Hebrews: Higher Standards – Less Sin
Wise Up
2/24/08
When it comes to the subject of growing up there are a ton of different opinions as to what it means and who has arrived. And apparently when it comes to rules there are a lot of kids who don’t want any or at least they don’t want mom and dad making them.
The reality is that God has given parents the responsibility of raising their children to maturity which is defined in Hebrews 5 as being able to make consistently good decisions, or more precisely, the ability to distinguish good from evil and then to live accordingly.
Unfortunately, immaturity does not recognize its lack of experience… which leads us into a lot of conflict with immature people. Children simply don’t know what they don’t know. We who are further along on the growth curve have learned through experience many lessons that they simply don’t have a clue about.
When my eldest daughter got her drivers license it wasn’t too long until she thought she was an expert driver and master of the road. She went from tentatively driving down our street to confidently one handing her way through Dayton rush hour traffic in less than six months.
One day with me in the passenger seat she took off around a corner, spun the tires and threw gravel into the weeds. I said, Hey, take it easy – you’re not as good a driver as you think.” She kinda blew me off with an “O’ Dad” and a sigh.
The very next day I got a phone call from a man who started the conversation with the words, “Your daughter is ok but she has been in an accident – you need to come right away.” It seems that Shannon had caught the edge of the roadway on a slick and icy day. She spun the car (not just the tires) into a telephone pole, put a nice crease in the side of the car and knocked out the power to the Beavercreek police station.
I knew more than she did – but she didn’t know what she didn’t know.
So what do we do? We warn our kids. We make rules. We keep tabs on where they are, what they are doing, and who they are with. Is it a lack of trust? No, it is not a lack of trust as much as it a knowledge of things that can happen in a world that is capable of biting and destroying quickly and without prejudice.
Last Sunday we looked at the first few verses of Hebrews 6 where the author gave a severe warning urging all who follow Jesus to stay firm in their faith and to persevere in his ways. He warned us to not allow our hearts to harden against God and his word after having turned to him but to stay close Jesus.
Is it a lack of trust that is being displayed here? No. It is simply an understanding of the dangers that immature followers of Jesus lack. But it is at this point that something very important happens. After the warning comes a statement of quiet confidence in you. The author of Hebrews begins the sixth chapter with a warning but concludes with a confidence and hope that the reader – today that is you and I – will become a master at living.
Becoming a Master at Living
9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation.
Hebrews 6:9
I want you to note the sudden shift in tone which has gone from a stern warning to an encouraging statement of confidence. Now, instead of the “in your face” consern of the past few verses he suddenly stops, puts his arm around you and draws you close to say that more warnings are not needed because you are different.
Unlike all the others, you are growing into a confident spiritual maturity. You aren’t like the others in the world that bounce like pin balls in an arcade machine from post to bumper to spinners and thumpers only to be lost down the center hole after scoring a few measly points. You are not like them at all!
Are you acquainted with a game called “Guitar Hero”? I’m amazed at how many kids have played this game and become masters at it. Here the author is saying that you’re different than all these others. You are becoming a master of the game called life.
So let me ask you a very important question. This is critically important. Are you ready? Here it is…
Are you different?
Does the author speak here of you? Are you really becoming a master at living? Are you maturing into a man of God? Are you becoming a woman of God? Where ever you are on the scale of maturity you can become more mature and you can be the person that the author of Hebrews is envisioning.
So let me ask a second question. So what makes it possible to be different? The last half of the sixth chapter of Hebrews identifies two critical factors. The first is directly connected to what God is.
God’s Nature
10 God is not unjust…
Hebrews 6:10-12
God is above all other things – just. He is fair. Life isn’t but God is. Eventually all that is unjust in this world will be made right in the next.
You won’t be forgotten.
I’m told that a missionary coming home from Africa arrived in NYC and embarked from the same boat on the same day as Teddy Roosevelt when he came home from one of his safaris. As Teddy stepped from the boat there was a brass band, a limo, and a host of important personalities including the mayor of the city. For the missionary and his wife there was no one. No band. No limo. No entourage of celebrities and important people.
