rich’s blog

Introduction: 

So.  We are talking about a difficult passage today, a tricky passage.  And in order to talk about it well we’ll have to look at the book of Hebrews as a whole, we’ll have to talk about why this passage can be so difficult for us. 

 

And I’ll do a little “theology on the ground” this morning; a reading from where I am right now, spiritually, and offer it to you all as fodder for the responses we might have to today’s passage. 

 

And I hope that by the end of this morning we can react differently to this passage; but also begin to address why it is so hard for us. Cool? Let’s pray.

  

Prayer:

Lord.  Inform us this morning; and position us for transformation, too.  Shut me down if I mislead us. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

 

Bibles: 

I’ll be reading quite a bit of text today, and it would have taken a very long time to make slides of all of it; so I’d ask that we take a second to turn to Hebrews.  It’s page ? if you’re using one of the blue bibles in the chair in front of you.  Feel free to either listen or read along with me when we look at the passage, okay? 

So let’s go over some basics.  

 

Audience: 

It isn’t easy to figure out who the audience of Hebrews really was; people suggest different possibilities.  But it more or less had to be a jewish audience.  The reason, in fact, that we call this the letter to the Hebrews is because it seems written to hebrew people; jews.  People who were really familiar with all sorts of things we forget now and then: the way God worked through Abraham to build Israel into a great nation, how God instituted the law through Moses, and how the law dealt with sin so that Israel could be in that special relationship, covenant relationship with God. How the Temple was established as a place where sacrifices for sin could happen.  These were important things to a Jewish Christian; maybe more important than they are to us. 

 

Where this audience lived is a difficult thing to discern.  One scholar piles up quite a bit of evidence to say that they lived in Rome; that these Jewish Christians have been particularly influenced by Greek Judaism, which had some special emphases, one of which was that Moses was really, really important. (cf. Lane,1viii ff. WBC).  They would have gathered in a house church, like all Christians. And the author of Hebrews knew his audience.  

 

Lane calls this audience “an assembly in crisis” (Lane, 1xi WBC).  We’ll talk more about why soon.  But one thing is clear; these Jewish Christians have become what the author of Hebrews calls “dull in understanding.”  They’ve let go, forgotten so many basic things they should never have forgotten.  He calls them out, saying they should be teachers by now; but they’re like little babies instead. 

 

This may or may not be surprising given that this church has been through a lot.  Chapter 10 of Hebrews talks about the suffering they’ve endured; and in fact, the suffering  described in that chapter–abuse, imprisonment, people stealing their property–is probably a description of what happened to this church when Jewish Christians were kicked out of Rome in 49 AD. (cf. Lane 1xiii ff. WBC).  The author of Hebrews knows this; knows them, and wants them not to give up on their faith, on Jesus. 

 

Author: 

But interestingly, we have no idea who wrote the book of Hebrews. People have been suggesting authors for this letter for a couple thousand years. It was probably written by a male, for various reasons; but we don’t at all know for sure.  Probably not Paul; maybe Barnabas or Apollos. It has been used and trusted since the days of the earliest church; it’s quoted by a famous non-biblical letter that’s usually dated about 60 years after Jesus’ death.  But since we don’t know for sure who wrote it; let’s name the author H.

 

And H. writes the most beautiful, educated Greek in the New Testament.  We should remember, too, that if you’re going to persuade someone in the ancient world, presentation counted for a lot.  This is important, because H.–cool name, right? “You can call me H.”–wants to persuade.  

 

Hebrews: God’s Hammer of Persuasion

And even though most of us have heard the phrase “speak softly & carry a big stick,” the author of Hebrews never did.   He speaks loudly, persuasively, over and over and over. And he doesn’t need a stick because he just uses his words to scare his audience to death–Or toward life, I guess. But he’s not afraid of whapping people over the head with his rhetoric.  

 

But for H., everything begins and ends with Jesus. 

 

Starting Block: 

He starts by telling us that “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” 

 

And from the get-go, we realize that Hebrews is an argument; H. is trying to persuade us. Back then, long ago, God did stuff: but now Jesus has appeared, who is, in some mysterious way, God.  And the stuff he’s recently done overwhelms the stuff done back then.  

 

And really quickly H. begins to talk about how Moses, who all we Greek Jewish Christians think is so great, because he brought us the Law & enables us to draw close to God, is second to Jesus: because Jesus is God’s Son, an heir in God’s House, while Moses was simply a faithful servant in God’s house. 

