Sermon 61
Sermon by John Mash at Wonersh on 21st January 2007
HEBREWS 12
BibleGateway.com
- Passage Lookup: Hebrews12;
Introduction
Well, we’re nearly at the end of a long and weighty series
of talks on Hebrews. Keith spoke last
time on Hebrews 11, a wonderful catalogue of men and women of the past who had
a firm faith, and who lived their lives according to it – a great cloud of
witnesses to the truth of everything the writer is asserting about God and his
son Jesus Christ. Now we come to ch12,
which you may like to turn to.
If you study me closely, you may not think that I was a very
fast runner in my youth. And you would
be right. Cross-country runs were a sort
of purgatory for me, and I used to limp in as an also ran. A bit like my Christian life, if I am honest
– quite often limping, a bit of an also ran.
So it is with a sort of wistfulness that I come to this chapter, much of
which is using the imagery of a long distance race. Let’s look at it. The chapter falls into two halves, the first
of which was read to us so well by Nansi.
Verses 1 – 13
The theme of these verses is: OK, you now know all about the heroes of the
faith: now you must embrace that faith,
and apply it to your lives. And it will
be difficult. A stern message at first
sight. Then the writer develops his
theme by making three points:
1.
It will not be easy
v 4 there will be a struggle against
sin; v 7: there will be hardship; v11:
you will meet with pain. Does
that ring a bell with you? I don’t think
that he is talking here about bereavement, or illness or natural disasters and
wars and all the things we regularly pray about in the intercessions. No he is being very specific: the very practice of our faith is going to
bring about opposition, perhaps persecution, maybe even death. It is like that long-distance race, like the
2.
God loves us through it all
vv 5 – 6: do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves;
v 11: God disciplines us for our
good, that we may share in his holiness.
There is a divine purpose in the hardships we sometimes have to bear,
and the writer draws the comparison with our human fathers. Of course fathers are not allowed to lay a
finger on children these days, and as a result they are more respectful, more
polite, tidier, more unselfish and hardworking.
Or are they? But I won’t go down
that road today. No, God has all the
attributes of a sometime stern, but always loving father. It’s easy to see God loves us when we are
happy and clappy in our faith, and that is right and proper, and it is easy to
love him. But can we see the same loving
God through our hardships and struggles, and can we still love him then? God loves us through all the times of
hardship, and is sanctifying us through them.
3.
God empowers us through it all
v2 (one of the greatest verses in
the whole of scripture). Let us fix our
eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith; v3:
consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you
will not grow weary and lose heart. Do
you remember the story of Jesus walking on the water during a storm at sea when
the disciples were cowering in the boat.
Peter – who else? – stepped out on to the waves and looking steadfastly
at Jesus walked to meet him. But as soon
as he took his eyes off Jesus he began to sink.
That is so like me, I have to confess.
It is when I take my eyes off Jesus that I start to sink. Is there anyone here who never undergoes that
sort of experience? I have to be careful
here, unlike the preacher who was preaching on holiness, and asked “Hands up,
anyone who is perfect”. After quite a
long pause a man near the back raised his hand.
“Ah, so you think you’re perfect”.
“No,” was the reply, “I’m speaking on behalf of my wife’s first
husband.” But still I ask: Hands up those who never sink. We need to keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus
– it is he who empowers us to live the Christian life day by day, through his
Holy Spirit.
Now let’s turn to the second half of
the chapter, vv 14 – 28. Here the theme
is a simple one: if you’ve read thus
far, the writer is telling the Hebrews, you will now know that you have direct
access to God – not through your priests and sacrifices in the temple – but
through the one high priest and one sacrifice that is Jesus. And you refuse to access him at your peril. Let’s unpack this a little.
1.
Don’t let anything prevent you from
coming close to God – vv14-17
v 15: see to it that no one misses the grace of
God: don’t miss out through lack of
peace with fellows, or lack of holiness, or sexual immorality, or just
belittling what God has to offer, as Esau did when he sold his birthright. This is all very modern, and applicable to us
these days: how easily we can miss out
on God’s blessing if we are angry or vengeful against someone. Or if we are too worldly, and put the pursuit
of money and good living ahead of spiritual things. Or if we are swept up in the current of
sexual promiscuity and easy morality that is prevalent in our society. This might have been written 2000 years ago,
but isn’t it relevant? It’s because
human nature doesn’t change. Why are
Shakespeare’s great tragedies immortal?
Because they deal with basic ongoing human faults: MacBeth – ambition; Hamlet – revenge; Othello – sexual jealousy; King Lear –
dysfunctional family. It’s all here in
chapter 12.
2.
You have easier access to God under
the new covenant – vv18–24
The writer uses very strong images
of literal doom and gloom involved in approaching God in the Old
Testament: a mountain burning with fire,
a tremendous trumpet blast, a voice so terrible that
you begged it to stop, a holiness so intense that even innocent animals were to
be killed if they approached too near. No wonder the presence of God made Moses
tremble.
What a different picture is painted
in vv 22 – 24. There is so much joy in
these verses, worth reading aloud: “But you have come to
We must not refuse this offer of access to God – vv 25 – 28
There is a lot of talk today about
universalism, that all will be saved whatever their belief or lack of it. I’m not going down that road, because it is
not relevant to us. For we have
heard the good news of the Gospel, we know we have access to God through Jesus
Christ. And these final verses carry a
stark warning to those who have heard and do not respond. There’s not time to elaborate on this – it’s
all there for you to read; again, we
must not ignore, in our easy-going modern society, relaxed in its attitude to
morality, the holiness and uncompromising nature of our God; and rejection of
him will bring its own consequences.
So let’s recap on Chapter 12: part 1 tells us that we can expect to meet
with hardship in our Christian pilgrimage;
but that God loves us through all the hard times, and empowers us in the
storms if we keep our eyes on him. Part
2 tells us that we have a much easier access to our holy God than under the old
covenant, that we must not miss out on the grace of God; and above all, we must not refuse his offer
of accepting us into his presence. You
may have wondered why I missed out v 28.
Well, here it is now: a lovely
finale to this rich chapter: “therefore,
since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and
so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
Amen to that.