FRONTLINE SUNDAY 5
TOGETHER WE GROW
HEBREWS 10:19–25 (the message version)
So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.
So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
The Bible has so much to say about our relationships as the people of God; there are so many passages to choose from. But Hebrews 10 starts with God, not us. It starts with the good news of Jesus Christ and that seems a fitting conclusion to the series. Our lives are lived in response to that which God has first done for us through Christ. We gather to encourage one another, to remind one another about the full story of the gospel we have been invited into and as a consequence to equip one another for our everyday lives. And we learn that God is with us in our everyday lives. The access we have to God does not depend on priests or temples but because of what Christ has done the curtain has been torn in two. Wherever we are whatever we’re doing we are able to enter the very presence of the living God.
This passage is talking about the new found confidence that those who trust in Jesus have to enter into His presence. The reference to the curtain here points us to the curtain in the temple surrounding the most holy place. Only the high priest had access through the curtain to the presence of God in Holiest of Holies. Everybody else was forbidden to enter, and faced death if they did! When Jesus died, that temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. It was a picture that said Jesus has removed the barrier between us and God by his body. Jesus, the great high priest, grants access to God through the curtain of his body. In other words, all those who have had their sins removed by the sacrificial death of Christ can enter freely, and without fear of death. Because they have been cleansed, or washed clean, by Jesus’ blood, they can enter with great confidence that God will accept them!
This gives the Christian a great and secure hope for the future, until we finally meet Him face to face when we die, or on ‘the Day’, when He returns (v25). In the meantime, however, we must keep going in the right direction (unswervingly) and ‘spur each other on towards love and good deeds’. This passage puts it quite strongly, the Christian life should be active and not passive. It should be a life full of love and good deeds as we continue Jesus’ mission to reach the world with the Gospel.
And it also makes another strong point, we aren’t to try to live the Christian life on our own. In fact, it shows us that we put ourselves in danger if we do so. Not meeting together quickly becomes a habit – a bad habit – and habits are hard to change. We must avoid going it alone and thinking we don’t need to meet together with other Christians. We need the encouragement of other believers if we are to keep going forwards and avoid being pulled off track.
When the writer to the Hebrews wrote this they would not have had in mind what we are doing here this morning. Well they certainly wouldn’t have had face masks and 2m distancing!!!! But they wouldn’t have had in mind what we were doing before covid.
They would have had in mind at least three forms in mind
1 The synagogue background
2 Meeting in Homes
3 In the public square
For us now we need to learn more ways to demonstrate that we are not going to give up meeting together
Small Groups – or anyways you can meet!!!!
‘Zoomed Out???” But it has been and continues to be such a gift to us
When we do have more freedom I hope we won’t soon forget and take it for granted. I hope in the words of scripture we will spur one another on. I hope we will make the most of every and any opportunity.
Hebrews 10 proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ, affirming that we live our lives in response to what God has first done for us. Yet we can grow weary of doing good. The writer of Hebrews encourages his recipients not to give up, to spur each other on, and to keep meeting together. We, too, gather together to help each other ‘hold unswervingly to the hope we profess’ scattered out on our frontlines.
The point of the passage is that we need each other! Our times together as church are a great opportunity to cast the vision for whole-life missional discipleship. What we practise together as a church is what we live out in our everyday lives. Whenever we find ourselves together in 30’s 6’s 2’s households, in or outdoors, taking a walk or over ZOOM We can help one another to:
Hold on to hope together
As a church family, we need to help one another to hold on to this faith. There are many things that would tempt us to give up following Jesus or at least grow cold in our faith. The writer to the Hebrews encourages us in three ways.
He urges us to draw near to God. In the Old Testament this was only done by the priests, the ones separated out for that purpose. Here it is open for everyone, because Jesus opened the way.
Secondly, we have complete assurance of our faith – as we focus on Jesus we discover who we are as a result of what he’s done for us.
Thirdly, we experience peace as we come with things that weigh heavy on our hearts and we discover that we have been sprinkled with his blood. We are renewed – we are reminded of our baptism vows, ‘our bodies being washed with pure water.’
Spur one another to good works
‘Spur’ is a strong word. It has the idea of ‘inciting’ or ‘provoking’ one another. It’s a strange word when linked with ‘love and good works’. But its strength suggests the importance of helping one another to live our faith on our frontlines. We can grow weary of doing good. People can be ungrateful or even manipulative of us. Our best efforts may not seem to lead to lasting change. It’s easy to give up, to become self- centred. The writer to the Hebrews recognised that we can help one another by not allowing each other to give up. To keep the challenge before us. To keep going. What would that look like in your church life together? How do you already help one another be attentive to his purposes through each person on their frontline? How could you help one another more? What do you learn together that might help you when you’re apart?
Keep meeting together
In emphasising our frontlines, we do not want to suggest that our life together is not important. In fact, if this is the place where we are reminded of the core elements of our faith, and if this is the community that will help us remain faithful to our calling,
if this is the community that will affirm the significance of where we are Monday through Saturday, then meeting together is vital. It’s central to our spiritual disciplines. The gathered worship life of our church is where we teach, guide, challenge, equip, encourage, love, and commission one another for our lives on the frontline.
I am looking forward as I am sure you are to not having to where the masks, not having to space out 2m, not being limited in our numbers. Indeed I would love to still have the problem of fitting everyone but only because of the limits of the building – 200!!!!
We remind ourselves of the purpose of spring one another on
So that we can be faithful witnesses on our frontlines so that those who as yet have not given there lives to Jesus will do so.