 

And he reminds us of the weakness & sin of our ancestors: 

 

Read w/ me, starting in 3:12-4:2

 

Hebrews 3:12-4:2

 

And as we would read through or listen in on this letter we’d be feeling a little anxious already, wouldn’t we: oh man.  My physical ancestors barely cut the mustard; I’m wishy-washy about this whole Jesus thing right now anyway.  I’m up a creek.  What should I do?  Well, apparently believe.  Apparently be obedient to the Holy Spirit.  I better listen to what God is saying through this Son of his.  

 

I better, as H. suggests at the start of chapter 2 “pay greater attention to what we have heard,”–about Jesus–“so that we do not drift away from it.” What we’ve heard, or even seen are these “signs & wonders and various miracles…gifts of the Holy Spirit,” and all the things Jesus said & did. And we quickly realize that H. is worried we are going to drift away, likely drift back to things that we had left behind: Moses, and the law, and the rites and practices that kept me faithful to the covenant before Jesus showed up. 

 

And H. goes on in chapter 4 to talk about how “a sabbath rest…remains for the people of God,” one we’re supposed to look forward to. And through one after another–a huge pile of Old Testament references, he keeps pushing: pay attention, pay attention to Jesus, because he’s the only way to enter this rest.   

 

And all this is covered in warnings: “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts!” He warns us, quoting Scripture we know.  And we are thinking to ourselves; have I hardened my heart? Am I going to get the “sabbath rest” promised to God’s people? 

 

The author of Hebrews is trying to scare us, trying to get us questioning our values and what we know is true about Jesus, examine where we are in our faith. 

 

And then we get to the end of Chapter 4.  Read with me @ 4:11:

 

Hebrews 4:11-13

 

Oh God!  I mean.  This is panic!  We use this verse you know to talk about how powerful Scripture is; H. used it to motivate his first audience, basically through fear, to remind them that they best think about what he’s saying. 

 

And so we’re sitting here, with this mindset, feeling a little anxious and a little fearful, panicking, really, because we’re going to have to give an account to God, and thinking about how we’ve been acting recently, and the temptation we’ve probably had to turn back to the Jewish life and give up on this Messiah.   

 

Complex Argument: 

And then, this promise of judgment ringing in our ears, H. goes into a really complex, beautiful–if you’re into this sort of thing–argument that in some ways lasts the rest of the book.  Our passage lands right in the middle of it; and we’ll look at that soon.  But let me simplify the argument for us, a little.  

 

Jesus is a high priest. (cf. 4:14ish-5:4ish)  I’m putting “ishes” on here because arguments are not always linear, especially this one: which carries some of its beautiful rhetorical force simply from how complex it is.  

 

Jesus is a special sort of high priest; “A priest forever, according the order of Melchizedek.” (cf. 5:5-10ish) We’ll talk about this fella in a “zecond.” 

 

Don’t forget that all God’s people came from Abraham; he’s our father, our “patriarch.” (cf. 6:13ff) Or as I like to call him, our “origin-daddy.” 

 

Melchizedek was a “priest of the most high God,” to whom Abraham had to pay tribute; so he must have been more important than Abraham–because who pays a tithe to somebody less important than them?! (cf. 7:1-10ish) The answer is nobody, of course!

 

Plus, Melchizedek blessed Abraham; and who blesses someone less important than them?! (cf. 7:1-10ish)   Again: nobody!  Geeze!  We all know this!  “It is beyond dispute the inferior is blessed by the superior,” says H. Okay.

 

Plus, Levites–who descend from Abraham–sort of paid tithes to Melchizedek, too, since Abraham their ancestor did! (cf. 7:4-10ish)   And Levites, of course are the ones the law depends on; the Temple System depends on.  If, as I’ve suggested, H.’s audience is thinking about going back to Jewish stuff, and giving up the whole Jesus was the Messiah thing, they’re going to be extra concerned about the Levitical priesthood. H. is stacking up a case against the Levitical priesthood here though, right? You can see where this is going.

 

There are two “priestly orders”: Melchizedek & the Levitical one we’re all familiar with. But when Jesus showed up, the Levitical one we’ve been rolling with is out.  It is simply no longer relevant. (cf. 7:11-16ish) And because of this, well: read with me, if you want in 7:17:

 

Hebrews 7:17-22

 

Are we all together so far? 

 

Plus! Jesus is not only “priest” but also “sacrifice.”  A one-time sacrifice, and a never-ending priest (because he’s resurrected and in the presence of God!)

