Seeking Home Hebrews 11:1-16; Genesis 15:1-6; Luke 12:22-34

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, who leads us home.

 

Our message, Seeking Home, is based on our Epistle, Hebrews 11, especially verses 13 and 14 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  

 

Hebrews 11 reminds us of the necessity of faith as we make our way to our eternal home. It shares the examples of many of the early “heroes of faith”, beginning with the second person born on earth, Abel, who by faith pleased God with his sacrifice.

 

And then Enoch, who by faith pleased God, and was taken into Heaven without having to die.

 

Then Noah, who by faith built the ark, which saved his family, and preserved the line of the Messiah, until at last, Christ was born.

 

And Abraham and Sarah, who by faith were given a son, Isaac, who lived by faith; and whose son, Jacob, lived by faith, and through them, the line of the Messiah continued. 

 

Verse 13 says, 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, (the promised Messiah had not yet come) but having seen them and greeted them from afar, (they believed the Messiah would come) having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth (that Heaven was their home).

 

This earthly home is temporary; but by faith, we seek and receive an eternal home, where we will be safe and settled, and won’t wander, as our hearts are prone to do here on earth.

 

When we wander from God’s home for us now on earth, the Church, we find ourselves in a sort of “no man’s land”. 

The phrase, “no man’s land”, came from World War 1.

 

Early in the war both sides tried to charge the enemy lines, but the machine guns and artillery were devastating, so both sides dug in and got stuck there, living in the trenches and the mud.

 

That land in between the armies and their trenches was called “no man’s land”.

 

It wasn’t very far, only a few hundred yards in some places, but it was a forsaken few hundred yards, filled with the carnage of war.

 

Without faith in Christ, it’s a sort of no man’s land that we’re stuck living in here on earth, bleak and barren, destructive to the soul. 

 

Our refuge from this no man’s land of sin is the Gospel, God’s Word for us and Sacraments for us. His Sacraments.

 

 

 

 

Where the Gospel is, there also is the Church, to comfort us and strengthen us on this sometimes difficult journey toward home. 

 

Let me illustrate this with a song and a movie.

 

Has anyone seen the movie, “1917”?

 

It’s set in World War 1, as the title suggests. 

 

Two British soldiers, Tom Blake and William Schofield, called Sco, are sent on a dangerous journey through enemy territory, to deliver a letter to Colonel of the Devens regiment, instructing him to call off the attack planned for the next morning, because it’s a trap.

 

They start out cautiously, making their way through no man’s land; they reach the German trenches and find them deserted.

 

Then they enter a tunnel, which they think is a shortcut, but a land mine is tripped, and Sco is buried in the rubble. 

 

Tom digs him out, and they make it through the tunnel just before it collapses. 

They keep going and reach an abandoned farm.

 

A German plane crashes into the barn, and Tom is killed by the pilot while trying to help him, so Sco is left to deliver the letter alone.

 

He makes it to a French town, occupied by German soldiers. He’s wounded by a sniper, hides for a little while, then continues his journey toward the Devens, running through the town, with German soldiers running after him, and shooting at him. 

 

He makes it to the river, which is in flood stage, he jumps in, goes over a waterfall, and miraculously survives it.

 

He makes it to shore, where he breaks down and just sobs after all he’s been through. 

 

Then he hears singing; he follows the sound through the trees and finds the soldiers he’s looking for, the Devens. 

 

They’re all sitting in silence among the trees, mesmerized, as they listen to a fellow soldier singing this song… 

 

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
I’m traveling through this world of woe
There is no sickness, toil nor danger
In that bright land to which I go

 

I'm going there to see my father
And all my loved ones, who've gone on                                                                           I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

 

Those young soldiers who were about to charge the German lines, knowing that they might be in the last minutes of their earthly lives, or might be horribly wounded, they found the comfort and courage they needed in those words, assuring them that no matter what happens to them, with God, they’re only going home – I'm only going over Jordan, I'm only going over home. 

This is an analogy to the Children of Israel crossing the Jordan River, into the Promised Land. 

 

So in Christ, when we die and leave this world, we cross over into the eternal Promised Land; our difficult journey ends, and we finally make it home. 

 

In every step we take on this earth, we’re just on our way home; no matter how difficult things might be, no matter what may happen, we’re only going home.

 

To finish the movie, hearing that song gives Sco a second wind. He runs through the exploding artillery shells, finds the dugout where the Colonel is, who reads the letter, and reluctantly calls off the attack.

 

The shelling stops, and Sco sits down by a tree to rest; and he pulls out of his pocket, photographs of his wife, and his daughters. And on the back his wife has written him a note: “Come back to us.”

 

Earlier in the movie, Sco had confessed to Tom that he hadn’t wanted to go home on leave to see his family, because he knew he’d have to return to the front, and might never see them again.

 

He had become cynical and jaded. He even traded a medal he had been awarded, for a bottle of wine, instead of bringing the medal home to his family.

 

In short, he lost faith, but in making that difficult journey, he found it again.  

 

He relaxes, holds the photographs of his family to his heart, and closes his eyes to rest, finally at peace, believing that, as he had just heard in the song, one way or another, whether in his earthly home, or his heavenly home, he will see his loved ones again.

 

That’s the power of faith. Faith is the confidence of things hoped for, and the assurance of things not seen, our Epistle says.

 

Godly faith keeps us going and never giving up as we make our way toward home. 

 

We can’t see what struggles and troubles may lie ahead, but by faith we know that none of them can compare to the power of Christ for us, who overcame sin, death, and every trouble, to bring us home.

 

By faith, we see Him walking with us, guarding us, bringing us safely to our final destination.

 

We may not know the ETA, our estimated time of arrival, but God knows our ETA, when we’ll finally arrive at our heavenly home.

 

And He promises us in John 14 that He has a place all ready and waiting for us.

 

So let us walk on earth as if the very next step we take, will be into Heaven’s glory.

 

That’s a great way to walk through this life -- walking by faith, full of hope, abounding with love, ready to rejoice forever.

 

And as walk by faith, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who walks with us all the way home. Amen.