WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN
Hebrews chapter 12 AND VERSE 15 SAYS - SEE TO IT THAT NO ONE MISSES THE GRACE OF GOD AND THAT NO BITTER ROOT GROWS UP TO CAUSE TROUBLE AND DEFILE MANY.
The last few Sundays we have looked at a number of themes in Hebrews.
1FAith - courage - endurance. checking our foundations
This morning I would like to talk about validating God’s Grace.
Now validating is a pretty big word - in relation to purchasing stuff I take my bankcard along to the service station - I punch in some numbers and the eft-pos machine validates my purchase - the word Accepted is displayed in capital letters on the device.
If there isn’t enough money the sign simply says transaction declined. Also without any electronics my face turns red.
Another way of saying this is WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN
Hebrews chapter 12 AND VERSE 15 SAYS - SEE TO IT THAT NO ONE MISSES THE GRACE OF GOD AND THAT NO BITTER ROOT GROWS UP TO CAUSE TROUBLE AND DEFILE MANY.
The first three words "See to it" suggest to me that this is something that we as a church should attend to..
Lindsay Rogers was a surgeon with the Yugoslav Partisans during world war 2.
They very quickly learned that it was not enough to save their wounded soldiers. Because the enemy was all around they had to conceal their cottage hospitals up in the forests in half burried cottages down deep tree lined gullies.
The Yugoslavs saw to it that every soldier who had been saved - stayed saved and they were alert to the dangers that were there for the wounded.
As Christians we too have this incredible responsibility to see to it that people do not lose their grace as individuals we are responsible for our own walk with God and our behaviour towards others. Christianity is not a game - our enemy the devil does not use paintballs he uses live amunition and seeks our destruction.
In the passages that follow these words in Hebrews we are warned about some real dangers to our salvation and provided with some wonderful hiding places where we are provided with safe places from all that would rob us of our salvation.
We start off by doing some serious thinking about Grace:- Many many Christians have a very vague and slippery understanding of Grace. Because grace is so foundational to our whole christian life this is a problem.
In Hebrews chapter 12 we are told that we have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire to darkness, gloom and storm - Here the author is referring to the time when Israel came to the mountain in the Desert of Sinai and encountered God in a n awesome experience. in that environment amid a cloud - with thunder and lightening the people of Israel encountered God and in that environment he handed them the law. But here we are told we have not come to that mountain - amazing though that is and just as well too because when you read the subsequent history of israel they continually fail to obey the law in fact they stray far from it. in the end they are almost completely destroyed as God punishes them for their abject failures.
As it says at the end of chapter 12 - "For our God is a consuming fire."
it is only as we understand the terrifying natural results of our failures that we come to appreciate the earnestness contained in the words that say - See to it that no one misses the grace of God -
But says Hebrews we haven’t come to that mountain - we have come to a far more blessed place - we have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. you have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to Fod, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blod that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Abel was a man who made a sacrifice to God - But Jesus was God who made a sacrifice on our behalf.
Jesus is the mediator - he died for our sins. I am continually amazed to see how many people go back to the mountain that can be touched - although they know about grace they say that in some way they still have to earn their salvation - many times I have people say - I am not good enough for God - but the truth is that is why God sent Jesus because it is by Grace you have been saved by faith. God was in Christ says Paul reconciling the world to himself. When we read in Hebrews "See to it that no-one misses the Grace of God " we are not reading about an encouragement not to miss some optional extra like sugar in your coffee or mushrooms on your stake - this is the steak itself! Without Grace we are completely lost - Mention the word "grace" and what immediately comes to mind for most of us is a bagpipe wailing the solemn notes of "Amazing Grace." But it is much more than that - We need to discover and rediscover what Phillip Yancey says in his book - What’s so amazing about grace and hold on to it with all that we are for it is our life preserver in the torrid secular sea through which we will survive if we but cling to Christ and his cross. it is the starting and finishing point in our relationship with God.
Just as a nuclear technician would not dream of touching radiation emitting metals without the safety of those gloves reaching into special chambers so we cannot dream of facing a Holy God
who is also a consuming fire unless we are immersed in God’s forgiveness.
As well as this theme of grace there are other important threads that are knitted through Hebrews 12 and thirteen as well. The first one is our relationships with others:- .
This happens at three levels
On a number of occasions throughout this passage we are urged to live in correct relationship with one another.
The opening passage says - Make every effort to live in peace with all men - - - -
As well as making sure that we have got it right about grace the writer of Hebrews goes to some length to ensure that we’ve got it right with each other
Make every effort to live in peace with all men -
If it was some men or woman the whole thing would be dead easy but it says all men.
The importance of our relationship with others is highlighted in Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 - 22
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ’Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement. but I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement. Again anyone who says to his brother, Raca (An Aramaic term of contempt.) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, "You fool!" will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Doesn’t that passage alone suggest that we should be very careful in how we talk about each other and how we relate to each other. It is a very dangerous thing before God to curse another person or to be offensive towards them. Jesus says to call another a fool is to run the danger of ending up in the fire of hell and he doesn’t qualify that by talking about any offence another may have committed against the other person.
