My son Benjamin and I have an old 1990 Chevy pickup truck that is … well … very old. I gave up on it years ago, but Ben has a sort of romantic attachment to it as his first truck and simply could not let it go. The truck has been sitting around for a couple of years, used very little; and now Ben has decided he wants to get it going and put historic plates on it.

There was one big problem recently though, and it was something to do with the steering mechanism. So he took it upon himself to try to fix it himself by reading and listening to an instructional video on what I heard as “a notoriously difficult problem in Chevy trucks.” After a while, he had the steering wheel off and the entire column disassembled to get down into the very inner workings to replace a part that was broken. Then there was the challenge of putting it all back together in proper order! It is still a work in process, but the end is in sight … we hope.

When something goes wrong, be it mechanical, or with a computer, or even with the workings of the human body, it is often necessary to dig down inside, taking it apart by the use of tools and devices to expose the inner problem. It can be complicated.

But those illustrations are all material and of the physical world. What tool or device can be used to probe into the immaterial realm … into the metaphysical world of the soul and the spirit? What truly can expose the true nature of thoughts, desires, passions or spiritual values and realities?

There is only one thing able to do this. It is God’s eternal word.

Hebrews 4:12-13

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Within the warning passage given to the Hebrews here in chapter four, they are reminded that it is serious business to not trust truly in God and prioritize his values. And there is wisdom in that for us in 2015 as well.

The picture in this passage is twofold: the word is able to penetrate to the very heart and core of things, and it also opens to the light – particularly the eyes of God – the true nature of what lies in the center of the human heart.

Verse 12 list three pictures as to how accurately penetrating is the truth of the word. Each item is something that is unimaginable in terms of how two things could ever be divided.

What is the difference between the soul and the spirit – two components of the immaterial part of man? The soul is usually defined as the intellect, the emotions and the will … but how do we talk about them apart from the spirit of man – that which is the essence of life and relationship with God?

Likewise, the dividing of joints and marrow. In modern science, these are certainly distinct. But the idea here is to not be anatomical or physiological, but rather to picture that which goes together on the inside as a unified working mechanism of the body.

And finally, how are thoughts and intents to be surely divided? The Scriptures elsewhere speak of the deceptive nature of the heart – that it can fool even an individual himself, who can be sincerely wrong about the genuine nature of a thought or intent that underlies an action.

And then verse 13 speaks of how the divisions and surgery that takes place at the deepest levels lay open – literally “naked” is the term in the Greek language – the true underlying realities at the core of the heart. It opens one fully to God to be judged for what it really is.

There is no way around seeing and understanding this passage in a very sobering way. I often wonder how people who read such a clear statement as this, and yet don’t prioritize and value their connection and relationship with God due to other values of life, can find any comfort or peace in this life. Even if you can fool others, there is no possibility of deceiving God.

Yet at the same time there is encouragement in this passage. For those who do value God, and who in spite of human frailty in this world strive toward genuine faith and love for the Lord and genuine service to others, there is comfort in knowing that one’s labors are not in vain. And the writer will specify this thought a bit later, saying in 6:10 …

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.

That is a good truth to know, especially when you know truly of your genuine heart in serving God and others. Though that may be misunderstood by others, God is the good and just ultimate judge.

The crazy weather of recent weeks that caused us to cancel church last Sunday has me taking a bit of a different order of writing these devotionals than the original plan I set out for Chris and me to follow. I try not to just repeat what was done in the Sunday sermon corresponding to a particular passage as it comes up in this online resource. Chris and I attempt to not just remind you as to how it fits into the flow of our overall study, but to also include some other material and angles.

But with Sunday being cancelled, I have been sharing with you over the past couple of days what you would have heard if we were able to have met together.

Our topic was to speak of how Christ meets and provides the true contentment of the heart. To know him and be restored to relationship with him is the goal and outcome of it all. This is satisfaction that fulfills.