Teddy left the pier to be taken to the Waldorf-Astoria where he enjoyed a round of banquets and a night of parties celebrating his return from Africa. The missionary left the pier and after a quick taxi ride found a cheap flat to rent. Teddy had spent a few weeks shooting lions and rhinos. The missionary had spent a few decades telling lost people about Jesus and helping them build new and rich lives.
Now I ask you, Is this life fair? No it is not. But God is, and I know that this missionary ultimately received everything that was fair and just because God is not unjust.
If you are spending any of your time on this earth chasing after justice and reward here in this world and in this time – you are in for a great disappointment. If you get fairness and justice here… you will find that it does not bring contentment and you’ll grow weary and bitter about life. If you fail to obtain what is fair and just… you will never be satisfied and you’ll grow weary and bitter about life.
Do you get the idea… it’s not about justice and rewards – here and now. God’s perspective is vastly larger than ours. We are limited by time and space; history and culture; the finite and temporary. God’s world is not confined by a cradle at the beginning and a casket at the end.
If you know that – I mean really know it – it changes the way you live. Knowledge changes practice. So what does it change? The text reveals two characteristics of change.
God’s Love Language: Service
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.
Hebrews 6:10-12
In marriage according to Gary Chapman there are five love languages; Words of Affirmation; Quality Time; Receiving Gifts; Physical Touch; and Acts of Service. These are the language of love with God as well. After all he invented love. It was his idea and he created us to share it with him.
Now notice the language of love here in this verse – acts of service. We display our love of God through our service to others. Serving others is one of God’s love languages.
Two weeks ago the staff and elders went to a retreat center to focus on our vision for ministry at MCC.
In case you are not aware – we’re building our very first ministry center. The walls are going up right now at 2600 Bennett Road, just a few hundred yards from this location. This building is going to change our opportunities for ministry in this community in a lot of ways – some we can anticipate and some we can’t.
We prayed and talked about what MCC could look like in 2018 – sounds like a long ways off – but that is only 10 years. As we dreamed and shared a description of the church began to develop. We reduced this to a simple statement that I’d like to share with your this morning: Meridian Christian Church will become “A Dynamic Community of Purpose Driven Jesus People. A praying, worshiping, revolutionary, team powered, family of contributors who are Jesus followers with great stories of transformation
Did you notice the word, “contributors”? One of the greatest challenges of the American church today is that we have become a body of consumers rather than a family of contributors. This represents a level of maturity that is not seen in every person and in every place. It involves the continuous process teaching people to become servants instead of catering to their constant demands for satisfying their nonstop needs. We’re talking about growing real spiritually mature adults out of baby Christians…
Do you think you are mature… I ask you a simple question. Are you part of the consuming culture or are you contributing in service to others and displaying your love of God by serving others?
Do you want to become spiritually mature – you know where to start.
I call you today to a life of service
God’s Love Language: Diligence
11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Hebrews 6:10-12
There is a second sign. It’s very simple – diligence. Maturity calls for diligence to the very end. That is, staying with it to the very conclusion of things and never ever quitting. Simple – but at times incredibly difficult.
Think about it for a minute. I have come to the conclusion that a major percentage of what we call maturity is wrapped up in just finishing the task. How many times did you start something as a kid that you never finished? Maybe you started something that looked like fun but you discovered what just plain hard work – so you bailed – and as a result you never got anywhere.
When I was a kid about 11 years old I started a business with a friend mowing lawns for $.50 each. I used my dad’s mower and his gas and got my first job mowing a vacant lot next to a gas station. The grass was two feet high and it was a hot day in the middle of August. I finished the job, collected my two quarters and decided not to become a landscaper. My friend collected his two quarters and decided to not buy into any more of my great ideas to make money. The final result – one poorly mowed lawn, two tired lawn mowers, and four quarters – nothing more. Oh, we finished the immediate task and showed a little maturity. At least we didn’t quit half-way through the project but we never followed through on the vision and never achieved what might have been – the Stacy McCool Landscaping Company of Kalkaska Michigan with major accounts all over the city and lots of employees that did all the mowing.
