Endurance
Isaiah 65:17-25 Luke 21:5-19[1]
Some of you know that I’m a fan of cycling. I’ve been
riding a bike since I was six years old! I’ve been riding seriously for about
thirty years. When I started, I was riding with the Fort Worth Bicycling
Association. We did a 35-to-45-mile ride every week, and a 60-to-70-mile ride
about once a month. Of course, I didn’t start out riding that far. And these
days I don’t ride as much or as fast as I did then, but I still enjoy getting
out on the bike in the beauty of the world along with the health benefits that
putting in miles on the bike provides me. You may know I’m also a fan of
watching cycling. I particularly enjoy watching the three “Grand Tours” every
Summer. They’re the Tour of Italy in May, the Tour of France in July, and the
Tour of Spain in August. Each of them covers about 2000 miles over 21 days,
including flat stages for the sprinters and some of the steepest mountains in
Europe for the climbers. What blows my mind is that they ride a stage per day,
usually over 100 miles, at average speeds that are typically (at least) twice
as fast as I could ride, and then they turn around the next day and do it all
over again. It’s like running 21 marathons in 3 weeks!
That kind of endurance is impressive on so many levels. I
would say, however, that it not only applies to the world of sports. There are
some among us who complete the equivalent of a Tour de France every month. Not
by how many miles we ride on a bicycle, but by how we handle the circumstances
of our lives that are well beyond our control. For example, most of you know
that farming is something that takes a long perspective to be able to do year
in and year out. But that can be true for any of us in our personal lives.
There are challenges that some of us face that are out in public, for all to
see. And then there are challenges that some of us face that are inside, and
perhaps nobody else knows just how hard it can be just to make it through a day.
Endurance is a part of life for many of us.
Our Scripture lessons for today present us with two
different perspectives on the hope that St. Paul reminds us results from
endurance. He says it this way: our problems and trials “help us develop
endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character
strengthens our confident hope of salvation (Rom 5:4-5, NLT). Both of
our lessons today present a perspective on the ultimate outcome of our faith.
As I’ve mentioned before, there seems to be a lot of confusion about our what
our hope is. There are those who speak of the “end of the world” in terms of
the majority of humanity “left behind” to face whatever painful tribulations an
angry God is going to unleash upon them for their unbelief. Then there are
those who speak of the final victory of God’s saving love in a world where all
people have the joy of sharing a life, peace, and freedom together. These two
views can be found not only in books and sermons, but also in Scripture.
Just a quick reading of our lessons for today sounds like
they’re contradicting each other. The one from the prophet Isaiah holds out a
beautiful hope for a new heaven and a new earth. Isaiah’s vision is filled with
the language of freedom, new life, and hope. In a setting where conquerors
continually displaced people, taking their children away from them, throwing
them out of their homes and off their own lands, Isaiah envisions a people
returned from exile to live in their own land free from fear. But Isaiah’s
vision doesn’t just concern Israel; their restoration leads to the restoration
of the whole world. Beyond that, this vision of restoration and renewal extends
to all creation—even the animal kingdom is to be transformed when God fulfills
his promises and liberates the people. Isaiah’s vision is that what God will do
at the end of all things will be consistent with what God did at the beginning:
create a world full of beauty and love.
On the other hand, in the lesson from Luke’s Gospel Jesus
seems to warn his disciples that the end of all things will be gloom and doom.
Rather than being spared from the “tribulations” of the end time, it seems that
Jesus was saying his followers would be right in the middle of it all. He said they would be arrested and persecuted
(Lk. 21:12), that they would be betrayed even by members of their own family
(Lk. 21:16), and that they would be “hated by all because of my name” (Lk. 21:17).
It’s pretty clear that Jesus envisioned Christians enduring whatever painful
hardships and trials the future holds along with everyone else.
Unfortunately, his warnings are easy to misread. For one
thing, some of what he says refers to events that would happen in their
lifetimes: the Jewish people falling by the sword and Jerusalem being trampled
by the Gentiles (Lk. 21:23-24). In fact, about 40 years later the Jewish people
fought and lost a war to free themselves from their Roman conquerors. And many
people got caught up in the violence—Jewish people and Christian alike. So some
of what Jesus has to say talks about what would happen in their lifetimes. But
some of what Jesus has to say points to a time in the distant future when all
the nations would see “‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great
glory” (Lk. 21:27).
So it’s hard to know if Jesus was warning his disciples
about hardships of the near future or those of the end times. I think the
answer is that he was talking about both. He knew that the Jewish war would be
just as devastating for Christians as it was for the Jewish people, and he used
that catastrophic event to warn them about the hardships that they would face
until the final turmoil when he would return. Jesus urged his disciples to “be
alert,” praying for strength, so that they wouldn’t be caught off guard when
the day of his return actually came (Lk. 21:34-36). And he urged them to hold
on until the end, promising that the final outcome of the trials and hardships
they might go through would not be their destruction but their salvation! In
our lesson for today he says it this way: “By your endurance you will gain your
souls” (Lk 21:8).
I think the best answer to the question of our final
destiny is that it includes both hardships and final victory. I started
studying the Bible seriously over 40 years ago when I was a Freshman in
college. As a seminary Professor I taught the class on the book of Revelation.
So I’ve given the matter a fair amount of thought. The result of all that is
that I believe God isn’t some cruel bully just waiting for the chance to
torment the vast majority of humankind. When it comes to God’s final purpose
for us, I think we have to remember that God showed us who he is by creating a
beautiful world for us all to enjoy. And the Scripture promises that one day he
will renew that world. We also have to remember that God showed us who he is by
coming as one of us to heal our brokenness and our suffering by taking it on
himself. And the Scripture promises that one day he will complete that work of
restoring all things and all people.
Endurance is something that we all need. You know, I didn’t
start out riding all those miles the first time I joined the Fort Worth
Bicycling Association. My first ride was pretty much a disaster. I “blew up,”
to use one phrase that cyclists use. I ran out of energy halfway into the ride.
Fortunately, one of the members of the club was there to shepherd me back home,
because I didn’t know the way. But I didn’t go home that day and hang up my
bicycle and say, “I’m not doing this ever again.” I kept training on my own. I
kept riding with the club. Sometimes I would get dropped, but eventually I was
able to finish with a group of riders who were at my level.
I think that’s how it is for us in life. The old saying, “A
journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” is true. I know it may be so
commonly repeated that we don’t hear it anymore. But it’s still true. And I
think we might add that “You finish a journey of a thousand miles by continuing
to take one step after another.” Even and especially on the days when you don’t
feel like it. That’s what we call “endurance.” Many of us have won the
equivalent of “gold medals” for endurance over the course of our lives. Maybe
many times.
Our faith is based on the promises in Scripture. And as we
continue holding onto our faith, no matter what we may have to go through in
this life, we develop endurance. And as St. Paul reminds us, our endurance
gives us hope. But I think you can turn it around and say our hope also helps
us endure whatever we may have to go through in this life. Endurance gives us
hope, but our hope also helps us to continue to endure. Our hope helps us keep
trusting that God’s good and loving plans for the human family will ultimately
win out over all the evil that may be present among us now. Our hope gives us
the endurance to keep trusting God, to keep following Jesus, and to keep
serving others. And we do that by continuing to take the next step. That’s how
we complete the journey.
[1] ©
2025 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 11/16/2025 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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