Hebrews 12-13
December 8, 2024
We began our trek into the Mountains of Hebrews Here (w/ the Summit in Mind)…
Heb 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
… “THEREFORE, SINCE …Let Us
HEB 12-13 FLY-OVER…A LOT OF “TO-DOS”
…30+ “To-Do’s” …with a couple of significant “parenthetical thoughts”—
“let us…
1. “Lay aside weights & sins” (v. 1)
2. “Run with endurance” (v. 1)
3. “Looking to Jesus” (v.2); “Consider Him” (v. 3)
4. (Implied) “you’ve not yet resisted sin to the point of shedding blood” (v. 4)
[PARANTHESIS (1) – “The Discipline of the Lord”]
5. “Don’t regard lightly the discipline of the Lord” (v. 5)
6. “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet” (v. 12)
7. “Strive for peace with everyone” (v. 14)
8. “Strive for holiness.” (v. 14)
9. “See to it…that no one fails to obtain the grace of God” (v. 15)
10. “See to it …that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up” (v. 15)
11. “See to it …that no one is sexually immoral or unholy”
[PARANTHESIS 2 - This Ain’t Sinai—this is Zion, the Heavenly City of God!!]
12. “See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.” (v. 25)
13. “Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (v. 28)
14. “Let brotherly love continue.” (13:1)
15. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers…” (13:2)
16. “Remember those who are in prison…” (13:3)
17. “Let marriage be held in honor among all” (13:4)
18. “let the marriage bed be undefiled” (13:4)
19. “Keep your life free from love of money” (13:5)
20. “be content with what you have” (13:5)
21. “Remember your leaders…Consider the outcome of their way of life” (13:7)
22. “imitate their faith” (13:7)
23. (later) “Obey your leaders and submit to them” (13:17)
24. “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings” (13:9)
25. “Let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” (13:13)
26. “seek the city that is to come” (13:14)
27. “let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (13:15)
28. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have” (13:16)
29. “Pray for us” (13:18)
30. “Do His will” (13:21)
30+ To-Do’s in 2 chapters!
Today, “To-do’s” get a variety of greetings from the modern Christian
…The ‘Give-Me-A-Break’ Party …The Anti-Legalist Party …The “Gospel-Centered Party” …The “Anti-Authority Party”
But regardless of all these complications, Here We Are—being told to do something with our actions & attitudes!! …Here we are at the close of one of the deepest “teaching books” of the Bible! …the inspired writer is going to choose and use his words with divine inspiration and strategy behind them. …All this Deep Knowledge finds its way into the “spaces of life”!
[Chapter: “Knowing is for Living”] “…the ‘deeper truths’ (if there are such things) are really the old basic truths of the gospel. Far from being luxuries, they are necessities for Christian living. The rather disturbing thought began to dawn on me that many of us who are professing Christians are distressingly weak in our grasp of the basic framework of biblical doctrine. We assume that we know the elements of the message of the New Testament, but sometimes our understanding of them is like that of a child. …As I began to ponder on this situation I realised that, perhaps it was not very different from the conditions with which the Apostle Paul was faced. I remember his repeated question in the Letter to the Romans and the First Letter to the Corinthians: ‘Do you not know? …do you not know?’ (Rom 6:3, 16; 7:1; 1Cor 3:16; 5:6; 6:2, 3, 9, 15, 19; 9:13, 24). …However paradoxical it seems to our natural minds, it is one of the facts of spiritual reality that practical Christian living is based on understanding and knowledge. A verse in the Old Testament illustrates this. It says of man that ‘as he thinks within himself, so he is’ (Pr. 23:7). That summarizes the Christian position perfectly—how we think is one of the great determining factors in how we live! —Sinclair Ferguson, “The Christian Life”, p. 2
Depth of Understanding and the Priority of Learning Sit at the Heart of Discipleship!
Matt 11:28-30 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
…This is Jesus appeal to the ‘EXHAUSTED’! …It is “Something to Do”!
…This is the Insight and the Appeal of Heb 12:1ff …”Now That You KNOW (Heb 1-11) …Let us Run!!” …Let us Live the Life!!
