This is the last of three sermons which I wanted to
give concerning a key crisis in the earliest days of the Church of Jesus
Christ. Let's quickly review what we examined in the first two sermons.
In Paul's epistle to the Galatians, the apostle practically
begs the Galatian believers not to leave the true gospel and pure teaching
about Christ which he brought them. Notice and pay strong attention, because
this element of the crisis happens to come to a climax in today's sermon, to
wit: "will they leave the true gospel of Christ?"
Will who leave? Well, that's what we'll see today.
But first, to review the first two sermons….
Paul wrote to the Galatians to contradict and refute a
distorted gospel brought by a certain faction from Jerusalem. We called them
the "Jerusalem missionaries", as you may recall. And you remember
that their so-called gospel declared: "Messiah came to lead us all to
perfect observance of God's holy law. He opened the door to us all to come in
to the holy nation Israel. Therefore, to be saved, fully become children of
Abraham through circumcision and obedience to the whole law of Moses."
You remember that I encapsulated the difference
between their gospel and Paul's gospel this way: according to their gospel, at
the end of the road of redemption stands the Law, as "goal". But in Paul's
gospel, at the end of that road stands Jesus Christ, with open arms, to receive
the children of God—whom he himself has made such. As Paul said to the Romans,
the end of the law is Christ, for all who believe. And the word Paul uses
there, that we translate "end", means both "end" and
"goal" or "aim". For Paul, Christ himself is the Law's
"ultimate destination". But for those Jerusalem missionaries it's
vice versa: the goal of Christ is the Law!
There cannot be a starker contrast.
I won't repeat all of Paul's argumentation in Galatians;
otherwise I'd have to repeat the whole first sermon! I want simply to emphasize
this one, central, key, essential, indispensable (!) argument Paul makes to
them. Basically, he says, "Dear Galatians, did God give you His Spirit or
not? Did He or didn't He? If He did, then you are His children and… those people cannot add anything good to the word of life you already received by
faith." That's all of Paul's argument in a nutshell, along with the
logical corollary that goes, "So if you live by the life of the Spirit in
you, then no law will be able either to increase your holiness before God or
judge you." Let me repeat that: if you walk in the Spirit, then there's no law that can, 1) make you "better", or, 2) prove you’re
"bad".
That's an interesting thought, isn't it? What's the
use, ultimately, of a law incapable of both justifying and condemning? Christ
is the end of the law. For whom? For all who believe.
"Now there is no condemnation, to those who are
in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1)—so, the law cannot condemn.
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom.
5:11)—so, the law cannot justify.
Can't condemn, can't justify- for whom? For those who believe. For them, there's no role left for the Law, now.
Well, I'm already quoting Romans so much, I suppose
we'd better review, in brief, what I said in the second sermon.
I suggested the possibility to you that the continuing
crisis in the early Church prompted Paul to write also to the Romans. There is
persuasive evidence in this epistle that Paul continues to challenge both the
false gospel of this faction from Jerusalem and their false charges against him
personally.
In Romans, Paul proves that, 1) he does not profane
God's holy law, 2) he does not hate the Jewish nation, and, 3) he does not preach an immoral, unholy way of life. It's clear from his arguments what kind
of rumors were circulating about him, and it's clear why: in order to discredit
Paul and his gospel. It's also clear, historically, that the Jerusalem
missionaries and their message couldn't, finally, prevail over the gospel of
grace, faith and the Spirit. We do not see Paul, in his later and final
epistles continuing to wrestle with these heretics in anything like the way he
does here. History itself testifies that this movement could not finally survive within
the Christian Church.
And that, it just so happens, brings us to the epistle
to the Hebrews. Let's read Hebrews 1:1-2....
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
First, who is the writer speaking about? About Jesus
Christ—yes.
Secondly, he's writing about how God has spoken:
…in the past: "at many times and in various ways";
…"in these last days: by his Son".
Thirdly, to whom is the writer speaking? Notice:
"God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets…." He is writing
to the descendants of those
"forefathers"; he is writing to the children of Israel. These three
nuances are critical: who the writer is writing about, how God has decided to
act, and to whom the writer is addressing his arguments.
So from the very beginning, three key elements of the
epistle become clear:
a) the center of attention is Jesus Christ, who he is;
b) the deciding factor in everything is what God chooses to do;
c) the first
"audience" for this epistle is Jews, Hebrews who at some point came to faith in Jesus as the Christ.
These
three things decide the whole sense and purpose of Hebrews.
We don't know who wrote this epistle, and many
commentators and scholars say it can't be Paul because the epistle itself
doesn’t sound like Paul. The style, the general approach and method of
argumentation don’t sound anything like
what Paul writes, for instance, to the Corinthians or Ephesians, etc.
