|
|
HOLY HELP FOR THE HOPELESSHebrews 2:1; 3:6, 12-14; 4:1, 11; 6:11-12, 17-19; 9:28; 10:23, 35-36; 11:1, 6, 13-16; 12:1-3 INTRODUCTION I’m not sure why I did it, but when I entered the fourth grade at Wilson school here in Janesville, I signed up for violin lessons through the strings program at the school. I remember really liking my teacher, Mr. Erickson. He was able to encourage me to persist in playing even when my enthusiasm would flag. I played all the way through 6 th grade in large measure due to his encouragement. In sixth grade I really began to enjoy playing not only because my skill level was increasing but also because that year Mr. Erickson invited me to play in the orchestra. We practiced once a week at the old Marshall Junior High. We performed a concert in the auditorium at the end of that year that stands out in my memory as one of the most enjoyable experiences of my childhood. However, the summer between 6 th and 7 th grade my family moved to Oregon, WI because my dad had taken a new job in Madison. As a result I went to a brand new school at the age of 12. I was not a very confident person at that time. I remember my mother trying to encourage me to sign up for lessons and for the orchestra at my new school but I refused. I already felt insecure and vulnerable and did not want to make myself the object of any “sissy” jokes by carrying a violin around the school. In spite of all the good experiences I had in Janesville I did not believe that the benefit of playing the violin would outweigh the potential trouble playing it would bring to my life in my new school. I lost hope that playing the violin would make me happy and so I quit playing. I don’t have any doubt that every person over 5 in this room could share a story like that. All of us have quit doing something we once enjoyed because we became convinced that the cost of persisting was greater than the benefit we would receive if we persisted. It is the loss of hope in future benefit that causes us to quit doing things we once enjoyed and pursued. This means that the only way you or I will persist in any activity or relationship is if we have hope. Hope is a confident expectation that a good and happy result awaits us at the end of a process or a course of action. There are many factors involved in maintaining hope. One of the key ways that hope is maintained is through the encouragement of others. This is what my violin teacher, Mr. Erickson was so good at. He was able to give me reasons to persist in practice and to not quit. He gave me hope. Frankly, one of the reasons that I quit violin when we moved is because there was no one there who was able to persuade me in the way he had that persistence in playing the violin, in spite of the risks and work involved, was going to be worth it. The time we most need the encouragement of others is when we are in despair over or have lost hope in obtaining adequate benefits from a particular course of action. All of us need the help of others at times if we are going to persist in difficult enterprises. This is the aim and purpose of the letter to the Hebrews. The author of the book of Hebrews calls his composition a “word of encouragement” in 13:22. It does not take a very detailed reading of this short letter to see that he is writing to a group of people who are on the verge of quitting the Christian life. These are people who have lost hope that the present and future benefits of persistence as Christians makes the trouble encountered along the way, worth it. This letter is written to stimulate the faith and hope of these people so that they will persevere and persist in spite of the risks and work involved. While this letter was written almost 2000 years ago to a group of people who in some ways were very different from us, yet it contains some of the most relevant and helpful encouragement in the Scriptures for us. We are beginning a series in which we will study the entire letter to the Hebrews. The title of this series is “Holy Help for the Hopeless”. My aim this morning is to show you why we need to study this book. Before I do that I want to encourage each of you, during November and December, as we begin our study of this book, to read through it once each week. All of us, whether we admit it out loud or not, have been or will be confronted with a loss of hope in the benefits of following Christ, which will cause us to question whether or not going on as a Christian is worth it. Discouragement and loss of hope in the Christian life affects everyone in different ways. While some who lose hope and thus abandon Christ will abandon the church also, there are many others who, while abandoning Christ, will not for sociological or economic or psychological reasons abandon the church. We all know more than a few people show up in church on Sundays whose lives on the other six days of the week have little or nothing to do with Christ. There are those among us who have no hope that following Christ is worth it and yet, for a variety of reasons continue to maintain a "form of godliness." There is no one in this room who is immune to the loss of hope and therefore all of us need this "word of encouragement" if we are going to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” or “hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first,” to use the words of this letter to the Hebrews. MAIN POINT We need the encouragement of the book of Hebrews because…I. Sin is deceptive (Hebrews 3:12-18) This letter to the Hebrews contains five extended exhortations for these professing Christians to not abandon Christ but to persevere in faith. While there are other encouragements to perseverance sprinkled throughout the letter these five sections carry forward the main purpose of this letter as it is stated in 2:1, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we do not drift away.” The five sections of encouragement are 2:1-4, 3:7-4:13, 5:11-6:12, 10:19-39 & 12:1-29. The rest of the book is