The Divine Crash

Hi everyone! This Sunday we continued with our study on Hebrews and so below are my notes as well as the audio, which you can also get on iTunes.

Hebrews 12:1-17

Verses 1-2

Hebrews just finished chapter 11 which was a look back at how their ancestors ran the race of faith. How great things were in the old days. They looked at them with great fondness and purpose and now Hebrews shifts gear from the past to the future.

That now, we don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future and so we run to it. So many people from our past are watching us and cheering us on that we must throw out anything that is going to hold us back and run with everything we’ve got in us.

For me, there are so many people in my past that were praying for me and cheering me on and now are part of that great cloud of witnesses that are cheering me on and so for their honor and not to destroy the work they have done I have to throw off anything that is going to hold me back and just run with everything I have.

In competition you fix your eyes on the prize. The goal, what you want to achieve. That is where you look and you focus only on that.  Hebrews is saying that our prize is Jesus. That Jesus is our pioneer and we don’t walk, meander, mosey, or crawl, we run as fast and as hard as we can, straight toward Jesus. We do what Jesus did and go where Jesus went.

When we run we look to our final goal. Jesus. Church is not our goal, prosperity, comfort, a nice retirement, a nice family, being nice to people, easy life none of that is our goal. Our goal is Jesus. And so we run to Jesus.

When a runner is running they do not take the shortest route or the easiest route.  They take the route that will get them to their goal.  Whether that is a better time or a better location.  They make decision based on their goal and everything about what they do is about getting to their goal.  Everything about eating, sleeping, stretching, thinking, what they buy, everything relates to meeting that goal.  I had a friend in high school who was a runner and to help him meet his goal he shaved his legs and his arms because he believed it would make him just a little bit faster.  He also didn’t buy the cheap 50 dollars shoes.  He spent the big money on his shoes, like 250 dollars on running shoes because they were better designed so that he could better meet his running goal.

That is what we are called to do.  To make our whole life revolve around our goal.

- 2 Corinthians has this idea in chapter 10 when it says to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Jesus.

When you run diet, equipment, strength, all of these things are very important but the most important thing in running is what you think about. And Hebrews knows this which is why verses 3-6 are so important.

Verses 3-6

When you run this marathon called life think about the one who endured opposition for you.

- The “Word on the Street translation” put it this way: “While you’re running, lock your mind on to him and the pain barriers he pushed through, the blockades put up by messed up men that he had to dive through. Lock on to him and fatigue won’t touch you, you’ll have that deep inner belief and you’ll keep going.

- Runners will experience “walls” and “barriers” and their thoughts are the most likely culprits.  In order to push past those walls into a second wind it becomes about thinking about the right things. Sometimes it is the way your foot hits the ground, or your breathing or your arms. But For us, in this race of life we need to think about Jesus.

- Think about the fact that if Jesus can endure the cross for us we can put up with this stupid job one more day so that we can share the gospel with someone we work with.

- If Jesus can endure the beatings for us then we can sacrifice our 4 dollar coffee drink so we can give more to the work of God’s kingdom.

- Everything Jesus went through:

• Questioned
• Betrayed
• Deserted
• Denied
• Spit On
• Struck
• Slapped
• Mocked
• Stripped Naked
• Beaten
• Insulted
• Lied about
• Falsely accused
• Condemned
• Crucified
• Bruised
• Rejected
• hated
• Pierced
• Stared at
• left naked in public to die
• Killed

If Jesus can endure all of that for us, then surely we can endure a little hardship for him.

It’s like this, hardships will come. As we run this marathon of life we will hit walls, we will trip, get cramps, and want to quit.  but for runners those hardships create endurance, strength, and the ability to get better. So, sometimes God gives us those hardships to make us stronger, create endurance, and help us to be the best at life we can be. Somethings happen that are just bad but even those things God can use to make us better.

- Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good for those who love God.

Verses 7-11

- Don’t get upset when walls show up.  They show up because God loves you.  God is making you stronger. God has better planned for you than where you are right now and God has to get you ready for that. If your life was never hard it is because God doesn’t love you.  If your parents don’t put boundaries on you it is because they don’t love you.

Have you heard the term helicopter parent? These are the parents who hover over their kids.  These are the ones who do everything for their kids. Never let them fail, never make them work.  They say phrases like “I want my kids to have it better than I did.” These are the parents who buy every toy and give into every whim of the children.  What happens is these kids grow up with a distorted view of reality and in a recent study Dr. Michele Borba found that college freshman who were raised by helicopter parents are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than other college freshman.  So parents, the best way to raise your kids is to let them mess up, let them struggle, let them figure some things out for themselves.  This is what God does for all of us, so why would parents be any different?  We should not get upset when things are hard, this is what God uses to teach us.

but don’t misunderstand There are injuries that are simply bad, wrong, evil. Those aren’t from God, but God can use them. There is a difference between an injury and a wall. Those injuries need to be called out and dealt with. Abuse, neglect, etc…those are injuries and God can and will use them but they are very different from hardships that God puts in front of you.

Example: I have a friend of mine who lives in the UK. “across the pond” if you will.  She has Lupus. Lupus will eventually stop her from running but until then she will run with all she has. Lupus is one of those things that will attempt to destroy a person. God will use that. God is using her as an inspiration to others with Lupus so that they can know that Lupus is not the end all of life. God didn’t want those bad things to happen to you. But because of free-will and sin, they did. But God will use them.

Verses 12-17

In running posture and form is important.  Your feet have to hit the ground just right. Your arms have to swing at the right pace in the right form.  Your knees have to be a certain way.  When your form is off is when injuries happen. If your foot hits the ground wrong you put too much pressure on your bones and then fractures happen. If your knees aren’t just right then you can pull muscles.  Poor form in general makes you run slower and lowers your endurance to the point you can’t finish.