(cf. 9:23-28ish)

 

God has established a new covenant through him! (Cf. 9-10:13

 

This really makes the levitical, Temple-based system (“the law”) invalid, because we don’t need anymore sacrifices or Levitical priests; it’s a double-whammy. (cf. 10:1-11ish)

 

But we don’t have to get all anxious, and worried about how we’ll be pleasing to God & keep the relationship we have with God, because we’ve been forgiven and we’ve been given the Holy Spirit. (cf. 10:14-18ish) 

 

And H. says that because of all this–we read in 10:19-25–because of all this: 

 

Hebrews 10:19-25

 

Okay, right?  We’re persuaded.  We’ll persist, we’ll “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering,” because we’re remembering how faithful Jesus is.  

 

More Warnings!

But H. immediately goes on to warn us again, and remind us to persevere.  And we’re shown motivating examples of the faith of our heroes, our ancestors: Maybe we’ve been looking back at them, thinking about how nice it was to be just Jewish, before we got involved with Jesus; ben even they didn’t get to take part in what we get to take part in.  

 

And the book ends the same sort of way it starts: more warnings: I can’t help but read it, 12:25:

 

Hebrews 12:25-29

 

Summary of Hebrews: 

I mean, do we see that the very start of this book, and it’s middle, and its end are pushes to get people to pay attention, to pay attention and get in line with what they’ve heard about Jesus; what they’ve known & already suffered for.  This is the thrust of Hebrews, and it’s made in a thousand different arguments.  And H. uses fear & warnings & threats to motivate his audience to turn back to what they know, not give up, and avoid trying to take up the law again; not because it’s not “as good,” but because it can no longer do what they think it can do.  The priesthood has been replaced with a new order, with one priest; and sacrifices are over; there was one sacrifice.  This is the theological framework that H. uses, and it makes a ton of sense in its original context, doesn’t it?  It really does.   

 

And this basic thing that’s going on throughout the book; it’s the same thing going on in our passage today. 

 

H6:  

And so as we look at today’s passage together, let’s really try to make connections between this passage and all the things we’ve been talking about in Hebrews as a whole, okay?  We have to do this, really: because we just can’t make sense of today’s passage unless we do. 

 

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so. (6:1-3, tniv)

 

H. starts by calling for us to move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ, foundational, basic, information, and move on instead into maturity. 

And just in case we forgot what those elementary teachings are, he reminds us. 

 

He tells us to turn away from acts that lead to death.  And he’s probably not simply saying “don’t sin anymore,” but also reminding us about how all these religious acts we do because the Law tells us to just don’t do anything anymore; they are non-functional.  In fact, among the pile of ancient manuscript bits we’ve got, a strong alternative reading of this “acts that lead to death” is the phrase “useless rituals.” Which makes a lot of sense given what we know about this letter, doesn’t it? He’s reminding us that turning away from the temple system, the law with all its rituals was basic information, and we should know it by now.  

 

And he talks to us about other basic things that we need to remember: faith in God, instructions about cleansing rites, very likely a reference to baptism, the laying on of hands that would take place after baptism, resurrection of the dead, which began in Jesus, and enabled him to the high priest we need him to be.  

 

And elementary stuff includes judgment; and the author of Hebrews reminds us about it, over and over, right? But it is a basic part of Christianity; so is the promise that we’ll survive judgment, because of what God has done for us. 

 

    It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 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. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. (6:4-8 tniv)

 

H. heaps up image after image of all the good things that faith brings us: “those who have been enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift, have shared in the Holy Spirit, have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age.” All these images of the sweetness that comes with our faith.  He heaps them up, one on top of another; and it’s a beautiful picture of what salvation is like in our lives.  It’s a great picture. 

 

And H. is not laying out levels of spiritual attainment.  It’s not as if this person has reached “enlightened,” but this person has reached “tasted the powers of the coming age.” This is a beautiful picture of our salvation in Jesus.

 

But H. tells us that if someone who has experienced these things, this salvation life, should fall away: they can’t be brought back to repentance.  “To their loss,” we’re told, ‘They are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” 

 

One scholar points out how the language H. uses here points to a “decisive moment of commitment to apostasy.” apostasy is the deliberate rejection of  all the commitments we make as Christians. (Lane, 142 WBC 47a). “I’m done with this Jesus.  I’m going back to the Law forever.”  And some of his audience were probably entertaining it.  Lane states that “What is visualized by the expressions in verse 6 is every form of departure from faith in the crucified Son of God” (Lane, 142, WBC 47a).  

