Glynde Lutheran Church
January 19th 2014
Sermon on 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Theme: “Stories for the Heart: FAITH”
“Keep running the race of life with Jesus!”
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Introduction:
This week, we continue our new series of sermons entitled
Stories for the Heart. I want to tell you some of my favourite
stories, and a whole heap of new stories that I’ve found of
late. My aim in doing this, and in preaching this series of
messages, is to encourage you for the journey that lies
ahead. Or rather, to allow God to encourage you as you face
your future....
This morning, our focus is on faith, on running the race of life
with faith: faith in God as our dear Father, and faith in Jesus
as our Saviour and our Lord and our dear Friend.
Well, let me tell you a few stories, and as I do so I want to talk
a bit about faith, and how it utterly transforms the way that you
live your life, and how you face death and dying....
Stories:
1) Humpty Dumpty revisited
The first story is a revision of a well known nursery rhyme. I
guess that we all know the nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty:
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
Let me tell you, though, what happened after Humpty had his
great fall and all the King’s horses and all the King’s men
couldn’t put him back together again:
Soon the King himself heard of Humpty’s fate. And he
was deeply upset by what had happened to Humpty. So
he decided to try and find Humpty. He took off all his
royal robes, and disguised himself as a common peasant,
and off he went to look for Humpty. After several days
and nights searching for Humpty, the King eventually
found Humpty’s shattered body scattered amidst broken
glass and old beer cans in a darkened back alley.
The King was overjoyed to find Humpty, and he ran to
him and said, “Humpty! It is I, your King! I have powers
greater than those of my horses and my men who failed
to put you together again. Don’t worry! I am here to
help you!”
But Humpty responded by saying, “Leave me alone. I’ve
gotten used to this new way of life. I kind of like it now”.
“But...”, said the King. That’s all he could say, before
Humpty went on to say: “I tell you, I’m fine. I like it here.
I like living among this trash. And I love the way that the
sun sparkles on the broken glass over there. This must
be the garden spot of the world!”. The King tried again,
“Humpty, I tell you, my kingdom has much, much more to
offer than this back alley: there are green mountains,
rolling surfs, exciting cities...”. But Humpty wouldn’t
listen, and so the King sadly went back to his palace.
A week or so later, the King tried again. “I’ve come to
help”, the King said to Humpty. “Leave me alone, will
you!?”, said Humpty. “I’ve just seen my psychiatrist,
and he assures me that I’m doing a fine job of coping with
my environment as it is. What you’re offering me is a
cop-out. A man has to deal with life as it is. I’m a
realist!”. “But wouldn’t you rather be whole and walk
around”, said the King. Humpty replied, “Look, once I
get up and start walking around, I’ll have to stay up and
keep walking. At this point in my life, I’m not ready for a
commitment like that. So, if you’ll excuse me, you’re
blocking my sun!”.
So once more the King sadly returned to his palace.
About a year later, the King tried again. This time,
Humpty was ready. Humpty lifted up his weary eyes to
the tall figure of his king, and could only mutter two
words, “My King!”. Immediately, the King bent down
and began to gently put the fragments of Humpty’s body
back together.
After a while, when he had finished his work, the King
pulled Humpty up, and there was the figure of a strong,
young man.
The two walked hand in hand throughout the kingdom.
Together they stood on top of lush, green mountains.
They ran together along deserted beaches, and they
laughed and joked together as they strolled through the
gleaming cities of the King’s kingdom. This went on
forever. And to the depth, breadth, and height of their
friendship there was no end.
Once while they were walking together down a street in
one the King’s cities, Humpty overheard a comment that
made this heart leap with joy. Someone said, “Say, who
are those two men?” And another replied, “Why the one
on the left is old Humpty Dumpty. I don’t know the one
on the right, but they sure look like brothers!” (Stories for
the Heart, p. 28).
It’s a great little story. It’s a story that reminds me of what
Jesus, my King, has done for me.
Without Jesus, I would be a broken person: smashed to
pieces by the disappointments and hurts of life, by my feelings
of guilt, and by fears about the future and about death and
dying. But Jesus has picked me up, he has pieced me
together again, and he has shown me how to really live life
and what life is really all about.
Jesus, my King, has spoken those wonderful words to me:
“Wayne, God forgives you.
I suffered and I died for you. Get up! Hold my hand and get
up, and I’ll walk with you as you live your life!”.