So how does this come about?  I was to mention three points of instruction on how to endure in the faith – from chapters 3 and 4 of Hebrews. Here are the points:

Tools for Endurance

What to do – Fix your eyes and thoughts on Jesus – the Son of God (3:1-6)

What not to do – Follow the foolish example of those who lacked faith (3:7-19)

How to do it – Obey God through the resource of His Word (4:9-13)

So this past Sunday I was going to skip the early portion of chapter 4 and close with the big idea that it leads to in verses 9-13. I will write on the earlier portion of chapter 4 on Monday, but let me first continue the final of the three points from last week.

Here is the passage from Hebrews 4:9-13…

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Chapter 4 talks about a rest for the people of God, and this is the goal toward which we strive in life. We experience it in fractional form in the peace of Christ that sufficiently rules and reigns in our hearts and lives as we yield to him in spite of the circumstances of this life, and we realize it in its ultimate reward eternally.

We all like to rest, especially after a period of labor. I’m writing this in my easy chair at home, having spent too much of my day shoveling snow!!

The ironic truth is that entering into God’s rest does not come from taking a break from work but rather from working hard. It calls for full seriousness and intensity of application on the part of those who wish to enter into its enjoyment. And so our need is to strive for it like the Apostle Paul, to stretch out for what lies ahead and press toward the goal of God’s heavenly rest (Phil. 3:13ff).

But we are not left to struggle alone or in ignorance with no resources. We have the incredible gift of the Word of God – which is so effective as to cut between the thoughts and intents of the heart. Can you do that? About others? NO!  About yourself? Not even there with certainty – I am often second-guessing my actions and decisions, checking and double-checking to see that they are sourced in God and not some selfish desire or idea.

So, fix your mind on Christ, don’t be foolish like those who lack faith, and use the resource of God’s Word. This provides long-tern endurance in the faith. And when we do these things, we find that our true heart’s home is only ever going to be found in Jesus.

One of the baffling features of human nature is how so many people can see and have experiences living around the foolish choices in the lives of others, but rather than learn from it, they go out and do the very same things. That is just being stupid. And to quote Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does.”

As we wrote yesterday about the entire background of the book of Hebrews, these Christians from a Jewish background were on the cusp of doing something very stupid – of walking back to that system from which they had previously departed.

We finished yesterday by giving the first of three points that would have been in last week’s snowed-out sermon. It was to say to those contemplating giving up the faith (and by application to us), here is what to do – Fix your thoughts on Jesus, the Son of God.

So today, as a contrastive second point, here is what not to do: Don’t follow the foolish example of those who displayed a lack of faith. Of course, the writer was talking about their Jewish ancestors who comprised the generation that came out of Egypt 1500+ years earlier under the leadership of Moses and God’s miraculous deliverance.

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’  11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 

15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” 16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

On one hand we can sort of understand the small-minded nature of the roughly two million people who comprised the nation of Israel at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. They had been slaves for over 400 years – think of that as comparable to the period of time from Jamestown/Plymouth Rock until now. They were a defeated and oppressed people.

But on the other hand, consider what they had seen happen. They witnessed the powerful hand of God in the plagues brought upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians that resulted in securing their release. After that they saw the waters of the sea open, the army of Egypt swept away, the cloud by day and the pillar by night, manna falling from the sky and water out of a rock … among other things. Clearly God was with them. They were unconquerable.

As they approached the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea and sent the spies into the land, the nation (apart from Moses, Joshua and Caleb) failed to act in faith upon what they had seen. Instead of going forward into the good land of God’s promise (called also in this passage “entering God’s rest” – more on that in future writings), they were ready to go back to Egypt.

Get the theme? Going back … to Egypt … and then, for the Hebrews, to the old system of faith. There is only one word for that:  Stupid!

And so it is for you when you have had Christ’s truth come to your life – you’ve understood the Gospel – you’ve begun to walk in it – you’ve seen the good that comes of it – but some troubles come your way and God doesn’t seem to be riding shotgun when you need him – so you head back to your own personal Egypt!  You know what that is?  That’s being stupid … you’re going to end up being a slave again – a slave to sin and the stuff that is never going to survive this fallen world.

And the passage today contains as well some practical advice: to encourage one another “daily, while it is today.”

There is an endless and ongoing need for encouragers in the body of Christ. If we all commit to this with each other and do it for others, we’ll find joy in helping and resources for our own needs when we face the inevitable discouragements of life. Some days you’re the giver, other days you’re the receiver.