 

He goes on to discuss how land that’s not “useful” ends up being burned down, clear-cut with fire.  And we remember, maybe, me reading that God is a consuming fire, right?  We would remember this passage in chapter 6 when we come to the very end of Chapter 12.  We’d remember these verses later on in chapter 10 when we read “For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (10:26-28).  

 

This is a scary passage isn’t it?  It is a scary passage.  And it’s like so much of what we’ve seen as we’ve walked through Hebrews: H. warning us, scaring us a little, motivating us.  And it is motivating right?  I’m not going there!  I don’t want that!  

 

But we’d also wonder, especially if we are Jewish Christians, looking back fondly on the days before we had to deal with Jesus, and face all this trouble, and thinking about how nice it was when we had those “rituals” that H. is calling “useless.”  We’d be thinking: Oh Man!  Am I out?  Is it too late?  

 

And anxiously, we’d keep reading, hoping for something to make our anxiety go away.  And H. gives it, right?  He affirms in ways we’ve seen throughout Hebrews. 

 

    Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. (6:9-12)

 

H. jumps in and says, but you all, friends, don’t need to worry about this.  I’m just mentioning it to motivate you to keep on keeping on.  

 

We’re anxious, right?  Panicky, maybe: and H is telling us: Hey, you know: God isn’t unjust; God plays fair.  He’s not going to forget all the great things you’ve done for his people, the love you’ve shown him, the things you’ve experienced.  He just doesn’t want us to become lazy, he just wants us to “make our hope sure.” To enter into the Sabbath Rest of God.

 

Convincing? 

And I think this paragraph would be more satisfying if we new greek; it would.  Lane points out how this is the first and only time H. calls his audience “Dear Friends.”  

 

But honestly, I don’t know if H. wants us to feel totally completely better, completely convinced that we’ve got nothing to worry about.  Because he’s scared for us.  We see this over and over and over; he doesn’t want us to turn back to the law, away from Christ, because we’ll be turning back to nothing. He’s trying to persuade us with every drop of rhetoric he’s got to keep the faith, and not look fondly to the past. 

 

God has reinstituted the forgotten priesthood of Melchizedek, and the Levitical system no longer has any affect at all. It is “useless ritualism.”  It doesn’t accomplish anything in terms of salvation.  And he is desperate to keep us from going back to it.  And I think, too, that his desperation is a pastoral desperation; his argument is a pastoral argument.  He is scared for us, because he knows if we reject Christ with the forcefulness he outlines here, we’re lost. 

 

And if we are going to figure out how best to apply this passage in our lives, we need to know what the authors intention of the passage was, and H.’s intention was clearly to persuade his audience to not go back to the law, because it is not an option anymore. 

 

Fear as a Motivator: 

The problem with his persuasion; my problem with his persuasion, is that fear as a motivator just isn’t all that great.  I know when we’re desperate to persuade someone we do it, you know; I understand that. 

 

If I were to stand up here and roar that God is a consuming fire; and if you turn your back on him having once known him, you may turn to him and cry and beg and call but your cries are bankrupt and soundless; God will be deaf to you, and nothing, nothing will restore your relationship with him.  Your soul will be as a field only fit for fire.  But don’t worry; don’t worry, my friends: I’m sure this won’t happen to you.

 

This would do two things: 

 

It would cause us to panic a little; and maybe we’d be really careful how we lived until at least lunch was over, or maybe forever, right? Who knows.

 

But for most of us, it would simply confirm what we already believe, deep in our hearts, in the deepest places, which is that that the promises of Jesus are a lie and a sham. The “don’t worry” would fly right over heads, friends or not.  As one commentator says, “The message marked “Ultimatum” should be reserved for the appropriate occasion, which most likely will never arise” (Craddock, NIB, 78).

 

Real Reason? 

I think the real reason this passage is difficult is honestly unrelated to our view of salvation.  I think it

 is difficult mostly because it confirms the still small voice inside us not of God, of love and peace, but of the evil one, of Hell.  It confirms our experiences of dismissal, unimportance, and reminds us that we should live in fear.  

 

Word of God: 

It is the word of God.  It has a great purpose.  H. was desperate, and God was desperate, that his beloved children not turn back to a law and a priesthood that had been cancelled out.  This passage wasn’t written for us to entertain the hypothetical in our heads “If I totally turn away from Jesus, utterly and forever, but somehow change my mind, what will happen?”  It was written to warn us not to; it was written to make us afraid of this scenario, so we wouldn’t look into trying it out.  

