Monthly Archives: January 2010

Hebrews 6:9-10 (ESV)

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 so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.

Little things mean a lot, the old country song said, and that is true. And little words pack a big punch. When you are reading a piece of Scripture you would be foolish to simply skip over the little words that far too many people take for granted or simply do not notice.

Take the first word of Hebrews 6:10 for example. “For”- what does that little word tell us? It tells us that what the author is about to say is based on what he has just said. It tells us that if verse 9 were not true then verse 10 would not be able to be stated. So let’s have a look at verse 9.

“Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation”. Even though others have fallen away we are sure you will not because you are truly saved because we know that God is not unjust to forget your good works. Real salvation means that we have a just God who will not forget what we have done for Him. It means that He will not forget what He has done for us. The good works we do are the work of God as well (Eph. 2:10).

The justice of God ought to terrify people. The fact that He is just means that we will receive from Him what we deserve. But if we are in Christ by faith then His justice means that since Jesus has already borne the punishment for our sins He will not punish them again upon us. He is just. He counts us as being as righteous as Christ because He already counted Christ as sinful as us.

There is simply no way to come to grips with the mind warpingness of such things. The Gospel is simply unimaginably great. It tells us more about God than anything else in the Bible. It is off the scale in its stunning accomplishments.

That little word “for” that begins verse 10 takes us into the very eternal councils of God, where it was planned that He would save, through the death of the Son, a vast innumerable host of sinners. And when we come into that eternal plan, God is not unjust to forget us. He is accomplishing something that none of us fully understand. And it should make us bow and wonder and serve and live now for the praise of His glory.

O God what you have done. Help me not to get carried away with lesser things. And everything else is lesser. What a God.

I am a pastor. I pastor the church this web site tells you about. Monday is my day off. Today my jobs were to peel a little wall paper, shop for a steam cleaner, clean the ceiling fan, put up new kitchen curtains.

At one point today I asked aloud, “What’s next?” and then I answered the question with “Oh right, I haven’t done the devotional for the web site yet”. This sparked a reply from my wife along the lines that the next job had to do more with home repair than working on the church blog.

My marriage is more important than you. No devotional today. There is housework to get back to. There is plenty of devotional thought that can arise from that. Try I Timothy 5:8

8But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

See you tomorrow.

Some rambling thoughts regarding the earthquake in Haiti.

1) Life is so uncertain. One minute a person is making plans for the evening, or getting off work or just conversing with friends. The next, your city is a pile of rubble caused by an earthquake of enormous proportion and life changes forever. The earthquake in Haiti should gives us all pause to stop and consider the brevity and uncertainty of life.

2) In our church we have a growing population of Haitian expatriates who have grave concerns regarding their country and friends and loved ones. We are rejoicing that one of our members took off from Haiti two hours before the earthquake struck. Another has found out that her children are alive even though she has been unable to contact them so far. All the accounts from our Haitan attendees may turn out to be not so positive.

3) There have already been some of the usual responses about how a loving God could allow such a tragedy to happen, but massive horrors like this are not testimony that God is dead or unconcerned or less than able to do something to prevent such things. Jesus took the opportunity, when a tower had collapsed, to warn people about being prepared to leave this life.

Luke 13:1-5 (ESV)

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [2] And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? [3] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [4] Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? [5] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

None of us know when we are going to go or what is going to take us. And such things happen to godly followers of Jesus Christ and they happen to those who deny that He ever existed at all. But Jesus tells us to be ready to go. Turn from sin and look to Him while you still can.

Sin has warped this world out of it intended shape and made it a sad shadow of what it was meant to be. The only solution to the mess that sin has brought is the eternal Son of God Himself.

4) God calls us to live by faith. When a tragedy such as this one occurs the faith is tested. But a faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. He promises a child to Abraham and Sarah and puts it to the test by making them wait until the biology says that bearing a child is impossible. He promises that a child will be born who will crush the serpent and his work but the Messiah does not show up for at least four thousand years. He promises to come back and after (only) two thousand years hasn’t shown up yet. God calls us to believe. If all our questions are answered and we can put God in a test tube and see Him and all His reasons for all He does then we do  not need faith at all.

