You’ve seen them—in card stores, novelty shops, on the boardwalk, on posters and postcards—the cat with eight lives already gone, body fully stretched out wrapped in nothing but thin air with its eyes peeking out over the top of a tree branch. The cat’s front claws are digging into the bark of that limb, clamped in utter desperation. Somewhere on this photo scene are the words, “Hang On!”

This is the sum and substance of the message on this second Sunday of the New Year—hang on! In his letter to the early Christian community, James begins with the same sort of message as he talks about trials and temptations. How many of us over the years have talked about how it isn’t easy being a Christian? The truth of the matter is that it is not easy walking with Jesus, being holy, and living righteously. Right from the start, James says, “Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.” What an absolutely absurd statement. If we didn’t know better we might think that James was smoking something when he wrote these words.

But James after years of Christian experience at the hands of the Refiner’s fire had discovered a great godly truth: the testing of our faith develops perseverance. It is precisely this perseverance that causes us to hang on and hang tough in our walk with Christ through any and all kinds of circumstances. From the Bible’s point of view, it is often these trials and tribulations that separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, and the true-hearted from the half-hearted.

Yet, somehow, somewhere people have gotten the idea that Christianity is an easy life, a cakewalk. While it is true that Jesus transforms our lives and changes our attitudes and worldview from the inside out, and lives becomes worth living, being a disciple of Jesus is no bed of roses. We lost that bed of roses with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden a few years back. But this idea of following Jesus being easy still persists, then when tough times comes our way old Lucifer appeals to our sinful nature as he begins to whisper, “Why bother? It’s just too hard. No one else has your problems. Nobody understands what you are going through.” Cap that with the preconceived idea that being a Christian is easy and many people believe Satan’s lies rather than God’s truth.

1. Jesus calls us as His followers and His disciples to persevere, to hang tough. In Matthew 10 Jesus sent out His disciples saying this to them, “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves…. All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” No warm fuzzies here, is there? Very clearly Jesus warned these early disciples of trouble—family discord, unpopularity, and persecution. Here’s the contrast: the world says that the ultimate goal in life is to be happy. God says that the ultimate goal in life is to be holy. Holiness is a result of faithfulness and obedience to Jesus. Only then are we fit for heaven. Jesus taught that what really mattered was not whether people had given up everything to follow Him, but whether people kept on following Him through thick and thin to the very end. Listen to these words of Jesus, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus was always careful when the crowds surged around Him to warn them to count to cost before jumping onto His bandwagon. I believe this is a message we need for 2006 not only at SUMC but for the Church of Jesus Christ as a whole. Too many of us want cheap grace and easy believism. We forget or are not aware that there is no crown without the cross. Jesus calls us to persevere and those who do, He says, will be saved.

Secondly, with the call to perseverance, to hang tough, also comes the plan for perseverance. In verse 4 we read, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete.” Since the goal of faith in Jesus is our being mature and complete, then perseverance must be a part of God’s plan for those who claim the name of Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote (Phil 2:8). “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” God has the power to save us. He also has the power to keep us. Sometimes we think that living the Christian life is solely dependant upon our skill, our fortitude, our strength, and our courage. The truth is absolutely not! And then others kind of lay back and have the attitude something like, “This Jesus stuff is really cool! All I have to do is trust Him and then sit back, kick up my feet, and let God do it all for me!” Absolutely not! Rather it is a combination of God’s ability and our availability that brings about perseverance that results in Christian maturity. The author of Hebrews (12:1) writes, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” From the beginning to the ending of our salvation there is that great middle ground in-between. Here is where the rubber of our faith meets the road of reality in this life. Here is where our faith is put to the test. Here is where we want the ecstasy of walking with Jesus. Quite frankly Christianity is very little glamour and glitz. I don’t want to discourage you so early in the New Year but I do want to forewarn you that the mountain top experiences of life are but brief interludes amid the hard and hang-tough call of Christian discipleship. Now some Christians and some churches would have us believe that true Christianity is all mountaintops and feeling good. It isn’t! That is a false or at best a partial glimpse. Unfortunately that mindset is also the kind of Christian experience that is very popular and most attractive today in the “feel good” and “me” generation. But like a cocaine high, or the unreality of television soaps, or the fantasy of romance novels, this kind of Christian experience ultimately leaves us empty and dry. All of these are really a form of escape from the reality of the world we live in. The discipleship of Christ calls for perseverance, of hanging tough in and through all that life and Satan throws at us. To the Corinthian (1 Cor. 15:58) Christians, Paul wrote, “Stand firm (‘steadfast’-KJV), let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know you labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Oft-times it is not the catastrophic experiences in life that cause us to falter, rather it is usually the mundane, plodding of our Christian walk that is the greatest threat to our pressing on.

There are times when we truly wonder if our labor for the Lord is in vain. This is true with both our walk with Jesus and our work for Jesus. Our walk is our relationship with Him and when our lives get messy we wonder if the walk is worth it. Others wonder if our work for Jesus is worth it. By our work I mean, “being Jesus” to others. I mean serving one another, as Jesus would have us serve and being faithful and obedient to Jesus’ call on our hearts and lives. By work I mean our witnessing, our sacrificing, our tithing, our teaching, our helping in the nursery, our time in praise teams or Sanctuary Singers, our efforts in Kids WOW or KICS or Pioneer Club, and of course all the unexciting grunt of committee work, ie doing the nitty-gritty of church life.

The are times we wonder if doing what we are doing for Jesus is worth it—the frayed nerves, the time pressure, the disappointments when people let you down, the hassle. You wonder if anyone really notices and if what you are doing is even making a difference anyway, and does anyone notice or even care that you do what you do, or is it a waste of time and effort? Paul encourages us in Gal 6:9, “Be not weary in well-doing.” It is so easy to quit Jesus. It is so easy to quit serving the Lord and we can find every reason that can justify our doing so. How frightening to teach Sunday School. Who has time to visit the sick and shut-in or make meals for people going through rough times? We can’t afford to tithe anyway. Somebody else with more time can help fix God’s House and besides my own house needs fixing. I don’t sing that well anyway so why am I even trying? “Don’t be weary in doing good,” writes Paul. But he doesn’t stop there for he goes on, “for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Notice the promise of this verse, “we will reap.” The reaping of a harvest is assured. It will happen! Notice something else very important here: “if we do not give up.” What really matters is not how you start, but how you end. At half-time you go home. Before adding the eggs you quit making that cake. Ten yards from the finish line you stop running and quit the race. You walk off the stage after the first act. The Biblical promise is that God’s reward will come at the proper time, IF and that is a big ‘if,’ we do not give up and quit.

How many times when we get tired of doing good that’s when a little child hands us a rough-made construction paper card that says, “Happiness is having you teach me about Jesus.” That is when you get a note in the mail thanking you for your Christian witness and faithfulness. That is when someone gives you a hug and says, “Thanks for being my friend.” That’s when someone gives testimony of God’s working in his/her life and uses your own words. That’s when no one notices and you wonder why no one says thank you especially have you put your heart and soul into it, that you hear a gentle whisper in your heart, “I noticed and after all I’m the One who really matters.”

When all is said and done, it is those things that are said and done for Jesus that really matter and will last for all eternity.

The call to follow Jesus is a call to perseverance, of hanging tough even if it is only by the tips of our fingernails. Is it worth it—this walking with Jesus and serving Him? You betcha!

Thank You for Taking The Time to Read This Message.
May God Use These Words to Help You and Strengthen You.