 

But honestly–and this is just where I’m at, right?–I feel like the very last thing I need to hear right now, and the last thing I want to tell you or anyone, is that your fears are true.  That God is just like…

 

…dad or mom, brother or sister, teacher or friend. God will betray you.  If you screw up, if you give up control, be authentic and vulnerable even for a second about your doubts, your fears or your losses…God’s just waiting for you to do it so that He can turn his back on you. Mistakes aren’t allowed. 

 

For many of us, if we take a moment to think about it, or take a year to deal with it, this passage confirms some terrible lesson we learned early on, that if it’s too good to be true it is, that you can’t trust anyone with power over you, that you better make sure, with all your energies, that you are perfect and acceptable and don’t rock the boat, because one or two steps in the wrong direction and you’ll end up lost forever in an unsafe, empty, meaningless, painful world. 

 

A Relevant Aside:  

I can’t say don’t worry about this passage; for some of us, worry is how we deal with the world.  I can’t say don’t let fear motivate you; for some of us, all we know is fear, and we have put all our energies into building up all sorts of defenses against us.  We make everyone love us, or everyone fear us, or no one notice us, just so that we can avoid dealing with our fear and confronting our losses.  

 

And of course, I don’t need to do this, it’s not dependent on me.  

 

Although let me talk about myself for a moment.  This may seem irrelevant; but I don’t think it is.  I believe, most days, that everything depends on me.  Everything. And I can never rest, never settle down, never not be attentive.

 

And much of this comes from my childhood.  I did grow up poor, and knew it; we did move around a lot, far from family; and I realized early on that if I didn’t take care of myself, no one would: because life was not safe, and there was no security in anything except the security I could manufacture for myself: being smart, being clever, being competent and capable.

 

When my parents divorced, I became parent; mom & dad, while my father worked because good luck surviving without cash.  And all this did was solidify what I had already learned; that everyone else gets a childhood–safety, encouragement, security, joy,  love, happiness–except for me.

 

And I have a big fat list of memories that I am slowly taking to the Lord and asking Jesus to be with me, love me, teach me powerfully the truth about who I am and how you love me, and help me experience it with you, Lord. Because at the end of the day, as its been said and I think may be true: what we believe has very little to do with what we know; it has to do with what we’ve experienced.  

 

Isn’t this true? Being hit because we’ve spoken out of turn when we are five is more powerful than anyone telling us in an hour: “You can say whatever you like.”  No.  I can’t.  I can never be frank, honest; because if I do, I’ll get hit. 

 

And most of us have experienced things that burned, branded into our souls, beliefs about ourselves and the world that are terrible.  And we have learned a thousand ways to avoid dealing with these painful experiences and painful lies. Some of us are successful, controlling, helpless, nice, driven, angry, wise, or invisible because at the end of the day we realize that acting in these ways gets us through life pretty “okay.”  It just never heals us.  I don’t want my goal to be “surviving,” do you?

 

A rare few of us have brought these painful experiences to the feet of Jesus and experienced, in a way that is truthful and real the healing that comes from Jesus’ love for us, pleasure over us, and the sacrifice God made because we are so special. We have experienced with Christ “truth” that replaces the slap in the face we got for speaking out of turn. 

 

And I don’t think any of us has nothing to deal with. I am not out there assuming everything I see in a person is some dysfunctional behavior that they do to avoid facing lies and terrible wounds; but if you think nothing I’ve said applies to you I do think you’re deceiving yourself. 

 

But passages like today: man, they can be triggers for some of us.  They bring to the surface all those terrible things we believe about ourselves and the world, that we try to stuff away but never really are able to get away from. H. telling us to watch out ends up being one more voice saying “watch out, because you can’t trust God. He doesn’t love you.” 

 

So:

So H. does motivate; he does.  Except I just don’t believe, personally, that fear is able to motivate more permanently and powerfully than love can.  Fear just piles on; we people are already afraid that the lies we believe really are the truth. Life has taught us that we’re not worth having around.  

 

What we need to experience is love, safety, security, encouragement, joy simply because we are who we are, in all our “naked and laid bare-ness.” 

We need to experience happiness and peace and the pleasure of God over us, and realize–have it made real–that we are safe and loved.

 

So what do we do? What am I trying to do? 

