Wednesday, July 23, 2008
"They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground" (Hebrews 11:37b-38).
IDEA: The people that the society considered unworthy were indeed in the eyes of God the most worthy people on earth.
PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate that God's estimate of people can be very different from the society's estimate of people.
Do you think it's a good idea to "read between the lines"?
What might we learn in the white space?
I. The writer to the Hebrews writes in 11:37b-38 that "They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground."
The writer doesn't tell us why this was the condition of these people of faith. He leaves it to us to read between the lines.
Do you think he is simply talking about poor people, street people, or homeless people?
The society looked down on these people as being unworthy of their care or attention. It was because of their faith that they were forced to live as the garbage of the society.
He writes that they were persecuted and mistreated, and that is the cause of their destitute condition. You can get that reading within the lines but also between the lines.
II. The people that the society considered unworthy are considered highly worthy by God: "the world was not worthy of them."
Why does God's estimate of people often contradict society's estimate?
The weak are the ones who are strong.
The meek are the ones who are powerful.
The people who are willing to die are the ones who will live, and those who seek to hold onto their lives are the ones who are really dead.
The poor may be the richest people of all.
III. Why are these people that the writer of this letter to the Hebrews mentions, people whom God holds to be highly worthy?
You can't tell these people by their dress.
You can't tell it by the address where they live.
You can tell it only by their hearts. They are people who are so given over to God that they value what people in the society don't value, and they think of the values of the society almost as trash.