5) The Bible tells us that such things happen.

Matthew 24:4-8 (ESV)

And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. [5] For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. [6] And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. [8] All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

The one thing that we know for sure regarding such things is that they are not a sign of the end of the age, or the return of Christ. They are signs that until Jesus does return the world is going to marked by such things.

6) One of the best prayers I have ever heard was made by a lady in our church on Wednesday evening as we took this and other things to God in prayer: “Lord you could have stopped this from happening, but you did not and we trust you”. Some will scoff at this, but it is a marvelous prayer. It testifies to our horror at what has occurred and the knowledge that God is sovereign and that we are ignorant of the vast purposes of God at work in the world and that He is worth hanging on to in the face of it. To pretend that we would do better than God in what we would allow to happen in the world is idolatrous and we must not enter into such thinking.

7) God calls us to respond with compassion for those who suffer. Consider what you are able to do to help those who are are desperately in need in Haiti as they try to recover form the destruction and death that has occurred. Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demons. He did it out of a heart of love and compassion. Our sympathy and pain does not begin to approach the Creator’s. He calls us to be His hands and feet at work to alleviate the suffering that marks this world and will continue to do so until Jesus returns.

Show the heart of Christ today – in your response to those in Haiti or in simple acts of love and compassion to others that you rub shoulders with today.

Hebrews 6:9-10 (ESV)

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 so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.

God owes us nothing. All that we have from Him is a gift of pure grace. We deserve hell and punishment and condemnation. When we come to Christ it is because He has enabled it, guaranteed it, caused it and accomplished all that makes it possible. The good works we do as believers are the response of grateful hearts for an unsurpassable grace and love. God simply cannot be outgiven.

But all this does not mean that we won’t be rewarded for the good we do after we are saved. If God were to ignore the good works that we willingly and gladly do as His children then He would be unjust. That is what Hebrews 6:10 says. Does the work we do for God deserve a reward from? No, but God has promised to reward us and it would be unjust for Him to break His own word. For the honour of His own Name, for the honour of Christ and for our good. He will not neglect to reward us. God is not unjust. He will not forget the good we do out of love for Him and our bothers and sisters in Christ.

God calls us to service. There are times when we serve and no one takes notice. Sometimes people just do not appreciate the effort, the time, the sacrifice, pain, money that is involved. And even if they did know they wouldn’t care, or at least they do not seem to. To do what we do in order to be seen or appreciated or thanked by others may turn out to be a very disappointing enterprise.

Jesus tells us to do our good works secretly and the Father who sees in secret will reward us (Matthew 6:2-4). What will the reward be? We are not told. But this we know. It will be of far greater worth than the work deserves. That’s just what our God is like.

Do you believe that it does not matter how others respond to your work done for God since God is going to reward you? Do you have such a faith in the justice of God to reward you for your work done for Him that the fact that you are left unheralded now does not bother you? Do you really, really believe that it does not matter who toots your horn or sings your praises? Can you go unnoticed and thankless and not get into a funk of self pity and resentment?

(It is worth pointing out here that if you have to wrestle with how ungrateful and unappreciative people can be then you should go out of your way to be grateful and appreciative. Don’t be what you wish others weren’t.)

God will not overlook the work and love His children show for His sake and the sake of His church. How this ought to make us tireless workers for Him and all His children! Never allow the response of others to discourage you from carrying on in the task of serving God and the church. God will not forget. Set your sights on the prize that is set before you and endure all that life lashes out at you. That is what Jesus did (Hebrews 12:1-2) and you are called to be like Him.

You cannot out give God. Serve Him and His church with great joy and energy. It will be greatly rewarded. It will be rewarded far beyond any reward that someone else might give you. And it will last forever. Keep that perspective and you will be able to serve God just like that.