To grow in maturity takes not only vision – but also diligence. Hard work over a long time.
For Meridian Christian Church there is a vision but there must also be a diligence displayed in our lives to the task at hand. We’ve started to plow the field but there is much more to be done. It’s hard – harder than it looks and we grow weary at the work, its complexity, and its never ending quality – but it is ours to do – if we will do it.
The construction of this building is not the end goal for MCC. The construction of this building is but one step toward a radical and transformative ministry in our community. It is the preparation of a tool to be used to change people’s lives for eternity. That is not going to happen without – diligence.
I call you today to life of diligence
Standing on God’s Word
13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
Hebrews 6:13-17
All of this is predicated upon the Word of God.
What it all comes down to is that your faith and patience is rooted in the promise of God.
The author of Hebrews makes it very clear that God made a promise and gave his oath that what he said he would do he would do.
When you were a kid, did you ever make you a promise and then say, “Cross my heart and hope to die… stick a needle in my eye…” Now, when I was a kid – that was a serious oath! Or maybe you made a “pinkie promise.” Or, you made a promise to do something and then swore on your mother’s grave – which is an oath that I’m not really sure what it exactly means… Do I have to kill my mother if I break my promise or does she just die on her own as kind of a spiritual vengeance? – it does make a difference you know. Or maybe you would make a deal and then spit in your hand before you sealed it with a handshake. It’s kinda gross but I think that’s part of the point.
Listen, there is a progression in life that leads from Promise to Blessing. You see this progression throughout the Bible and observe it in all of life.
First there is a promise. An agreement is reached involving two parties. Someone is the giver and someone is the receiver. Some one is to be the blessee and some one else to be the blessor. In the case of marriage you see a double promise and the hope of blessing flowing both ways.
After the promise comes the Vow. There a moment that the agreement is confirmed. The pinkie promise is not really made until the pinkies are linked – that ‘s just the way it works.
After the vow comes the period during which the promise is kept – life happens. Here is where the diligence takes place. Here is where the faith and patience happens. Here is where the issues of the fulfillment of the promise are lived out – day after day until the time is complete and we come to the final moment when the blessing is reached.
The Blessing
Do you remember the story of Noah. God made him a promise of a flood and his family’s salvation. He told him to build an ark. The days that Noah spent on this earth building a 450 ft ocean liner out of wood to house thousands of animals took service, diligence, and patience. But eventually in the fullness of time the waters came out of the sky and the blessing of salvation was obtained through the promise.
Do you remember the story of Moses and the people of Israel. God made them a promise. If you will follow my laws and my ways I will bring you to a land of milk and honey – the promised land. They walked to the edge of the Jordan and because they lacked the service, diligence and the patience they fell back and wandered for 40 years in the wilderness of life but eventually – in the fullness of time the obtained the blessing of the promised land.
Do you remember your story? God made you a promise. If you will put your faith in my son and follow him all the days of your life I will prepare a place for you in heaven. You will enjoy with me all the wonders of eternity. Today you walk in the wilderness of life and with service and diligence as you patiently wait on God you will receive the blessings of the promise!
Standing on the Promises of God
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Numbers 23:19
Standing on the Promises
Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I shall not fall,
List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call.
Resting in my Savior as my All in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
Seizing Hold of Hope
18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.
19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:19-20
In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her friends, the lion and the tin man, all followed the yellow brick road to find the Wizard – only to discover that there was no wizard at all – only a lonely old man hiding behind the curtain pulling levers and making noisy promises.
We who follow after Jesus, whether an innocent child, a fearful follower or a callous cynic; do not seek a wizard but a savior. Our road is rough and the way is narrow but behind the veil in the inner sanctuary is our Lord Jesus. Our hope is sure. Our future secure and our confidence is untouchable.
I call you to the sure hope we have in Jesus
