Reflections on Hebrews 13:1-6

Hebrews 13:1-6

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?"

I am not going to write the questions from the book this time. Just some short reflections....

Q1: I think the fact that Hebrews is a letter has some basic interpretive value.
Q2: Brotherly love refers to our adoption by God in Christ. It is right that we love one another when what unites us is so much greater than what divides us.
Q3: Brotherly love is expressed through hospitality, of course, but I think that our hospitality towards outsiders is better expressed as obedience to God and the understanding that God loves our guests and it may be His good pleasure to adopt them into the family of God as well. Even if not, how we treat our guests is a reflection on the family of God.
Q4:My aunts have always shown great hospitality. I think some cultures are so hospitable for religious or cultural reasons.
Q5: Remembering is a form of love. There are people that I need to remember better. I will consider how I can remind myself to pray and reach out to them...
Q6: I have already written, I believe, regarding why marriage matters to God. Our culture has done a lot of damage to the institution and covenant by such allowances as no fault divorce, gay marriage, etc. The church in America has done so by allowing such attitudes to fester in our hearts and minds, increasingly unchallenged and sometimes endorsed. This is a great evil.

I think  the error begins by understanding marriage in terms of a contract. Not a covenant.  For many, I fear, marriage is a contract endorsed by the church and society to allow people to have sex without judgement. Marriage is so much more than some kind of sex license. I think many intuitively know better, but the de facto attitude tends towards this as divorce and remarriage become more common.

Consider, the Roman church was willing to lose all of England, over the integrity of marriage. evidence enough that the orthodox view of marriage hasn't changed since the writing of Hebrews. Nor should it.

To digress some, consider Jesus's teaching on turning the other cheek. If I am beaten, the weight of the cross compels me to treat my opponent with grace. God expects me to love my enemy and no wrongdoing on his part allows me to abdicate this responsibility.

If my wife leaves me, cheats on me, cuckolds me. Does this allow me to neglect my vows to her and to God? No. Such sacrifice honors God and demonstrates to the world His faithfulness, forbearance and longsuffering in the face of our own sin.

Q7:Positive forms require the negative forms to be observed. The opposite is not true. Love your wife as Christ loves the church precludes adultery. Mere observance of the command, "Do not commit adultery," does not require me to love my wife.

Q8: Tithe. Be guarded and constantly check one's heart regarding the use of money.

Q9: Turn off the ads.

Q10: Christ is so much more than filthy lucre.

Reflection on Hebrews 12:25-29

Continuing with our reflections on Hebrews

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire."

Q1: How is God's speaking in the new covenant different that his speaking in the old covenant? How does the author use the heaven earth contrast to draw out these distinctions?

In the old covenant, God largely spoke through prophets and the law of moses. In the new covenant, God still speaks through these, but now also through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Moses spoke from earth, and was a messenger of God. Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father and he has spoken to us directly through the Gospels and the Holy Spirit.

Q2:The writer of Hebrews identifies God as a speaking God throughout his letter. Why is it important that we remember that our God speaks to his people? What does it meant to reject his words? How is the word he has spoken through Jesus Christ a message of both grace and judgement?

To ignore or refuse God is sin. To reject his words is to reject his lordship. The gospel of Christ is a message of both grace and judgement because our sin damns us and only through Christ can we obtain the grace and mercy of our salvation. To reject that grace and continue in rebellion is to embrace the wrath of God.

Q3: What is significant about the author's usage of the verbs reject and escape? What do these words tell us about the relationship between the gospel and God's wrath? About man's response to the Gospel?

The Gospel is a way of escape from God's wrath. If we reject it we have no hope of escaping God's wrath.