Well, that may be. I readily admit that the epistle
doesn't sound like Paul's epistles. But I have to say two things: first of all,
the theological horizon, or "eschatological construct", if you will, of
this writer is identical to that of the apostle Paul; secondly, if Paul chose to undertake the composition of a profoundly argued theological letter
specifically and precisely to the people of his own nation, then I, for one,
would expect nothing other than "The Epistle to the Hebrews" we have
in our Bibles today. It's exactly the language I'd expect him to adopt and exactly the argument I'd expect him to make, and,
indeed, if you read his other epistles with careful "theological"
attention, you will find that he is, rather often, arguing like our "Hebrews writer"!
I am not prepared to underestimate the capacities of
the apostle who said, "For the Greeks I became a Greek, for the Jews I became
a Jew". The writer of this epistle has clearly "gone for broke";
he has written nothing less than what had to be written in order to speak to
Hebrew Christians (on the verge of apostasy) in language they would get, at the
deepest, felt levels. The writer does everything short of writing in Hebrew! (Who
knows, maybe he did that, too, in a separate copy.) By the way, he writes so passionately, shows such agonized concern over the possibility that his readers
will abandon Jesus, that I cannot help being reminded of Paul's words in Romans
9:1-2: 1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not
lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—2 I have great sorrow and unceasing
anguish in my heart.
Therefore, my personal position is this: first, even if
Paul wasn't the writer of Hebrews, someone closely associated with him and his
way of thinking, someone who drank at the springs of Paul's teaching, was.
Second, I'm convinced that, in this epistle, it just so happens we're
confronting the climax of that crisis in the early church in which Paul played
such a key role, the crisis Paul himself did address in Galatians and Romans.
So for these two reasons, I consider Hebrews to be Paul's ultimate answer— at
least the ultimate "Pauline" answer—to those Hebrew-Christians who
dared attempt to obscure the Person of Christ by means of The Law.
Which brings us back to the beginning of the epistle,
in which, I'm convinced, we come face to face with the very essence of what
this whole crisis was all about right from the beginning. Those who placed the
Law higher than Christ are the very ones who, when all was said and done,
simply couldn't bring themselves to submit to the deity of the eternal Son of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the writer of Hebrews asserts at the very start the supremacy and transcendence of the very Person of the Son.
(Heb. 1:3-4) 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After
he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the
angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
If the Hebrews
to whom this was written had only embraced this one single truth (as they
should have) the crisis would never have happened, and there'd have been no need for this epistle.
"...As much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs." "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except
through me"…. This is both who Jesus is, and what God has done.
I said that, here at the beginning of the epistle, the
writer specifically, intentionally, compares how God spoke to the nation in the past, i.e., through the prophets, and how He has spoken "to us" in these recent days, i.e., through His Son. The former was God's act, and the latter was
God's act. We are talking about God's choice here, the prerogative and acts of
the Almighty. It's God who has spoken to us through His Son, God who has made
him heir of all things, God who created all worlds and ages through Him. If God
has chosen to act through His Son this way, then who among human beings, who in
the whole universe, will tell Him that He can't? If this is really God's act,
right here on earth among us, manifested and accomplished for the world's
redemption, who has the right to opt for a different scenario?
"No-o-o,
thanks, but I like the old way better; I'd prefer to stick with the Law.
Thanks, really, but how 'bout you go on believing in Jesus if you want while I
just listen to Moses and the prophets, okay?"
And who, precisely, has God offered that choice to?
Nobody! In Moses' time, too, there were those in the nation who said, "No,
thanks, we'll stay here in Egypt. Sure, it's hard sometimes, but we're used to
it." Moses had to convince them that the Lord God "I AM" wasn't
offering them a range of options; He was revealing the Way. And God's Way
knows only one direction: forward.
Clearly, this epistle is written to those who thought
they had "options" to choose from. They had tried the "Jesus
option" and been disappointed. Why? I strongly suspect that among the
Hebrew-Christians addressed by this epistle, there were those had been horribly
offended when their so-called gospel was overwhelmingly rejected by the
churches and their missionary work came to nothing. They believed in the
supremacy of the Law so much that, when it became obvious there was no place in
the Congregation of Messiah Yeshua—that is, the Church of Jesus Christ—for their
"gospel", they opted to reject Jesus altogether, and they pressured the other Hebrew-Christians to do the same.
I can imagine their argument…. "Well, brother,
take a look around you and see what's happening. You and I are nobodies
now in this little 'society'. The Gentiles don't honor us or our Law, and dare
to call themselves children of Abraham! And our brothers in the flesh, the
people of our nation, spurn us because we confess the name of Jesus. Where in
the world have we wound up, brother? Come on, let's go back, let's go home, to
the prophets, the temple, the holy city, the Law. Our people will forgive us
and take us back, and we'll start serving God the way we used to again. As for
this so-called gospel of Jesus, well, it obviously hasn't worked out. We were
wrong."
And to precisely those who are thinking like that,
this epistle is written, to those who were on the verge of the most terrible
decision a human being can make.
We don't have time here today to examine the whole
epistle in detail. I would suggest that, when you go home, you try and read the
whole book of Hebrews in one sitting. Keep fixed in your imagination the people
the letter's written to: those who considered it a simple thing to just change their minds and go back, as if
Jesus had never even appeared on the scene. And look at what the writer, this
servant and evangelist of Jesus Christ, has to say to them. I think you'll see
the sense and power of this epistle in a whole new light.
