Hebrews 12:1-13 - Jesus encourages us with a view of the entire church Dec 24-27

We are not the first. We are not the first to represent Jesus in this community. We are not the first to struggle against a world that hates Christians because they hate Christ. We are not the first to experience the effect of sin in our bodies and in our minds and in our hearts. We are not the first to fight against impurity, and we are not the first to struggle to remember grace.

We are not the first, but sometimes it sure seems like it. We look around and the world seems more violent, more anti-Christ then ever before in history. And we are the ones who get to fight this. Temptation seems to be right around the corner more than ever before. It seems like people years ago didn’t have to fight against this much temptation. We struggle with depression and other mental illnesses, and it seems like no one has ever experienced that kind of darkness before.

But we are not the first. Others have gone before us, others who have seen what we’ve seen and felt what we’ve felt and survived. Others that we love, and who love us. And they would be the first to tell us that there is a way to keep on going. There is a way to triumph. They are not telling us a theory. This isn’t a guess. They speak from experience. They know.

They are the great cloud of witnesses that surround us, and their presence and their experience gives us the encouragement and strength to keep trying, keep hoping, keep our eyes on Jesus and endure, just like they did.

And this morning, we are reminded of this great cloud of witnesses that surround us. People who don’t know the truth, who don’t know Jesus, some people get a lot of strange thoughts about those who have gone before. Strange stories and strange theology comes when we don’t listen to scripture.

But scripture is clear that in a beautiful, real way, we are connected to our loved ones who are with Jesus. We miss them, terribly, and we want to be with them. And yet, we are with them. They surround us. Not in a weird, ghostly way, but in a holy way, a wonderful way. We are with them, and they are with us and we are together, in the communion of the saints.

What comes to mind when we recite those words, "I believe in the communion of the saints?" What are we thinking about when we say those words? We say those words together, as we stand together in worship. We say them in unison, with one voice. And so the communion of the saints means us, here, in this room. We are us. We are not just a bunch of individuals who all happen to be in the same place at the same time. We are the body. We are the church. We are connected with one another, and that connection can’t be torn apart. That connection was fastened by the Holy Spirit as He knit together the body of Jesus. So, when one of us hurts, all of us hurt. When one of us stops showing up at church, we all are affected. We are part of each other. We stand together.

And as strong and wonderful as that is, there’s more! When we say that we believe in the communion of the saints, we mean us, here, but we also mean those of us who are seeing the face of Jesus and talking to Him right now. And this is the part we forget. We know that they are with Jesus, and we’re so happy for them. We miss them so much, because we can’t be with them. We look forward to the day that we’ll see them again.

And yet, we are still with them, in a way. Now, people will say that our loved ones are still with us, in our memories, in our hearts. And that’s true. That’s good. But Christians, saints, are together in a deeper, stronger way. We are in communion with the saints. We are united. We are one body, and that’s not just us here in this room. We are together here, through Jesus Christ, and we are together with our loved ones now, through Jesus Christ.

As this becomes more real to us, as we become more aware of this, we start to see life different. Our attitudes change. First, we think of our loved ones a little different. We miss them, we want to talk to them, we want to see them, to give them a hug. And yet, we’re connected to them. We’re talking about something mysterious here, something we can’t really understand. But it’s like Jesus has one hand on your shoulder, and one hand on your husband’s, your wife’s, your mom or dad, your child, the child you lost in a miscarriage. In Him, through Him, we’re joined, we’re united, we’re together. Jesus knows us and Jesus knows them and we all come together in Jesus.

We’ve been singing to the Lord this morning, and so have our family members who are with the Lord. We’ve been hearing the word of the Lord, and they’ve been seeing the Word of the Lord. The same strength and encouragement that we receive from God right now is the strength and encouragement that they are receiving. The only difference between them and us is that they don’t have to deal with sin anymore, and that’s just a matter of time until we can be finished with tempting thoughts and people who act nasty and a world where nothing works right.

But the communion of the saints helps us to wait and work. It’s a comfort to know that we have a connection, through Jesus, to our loved ones. But our families and friends who are with Jesus are also an encouragement.

We are not the first and we are not small and we are not alone. This is why Polly worked so hard on creating the bulletin cover for this morning, to remember some of the people who have gone before. Look at all the people in those pictures, and that’s not even all of the members of this church who have gone to be with Jesus. And then think of all the saints who were not part of the Hollandale CRC, but are still part of the great cloud. Just think of all the Christians who have ever lived, who are now with Jesus.

Hebrews 11, just before our text, is a list that names just a few saints who made it through. They had their bumps along the way. Abraham and Jacob, the founders of the covenant people, but who lied and deceived along the way. Moses, a friend of God, there was no other prophet like him, but who also struggled with anger issues. David, a man after God’s own heart, the greatest king ever, other than Jesus. But he was also guilty of adultery and murder. Samson who saved God’s people, but lost his eyes due to his pride. Rahab the prostitute, who aided God’s people. These are real people with real human failures. And they are part of the communion of the saints.

We stand with those people in Hebrews 11. We stand with the people on the cover of the bulletin. We stand with all those who have given their lives to Jesus, who repented of their sins, who trusted Jesus for their salvation. And that, people of God, is a very large crowd.

And that’s why the writer of Hebrews wrote Hebrews 12:1:

We’re part of a very large crowd. And there are more of us with Jesus than there are those of us waiting to see Him. Most of us have made it home. In this big group, most have seen the goodness of God in their lives, and then heard the voice of Jesus tell them, it’s time to come home. And then they’ve seen the glory of the Lord, and they’ve known what it means to really live, to live the way we were supposed to live. Most of the saints know this.

And since most of us have already made it, why would we ever give up? Since so many have tasted victory, what could possibly make us quit? We’re going to make it. We’re almost there. You can see their faces, the faces of those who made it to the finish line. And they’re cheering you on. They’ve been tempted by the same temptations you are right now. Their hearts felt the same pain you do, maybe for different reasons, but just as painful. And they made it. They made it!

But don’t get me wrong. It’s not that they were such wonderful people that they made it to the finish line. They would be the first to tell you. No, they had their faults and failures, just like us. But they know what we know, that it’s not about being wonderful people. It’s about knowing Jesus. So, verse 2:

Their eyes are fixed on Jesus. They’re watching Him with all their attention, because there’s no one more beautiful to watch. So, just like them, we fix our eyes on Jesus. We don’t get distracted by anything. We are myopic when it comes to Jesus. There’s Jesus, and then there’s everything else, and everything else doesn’t compare at all to Jesus.

We watch Him as He puts a little seed of faith in our hearts, through the Spirit. And we watch Him as He waters that seed and nourishes our faith and makes it grow and deepen and blossom. We watch Jesus, verse 2:

That victory after suffering is the same victory after suffering that our loved ones have experienced. And that victory after suffering is the same victory that we have to look forward too. All because Jesus died and rose again.

So we keep our eyes on Him, and our faith grows. Jesus feeds our faith, He strengthens our faith until it’s perfect. And that’s when we’re standing with the rest of the saints. That’s when we become part of that great cloud of witnesses, the people who can talk from experience about what Jesus did to us and in us and through us.

We’re part of them. They’re part of us. And all through Jesus. We come to the table to eat the Lord’s Supper, to commune, to connect to Jesus. But eating this bread and drinking this juice is more than just between us and Jesus. It draws each of us closer together, as we eat and drink at the same time. And not just us. In the same mysterious way we connect with Jesus, we are also in communion with the saints who are with Jesus. We’re part of the same body. We are the saints of God. We are the communion of the saints.