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Week three - Internal Motivation
Hebrews 8-10
Bottom line: A faith that grows up will change your life, not just save your life.
Having a faith that grows up is about accepting Jesus’ invitation to
Part of maturing is moving from external motivation as primary to internal motivation as primary -
- Are you ready to work-out for your own health and well-being and not because your coach told you to and you have a game coming up?
- Do you want to learn because it matters to you to know and understand and stay curious, and not because there is a test, or you’re working on a degree or certification?
*In faith, this maturing from external motivation to internal motivation looks like moving from believing in Jesus because you need a Savior, to following Jesus because you love Him and want to be part of His kingdom and not your own.
Where are you in your faith?
- Still working through whether you believe in Jesus
- Believing in Jesus but living just like you would if you didn’t
- Following Jesus daily and being transformed as a result
If you’re not moving forward, you might be moving backwards.
If you’re stuck, you might be tempted to give up.
If no one ever told you there was more to a life of faith, than I want to tell you, there is more.
Hebrews 8-10, the writer zeroes in on the main idea of this letter to a group of people in danger of abandoning their faith:
There’s an old covenant and a new covenant - and the new covenant is better
But also, their immature faith is trying to hold on to a checklist, even though that checklist led to death.
What they think they want is at odds with what they need most - this sounds like a maturity tension, yes?
1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. —Hebrews 8:1-6
Old covenant - performative, externally motivated - stuck in the ritual, disconnected from the relationship
New covenant - Jesus is better - He is the mediator and His promises are good
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death (i.e. “useless rituals”), so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. —Hebrews 8:11-15
We have an internal Motivator driving our internal motivation
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings , having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. —Hebrews 10:19-25
We’re not trying to earn salvation, we’re living differently because we have it.
Does your life look different because of your faith in Jesus?
A faith that grows up will