Heb 10:23-5 NO HALF-FINISHED PROJECTS!

MEN'S BREAKFAST
10th June, 2008

I was reading a book a little while ago, and I came across a bit of an odd story. In the late-Forties, a young man wanted to learn to fly, and decided that he needed a plane. When he was fourteen, he and his cousin saw an ad at a local aero club, and they bought a Piper Cub. They were horrified when their plane arrived at their house in about forty different crates. They had to build it from scratch, in the backyard. And they did it. After weeks of hard yakka, the plane was ready to fly. That's when they made the discovery... they couldn't get it out of the backyard. They took the wings off; still no go. Then the tail, the propeller, even the landing gear all had to come off. They eventually re-packed the entire aircraft back into the forty crates and asked for their money back.

There's nothing more certain in our Christian life than – at some point – we'll be faced with the thought of packing it all away. There's nothing surer. The Devil wants nothing more than for us to look at this whole Christianity gig, find it too much trouble – and for us to pack it up into forty crates and send it back from wherever it came. The Enemy will throw everything he can at us to keep us from walking with our Lord. He'll whisper in our ears that we're not really walking with the Lord at all, because He's not there. He'll whisper in our ear that we're not walking with the Lord at all because we're walking a wretched sinner's path – and that we're too fallen for the love of God to reach us. He'll try to cause divisions between fellow brothers in Christ – either by whispering that everyone else has a wrong view of doctrine, or by whispering in our ear that everyone else seems to know far more than I do... and it's all too hard.
It's no accident that endurance and perseverance are traits that we're encouraged to take up so many times. Endurance. Perseverance. To withstand. The writers of the Epistles knew that these were unbelievably important in making sure that a new life as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and His good message doesn't just evaporate after that initial burst of joy.
Paul used the language of warfare when he described the full armour of God – loins girt with truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, But right before he catalogues the armoury, he tells us why - “Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

I've said it before – I love mornings like this because this is where we get to help each other endure. Through the last couple of years, some of us have been taken by the Lord to great places, and it has been unbelievably encouraging to me (for a start) to listen – especially to the young guys at Kirrawee High – as they grow in the knowledge and love of God. Some of us have suffered deep loss, we’ve grieved and mourned – and we’ve been comforted and supported in prayer by others here. That's what we need to keep doing, and doing regularly. That anonymous writer of Hebrews recognized how fundamental this kind of support really is. Listen to his words here:

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23-25)



I think it's one of the things that we've learned – as men in the world but not of the world – to do really well. God has blessed us mightily with men like Bob and his crew who have stayed so faithful for so long. And I'd like to say thank you for everything hat you guys have done for the past... how many years?

I want to keep encouraging us all to keep this kind of support going. Blood Brothers, the Men's Prayer Night on next Tuesday – they’re all great ways to anchor each other in prayer. Giving each other strength to endure is vital for our spiritual life. But it's going to be vital for more than just ourselves.
As we look at ways we can do things for Connect '09 coming up next year, one thing I guess I want us all to think about is how to support new men as they come into an unfamiliar place. We're praying that many, many people in the Shire will be led to do what the first Christians in Thessalonica did – to “turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God”.

And, just in case we've forgotten, it can be one of the bravest and scariest things that these guys will ever do. They may well find that thinking about the notion of sin, forgiveness and repentance very, very painful. We're going to be dealing with some people who don't know one end of a Bible from another, much less Church and Church culture. A lot of these guys will have families who may or may not want to walk where they're about to tread – and that in itself will be a heavy burden.

We're also going to be dealing with guys who are about to go through some of the things that we've gone through – all those things that the Devil throws at us that I mentioned before... well, he's going to throw them at some of these new Christians as well. There's nothing he wants more than for these new souls to give up, to pack it back into the forty crates, to abandon the project. His aim is unfinished projects...

This is something I want us to begin thinking about, and praying about now – for a couple of reasons. First (and most important), anything to do with what we're going to try with Connect '09 need lots and lots of prayer. But I really want us, as men, to be ready. Not just for Connect '09, but ready for guys like this today, tomorrow, through the week... Ready to encourage new men of God, ready to spur them on to love and good deeds. Ready to help them so that they continue meeting with other men of God. Ready to be models of Christian living – like Paul in Thessalonica, like the Thessalonians became to all in Macedonia and Achaia.

Let's get ready so that nobody will end up with a dismantled plane.