taken up with giving the reasons for why we should persevere and not drift away from the gospel. In each of these five “exhortation/encouragement” passages we discover various pressures that are being exerted upon these people that are the cause of their losing hope. In 3:12-18 we find out that one of the things that is causing these people to lose hope and to seriously consider abandoning Christ is the “deceitfulness of sin.” What the author views as one of the forces at work in our lives to dissuade us from following Christ is the fact that sin lies to us. Sin promises one thing but delivers another. Sin is by its very nature deceptive, like quicksand, which appears like solid ground but the minute you step on it, you sink and die. The result of sin’s lying to us is that we develop an unbelieving, hard heart that turns us away from God. This core exhortation regarding sin is imbedded in a discussion of the experience of Israel in the desert. I want to consider Israel's experience briefly to discover what it is about sin that is deceptive and how its deceptive nature gives us hard, unbelieving hearts that turn away from God. To do this I want to turn to Numbers 13-14 (page ____). The reason we are turning to this passage is because this is the beginning of that period of time that is referred to in what precedes and follows vv. 12-14 in Hebrews 3. In these two chapters we will observe the way in which sin deceived and then hardened the hearts of Israel and caused them to turn away from the living God. It is this turning away from God by Israel that is held up as the danger that the Hebrews are in and the danger we also are in. The basic outline of this story is this: Israel is encamped on the southern border of the land of Canaan. They left Mt. Sinai, with its pyrotechnic display, not more than one month ago. They left Egypt behind after having witnessed God’s power, just over one year ago. Moses has sent a group of twelve men into the land to look it over and to bring back a report along with some examples of the fruitfulness of the land. These twelve return, after 40 days, carrying a large bunch of grapes. Ten of the “spies” tell Moses and the people that while it is truly a fruitful land, yet it is inhabited by giants who live in walled cities. They tell the people there is no possible way that they who have so recently been slaves have the power to attack and overcome the people in the land. However, two of the “spies”, Joshua and Caleb, disagree and tell the people that they can certainly go in and take over the land because the Lord is on their side. However, the people believe the majority report and begin to weep and wail in their tents and to talk about how hopeless is their situation. Look at 13:32-33 & 14:1-4 & 10. The ten spies and the people all are convinced that if they do what God says to do they will be destroyed. They are convinced that if they follow the Lord they will be killed and their wives and children will become the slaves of the giants who live in the land of Canaan. They are also absolutely convinced that there is a happier and more secure life back in Egypt. Thus they say that they should kill Moses, Aaron, Joshua & Caleb and choose another leader in order to return to Egypt. What is the lie that they are choosing to believe? Or to say it another way, how are they being deceived by sin? Like you and I, what they want more than anything else is a risk free, secure and prosperous life for themselves and their families. They believe that they can have what they want more readily back in Egypt, the land of slavery than they can have it here in the land of Canaan, which is inhabited by giants but which God has promised to give to them. They believe their chosen leader will more certainly be able to lead them into a life of security than Moses, God’s chosen leader. This is the deceptiveness of sin: they believe they are stronger than God and their plan is better than God’s plan. Sin blinds us to reality. Sin is at heart completely irrational and illogical. As readers of this story, the foolishness of these people is so apparent to us. They are clearly believing a lie and basing their life on a fantasy. God has been nothing but faithful to them. He has demonstrated his power to destroy the most powerful of enemies and to provide everything they have needed in the desert. Moses has proven time and again to be a faithful friend and leader. Yet, in spite of God’s miraculous intervention and Moses' faithful leadership they persist in believing a lie. They believe that they will be more secure and prosperous if they are led by someone other than Moses and return to the place where they were slaves and where all the firstborn sons and their entire army were killed by their God. They expect the Egyptians to give them a warm welcome! Even God himself is incredulous at their stupidity. Look at v. 11. “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?” Sin always makes promises that upon examination are a lie and completely irrational. This is the core lie of sin: "Nothing bad will happen to you if you disobey God but in fact, you will be really happy. If you obey God you will be miserable." This is exactly the lie that Israel believes. The problem is that what we see so clearly in the case of Israel here, we have great difficulty seeing in ourselves. Lying on our income taxes, stealing from our employer, shoplifting, not giving any money to God all seem more certain to gain financial security than fully paying taxes, not stealing and giving a portion of my income to God. Flirting with the women at work seems more likely to stroke the male ego than doing the hard work of patiently listening to and communicating with your wife. Sharing your pain with an attentive co-worker makes you feel more appreciated than taking the risk to tell your insensitive husband how his indifference hurts you. Staying home to watch your favorite TV show seems more refreshing to your soul than going to the Bible