Thoughts From Hebrews 12

...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles...

 “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,

    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  Hebrews 12:1,5b-11

                  Getting saved is not the end - it's just the beginning. As we just saw in the preceding "Faith Chapter", people were applauded for their faith which was always followed by a verb. True faith acts out. For us, if we have faith we then "run the race". "Run the race" means that once we are saved God gives us a mission in life that is uniquely fitted to our S.H.A.P.E. which is an acronym for Spiritual Gifts, Heart (passion), Abilities, Personality, Experiences. In order to most effectively accomplish our mission, which the writer describes as producing a harvest of righteousness and peace, we must remove the sin from our life and the baggage we are carrying and God helps us in that process in the form of discipline.

            Discipline hurts! You may have a lot of stressful, anxiety provoking difficulties going on in your life making you wonder - "Isn't the Christian life supposed to be smoother than this?" First of all you have to ask, "Have I stepped out from under the umbrella of protection that an obedient life to Christ offers?" We are free to sin and not follow God's rules of living but if we do, sin carries its own inherent baggage. Not only that but it blocks the spirit empowered life so we end up running the race on our own power. Tony Evans compares that to using a chain saw without turning it on - it's ineffective. God will make sure, if you are a believer, that you don't get away with sin or enjoy it to keep us on a short leash so we can get back to running the race. How much of your trials are self inflicted?

               Secondly, you may be slowed down in the race by things that aren't or didn't start out as sins but now are distracting you from the race. Some of these things may even have taken priority to running  the race and in that case have set up idols in your heart. In his book "Counterfeit Gods", Tim Keller talks about different idols of the heart and I'm going to give some scenarios that might be going on in your life that are uncomfortable but necessary Fatherly discipline to diagnose and remove those idols, or weights that are keeping you from effectively running the race. This will hopefully help you look past the stressors in your life and into the purposes and long term benefits of this God allowed or induced training.

          1." I feel like I am powerless at work and the low person on the totem pole. I have no influence or authority." (Power idol) God has the ultimate power. Are you OK in surrendering it all to him or are you wanting a piece of that?

          2. "I feel like no one loves me or respects me" (approval idol) God does. He thinks you are so awesome He sent His Son to die for you. Is that enough approval for you?

          3. "I have so many health problems that I can't enjoy life like I used to." (comfort idol) You were made for eternity. This life is a vapor. You will get a new body. Is that reassuring enough for you?

         4. "My life is out of control. I can't get on top of things. I'm overwhelmed!" (control idol) Are you OK with surrendering control of your life to God or do you need to help Him out?

         5. "I feel un-needed and useless" (Helping idol) Your worth isn't found in what you can do but who God thinks you are. You are a human being not a human doing. Where are you obtaining your self worth?

         6. "I feel like no one is watching out for me. Why do I have to keep meeting everyone elses needs? Who is protecting me?" (Dependence idol) Look at the lillies of the field and the birds of the air. Are you not more important to God than they?

        7. "My every move is dictated by other people. I need freedom!" (independence idol) Jesus said true life is found in serving and giving. The Christian life gives the ultimate freedom and rest. Are you being selfish or self less?

        8. "I feel like I'm spinning my wheels and accomplishing nothing."(work idol) It's not always the destination that matters but what happens along the route. Glorify God in the present.

        9. "No one even notices me at work. I'm not getting rewarded for my hard work." (achievement idol) God sees your work. Are you working as for the Lord? Are you OK with rewards in heaven rather than Earthly recognition?

      10. "Inflation and the economy is devestating us. Our savings are at an all time low, we are in debt up to our ears and living on a shoe string budget." (materialism idol) God is helping you distinguish between needs and wants - between earthly treasures and heavenly. Where your trasure is there will your heart be also.

      11. "I never miss church, Sunday School,... I serve on committees, tithe... why aren't things going better? God owes me!" (religion idol) These things are gifts given to us by God not vice versa. Are you trying to use religious acts as bargaining chips with God?

     12. "I continue to be single and lonely. Doesn't God care? I may need to lower my standards." (relationship idol) Is Jesus enough? Are you in love with Him?

      13. "Minorities are filling the schools, moving into my neighborhood and taking all the jobs." (racial/cultural idol) So you are more important to God than other races and cultures? 

