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Hebews 5- ‘Allowing the Rain to Soak In’
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In a funny sort of way, the Book of Hebrews is basically a story about 2 journeys:
• 1st, there is God’s journey to us (what we call the Incarnation)…a journey in which God Himself must undergo permanent change and transformation in order to manifest His love to humankind. Indeed, we are told that, in this journey, God (in the person of Jesus Christ) is even perfected through His suffering on the cross. That’s significant transformation!
• 2nd, there is also our journey with this Incarnate God as we move towards our future rest in the Promised Land of a Renewed Creation. This journey also involves permanent transformation. For whether you like it or not, God is not content for us to stay the same. Indeed, God expects to see change and movement in us, in exactly the same way that He is experiencing change and movement in Himself. In other words, God wants us to be His companions on the road of mutual transformation…the road to our perfection/completion/wholeness.
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Full Text
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Hebrews: ‘The Journey of Becoming’
Sermon 3- ‘Allowing the Rain to Soak In’
Passages: Hebrews 5: 11- 6:12
Mark 4:26-29
In a funny sort of way, the Book of Hebrews is basically a story about 2 journeys:
• 1st, there is God’s journey to us (what we call the Incarnation)…a journey in which God Himself must undergo permanent change and transformation in order to manifest His love to humankind. Indeed, we are told that, in this journey, God (in the person of Jesus Christ) is even perfected through His suffering on the cross. That’s significant transformation!
• 2nd, there is also our journey with this Incarnate God as we move towards our future rest in the Promised Land of a Renewed Creation. This journey also involves permanent transformation. For whether you like it or not, God is not content for us to stay the same. Indeed, God expects to see change and movement in us, in exactly the same way that He is experiencing change and movement in Himself. In other words, God wants us to be His companions on the road of mutual transformation…the road to our perfection/completion/wholeness.
Now, it’s true that some people resist change. Perhaps they resist change because change threatens their sense of personhood. Perhaps they resist change because change rattles their sense of security. But the bottom line issue here is faith. Can I truly believe that, despite what I see, God is always good and faithful…that He has my best interests at heart?
That’s exactly what Jesus had to go through- He had to go through threats to both His personhood and His personal security as He turned His eyes towards the cross. It wasn’t easy, and that’s why Jesus prayed that, if possible, His Father might take the cup away from Him. Nevertheless, despite what His eyes were seeing, Jesus trusted that His Father was taking Him through the pain of the cross for a very good reason. Hence, Hebrews 12:2 can say of Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” By faith, Jesus pressed on, in the assurance that His Father walked beside Him in His journey to the Promised Land. Thus, not even the threat of death itself would cause Him to turn back. Jesus was ready to undergo the perfecting power of suffering. A verse from the end of last week’s passage crystallizes these thoughts- Look again at Hebrews 5:8-9. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…”
What the author of Hebrews is trying to encourage us to see is that suffering is not evil in itself. Suffering can be used by God for our good. For example, “Suffering can mature you. Suffering can make you a better person. Suffering can separate out what is important from what is unimportant in your life. Suffering can make you see what is real and what is unreal. Suffering can draw you closer to God each day.” (The above quote was taken from the internet.)
But there’s one more thing that the Book of Hebrews wants us to recognize. A mature view of suffering is one that recognizes that you never suffer alone; for God is always our companion. Jesus knows our sufferings, has felt them Himself, and accompanies us through them as our Comforter and Friend. Suffering has the power, therefore, to enhance our relationship with Him!
With this idea of suffering as a backdrop, take a look with me at today’s passage, starting at Hebrews 5:11. “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.”
Having talked about suffering in this positive way, the author of Hebrews admits that his readers will not find this topic easy to understand or accept. And the reason why they may balk at any idea of suffering is bound up in the immature way they understand God.
• Some people see God as a ‘lucky charm’ against all evil. Believe in God and you will never have troubles. Believe in God and He’ll make your life rich and rewarding. Believe in God and life will be smooth sailing. But this is not Christianity- this is superstition. After all, Christ suffered, didn’t He?