study with those people who don’t really care about you. Spending two hours “IM’ing” meaningless gossip or crass and vulgar humor with people you’ve never met appears far more satisfying than doing your homework or reading your Bible or talking with your parents. If you make it a habit to believe the promises of sin rather than the promises of God you will develop a hard heart towards God and you will stop believing that he exists and that there is a reward for all who seek him. You will believe that there is an infinitely superior reward for those who disobey God and follow their own plans and depend on their own wisdom. It doesn’t happen all at once. You don’t wake up one morning and decide to commit adultery or embezzle money from your employer or become a drug addict. It happens slowly over time as you make those small choices to believe the promises of sin and to leave behind the promises of God. That is why this letter has been written, to encourage us to believe the promises of God and to refuse to believe the promises of sin. That’s why we need to pay attention to it. Sin is deceptive and we are always in need of help to not believe its promises but rather to believe the promises of God. We need the encouragement of the book of Hebrews because…
II. Suffering is unavoidable (Hebrews 10:32-36 & 12:3-11) Not only does the pressure to abandon Christ come from within us but it also comes from outside of us. Throughout this letter there are indications that this group of Christians is either in the midst of profound suffering through persecution or they are on the verge of experiencing it. The temptation for them is that if they renounce Christ, they can avoid some very serious suffering which may even include martyrdom. The argument of the author is that suffering is inevitable for the Christian but that whatever suffering we might experience here because we are Christians is worth it. Turn with me first to Hebrews 10:32. When these people first became Christians they experienced the suffering of persecution. They were mistreated and maligned in public. Some of them were thrown into prison. Others, when they went to care for their fellow Christians who were in prison had their property confiscated. Part of the author’s point is that they should not expect things to be any different now that they have been Christians for 20-30 years. They have been told repeatedly that Christians will be persecuted; they themselves experienced persecution when they first became Christians and so they should not be surprised by it now. It is inevitable. Now turn over to Hebrews 12. At the end of v. 1 they are told to run with perseverance the race that God has marked out for them. They are to run this race in light of the fact that a whole host of people have run it before them. This is a reference to the list of people in chapter 11. The primary thing that was true of these people is that they did not receive the things that God promised before they died, many of them suffered in great ways, and yet they lived by faith in God’s promises, in confident expectation of the future. Then in v. 2 they are to fix their eyes on Jesus who also did not receive the things promised while he lived on earth but who lived by faith in confident expectation of the future. He willingly endured the most profound suffering because his eyes were fixed on the joy that would be his on the other side of the cross. In other words, the race that must be run is a life that is filled with disappointment and suffering. There is no other journey to heaven available. Suffering is inevitable. Now, notice how in v. 3 they are to pay careful attention to Jesus so that they will not grow weary or lose heart. In other words, the author knows that the pressure that suffering places upon us is the pressure of quitting. To use the race metaphor that he uses in v. 1, the author knows that what keeps marathon runners from finishing the race is the pain of running. The only people who finish marathons are not those who have no pain but those who have figured out how to run and finish in spite of the pain. There is no marathon runner that expects to not hurt while running the race. I've never run a marathon but I have run in a twenty mile race twice, a half marathon twice and in scores of 10k and 5k races. I've never run a race in which I did not hurt during the race. The strategy of runners is all about how to run and finish while suffering. That is what this letter is about. It is written to give Christians who suffer reasons to not stop running but to finish the race in spite of the pain. Everyone in here is going to suffer in the course of our lives. Some will suffer more than others. The source of suffering will differ from person to person. If you are going to successfully finish the race, which is to follow Christ faithfully as a Christian until the day you die, then you are going to have to figure out how to run with pain. This letter is written specifically to teach you how to run while suffering. You and I need what it has to say because suffering is inevitable. We need the encouragement of the book of Hebrews because…
