Category Archives: Hebrews

Refreshed

Posted on February 5, 2017 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 6:1 & 2 TLB Let us stop going over the same old ground again and again, always teaching those first lessons about Christ. Let us go on instead to other things and become mature in our understanding, as strong Christians ought to be. Surely we don’t need to speak further about the foolishness of trying to be saved by being good, or about the necessity of faith in God; 2 you don’t need further instruction about baptism and spiritual gifts and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

Remember my last post? God chose some creative phrasing last Sunday to reveal I have a will and it’s not always in line with his. That’s a fact. Duh! Wasn’t that one of those first lessons I thought I’d learned? You bet it was. That was an experience.

I’m thanking God for caring enough to remind me of those two things again. It’s just another example that longevity is only one aspect of our walk with Christ. This passage reminded me of a sermon by one of the wisest Pastors I’ve known; Leonard Anderson of Crossroads Covenant Church in Forest Lake, Minnesota. The basics of his sermon about walking with Christ were this: “We need to live more of what we know, not just learn more.”

It’s lovely when faith is new and you’re so tuned in to God working in you…and on you. You’re content to ride that crest of newfound faith knowing very little more than Christ and Christ alone; your first love. It seems so “complete” but the time does come when you find you do know more. The blessing of spiritual maturity is God bringing together fact and experience to refresh your heart to remember “We need to live more of what we know, not just learn more.”

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“By” Faith

Posted on January 4, 2017 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for…13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.

Oswald Chambers said “Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him.” The mystery of living by faith is how easy it is to forget that.  Sometimes circumstances seem more real than faith

Hebrews 11 is called the “By Faith” chapter. The real life stories of those notable “ancients,” elsewhere in the Bible, tell us the human side of their lives as well. They were not perfect. Their circumstances were very real. Faith was just as mysterious, and the evidence just as elusive, for them as it is for us today and yet they were commended for it. Why?

Twenty one times Hebrews 11 gives us the simple answer to what makes “living by faith” a reality that works even today for our lives. It’s all summed up in that one small preposition, “By.” That little word is the agent of change that makes possible a faith that impacts what we’re able do.  Remembering our most intimate moments with God is what makes living “by faith” something that’s more real than circumstances.  That’s commendable.

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Nourishment

Posted on November 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The image of that sharp, double-edged sword makes being changed by the word of God sound so brutal…and painful. Here’s an idea to consider about how that sword might be working in you as you read.

Have you ever read a familiar part of Scripture and been surprised to find you see something new and meaningful you’d never seen before?

I think that’s the sword at work cutting up the Word of God into smaller, easier-to-digest pieces for you. Thats how it becomes the nourishment needed to reunite your soul and your spirit. That’s complete renewal that penetrates your bones, your heart and your mind.  That’s God’s Plan Be.

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The Lesson of Irony

Posted on June 5, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 9:28 BibleGateway Verse of the Day [VOD]
…so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

I said to myself “I’ll just take it easy and let BibleGateway tell me what to read and write about for a while using their daily verse as a starting point.” I’d worked through Hebrews. I’d found inspiration in some places but struggled for days in others to write down what I thought I was being taught; sometimes right up to the last minute before posting to this blog. Hebrews was a challenge to my “little gray cells.” I’d finished it up and couldn’t wait to get to something easier.

Surprise! Look what that very first VOD was! I couldn’t help but think irony must one of God’s tools. My hours of thinking and writing are important but not as important as this one verse from that book I’d declared “finished.” That Lesson of Irony was my reminder that God determines “finished,” not me. Got it!

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The Church of the Firstborn

Posted on June 1, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 12
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The Church of the Firstborn
I started this journey through Hebrews knowing it was new territory with less traveled roads to explore. I’ve been kind of like a tourist who’s hit the high spots and I’m ready to leave.

I was hoping for a quick recap but there’s something here I don’t want to miss before I leave. I want to be a part of the “joyful assembly” of  The Church of the Firstborn where:
• Birth order is trumped by born again and firstborn is now my birth right.
• Jesus speaks a better word on my behalf than any sacrifice I could make.
• My name is written in heaven.

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God’s Own Faith

Posted on May 29, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 11
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for…
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

On Faith:
Verses 2 & 39 • Com·mended – entrusted someone [with] or something to.

It’s obvious to us that faith is an indication of our trust in God. That’s our confidence and assurance but these verses tell us that long ago “God had planned something better” that includes us today. These “by faith” verses are the record of those ancients’ faith that God had entrusted/commended them with. Our faith today’s is the same: God’s Own Faith entrusted to us so we can understand:
V3 the mystery of creation
V4 the choice of our offerings to him
V7 how to build our obedience
V8 he is there in unfamiliar circumstances
V17 testing is sometimes the sacrifice
V20 that he can redeem deceit
V22 the need to remember his history
V24 we have our identity in him
V31 we can live beyond the past

That’s “perfect.”

