LOOK WHO'S LOOKING AT YOU
A Sermon for All Saints' Sunday
TEXT: "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race set before us..." --Hebrews 12:1
Chapter 11 of the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament is a roll call of those who lived by faith. It is an inspiring text just to read and recall their exploits. It speaks of Abel, Enoch and Noah. It talks about Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. It speaks of David, Samson, Samuel. It speaks of Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Jepthah. He tells about all of the prophets. He tells about the people who passed through the Red Sea. It speaks of women who received back their dead, but still believed in the resurrection.
In a brief 40 verses, the author of Hebrews tells about "some who faced jeers and flogging," of others who were chained and put in prison. He tells about those who were stoned, sawed in two, put to death by the sword, destitute, persecuted and mistreated.
He concludes the chapter by saying, "the world was not worthy of them." The world was not worthy of them.
Read these 40 verses of Hebrews 11 and see if it does not inspire you. It is simply amazing what a difference faith in God can make in the life of an individual. Chapter 11 is a litany of the faithful in the Hebrew Bible who found themselves in ordinary circumstances but made them extraordinary events by living out their faith on a daily basis.
The author of the Book of Hebrews makes it clear what made these ordinary people extraordinary when he says by way of introducing each one of them, "by faith." It is almost as it that were their first name. "By faith Abel..." "By faith Enoch..." "By faith Noah..." "By faith Abraham..." "By faith Sarah..."
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have your life story introduced in that matter? "By faith Jim..." "By faith Mary..." "By faith George..." "By faith Jane..."
I’ve told you before about growing up in a Memphis church that had a huge mural on the wall of the sanctuary. It was painted by Walter S. Parke in 1937. He was a member of the church and a gifted artist who painted murals that hang in the Library of Congress in Washington. Each week, when the sermon would get dull, I would sit in the sanctuary and look up at that mural and try to understand what it was about. It showed a lot of people who seemed to be marching in a parade or something. But who were these people? I recognized Jesus, of course, because he was carrying a cross on his shoulders. But who were all the other characters? I saw a donkey and finally figured out that it belonged to the Good Samaritan who was kneeling down to minister to the traveler who had been beaten and robbed. And there was the man of the stretcher carried by his friends, and I remembered the story of the man who was lowered through a hole in the roof to be healed by Jesus -- because of the faith of his friends! And I finally figured out that the sheep in the picture belong to the little boy with the loaves and fishes.
Finally, I realized that this was a procession of Biblical characters on a spiritual journey to the cross with Jesus. It was a parade of the Saints.
Years later, when I came back to that church and looked at the picture, I thought, "I wish I were gifted as an artist. I wish I had the talent that could enlarge that picture." If I were a painter I would add the features of the other men and women of that congregation who had joined in the spiritual pilgrimage. I would like to see the face of Shirley Harper, my Junior class teacher in that parade walking with a little child beside her. And certainly the figure of Pappy Holmes should be there carrying a set of keys, because he was the man who opened the doors before every service and locked the doors when everyone else had gone. Ruth Ward should have been portrayed with her hands folded in prayer. And the minister, Charles W. Ross, with a Bible in has hand. And Gilbert Bays with a hymn book.
Because, don’t you see, the parade of the Saints did not end with the closing of the canon. Just because they were not written in the Bible, the stories of men and women of faith are no less inspiring and inspired than those who were written in the Bible.
I wish there were a little child here in Central who would grow to be an artist. I would like to see the parade of the saints marching with
Jesus and the cross. I have taken thousands of photographs of our church members and church activities since I have been pastor here. Harry Greer has created a Web Site and provided a space for a photo album. Becky Neel has painstakingly gone through the pictures to choose some of the best and most representative pictures to be shown. They are not only photographs of present members, but they are a portrait gallery of the saints who have touched our lives in the fellowship of our church family. I have looked at those pictures again and again, and I have the same feeling of awe and respect that I felt when I looked at that mural long ago. If you look at them I hope you will realize that we stand on holy ground. These are the saints of Central! These are people with whom we have been making our spiritual journey -- who have worshiped with us in this holy place. Each one had faults and failures and frailties, but because of their faith they were saints nevertheless.
The 11th chapter of Hebrews should not have ended with verse 40. For those who have eyes to see... for those who have hearts open to love... for those who have minds that are inspired by faith... look at the men and women about us and see there those who join in this roll call of faith.
Our text today is not from the 11th chapter -- today’s text is from chapter 12. It begins like this: "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race set before us."
For the author of Hebrews, the model is not a "parade of the saints" like the mural. His model is an athletic event. In the image that our text paints, you and I have entered the arena to run the race of life. Today is our hour on the race track. You are running a race. But look up in the grandstand. You see the faces of those we have loved. We see those who at one time placed their lives in God’s hands, and who were successful runners in the race of life.
How thrilling it is to know that they are cheering us on! How eager that makes us want to get on with our life, for they have successfully completed the course already. How encouraging it is to know that many of them have come through great difficulty, and they never lost their faith.
So look up at the grandstand and see who’s looking at you.
We are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. They are our cheerleaders. The author of the Book of Hebrews really believed this, for in 3:13 he says, "Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today;" and in 10:25 he says, "let us encourage one another." What the author is telling us is to remember that you are not alone. Forty centuries of men and women of faith are surrounding you -- encouraging you -- cheering you on.
You must all know how much I respect and admire that great preacher from Tennessee, Dr. Fred Craddock. I have quoted him often and in closing I want to tell you one of his stories. When Dr. Craddock returned to his hometown of Humboldt to care for his terminally ill sister, he had the occasion to visit a friend’s church. It was Sunday evening and Dr. Craddock wanted more than anything to go to worship. Most churches in the area did not offer Sunday evening worship. There were churches which had the youth playing volleyball, but he wanted to go to worship.
A friend suggested that he attend his church -- they had a Sunday evening vesper service. Dr. Craddock had not been in that church since his youth. When they arrived the evening sun was shining through the stained glass windows. He asked his friend, "You have new windows?"
"Yeah," his friend replied, "Aren’t they beautiful?" They were beautiful, Dr. Craddock thought, "This little church, how could they afford them?" Then he looked at the names on the windows.
"I grew up here and I didn’t recognize any of the names." Usually church windows are named for families that have been in the church for years, but he did not know a single family.
His friend answered, "Well, there was a church up in St. Louis that ordered new windows from a company in Italy. When they got there they were not the right size, so instead of shipping them back, the company said, ‘Try to sell them’ while they made new ones. They advertised them and we went up there and bought them."
Dr. Craddock then asked, "Are you going to put nameplates on them for folks in this church?"
"We took that up at the board meeting," his friend informed him, "and decided to leave those names there."
"Why?" asked Dr. Craddock. The friend replied, "It’s good for our church to know that here are a lot of saints in God’s kingdom that we don’t even know."
"Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race set before us...." After all, look who’s looking at us!"