III. The greatness of Christ and his gospel alone gives hope (Hebrews 6:17-19, 10:23) One of the things that is most surprising about this letter is that while its primary purpose is so practical--to help people who are beset by sin and suffering to persevere in the Christian life by stimulating faith and hope, yet it contains some of the most complicated biblical and theological arguments in the whole Bible. It is full of OT quotations and allusions and references. This dude named Melchizedek is talked about for 1.5 chapters. There are long sections discussing the high priest and the sacrifices in the OT. Angels and Moses and covenants and the tabernacle are all featured in this author’s “word of encouragement.” I doubt there is a person in here who would turn to Hebrews 7 or 9 if you were trying to help a Christian friend who was becoming hardened by sin or losing heart due to suffering. Yet, this author thinks that talking about Melchizedek and the tabernacle are incredibly helpful and encouraging. Why is that? There are two reasons for why this letter is so full of the OT. First, the people to whom he wrote are Greek speaking Jews who became Christians and who grew up listening to the reading and preaching of the Greek translation of the OT in their Jewish synagogues. Since their conversion to Christ they have been listening to these same OT scriptures read and preached as the revelation of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the people who received this letter are incredibly familiar with the OT. The author can refer to OT texts and characters without even identifying where they are located because he knows they know what he is talking about. He is able to make profound points about God’s word without explaining things that you and I have no knowledge of. Therefore, as we work our way through this book we are going to have to, at times, move slowly because we will have to study passages in the OT that he merely mentions just so we can understand the point he is making. The second reason this letter is so full of the OT is because this author is convinced the OT is full of Christ and his gospel. The main encouragement he gives to these hopeless people is the greatness of the glory of Christ and his gospel. He is absolutely convinced that the only thing that can help these people is a thorough knowledge of and faith in Christ and all the benefits he gives to his people. He views Christ as the fulfillment and completion of the entire OT and so he goes to great lengths to use the OT to convince these people and us of the infinite worth of Jesus and his superiority over the OT law and all it entails. The only way to not be hardened by sin is to believe that Jesus is and offers a superior pleasure to the pleasures of sin. The only way to not lose heart when you are suffering is to believe that there is no pain that can compare to the infinite worth of Christ and his salvation. Hearing and understanding the gospel is the encouragement we need to persist in being Christians for life. The gospel is the only thing that will give you the power to resist sin and it is the only thing that will enable you to bear with the sufferings of this world. We get the courage to persevere in the face of sin and suffering from the gospel of Jesus alone. Some of you are living in very difficult marriages. Your spouse is very disappointing to you or you have a hard time just getting along with each other. How are you going to keep the promises you made to God at your wedding until the day you die? How will you persevere? You will never make it if you are banking on your spouse changing. You won't make it if you are hoping that a new house or car or a bigger vacation or food or children will deaden or distract you from the pain. The only way you will ever persevere in a difficult marriage is if you are greatly encouraged by the promises of God in the gospel. Some of you are wrestling with some besetting sin. You are bitter because of some personal rejection or you're enslaved to lust or you're overwhelmed by debt due to greed or you struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. You are on the edge of complete despair and perhaps fear that you will be found out, that your life will be destroyed by your sin. How will you overcome this sin and find hope and freedom? It will not be by living as if nothing is wrong. It will not happen if you are banking your hope on some quick fix super spiritual method of getting rich or becoming perfect or escaping temptation. You will only find hope to fight against sin, to be open with your sin and overcome your sin by being greatly encouraged by Christ the Savior of sinners. Many of you know the story of Joni Ereakson-Tada. For 40 years she has been a quadriplegic, confined to a wheelchair, dependent on others to bath her, dress her and feed her. When she was 16 or 17 years old she broke her neck diving into a lake. She immediately went from a healthy, athletic teenager to life lived at first, in an iron lung in a nursing home. She describes quit vividly her anger, despair, bitterness and hatred of God and everyone and everything during those first long months following her accident. She tried to kill herself, which is pretty hard to do when you're a quadriplegic. She refused to talk with anyone. She had been raised in a Christian home and church but prior to her accident she had not taken the gospel seriously. She, like many young people, lived two lives, one for her parents and another for her friends. She had no hope because she had no faith. During the long period of rehabilitation to learn how to live with her disability, one of the pastors of her church was able to convince her to talk with him. Over a period of time, as he patiently visited with her week after week, explaining the gospel, describing the goodness, faithfulness and love of this sovereign God, her heart was broken over her sin, rather than over her injury and she came to faith in Christ. She escaped the hard heart caused by sin's deceitfulness through the gospel. For the last 40 years she has gotten up each day and fixed her eyes on Jesus, "the founder and finisher of her faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame and is now seated at the right hand of God." She has persevered as a faithful Christian and has born witness to the great love of God to tens of thousands of people because she listened to the word of encouragement that is the gospel. It is my prayer that as we consider this letter to the Hebrews together we will be helped to persevere by this same word of encouragement because like these Hebrew Christians we also "have need of endurance so that when we have done the will of God we may receive what was promised." We need the encouragement of the book of Hebrews because…
© Copyright 2006 John Swanson.
|