Being an encourager and remaining faithful is being smart. Giving up and going back from trusting God is, in a word, stupid.

In our first seven readings and devotionals of this series, Chris has gotten us off to a great start. The passages he covered in the first two chapters of Hebrews were related to his sermon theme of week #1.

Now, as we turn into chapters three and four, I will be sharing with you over the next seven writings about this material – most of which was going to be included in my sermon this past Sunday that got snowed out!

Let us recall again the critical necessity of understanding the background of this letter. The original audience receiving this writing were first century followers of Christ, and they were now out of step with their Jewish brothers and background, as well as with the Roman authoritarian world.  Life was easier before they got into this “Jesus following” thing.  After all, it now involved a lot of faith. In Judaism there was a real temple with a real priest … and all of that was at least tolerated by the Romans.  The Jesus thing was leading to such hatred and conflict as to incite real persecution.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what may have caused this hostile condition, but it may have been the events of 49 A.D., when it was written in an ancient historical account that “Claudius expelled the Jews because “they were constantly indulging in riots at the instigation of Chrestus.”  Perhaps it was the preaching of Jesus in synagogues may have led to disorder … Romans hated disorder … the Christian Hebrews were blamed, abused and forsaken … many may have lost homes and been persecuted in various ways (all of which is hinted at later in the letter).

So for these early Christians, there was an ever-widening gap between the promises of God and their fulfillment. And that is exactly what a lot of people are feeling today, especially newer and younger Christians who have to function more actively in a very hostile and secular world.

And so it is that the book of Hebrews holds, I believe, a tremendously practical message for a time such as we live in (and may increasingly live in) where we are totally out of step with the rest of the culture around us.  And we are out of step as well to the extent of being even hated by that culture.

The writer’s admonition throughout is to tell his readers to “hang in there” … to look to Jesus and run to him as the greater answer to their life circumstances. And in the process the writer is pulling the readers to understand just exactly how great Jesus is. The early chapters of Hebrews contain one of the great teachings of the Bible on who Jesus is. Up to this point it has talked about how Jesus was greater than the angels, and that’s pretty awesome, because angels are very, very cool. But, they’re just God’s messengers and servants.

Today in chapter three the writer turns to describe how Jesus is greater than Moses – the #1 hero of the Jewish people. And it was a big deal to say that anyone was greater than Moses. In Exodus 33:11 it says that “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”  (Don’t miss our children’s musical program on the 22nd that I’m putting together. There is a song on Moses that I am actually singing – rapping even! – with the kids, and it repeats this “friend” idea over and over in the song.)

We could maybe think of it this way, Jacob as the father of the Jewish people was sort of like George Washington; and Moses, who led the people out of Egyptian slavery and to the gates of the Promised Land, was kind of like Abraham Lincoln. So, to say that Jesus was better than Moses was really a big, big, deal. And that is what the writer does:

3:1 – Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 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. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Notice that the readers are called “brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling.”  These folks were true believers – secure in Christ (there is nothing here or anywhere in Hebrews that teaches any sort of works toward earning salvation or losing genuine salvation by throwing it away. Rather, it is all about how to be faithful in the salvation one possesses without throwing away its rewards and benefits).

The writer tells them to fix their mind, their thoughts, their eyes on Jesus. Why? Well, let me ask you this – why are you not supposed to text message on your phone while you are driving?  If you crash while doing so, is it the road’s fault?  Is it a lack of signs and directions?  No, it is because you took your eyes and attention off where they should be fixed! Do you think that might have any application to your spiritual life? What are the root causes of spiritual failures?  Is it because the Scriptures aren’t clear? Not at all; it is because we don’t look to Jesus.

Jesus is called the apostle and high priest – the one who brought the message of truth with authority, and the one who is the high priest. This latter concept is going to get several chapters written about it later in the book. The high priest was a big deal to the Jews, and the writer would prove that Jesus is the ultimate high priest.

Jesus was faithful like Moses, thus bringing Moses into the equation. Moses, the father of the very system of worship they were thinking of going back to!

