Introduction
This morning I will reflect primarily on Hebrews 10. To set
the stage, I refer briefly to 1 Samuel and to Mark’s gospel. Then we look at
the Letter to the Hebrews and ask what God is saying to us today.
1 Samuel 1:4-20.
The story of Hannah’s barrenness and the birth of Samuel is a basic part of
God’s mighty saving acts in the history of Israel. You remember how Hannah had
no child, although Peninnah had several. So she went to the tabernacle at Shiloh
to pray for a child. Eli, the priest there, thought at first that she was
drunk, watching her pray silently and desperately to God. When he understood
her real desire for a child, he sent her home with the promise of a son. The
son was born, and she named him Samuel (sounds like: God hears). Later she gave
her son to God to serve him there at Shiloh, and he became the priest in Eli’s
place and the judge of all Israel (7:16-17).
One notes Hannah’s persistence in prayer, which can serve as
a model for our theme this morning: Never give up. One notes also that God
brought salvation to Israel through the marginalized, which is the way that God
has often acted in human affairs. Hannah’s song in chapter 2 serves as a model
for Mary’s song at the birth of Jesus.
One notes finally that the tabernacle represents the
dwelling of God, so that what is done in the Tabernacle is done before God’s
face. We will return to this idea.
Mark 13:1-8. In
the gospel reading, Jesus has been teaching near or in the Temple—watching
people make their offerings in the passage we read last week. As they left the
Temple one of his followers commented on the wonder and appearance of the
Temple (built by Herod to please the Jewish people). Jesus replied that the
Temple is only temporary. It points beyond itself to the End of all things,
when it will be destroyed. He continued with warnings about “the beginning of
birth pains”, which bring in the End.
Two thoughts: One is that the disciples were headed into
dark troubles, which are reflected in the context of the Letter to the Hebrews.
Two is that the Tabernacle was a copy of God’s presence in Heaven, and the
Temple was a more permanent Tabernacle. Both in the end fade before the coming
of Jesus, who is the very presence of God. As the physical Temple is destroyed,
the church becomes the place where God lives on earth.
The Letter to the
Hebrews
We don’t know who wrote this letter. You can research
possible authors for yourself—from the traditional answer of Paul to the
contemporary answer of Priscilla. We have a better idea of who the letter was
written to: Jewish Christians, perhaps in Jerusalem. (I am unconvinced of the
location: Jerusalem makes sense in terms of the content, but the quality of
Greek suggests a writer and an audience in some place outside of Jerusalem,
such as Rome.)
The letter was written to encourage Jewish Christians who
were wavering in their faith not to relapse into Judaism, but to hold on to
Christ. To achieve this purpose, the writer makes the case that Jesus is the
perfect High Priest—better than Aaron or any of his successors, “after the
order of Melchizedek” (that is, called directly by God). Jesus the High Priest
is “the exact representation of God’s being”. Jesus the High Priest is also one
with the human race. He understands us and brings us fully into God’s presence.
Look at the verses we heard read this morning.
Verses 11-14: The priests in the
Levitical priesthood repeated their sacrifices for sins every day, because they
did not really work. The fact that they remain standing is a way of emphasizing
the fact that they had to repeat the sacrifices endlessly. Jesus, in contrast,
sacrificed his own body “once for all”, after which he sat down at the right
hand of God. With that sacrifice Jesus also brought us into the perfect
relationship with God that the Levitical sacrifices were unable to achieve.
Verses 15-18: This action is sealed
by the Holy Spirit, fulfilling the promise of Jeremiah 31 to write the new
covenant on human hearts. We no longer need to participate in the sacrificial
system in the Temple, because Jesus has made the perfect sacrifice. [This line
of argument is part of the evidence for an audience living in Jerusalem before
the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.—they were people who could have
participated in the Levitical system.]