      14. "My children are leaving the nest, ignoring my calls and making life choices that reflect poorly on me as a parent." (family idol) You don't get your value, significance, and meaning for life from your family.You are in a new family.

      15. "The political party in power is ruining the country and I see no end in sight." (ideology idol) God is the ruler of the Kingdom of God. Whose kingdom do you belong to?

       16. "I've gained 20 lbs, I'm getting wrinkles, and I no longer turn heads. I think I need plastic surgery." (Image idol) You are God's workmanship and a unique masterpiece. Can you find comfort in the fact that He sees you as beautiful?

           I can relate to at least 3 of these and these points of tension are areas where God is exposing idols as He disciplines me to be more Holy and to run a better race. What about you? Where is God pruning you?

          

I've Got A case of the "I Can't Help Its"

   "As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:20

            After Pentecost occurred, the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, went into thje marketplaces proclaiming the gospel and had such an effect that the religious rulers, who were responsible for Christ's crucifixion, had them arrested. They were interrogated, intimidated, beaten, and threatened with worse if they continued to preach salvation in Jesus. Without batting an eye they responded as we see in the above passage. It was basically I would if I could but I can't help myself.

    I think of some other verses like

"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." 2 Cor. 5:14

But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. Jer.20:9

    We so often approach our faith in "I must" rather than "I get to". I must have a quiet time, I must pray, I must witness, I must go to church"... rather than "I get to read my Bible, I get to spend intimate time with my savior, I get to share with people all the good things God has done, I get to meet with fellow believers in joint worship"...

    When I am on a trip away from home, the first thing I will do is tell people about my wife, my 4 kids and their spouses, and my nine grandchildren and counting. Why? Because I have to? No. The love of them compels me. I can't hold it in. It's too wonderful to contain. I have a case of the "I can't help its"!

      Do you love God like this? Do you have a case of the "I got to's" or "I get to's"?

What Else Do you want!!!

 "All my grandfather’s descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?” (Mephibosheth to David) 2Sam. 19:28

        Do you know people (maybe you are one) that is mad at God and maybe have even gone as far as deconverting or at least temporarily turned their back on Him because He didn't "come through" when they needed Him to? Maybe it was the death of a loved one who they were convinced would be healed but they weren't. Maybe it was a job or raise or promotion at work that they were fasting and praying for and it seemed to only have fallen on "deaf ears." These people might even say, "Here I am going to Church every Sunday, tithing, saying my prayers, and what do I have to show for it? The heathen next to me is getting richer and her kids are winning all the awards at school and they don't seem to have a care in the world."

        Asaph had the same issue in Psalm 73 as he wrestled with the ungodly prospering while he was following God and had nothing to show for it. He was about to let go when he went to the house of God and his thinking was straightened out. Maybe this blog can straighten out someone's thinking.

        In the above passage, David had to flee Jerusalem because Absolom was coming in with an army and his friend Mephibosheth didn't accompany him. Ziba, Mephibosheth's servant told David that it was because he had decided to side with Absolom but when David eventually defeated Absolom and made his way back to Jerusalem, Mephibosheth met him and stated it was because he was crippled and no one helped him flee with David. Who was David to believe? David decided to divide Mephibosheth's land half and half between Mephibosheth and Ziba because frankly they were probably both telling half truths and there was no Holy water to have them drink to see whose stomach bloated for telling lies like the test for the unfaithful wife. (Numbers 5 bizarre passage) In other words David had no way of discerning who was telling the truth and he had more important things to deal with.

        The highlight of this whole story is Mephibosheth's response to David. He basically says that David has given him such undeserved grace and mercy because as Saul's son he deserved death, yet David gave him land and a daily invitation to eat at the king's table, that he submits his whole life to the king to do with as the king pleases. He doesn't deserve any special treatment, he has already gotten it.

         What do we deserve? One thing - Hell. That's all. Yet God sent his Son Jesus to die for our sin and rebellion. Those who are thinking of rejecting God because their outdoor wedding was rained on, people got food poisoning, there was a plague of mosquitoes, and the overhead speakers didn't work - show they don't realize the grace and mercy they have received and what it cost the Father.

        Live lives of gratitude. What more do you want???