Next Year - intro to the Year of the Bible—Specifically framed around the idea of “The Ministry of the Word”
BIBLICAL PATTERN - “KNOWING IS FOR LIVING”
Hebrews 12-13’s Formula: “THEREFORE, SINCE… LET US” …a Theology of Application = The normative pattern of Scripture (Rom 12, Eph 4) …the Bible knows nothing of stagnant unaffected Spirituality
Rom 1-11 …then, Rom 12:1-2 1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Eph 1-3 …then, Eph 4:1 1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Whether we are “presenting our bodies” …or we are “walking” …or we are “running the race set before us” —KNOWING Informs Our DOING!
TODAY’S DOSCIPLESHIP LACK DEPTH OF KNOWING!
It Lacks Meditation & Mind Renewal …It lacks Weighty Convictions that are Firmly Established and aren’t Easily Moved!
? - How Does “Cancel Culture” displace the Deep Doctrine of Grace & Forgiveness?
? - How Did the Gospel Cause, the Great Commission, the Glorifying of God …become a LESSER CAUSE than Critical Theory, Social Justice, Civil Rights, Conservative/Liberal Politics, etc.!
…The Church’s Biblical Illiteracy has made us vulnerable to other people’s passionate arguments—on either side of the political/philosophical fence!
What if we had been discipled by the O.T. Prophets?
Mic 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Is. 58: 1-3, 6-8 1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. …6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
…We have become shallow Christians who take our cues and form our convictions out of some foul-mouthed podcaster! …We’re easily convinced because we DON’T KNOW Isaiah the Prophet Said This!!
What’s This Got to Do with Heb 12 & 13?? …Practically Everything!! …Because when we go to “Live the Life of a Disciple”—we need to Know the WEIGHTY TRUTH found in Heb 1-11. The Way You “Run This Race” NEEDS the stuff of these 11 chapters—It doesn’t need your favorite podcast! We NEED:
…A DEEP understanding of God’s dealings with Israel in the wilderness
…of God’s revelation contained in the Tabernacle
…Deep Insights into the strange uniqueness of Jesus Priesthood of the Order of Melchizedek …the Life Altering Impact of Bloodshed & Forgiveness!!
THIS…Is the Weighty/Mountainous Stuff That Forms the “DOING” of Your Life …and it should never be marginalized by your political interests, what’s trending, or what suits your particular personality, skin color, or family traditions!!
Ps 95:10-11 “For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
This 30+ TO-DO-LIST …Needs Heb. 1-11!!!
Relationally: ‘strive for peace’ … ‘don’t let bitterness be present’ … ‘let there be brotherly love’
Sexually: ‘don’t let sexual immorality be part of your life’ … ‘be careful how you see marriage’ … ‘don’t do anything that pollutes the marriage bed’
Way of Life Stuff: ‘be careful how you feel about money’ … ‘beware of your cravings and lack of contentment’
…HOW Does God Help Us Live THIS Life? …He Takes out a CHALKBOARD …Picks up a piece of Chalk Named ABRAHAM (and writes insights, understanding, revelation about Himself, humanity, future promises, etc.) into Abraham’s Story!! …then he Picks up MOSES …then he picks up a NATION
…Did you EVER think that your “sexual addiction problem” …Your Relational Conflicts …Your Marriage Miseries …Are Because You Don’t Know the TABERNACLE Well Enough—or you read Past MELCHIZEDEK too fast?
…When You & I Go TO-DO LIFE …What is it that we think we really need to know with great depth?
Unrealistic expectations always lead to disappointment. …Part of the problem is the way we use Scripture. We mistakenly treat the Bible as if it were arranged by topics—you know, the world’s best compendium of human problems and divine solutions. So when we’re thinking about marriage, we run to all the marriage passages. But the Bible isn’t an encyclopedia; it is a story, the great origin-to-destiny story of redemption. In fact, it is more than a story. It is a theologically annotated story. It is a story with God’s notes. This means that we cannot understand what the Bible has to say about marriage by looking only at the marriage passages, because there is a vast amount of biblical information about marriage not found in the marriage passages. …In fact, we could argue, to the degree that every portion of the Bible tells us things about God, about ourselves, about life in this present world, and a about the nature of the human struggle and the divine solution, to that degree every passage in the Bible is a marriage passage. …One of our problems is that we have not used the Bible biblically, and this has set us up for surprises we shouldn’t have had. —Paul Tripp, “What Did You Expect - Redeeming the Realities of Marriage”, p. 16
Next Year!! (Beginning on the 1st Sunday of January!!)—The Ministry of the Word!