Verses 19-25: Therefore we can live
as people who enter God’s presence thanks to the sacrifice Jesus has made for
us. As people who walk with God, we can hold on to the promises of God. [This
was the temptation that “the Hebrews” faced: To leave their walk as ones saved
by Jesus, “walking in the resurrection” and to re-enter the old system that
does not actually work.]
Therefore also we “provoke one
another to good works”, and we continue to meet together regularly to worship
God in Christ. Especially as we anticipate the end of all things. [Unlike Peninnah
in 1 Samuel, who provoked Hannah by jeering at her, we “provoke” each other by
encouraging each other to do better.]
We see in this argument the truth that human efforts do not
save us, but they do enable us to participate in God’s work, which does save
us. In 1 Samuel 1, we meet Hannah in the Tabernacle, praying to God in a shadow
of the eternal Tabernacle in Heaven (Hebrews 8:5). The Temple (in Mark 13)
appeared more permanent than the old Tent of the Tabernacle, but in truth it
also would be thrown down. Jesus then enters the true Tabernacle, the presence
of the eternal God (Hebrews 9:24). The sacrifice of Jesus’ body on the cross
replaces the old shadow and the system attached to it and brings in a new
covenant with God, written on the hearts God’s people.
Application
One can find a variety of applications as we think of these
passages in our world today—copying Hannah in our readiness to take our
situation to God; the way that God so often works through unexpected and
humanly marginalized people; the importance of being ready for the End; the
fact that problems in our world remind us that the End is coming [so that, for
example, the terrible news of this past Friday in Paris is part of the
“beginning of birthpains”—that is, signs of the coming End]. I have chosen one
theme that relates to these and other themes.
If they had heard the critique in Hebrews, the Levitical
priests could have felt that they were wasting their time offering sacrifices
that could not take away sin. But of course they were doing what God called
them to do. There was a time for the shadow or copy of the Heavenly Tabernacle
to do its work. Those sacrifices were not wasted, even if they were
ineffective.
If nothing else (and I think there is a great deal more than
only this point), they helped prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. The
priests—who had to keep standing because their work was never done—were
faithful to what God called them to do. In the End of all things, God will
reward them for their faithfulness. Perhaps God already has.
We find ourselves in a similar situation. We believe God has
called us to do certain things. In worship we gather and pray and read Scripture
and encourage each other. These are all good, but sometimes we may wonder how
much they really matter. Our text suggests that they matter because they are a
copy or a shadow of the real thing in Heaven, and they prepare us to
participate in the real thing in Eternity.
Our society has a fixation on efficiency and effectiveness.
We want to know what works. If something does not work quickly and effectively,
we are inclined to stop it. So we come together in worship, and sometimes you
will hear someone say, “What did you get out the service this morning?” But
this emphasis on getting something out of the service is a short-sighted
emphasis on results, giving in to our society’s obsession with technique and
effectiveness.
So the writer to the Hebrews says, “And let us consider how
we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 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” (verses 24-25). We gather as a
weekly discipline, whether we see results or not. We gather together each
Sunday to sing and pray and encourage each other. The reason that it works is
that what we do is a copy or a shadow of the gathering of the saints before the
throne in Heaven.
Some days the service works wonderfully. We feel God’s
presence. God’s Holy Spirit touches us inside, where no one else can see, and
we say, “That was such a good service!’ Maybe we give credit to the music, or
the singing of hymns, or the special music, or the prayer time, or the presence
of friends, or even the sermon. The truth is that, when the service “works”, it
does so because God is here, and we are participating in Christ’s perfect act
of sacrifice and worship and praise. Some days the service seems more like a
formality. We can’t put our finger on the cause or identify what is missing,
but we feel as though we are going through the motions. That’s okay. Go through
the motions. Keep on with the routine. We are still acting out the copy or
shadow of the gathering of the saints before the throne in Heaven. We are still
participating in Christ’s perfect act of sacrifice and worship and praise.