But why do that? The author argues that Jesus is greater than Moses. How? In a variety of ways as pointed out in these verses – which are not to degrade Moses, but to exalt Christ as unbeatable …

• Moses was a temporary servant, whereas Christ is the eternal
• Moses was a witness, whereas Christ is the revelation itself.
• Moses was a faithful steward in the house, whereas Christ is its owner.
• Moses loved God, but Jesus IS God.

The implication is plain. To forsake the way of Christ for the way of Moses is to go from the greater to the lesser. It is to abandon the permanent in favor of the temporary. It is to reject the fulfillment and accept the foreshadow.

Why would anyone want to do something so stupid as that? That is a timeless question! Why would anyone walk away from the only thing that fills the heart with contentment?

Fix your attention on Jesus; that is the thing to do. (And that is point one of three – come back tomorrow for point two.)

I have remarkably few enemies.  Yet there is one in particular that I’d like to introduce you to today.  Her name is Kate Turabian.  If you or your kids have been around school at any time in recent history, you know the name not for the person, but for the classic “Kate Turabian” style of formatting.  This means that everything you write not only has to match the “Turabian” style in both font and spacing, but headings and subheadings require a set number of spaces.  Your citations have to be carefully footnoted in the exactly proper form.  The white edges on the sides of your papers have to be a certain width.  And if you’re a student, you know the perplexing sting of learning you lost points on a paper because—and I’m not exaggerating—your hyphens were too wide.

Turabian.  The name has become synonymous with an environment of strict standards and rigorous literalism.  So it’s actually a bit exasperating to open the book of Hebrews to see the way the author often plays fast and loose with the way he haphazardly quotes Old Testament texts—with no citations, mind you.  It’s no wonder the author remained unnamed—who’d want their graders to see how sloppy this sermon is?

What’s the author doing, exactly?  The author of Hebrews is demonstrating something fundamental about the Christian Bible: that no Scripture is complete until it is understood in light of Jesus.  This doesn’t mean that the Bible is open to being interpreted and re-interpreted, but it does mean that we understand the Bible only when we learn to see Jesus on every page.  So in Hebrews 2:5-13, we see the author of Hebrews using a series of Old Testament quotations to explain just how awesome Jesus truly is.  Let’s look at this text with the citations supplied (by me) in bold:

5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8     putting everything in subjection under his feet.” [PSALM 8:4-6]

 Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” [PSALM 22:22]

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.” [Psalm 18:2]

And again,

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.” [ISAIAH 8:18]

 In today’s world, it’s tempting to select certain “favorite” verses or passages and make them something of a “life verse.”  There’s certainly nothing wrong with having a few favorite passages, but the author here is saying that the Bible must be read as a continual story of God working in the world.  One author writes:

 “…the author [reads] non-narrative texts against the backdrop of the narrative of salvation history.  He ‘narrativized’ material from Psalms and Proverbs, sometimes taking them as scripts on the lips of Christ or as prophetic words of God in relation to events in the new covenant.  Words in non-narrative genres are read as words within the overarching narrative of salvation history.” (Ken Schenck, “God has Spoken,” in The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology, p. 324)

This is why the division between “Old Testament” and “New Testament” is somewhat misleading.  The division came in the early centuries of the church, when a man named Jerome noted the contrast between the “old covenant” described by the prophets and the “new covenant” described by Jesus and his followers (the book of Hebrews will later make fuller explanation of this difference).  So, he concluded, we should call the earlier scriptures the “Old Testament,” and the writings featuring Jesus and his followers the “New Testament.”  But really, we need to recognize that the kinds of quotations we find in Hebrews aren’t that unusual.  In his commentary on the Bible, A.E. Hill estimates that about 32 percent—yes, a third—of the New Testament is composed of quotations from the Old Testament (!).  That’s a lot.  And it highlights the way that the Bible is meant to be one unified story.

