"Hey Jude, Part 3: The Falling, Faultless and Faithful"
The importance of finishing what you start
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, June 1, 2003
at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church
Text: Jude 22-25
I don't know if you would consider a person with these credentials to be a leader. Indeed, when I first read them I suspected that this person was a failure. This individual was brought up in a poor home and had a very rough childhood, so much so that throughout his life he only ever received one year of formal education.
He decided to propose to a certain woman, but while they were engaged, his fiancée died. He then decided to start a business, but the business failed. So he then decided to go into politics, and for nine consecutive elections he lost. He ran for the legislature, he ran for the Senate, he ran for the vice-presidency of the United States of America, and he lost everything!
He finally got married, but his marriage didn't go very well, and of his four children only one lived beyond the age of 18. This was not a man who had what you would call a stellar resumé. Yet, in 1860, in one last election, this man was elected President of the United States of America. His name was Abraham Lincoln.
When I read the history of Abraham Lincoln, I realize that the people who really matter in life are not those who are the great starters, but those who are the great finishers. It isn't always those who seem to have everything drop into their laps, have everything go their way or who are successful early in life, or those who by virtue of gifts and abilities have doors opened to them, who are the most successful. It's not even those who have great ideas, dreams, and visions. It is, rather, those who at the end of the race have stayed the course - have improved themselves and stuck to what they believe - and who have finished. It is no good being a great starter, if you're not a great finisher.
I know many people who are great starters. There was a man in one of my former congregations who had so many great ideas. He came to me and said, “Reverend Stirling, we should start up a food bank to help the poor.” I took him up on this, got together with him and a number of his friends and started a food bank. As soon as the poor came in and the food came in and the work had to be done this man was conspicuous by his absence. He felt that we should start a crêche in the church to help young children and families, but as soon as the babies and the mothers came in and the work began he was conspicuously absent. Here was a man who was a great starter but who was not a finisher.
In our text, Jude is concerned about starters and finishers. What concerns Jude is that there are a lot of new and young Christians, very much like the young confirmands that we have here this morning. People who have decided to dedicate their lives to Christ, who are new in the faith, have just learnt the way and are excited about the commitment they have made. But Jude was worried that over a period of time they would fall away - that they would not stay the course - that they would be good starters but not good finishers. He was worried that the influence of so many voices in the church was undermining the moral and spiritual life of the faithful and that there would be a falling away of those who were good starters but were not necessarily finishers.
My friends, that can happen to almost any of us in any aspect of life, but most especially when it comes to our faith. We can have the excitement of the commitment that we're making. We can have the joy of the faith and the community that we belong to, but after a while it is inevitable - circumstances, like sediment, settle - the enthusiasm, joy and excitement wane. People become tired.
They'll go to communion 80 times in their lives and on the 81st time it suddenly doesn't mean anything. They'll walk down the aisle and take their pew on a Sunday morning to worship for 20 years and then on one Sunday they'll feel the joy and the passion has gone out of their faith, commitment and worship. It happens to so many. No matter what age we are, we all find that there are times when we fall away in our hearts and minds from our commitment. It's a human thing to do. But it is particularly difficult when it becomes a matter of faith - because our commitment to Christ is such an important part of our lives that the moment we start to fall away in that aspect of our lives, it has an affect on all other aspects of our lives.
As one of my friends once put it: The church is not a coalition of like-minded people, it is a covenant of a community of committed people. That is why, when we join the church, when Christians commit their lives to Christ, they are not only making a personal commitment, they are in fact making a statement that they belong to the body of Christ. Therefore, their desire to remain part of it - their ministry within it is vitally important - not only for the individual but for the community as a whole. Jude realized that.
He knew that if there was a falling away of those new Christians it would have a detrimental affect on the proclamation of the Gospel and the ministry of the church throughout the whole world. But, he was convinced of something. In this great and glorious benediction, Jude offers a prayer that the Lord will ensure that these people are preserved. That they will not in fact, fall away, but the Holy Spirit will keep them.
