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Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt, October 28, 2018


To Finish Well You Must Follow Well


Text: Hebrews 5:11–6:12

This past week I traveled with Doug Ludeman and Tad De Bordenave to a pastor’s conference on preaching in Greenwich, Connecticut. We had a great time of fellowship and making new friends and we stayed in a house that was simply amazing. At the conference the speaker was the Rev. David Short an Anglican priest from Vancouver, BC. Around 2003 the Canadian Anglican Church experienced the same tearing apart as we did in the American church.

One of the congregants of Pastor Short’s church who left with him is Dr. J. I. Packer, a well known and loved author, teacher and theologian. Along with many others in Canada, they were forced to leave their churches and were subject to lawsuits and harassment much like many of us in America. Dr. Packer is considered one of the most influential evangelicals in North America. He has been the theologian emeritus of the Anglican Church in North America since its inception in 2009. I have been a devoted fan of his for many years because of his excellent teaching and solid unwavering faith. This was even in the midst of pressure from other sources to leave orthodoxy for what was seen as a more culturally relevant position on the authority of Scripture. I once met and spoke with him at an AMIA (the Anglican Mission in America) conference in Dallas and found him to be very approachable and gracious.

I spoke with David Short inquiring about Dr. Packer’s health, which I had heard was failing. He is 92 years old and has cancer in his kidneys, is blind in one eye and can’t see very well out of the other. Short told me that even though he is in bad health, he is still teaching whenever he can. I wrote Dr. Packer a note and gave it to David Short who assured that he would give it to him. In the note I thanked him for being an example of faithfulness and commitment to the word of God and his church, but also, I let him know that he was one of my “cloud of witnesses”.

When I returned from the conference in Greenwich, I found out that another one of my heroes in the faith, Eugene Peterson had passed away on Monday. That same day Christianity Today printed an article on the death of Eugene Peterson on October 22, 2018. Let me read you an excerpt from that article:

Eugene Peterson has completed his “long obedience in the same direction.”

The Presbyterian pastor, best known for authoring The Message Bible, died today at age 85, a week after entering hospice care for complications related to heart failure and dementia.

Author Winn Collier first shared the news on Twitter. “My dear friend and pastor Eugene Peterson has died this morning,” he wrote. “The lantern is out, but the joy he carried with him to his final breaths endures. Eugene is now with the Triune God he has loved his entire life. Memory eternal.”

NavPress, publishers of The Message, confirmed Peterson’s death. His family released a statement on his final, joyful days earthside.

“During the previous days, it was apparent that he was navigating the thin and sacred space between earth and heaven,” they stated. “We overheard him speaking to people we can only presume were welcoming him into paradise. There may have even been a time or two when he accessed his Pentecostal roots and spoke in tongues as well.

“Among his final words were, ‘Let’s go.’ And his joy: my, oh my; the man remained joyful right up to his blessed end, smiling frequently. In such moments it’s best for all mortal flesh to keep silence. But if you have to say something say this: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy.’”

Eric Peterson had shared an update about his father’s health status a week before, describing the author’s “sudden and dramatic turn” and the family’s decision to offer palliative care for his remaining days.

“It feels fitting that his death came on a Monday, the day of the week he always honored as a Sabbath during his years as a pastor,” the family stated today. “After a lifetime of faithful service to the church—running the race with gusto—it is reassuring to know that Eugene has now entered into the fullness of the Kingdom of God and has been embraced by eternal Sabbath.”

Like J. I. Packer, Eugene Peterson faced many struggles with those who discredited him for the orthodoxy of his faith, but he remained committed and faithful to the Lord that he loved so much and served so well. I never met him, but I was influenced by his writings and really enjoyed the Bible paraphrase, The Message, which many of you have as well.

You maybe wondering why I’m telling about these two men of God in this sermon. The reason is that I believe that remembering their stories has everything to do with understanding our passage for today. Both of them stayed the course and finished the race. They serve as a reminder and an encouragement for us to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12)

Last week, in our passage from Hebrews 4:12–16, we were reminded that the Book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were struggling with persecution and the threat of martyrdom. Many of them were tempted to return to their Jewish roots and the old Covenant that they were more familiar with. The writer of Hebrews encouraged them to stay the course and not be discouraged because the reward would be their High Priest, Jesus who was superior to Moses, Aaron and all the old sacrificial system and priesthood. Remaining faithful was the only way to receive the reward of reconciliation with God. In this morning’s reading from Hebrews 5:11–6:12, the writer is showing them the consequences of turning back instead of pressing forward.

Let’s read again Hebrews 6:1–3,

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

The writer lists various teachings that were included in both Judaism and Christianity. Both had washings, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection and judgment so it would be easy to slip back into Judaism. There isn’t anything on the list that is distinctively Christian. The writer is pointing out that you can believe or practice these things and still not be a follower of Jesus Christ, and not believe Him to be the Messiah? In this case, the elementary doctrines to move beyond are all items in the common ground between Christianity and Judaism. This was a safe common ground for these discouraged Jewish Christians to retreat back to. They didn’t want to abandon religion, but they did want to make it less distinctively Christian. Therefore, they were inclined to go back to this common ground to avoid persecution.

By living in this comfortable common ground, a person wouldn’t stick out so much. A Jew and a Christian together could say, “Let’s repent, let’s have faith, let’s perform ceremonial washings,” and so forth. However, the gospel message was that Jesus Christ is Lord of all because he went to the cross, died and resurrected. Salvation was only found in him and to not include this was a subtle denial of Jesus. In many churches today, the message is often about love, unity and compassion which are all good things but must be presented in the light of the resurrection and the need for repentance of sin. There is always the temptation to still be religious, but not so “fanatical” about Jesus. The writer is encouraging them to move deeper into their relationship with Christ and not simply focus on the “elementary school” level of teaching. They needed to go deeper into the calling of Jesus upon their lives which would most likely also lead them into situations where they would be persecuted for their faith. It would also lead them to produce fruit for the kingdom of God.

