Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-085 (Expository Sermon)

PURSUE THE VISION, KEEP THE FAITH (Hebrews 3:7-19)

by Rod Benson

In Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado describes working in his greenhouse: taking seeds he finds, potting them and watching them grow. He reflects that dandelions, clover and crab grass were among his greatest successes. “People ask me why I don’t grow flowers,” he says, “but I find growing weeds easier.”

Lucado suggests our hearts are like his greenhouse, and our minds the door. His challenge is so simple: what seeds do we allow to grow in our lives?

The biblical principle is clear: what I sow I will reap. Am I cultivating weeds or flowers? Am I living for the glory of God, and bearing fruit that will last, or am I self-seeking, careless and in danger of falling into unrighteous, unresponsive and unbelieving modes of living?

REAP WHAT YOU SOW

It’s easy to go with the flow, but the further the current takes you, the further from God you are, and the harder it is to repair the damage. Saying an initial “Yes” to God often takes courage but little effort; living as a dedicated Christ-follower takes courage, effort, discipline and vigilance.

It seems to me that the Christians to whom this letter was addressed clearly understood the tensions and temptations, the trials and conflict, that confront those who seek to honour their Lord and live by the values of the kingdom of God.

Why does the author so frequently raise the issue of disobedience, unbelief and falling away unless there is a very real danger that his readers will encounter precisely those obstacles to faith and victory?

We discovered last week the encouraging truth of chapter 3:1-6a, where the author draws attention to Christ as the Son over God’s house, and as “the apostle and high priest whom we confess.”

Then, at the end of verse 6 we find the dual truths of assurance and endurance: our place in God’s family is assured, but must be accompanied by fidelity and perseverance. In verses 7-19 the author looks back into the shared history of the Jewish people and compares the experience of ancient Israel with that of the present- day church.

He begins by quoting Psalm 95:7-11. Notice the present tense in verse 7: “So, as the Holy Spirit says . . . ” Here is affirmation that “prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

But there is more: the phrase also affirms that the Holy Spirit continues to speak today through those same words, ideas and images. The witness of ancient scripture is also a present-day witness, possessing immediate relevance and demanding uncompromised response by the people of God today.

DANGERS ON THE ROAD AHEAD

In verses 12-15 the author applies the Old Testament quotation to the need of the moment, and to Christians in every generation including our own. He brings a strong warning (the second of five warnings in his letter): don’t cultivate or tolerate an unbelieving heart; don’t be hardened by sin, however well it is camouflaged, and however palatable it appears to your ‘flesh.’ Call sin “sin,” and look on it the way God looks on it – as destructive poison.

Pursue the original vision God gave you when you first believed, live for an audience of one, keep the faith, and you will discover rest and reward as the hope of the gospel springs to life in your heart and becomes a personal reality.

Verses 16-18 pose three parallel questions relating to Israel’s experience in the desert, the first two answered in the form of supplementary questions and the third answered within the question itself. Each question refers to a passage in Psalm 95, with the responses relating directly to passages in Numbers 14 (16a – Psalm 95:7f; 16b – Numbers 14:13, 19, 22; 17a – Psalm 95:10; 17b – Numbers 14:10, 29, 32; 18a – Psalm 95:11; 18b – Numbers 14:30, 33, 43).

Just as Israel sinned against God and refused to obey him, and God responded in wrath, barring them from entering the promised land of Canaan (their “rest”), so God deals with people in any generation or location. This theme, and how he deals with those who are obedient, is developed in chapter four.

We have seen how the passage fits together; let’s take a closer look at verses 12-14. The recipients were encountering a crisis of faith and a failure of nerve: they were confused and afraid, and in danger of a relapse to Judaism.

The best response to such situations is unerring faith in the Word of God, and in the work of Christ, and unerring surrender to the Holy Spirit’s transforming work within us.

Unlike the readers of this letter, you are probably not facing pressure to return to a previously held faith, but your threefold enemy (the world, the ‘flesh,’ and the devil) will entice you to return to worldly pleasures, and to turn away from God in unbelief and hardness of heart, just as the Israelites did.