Do any of you exercise regularly? You know that some days
you will feel as though the running or exercise routine is wonderful, and other
times you will have to push yourself to finish. But every time that you work
out, you are getting stronger, moving towards the goal of greater physical
fitness. Similarly, every time we continue meeting together, copying our Lord
in worship and praise, God is growing greater spiritual strength in us.
A Sample Case:
Relationship between worship and social action
Ron Sider has written about the importance of Christian
faith for maintaining a strong commitment to social action. He writes about his
own journey:
In
1979 I spent two wonderful weeks lecturing in South Africa. One of the most
fascinating persons I met was a young university student named James. He came
to the annual conference of an evangelical university movement where I was
speaking about Jesus’ concern for the poor and his resurrection on the third
day. Like most other parts of the South African church then, this evangelical
movement had split into four groups: white Afrikaans-speaking, white
English-speaking, colored, and black. The students at the conference were
mostly white English-speaking.
James was not a Christian. He was Jewish and an ardent
social activist. His passion in life was the struggle against apartheid.
Somehow, however, these devout white Christians had caught his attention. James
and I quickly became friends during the conference, talking about South African
politics hour after hour.
Abruptly one evening after a three-hour conversation,
James said: “Ron, I’m burned out.” I wasn’t surprised. He was trying to be a
full-time activist and a full-time student, but his next comment startled me:
“God told me that if I would come to this conference, I would learn something
about his Son.”
I looked at James and replied, “James, I believe that
Jesus died on the cross and rose again for you.”
He paused for a second and then astonished me again:
“I believe all of that, Ron, I really do.”
Still he held back. Something obviously was blocking
his acceptance of Christ. After a moment he said quietly, “I don’t want to be
like these white Christians here. They sing about the love of Jesus and the joy
of heaven, but they don’t care about justice in South Africa. If I become a
Christian, will I have to give up the struggle?”
“Goodness no, James. Jesus wants to strengthen your
passion for justice …”
I waited quietly for a moment and then added, “I’m not
in any hurry, but if you’d like to pray together, I’d be glad to do that.” … He
prayed a beautiful prayer, confessing his sins and accepting Jesus Christ as
his personal Lord and Savior.
After I finished praying, I looked at James, and his
face was shining. I’m sure mine was too. …
…
During that same period [1981], I happened to meet on
a plane one day a man who had been a key leader in ecumenical social action
circles in the sixties. He had done great work fighting for civil rights. As we
talked, however, I realized that he was no longer a Christian. During seminary
he had lost all belief in historic Christian orthodoxy. All he had left was the
ethics of Jesus, so he threw himself passionately into the civil rights
movement and became a leader in social action for mainline Protestants. But by
the time I met him around 1981, he was discouraged. He had lost his hope and
his faith.
Good News and Good Works, 15-17.
The basic point for our purposes in Sider’s narrative is
this link between continuing to do God’s work in a broken and failing world. If
we think primarily of effectiveness and what works, we turn into disillusioned
pragmatists. The writer to the Hebrews directs our attention back to Christ. How
do “provoke one another to good works”? One way is by continuing to meet
together and to act out our copy of God’s great work in our world. We may fail.
We may find ourselves as helpless as the Levitical priests who could not really
deal with sin. But we keep on keep on copying our Lord, following our Lord,
resting in the great work of salvation that Jesus has already done. “Jesus, I
am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art. I am finding out the greatness
of Thy loving heart.”
Never give up. Not when terror strikes in the heart of the
French capital. Not when the bombs explode in Beirut and Baghdad. Not when
Syria and Iraq struggle to hold together as States. Not when the University of
Missouri experiences hatred and racism. Not when we hear again of problems in
the North End, or in our own homes. We live in a world that no human action can
redeem, but God can and does. In our worship together this morning we are participating
in Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, in anticipation of Eternity with God.
Grace Bible Church, 15 November 2015
Texts: 1 Samuel 1:4-20; Hebrews 10:11-25; Mark 13:1-8