Q4: Many christian and non-christians have a difficult time comprehending God's wrath. Why must we talk about God's wrath when we talk about the gospel? Why is God's wrath an essential component of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Why must we take God's wrath against sin and sinners seriously?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is easier to refuse mercy and grace when we do not believe that we need them. Sinners should understand that we are doomed, damned and in danger of hell. The trip is short and the stay eternal. There is no time to take such a serious situation as a light matter. That being said, Mohler cautions in the text against taking the gospel as fire insurance. I think that just as a gospel is incomplete which ignores or diminishes our damnation, so too is one that fails to touch on the infinite joy offered by the glorious gospel of Christ by which we may become, not merely friends of God, but sons of God.

Q5: Why does the author refer to Sinai and quote Haggai 2? What truth is he driving home by making these references? What does God's shaking of the heavens and earth represent? What does the phrase, "yet once more" signal?

Let me begin my answer by stressing that I am a layman and I encourage you dear reader to seek the Holy Spirit in prayer and also to consult the body of Christ and particularly our pastors and ministers in considering these questions. But it seems to me, and I believe that I depart from Mohler here, that the writer is addressing Hebrew Christians who are under pressure from the larger, 1st century Jewish community, to return to orthodoxy in rejection of The Way. There is both a historical context and a spiritual meaning for us today.

Within that historical context, the Olivet Discourse is close to fulfillment. The earth shook at the giving of the law to Moses. Now the heavens and earth will shake. I believe this is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.  The vision given to Joseph depicts Israel and Rachel as the sun and moon. The children of Israel as Stars. Jacob and Joseph clearly agree on the interpretation and Jacob is offended by the dream. This fits too with God telling Abraham that his descendents would be like the stars. So when the author of Hebrews warns the readers not to return to Judaism it is a two fold warning. On the one hand, their damnation for rejecting God, by their rejection of Christ. On the other, what is the point, when the end of the theocracy to which they were returning was just as at hand as their damnation. It profits a man nothing to gain the world and lose his soul. The author is warning that the apostate will lose both in this case.

Now there is a blending of the historical and spiritual significance.  The kingdom of David is transferred to the throne of Christ. Who as a descendent of David has right to it, but as a greater Lord whose kingdom will not end. I believe this is why the author refers to the prophecy of Haggai. Christ, when challenged by the rulers of the temple on what authority he was doing such things, was demanded sign. Christ told them to tear down the temple and in three days he would rebuild it. The gospel writers understood him to be referring to himself, his body, death and resurrection. In the sign, Christ is the temple! This is also fitting with the vision of John as recorded in Revelation 21:22.

Let us consider the passage in Haggai to which the author refers. "For the Lord of Armies says this: "Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all will come, and I will fill this house with glory." This is the spiritual significance. The sea and the dry land refer to both the promised land and the Jewish people (the dry land) and the gentiles, and their kingdoms( the sea). The passage gives us the interpretation as it clarifies, "I will shake all nations." God is going to bring in the treasure (the lives of the saints are precious in his sight) from all nations into his kingdom (the kingdom of God is at hand). This is why the "yet once more" is important. This is a final shaking. All will be shaken. All will be burned away. Only what is of worth will be left and taken into the temple. There will be an end. "Yet once more" suggest to us that this is the last time. Just, only, once more. All kingdoms, save one end. His kingdom is forever.

Q6: How does the promise of God's impending judgement motivate you to live a holy life and continue receiving his word today?  How does it lead you to offer acceptable service to God and worship him?

The fear of punishment is a motivation to holy living. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is wise to offer acceptable service to God and to worship him. However, fear is not the only part of this story. I am faithful to my wife because I fear the consequences if I am not. But I am also faithful to my wife because I love her. Fear may begin, but Love completes and finishes. I am faithful to wife when there is no danger of discovery, in the inner halls of my heart, because I adore her. I played a video game once. There was a cartoonish figure of a female orc, nubile and completely unnecessary in a fantasy, combat game. Satan and my sinful nature would tempt me. Nature noted it's curves. I was guarded by my love for my wife. Here was no woman. No witness. My heart could have indulged without the courts of human opinion to judge me. No one would ever know. But I averted my eyes, and the thought of my heart turned to my wife. None other deserves my desire. It is hers as I am hers. Love keeps me from lust. The game was discarded as a dangerous idol. We do better to destroy such things before they win someone over. God created marriage. One purpose for which is to be a reflection of the relationship between Christ and his Church. The family is both a blessing and a crucible. It educates and shapes us, to His glory and purpose if we will allow it. No parent can raise their child with just fear of punishment or just loving kindness. And God does not either. Fear may safeguard and anchor a holy life, a listening heart, acceptable service and worship. But love deepens the soul that does such things and causes such service to thrive.