WHAT FUELS BELIEF AND UNBELIEF?

What fuels unbelief? Many factors. I may consciously rebel against God, loving the pleasure of sin more than obedience. I may neglect a quality quiet time and run out of fuel for my spirit. I may allow personal spirituality to degenerate into meaningless ritual and duty. As I. Howard Marshall points out, “apparent outward conformity to the faith is useless if it is not accompanied by heart belief.”

Unanswered prayer or absorbing a secular worldview that desensitises my mind to the lies that prevail in a godless culture may foster unbelief. A negative attitude toward other Christians may lead to a sapping of spiritual power, failure to hear God, bitterness and unbelief. Or I may simply be lulled into a lack of expectation where I don’t believe God will act, or I don’t expect God to work in or through me, or my church.

What counteracts unbelief and fuels belief in God? Conscious obedience, maintaining spiritual vitality, practicing spiritual disciplines, developing faith and trust in God to respond to my prayers in his sovereign time and manner.

Belief is further fuelled by encouraging a positive sense of biblical community among my fellow believers, and living with a sense of expectation about what God will do if I allow him to reign as Lord in my life and church.

Nineteenth century English minister and social reformer Charles Kingsley said, “I do not want merely to possess a faith; I want a faith that possesses me!”

That’s the kind of faith that empowers us to “hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at first” (verse 14). As Scottish minister and songwriter Horatius Bonar cogently expressed, “Faith takes up the cross, love binds it to the soul, patience bears it to the end.”

We are not left alone in the fight. We have the Word of God, the work of Christ, the ministry of the Spirit. God asks us to rely not only on his power to forgive and regenerate us, but to keep us. And his keeping power is limitless!

THE JOURNEY OF FAITH

We are not only “his house” in the sense of participation in God’s family (verse 6b), but we “come to share in Christ” himself! (verse 14a). Enjoying partnership or relationship with Christ is crucial to perseverance. A passionate spirituality, and a good, balanced spiritual diet, are essential to maintaining direction, keeping fit and winning the endurance war.

In Future Grace, John Piper reflects on the struggle to persevere:

It’s like the monkey with his hand caught in the jar. It would be easy for him to slip his hand out of the opening except that he has his fist clenched around a nut. If he loves the nut more than he loves freedom from the jar, then getting his hand out of the jar will be hard, even impossible . . . But what could be easier than dropping a nut? The battle [the New Testament talks about] is the battle to love the freedom of faith more than the nut of sin.”

It’s about saying “Yes” to God, and saying “No” to sin. Piper goes on to suggest two reasons why people may be tempted to give up the Christian life. First, they may not be truly born of God. Second, “They may be poorly taught about what the Christian life really is. They might think that things are going wrong, when they are going right. They might think that they are losing, when in fact they are winning. They might not know the biblical categories for understanding what God is really doing in their lives.”

St Patrick, the fifth-century “Apostle to the Irish,” made the following observation about his journey of faith:

When by misfortune I came to Ireland, every day I used to look after sheep. I used to pray often during the day, and the love of God and the fear of him increased in me more and more; my faith began to grow and my spirit was stirred, so that in one day I would say as many as one hundred prayers. I used to rise at dawn for prayer, in snow, frost or rain, because of the glow of the Spirit in me.

Patrick learned by experience the secret of spiritual vitality: it lies in persistence, in discipline, in sacrifice; and it results in transformation, blessing and power.

No unbelieving heart for Patrick, for the living God dwelt within him. No hardened spirit for Patrick, for sin’s deceitfulness was silenced and conquered by his continual communion and unbroken relationship with God. What was true for Patrick can be true for you and me today.

“Encourage one another daily . . . so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first” (Hebrews 3:13-14).

Pursue the vision; keep the faith!

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E076 Copyright (c) 2002 Rod Benson. Reproduction in any form except for commercial purposes is permitted with full copyright notice intact. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).

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