So then, if we are going to apply this to our life of faith, we need to have proper posture. Which Hebrews gives us:

1. Pursue Peace and Holiness, with everyone. Neighbors, kids, parents, co-workers, other drivers on the road.

2. Make sure no one misses out on God’s grace

3. Do not allow bitterness to be in your life

4. Do not be sexually immoral or ungodly.

Because I do not run I spent some time talking to people who do run. I spoke with Christians and non-Christians and there were two responses that we common among them all.

1. You can do it alone. You need people to encourage you. To keep you motivated.  You can run faster and better with a friend than you can alone. You need people to correct your form and challenge you.

- For us, this is where Cell Groups come in. In our mentoring and our multiplying we are encouraging each other to run this race of life with better form and we are bringing in new runners to run this race with us.

2. You need to be hydrated. Before, during, and after the race taking in fluids that are full of electrolytes is very important.  Water is good, but Gatorade is better. The need to constantly hydrate is very important to replace the necessary nutrients, salts, and body water that runners lose while running. Without it runners will cramp up, pass out, and be unable to finish.

- For us this is communion. Our bread and cup is where we take in the necessary nutrients to run this race of life.  It is where we come together as one and replenish what we have lost because of all we have been through. This meal is where we come to get our strength back. This meal is where we come together as one with our goal, Jesus.

Sermon Audio

 

My recorder appears to have worked this time. So here is the sermon on Hebrews 11. Enjoy the notes and feel free to listen on iTunes or at the bottom.

Hebrews 11 

Only Read verses 1-3

Everyone has faith in something. Everyone believes in something they cannot see.  Hebrews urges us to have faith in God. Faith that God is there, working things together even when we cannot see them. He urges us to have faith like those who have gone before us. In chapter 12 Hebrews calls is the great cloud of witnesses.

what is faith? How do I know I have faith? In seminary I took a whole theology class about faith and the definition we had was “Faith is the personal response of trust and confidence in the gracious God made known in Jesus Christ.  As whole-hearted dedication of one’s life to Christ, faith differs radically from blind submission to church teaching and from routine and unthinking adherence to inherited doctrines and practices.  The object of Christian faith is not some thing or idea but the living Lord Jesus Christ who is God with us in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Substitution of any other object of faith – whether self, family, church race or nation – is idolatry. The subject of faith is the whole person including mind, will, and affections.”

Really? Hebrews 11:1 gives a better definition “Faith is hope in things we cannot see.”

But how can we look at a person and say “They are living in faith” Or how can we look at our lives and say “we are living our lives on faith.”  That I think is harder to explain and yet if we want to be listed with this great cloud of witnesses we meed to be able ti say that we live our lives on faith. yet the only adequate way I can do it is via stories.

The year is 400AD about 370 years after the resurrection of Jesus. The Romans rule the world from Scotland to Egypt. They have created the gladiator games at the coliseum. Where men would fight other men to the death. Sometimes they would fight lions and the first one to get eaten loses. It was a real life Hunger Games.

One day, a man named Telemachus was at the games and upon seeing the horror of these games he starts running from the top row to the floor screaming “In the name of Jesus, Stop” Stop in the name of Jesus. over and over and over again.  He jumps the barrier and makes it to the floor where the gladiators believed him to be comedic relief and began beating him, as they are killing him he continues to scream “In the name of Jesus, Stop!” His last words are “In the name of Jesus, Stop!”

When the crowd realizes that he was not part of the act, they become silent and left. When the gladiators realize he was simply a spectator they stop their fighting.  Tradition holds this was the last gladiator fight ever.

Why would a man do this? Why would he stand up against centuries of injustice and oppression that was used for the sick enjoyments of thousands?

It is because of faith in Jesus.

Faith makes people do strange things, like storm a Colosseum and declare that the gladiator games are wrong.

Faith is not something that we can see, touch, taste, and feel, we can only experience it.

Two people in church, one a rich politician. The other a woman, single mom, who knows what happened to the father, she tells everyone he died, but the rumors abound. As the offering plate comes by, the rich guy puts in a stack of crisp hundreds.  The woman reaches in to her tattered clothes and pulls out the last of the money she has. A couple of coins. Not much, nothing that will change the world or even keep the lights on beyond a few minutes. But it was all she has. The son of man, sees all this and says that her offering is worth more than any amount those rich boys can give.

what would possess a woman with so little give what she had left? If she had held on to it no one would have blamed her. But she gave out of her faith. She knew that God would take care of her and God would give her what she needed.

Why would Jesus says that two small coins are a better gift than the hundreds the others were putting in? Hers was given in faith. Jesus saw in her offering a faith that says she is betting the farm on God.

Faith is not something we believe in, it is something that we act out of.

We are not saved by what we do. We are saved by our faith alone. Romans 3:28 says we are saved by Faith Alone. If you follow the 613 old laws perfectly and you do not have faith you are not saved.  But if you have faith and follow none of the old laws then you are saved. Faith is the salvation.

Faith is not a way to earn salvation, faith is Salvation.

Matthew 28 the disciples are seeing Jesus, Jesus told them to go and make disciples. And the disciples were worshipping God, but in verse 10 it says they doubted. They were now living by faith alone and they changed the world, and yet they doubted.  But their faith was still solid. If it wasn’t they wouldn’t have accomplished so much.

Faith is not the opposite of doubt.  Faith exists in the midst of Doubt.

- fiery furnace doubt but still jumped in

- Jesus on cross doubt but still knew of paradise.

Faith is not to be hoarded like baseball cards and comics. Faith is not to be locked up in our hearts. It is to be shared, given away, and it only grows when we give it to others.

I once heard a pastor say that faith is like manure.  Pile it up and it just stinks and turns rotten. But if you spread it around suddenly it becomes helpful and makes everything better because it nourishes everything it touches.

The more you give away faith, the more faith you have.

Hebrews 11:5-39 are short stories of people who did crazy things because of their faith.

- Abraham almost killed his son.

- Moses led thousands of slaves out of Egypt

- people march around a building and the walls fall down

- Prostitutes follow God

- Gideon cuts his army

- Samson pushes down a building with his bare hands.