Q7: Why does the author encourage his people to be grateful about receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken? How does the promise of God's unshakable kingdom and it's certain triumph encourage to endure in the faith, even in the midst of today's increasing hostility towards Christians.

It was Jim Elliot who said, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." It is good to reflect upon the glory of God and his Kingdom so that we can celebrate to the end and obtain what we cannot lose.

Q8: Why must reverence and awe characterize true Christian worship? What does it mean to worship God with reverence and awe? How does Romans 12:1 help us to understand what it means to offer acceptable service?

I think the more we understand the infinite glory of God and the gift of our salvation the more it tends toward a joyful reverence filled with awe. Romans reminds us that we are not our own, but that we are now to take up our cross and follow Christ, becoming living sacrifices.

For the joy of the love of God.

On July 4th 1965, MLK Jr. gave a talk entitled, "The American Dream." In it, he made the following observation.

The whole concept of imago dei, as
 it is expressed in Latin, "the image of God," is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected. Not that they have any substantial unity with God, but that everyman has the capacity to have fellowship with God.

The passage that he refers to is from Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. I think it powerful that the first conversation within the Trinity that is recorded in scripture is about this decision to make man as an image bearer of God. Here is why.

1. The ultimate commandment is to love God with our all. That is because of all that exists He is most worthy of our love. Consider for a moment how much you love your spouse or child. Lewis suggest that this might be the first time you have (as a fallen, selfish human) loved someone as your very self, maybe. And realize that God deserves more love than that. But also consider how much joy exists in that state of love in which you find yourself. How much you simply enjoy being with that spouse or son or daughter.

2. Consider now that God, I believe, is perfectly joyful in the love that exists within the Trinity. The Father is in perfect unity with the Son and Spirit. The Son is in perfect unity with the Father and Spirit. The Spirit is in perfect unity with the Father and Son. We do not know, of course, how the Trinity works. But it seems clear that before time began the Father, Son and Spirit existed in a perfect communion of love. Perhaps this is why scripture say that God is Love (1 John 4:8). 

3. And now remember where we started in Genesis 1. God creating man in His own image as an outpouring of the love that exists within the Trinity, inviting us to share in that love. I think this evident in chapter 3 of Genesis, where Adam and Eve hide because the recognized the sound of God walking through the Garden. Such familiarity doesn't come without experience. Adam and Eve had walked in the Garden with God before that moment. 

If we understood this, we would always seek communion with God and probably never cease praying. For the simple joy of loving God and being loved by Him. But sin has made our senses dumb and we are calloused of soul. I pray that I learn something of the discipline, that I might better enjoy Him as I should. And, gentle reader, I pray for you too.

The full talk MLKjr. gave can be found at this address. I think it good and worth the time of any christian or patriot.

I am sure that none of these ideas are original, and I cannot exactly remember where I got them all, but I believe some at least must have come from the excellent work on the Trinity by Dr. Fred Sanders of BIOLA University.

The picture is by Rod Waddington from imcreator.com/free and is under a creative commons license.

Reflection on Hebrews 12:18 - 24

The men's accountability group that I currently attend is working it's way through R. Albert Molher Jr.'s exposition on the book of Hebrews. I thought I would post the answers to the review questions here.

1. How does this passage relate to [Hebrews] 12:12-17? How does the fact that you have not come to Sinai help you put into action the author's imperatives in verses 12 - 17? Thing about each imperative.