In a whole new way, you'll appreciate what the writer
is talking about when he says (2:1-4)
1 We must pay the most
careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift
away. 2 For since the message spoken through
angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just
punishment, 3how shall we escape
if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by
the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs,
wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed
according to his will.
God has acted. It's not up to you whether God has
acted right. Your job is to submit. And speaking of submission:
(3:5-6) 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,”bearing
witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son
over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our
confidence and the hope in which we glory.
This is the "surpassingness", the transcendence,
the supremacy of Christ. How can you go back to Moses, and think you're embracing
Moses, when you're rejecting the Master of the house in which Moses serves?
You're totally deceiving yourselves! Consider what it means to turn away from
Christ….
(3:12-14) 12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a
sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as
long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if
indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
To fall away from Christ is one and the same as falling away from the living God. Think about that, and what it says about
Christ.
(4:1) 1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still
stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
God's way is only forward, never back. There is no
going back. Entering the rest that God offers, the fulfillment of His promise, is possible only by embracing what God has done. What He has done, what He has accomplished, is communicated in its full perfection in the Person of Jesus Christ.
And it is about precisely that "communication" that the writer says the following:
12 For the word of God is
alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to
dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and
attitudes of the heart. (4:12)
I hope that, in light of all we've said so far, in
light of the concrete, historical context, you have a better feeling for what
the term "word of God" means here.
This is not simply the Bible. Rather, it's precisely what the epistle's first
readers were preparing to reject. It's the "word", the
"news", the "message" of what God has now done. Again, this
"word" is not simply the Bible; it's the very fact itself of the
historical manifestation of Jesus Christ and what God did by him. This feat,
this revelation, this message, the whole redeeming power of his death and
resurrection, all of this is contained in the phrase, "the word of
God". This is the same thing Paul talks about in Romans 1:16-17:
16 For I am not ashamed of
the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone
who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness
of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous
will live by faith.”
Precisely this word, this message, this manifested
salvation is now the whole criterion by which the whole world is either
justified or condemned.
17 For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they
have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:17-18)
12 Salvation is found in no
one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we
must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
Yet the first readers of Hebrews thought they could
just change their minds and forget about Jesus. That's chilling.
Nevertheless, the writer hopes for better. He tells
them:
9 Even though we speak like
this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things
that have to do with salvation. 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget
your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue
to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same
diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. (6:9-11).
And from the seventh to tenth chapters, the writer assiduously
demonstrates how the whole sense of the Old Testament revelation is ultimately
realized by Christ. Melchizedek, the king of peace, the king of righteousness,
whom Abraham, and in him all Israel, worshipped—this is Christ; the High Priest, not in an
earthly temple erected by man, but the eternal intercessor in the true tabernacle made by God Himself—this is Christ; the very blood that enters the heavenly
Holy of Holies, once and for all, in perfect sacrifice for sins—this is Jesus Christ.
19 Therefore, brothers and
sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of
Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us
through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over
the house of God,22 let us
draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith
brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and
having our bodies washed with pure water.23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope
we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (10:19-23)
With love, but also categorically, the writer warns
them:
32 Remember those earlier
days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict
full of suffering. 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and
persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so
treated. 34 You suffered along with those in
prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you
knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence;
it will be richly rewarded.36 You need to persevere so that when you
have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (10:32-36).
It's
not too late yet, but they have to make the right, necessary choice. They have to
hold on to the faith that the whole 11th chapter talks about. And
this whole chapter tells us yet again about how God's plan, always,
unceasingly, unstoppably, goes forward. There simply is no way back.
1 Therefore, since
we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer
and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.(12:1-2)
God will never bring us back to what has already
passed, not to the temple Solomon built, not to the mountain where Moses met
Him. No.
22 But you have come to
Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have
come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose
names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the
spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to
Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a
better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See to it that you do not refuse him
who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on
earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from
heaven? (12:22-25)
And with these words of encouragement, warning, hope
and deep love, the writer brings his letter to a close. Those who agonize over becoming "nobodies" in the Church, those whose
"gospel of Law" has been rejected, who are offended at not predominating
by right of blood and heritage, who feel like they've been cheated out of their proper due, to those the writer says:
11 The high priest carries
the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies
are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside
the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the
camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring
city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (13:11-14)
In the final, loving, hopeful words of the epistle, the writer again does what he did at the beginning: he exalts the Person of Christ, God's supreme authority and the consummate covenant of redemption in Jesus' death and resurrection. Which is what the whole crisis was about from the beginning. And it's what the whole crisis of man and his relationship to God is all about today: will I acknowledge who God is and what He has done for me? Who God is-- that's Christ; and what He has done for me-- that's Christ.
20 Now may the God of peace,
who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for
doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus
Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (13:20-21)