We read in Hebrews this morning - "See to it that no-one misses the grace of God."
A second way of missing out on God’s grace is holding our grace back from others - both christian and non christian. - "live in peace with all men" says Hebrews.
The writer to Hebrews picks up this theme again at the beginning of chapter 13 Keep on loving each other as brothers. here there is a call to love each other as family members - even when it hurts we are to do that. In every family that can be difficult - But then it picks up another theme - Do not forget to entertain strangers - Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners
God calls us to an incredible relationship with the outside world to love those who it is not reasonable to love - to love even when there is nothing in it for us or even danger and great cost -
Corrie ten Boom during world war two in Holland was asked by a shifty eyed man at her door for money to secure his jewish wives release from prison - her agreement to do this led to her arrest but she dared not other than love those who came to her door. This is an incredible love that we are called to:- Jesus sums up that kind of love in the words - love one another as I have loved you.
In order to quantify that love you need to think how he continued to love Peter after he had turned his back on him during his trial - you need to understand how his patience was stretched by his disciples arguing over who was the greatest.
Yet despite all of that Jesus continued to love his disciples with a love that took him to the cross - for them.
Here we are called to keep on loving each other as family members.
this should call us to love each other with an incredible love.
Sometimes Christians are able to define that love best when the brother or sister are powerless and have little to offer.
Recently I encountered two Christian friends from years ago in the secure unit in the home where my Mother lives. One is severely crippled from a series of strokes and the other is adversely affected by dementia - at what point did the scriptures instruct us to stop loving these people?
The answer is no point.
There are a great number of different brothers and sisters that we have in Christ Jesus calls us to keep on loving them!!!!!!!!!!
The expression of our love for others seems to be incredibly linked to God’s grace towards us.
Then in verse 17 of Hebrews 13 we are introduced to another level of relationship - Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.
Obviously this is incredibly important in the church and no church will prosper where you have people constantly complaining about it’s leadership - I remember being in a church some years ago and receiving a terrible shock when I received a phone call by a church member who was trying to rally up support against a particular minister a man whom I admired greatly I firmly told him that I certainly was not prepared to complain about the man but would support him - it says in Hebrews 13 that we do this so that their work will be a joy and not a burden.
I think in a society that says challenge everything we need to take real care in this matter and we need to be careful that fancy footwork in our mind may not justify some of our wrong actions
None of this of course excuses leaders from their call and God lays down very clear lines for leaders:- .
The third area that emerges about relationships in in the area of morality.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 again - Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy. verse 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Essau - - -
and n Chapter 13 verse 4 Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Deep intimacy between a man and woman is wonderful expressed in the right context.
Imagine a parent coming home and meeting a child at the door who said Daddy the fire is going really well in the fireplace and the lounge is nice and warm. You would say fine - that’s great.
A friend of ours once told us of her son who came to her for the second time in a few minutes and asked for a glass of water - she said to her son "You must be really thirsty." "Oh no Mummy he replied - the couch is on fire." What!!!! panic - destruction - Why?
Because the fire is in the wrong place - in one place it was a place of warmth in another it was a source of destruction - it is the same with relationships - In marriage God blesses all who live in relationship to with the warmth of God’s love and order - there is no promise of such a blessing outside of it.
Moving on from relationships Hebrews 13 Offers further warnings like - Keeping free from the love of money to be content with what we have.
Why does he go to all this trouble to give these warnings?
In verse 15 of chapter 12 we find the answer -
See to it that no one misses the grace of God.
All of these things have the ability to take us away from the grace of God.
All of them have particular traps and temptations for us.
What can we do?
A simple answer would be to live within the boundaries that God has put in place for us. But there are other things we can do.
In John’s gospel chapter 1 and verse 17 it says grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
If we want to retain God’s grace then we could do no better than to fix our eyes on the source of that grace - In Hebrews 12 verse 2 we read -
What does that mean?
It means that Jesus is our model - we live our lives as he lived - we love as he loved we care as he cared.
Can I share with you a reflection:-
Perhaps you feel that your feeble attempts
to live and love as Jesus loved
are just that - feeble attempts
at love - but gone awry,
But think again your despair is but
an illusion - does not the child
of the craftsman in their
youthful effort to shape in
wood or some other material
produce just a distant echo
of the parents mastery.
But look on the craftsmans face
as his earnest child produces his
best effort - a distant shadow of
the craftsmans finely tuned skills.
The craftsmans face breaks into a smile
in living joy - for what he sees is
not failure or some plan gone
sadly wrong - no rather he
sees the shape of the childs future
in what would otherwise be a
discarded work. He sees that the
child is trying to be like him and
his heart beats faster in future
anticipation of what the child will
be because he walks the path
that leads to the craftsmans heart.
As you fix the needle of the compass of your life to due north towards Jesus and whereever you walk you keep it there - be assured that your life will gradually but surely be shaped more and more into an image of the kind of life he always wanted you to live.
Be assured that that simple as it may sound is a good way of seeing to it that you do not miss out on the grace of God.
Jgullick@xtra.co.nz
Feel free to write.