This also helps us understand how the Bible differs from other ancient and other religious writings.  Even now we’re seeing some friction (to put it mildly) between Western cultures and the nature of Islam.  Two articles from The Atlantic magazine (both in the last month or so) have been particularly telling.  In the first, called “What ISIS Really Wants,” Graeme Wood highlights the deep connection of Islamic beliefs and the recent escalation of violence.  In a counter-article, called “The Phony Islam of ISIS,” Caner K. Dagli notes the ways that ISIS has really just hijacked religious language—the Quran, after all, is a starting point, and must be coupled with other writings such as the Hadith (the sayings of Muhammad).  The result is a confusing web.  We needn’t get stuck in the details of this, only to note that when a religious text is intended only to reflect a person’s experiences, we are left only with questions of interpretation.   Does Islam promote violence?  Or peace?  Even these questions are partially obscured by the Muslim doctrine of “abrogation,” where certain texts are thought to “replace” pre-existing ones (!).

The Christian Bible is radically different.  Yes, there are passages that generate confusion.  Yes, there have been passages used (inappropriately) to justify violence and oppression.  But the overarching story—the one the writer of Hebrews bids us to lose ourselves in—is one of salvation and redemption, a promise fulfilled in the arrival of Jesus.

But what about you and me?  Sometimes it’s easy to flounder in our Bible reading because, well, we’re separated from the original culture by a few centuries or more.  There’s a book on my shelf called The Hermeneutical Spiral.  It’s one of those books you only read once, but the author’s central image is extraordinarily helpful.  Grant Osborne (the author) suggests that when we read and interpret a part of the Bible, we’re really sort of drawing circles around it.  The more we read, the more we interpret, the more our circles will spiral closer and closer toward the center—that is, toward the exact meaning.  We may start of spinning in circles around a particular text, but with time, with experience, with community, we draw closer and closer toward the truth.  This is partly why attending a Sunday morning worship service is so spiritually vital—because it is there that we grow in our understanding of God’s word as we hear it unfolded and explained.  This is partly why a mid-week community group is important—because it is there that we see how God’s word impacts the everyday lives of those with whom we share life.  Everyone loves a good story.  And the Bible is the greatest of all.

“Belief” is a funny thing.  In today’s world, the degree of your belief is often seen as a reflection of your character.  Specifically, we tend to admire those who make a “leap of faith,” and the greater the leap the higher the admiration.  Faith, we assume, is about making a commitment independent of intellect.  And it’s no wonder, then, that Christianity’s harshest critics have specifically targeted this aspect of Christianity.  In his book Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris defines faith as “nothing more than the license religious people give one another to keep believing when reasons fail.”

But historically speaking, Christianity has not rested on “blind faith.”  Rather, faith was deeply, intricately connected to the human experience, touching our intellects, our emotions, and our actions.  God’s earlier followers had been commanded to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5)—that is, to connect faith to our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Later in Christian history, the “reformers” of Christianity (the guys that brought us the Protestant reformation, that is) defined faith as having three essential components: (1) knowledge—that is, the knowledge of God, (2) agreement with that knowledge, and (3) a trust—usually a trust that emphasized some sort of response.  So Christianity has no history of “blind” faith or leaps in the dark.  On the contrary; Christianity has historically emphasized a holistic form of faith, one that defies our tendency to compartmentalize ourselves—or worse, to overemphasize the intellect to the neglect of obedience.

Tragically today’s North American church has done precisely that: we have overemphasized emotion above all else, and in many ways rendered ourselves indistinguishable from a culture in which “feeling is believing.”  In his book Bad Religion, Ross Douthat of the New York Times cites religious scholar Mark Lilla, who notes the way Christianity has turned not downward, but inward:

“A half-century ago, an American Christian seeking assistance could have turned to the popularizing works of serious religious thinkers…Those writers were steeped in philosophy and the theological traditions of their faiths, which they brought to bear on the vital spiritual concerns of ordinary believers…But intellectual figures like these have disappeared from the American landscape and have been replaced by half-educated evangelical gurus who either publish vacant, cheery self-help books or are politically motivated.”  (Mark Lilla, cited by Ross Douthat, Bad Religion, p. 177)

So what does this have to do with “signs and wonders?”  Well, if we take another look at Hebrews 2:1-4 (yes, the passage from yesterday), we see that the author of Hebrews places and emphasis on “signs and wonders and various miracles:”

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (Hebrews 2:1-4)

Biblical writers used the phrase “signs and wonders” in several different ways.  It was a term used to describe God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt (Exodus 7:3, 9; 11:9-10), it was used to describe true prophecy (Isaiah 8:18; 20:3), and to describe the works of Jesus (John 20:29-31; Acts 2:19, 22). In his commentary on Hebrews, F.F. Bruce notes that the emphasis the New Testament places on such activities is “impressive in its range.”