Using Your Abilities

                        2Sam.18:23   He said,"Come what may, I want to run."

              Ahimaaz was a runner. That was his ability and he was fast and he loved to do it. Absolom had just been killed despite King David's plea to spare his life, so this news had to be taken to the king. Joab told Ahimaaz, who wanted to run the news to David, "Let's send someone more expendable than you," because King David had previously killed bearers of bad news such as in the death of Saul and Ishbosheth. Nevertheless, Ahimaaz insisted on going.

              God gives us abilities that we have to use to feel fulfilled in life, no matter what the risks. Don't play it safe. Don't be stupid (vs.29) but don't neglect the use of your abilities due to risk of failure, danger, mockery or looking like a fool.

Thoughts From Hebrews 6

 4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.   Hebrews 6:4-6

             Deconversion stories have been around for a while. In the New Testament you have Judas and Demas (2 Tim. 4:10), but lately, because of social media we are able to view them in real time. Chuck Templeton, a young evangelist that was Billy Graham's side kick and cofounder of Youth For Christ is a pre-internet famous deconversion. Billy Graham’s shadow: Chuck Templeton and the crisis of American religion – Friends of Justice In fact, one of Lee Strobel's "Case for..." books was dedicated to and aimed at bringing him back to the faith which was unsuccessful.

          Bob Dylan, B.J.Thomas, Marty sampson, KMax, Gungor, Vicky Beeching, Jennifer Knapp, and that is just in the Christian Music world. My dad started a florishing church in the Milwaukee suburbs with a man who later left his wife and family and told my dad, "John, I can't believe how many years of my life I wasted doing this Jesus thing." Have you ever known a deconversion story that turned into a reconversion story? I've never heard of one. I wonder if that is what this passage is talking about? Was the author warning these new converts to Christianity not to deconvert to works based religion at the risk of losing their salvation?

     I recently heard a message by a pastor in Knoxville who said that he doesn't believe a person can lose their salvation but he believes a person can give up their salvation. In other words if a person says "I no longer want to be a Christian", God releases him of his vows. I've always believed a person can't lose their salvation because of the overwhelming verses supporting this plus the fact that it leads to works based salvation. However, you can't deny that there are a number of verses that people who believe you can lose your salvation can use to support their position. I wonder if the view that you can't lose it but you can willingly give it away is the correct view? This passage would certainly support this.

         If the latter view is true there are several conclusions

           1. You can't come back because Christ can't die for your sins a second time. Therefore if someone reconverts you have to argue that they were never saved the first time. This allows us to go after the defectors begging them to come back knowing it might still be possible

          2. This would solidify the view that you can't lose your salvation. My Church of God friends who believe this have youth conventions where hundreds of kids get saved every year. This is because in the past year they have committed many sins and have lost their salvation and need to be re-saved. If these verses in Hebrews 6 are true, then their reconversion is impossible.

        So what is the takeaway? Get to know Jesus and His Word better and better. Study the objections to the faith and find answers so you will be intellectually convinced. Flee from areas of temptation. Work out your salvation falling deeper in love with Jesus so that you will answer like Peter in John 6:68 "Lord to whom else would we go?"

Thoughts From Hebrews - Chapter 5

" We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."  Hebrews 5:11-14

                        I have never been able to do a gainer. Do you know what that is? (maybe I've never been able to spell it either) A gainer is a diving move where you do a back flip facing forward. Now just to be clear, it's possible I can do a gainer, the truth of the matter is I've never tried - I'm scared to. I picture myself hitting my head on the board or landing flat on my back in the water with that sickening thwap sound and subsequent burning sensation. I've stood on the end of the board and contemplated it multiple times but always convert the dive to a cannonball in mid-air.

                      So far, the writer of Hebrews has been pleading with the readers who were Old Testament, law abiding Jews recently exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to go all in. They are standing on the edge of the diving board afraid to jump. In chapter 2 (s)he says that they are like a person who doesn't land their boat but just abuts the shore. What's going to happen? The boat is going to drift away. In chapter 3 he compares them to the Moses led Israelites who didn't cross the Jordan river because they were scared and died in the wilderness. They stood on the edge looking at the fortified cities and the "big people", maybe they even had their toes in the water, and turned around and missed out on the salvation that God had for them. In Chapter 4 the author compares them to the Joshua led Israelites who crossed the Jordan, won miraculous victories and then left the enemy living in their land because they were afraid to go all the way. They went to conquer a city, maybe even stood at the gate partially opened and then said, "nah, they have iron chariots". They missed out on the peace that God had promised them. 