Jesus, my King, has shown me how to love, and He has given
me the strength to love. As I’ve walked with him, and
watched him love the people around him, I’ve learnt more and
more about what it is to love: to give of yourself for others,
without counting the cost. As I’ve walked with him, I’ve found
meaning and purpose in life, and I’ve changed and I’ve
become more and more like him.... As I’ve walked with
Jesus, I’ve found peace of mind, and joy, and contentment....
It’s wonderful how Jesus, our King, has changed my life, and I
guess the life of most of us here today. I could ask any one
of you to talk about how Jesus has changed your life, and I
guess most of you would say something like I’ve just said…
(n.b. The use of testimonies in worship).
The life of faith is a wonderful life. Sure, our lives are not
perfect, in any of the things that I’ve mentioned: that will only
be when we are literally in God’s new Kingdom, when we are
in “heaven”....
2) Really winning
It’s wonderful to walk through life with Jesus.
He whispers words of encouragement to us, picks us up when
we fall, and gives us the strength to struggle on towards the
finishing line.
How does he do that? By speaking to us as we read his
words and the echoes of his words in the New Testament, by
feeding us at his table (point to the altar area), and by
encouraging us through the words and the actions of our
fellow Christians, our brothers and sisters in God’s family.
Which brings me to the second story that I want to share with
you this morning, as story from real life entitled Really
Winning:
Every so often, thousands of young athletes from all over
the world gather for the Special Olympics, the Olympics
for intellectually handicapped people. According to
Wikipedia, they are held every two years in the odd years
of the Winter and Summer Olympic games: the last ones
were in years 2011 and 2013. The athletes know what it
means to give of their best. They have trained for
months and for years, and they desperately want to win.
Several years ago, five handicapped finalists were
gathered at the starting line to run for the gold, silver, and
bronze medals in this particular running race. Their
hearts were pounding. Each wanted to win. The
starters gun went off, and the athletes exploded from
their crouched positions and began frantically running
towards the finishing line.
The crowd was on its feet shouting and cheering.
Suddenly, one of the runners stumbled and fell flat on his
face. He struggled, but couldn’t seem to get up. A
moan and a hush fell over the stadium. The crowd
started cheering again, though, when in the next moment
another runner stopped, reached down, and helped the
fallen runner back to his feet. The two of them then
finished the race together (Stories for the Heart, p. 28).
Thank God that we are not alone as we journey through life,
as we run the race of life. Jesus, our King, is looking after us.
He has given us brothers and sisters to care for us, to
encourage us, and to help us make it over the finishing line.
3) Our eyes on the goal
Let’s keep running the race of life with Jesus, and let’s always
keep our eyes on the goal: that of winning the race, and being
with Jesus in “heaven”, in God’s new Kingdom. Let’s never,
ever give up. One final story, again a running story:
It’s the story of a 40 year old divorced teacher from
Boston who decided to become a jogger and who entered
the 26 mile Boston Marathon. Her battle to run this race
has been made into a television drama entitled See How
She Runs.
As she ran this race, huge blisters developed on her feet.
She was also hit and injured by a bicycle, yet she never
gave up. She made it most of the way, but a few miles
short of the finish line, she stopped running. She was
utterly exhausted. But she didn’t give up. She kept
struggling on. It was late at night when finally got to the
last little stretch. She fell and lay on her face, too tired to
raise her head. Her friends had put up a tape across the
finishing line, and they cheered her on. She lifted her
head with great effort, saw the tape, and realised that her
goal was in sight. With a supreme effort, she got up on
her bruised and bleeding feet, and in a burst of energy
dredged up from deep inside her courageous heart, she
ran the last few yards. She had kept her eyes on the
goal, and for the joy of finishing she had endured
everything (p. 114).
For the joy of finishing, she had endured everything! She
struggled on and finished the race, and she was welcomed
across the line by her friends and family. What joy was hers:
she had finished the race. And likewise, what joy will be ours
when we finish the race of life, and are greeted by our Lord
Jesus, and by all our friends and family who have likewise run
the race of life with Jesus.
Conclusion:
Let me finish off this morning by reading to you the words of
our text, some words that Paul wrote shortly before he died:
As for me, the hour has come for me to be sacrificed; the
time is here for me to leave this life. I have done my best
in race, I have run the full distance, and I’ve kept the faith.
And now there is waiting for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
give me on that Day – and not only to me, but to all those
who wait with love for him to appear (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
Go on running the race of life with Jesus, and never, ever give
up....