But what’s it doing here?  In her commentary on Hebrews, Marie Isaacs helps us understand that such “signs and wonders” “are the means whereby God corroborates the truth of the definitive word spoken through his Son…the verbal testimony of those who originally heard Jesus’ proclamation of the gospel and the Spirit-inspired deeds of his contemporary followers validate the truth of his message.”   In other words, God’s Spirit was active in that climate as God’s way of “proving it.”

No doubt such miraculous signs had an impact on the community.  But if we understand this text correctly, the focus remains on what was “declared at first by the Lord”—a message of “such a great salvation.”  The gospel remained the primary focus.  The “signs and wonders” were a means to a much greater end.

Here is the point.  I know many people who have had tremendous religious experiences.  And I would never wish to rob them of these memories or from this intense joy.  I’m reminded of a fellow grad student who came to know Jesus after “meeting” him in a dream.  But the writer of Hebrews never made these experiences the focal point of his faith or ministry.

And neither should we.

Now mind you, I’m not suggesting our experiences should not be shared.  In fact, there is enormous value in sharing your faith story—what we often call our “testimony.”  But if our story never moves beyond our subjective experience to God’s objective truth, then spiritual outsiders might politely respond by saying: “That’s good for you.”  Only an emphasis on the gospel—the concrete truths of our need for Jesus and God’s power to forgive—can reach into someone’s heart and bring those far from God near to him.

If I were to identify any one significant problem with today’s Christianity, it would be the corrosive nature of spiritual boredom.  So much of contemporary Christianity seems bent on chasing an experience.  For some it might be literal miraculous encounters.  For others it might be chasing the spiritual “high” you felt when you first encountered God.  Is there any wonder why our Christian bookstores are bulging at the seams with the latest (and thereby greatest) books, worship albums, and DVD studies?  Whether we recognize it or not, we’ve put God inside a box: he’s only as real to me as his ability to keep impressing me with his tricks.

What, then, is the solution?  The solution is not to dismiss our experiences—this only stifles us emotionally and runs the risk of ignoring God entirely.  Rather, we must continually learn to connect God’s truth with the larger wealth of human experience—our own, as well as that of others.  Think about this for a second: how did you encounter God?  Maybe it was through a Sunday School lesson, a close friend, maybe even through some miraculous encounter.  But how did you come to understand God?  To encounter God without understanding him is to anchor one’s faith to the unstable moorings of human experience.  But to understand God without encountering personally is to pin him down to a lab table, treating the life-giving Savior as if he were a med-school cadaver.  We need both, you see.  We need knowledge.  We need feelings.  We need men and women of action.  And, as the writer of Hebrews continues to tell us, we find this radical unity by following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Taken from: http://www.ttf.org/news/what-were-reading-stephen-colbert-meets-his-maker

Most of us know Stephen Colbert as the former host of the popular late-night comedy show The Colbert Show—and still more will come to know him this Fall as Letterman’s replacement on CBS’s Late Show.  But only a handful of 7-year-olds know him as their Sunday School teacher.  In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Colbert revealed that he teaches Sunday School at his Catholic church.