• Others have a dualistic view of the world where, if God is good, then He must not allow suffering to even exist. These people find it extremely hard to accept any relationship between God and suffering. But once again, this childish idea is not Christianity—For God was on the cross! “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself” through suffering!
For this reason, the author of this Letter to the Hebrews insists that, rather than dumbing down the Gospel to accommodate the immaturity of the readers, the readers need to grow up.
• Hebrews 5:14- “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Immature people misunderstand suffering by claiming it is all evil. But, mature people recognize that suffering can have good effect.)
• Hebrews 6:1- “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…”
Interestingly, the word ‘maturity’ found in these two verse is the same word applied to Jesus back in chapter 5, verses 8-9, where it was translated as ‘perfect’. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect…”. As you can see, the central issue of these to passages is whether or not we will allow suffering to make us more mature.
That’s why the story of the Israelites in the wilderness features so strongly in this letter. Many of the Israelites grumbled over the hardships they faced. They couldn’t accept that God would allow them to suffer. As a result, they refused to continue the journey with God, even when He said that He would walk with them through it. Undoubtedly, the same sorts of complaints were being voiced by the Christians to whom this Letter to the Hebrews was being written. They didn’t want suffering in their lives! All they wanted was a nice, safe, institutional religion…focused on the safe moral issues of “repentance from acts that lead to death”. They preferred having to deal with the simpler issues of the faith, like: “…instruction about baptisms, (and) the laying on of hands…” They wanted to fill their heads with all sorts of esoteric concepts like , the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” In this way, they could keep the nitty-gritty issues of the faith at arms’ length. I mean, who wants to talk about suffering? In particular, who wants to talk about the God who suffers? To admit that God suffers with us forces us to enter into the shadowy area of insecurity and uncertainty. I mean, if God can suffer, who will protect me from suffering? If God seems to be impotent in the face of evil, then how can I be absolutely sure whether He’s worth trusting?
These are big questions…and we steer away from them because, whether we like it or not, these questions can only be answered by faith…by looking at the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. You see, Christianity doesn’t come with some money-back guarantee! It doesn’t offer you tangible, scientific proof that God can be trusted. But neither can you hedge your bets, 50-50. No, you have to either throw your lot in with the God who allows suffering (trusting that, in the end, what God did for His Son He will also do for you) or you must turn away to someone else who may offer you a better solution to the issue of suffering!
It’s in the light of this tension between accepting suffering and wanting to run from it that the author of Hebrews says the following (vv 4-6): “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
Now, I really think the point being made here was meant to be quite simple: As far as suffering is concerned, when you have so much that tells you that God is good…(you’ve tasted of the heavenly gift of His presence, you’ve experienced the touch of His Spirit, you’ve heard the encouragement of God’s word and the promises of a future day when every tear will be wiped away)… you should be able to trust Him through your suffering. His very gifts make it possible to trust Him! If, however, (despite all the ways that God walks with you and encourages you to trust Him) you turn to false gods and false remedies for your suffering…then there’s a big question whether you really want a relationship with God. Indeed, in the end, you haven’t allowed the truth of the cross…of Christ and His walk of faithful suffering… to encourage your heart.
The metaphor that follows, about “land that drinks the rain”, now makes a lot of sense! After all, haven’t you received so much that tells you that God is good? Haven’t you drunk deeply from His abundant rains? If so, then the metaphor applies: “Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.”
However, if, on the other hand, you haven’t drunk deeply from the things that God has given to encourage your faith, then“…land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.”
As I said back at the beginning of this sermon, the Book of Hebrews is basically a story about 2 journeys:
• 1st, there is God’s journey to us (what we call the Incarnation)…a journey in which God is perfected though suffering in order to manifest His love and salvation to humankind.
• 2nd, there is also our journey with this Incarnate God as we move towards our future rest in the Promised Land of a Renewed Creation. Our journey also involves being perfected through suffering! For whether you like it or not, God is not content for us to stay the same. He wants us to be His companions in the journey of perfection.
Don’t turn back, but instead, allow the gentle rains of God to soak in more deeply than ever before!
(Hebrews 12:2-6) “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Amen!
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