Tuesday, July 22, 2008, Part 2
"They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated" (Hebrews 11:37).
IDEA: When faith speaks to power, power will do anything to silence the voice of faith.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand how much courage it can take to speak the truth to powerful people who do not want to hear it.
Do you think it is easier to speak unpopular truth to people below you or above you?
Why?
I. Faith speaks to power at great risk.
The writer to the Hebrews talks about God's people who in 11:37 were put to death by stoning, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword, and they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated.
Do you think that pious people really enjoy courting persecution and death?
Why do you think all of this took place?
We say that the prophets spoke against sin, and we tend to think that what they spoke about was petty, but they spoke about gross deformities in the structure of their society.
For example, Amos 8:4-6 states: "Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and do away with the poor of the land, saying, 'When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?—skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.'"
Do you think those things needed to be said?
Do you think any of these things happen today? What happens to people who speak out against evil to people who can silence them?
II. Powerful people often have the means to punish those who speak what they don't want to hear.
Whistle-blowers are admired in the abstract, but not by the people on whom they blow the whistle. Leaders simply do not want to hear the whistle.
People of faith have often been the whistle-blowers, and many of them paid the price for doing it.
Why do it at all?