Certain sermons have a way of getting stuck in your head.
My colleague Tim Gardner preached a message almost 30 years ago that I have never forgotten.
It was called “We Do Not Have” – a rather strange turn of phrase that springs from a rather strangely-worded text in the New Testament book of Hebrews:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
That biblical author, who is unknown to us, chose to state one of the most enduring truths about the identity of Jesus as a double negative. Instead of positively declaring that Jesus is our faithful high priest – that is, one who graciously represents our concerns to God the Father, and compassionately represents the Father’s concerns to us – he opted for, “We’re not stuck with a clueless high priest who has no idea what it feels like to be human.”
Our high school English teachers may have urged to us avoid double negatives. But ancient Hebrew writers found “not-not” to be a powerful idiom.
Think of Jesus’ words in the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation.” Instead of praying, “Keep us on the straight and narrow,” he says, “Don’t let us end up in places where we shouldn’t end up.”
In that spirit, Tim decided to compose a 100-point sermon. He itemized 100 things that our congregation did not have. We should note that a 100-point sermon is generally the message you preach when you know for sure this is going to be your last appearance in that particular pulpit.
Mercifully, all of his points were brief.
Many were practical. We did not have pews in that church. Nor a narthex. Nor a vestibule. Tim then added, “And we do not have a church where most people even know what those things are.”
We did not have an organ. Nor a single, preferred style of worship, nor a standardized way of organizing services.
We did not have a clean church, he pointed out, because it was almost constantly in use by various groups. We did not have a pastor-driven congregation because we were blessed with scores of gifted lay people, and had just enough wisdom to turn them loose to fulfill their callings as the Body of Christ.
“We do not have doughnuts for everyone on Sunday morning, and I’m not sure why,” Tim added, clearly expressing his hope that our hospitality ministry might expand their order from the local bakery. I’m willing to bet there were at least a few whispered “Amens.”
Along the way, Tim reminded us that we did not have a church that was untouched by the pain of childlessness and infertility. Nor did we have a congregation that thought kids ought to be seen but not heard.
“We don’t have a church that can meet every need,” he acknowledged, “but we worship a God who can.”
Significantly, we do not have the ability to make ourselves right before God. We do not have any hope of impressing God with our spiritual track records. What we do have is grace – God’s assurance that there is nothing we can do to make him love us more, and nothing we can do to make him love us less. Hebrews 4 assures us we can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.
Likewise, we are infinitely blessed to have a high priest who understands our condition. We don’t have a representative who has to guess what it feels like to be human.
Even if we can identify 100 things we do not have, God has ensured that if we have Christ, we are rich beyond our wildest dreams.
Let me add one additional item that didn’t make Tim’s list.
We do not have time to keep wondering if this is the right moment to attach ourselves to this high priest.
Another church leader named Tim – Tim Wilson, a pastor in Colorado – remembers parachute jump training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the United States Army Airborne School.
His instructor reminded them what to do if their main chute failed to deploy. They must immediately pull the handle of their auxiliary chute. What if that also failed to deploy? There was no need to panic, he assured them, with a smile. “You’ll have the rest of your life to figure it out.”
What do we have?
We have the rest of our lives to figure out what we are called to do and be – whether we’re alone in the universe, or crafted by Someone who has an eternal stake in how our lives turn out.
What do we not have?
We do not have the slightest guarantee that our lives will last longer than it takes to reach the end of this sentence.
But since we’ve made it this far, the good news is that Jesus is not sequestered in a distant zip code.
He’s just a prayer away – yet one more reason why he’s a high priest like no other.
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