Hebrews 13:1-3 ~ Keep On ~ Carl Crouse

I do my best to accept people where they are, yet see them for what they can be in Christ.  I do my best to walk beside them, understand, love them, listen, yet challenge to overcome their choices, their situations, their demons.  I am honored if I serve as the prison gem they need.

You can be a gem for those that are struggling too.  A 1000 times I’ve told people they need this church family, they need to know people that will love them, accept them for who they are AND challenge them to overcome their demons.  Many need godly mentors, a friend who believes they can find peace with Christ.  People need others that believe they are redeemable, loveable, forgivable... 

I’m going to focus on Heb. 13:3 today, but there is a powerful lesson in the larger picture…This is the last chapter of Hebrews.  The book is written to Christians suffering persecution….  The author of Hebrews wants the people to keep the faith in the face of hardships and persecution.  As we face an upended world with the corona virus, protests over the death of George Floyd, riots and destruction, political fighting that serves nobody well, the first two words of Hebrews 13 rings loudly: KEEP ON.  Keep on in the faith the author shouts…these two words are the purpose of this letter: KEEP ON… this is not the time barely make it through, but it is a time to grow in your faith, thrive, to come out a stronger man or woman of faith than when you began…

If you’re looking for two words to spray paint over the mantle of your door to see as you enter, consider those two words: KEEP ON.  Keep on in the faith, keep on believing in Jesus Christ, Keep on hoping… this verse says Keep on loving each other as brothers it says in Heb. 13:1… you are in this together, don’t allow infighting to tear you apart.  … there are many opinions… respect those that think differently… We must make it through this crazy world, loving and respecting one another as brothers… while the world is crumbling, KEEP ON! 

The next verse is another application of one way to keep on…READ Heb. 13:2.  Remember before you were persecuted, remember before the world was so challenging, remember how you used to welcome people, trust people… Now that the world is challenging, Keep on entertaining strangers… don’t let go of the wonderful person you used to be… and guess what, when you risk reaching out to others you don’t know so well, some of them are going to be an enormous blessing to you that will put a smile on your face and restore your faith in people. In the middle of this crazy tense filled world, look for the angels… Some of the strangers might even be real angels, but we may never know, and does it really matter…. KEEP ON…
 
Today I emphasize a word that makes our society briste: sympathy. To sympathize with other sis a way to Keep on in the faith.  Be a prison gem.  Today is the last from series, Prison Gems: lessons from those in the Bible that are in prison. Next week, Acts.   Be a prison gem for others, care deeply, love, seek to understand.  In our crazy world there is little listening to others for the sake of understanding.  Sympathy is a beautiful practice ~ imagine being in the shoes of another…. Keep on we are told when the world is upsidedown.  Keep on…loving, helping strangers, and sympathizing with those in prison… To sympathize is a beautiful art that deserves a revival… the world says we need to start a conversation...  The way that can happen is by reviving the art of sympathizing with one another, listen to truly understand, put yourself in the skin of others.  It goes in all directions. 

A few years ago Denny introduced me to a young woman in Kendall.  What a beautiful person.  Out of respect I don’t want to describe much detail of her property.  As Denny was talking to her, I looked around, a visual intake of her surroundings.  I could tell that made her uncomfortable… Over the years I’ve seen her many times as her story has evolved.  She always wants to hug me…  A few months ago, I told her about how I knew she felt uncomfortable as I was looking around, like I was judging her… I told her that is not what I was thinking... I was looking at all those cars, the washing machine, the dresser, the table, the burned out trailer, every item has a story for why it was there.  A book could be written telling the story of each item, and how they all came to be in this place. All I was doing is trying to understand her story, how you came to be in this place, what I admired about her, what was difficult.

Sympathy means to identify with a spirit of caring.  The “sym” part has to do with understanding, figuring out what makes another tick… the “pathy” part is the feeling of caring, identifying…one of my fictional heros is Deanna Troy, the empath counselor in Star Trek: the Next Generation… there needs to be more sympathy in our world, truly caring, seeking to understand, walking in the other person’s shoes…to be able to read people’s feelings is a great need… I see young people hanging around Chad and I know they just want the same thing we all want, to be known…
 
KEEP ON… Heb. 13:3 describes a beautiful way to keep on practicing your faith when your temptation is to hide…. Heb. 13:1 is to keep on loving…13:2 is to help strangers… and the Heb. 13:3, as Christians we are called to be a gem for those that are in prison, to care deeply… the odds are the author literally means prisoners, could well even mean those in prison for their faith in that day of persecution, but I have no problems taking “prisoners”  figuratively ~ those that are trapped, those that are hurting deeply. You and I can be a prison gem for those who feel trapped . Persecution happens; the Lord wants us to Keep On practicing our faith.  