The next section, Hebrews 6:4–6, is very difficult and many people are confused by these passages. There are several different views on this passage and none of them are without some problems. However, I think that seen through the context of the previous passages we can clear things up enough to get the point being made. Let’s read them,

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

The warnings against apostasy in Hebrews, especially in chapters 6 and 10, are sobering. They're troubling because the author, especially in our chapter this morning from chapter 6, says if someone has participated in the life of the new covenant community and heard preached the word of God, seen the Holy Spirit at work, tasted of the Lord through the Eucharist and then turns away, that turning away for that individual is not something that is going to be reversed because in that turning there reveals a hardening of the heart.

It's a very sobering thing. I think we need to realize that the author here is writing to a congregation. He's not presuming to read the hearts of every individual who will hear this sermon read aloud and he's not presuming to peek into the Lamb's Book of Life. So, he's really talking to people who have openly professed faith in Christ, but he knows that the new covenant church, like the old covenant community in the wilderness, that he points to in chapters 3 and 4, is a mixture of people who all seem to genuinely trust in Christ. For those people, he will say so clearly in chapter 7:25 that Christ is able to save to the uttermost those who approach God through him. But others who may be professing faith in Christ but don't have a genuine saving faith, he says for them the very fact of their being associated with the church and then turning away means a more severe judgment.

Many people have attended church all their lives without knowing what it is to know Jesus Christ personally as savior and Lord. So, it is a warning but not to call us to be living in constant fear, but it is to call for us to love one another with a proactive love, to hold onto one another, to encourage and exhort one another in case there is someone who is weak and falling away. Ultimately, our calling is to encourage one another and to hold fast, knowing that God holds fast to his own people, and he uses us to make that perseverance take place in the lives of his people. Paul exhorted the church in 2 Corinthians 13:5,

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless of course you fail to meet the test.

This is one of the reasons we have been learning about spiritual warfare and the need to feed upon the word of God and immerse ourselves daily in prayer. To not do so is to end up feeling alone and doubtful about the strength of your faith. John Piper wrote in his book, Desiring God,

Hebrews is written to deepen and strengthen the joy of our assurance in God, and one of the strategies of the book is to expose false assurances and fleeting pleasures. That’s what we are reading in Hebrews 6:4–8. This passage says that there is a spiritual condition that makes repentance and salvation impossible. And it says that this condition may look in many ways like salvation, but it isn’t. And it leads to destruction. And so this text is a warning to us not to assume that we are secure when our lives have some religious experiences but no growing fruit. And the reason for showing us this serious situation is so that we will flee from it, and move to solid ground and lasting joy.

The writer warns the church that to turn away from faith in Jesus Christ is to crucify him again and because of this they would never again be restored to repentance. There are two reasons this is the case.

One is that Christ was crucified the first time to make his people pure and holy. That’s why he shed his blood. Hebrews 13:12 says, “Jesus also suffered outside the gate that he might sanctify the people through his own blood.” He died to sanctify us. He died to make us pure and holy and devoted to him (see Hebrews 9:14; Titus 2:14). So, when we turn our backs on purity and holiness and devotion, which his cross was designed to bring about, we say yes to the impurity and worldliness and unbelief that nailed him there in the first place. This means we crucify him again.

When a person chooses against Christ and turns back to the way of the world and the sovereignty of his own will and the fleeting pleasures of earth, he says in effect that these are worth more than Christ is worth. They are worth more than the love of Christ and the wisdom of Christ and the power of Christ and all that God promises to be for us in Christ. And when a person says that, it is the same as saying, “I agree with the crucifiers of Jesus.” Because what could shame Christ more today than to have someone taste his goodness and wisdom and power and then say, “No, there is something better and more to be desired.” That puts him to a public shame.

I have known people who seemed to be very committed to their faith in Jesus Christ but when a tragedy or downturn happened in their lives they turned away. They seemed to become extremely hardened to God and actually became those who mocked Christianity as a sham. The writer of Hebrews likens this to a field that receives the same rain and nourishment as another but continues to be barren and fruitless. Let’s read Hebrews 6:7–8,

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 59 we read of God calling his people Israel to repentance and renewed faith so that they could be released from exile. They seemed unable to help themselves, so God took the initiative and determined to mediate on their behalf. He would become the divine warrior who would defeat their enemies and restore them as the faithful people of God. The New Testament teaches us that God the redeemer came to Jerusalem in the person of Jesus Christ in fulfillment of this promise. Paul confirmed this in Romans 11:26–27,

And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

For anyone to turn away from this kind of outpouring of love should be unthinkable and yet Israel and many within the organized church have spurned God’s affection and overtures of love.

Our Gospel reading from Mark 10:46–52 shows us the proper response to the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. Bartimaeus, the blind beggar called out to Jesus as he passed by and he ends up being healed of his blindness. Verse 52 tells us, “And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.”

This story is short and sweet but has the effect of teaching us the proper way to respond to the kindness and mercy of God. We should follow Him out of thankfulness for his love anticipating that the more we do so, the better we will know him. Knowing God through Jesus Christ should be our passion and greatest desire. If it isn’t then perhaps this should serve as a warning that something else has taken his place in the heart. This is a sobering thought.

I love the way the writer of Hebrews closes out this section with words of encouragement,

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

That’s the reason I spoke of the two examples of J.I. Packer and Eugene Peterson. The writer of Hebrews directs us to our “cloud of witness” in Hebrews 12:1–2,

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let’s pray.

©2018 Rev. Mike Moffitt

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