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Making a Connection

Posted on May 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 10
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Thoughts:
The first thing that came to my mind when I read “not giving up meeting together” was Sunday School. I’m not talking about “school” where you sit and someone tells you what you’re supposed to know. I’m talking about a Sunday place where we actually have the opportunity to “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” It’s easy for us to see the value of Sunday School for children but for many adult believers, Sunday school is not on their radar. That’s a missed opportunity.

The success story of a recent adult Sunday school class became these words of Jesus; “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” What was it we were supposed to deny ourself of? Was taking up that cross only about personal sacrifice or did it include the burden of personal flaws as well? Was that cross meant to just be a discipline or was it something that connected us to Christ and each other?

One woman shared her personal experience of learning from Christ what it was like to take up her cross and follow him. She pleaded with him to take her cross and he did, because it was too big and heavy. She chose a much smaller cross instead and for a while that seemed good. After a time though, that cross started to feel too big and heavy too, just as the original one had. She went to Christ once more and he agreed to let her leave that heavy cross with him again and choose the smaller one again. That was when Jesus spoke this truth to her; the cross that seemed so small to her…now…was the original one she’d left with him before. Think about that.

That Sunday school discussion went beyond agreement to become a lesson in faith. Christ is ready to help us deal with our cross, over and over again. That’s “the full assurance that faith brings…for he who promised is faithful.”

That kind of Sunday school is where one person’s faith can add insight that encourages your own. That’s growth.

That kind of Sunday school is about the opportunity to give the depth of personal experience with Christ a face other than your own. That’s intimacy.

That kind of Sunday school is Making a Connection with Christ and other believers.

Oh, and there’s donuts and coffee too! Hope to see you there this Sunday.

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Simplicity and Complexity

Posted on May 22, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 10
1. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship…8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Thoughts:
The challenge of so many words of simple truth repeated in slightly different ways made this chapter seem complicated to me. I finally had to re-read these 14 verses in the light of a 3-point philosophy of writing I learned way back in junior high. My “aha” moment came when I realized that Simplicity and Complexity have to coexist in the life of a believer.

1 – Tell them what you’re going to tell them:
• “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—…”
2 – Tell them what you want to tell them:
• “…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
3 – Tell them what you’ve told them:
• “For by one sacrifice he [Christ] has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

There’s more to these words than just reading and agreeing. The simple part is the truth that “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The complex part is recognizing that within us the deep and mysterious truth of “once and for all” and “made perfect forever” coexists with the reality of our life; we are still “being made holy.”

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A New System

Posted on May 18, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 9
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Thoughts:
That one phrase “the good things that are now already here” reminded me of the “beginning” in Genesis when God repeatedly used that word “good” to describe his creation. Then he turned it over to mankind to manage and maintain.

The priestly system had seemed so reasonable and efficient but turned out to be not good enough. Our value to God is so much more than what “this creation” [us], can come up with to manage and maintain what God has created. There’s A New System that does not confuse ritual with redemption.

“But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here…” [us], he brought us relief from the confusion of whether our value to God is in ritual that makes us “outwardly clean” or redemption, through him, that can “cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death.” We no longer have to depend on the ability of creation to fix itself!

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Open Concept Faith

Posted on May 15, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 9
1-2 Now in that first agreement between God and his people there were rules for worship and there was a sacred tent down here on earth. Inside this place of worship there were two rooms…this part was called the Holy Place. 3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies…6 Well, when all was ready, the priests went in and out of the first room whenever they wanted to, doing their work. 7 But only the high priest went into the inner room, and then only once a year, all alone with blood that he sprinkled on the mercy seat as an offering to God to cover his own mistakes and sins and the mistakes and sins of all the people…9 This has an important lesson for us today…The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God’s new and better way.

Sunday Thoughts:
The design and function of this place of worship, this “sacred tent down here on earth” is more than a description of a place, it’s a picture of us. God certainly had us pegged didn’t he? This earthly-body place of worship has those same two rooms; an outer one and an inner one.

That first system was comfortable, most of the time. The outer room, a Holy place, was maintained to make sure it was possible to get to that inner room with it’s limited access. The inner room was the place where “mistakes and sins” could be dealt with by the right person at the right time and “all alone.”

Faith compartmentalized like that is comfortable for us. We do have a place we can manage the maintenance of that Holy outer room. We call it church. We have someone we call pastor or priest we can depend on doing their best work to make us acceptable to God. But there’s still that curtained-off room where Holy is actually changed into Holiness.

“This has an important lesson for us today.” There is no more need for separate rooms to “tide us over.” No more mere maintenance waiting for the right time to come. No more limited access. No more “all alone.” “Christ came with God’s new and better way,” Open Concept Faith.

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