This article appeared in a British paper:  “Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for five days before anyone asked if he was feeling OK.  George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proofreader at a New York firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers.  He quietly passed away on Monday but nobody noticed until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was still working during the weekend.”

That just shouldn’t be able to happen.  No one should ever have to be that alone.  It’s not the way God intended it to be.  He wants us to be living life together.  As we go on this journey called life, together, we need to be watching out for one another.  Who’s Got Your Back?

Our text today really wraps up and summarizes the message series we have been spending our time on the last three weeks.  Life – Where is it Taking You?

Where is life taking you?  Do you have a destination?  Verse 19: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,”  We do have a destination!  The Most Holy Place – the presence of God!  And the one way to get there is that trail of red – the blood of Jesus – his love for us!  Verse 20: “by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,”  Jesus opened the curtain that separated us from God and planted our anchor firmly there, giving us the certain hope that is our destination!  Verse 21: “and since we have a great priest over the house of God,”  Who’s Leading You?  The only One who can!  The High Priest that connects us with God – Jesus Christ!  Verse 22: “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”  That is how we have been made right with God!  Jesus’ actions for us provided the cleansing forgiveness we needed!

And that’s what gives us hope!  Verse 23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”  Let’s hold on to that hope – that anchor!  Let’s live with that destination in sight!  How do we hold on?  Must we do this alone?  By ourselves?  Who’s Got Your Back?  Verses 24-25: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward 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.”  Friends, we have to do this together!  That’s how we hold on!  We can’t let our habit of meeting together, of being together, slide!  God didn’t intend for us to go on this journey alone.

Here is the group I climbed the mountain with this summer: Dawn, Jason, Jeremy, Juliane, Pete, Tim, and Julie.  It would not have been as fun, and probably not even possible, to have attempted this journey alone.  The teamwork, the experience of doing it together, is one of the reasons that made it so rewarding.  I think it would have been extremely hard, if not impossible, for any of us to have tried doing it solo.  When you are climbing a mountain, or going on any kind of journey like this, you need the assurance that someone’s got your back.  You need to know, that if you slip or fall, someone will be there to grab you and hold on.

We helped each other out along the way.  Adjusting packs, reaching water bottles, giving a hand, a boost, or a shoulder to lean on.  We carried stuff for each other.  We shared water and food when one was in need.  We even shared our two-person tent with a third person who had come without shelter.  We “spurred each other on,” by inciting, stimulating, and even irritating each other to move forward when they didn’t think they had any more forward in them.  And we encouraged one another, lifting each other up with a well-timed word or a well-aimed push.    And you know what?  Not only was a mountain climbed…a special bond was formed!

I think this teaches us a lot about Christian fellowship – our walk through life.  This is what God is saying in Hebrews 10.  He didn’t intend for us to go on this journey alone!  We need people around us we can count on.  Everyone wants someone to know if they are missing.  If you have lost your way, someone needs to notice!  At one point coming down the mountain, 6 of us turned around and noticed that two of us were not in sight.  We quickly fanned out to make sure they wouldn’t take a false path down and be lost from us for good.  Our small group of 8 made sure that we knew each one of us was safe.  You need that, too.  We were created by God to be known by others.  And the best place for that to happen is in a group small enough that will notice if you are missing.  Or like Mr. Turklebaum, if you are dead. J

There are five things we did for each other on that climb that we do for each other in our Christian walk. First, We carry each other’s burdens.  When you are going through the “valley of the shadow of death,” it is no fun to go alone.  Kevin and I visited a family this week that just lost their father – a 40-something father of 3 – to cancer, two months after his diagnosis.  Now, they know he is in heaven because of Jesus.  But it is a painful adjustment.  They need, and are receiving, the comfort of people around them!  I just read a story, a confession by a pastor, who visited the family of a man who died, but found out that his small group had more or less moved in with the grieving spouse, and was taking care of all her needs, in a way that he was hardly even needed!  You know people who have lost people.  You know friends whose spouses are leaving them.  They need for you to be there for them.  They need to have the encouragement of people who love Jesus around them.  We can carry each other’s burdens!

Secondly, We give each other Food and Water.  Sometimes with physical food and water, if that is the need.  But especially, with spiritual food.  The water of life!  We need to be studying the Bible together!  In groups of people who can help each other to grow in their faith and understanding!  We need to nourish one another!  And pray together!

Thirdly, we can Share our Tent or Shelter with others.  Sometimes, people need a place to stay, a meal, clothing, cash, or a favour.  As brothers and sisters who follow Jesus, we need to share with each other the things needed in life.  We need to serve one another as Jesus served us!

Fourth, we Spur One Another On!  This word means to Incite!  Stimulate!  Irritate!  Sometimes, we need to get in each other’s face!  You know what I mean, don’t you?  Your sister admits to you: “Yeah, I don’t think I am going to go to church tomorrow… I’m just exhausted… I need a break…”  And you say:  “OK, yeah, rest is important, we’ll see you next week then.”  NO!!  That’s not your answer!  How about: “Friend, the most important rest you can get is the spiritual rest from God’s Word!  You absolutely need to be in church!  Cut out the TV and go to bed early tonight and join your brothers and sisters in God’s house!”  Or your brother says: “I’m just going to tell this person off!  I’ve had it with them!”  Don’t just nod in agreement, as if he really should do that!  Get in his face!  Spur him on to do the right thing!  The loving thing!

