out an incredible truth: no one can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. That truth is written right there in the text, and it is a helpful but also a challenging word for us to sit with.
In verse 25, Jesus says not to worry about life — what you will eat, where you will live, what you will wear. These great necessities of life will be answered as we walk with Him. As followers of Christ, we need to understand that our relationship with Him supersedes all other areas of our life.
Things are tough right now, and they are not going to get better quickly. We are going to find people who never thought they would be out of work, or truly in need, facing exactly that reality. That is why this passage matters so much: "You cannot serve God and money. Do not worry about your life." The answer Jesus gives is clear — seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
What Hardship Reveals
In verse 32, Jesus says that is how the Gentiles think — their identity is tied up in what they wear, where they live, what they eat, where they dine, where they vacation. We have taught this truth again and again, and now I believe it matters more than ever. If you get nothing else out of this today, get this one thing: what God is about to do through hardship and suffering is what prosperity could never do.
God is going to reveal ourselves to ourselves. It is one thing to say this stuff doesn't matter when you have it. It is a whole other thing, when it is gone, to say, "You know what — it doesn't matter." We are not to be afraid, because life consists of more than stuff. Many of the things we have for so long seen as assets have in fact been liabilities.
You cannot be equally devoted to the things of this world and equally devoted to God. You cannot serve two masters. For us as believers, and for us as a church, I think this is going to be a wonderful time.
Our God Is Greater
As you go to your office, the gym, the neighborhood, or share coffee with friends and begin to talk about what is going on, all of a sudden these worries and concerns will surface. You will have the opportunity to say, "I understand all of that, but my God is bigger." We sing this, but it is one thing to sing it and a whole other thing to believe it. How great is our God? He is so great that He will do whatever is necessary in your life, in my life, and in ours corporately, to make us the people He wants us to be.
These are genuinely uncertain times. Things may look out of control, but let me remind you — they are not out of control. They are beyond our control, but they are not beyond His. I have heard it from business people over the past month: real estate professionals, finance professionals, manufacturing professionals, and the man working on the manufacturing line — all saying the same thing: "I have a model and a plan for everything, and I don't know what to do." I do not like being in that place, but it is actually a great place to be. Because when we do not know what to do, we have only got one place to turn.
Embracing Suffering
God, we will do the best we can. Lead us the best You can, and God, we are going to follow You wherever You take us. That is a wonderful place to be. Let me add three more things quickly.
This idea of suffering — we are afraid to suffer. When we begin to think of suffering in all its forms, whether economic or physical, we are afraid of those tests and trials. And yet James tells us this: "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." James tells us in this wonderful verse that trials and difficulties are inevitable. They are necessary for our growth. They are various, customized to us, and purposeful. God has a reason for all that He does.
Before we started today, I had a chance to go and visit and say hello to Bonnie up in her van as she was trying to get ready. As I listened to her, and as I read the things she writes, and as I watch her family, I had this mixed emotion. On one hand I wanted to say, God, I would not put anybody through something like this. On the other hand I wanted to say, God, thank you so much that she could be here today.
I do not think I want this suffering. And yet God says, if you really love Me, you do. What you are suffering, I do not know — but do not push it away. One of the paraphrases says, "Welcome these trials as necessary family and friends into your life." That is not how it is naturally presented to us. Our reaction is to push suffering away, and God says, embrace it. Why? Because that is what produces endurance in your life.
When you say, God, I want to grow, I want to understand You, I want to understand my faith, I want to understand how these things come together — here is what God hears: let me suffer, bring me trials. The only way God will ever be truly real in your life is if He puts you into the fire. It will all be theoretical otherwise.
God in the Fire
When you talk to somebody who has walked with God for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years and you start to listen to them talk about life, they do not talk about the great and easy times. They talk about the challenges and the difficulties, and how God manifested Himself in the midst of those challenges. Just as He did that for Daniel, Shadrach, and Abednego — those men who were in the fire.
I love the king's comment. He said, wait a minute, how many men did we put in the fire? Three. And then he said, look in the fire — I see four. What a beautiful picture that is of you in your own life. Sometimes it feels like the fire, and you are instinctively flinching, thinking you are going to burn. But God is saying, I will tell you where I am — I am right there in the fire with you. When those men came out, they did not even smell like smoke.
Combating Loneliness Through Community
Right after that verse where we started in Hebrews 10, the next verse says this: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together."
Here is how you combat loneliness: you need people. Listen to Eric's story — it was a story about God working in his life, but did you see how frequently it involved a person coming alongside him? It was a teaching, and then flashbacks: here is Jim Harper, here is that school group. That is why our community is so important. There is something seriously deficient in your life if you are not engaged in this kind of relationship. And it happens in a variety of places — in a home group right where you live, in a school group, in student ministries. You desperately need people.
You have two things that will address that. First, being someone who both reaches out to and receives people. Second, God says, get this in your heart: I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
A Significant Life
I will give you one last thing, and then we will move into a time of communion. I am afraid that my life will be insignificant. My grandmother and my parents, when they were good and walking through a cemetery heading to Davenport, walked among all these headstones. And on those tombstones you see all sorts of things — logos, symbols — and you can tell quite a lot about a person's life from what is written there. All of a sudden you read something like: he was a wonderful guy, she was a great gal, they loved to get together, they loved to cook, they loved to fish, they loved to hunt.
I think about the end of my life and what people might say. He was a Hawkeye fan. He loved to fish. He was not much for fixing things. But what I want people to say — what I truly want said — is that he loved God, and that he loved His Word, and that he loved people. And as he held himself before the Lord, the Lord took an ordinary life and used it in a significant way.
The Only Thing That Truly Matters
Have you ever sat down and wondered, "Is this even worth it? Is this life worth it? Am I even making a difference? Does it even matter?" The only thing truly significant in this life is knowing Jesus Christ and being part of the most significant organization, the most significant movement, in the whole world — the body of Christ.
In a world that has lost its hope, and I am hearing it every day — "I am out of hope, I am out of hope" — we are the people who say, let us think about the hope that we have, unwavering. The hope is not a wish. The hope is the certainty that Jesus is who He said He was, and that He will give us all we need for our life. All we do is submit to Him, and when we do, it makes every day worth living.
It has got nothing to do with you as an individual in terms of your own ability. It is about how you submit to Him and He begins to use you. He takes a person like you and me and does extraordinary things in our life. I really do believe that as times get more difficult, we need to grip His promises and remember His words, for He is faithful.
The Value of Community
One common and enduring thing is the value of community. This is the last time I get to speak to you this morning, so let me tell you how grateful I am that you are here. On Sundays I get to see you all through the different services, but to see us all in one place gives us, I think, just a small glimpse of what God is doing through you all.
To the Bible church — thank you so much for your love for us, for each other, and for your faithfulness. We really do pray that God uses us in a significant way for His honor and His glory.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank You for the life that we find in Him, and in Him alone, and thank You that You sent Him so that we would have eternal life. Now as we come to communion, it reminds us of the truth that You sent Jesus and He paid it all for us.
I pray that this day would bring honor and glory to You, that Your name would be lifted up, and that we would not focus on our circumstances but on our Savior. We understand that the challenges and the difficulties ahead are nothing to You, and that because of faithful people who love You, love Your Word, and love one another, we can have a great life for the world around us. We pray that in Jesus' name, amen.