- Some get cut in half, tortured, whipped, imprisoned.

- All of this was because of their faith. Their faith brought them to a place where they could not deny it and they must share it.

- There is a band called “The Rend Collective Experiment” who puts it this way “We serve a God who is not safe, or small, but our God has a wild imagination.”

- When you experience faith for yourself, when you live out of faith in spite of your doubt, and when you start giving away your faith it will lead you to some absolutely crazy things. The faith may get you killed.  It may make you quit your job and move to Zimbabwe, or it may make you simply bend down and lift up those who cannot lift up themselves. but this faith will always make you do things you never expected.

Faith does not keep you safe. Faith risks in ways we would have never expected.

- Friend of mine went to china prior to leaving he had a message that said he was to wear those baggy pants with large pockets. Not sure why he went. He was pulled aside by security and asked if he were a Christian. He could have been killed. He said yes and the security gave him a box of Bibles to hide in his baggy pants.

I would suggest that most of us do not have that kind of faith in Jesus? If you did this church would be bursting at the seams.  The average person invites someone to church every 18 months.  That is not living out of faith in Jesus. That is living in fear of rejection.

So how do we get that faith? Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing the message of Christ.

- So when was the last time you heard the message of Christ? We preach that every Sunday.  So you heard a 25 minute sermon about Christ and that was it the whole week and you wonder why your faith is weak? If you only exercise 25 minutes per week how strong would you expect to be? If you only eat one meal per week how full would you feel?

- Maybe you went to sunday school and you hear two messages about Christ? So you got a double dose one day? And you still have no faith.

- Luke 17 says if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can do some pretty amazing things.

- If you feel like you have no faith I would argue then that it is because one day a week is not enough.

- Read your Bible, every day.

- Start in Matthew and read a few verses per day.

- what I do is everyday I read the scripture I am going to preach on the following week.

- Get a translation that makes sense to you. Some version like that King James do not make sense to me. I get nothing out of it.  I read from and preach from the Common English Bible.

- The NIV is what is the in the pews. It was written for a 6th grade reading level and is good.

- What matters is you have a translation you like.

- Pray, every day!

- Regular communication about your life. God wants to hear from you. So just talk to God.

- Do acts of Justice and Compassion

- You aren’t called to save the world, Jesus already did that. You are called to make it better

- Do something, a mission trip, food pantry, help the kids at the park have lunch. Do something that makes this world a little better

- Most people don’t do this. Most Christians simply believe that if I write a check to a missionary it will be fine. But I would argue that if you aren’t getting your hands dirty and actually spending time then you are not doing this at all.

- story of Loraine going to Nicaragua.

- Talk to other people

- This is where cell group comes in. Talk to people about your faith and your struggles.

If you do that, then watch how your faith will grow and your life will change and see how you will suddenly find yourself doing all sorts of things not because you want to but because you have faith. a faith that experienced by all around us, faith that is acted out and given away and risks everything to give it away and a faith that is remembered for generations and becomes part of the great cloud of witnesses.

Sermon Audio

 

This sermon actually recorded! You can hear it at the bottom of the sermon or on iTunes.

Hebrews 8

So there is a throne. and on that throne is God. and on the right side of that throne is Jesus.

While next to that throne Jesus is doing what all priests do. Offer gifts and sacrifices.

This is happening in heaven, not here. It can’t happen here because there are other priests here who do it.

The priests who are here on earth are imitating what is happening in heaven. So what we do here is an imitation of what is happening in heaven.  what we do here in church is an imitation of what is happening in heaven.

What Jesus offers in heaven is better than what priests offer here. At the time of Jesus the priests offered money, fruit, animals, all these things as sacrifices. Jesus in heaven must offer something better. Himself.

Because Jesus offers himself as a sacrifice there is a better covenant with better promises.

but better than what?

There is a first covenant and it wasn’t working. If it was working there wouldn’t have been a need for a new one. This idea of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” and the first covenant wasn’t working. God found fault with the old way.

This old way was about rules, and if you didn’t follow them you were out. It was this idea that if you didn’t follow directions, color in the lines, sit quietly and do what you were told then you were out.

In the Exodus 22:25 there is an Old Covenant law that says when loaning money to poor person do not charge interest. However, by the time of Jesus no one would lend money to a poor person because they could not charge interest.  So to keep the law and still make money they would not loan money and as a result the poor person still could not get out of poverty.  By the time of Jesus there was a Rabbi who suggested that the law might be wrong and that we should charge interest.  That Rabbi was stoned to death for suggesting there be a change in law. This is the flaw with the old covenant. It was doing harm and no one could change it.

The consequence of this covenant is that it created drones. It zapped creativity. and it killed anyone who thought different.

God does not like/want/create mindless drones. God makes one of a kind masterpieces that are expressions of his creativity in the world.

Ephesians 2:10 says we are gods masterful creation.

Since God wants open, creative, alive, human beings and not robots then God needed a new covenant. A kind of covenant that was just as creative as God is. And so God declares a new covenant is coming. Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34 and says:

 

Look, the days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will make a covenant with the house of Israel,

and I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors

on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

because they did not continue to keep my covenant,

and I lost interest in them, says the Lord.

This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord.

I will place my laws in their minds,

and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

and each person won’t ever teach a neighbor

or their brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,”

because they will all know me,

from the least important of them to the most important;

because I will be lenient toward their unjust actions,

and I won’t remember their sins anymore.

 

So this new covenant is not like the old one made during the Exodus from Egypt. This new covenant is placed not on stone but directly on the heart. This new covenant states that God will be our God and we will be God’s people.  No longer do we have to teach our neighbor to know God because people will already know God. And God will be lenient toward the people and won’t even remember the sins anymore.
This new covenant is not about law and right action it is now about the right heart.
This new covenant then is the one we live in to. We do not have to follow the laws of the old covenant. Instead we follow the laws of the new covenant.
Those laws are:
1. Love God with all that we have and are
2. Love our neighbors like we love ourselves.