Because Christians operate under a gospel of liberty, grace and peace. We enter into the grace of God by the blood of Christ. As Christ has shown us such grace and paid such a price to obtain mercy for us, we ought to show grace and share grace with those around us. We ought also to marry this grace with personal integrity making our paths straight and not ensnaring ourselves to sin or earthly appetites. Esau (vss 16-17) was a man led astray by his earthly appetites into profanity. We should winsomely and graciously work in our communities to discourage evil and lead others to freedom in Christ.

2. Why does the writer juxtapose Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. 

At Mount Sinai the law was given and it was a terrifying experience for the people of Israel. The event emphasized the glory, holiness, and how the sin of the people had separated them from God. Mount Zion is associated with the earthly Jerusalem (just outside of which Christ paid the price for our sins and created a way to God) and the eschatological new Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Heaven which is and which is coming and the peace we have in Christ.

3. How does the author use the command to stone an animal to draw out the severity of the scene at Sinai? How has Jesus displaced this command in the new covenant?

The dumb animal was to be stoned to emphasize the holiness of God's presence and that no unclean, corrupted thing could enter into His presence. Jesus, in contrast is both sacrifice and high priest and has secured grace for us to enter into the presence of God (by prayer) by his atoning sacrifice and mediation. 

4. In your own words, explain why the use of the word not in verse 18 is so critical to understanding this passage and our relationship to God in the new covenant.

Rather than a physical meeting place where our separation from God was emphasized. We ascend the spiritual mount Zion where we come into the presence of God and into relationship with him through the will of God the Father, sacrifice and service of God the Son and ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

5. Why is Sinai no longer the mountain on which Christians define their experience with God? On what basis do Christians now come to Zion?

Christ is the fulfillment of the law and so we are not bound under the old covenant, but free under the law of liberty to approach God in His Righteousness.

6. How should Christians think of the old covenant in light of Christ's fulfillment of it?

The old covenant was instructive to the revelation of our need for a savior and the truth of God's holiness and our fallen nature. 

7. Explain why a proper reading of verses 22 and 23 requires reading through the lens of the already-not-yet tension.

Christ taught that the Kingdom of God was at hand. It was established in His ministry here on earth. We enjoy some of the benefits of that spiritual kingdom now. However, the Kingdom of God has not reached it's ultimate fulfillment, where it fills all the earth and is a kingdom without end or rival. 

8. What is the significance in connecting Zion to the eschatological new Jerusalem? How does the author's usage of the word city play into this significance? What does it ell us about God's kingdom?

Just as the earthly mount Sinai is juxtaposed with the spiritual mount Zion, so the earthly mount Zion and the Earthly Jerusalem are referential to the heavenly Jerusalem.

9. Why is Jesus's blood superior to the blood sacrifice offered by Abel? Why does the author compare the blood offered by Abel with the blood offered by Jesus. 

The sacrifice of Abel looked forward to the ultimate sacrifice for Sin, Jesus. The sacrifice of Abel was temporary in it's efficacy (he would have needed to sacrifice again had he not been murdered), while Christ's was sacrifice once for all sins of all people for all time. The blood of murdered Able cried out in condemnation of his murderer. The blood of murdered Christ cries out also for the forgiveness of his murders if they will but accept it (of which I bear guilt for my sin also murdered Him). 

10. How does the glorious picture of Zion in this passage help you endure in the faith? Why do you think the writer chose to use this picture to motivate his readers to endure to the end?

Whereas previously we were instructed to remember the example of our Lord and Savior in our suffering that we might better endure to the end, now we are instructed to to consider how much better a kingdom and covenant for which we suffer persecution.  As the Christ exemplifies how we ought to endure, the righteousness which his suffering endurance secured for us allows us to enter into relationship and intimacy with God and gives us a reason to endure, the hope that where He is, there we may be also.

Closing Scripture

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

The picture is "Burned Memories" by Ryan McGuire at IMCreator.com and is under a creative commons license.