This week we are addressing why it is essential for people
to be consistently investing their time in a community group. And to do that, we
are looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament
of the Bible called the book of Hebrews. Yesterday we discovered that the book
of Hebrews was written around 65 A.D. to the Hebrews, which were Jewish
Christians who had never heard or seen Jesus in person, but had learned of Him
as the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel had been proclaimed
throughout the known world.
However, as the claims of Christ and the message of the
gospel was proclaimed throughout the known world; and as people from throughout
the known world responded to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel
by believing, trusting and following Jesus, persecution against followers of
Jesus began to increase throughout the known world.
As a result of what the author of the book of Hebrews saw
occurring among these Jewish people who claimed to want to follow Jesus but who
had become either stalled and stuck, or were considering bailing on Jesus, the
writer of the book of Hebrews wrote this letter to communicate a simple but
profound message. And that simple and profound message involved the absolute
supremacy and superiority of Jesus Christ and Christianity over Judaism.
The writer of Hebrews began his letter by proclaiming the
absolute supremacy and superiority of Jesus as the messenger to proclaim God’s
message to humanity. And because of the reality that Jesus had a position of
absolute supremacy and superiority over the prophets and angels when it came to
proclaiming God’s message to humanity, in the second chapter of the book of
Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews encouraged and exhorted the Jewish readers of
his letter to pay attention to the superior message of Jesus.
And it is in this context that we jump into this section
of this letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible,
called the book of Hebrews, beginning in Hebrews 3:12. Let’s look at it
together:
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
Here we see the writer of Hebrews continue his call for
the readers of his letter to pay attention to the superior messenger of Jesus
and His superior message as contained in the claims of Christ and the message
of the gospel by providing a timeless command. And that timeless command was
this: “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
Now to fully understand what the writer of Hebrews is
commanding here, we first need to define some terms. When the writer of Hebrews
uses the phrase take care, this phrase, in the language that this letter was originally
written in, conveys the sense of watching out for something that is hazardous.
This phrase, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would
have sounded something like this: Be careful and be on the lookout for this so
that you can avoid this”.
The writer of Hebrews then explained that what the
readers of this letter were to be on the lookout for so that they could avoid
was that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart. When the writer
of Hebrews refers to the heart here, he is referring to that which is the
center and source of our inner beings, where moral decisions are made. In
addition, the word evil here was used to describe something that is morally or
socially worthless. Finally, the word unbelieving literally means to have an
unwillingness to commit oneself to another. This word was used to describe a
disloyalty that would result in an unwillingness for a person to trust another.
Now taking all those terms together, this command, if
communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded
something like this: “Be careful and be on the lookout that the center and core
of your being is not marked by a moral worthlessness that results in you
demonstrating a disloyalty to God”. Now that leads us to the next phrase that
we need to accurately define, which is the phrase “that falls away from the
living God”.
You see, in our culture today, the phrase to fall away
conveys a sense of passivity. In our culture today, this phrase conveys a sense
of something happening to us. For example, I fell off the stool is different
from I jumped off the stool, isn’t it. I fell on the ice is different from I
dove on the ice. However, the word fall away, when used in the language that
this letter was originally written in, at the time in history that this letter
was originally written in, had a much more active sense to it.
The phrase "that falls away” literally means to
purposely distance oneself from someone or something. This word, throughout the
book of Hebrews, conveys an active rebellion against God, not passive fall away
from God. We see this definition reinforced by the quotation from the Old
Testament that the writer of Hebrews points the readers of his letter to. For
example, in Hebrews 3:8-11, which immediately precedes the verses we are
looking at this morning, and in Hebrews 3:15, which comes immediately after the
verses that we are looking at this morning, the writer of Hebrews quoted from a
section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament, called the
book of Psalms.
In Psalm 95:9-11, the psalmist reminded his readers of
the generation of Jewish people that wandered in the wilderness for forty years
after God delivered from slavery through Moses out of the nation of Egypt.
However, after being delivered from slavery by God, that generation of Jewish
people repeatedly and selfishly rebelled against God. After being delivered
from slavery by God, that generation of Jewish people actively and demonstrated
a disloyalty towards God and a desire to return to Egypt. After being delivered
from slavery by God, that generation of Jewish people repeatedly and rebelliously
demonstrated an unwillingness to trust God that led to them repeatedly
challenging Moses and God.
The writer of Hebrews pointed his generation of Jewish
people who were considering bailing on Jesus in order to return to Judaism to a
previous generation of Jewish people who repeatedly expressed a desire to bail
on God and return to Egypt, because the writer of Hebrews wanted his generation
to clearly understand that, just as it was with that generation of Jewish
people that rejected God to turn back to Egypt, by turning back from the truth
of the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to return to Judaism,
they would be revealing the reality that the center and core of their being was
marked by a moral worthlessness that produced a disloyalty to God and a
distrust of God.
And just as it was with that generation of Jewish people
that rejected God to turn back to Egypt, this would not be a passive loss of a
relationship with God that they once had. Instead this would be an active
distrust and disloyalty to God that revealed the reality that they never had a
true relationship with God. The writer of Hebrews wanted the readers of his
letter throughout history to be extremely careful and be on the lookout to make
sure that the center and core of their being was not marked by a moral
worthlessness that resulted in a distrust and disloyalty to God that revealed
the reality that they never had a relationship with God.
Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well,
Dave, that sounds interesting, but how exactly am I supposed to do that? How
exactly am I supposed to be on the lookout to make sure that the center and
core of my being is not marked by a moral worthlessness that results in a
distrust and disloyalty to God? How do I practically do that?” If that question is running through your
mind, I just want to let you know that that is a great question to ask. And
fortunately for us, the writer of Hebrews provides the answer to that question
in what he says next.
Friday, we will look at what the writer of Hebrews says
next and discover why it is essential for people to be a part of a community
group…
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