Hebrews. Yeah, it could be a corny name of Christian coffee shop. (Get it? “He brews” *cough cough*) But Hebrews happens to be one of my favorite books of the Bible. It’s a book so rich and elegantly written. Some say that it was a sermon. No one knows for sure who wrote it. But what I do see is that the author intended to encourage its readers who were undergoing some great sufferings for Christ.
Let’s first read the short passage carefully in context. Don’t skim over this, but read slowly:
As you can see, the author of Hebrews first summarizes his points: Jesus gave himself, his blood and life, so that we may draw nearer to God. Prior to Jesus the closest to God was through a curtain, in a place known as the “holy of holies”. Just as the curtain was torn upon the death of Jesus, the flesh of Christ was also torn. Do you see the connection? Jesus himself said “I am the way.” Because His flesh was torn, we were able to draw near to God! Thus our faith is founded in this work. Because Jesus’ work on the cross we may have confidence.
Now that we have seen the context, let’s move on to the 3 exhortations that follows (the “let us” series).
2. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
3. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works…”
How shall we respond? What is your natural response to the gospel? The first thing that the author of Hebrews encourages us to do is draw near to God with FULL ASSURANCE of faith. That is, let us come to God without doubts. Let us come with total belief. With this belief in the work of Christ comes a cleansing of our hearts. The dominion of sin dies on the cross when you fully trust in the work of Christ. Our hearts as a result become clean! We can thus draw near to a HOLY GOD. Could we draw near to a holy God, a pure being who hates evil if Christ had not died for our sins? NO. We are too dirty, too sinful, apart from a clean heart that comes by faith in Christ.
Second encouragement: One challenging teaching of the Hebrews is that Christians aren’t simply those who say they are Christians. Christians are those who “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering”; they are those who stand fast until the end of their life. It is a challenging teaching because if I were to live a “Christian life” but deny my confession at the end of my life, that would only prove that I never really believed nor lived as a Christian. See how that works? We must hold on. We must preserve to the end. Because God is faithful and will not let go if we are his.
Last exhortation: Notice first that this entire time Hebrews has been addressing a group of people. And thus this is not only “my” response, but “our” response — it is a group response not only your individual response. So, have you considered it? How can we “stir up one another to love and good works”? The answer is this: We do not neglect to meet together. We love each other and encourage each other as the author of Hebrews is doing. This makes sense, doesn’t it? No man is an island to himself. We live in communities. We need each other to press on. We stir each other by seeing each others as examples of love and good works. We stir each other also by encouraging each other through the word of God, the living flame at our feet. Man (and woman) was not made to be alone. We need each other. We need the encouragement to do good especially when the going gets tough. Remember, the original readers of this letter was suffering persecution! Those are serious trials and tribulations!
To conclude: Jesus paid it all; our response is to draw near to God with clean hearts and cling to Him but also stir each other to love and good works. This is a timely message for those who are suffering or undergoing trials. Remember what Jesus has done! Think of the 3 exhortations the writer calls us to do.
Which of the 3 exhortations are you attempting and doing? Which are you neglecting?