Colbert was raised Catholic, but by his own admission he’s “highly variable in [his] devotion:”

“From a doctrinal point of view or a dogmatic point of view or a strictly Catholic adherent point of view, I’m first to say that I talk a good game, but I don’t know how good I am about it in practice. I saw how my mother’s faith was very valuable to her and valuable to my brothers and sisters, and I’m moved by the words of Christ, and I’ll leave it at that.” (Neil Strauss, “Stephen Colbert on Deconstructing the Colbert Nation” in Rolling Stone Magazine, September 2, 2009)

You see, there was a time when Colbert had lost his faith.  In a separate interview, he describes it initially as “a college angst thing,” but when pressed by the interviewer he goes a bit deeper:

 “I had very sad events in my childhood. The death of my father and my brothers was understandably a shattering experience that I hadn’t really dealt with in any way. And there comes a time when you’re psychologically able to do so. I still don’t like talking about it. It still is too fresh.” (Neil Strauss, “The Subversive Joy of Stephen Colbert”)

For many, suffering proves the crucible in which faith is tested.  I use Stephen Colbert as a positive example, in that while he’s gone through a period of questioning his faith, he’s on an upward journey.  We could easily name others—celebrities and otherwise—that aren’t so lucky.

The writer of Hebrews understands this all too well.  Recall that we’ve been examining an early Christian community that experienced enormous pressure from the surrounding culture.  The author of Hebrews intends to encourage his readers to endure, to maintain a clear focus on the gospel even as they were increasingly regarded as social outcasts.  But, as Marie E. Isaacs notes in her commentary, the author’s encouragement is “both carrot and stick.”  Some of his encouragement comes in the form of several “warning” passages, such as the one we’ll look at today:

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (Hebrews 2:1-4)

If you read closely, we’ll see hints of the two dangers that dominate the writer’s thinking.  First, we see a clear warning against those who become spiritual burnouts—that is, who “drift away” from “what we have heard” (v. 1).  Second, we see a (subtle) warning against those who become functional atheists—that is, who “neglect such a great salvation” (v. 3) and live life as if God were never present.  These themes reappear in a total of (at least) five distinct warning passages throughout the book (2:1-4; 3:7-4:11; 6:4-8; 10:26-31; 12:14-29)—though we could probably name more depending on our exact interpretation of “warning.”

What point might we make here?  The author understands that the gospel is something that we either cling to or drift from.   What about you?  Would you define yourself as clinging to the gospel, or do you find yourself drifting now and again?

The good news is actually embedded in the very structure of the book—though we have to take a step or two backwards to notice it.  If you look at the larger context here, we see this “warning” embedded in the book’s larger scope of the majesty of Jesus.  Take a look:

HIGHER THAN THE ANGELS (1:5-14)

• The Son of God (1:5-6)
• The King of Israel (1:7-14)

WARNING! (2:1-4)

LOWER THAN THE ANGELS (2:5-18)

• The nature of the incarnation (2:5-9)
• The purpose of the incarnation (2:10-18)

The author is making a broader point about the person of Jesus—the One who steps from heaven’s glory to the sullied streets of humanity.  We’ll address this a bit further next week, but for now do you see how this “warning” serves as something of a “hinge” between these two themes?  It’s as if the author of Hebrews is saying: Keep holding on!  Jesus—though worthy of honor—endured the same shame you’re going through.  Keep going.  Endure. 

Sadly, we can all think of those who slip away far too easily.  The good news is that through God’s grace each of us can find our way home again.  Stephen Colbert had this experience earlier in his life:

“…once I graduated from college, some Gideon literally gave me a box of The New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs on the street in Chicago. I took one and opened it right away to Matthew, Chapter 5, which is the opening of the Sermon on the Mount. That whole chapter is essentially about not worrying. I didn’t read it – it spoke to me, and it was an effortless absorption of the idea. Nothing came to me in a thunderbolt, but I thought to myself, ‘I’d be dumb not to re-examine this.’” (Strauss, “The Subversive Joy…”)

If I sat down with Stephen, I don’t know that he and I would find perfect agreement on Christian doctrine.  Still, we may rejoice at the trajectory he seems to be on, and being “moved by the words of Christ” has often been a first step into a larger world of faith.  It will be interesting to see what influence—if any—this will have on CBS’s future Late Show comedian, but for now we can say simply this: there are many for whom faith is a prolonged journey.  Along its path there are many ups and downs, the ratio of which depends entirely on the person.  But what endures—what we cling to—is the person of Jesus, who stands fast regardless of culture or circumstance.  Wherever you are on your journey, my prayer is that you find joy, find life, find hope in the message of Jesus, whose death and resurrection provide the promise of forgiveness and transformation.