Hebrews 6:9-10 (ESV)

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 so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.

How did the author of Hebrews know that the people he was writing were not the false professors he has been talking about in the previous set of verses? Because, as verse 9 states, they had things that belong to salvation.

In verse 10 he mentions a few of these:

1) they worked – real salvation will always be accompanied by work; work that He prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10). The professing believer who is not actively serving Christ in exerting real effort, is not a Christian at all.

2) They demonstrated love in their work. They were not working to earn any favours from God. They were working because God, through their faith in Jesus Christ had planted a love for God and others that spurred them on to real effort.

3) They carried out these labours of love first of all, for the glory of God (“the love that you showed for his sake”). The real believer’s first love will always be the triune God. He is our first and deepest love. We may do great good for others out of a great love for people but it will never begin to approach the love we have for God. In fact, the love we have for God is what fuels the good we do for anyone else – all the time;

4) they worked in service to other believers. The church of Christ is a family and we love our brothers and sisters. Real believers will work for the benefit of others in the family, regardless of what else they do in the kingdom for the glory of God. This is how the world will know we are His disciples (John 13:35);

5) they persevere in the work they do, out of love, for the glory of God, and the good of the church. They do not say, “well I am glad that’s over and done with”. They know that they are called to serve in the way they do, until Jesus returns or until they die. Where there is no perseverance in the faith, there is no faith. The one who looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. He who endures to the end shall be saved.

How about you? Do you have these bare essential elements of true saving faith? These are what God, the Holy Spirit produces when He indwells those who trust the living Christ to save them from sin. They will be the marks you have and demonstrate. And you will be glad that you can.

Hebrews 6: 4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance 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] if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. [7] 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.

How do we know that those referred to in verse 4 who are impossible to be brought back to repentance were never really believers in the biblical sense? Because of the consistent testimony of Scripture that the author uses here that maintains that true Christians produce fruit.

It is possible, indeed it is very common, for someone to have the benefits that verse 4 talks about and not have true Christian fruit. People can be enlightened regarding what the Gospel is, what sin is, what Jesus has done and still not possess it. They are enlightened in the sense that they know what the true biblical Gospel is. They have tasted the fellowship of the saints and its goodness. They have tasted the joys of Christian worship and fellowship. They have been a part of God’s blessings lavished upon a church and have profited much from it yet all the while without internalizing the essentials of the faith and receiving Jesus Christ. The place where they worshipped was a place where the Holy Spirit was active. They shared in the blessings that He bestowed upon the believers. They received the good things that God the Holy Spirit had poured out upon the people of God. They got the blessings of the salt and light that the church is. They heard the Scriptures preached and saw them lived out. They learned the great doctrines of the faith and knew what was false and what was true.

But they never bowed their hearts to Christ and never bore the fruit that is inevitable for those who have the Word of God take root in their hearts. For all the blessings they received they only bore thorns and thistles in their own lives (Verse 8). There was no real power of holiness in them. They enjoyed the outpouring of God upon the saints but they had none of it themselves when they were not with the saints. Their lives were hollow shells. Eventually they tire of the hypocrisy and doubt and they leave. Or the depravity of their own hearts wins out over their desire to be like the saints that they have been associating with.

Sometimes they will blame the church, the Bible, Christianity in general. Sometimes they will blame God and sometimes they will simply say that God does not exist or never existed in them. This is why the text says that it is impossible to bring them back to repentance. What can you tell them that they do not already know? They can give the Gospel as well as you can. They know about depravity and wrestling with sin and the call for real change. If years of being under the sound of the Gospel had no effect on them then what more can you do? It is impossible to bring them back.

But with God nothing is impossible. And what we cannot do God can. So what do we do with such people? We pray for them. Pray that the Holy Spirit will do in them what the Gospel preached has not done yet. Pray for the miracle of salvation. There is nothing else you can do. You cannot bring them back to repentance. You must submit them to God and leave them there for Him to deal with as He sees fit.