August 29, 2016

  • Arrive to Worship!

    Hebrews 12

    Good morning, Church! It’s great to see you!  I missed being here!  I just realized it has been five weeks since I shared my prayer request concerning college. Well, I was accepted into Geneva College as a junior.  Geneva is a Christian college located in Beaver Falls and is my dad’s alma mater. This fall I am taking core and elective courses on-line, then in January I will begin taking my major, Christian Community Ministry Leadership classes in Pittsburgh. I should finish my Bachelor’s Degree in Summer 2018.

    Pastor Kendra and I are currently doing a study in Hebrews, which she will also teach next week when she comes to serve you communion. Then when I return the following two weeks in September, I will finish the series with you.

    Today’s text, has so much in it, there is no way within the time constraints of our service we could possibly thoroughly examine itself.  So, like the past two weeks, I have looked for what is there that the Lord has for us here and now that can be applied to us today? So let me set the stage for today’s text.

    While the author of Hebrews is unknown, he tells us that he knew his readers and wanted to see them again and also knew Paul. Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians primarily, as well as the Gentile Christians who had previously been drawn to the Jewish religion, customs and practices sometime in the 60’s before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

    These Hebrew Christians were the persecuted church and most of their persecution was what is known as fratricide, in that it was taking place at the hands of fellow Jews, who often gave them a chance to escape torment and torture if they would recant their faith in Jesus Christ and return to the Jewish religion.

    Further, Hebrews teaches us and reinforces the following truths for not only them, but also us here today at Starford United Methodist Church:

    • Jesus is fully God and fully man (1:1-14, 2:5-18)
    • Jesus, the Son of God, reveals God the Father; the Creator and sustainer of all creation 1:1-14
    • Jesus is the eternal High Priest; as a man he sympathizes with human weaknesses, and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin.
    • Jesus is superior to angels, Moses, covenant, to the earthly tabernacle and to the priesthood
    • All humanity faces eternal judgement for sin
    • Faith is necessary to please God and to participate in His eternal salvation.
    • Faith requires confidence about the unseen realities of God and His promises
    • Such faith produces perseverance
    • Perseverance is necessary in the Christian life, believers are warned against a lack of endurance.
    • God’s promises are trustworthy, including his promise of eternal salvation (6;13-20)
    • With the coming of Jesus Christ, the last days have begun.1:2, 9:9-28
    • They will be completed when He returns (12:22-29)

    How many of you have watched the Olympics over the past two weeks?  Did you know that Foot races were a popular sport in the Greco-Roman world?  Paul used the imagery of races to illustrate the Christian life in his letters to the Church at Corinth and his second letter to Timothy.  As a prelude to our text today, the writer opens Chapter 12 using the imagery of a foot race, encouraging the readers to:

    • Lay aside the things that would hinder them
    • Run with endurance
    • Focus on Jesus
    • Remember the value of the Lord’s discipline
    • Pursue peace and holiness
    • Look diligently, lest we fall short of God’s grace, stumbling due to bitterness, being a fornicator or a profane person

    With that as a backdrop. let’s examine today’s passage.  In verses 18-24, the writer is drawing a contrast between the Old Covenant given to Moses by God at Mt. Sinai and the New Covenant of Grace marked by the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

    In using this contrast, the writer tells us first, where we have NOT come.  In verses 18-21, he tells us, We have NOT come to Mt. Sinai.  Mt. Sinai was a very real place to the. The writer invokes terrifying imagery that would actually be even more terrifying to the Jewish people. Moses trembled with fear. The people feared God. The display of God’s power in the Old Testament often resulted in death and disobedience had consequences.  The imagery here on the envelopment of Sinai is that of a volcano and a hurricane.   And what did the old covenant do?  It pointed us to our sin, and our lost state. The law is the taskmaster and saved no one.  It also pointed to our inability to keep the law and the need for a Savior.  Before going on, we should remind ourselves that the fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom.

    In Verses 22-24, the writer changes direction and now tells us where we HAVE come. “You have come to Mt. Zion”. This phrase draws on extensive OT imagery of a new Zion /Jerusalem.   The author contrasts that now through Christ, we have access to the spiritual realms, into the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore, they participate in worship with innumerable angels and with the great assembly of believers who have died in faith and are already in God’s presence. This is what is often referred to as the “is now and yet to come.