 

Against Fear: 

I am trying to learn how to pray.  To pray the psalms. To pray with honesty and desperation and anger and sadness to the Lord. Grieve those experiences that God brings to my mind: the insecurity I remember traveling across the country in a bus as a child, the time I saw Child’s Play, with that evil doll, on TV and never felt safe with my stuffed animals or in my bed at night again. I am trying to take these things to the Lord and say these and other things are not fair, were not fair, and should not have happened; but be real to me with your goodness oh God my Savior.  To pray like Jesus prayed at Gethsemane, w/ honesty. I am trying to “become more like Jesus” in this way especially right now.  

 

I am trying to draw close to safe people and safe places, where I can be known and loved, who will be as Christ, healing to me, saying “I am for you not against you. I will help plant you verdant places. And no matter how disgusting your fears or your terrors are, I will love you through them and protect you from any lie that I can.”  We need this; this is the body of Christ at its most healing, most pure.  “We join together,” don’t we? 

 

I am turning to Scripture, and positioning myself before the Lord, asking God with the Spirit to make real to me things that I have thus far honestly only “known” are true, not “experienced” as real. I am trying to allow God to reveal the false beliefs I live with as friends, and kick them out because they are enemies, and being guided by the truths of Scripture into prayerful moments where God says this is what’s true about you, this is what I say: I want truth to live for real in my soul, not just be listed out in my head.  Truth like Jesus’ statement that the Father himself loves us, me; that Jesus has conquered the world; that Jesus’ joy can be complete in me, that I really can abide in His love, that I am not left orphaned by the Spirit is with me, that Jesus is preparing a place for me, for us, right now.  I want to be convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I need to to know that I am chosen, destined for adoption, forgiven, piled up, lavished w/ grace, a work of God.  

 

I am reading Scripture with an eye to God’s love for me: the way he pursues and pursues and pursues like it’s his job the creation and the people–me, you–that he lost but so desperately loves. You can’t do much more than die for somebody; only one person ended up deciding there was so much more to do for me, and you, and the world he better come back to life forever to finish it. I am trying “to pursue God’s love,” right? With any power He’ll give me.  And experiencing the love of God tears apart any reason for me to entertain daydreams about if I hypothetically reject Jesus forever what would happen? 

 

And I am trying in the midst of this journey toward wholeness and healing, to pay attention to the Holy Spirit who loves me, and lives with me in power, a Christian soul mate. I am trying with the Spirit to renounce the lies and false beliefs that the accuser, satan, throws my way. And I am trying to discover ways to drink up the rain of this Spirit and let it bear a crop useful to the Lord, a crop of healing and wholeness. We want to “expand God’s Kingdom” in every way, right? 

 

It is finished: 

So.  This is a difficult passage.  But I don’t think it’s difficult because we want to know what would happen to us in a hypothetical situation.  I think it’s difficult because it really triggers a thousand fears in us that most of the time we simply avoid; and we desperately don’t want those fears to be true of God. We don’t want God to bail on us, no matter how deep into darkness we go. We want to believe that we really can be loved no matter what we do.

 

And understanding what H. was trying to do with this passage is important; I hope that is clearer than it was before.  But understanding how God feels about us, experiencing the truth of God’s love is, honestly, more important. If we could do that in the smallest measure, we would be as convinced as the author of Hebrews is that we have nothing to worry about. 

 

The experience of perfect love will have overwhelmed those experiences that have given birth to such deep fears. 

 

And we will remember and experience as true the promise that, as H. reminds us, God “will never leave nor forsake” us, and we’ll say, believing it completely, that “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” Nothing can harm me. Our hope in God will be “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure,” just as God wants it to be.  

 

Prayer: 

Lord: Be our God of peace, God who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of your eternal covenant, make us complete in everything good so that we might do your will, working among us that which is pleasing to you. 

 

And God let us know that you love us.  Replace in us the terrible lies we believe with powerful experiences of your love.  Be safe to us.  Be kind to us.  Tell us we are special and tell us that all will be well, all will be well, and you will never leave nor forsake us.  Replace our fears with your perfect love; and protect us from the Evil One who would destroy our joy, our pleasure, our glory and honor as your beloved children.  Act toward us with gentle power, and be our refuge in dark seasons and dismal places as you fill up the slimy pits in our lives with wells of living water.  Be our good God, and keep us your holy people, shining as lights against all darkness, never blown out.  Father,  we who are bruised reeds, who are dimly burning wicks: do not break us and do not blow us out. Hear and Answer, O Lord, in our time of trouble; and store joy inside us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.