The way to maturity as a person of faith is to care deeply about other people.  It’s an art…Hebrews is speaking to an audience that is hiding from active persecution against them… they are told to remember their calling to identify with others who are struggling in prison… Is there a time to take care of my needs?  Of course, but make it temporary… the greatest heros of faith are those that serve others… the way to Keep on in the faith is to care deeply about those that are struggling, imagine what it would be like… you are the prison gem for those that are hurting and struggling…
I have a few people in my orbit that when I am struggling with doubts or fears, I call them, I know they will listen, not give easy answers, but listen.  A few that genuinely understand what my world is like, who understand I need to be heard, people ready to show sympathy.  They are my prison gems!
 
To sympathize with others often takes the form of prayer.  Pick up the phone this week and surprise a friend by asking how you can pray for them…you don’t need a reason.  don’t wait for a Call2Pray phone call… The temptation is to spend all our time worrying about our own survival, feeling sorry for ourselves.  That had to be the temptation of those who received the original Hebrews.  One of the worst things about this shelter in place guideline is that I get so bored with myself… other people are far more interesting than me.  Prayer is a way you are practicing the art of caring for others…A 1000 times I’ve been part of a prayer chain and later I’ll hear the testimony of how much knowing people prayed gave peace to the person that was struggling.  How good to know when there are fellow prisoners in spirit sitting beside us in our struggles and doubts through prayer.  “Remember those in prison as if you were there fellow prisoner.”
 
Sympathizing with others may take the form of practical aid.  The command of Christ is to sympathize with prisoners, whether literal or figurative, that means many prisoners are lacking food, resources, companionship….

A few more ideas in how to grow in your faith by reviving the art of sympathy:

• adopt one of the wonderful mission agencies our church supports and spend time learning, praying, educating yourself…. Write the missionary, get to know the people they serve…
• Women’s ministry has a child they’ve adopted, find him on the website… pray for him, find out about him… sympathy is a great word because it means you care, you know, you sit beside…
• One mother and son in our community has a wonderful passion for the persecuted church.  There are so many resources to find out more and pour your heart into those who are literally persecuted.  You will grow in your faith as you keep on….
• I would absolutely love it if somebody in our church family became passionate about the sex trade in our country, the young girls and children that are brought in and abused.  Far more rampant than any of us know… This is one of those hidden abuses…

Ask the Lord to speak to your heart.  So many…. That’s what the mentor program is about… more than one child with a difficult family life has been saved by a neighbor that gave the child a safe space….
 
I’d like to share a lengthy teaching on Heb. 13:3 from a man from yesteryear, Albert Barnes wrote a commentary on the N.T. in 1830’s.  I like it. Older commentaries have a way of saying things that are so different they can be refreshing.  Quick note, this is written before the civil war… Barnes is on record speaking passionately against slavery: 
 
Christianity teaches us to sympathize with all the oppressed, the suffering, and the sad; and there are more of this class than we commonly suppose, and they have stronger claims on our sympathy than we commonly realize. In America there are not far from ten thousand confined in prison - the father separated from his children; the husband from his wife; the brother from his sister; and all cut off from the living world. Their fare is coarse, and their couches hard, and the ties which bound them to the living world are rudely snapped asunder. Many of them are in solitary dungeons; all of them are sad and melancholy men. True, they are there for crime; but they are men - they are our brothers. They have still the feelings of our common humanity, and many of them feel their separation from wife, and children, and home, as keenly as we would.

That God who has mercifully made our lot different from theirs, has commanded us to sympathize with them - and we should sympathize all the more when we remember that but for his restraining grace we should have been in the same condition. There are in this land of “liberty” also nearly three millions who are held in the hard bondage of slavery. There is the father, the mother, the child, the brother, the sister. They are held as property; liable to be sold; having no right to the avails of their own labor; exposed to the danger of having the tenderest ties sundered at the will of their master; shut out from the privilege of reading the Word of God; fed on coarse fare; living in wretched hovels; and often subjected to the painful inflictions of the lash at the caprice of a passionate driver. Wives and daughters are made the victims of degrading sensuality without the power of resistance or redress; the security of home is unknown; and they are dependent on the will of another man whether they shall or shall not worship their Creator. We should remember them, and sympathize with them as if they were our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, or sons and daughters.
 
If you are struggling spiritually, today is a simple message: KEEP ON. 

• #1: Keep on loving.
• #2: Keep on being kind to those you don’t know so well, you may even be blessed by an angel!
• #3: Grow in your faith by reviving the art of sympathy, seek to understand others that are hurting, understand deeply, compassionately, through prayer, through practical help.  As you care deeply for the prisoner, those who are hurting, you may well be their prison gem.  Amen.