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."

Thoughts From Hebrews - Chapter 3

                                         Hebrews 3:3-6

 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house.

                 As we continue with the theme Jesus is Greater, we see what else Jesus is greater than in this passage. We have seen that Jesus is greater than the angels, the devil, the Old Testament, Moses... but now we see that Jesus is bigger than religion. Let me explain by looking at a passage in Genesis where God appears to Jacob in the famous "Jacob's Ladder" account.

 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

         What we see in this passage is a God coming down from Heaven to give man a promise of blessing, no strings attached. Unconditional love for a scoundrel. What did Jacob have to do? Believe it, receive it, and go back to sleep. What did he do instead? In math we called it an "if - then" equation. He said that if God would watch over him, bless him, give him a good future, then Jacob would worship Him and tithe. And not only that, he built an altar to honor the place where it all happened and named it Bethel which means The house of God. This is religion - doing things for God so that He will bless you and honoring the place (the church) more than God. When I ask people "Are you a Christian?" at least half the time they will tell me, "I go to such and such church". Unfortunately you can see what will inevitably happen - when God doesn't come through on His perceived part of the bargain, then the deal is off. It is a man centered deal. That's religion. The writer of Hebrews warns the hearers that they are in danger of this. They are worshipping a place and the founder and leader of the place rather than the one who is in and over the place and founder. The conclusion of the Jacob story is seen in Genesis  35.

 Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

         When he wrestled with God face to face and realized that God could have dissintegrated him if He had wanted to yet let him live, He came to grips with the Holiness of God and that this life wasn't about him but about God. God didn't exist for Jacob but Jacob existed for God. This brought about getting rid of all other gods and worshipping and following one God. This meant going where He tells you to go. Notice he renamed the place. It was no longer "The house of God" but el Bethel - "The God of the house of God"

       The writer of Hebrews says to stop their religious worshipping of the law, the temple, the leaders but worship Jesus who is greater than all that stuff. Are we in danger of doing what the Hebrews were doing?

Thoughts on Hebrews - Chapter 2

                                                       Hebrews 2:1-3

 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?

                  I remember growing up in Church and I would often ask my Dad after the service, "What did you think of the message?" I had multiple reasons for asking him. Sometimes it was a pre-emptive strike.  In other words, ask him before he asked me because my mind had wandered. Sometimes it was because I didn't get anything out of it I wanted some validation that yes it was wanting. Most of all I valued his opinion and maybe I could have him summarize some truths that I may have missed (while I was looking at girls). I can remember him saying more than once, "It was a good salvation message, and I hope some unsaved people were there" which of course rarely happens at Sunday PM services or midweek prayer meetings. His underlying point was, "I'm saved already, I don't need to hear how to be saved, let's have some meat." Now I, too, have echoed this sentiment and I must say, I'm starting to rethink it. In fact the writer of Hebrews is warning us don't ignore this salvation or you will start to drift away.

               Not only does the writer of Hebrews emphasize to fellow believers not to ignore the salvation message but this is how Paul formulated his epistles. Ephesians 1-3, Collosians 1-2, Romans 1-11 all describe the gospel and then the remaining chapters then tell us in light of the gospel, here is how you should live.

                How does recounting the gospel keep us from drifting away? As we are tempted to fall back into sin we are reminded that Jesus horrendously suffered and died for that sin. Why would we even entertain it. As I'm tempted to worry about tomorrow I can tell myself, "At least I'm not being crucified." As i have worries about health, sickness, death, I remind myself that Jesus rose from the dead to defeat death and prepare a new sickness free body. As i think, why hasn't God done anything for me lately, I'm reminded that He gave His son for me, what else do I want? When I'm tempted to get revenge or hate people I'm reminded that Jesus said "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."  When we are tempted to think, "Is there another way?", we were reminded that Jesus asked the same thing and the answer was "no."

                 So never get tired of hearing how to be saved. In fact, think of creative ways to share it and memorize verses that explain it from both the Old Testament and the New. It will keep you from drifting.

Thoughts From Hebrews - Chapter 1

             Hebrews 1:1-3

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven

          What does it mean to you that Jesus sat down? I think of my wife cooking Thanksgiving dinner and after hours of cooking - she sits down. (probably not a good illustration because she would tell me that her work is nowhere near done) When I finish a surgery, sometimes after hours of standing I go sit down. When the pastor is done with his message he sits down. To me, the implication is that Christ accomplished what He set out to do. We think of Jesus fulfilling 3 offices - prophet, priest, and King, and I think these 3 verses reveal his "sitting down" in these 3 offices.

         First as a prophet. What does a prophet do? He gives the Word of God to the people. The author of Hebrews says in verse 2 that Jesus came as the final word of God. The Old Covenant was given and completed and compiled, now Jesus came to give the New Covenant. Old wineskins could not contain Him. When He preached He would say, "You've heard it said...but I say." "Whoever doesn't listen to these words of mine is like a foolish man..." How arrogant to say your words supercede the divinely inspired words of the Old Testament unless you are God, which by the way He was (and is). He even said that the Old Testament was talking about Him in John 5. Jesus was even referred to as the Word of God in John 1 and 1 John 1. He also said to hear Him was to hear God in John 12:50. The writings we see in the New Testament are His words which were carried to the churches by eyewitnesses who heard these teachings, recorded them without error (God saw to that) and their veracity was confirmed by signs, wonders, miracles performed by those recording those words.  Therefore Jesus completed the Bible and sat down.

        Secondly as a priest. What did a priest do? If a prophet took God to the people, a priest took the people to God. Thats why the daily job of the priest was to offer sacrifices so that the people's sins would be atoned so they could be to a very limited sense in the presence of God. That being said, they could only enter so far into the temple, they couldn't go near the mountain, and they had to do sacrifices over and over on a daily basis so I tend to think of it rather than enabling them to be in the presence of God it allowed them to be in the neighberhood without being incinerated. But then comes Jesus who offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice once and for all on the cross and His last words were "It is finished". Now the veil is torn, our sins are washed away and we can boldly enter His presence. He sat down!

        Lastly as a King. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, the place of might - the place of authority - the place of a Prince. In Joshua 10:23-25 we see the symbolism of the enemies being placed under Jesus' feet.

    So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24 When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks.25 Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.”

       All enemies have been placed under Jesus' feet. He is standing on the neck of sin, the devil, sickness, pain, suffering, evil, dictators, drugs and finally death and He is just waiting to plunge the sword through but He knows when He does, time is up for unbelievers and He waits because He isn't willing that any should perish. He sat down as king.

                And this Jesus calls me His brother! What grace! No wonder I worship and adore Him!