(A) Introduction

We are frequently told not to dwell on the past. A favourite expression today is: 'it's time to move on'. I hate this expression. It is used to curtail debate, to brush lamentable errors and misjudgements under the carpet and to disparage the past. In many respects it would not be a bad thing if this country moved back to the religious convictions and moral standards of the early years of the twentieth century. The writer to the Hebrews does not think it is a bad thing to look back, to remember the past.

(B) We are encouraged to remember past Christian leaders.

(a) The word of God they spoke to us.
I sometimes meet an old pupil and, if a boy, they will say, "You still giving those ol' talks, Mr Reed," or, if a girl, "I miss your assemblies, Mr Reed." I am glad my assemblies are remembered and made some impression. I only wish that they did some lasting good. Christians can look back over their lives and recall men and women whose words did make an abiding impression.

My father was a good preacher. He could deliver a memorable sermon. However what I remember best is that his preaching took on added power whenever his topic was the cross of Christ. I once said to him, "Why don't you preach on the cross more often, Father." That is not a criticism that could be levelled at Paul. He could say of his visit to the Corinthians, When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I served for twenty years as a sports organiser at a Christian camp for young people known as Pioneer Camp. The leader of the camp I attended was Pastor Skull. He was not the most eloquent of speakers but his preaching expressed the earnest desire that young people should be converted. He spoke to that end, appealing directly to the listening boys and girls for a decision. Pastor Skull left no one in any doubt that this was the most important thing for them to decide - whether to believe in Jesus or not. God blessed this straight-forward preaching and many were converted.

The last pastor of the church I serve was Simon Ladd. He was an excellent teacher. I benefited from the fair-minded, non-partisan, way he opened up the Scriptures.

Yet the teachers who have influenced me most have done so through what they wrote. John Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' has always helped me. It is true to my own Christian Pilgrimage and more than any other book, besides the Bible, touches my heart. As I sat and listened to Mr Standfast's testimony being read at the Queen Mother's funeral the tears ran down my face. I was glad that the Puritans had one representative participating in that moving event. However I was also profoundly stirred by the words:
'I see myself now at the end of my journey: my toilsome days are ended. I am going to see that head which was crowned with thorns, and that face which was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and faith; but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with Him in whose company I delight myself. I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of: and wherever I have seen the print of his shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot too.
What a wonderful phrase that is: 'Wherever I have seen the print of his shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot too.' I, also, can say, 'I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of'.

It was a tremendous eye opener to read Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones', 'Studies in the Sermon on the Mount'. I found it a gripping and, indeed, thrilling book because it showed the relevance of Christ's teaching today. It informed my conduct

Finally I am indebted to someone from quite a different stable to John Bunyan and Martyn Lloyd-Jones - C.S.Lewis. He helped me intellectually. He made it clear that Christianity was reasonable. C.S.Lewis also changed my view of the Bible. I began to worry less about proving it was inerrant or infallible and came to see that its true function was as Paul writing to Timothy put it: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. I found Lewis' chapter on, 'Scripture', in 'Reflections on the Psalms', very helpful. I identify with his closing sentences:
'..it is, perhaps, idle to speak here of spirit and letter. There is almost no "letter" in the words of Jesus. Taken by a literalist, He will always prove the most elusive of teachers. Systems cannot keep up with that darting illumination. No net less wide than a man's whole heart, nor less fine mesh than love, will hold the sacred Fish'.

(b) The example they set us.
My father set me a good example in many ways. During his time as Pastor he loved to be among his own people. He attended all the services including those at which he did not speak. If he had a free Sunday he would spend it in his own church - not go off somewhere to 'hear' a popular preacher. After my father retired and when he got very ill I would take him to all the services - two on a Sunday and the prayer meeting, midweek. He never said to me, "John, I don't want to go". Nor did his dementia show in church although he often fell asleep under the influence of his disease. The sermons ceased to mean much to him. He went to be with his brothers and sisters in Christ - to enjoy their fellowship. He gave them the opportunity to show him love. My father attended until the last six weeks of his life when he quickly lost all muscular control.

My mother had a love of the elderly. She engaged in a ministry of visitation and letter writing.I have tried to copy my mother in both these respects. Today I wrote to a lady dying of cancer. I do not know her very well but I wrote remembering that my mother cheered many hearts with her correspondence. I always try and write a few words of appreciation and encouragement in the Christmas cards I send. What is the point of a card with, 'From Cecil', written in it? It hardly raises the spirits!

As I think back to the years spent at camp with Pastor Skull I remember his humility. He was very accommodating. John tried to do what was best for the ministry of the camp rather than what was best for himself. It was an example of service. A spirit of service characterises most God honouring ministeries.

Pastor Ladd, my old pastor, was a very uncritical man. I never heard him criticise anyone. I consider this to be a remarkable achievement. He was a bit disparaging about my preaching but otherwise he thought well of people. He set a good example of tolerance.

My brother Paul, who is a pastor of an inner London church, is very forbearing. Some people in his church have problems that they never overcome. So Paul has to try and help folk who get themselves into the same mess over and over again. It takes a lot of his time and energy. He has to live out the teaching of Jesus: "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." Luke17v3and4.

