"A New and Living Way"

5/3/09

Texts: Isaiah 1:11, 16-20; Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-24

 

Isaiah 1:11, 16-20

"The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,

learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

"Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.

If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;

but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword."
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-24

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

 

There was once a church that had much to be proud of: they’d come through tough times that threatened their very existence as a congregation. During their darkest days, even their most optimistic leaders had no idea how they’d stay afloat. But through it all the members had held onto a common conviction that through Christ, God would not let them fail. And in time they weathered the storm.

But then a rather strange thing happened. As they entered calmer waters, their leaders and teachers began to take some time off, which is understandable - but these in turn were not easily replaced by new ones. Attendance at Sunday services began, very slowly at first, then more noticeably, to decline. Why? Was the preacher boring? Was the parking inadequate? Did the hymns somebody chose have moths flying out of them, to the horror of younger members?

No, the reason for their decline went deeper than these: the believers in that place had started to act on the assumption that “going to church” was what Sunday was primarily about. Being part of a community, being bound in Christian relationship with others - these realities were downplayed, implicitly seen as not necessarily part of a saving relationship with God through Christ. The members might have wondered if it really took a community to be saved from sin. But the truth is, they framed the question another way: does a person really have to “go to church” to follow Jesus? Faith, after all, is between a man and his God (or a woman and hers), isn’t it? Perhaps, they reasoned, a person can worship God just as well by going on a walk in the woods, or sitting in her own living room? Who’s to say? And so, in the space of thirty years, the church that once had stood strong against the storm was almost unrecognizable, in danger of collapsing under the sunny skies of apathy and neglect.

It might interest you (or even relieve you) to know that the church of which I speak is not in Daleville. Rather, it’s the subject of the letter we heard from this morning. Well, we call Hebrews a letter; really it reads more like a motivational message or sermon. Its author could have been Paul, but many (in ancient times and since) have suggested it was someone else, no less under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This perhaps anonymous writer is encouraging a group of Christians in some unknown place to hold fast to their earlier convictions and vitality. They are in danger, as expressed in an earlier chapter, of missing their moorings (2:1), a nautical term implying a slow drifting away from the safe harbor you need to tie up a boat. Much is at stake. You see, these are second-generation Christians. They didn’t see the Resurrection of Jesus. They heard about it, considered the testimony, came to belief and are now trying to live out the meaning of the Good News. It’s just that over time, their enthusiasm has cooled. Now some of them evidently are wondering what the whole point is, anyway.

If it seems surprising that such a thing could happen within just fifty years or so of Jesus’ earthly life, to me it’s also encouraging. For anyone who has ever felt that the people of the Bible were otherworldly, totally certain of their convictions and primitive in their understandings, Hebrews tells us the picture was not as rosy or simple as that. Perhaps there are some churches today who cannot relate to the crisis facing these Hebrew Christians, but I think there are more of we who can, than can’t. Today we in the church are very good at being busy, good at providing weekly activities and worship services on Sundays, but at times most of us risk “majoring in the minors” and plumb wearing people out! There is a real danger that we in the church could quietly miss our moorings altogether, our spiritual boats clunking softly together as we drift off into the night of indifference, of slumber, of eventual hypothermic death from exposure to cold. Surely there is more to life together than this.

Hebrews says there is more. At the core of Christian life is not what we ought to be doing, not what God wants from us, but rather what Jesus has done for us, perfectly and for all time. Jesus has repaired the breach between us and our Creator that was caused by human sin. Restoring us to right relationship, he has opened a ‘new and living way’ to abundant life: he is, as the writer says, our High Priest, representing us before Almighty God. But unlike the priests of the old days, who offered blood sacrifices over and over to atone for the sins of the people, this High Priest has offered his own blood, once…and for all, afterward sitting down at God’s right hand. He made our sins his problem, and by dealing with them has enabled us to do what once only the high priest of the Jewish Temple could. Now we may approach the presence of God directly, with no one and nothing in between.

Having made the case that Jesus has opened a new approach to God for us, the writer makes three proposals as to how we might take Jesus up on his gracious offer of new relationship. The first is: “let us approach [God] with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (10:22). To a people whose energy for worshipping God is waning, he says: let’s not forget what Jesus has done! He has given us, for the first time in human experience, a direct line to and from our Creator. Perfect and sinless, Jesus has taken on the guilt-burden of our sin. It’s gone! So don’t be held back by any lingering sense of fear or unworthiness. Come with an open heart!

The writer knows that if we can discover this kind of confidence in what Christ has done, then worship will be not a Sunday routine - it’ll be a joy, a day of thanksgiving that gives meaning to work, play and time with family. Those who approach God with confidence don’t come to church merely to get something out of it, they also come to offer something to the God who has offered them forgiveness in Christ. By assurance of faith in Christ, these come to make a joyful noise, and are confident that God is going to hear them.

Second, Hebrews recommends that we “hold fast to…our hope without wavering, for he who has promised [us] is faithful!” (10:23). You see, walking with Jesus is not a sprint, it’s a hike. Discipleship is more like the Appalachian Trail than like a 50-yard circle track - so we must be confident in what Christ has done for us, having hope that will go the distance. God, religion, faith, these are not external ideas floating around in the universe for us to make up our minds about. They are part of a new covenant, written on our hearts by the blood of Christ. When times are tough, when we cannot see the sun, and also when days are sunny and the wind is calm, we hold fast to what our hope really is: that Jesus has come, that Jesus is interceding for us this very day, and that he will come again. This hopefulness we cultivate by means of prayer. By prayer we resist discouragement, and the creeping inauthenticity that can otherwise hinder us from approaching God with confidence.

The final recommendation for exploring the new and living way that leads to God is this: “let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds” (10:24). This is a strange verb in the Greek, and it sounds weird in the English too. I am not sure I want to come to church to be provoked. Folks who make us feel provoked are those we’d rather avoid. Perhaps a more helpful translation here is the New American Standard Version, which says we are to “stir one another up” to perform works of love. How’s that for an image? A community of people who are at work trying to stir up loving relationships and Christ-like behavior, to drive away spiritual lethargy. Imagine being part of a church that ‘stirs things up’! Would it seem strange?

It shouldn’t! This is supposed to be at the core of Christian life: a community seeking to provoke goodness in and from one another, thereby proclaiming the goodness and harmony of the Kingdom of God! No wonder, then, that Hebrews warns against indifference about infrequently attending worship. Those whose goal is to stir up goodness just plain want to be there. Maybe they had a bad week. They may have doubts they’ll get something out of the sermon or the music. But still they think: maybe today or this week I can enrich the life of someone else, by a word of encouragement or a prayer or an expression of Christian friendship. So I go and I worship my Creator with my community. Because that is who I am.

So it turns out there is more to this new and living way than just “going to church,” thank goodness. There is faith: by it, we approach God boldly with the assurance that trusting in Jesus offers. There is hope: with it, we hold fast to the belief that the best is yet to come. And there is love: because of it, we stir up and encourage each other as a sign we’ve been bought and forgiven by Jesus. And so, today, there abide here these three: faith, hope and love. And (thanks be to God) you’re here too.

So what do you say we stir something up?

Amen.