Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This statement of the author of Hebrews is a combination of a benediction and a doxology. A benediction, we might say, is God’s response to his people in which he promises to provide aspects of salvation whereas a doxology is their response to God in which they praise him for what he has done for them. The words of the author contain both. There are some general comments that can be deduced from this statement. First, we can deduce that we should conclude an exhortation or sermon by saying something comforting to God’s people because that is how the author closes his exhortation. In it he has said some strong things to them such as reminding them that they were unable to understand deeper truths of the Bible that they should have been able to do by now. Nevertheless he still closes his exhortation by encouraging the failures. Second, we can see from his words that it is important to exalt Jesus in the minds of his people. The author does so in several ways, as we will see. He al...

The Ascension of Christ Sometimes we are privileged to observe remarkable or unusual events and yet remained unmoved by them. One of the effects of television is to reduce the sense of wonder or pleasure or surprise or privilege that meeting an important person would have given to previous generations. We can see monarchs, presidents, prime ministers and other famous people close up every day of the week, so that when we do see them near us, or even meet with them, we fail to regard the occasions as extraordinary. Taking a different perspective, some can have the experience of involvement in the life of a person in which new and greater displays of his or her abilities are continually revealed. I suppose the spouse or friends of a person who becomes a president or prime minister observe these talents and capabilities, and see how they take on increased responsibilities almost as if they were born for them. Perhaps the disciples of Jesus experienced a combination of these two rea...

In our previous study on this theme we noticed that verses 4-8 contained four essential requirements for living for God, and they were chastity, contentment, constancy and Christ-centredness. To them, we should also add the requirement mentioned in verses 1-3, that of brotherly love. In the verses we will consider now another five essential requirements are mentioned, and in order to help us remember them I have used words beginning with the letter S: strength, sanctification, sacrifices, submission and supplication. Some of them are so obvious that we will not need to say a lot about them. Strength (v. 9) Sometimes we observe participants in religious activities showing great fervour and determination. This can range from the ways that members of cults can persist in door-knocking with little success to how Moslems and Buddhists can engage publicly in their acts of devotion. The original readers of this letter would have seen the eagerness with which their fellow countrymen parti...

Sometimes God does great things very publicly and many people witness it taking place. At other times he does things very quietly and only a few people observe it. With regard to the resurrection of Jesus, no human person saw it happen. The dead body of the crucified Saviour had been placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea after he had gone bravely to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and begged to take the dead body of Jesus away from the cross at Calvary. The actions of Joseph and his friend Nicodemus were done in love but not in hope. There is no evidence that indicates they expected Jesus to rise again from the dead. It is possible that they did not know of the prediction of Jesus that he would be killed and rise again on the third day. Yet other observers of the burial of Jesus who had spent more time with Jesus than did Joseph or Nicodemus – the women who had followed him from Galilee – should have recalled it because they must have heard him say that he would rise again...

The writer of Hebrews is now giving instructions to his readers on how to live for God in a difficult period in which their values were not the values of the society in which they lived. As we look at his comments we will see that some of the concerns also exist in our day, which is a reminder that from the point of view of disobeying God societies do not change that much, except that sometimes the degrees of sin will vary. We will consider four of his instructions and they are chastity, contentment, constancy and Christ-centredness. Next week we will look at the other instructions he gives in verses 9-18. In the verses we focus on just now, you will note that the author provides a reason for each of his instructions. Chastity is connected to divine judgement, contentment is connected to a divine promise, constancy is connected to how their former leaders lived, and Christ-centredness is connected to who Jesus is. Chastity (v. 4) We are all aware of the attacks on marriage a...