Now, Verse 13 says

13 When it says new, it makes the first obsolete. And if something is old and outdated, it’s close to disappearing.

 

So we would expect to see the old rules disappearing. The are obsolete. The old covenant is useless at this point. So we would expect to see it used less and less. like old computers. no one preaches from a commodore 64.  When the old covenant was new it had 613 commands to follow. Slowly but surely those have been worn down and left as “outdated”

Even by the time of the apostles in Acts they sat down to figure out what of the Old Covenant must be kept. They came up with 4 things in Acts 15

1. Avoid Idolatry

2. Avoid Sexual Immorality

3. Do not consume Blood

4. Do not eat animals that are strangled.

That is the extent of the Old Covenant that the first apostles felt was important enough to ask people to follow.

But even now, we see at least 2 of them are gone.  You can still be a Christian and eat a raw steak.  We don’t always know how these big meat plants take care of their animals.

So, as time progresses the old laws are disappearing.

But at the same time they disappear the new law is fluid enough to cover the old laws.

If you love God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul there is no room for idolatry. Right?

If you love your neighbor as yourself then there is no room for sexual immorality right?

So in doing away with the old law we actually fulfill it every time we fulfill the new covenant….right?

So then, There is this throne and God is on it, and next to it is Jesus who offered himself as the once and for all perfect sacrifice and because of that there is a new covenant. God realized that the old covenant didn’t work. It was useless. So now, through Jesus there is a new covenant. The Old Covenant is gone but this new covenant fulfills the old covenant so we don’t even need the old covenant.

I would suggest that attempting to live under the old covenant is saying that you know better than god and can figure out life on your own.

So is this just some nice sounding words or does it actually mean anything today?

I think it means if we take this new covenant seriously then God becomes the most important thing in our lives and then everyone else becomes important too.

I think it means that we can continue to live under the old covenant where all that happens is we are made to feel guilty or we can live in a new way where freedom, love, and grace actually win out.

I think it means that when we see something blocking us from connecting with God we need to reach out and tear down those obstacles.

I think it means when we see someone hurting and in need we reach out and help them up.

I think it means we can ignore the law, and embrace the new covenant and in doing so, we fulfill the old law perfectly and it is in this new covenant we find grace and a God who draws near to us, no matter what.

It’s like this. we just baptized two awesome kids. kids that were adopted. on their own they were orphans. the old law says that orphans are supposed to be fed and clothed. that’s it. but this new covenant in James 1:27 says that true devotion to god is to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves. so if we live under the old law then it is ok to simply donate to the food bank or goodwill but what really makes god smile is when we get our hands dirty and actually take care of those who can’t take care of themselves. to go beyond the perfunctory and into the realm of loving those who no one else loves.

Sermon Audio

 

 

Something went wrong with my recording for this sermon, but here are the notes for you to enjoy!

Hebrews 7:18-22

Verses 18-19

One one hand there is a law. And the law is weak and it is useless. That’s the thing about laws. They are weak and useless. They are only good a beating people down and point out where things have gone wrong.  If you never do anything wrong you don’t need to worry about the law. The law can’t save you, and can only kill you.

Because of that, laws are inherently limited and have very little actual power. They can only take life. They can’t give life.

And so, on the other hand we get a better hope. Notice the difference in words there. One hand is the law. The other hand is hope.

Law = You only get to feel guilty because you did something wrong. The law ignores you when you do things right.

Hope = Expectation of something better.

The Law says you aren’t good enough and there are consequences.

Hope says you aren’t good enough but you are loved anyway because I know you can get better.

The law tells you that if you don’t fit a certain mold you are out.

But HOPE tells you that if you don’t fit, that is okay. We love you anyway.

The law says that unless you are exactly right and follow all of the laws you can’t be near God.

Hope says that even thought you aren’t perfect God is still draws near to you.

To often in life, we become concerned with management of the law. We become our own lawyers defending our actions and worry about the laws that were broken and their consequences. We end up driving ourselves crazy because we are worried about the law. We organize ourselves around law management and we use mitigating circumstances to cut the punishment.

What hope says though is that we can still draw near to God. We can forget about the law and draw near to God.

This hope wasn’t given by simply dropping it out of the sky.  This hope wasn’t just dictated to one person to spread around.  This hope has flesh and blood and bones and muscles.  This hope is a priest who finally understands us. This hope was given with a solemn pledge.

Verses 20-21.

Priests can become priests without a pledge but they aren’t permanent, they don’t get it and they are still concerned with managing the law. They are still concerned with their law breaking because they know they will still die because of the law.

But the hope we have is that we finally have a priest who lives forever. A priest who does not have to be concerned with His own death and law management because they have been defeated forever.

Verses 22-25

In verse 22 this hope gets a name. JESUS!! Jesus is the one who gives hope. The hope of a better covenant. There are other people who became priests but they died and stayed dead. Jesus however is a priest who is a priest forever because he will never die again.

The fact that Jesus lives forever is exactly why he gets to save those who need saving because he always speaks to God on their behalf.  When Jesus ascended to heaven in Acts chapter 1 he is now in heaven speaking good things to God about us. Looking at God and saying “That woman, she is my beloved, I love her, I died for her, She has value,  she is worth being here for eternity” and saying “That guy I love that guy. I died for him, he has value, he is worth being here for eternity.”

This is what hope does. Hope believes in the best of a person. That no matter what, hope believes that there is Good and intrinsic value in a person.  this is why I personally am pro-life because I have hope that no matter the circumstances there is hope for that baby and that god has a plan. This is what Jesus does for us. Jesus is our hope that hopes for us even when we feel hopeless.

Verses 26-28

We get to have a Jesus who hopes for us. It is appropriate and good for us to have that kind of priest because Jesus is Holy, Innocent, incorrupt, separate from sinners, and is high above the heavens. Jesus doesn’t have to offer sacrifice for his sin or any other sin because when he died on the cross he offered the final sacrifice for all of humanity once and for all.

In Greek this word for all literally means all. every sin no matter what was paid for on the cross through the blood of the high priest who is Jesus.