    I don’t know Greek and do not pretend to be an expert in Greek, but I think it is very important that we understand the word used for come in verses 18 and 21.  It is used seven times in Hebrews, and is used in the perfect sense. The word Poserchomai translates out as facing come. When in was used in the Septuagint, it referred to the way a Levite priest would approach God and perform his duties.  Here in Hebrews, this facing come in the perfect tense is interpreted as draw near.

    This is important because it refers to us as believers possessing the privilege of access to God the Father through Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest. In the perfect tense this heavenly possession of Mt. Zion has already been obtained by those who have believed the new covenant and it emphasizes that this heavenly possession is their possession forever. In spirit, or as some refer to as when we worship in spirit and in truth, we are residents of the city already (the is now) , though in body they (we) were strangers and aliens still here on the earth, and therefore, we await on that city that is yet to come”

    Let us briefly look at these positioning passages:

    Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 7:25 Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near (emphasizes continual activity) to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 10:22  let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes (drawn near)to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him Hebrews 12:22 (note) But you have come (drawn near) to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels.

    These are important things for us to note because how can we be grateful for receiving a kingdom that can not be shaken if we do not understand that we have received such a kingdom?

    Today we are being reminded that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus as we run this race of faith and to persevere to the end. And, likewise, we are not to listen to the voices of our old friends who are still immersed in the futile attempt of attempting to live up to Sinai.  Why?

    The writer tells us, our God, who is the same God of the Old Covenant, is coming back and there will be a day of judgment and reckoning and that we need to persevere to the end.

    I told you I was a preachers kid, twice over, if you would, let me share the following in conclusion: My dad had a very good paying  job with International Correspondence School as a proofreader, had a wife and two children when he answered his call to the ministry, starting as a licensed local pastor in the Methodist Church in the 1950’s. He proceeded to preach and finish his degree, then went to PTS, graduating in 1963 with Fred Rogers, whom many of you may fondly remember as Mr. Rogers.

    In the winter of 1969 my dad got very sick, was admitted to the hospital where he spent two weeks and came home looking horrible. He was only home a few days when he had to be rushed back to the hospital, as he was misdiagnosed, and his kidneys were shutting down. Dad never came home. He died three weeks before my brother David’s graduation from HS.  My mother was left widowed with a ten-year-old son and was headed to an area we had never lived before- New Jersey.

    When I read this passage my mind always returns to my mom describing what happened right before dad died, He said. “Lois, don’t you hear the beautiful singing?   Can you see them Lois?  He was at peace, he saw and heard from afar off the cloud of witnesses, and was getting ready to join in the promise to be fulfilled on the other side.” He had run the race, he had endured and he saw his prize before him.  With all the hurt that the loss of a spouse so young can bring, when my mom recounted that scene, she could see Dad though his countenance was at peace in death with the heavenly assembly.

    This is our goal as believers, that whenever it is that we reach the end of our race, especially when it is untimely and unexpected, that we are ready to meet the Lord.  Church, we are not our own. We have been bought with a price. Church, let us cling to this new covenant which was bought and paid for by the shed blood of our Lord, Savior and Mediator of this covenant, Jesus Christ. And as members and partakers of the new covenant, let us realize our position as joint heirs with Him.

    Church, I believe we as Christians have been put here at this particular time and place in redemptive history for a reason, don’t you?  I think all we need to do is look around and we can see that we are in times marked by confusion and desperation.  We as believers are to share the hope that is inside us, our reason for living.   We may not be the Newsboys, but we are good news bearers aren’t we church?

    There is a lost and dying world out there and it is our job to share that hope that is within us

    In this time of desperation When all THE World knows is doubt and fear
    We know that there is only one foundation Let us share what We believe, we believe

    We believe in God the Father   We believe in Jesus Christ
    We believe in the Holy Spirit     And He’s given us new life
    We believe in the Crucifixion     We believe that He conquered death
    We believe in the resurrection    And He’s coming back again
    We believe

    Let us go to the Lord in Prayer