The original meaning of the word present in the Greek is like putting a piece of art up on the wall and ensuring that it is displayed properly for everyone to see in its rightful place. I don't know if any of you ever saw the movie “Mr. Bean;” it's one of my all-time favourites. He looks like so many of my relatives it slays me. Uh-oh, I shouldn't have said that. I just remembered that my cousins listen on the internet!.
Mr. Bean in the movie gets “Whistler's Mother,” this great and famous painting, and then he sneezes on it. He decides to wipe it off with some paint thinner. He puts the paint thinner on - and of course you all know what happens to the painting - it disintegrates before his eyes. The only way that he can get out of this is by taking a poster of the painting and make it look old by putting egg-white on it and hanging it back on the wall. It was brilliant, and what was so brilliant about it was that nobody noticed. Why? Because of the way it was presented.
It's like that with us and God. The Lord Jesus Christ really can keep us from falling. The Lord Jesus Christ really can preserve and protect us. But for Christ to do that, I do believe the church is necessary. I disagree with those who say that religion and faith is just a simple personal matter between themselves and God. Sure, it's personal, and sure, it is between them and God, but it is also between us and the Christian church and the community of the faithful who endeavour to bring the Gospel to the world through their faith and deeds.
And so my friends, and particularly our young confirmands, ask that this day you begin a walk with Christ. It is not simply a matter of saying: “I belong to this church,” but that every day He may keep and preserve you. The Lord does this in the most incredible ways.
I read a story of a very famous African missionary named James King. For those of us who have been involved in missions over the years, James King is one of the great names; he was one of those who started ministry in Africa. He writes in his diary the most amazing story of a woman in one congregation who brought her dog with her every Sunday. The dog was a mongrel, just a ratty, little dog. Africans do this from time to time - they bring their animals with them to church - you never know who and what will be in church on any given Sunday. It's wonderful, actually.
This little dog would sit at the end of the pew and when the woman went forward to take Communion at the rail, the dog would go up with her, kneel at the rail and then return to the pew. She did this all her life.
Unfortunately, this woman had a very nasty husband. He beat her. He was envious of her commitment to the faith and to the church. He resented the time away that she was spending with her God. On day he beat her so badly that she died.
After her death, the only thing that the man had in his life was the mongrel dog. Every Sunday morning, this man who gave no thought to church would get up and find that the dog had left. Where did the dog go? To church. The dog sat at the end of the pew. When there was Communion the dog went forward, knelt at the rail and came back again, then went home. For 15 years this dog had been so much a part of this woman's life that he continued to attend.
The man, so fed up with this dog leaving, decided that he would follow the dog one day. And so, on a Sunday morning the man walked into the church following the dog, sat down in the pew, watched the dog at the end and then didn't know what to do when the dog went forward to kneel at Communion. So he went forward, this man, who had killed his wife - who'd gotten off scot-free for doing it. He went forward to the rail and received the blessing of the priest. About three months later he decided to commit his life to Christ and to own up to what he had done, all because the dog had led him there.
Now, I'm not going to suggest that you bring your dogs to church to lead you and your family to Christ, that's not the point. The point is: The woman's dedication to the faith had an effect on others. It had an effect on the totality of the environment around her, starting with her dog, and by the dog, eventually her husband. One never knows what God uses. One never knows the influence of our commitment.
Jude knew. He knew that people needed to keep their commitment, not only to be starters, but to be finishers. Even in difficulties, even in tragedies, even in sorrows, even in boredom, apathy and temptation - keep the faith, because you never know who you are influencing by doing so.
It amazes me to think that in 1902, a 28-year-old writer went to Atlantic Monthly magazine and asked if they would be prepared to publish some of his poems.
They said: “Sorry, young man, you'll never make a poet, your verse is too vigorous.”
He could have given up right then. But he didn't. The man they turned away was Robert Frost.
You see, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. It's not that you won't face discouragement or difficulty in the faith and in your lives. You will. But it is the extent to which you keep yourself in the community of the faithful - in a close relationship with Christ - that makes you, in this life and the next, not only starters but finishers. This is what I pray for you this day. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.