So then, that time when you wonder if god will forgive you the answer is yes. that secret sin you do when no one e,we is looking, no matter how often god still forgives it because of the cross. that sin that you did that was plastered all over the paper and all over CNN and you will get the death penalty for it. god forgave that on the cross.

The law makes weak people into priests but the God who made the pledge of hope gave his own son for us to have as a hope of a better day.

A better day that says no matter what Jesus is with us. Walking with us. Making sure we can keep hoping and with that hope we can face anything.

The law says if you can work you can live.

Jesus, our hope, says no matter what do not fear, I am with you, and I love you.

This Jesus, our hope, says that we are forgiven, we are loved, and if we follow him instead of the law we will find eternal life. this eternal life doesn’t start with a prayer or an altar call. it starts with you making a decision to follow Jesus.

We are continuing to move through Hebrews and it is always exciting and sometimes convicting. Hopefully this builds you closer to Jesus.  Feel free to listen to the audio at the bottom, or on iTunes.

Hebrews 7:1-17

Verses 1-3

So, Melchizedek, again… This is a recap of what we already know about him.

- He is the king of righteousness, and the king of peace.

- No idea where he came from, family history, no idea..

- But this is the tradition that continues to this day.

- He is like Jesus. A priest forever.

- Which tells us something about Jesus.

1. Jesus is a priest forever.

2. Jesus is eternal, no beginning and no end.

- This is important because it means that Jesus has no beginning and no end and that Jesus is doing what priest do. Communicate to God on our behalf and communicate to us about God. Which means, we always have an advocate on our behalf. No matter how bad things seem Jesus is always working on our behalf.

Verses 4-10

Because Melchizedek was awesome he got 10% of everything from Abraham. As a result, this created a tradition that is now thousands of years old. and by the time of Jesus it was law that priests get 10% of everything. On one hand the people give 10% of a normal person, a flawed human being. On the other hand Abraham gave to someone eternal, and above everyone else. The people of Jesus’ day gave to Levi out of law, but Abraham gave because he realized how great Melchizedek is.

This speaks to how we give our money? Should you give 10% of what you have, yes. Do you give it because it is a law or because you realize the greatness of God? That is between you and God. But I would suggest if you only give because you have to, then you are doing it wrong.

- If you ask if it is 10% off the net or the gross then you are giving from obligation not out of the greatness of God.

In Giving, we are supposed to, Christians were never designed to be selfish. Part of it is obligation, we need to keep the lights on and doors open. If that is the only reason we give, then it is nothing more than “membership dues” and we might as well give up on church and join a country club. It is probably cheaper.  But another part of giving is because of the greatness of God. That God is so big, so awesome, and yet pays attention to us. that God gave his life to save us, and is alive for ever and out of our gratitude we give. There is not offering big enough to say thank you but we give of the items that are closest to our heart, our wallet.

The expectation of your giving is that it would be used to increase the kingdom of God. Not the kingdom of the pastor or the kingdom of Harrisville Church but the kingdom of God.

So yes, part of giving is because you are supposed to. but the biggest part is because God gives to us and so out of gratitude we say thank you and we give what we have.

And some of you are very faithful in saying thank you and in you’re giving.  In the last 6 months of last year our offering averaged 2142 per week.  This year, so far our offering is 2572 per week.  Which means some of you have increased your giving and that most of you are continuing in your giving. In January I stated that we needed approximately 2589 per week. And we are over that most weeks. Which means we don’t have to worry about keeping the doors open. It means that we can begin reaching out to others and looking outside our walls at people who aren’t here.  We can shift from maintenance ministry to transformational ministry.  I also mentioned that if we all increased our giving by 4 dollars each week we would have more money than we know what to do with.  So we are seeing more and more giving, not out of obligation but out of a love for HUMC and a love for God. I want to say thank you for your heart of giving and ask that you continue.  If you haven’t been giving regularly, consider starting. And if you have been giving regularly, thank you and keep it up.

 

Verses 11-17

So, what Hebrews here is ask a basic question. Something a lot of non-christians ask and Christians are afraid to answer.

- “If the church makes you perfect why is there Jesus?” Or Can I just go to church and ignore Jesus and still be saved? or we could say it this way “If I am a good person who does all the right things then I can be saved right?”

- Here is the thing, Jesus is a priest forever. That means everything changes.

- In the past, all priests were from the tribe of Levi. If you were not from Levi you could not be a priest.

- Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. Therefore he could not be a priest. but God says he is a priest so he

- This means all the rule for being a priest are gone. The idea that you had to be born just right, look right, act right are now gone. The only requirement to being a priest is to be chosen by God.

So then, it really isn’t about church and acting a certain way or doing certain things. It becomes about following Jesus. About doing what Jesus did. It is this idea that if a person goes to a Baptist church and has different beliefs about baptism and communion they are still as much a Christian as a Methodist.  It is this idea that all that matters is following Jesus, all the side beliefs about dancing, gambling, communion, etc… are secondary and do not keep people out of eternal favor with God.

To tie this all together.

1. Jesus is a priest forever.

2. Out of gratitude for all that God has given us, we give back to God so that the Kingdom of God can be expanded.

3. Jesus changes everything, from the rules on who could be a priest and the rules on giving and the rules on who is in and who is out.

For Melchizedek it started with some bread and wine that saved Abraham and his people. for Jesus it started with some bread and wine that saved his people for eternity. and that is what we do here. we remember Jesus bread and wine that bring us closer to Jesus.

Sermon Audio

 

After the pulpit swap I was back to my awesome congregation and we picked right back up with Hebrews 6:9-20. You can read the notes and hear the audio at the bottom or on iTunes.

Hebrews 6:9-20

Lot’s going on here. So let’s jump in!

Hebrews just finished calling the people lazy because they weren’t doing anything. Said that living on baby food was lazy and that we are called to mature into real food.

then Hebrews switches and calls people “brothers and sisters” in the original Greek this is one word: “Agepathos” It is a term of endearment and means something like “Dearly Beloved” or “those who are worthy of love”  In other words the author of Hebrews would not have been so stern with the congregation if they were not deeply loved.