(c) Imitate their faith.
The Jewish Christians had some wonderful heroes to emulate: Stephen, James, Peter, Barnabas, and John. The faith of these men remained strong under the most testing of circumstances. If we are Christians we all know of brothers or sisters whose faith has not failed in the storms of life. It is good to imitate their faith.

I felt very sorry for my father - he had a hard life. It seemed a cruel fate that he was unable to enjoy a well-earned retirement because of prolonged and worsening ill health. His faith never failed. It moves me to remember the last words that he uttered. He could not walk, talk or swallow. I sought to cheer us both up by playing an old record of Burl Ives singing Sankey Songs. My father's final words were sung:


In the cross, in the cross, Be my glory ever; Till my raptured soul shall find Rest beyond the river.

My mother had a lot to put up with. She came from a well to do, middle class, home and found it difficult to fit into a village that was solidly working class. She felt herself to be an outsider in a community where family loyalties were strong. Mother was not used to poverty but got used to it as a poorly paid minister's wife. She found it difficult to cope with her husband's poor health. However in spite of all life's disappointments her love for Jesus burned bright until the end of her days. It sweetened her.

My brother, Paul, accepted God's call to a church in Clapham that was in a very low state. My father advised him against it! As soon as Paul commenced his ministry several left who had previously kept the work going. They wanted to appoint a leader so that they could escape from their responsibilities. I think it is very cruel when this happens. If a group of Christians invite a man to pastor their church surely they are honour bound to support him for a time. So Paul and his good wife, Ruth, began a long period of labour and little blessing. The church stagnated. Paul could have given up. He had faith to persevere and eventually the church began to grow.

So my father's faith stood the test of ill health, my mother's the trial of poverty and loneliness and my brother's the disappointment of forsakenness. I do well to imitate their faith and that of lots of Christians I have known. I have seen Christians tried by depression, bereavement and misfortune but their faith has been the anchor that kept their souls steadfast and sure while the billows rolled.

(C) The reason why looking back is a relevant means of Grace.

The writer to the Hebrews justifies his advice to 'remember' leaders in the past with the oft quoted words: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. v8. It is the unchangeable nature of Jesus that makes it relevant and helpful to look back. What Jesus was to believers in the past he will be to us in the present and in the future.

He does not change as:

(a) The supreme object of the believer's devotion.
Paul wrote, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I main gain Christ. Phil3v8. For the last 2000 years Christians would echo the words of Paul - with varying degrees of sincerity. Christians are united by their love for Jesus - the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star, the fairest of ten thousand to their souls. A hymn like:

Jesus the very thought of thee With sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far Thy face to see, And in Thy presence rest.

written by Bernard of Clairvaux (1091 to 1153) has been sung for a thousand years because Christians in every age have Jesus in common and he does not change.

Some months ago I saw three people in a week that I hadn't seen for forty years. It was very interesting and pleasurable to discover how life had treated them. I realised that we had little in common except a period of time shared together in our youth. Then a week or so later I had a chat to Denny while waiting to have my car serviced. I went to Primary School with Denny. I had seen him off and on through the years - usually leaning on a shovel in the vicinity of a BT trench. I'd say, "Alright Den," and he would reply, "Whooupp". I'd never had a conversation with him. Well this was to change. "Come out here, and look", Denny said. We stood and together admired a beautiful, almost sleek, rabbit that was nibbling at some tufts of grass with great delicacy. It was a sophisticate amongst rabbits - a fastidious feeder. Denny and I discovered we had a mutual love of nature. Then he began to talk about his mother. He cared for her during her final illness. He sat with her and held her hand the night she died. I was drawing closer and closer to old Denny - we had more in common than I supposed.

Christian's are drawn close together because they share a mutual love for and devotion to Jesus. And he does not change so this oneness marches down the years. We sing:

In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o'er the wrecks of time.

(b) The basis of the saint's confidence.
In John1v6 the apostle writes: of his fullness have all we received. This has repercussions that are admirably expressed in John Fawcett's great hymn:

A fullness resides in Jesus our Head, And ever abides to answer our need; The Father's good pleasure has laid up in store A plentiful treasure to give to the poor. When troubles attend, or danger, or strife, His love will defend and guard us through life: And when we are fainting, and ready to die, Whatever is wanting, His grace will supply.

The writer knows that the confidence of the Hebrew Christians is waning and so he reminds them of Jesus, he who said, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John4v14." Whatever is wanting, His grace will supply.

Christians have drawn strength from Jesus for 2000 years and will continue to do so. He is the ground of their confidence and he does not change.

(c) The perpetual pastor
The attitude of earthly pastors may change. They become tired and jaded. The lambs are fed with waning enthusiasm. Some feel they have nothing left to offer their flock and so leave. After they have moved on they take no further interest in the flock they professed to care for. I find this hard to understand. Pastoring a church is not like working in a bank. It is strange that doctors are more inclined to stop put to care for their patient's bodies. They can see the benefits of continuity.

The Great Shepherd of the Sheep doesn't change. The hireling may abandon the sheep but the Good Shepherd will never forsake his own. Christians can sing with complete assurance:

Loving Shepherd of Thy sheep, Keep my soul in safety keep. Nothing can they power withstand; None can pluck me from Thy hand.

Jesus is ever the same. The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their Shepherd and shall guide them into fountains of waters of life. Rev7v17.AV.

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day Earth's joys grow dim, it glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not abide with me.