Finally, we need to Encourage One Another.  Push them up that mountain when they feel they can’t go any farther.  Carry them up if you have to!  Remind them of their destination!  The destination Jesus gave them!  Remind them of what Jesus has done for them!  Share the good news regularly, constantly!  Help them along.  Give them a reason to keep going.

Living the Christian life is not difficult.  It is impossible.  There are so many places you can fall or get lost.  And you can lose your way.  You need to have people around you who are saying, “You can make it.  You’re gonna be OK.  You’re not alone.”  The Christian walk through this world just doesn’t work unless you have a network of people around you who encourage you and strengthen you in your walk.  It is a very rare person who can manage to get through life as a believer all alone.  Now, we need times of solitude and quietness, but we do need each other.  We were built for relationships!  The first time God ever made a comment that was negative about his creation, it was this: “It is not good for man to be alone.”  It isn’t good for us to be alone!  We need people to be around us and to help us keep going!  We need people who are walking ahead of us, showing us the way.  Helping us understand God’s Word.

We lead each other by our life and our example.  By our love and concern.  By encouraging each other to walk worthy of our calling, to live lives of thankfulness to Christ.  Do you have someone who is encouraging you to walk worthy of your calling?  You know, we are not finishing well these days.  Have you noticed?  We have a lot of people who start out on the journey, but don’t end up finishing.  They turn back, turn away, get lost.  One of the reasons for that is they try doing it alone.  They have no nurturing, encouraging, or ministering.  A person who is leading one of our small groups, and the people who are part of those groups, are people who are going to help people finish the course.  This is what we have to do for each other!

I came across a poem by D.H. Groberg, called “The Race.”  It’s a bit long, but it’s worth it.  It captures the importance of us being encouraged by others in a small group…

 

I.

“Quit! Give up! You’re beaten!”
They shout at me and plead.
“There’s just too much against you now.
This time you can’t succeed!”

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failure’s face.
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being.

 

II.

A children’s race – young boys, young men
How I remember well.
Excitement, sure! But also fear;
It wasn’t hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope;
Each thought to win that race.
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side,
Each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went!
Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boy’s desire.

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought,
“My dad will be so proud!”

But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself
His hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope
He couldn’t win it now –
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished
To disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said:
“Get up and win the race.”

He quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit, that’s all –
And ran with all his mind and might
To make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win –
His mind went faster than his legs;
He slipped and fell again!

He wished then he had quit before
With only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn’t try to race.”

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father’s face.
That steady look which said again:
“Get up and win the race!”

So up he jumped to try again
Ten yards behind the last –
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought,
“I’ve got to move real fast.”

Exerting everything he had
He gained eight or ten
But trying so hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye –
“There’s no sense running any more;
Three strikes: I’m out! Why try?”

The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away;
So far behind, so error prone;
A loser all the way.

“I’ve lost, so what’s the use,” he thought.
“I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad
Who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low.
“Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race.”

“With borrowed will, get up,” it said,
“You haven’t lost at all,
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall.”

So up he rose to run once more,
And with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose
At least he wouldn’t quit.

So far behind the others now,
The most he’d ever been –
Still he gave it all he had
And ran as though to win.

Three times he’d fallen, stumbling;
Three times he rose again;
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place,
Head high, and proud, and happy;
No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race.

And even though he came in last
With head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he’d won the
Race to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said,
“I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said.
“You rose each time you fell.”

III.

And now when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face
The memory of that little boy
Helps me in my own race.

For all of life is like that race,
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win,
Is rise each time you fall.

“Quit! Give up! You’re beaten!”
They still shout in my face.
But another voice within me says:
“GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!”

Someone once said that the Christian life is nothing more than falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, all the way to heaven.  At first that sounds a little depressing, to spend all my life falling down and getting up.  But how many of you here today would admit: “That’s pretty accurate!”?  And you know what?  When you go through life and it sometimes looks like it’s stacked up against you, and you fall down, you gotta have somebody like that boy’s father who’s going to say to you: “Hey, you can make it! Get up! Run the race!  Look at what Jesus is doing for you!  It’s not over ‘til it’s over!  It’s not over until you hear the Lord say: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Who’s Got Your Back?  Some of you who have come here today have been ready to quit.  Because there’s nobody in your life who can get up next to you and say, “Hey, look, it’s not time to quit.  It’s time to get up and run again!”  You need someone to “have your back.”  To be there for you.  Be a part of a small group!  Get into one.

After we got down from the mountain, we gathered in the parking lot by our cars, threw our gear off, and celebrated our successful climb with much joy and relief and relaxation!  And a cooler full of cold drinks.  All of a sudden, my brother Jeremy went over to Dawn, slapped her on the back, and said, “Hey!  We’re done!  You can take this off now!”  Dawn had completely forgotten she still had her heavy pack on!  She was so used to its weight, she had probably forgotten what it was like without it.  We all laughed as Jeremy unbuckled it, unsnapped it, and took that heavy weight right off of her shoulders.  “You don’t need this anymore.”

Friends, that is what we need to do for each other.  Relieve each other of our burdens.  We get so used to carrying them around, sometimes we never take them off.  The ultimate relief when we reach our true destination is that we will never again carry the burden of our guilt and failure.  Because of Jesus Christ, that’s a burden you can drop right now.  As we go on this journey called life together, the most important thing we can do for each other is to relieve one another’s burdens by sharing the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  Is there anyone here today carrying a burden of guilt?  You need someone to lift it off your shoulders!  Someone to tell you Jesus has taken it away!  So Who’s Got Your Back?   Amen.