 

sheepdog not a shepherd. all done because the sheep dog loves the shepherd and the sheep.

And that is what I am trying to do. I know that sermon was hard. I know that sometimes I say things that are a little bit more pointed, or a little bit hard to swallow but it is only because I care so deeply for you, this church, and for the people who do not yet know Jesus.  It is because I love you all and want to see you grow closer to Jesus in all areas of your life.

God isn’t unjust. God doesn’t ignore the fact that you are trying.

Those moments where you get it right. Where you show love. Where you give grace. Even just for an instant. God doesn’t forget them. But God says you can’t stay with them.  You can’t survive off of that one good dead you did 20 years ago.

we can’t live off the memory of the good we did in that mission trip 3 years ago.

We can’t live off the memory of how God moved in the service that one time….

Too often, as a church we do one really great and amazing thing and it creates this sort of spiritual euphoria and we try to capture that feeling forever.

We say things like “Remember that time, in 1983 when the church was packed…that was a great time.”

We try to use church to “refuel” or “re-energize” us for the week and we try to live off that spiritual “high” all week and then by Friday we are run down and begin looking for that high again….

What Hebrews is saying, is that we can’t do that anymore. God saw those events, and recognizes that they are wonderful but we have to keep making that same effort over and over again so that we won’t become lazy but will follow the example of those who go before us. We say things like “In the 50′s this church was packed, it was overflowing, and it was great. Remember that feeling that God was with us. and now church just feels dull?  If we could only get back to those glory days”

It feels dull because we have stopped following the example of the ones who had the energy we have become lazy. We may not have much energy anymore but we can go back to the example of our leaders from the past and do what they did. Did they invite people? Did they talk about the Gospel to everyone around them? Go….do that….

Too often we ask God to get us back to the way things used to be, or help us feel that way again. Unfortunately, God is not in the business of reinventing the past. Seeking out that original feeling, that old high when things were great, is the idea of an addict chasing the dragon and trying to get back to the way things used to be.

Instead, we need to ask God to do a new thing. To do something brand new in this church. We need to remember with fondness the past, but we can’t live in it. We press on to see what new thing God is doing.

I have had some great sermons, and some great services where afterward I just felt on fire, and just felt like the Holy Spirit was moving in this place and if I stand up here and ask God to do that again, then I am showing a lack of trust that God has something bigger in mind. So instead we shouldn’t ask for God to make things the way they were but instead we ask God to do something brand new that we have never seen before.

Genesis 1, a garden with 2 people. If we ask God to never do anything new we would miss Revelation 21. A city.

- What is a city? A well-organized garden filled with people.

- To read the bible from start to finish you see a movement from a Garden, where God visits, to a City where God lives. – All of the bible is a movement forward to a new thing that God is doing.

- The Garden isn’t bad. The garden is good. but it wasn’t perfect. Good implies that there is something better. Something perfect and we are moving towards it. We can stay in the good, but good isn’t what God has in mind for us. God has perfect in mind for us. God has promised to us that Good isn’t bad. But perfect is better.

- The way things used to be isn’t bad. It is good. But God has better planned for us. God has perfect planned for us.

Our whole life is based on promises. Promises to our spouse. Promises from the government. Promises to our boss and from our boss. Everything is about a promise.  Some promises are more trustworthy than others and some carry more weight than others.

But when God makes a promise to people we know it will come true because it is God and that is what God does. Psalm 89:34 says that God will never break a promise.

So, we look forward to the new thing God is going to do here at Harrisville UMC.  We do this because God has promised that there will be a new thing. God has promised that if we are faithful to what God has called us to do then we will see the results. God promised to Abraham to multiply his descendants and Abraham was faithful to that and it worked out. And So, since God can’t lie we just follow after Jesus, do what Jesus did, take refuge in Jesus, and grasp the hope in front of us.  and we see the results come pouring in.  What are those results? It is people’s lives being transformed. It is people coming to know Jesus in new ways. It is people who are finding a deeper relationship with Jesus in ways they have never seen before.

 

that is what we pray for, that is what we strive for. that is why we dress up as a clown, give out water, and even why we fix bikes so That people would find Jesus in a new way than they currently know. Whether that is believing in Jesus for the first time or if it is someone who has been a Christian their whole life and never told anyone about Jesus reaching out for the first time. it is that our whole life reverberates with the gospel and shows people that no one is out of gods reach and that no one is beyond gods grace.

We can stay where it is good, it won’t hurt. We will be comfortable and God will even visit us here. but it isn’t what God has planned for us. God has perfection in mind for Harrisville UMC. We can stay where it is nice, comfortable, no challenges, no heartbreak, and no tears. But that isn’t what God has planned.  If we want the perfection that God has promised then it will be hard, it will be difficult, it will cost everything. Read Revelation 20. It gets bad before we get to perfection. but perfection is where God dwells. The decision is up to us. To be comfortable and good or to be perfect.

Sermon Audio

 

This sermon was a harder sermon. It is always difficult to tell people you care about that some behaviors are wrong.  But that is exactly what Hebrews does and that is where the scripture brought me this week.  Feel free to listen to the sermon on iTunes and check out the text below.

Prayer: God this is a hard message. May people hear it and run to you for mercy and may they find grace in your arms.

I love going to musicals, concerts, ice skating shows, all these things. but I want things to be just right.

- I took Amanda to see the Nutcracker for our anniversary.  I bought front row seats, but only because we got a good deal on the tickets. Never pay full-price

- For Amanda’s birthday I took her to “stars on Ice” I had a groupon that got us in the primary seating and two autographed posters of all the stars.

- I took Samuel to a Basketball Game in Erie. We had another Groupon and sat 5th row center with a free basketball and free admission to the Kid’s Zone.

- Once, I went to a minor league game. We had free tickets but they were in the very last row as high up as possible. The tickets were not worth what I paid for them. I was miserable and uncomfortable.