                  Because, like the unmoored boat, the tiptoeing in the water, the unentered gate, me on the edge of the diving board, the Hebrews were straddling the fence between the Law and the New Covenant. "Do we go all in and leave the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the feasts, the sabbaths, cleanliness laws etc. and jump into Christianity with no plan B? With no exit strategy? With no safety net?" Because of that, Paul compared them to babies. They were like a bird that refuses to leave the nest or a 30 year old gamer living in his parent's basement. They were meant to fly and they are in danger of being totally useless or worse, turning back and forsaking Jesus.

                  How does this relate to us? I think it is clear as we see it in the Church and every fellowship we have ever been in. I've been asked by the pastor to be on a panel at church Sunday evening to discuss evangelism. Why me? Why the need, even. Because people want to have one foot in Christianity and one in the world and to tell people that they are lost doesn't endear you to your after office club. Why do 70% of the youth fall away when they head to college? Why do they stuggle with sex and partying? Because they refuse to go all in with Christ. Yes, Hebrews is written 2000 years ago to a different situation but could it relate any clearer to us? I don't want to gain the world and lose my soul. I don't want to get to Heaven wearing diapers and be ashamed to have nothing to show for my life. Do you?

Thoughts From Hebrews - Chapter 4

 

    The word "rest" appears 13 times in Chapters 3 and 4 and I'd like to divide it into two categories - the Moses rest and the Joshua rest both of which were actually unsuccessful rests but point to rests that are attainable for us.

     Moses was to lead the people into the promised land but was unsuccessful because the spies gave a bad report and even though the Israelites had daily supernatural proof of the power of God, they thought the people of the land were too big to defeat. He never crossed the river Jordan with them. Now if you have ever been to a geriatric church service, you understand the significance and symbolism of crossing the River Jordan - this is entering Heaven, our eternal rest. If we combine belief with faith we can be saved and attain this eternal rest - the rest that Moses, symbolizing the law, could never give them. The Law does not save. The Law points to our need for a savior and in effect so many of the laws point to and were fulfilled by Christ who came not to destroy the law but fulfill it. 1John 5 states that we can know we have this eternal life and this life is through faith in Jesus Christ. Have you attained this rest through faith in Jesus' blood shed for you?

      Joshua did lead them into the promised land so he gave them rest, right? Hebrews 4:8 says an emphatic "no". Why not? Because the people lacked faith. When they got into Caanan they were to drive the inhabitants out or else they would continue to be thorns in their sides from internal and external attacks but the 12 tribes did not do what they were instructed to do because of various excuses like "they have iron chariots", "they are determined to live in the land", "they make good slaves", etc. After having the walls of Jericho fall down by marching around them, passing through a divided river on dry river bed, after seeing one person defeating 1000, after going through wars without one person being injured, they lacked faith to cleanse the land and therefore never had rest. The rest I call this is soul rest the kind of rest Jesus talks about when He says come unto me and you will have rest for your souls. We all have areas of our life where we don't have rest. It could be a lawsuit, an outstanding debt, a sickness, looming unemployment, marital or family issues and the list goes on.

        How many of these were self inflicted - we didn't trust God enough to obey his word and be obedient in every area of our life and we are reaping the lack of rest that comes along with this?I call this the Morton Salt girl phenomenon.

She is anxiety free in the rain (she is even spilling her salt) because she is under the protection of an umbrella. Imagine, in our lives, the umbrella is the Bible. If we live according to God's word we will be protected from all the carnage that sin brings with it. They say that divorce rates among Christians are the same as non- christians. I wonder if they factored in Christians who abstained until marriage and "Christians" who didn't. I wonder how many "Christians" who are in extreme financial anxiety have been faithful in tithing? And the list goes on. Do you have faith that God has promised you peace in the land if you only obey Him in all areas of your life?

Obviously this is one factor of soul rest and there are many more, but I encourage you to start with this one and see if God gives you "rest in the land."