- Later that summer we got a 2 for 1 deal and managed to get tickets front row directly behind home plate. 2 rows behind us was former Governor of PA Ed Rendell.

- I love going to these events but only if I can get a good seat, at a good price, and the circumstances were just right. And if they aren’t right I am miserable.

- When I go to Creation Music Festival I spend all day in the front under the sweltering heat so that by 11:30pm when the newsboys come up I can be front row.

- Picture at concerts, front row.

- This is after standing in line for 6 hours to get premium seats for 10 dollars with my last church’s youth group:

- One year, they had a motorcycle stunt man jumping in front of the stage. I was front row for that.

How often does this become how we view church? That everything must be exactly right.

- Can’t sit too far forward or too far backward

- Same seat every week

- Not to many songs

- Just the right sermon, not to hard, not to soft

- Don’t preach on death, sin, money, divorce, or anything I disagree with.

- Just preach the bible is a mantra for only preach what I agree with. Because no one actually takes the Bible literally, if you did all men would only have 1 eye (or less)

- No goofing off, no fun.

- Right Bible version

- everyone looks and acts correctly.

- Don’t ask for too much money

How often has this become the view of our entire life?

- Dinner at the same time every night.

- No new things

- No changing routines

- No meeting new people

- No talking to non-Christians.

- No talking to anyone who isn’t like me.

We insulate ourselves and we create this sort of snuggie theology that keeps us warm and insulated from the outside world.  We prefer to stay comfy inside our nice, perfect, world and the author of Hebrews says this is lazy.

Lazy seems like a strong word, I mean I just get along with other christians so well. They get me. I am too busy with church stuff to have time for non-Christians. I mean I just like it when church is a certain way. I mean I have been doing things the same way for 30+ years  I can’t change now.  That isn’t lazy, how dare you call me lazy. …but the original Greek is: Nothros which mean Dull or slow. So we could just say that creating this safe snuggie theology is because you are Dull.

Verse 12 even is an admonition that some people should be teachers by now but they can’t because they don’t even know the basics. It is as if they still eat baby food instead of solid food.  It is as if they are babies in the faith even if they are adults.

- Some of us have spent our entire life studying the Bible. and yet you don’t actually know scripture. Scripture says to go out and make disciples. Yet, the average person invites someone to church every 18 months. That says either you are lazy or you are purposefully sinning against God. or you honestly didn’t know it. And if you have been coming to church your entire life and didn’t know it then your pastors have failed you as leaders.

- Some of us can tell us exactly why dancing is a sin and how if we love Jesus we should never dance but you can’t even explain how the Gospel sets us free? That is either because we are lazy or we are purposefully ignoring God.

- Some of us can point out every typo and grammatical error on the screen and the bulletin but can’t point people to the cross where they find grace for those typos. That is either lazy or ignorant of scripture.

- Some of us have spent our whole lives singing “Jesus love me” but have drawn the line on anyone who isn’t like “me.”

Hebrews calls this the behavior of a Baby. We would expect babies want certain things in certain ways and at certain times. That is normal and as a matter of fact they need it that way.  If a baby is fed a steak for dinner instead of milk or formula they will die. Even then, the formula must be mixed correctly or they will die.  They must have proper boundaries and things must be set up correctly and even everyone around them must act a certain way and look out for the well-being of the child or the baby will die.

But what Hebrews says is that you are not supposed to be a perpetual infant.  The goal of parenting is to raise up your children so they move out and are independent. Eventually you are supposed to grow up. You are supposed to mature. You became able to handle when things are different. You become able to handle things that aren’t the way they “always” were. You are capable of taking care of your own needs. If you can not spiritually feed yourself you need to grow up.

Are there times we need help? Yes. Are there times we need other people? Always. Are there times when it is okay to be lazy? No. Are there times when it is okay to cry? Yes. Is it okay to cry because you didn’t get your way? No.

There are many good times when it is appropriate to stand up, throw a fit, and make your voice heard. but if it is over something insignificant and childish then you are still surviving on baby food and not the solid food, of the gospel.

The question is, what is baby food and what is solid food? Solid food is that people hear about Jesus with the least amount of barriers. The gospel of Jesus needs to be streamlined and as accessible to as many people as possible. To often, what helped one group to know the gospel is a barrier to another. As mature Christians who are able to spiritually feed themselves we need to give up those things so that as many people can hear the gospel as possible?

So then, let’s ditch the snuggie theology. Let’s toss out the baby food, put on our big boy pants and press on to maturity. We aren’t there yet, there are times when it is easier to wrap ourselves up and isolate ourselves but for the sake of the gospel we cannot do that. For the sake of our future we cannot do that.  If we isolate ourselves and make ourselves comfortable than anyone who is not like us will not want to be with us. Which means the church will cease to exist. If we lay a foundation if isolation and self-comfort then we are deceiving others of the reality of Christ’s grace. Instead, we pick up what we know, reaching out, serving others, and pressing on bringing others closer to God.  Maturity is being able to stop singing “Jesus loves me” and start singing “Jesus loves You, this I know.” And once people have heard that they can know that God is for them and so are we.

“Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.” – Rich Mullins

If you have considered yourself a Christian for a long time what are the places in your life that would create a barrier to others hearing the gospel? what about this church, if a person has never heard the gospel in their life, a pre-christian if you will. What would encourage them and what would keep them away? In what ways have we created a snuggie theology in our church?

So then, how can you reach out this week? How can you ditch your own snuggie and be a little uncomfortable so that others can be more comfortable? Who can you help up? Help out? Who can you enter their world and become part of it so that they become part of your world??

Sermon Audio

 

Welcome to my sermon notes! This week is available on iTunes as well as at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

 

In every religion in all of humanity there was an understanding of sacrifices. If you wanted something…anything. Crops, Children, forgiveness, anything. You would make a sacrifice to the appropriate god or goddess.  Where you lived determined your god/goddess and your family was the one responsible for teaching you how to follow that god or goddess.

Once you made the sacrifice if you got what you asked for  then you needed to make an offering of thanks and then the next time you needed to ask your god for more so as not to offend them.  If you didn’t get what you asked for then you didn’t make your god happy and you need to make an apologizing offering and then offer a larger offering.  as a result you never quite knew where you stood with your god.

but then it got even more difficult, for the Israelites, you couldn’t make your own sacrifice.  you had to have a priest make a sacrifice for you.  and you had to hope that the priest was in right standing with God, but the priest was just as human as you are and you know what you do when the priest isn’t around so you are pretty sure the priest isn’t right with God either.  If the priest had sin your offering didn’t count.  And if you had sin your offering didn’t count.

By the time of Jesus, sacrifices had become a way of hope.  You hoped that the priest was clean, you hoped that you were clean, and you had to hope that the animal was clean.

As a result, you never quite sure of where you stood with God.

However, on the scene arrives Jesus.

Some people expected Jesus to use force and create a kingdom. To come in and start a war in which he reigns supreme.

Some people expected Jesus to simply kill the religious leaders

Some people expected miracles.

Some people expected a political victory

But instead Jesus did not seek his own agenda, did not try to be best or be in charge. He was simply called by God.

“Jesus owned no property, had not a place to lay his head, organized no institution, had no resources, and at the end committed his gospel to a little group of unpromising men. Jesus simply did not worry about his own desires and knew he was called by God.”

Suddenly, this Jesus, is a perfect high priest. Sinless, not seeking his own, not cursing, not cheating, lying, stealing, or any of those things we do even when we know we shouldn’t.

And so we begin to worship him, waiting for the other shoe to drop, to show his true colors where the kingdom is forcefully set up, because as far as the Israelites were concerned kingdoms were always set up by force. From the time of slavery in Egypt kings came in, used violence, and took the throne by any means necessary.

Just when Jesus is gaining the most momentum and the people expect violence to ensue Jesus shows his true colors.  He comes riding in to town on a donkey. Not carrying a sword, not forcing his will. but simply following the will of the God who sent him. People are screaming for him to save them. Little do they know in a week he is going to save them, just not the way they expect.

Suddenly, this hope that we are in right standing is taken out and replaced with a confidence that we are in right standing because the one who sacrificed himself for us was the perfect priest.

Jesus could no longer tolerate that people were never sure of their standing with God. and so Jesus was going to fix that, by any means necessary.   Jesus set out to create a radical change in the core functions of a broken system.

And he did it in a way we wouldn’t expect, not by taking the throne, but by giving it up. By giving up his rights and giving up his high position.

Instead of lifting himself up above others he lifted others up above himself and laid down his life so that others may live.

And now, God says that Jesus is his son and that he is in the order of Melchizedek. Which sounds very strange to us today. Why would Jesus be in the order of Melchizedek.

But to Israelites who were living at that time it would have been very normal.

Here is what we know about Melchizedek.

- In the Old Testament he shows up twice.

- Genesis 14. Abraham, then still Abram, returns from defeating King Chedorlomaor and the “King of Salem” comes out to meet Abram. this king is also a priest and is Melchizedek.  Melchizedek brings with him some bread and some wine. Melchizedek take the bread and wine and says “Bless Abram by El Elyon” and “Bless El Elyon who gave Abram victory” At which point Abram gives Melchizedek ten percent of everything he had.

- Psalm 110:4 “The Lord has sworn a solemn pledge and won’t change his mind: You are a priest forever in line with Melchizedek.”

That’s it. That is all we get about this guy who Jesus is in line with.  However, we can infer a few things.

- Melchizedek in Hebrew means “My King is the high righteousness” “High Righteousness” is a name for God. Which means Melchizedek worships God.

- There are traditions outside of the Bible regarding Melchizedek.

- For some reason this Melchizedek is important enough that Abram gave him 10% of everything he had.

- Melchizedek rules Salem which becomes Jerusalem under King David.

- So this guy is largely a stranger to Abram and there are no other events about him in the Bible. Only 1 Psalm references a priestly order that started with Melchizedek. and then we have Hebrews that says Jesus is just like Melchizedek.

- So why would Abram randomly hand over 10% of everything he had to a person he is meeting for the first?

- Why would this one event become the entire basis for tithing in todays church? All the history of giving a tithe to the church comes from right at this moment in Genesis 14.

- Why would Abram refuse to take any money from the king of Sodom?

- Why would Jesus be referred to here as an equal to Melchizedek? (Later, he gets called greater than Melchizedek, and we will get there)

- And what does this have to do with Palm Sunday?

Look at Hebrews 5

- Jesus didn’t seek his own. He didn’t seek to save himself.  Instead Jesus was busy feeding others. He was busy making sure people had the bread of life and real food.

- Jesus didn’t try to be the highest in the land, instead he came with food that people needed.

- Jesus didn’t try to take glory for himself, instead he gave glory to God.

Genesis 14

- Melchizedek didn’t ask for money and seek to further his own kingdom instead he just gave food. Food is life…he made sure that Abram could live.

- Melchizedek didn’t take his own glory he gave glory to God.

The Israelites hearing this sermon would have made this connection.

So Jesus and Melchizedek both took lower spots to lift others up.  To lift up an entire group of people.

And so we get this Jesus who makes himself lower and lifts us up so that we can know that we are in right standing with God.

And what is our natural response to anyone who lifts us up when we are hurting, starving, and in need of help? We want to response with gratitude.

And so Abram gives Melchizedek 10% and we are called to give Jesus our entire life. Everything we have, because Jesus gave us everything he is.

Abram got some drink and some bread.  We get the body and blood of our savior. And so we take communion and we eat this bread and drink of the cup as a way of remembering that Jesus did not seek his own, did not seek to make a profit or to be a success. Instead Jesus came lowly, on a donkey, to save our life and keep us alive for eternity. to erase our hope and replace it with confidence that we are loved and accepted by god.

Sermon Audio