I’ll reprint the notes from that session here – it doesn’t include everything, but it gives the main ideas.  I’d love to talk with you more about it sometime if you’re interested in going deeper!

Follow this link:

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1HUfhNtlm9yHYMWd0DsNC0DEx7u-xYyG_1ITDplzMhQY

Focus Matters

This weekend, I had a unique opportunity – I got to spend Friday night and Saturday with my daughter Abigail in Williamsburg.  She has a class project about Jamestown, so we decided to go.  And before we left, Abigail received her birthday present early – a new digital camera.  She loves to take pictures, and we knew she would have a blast taking pictures of her trip to Jamestown.

When we got home and put the pictures on the computer.  She got some good shots – actors dressed up as settlers and Native Americans, ships, forts, and Abigail participating in all kinds of learning activities.

And of course, there was the normal number of pictures of her finger.  This camera is shaped differently from our family camera, so she had to get used to holding it differently.  Unfortunately, part of that learning process involved her finger getting in front of a few good shots.  I think all of us can identify!

Most cameras have an advantage over our human eyes.  On some settings, cameras can focus on everything within a certain field of view.  Our eyes, however, can focus on one thing at a time.  And where you choose to focus makes all the difference in the world.  If you were walking through a room with any kind of distractions, and were focused on, say, reading a book, or looking at something else, it’s likely that you’d hurt yourself by running into something!

You have to focus your eyes on the right things – otherwise you’ll miss what’s important.  It’s true in human vision, and it’s an analogy we use for other areas of life as well.

Focusing on the World

In verse 4, the writer begins to show us our choices of things to focus on.  He begins by setting the stage – what he calls the “world to come.”  Here he references Psalm 8, and in the writer’s typical fashion he takes the Psalm and reinterprets to refer to Jesus.  He speaks of the world in the future, of a time about which God has told us that all things will be under care and control… but not of the angels.  They are under control of “mankind,” and “the son of man” – a name Jesus frequently used for himself.

The scriptures say everything is to be under control.  “But that’s not what we see right now…”

What an understatement!  “Right now, we don’t see everything subjected to him…”  Of course we don’t!  All of us could, right away, name a hundred things that are still not right with the world.  We know that one day, all things will look the way they should – but that’s certainly not what we see right now!

It’s not what those first century Christians saw, either.  Instead, they saw:

• A world that was deteriorating as the Roman Empire was beginning to corrupt.
• A Jewish people who had been forcefully placed under someone else’s rule for centuries.  A people were in danger of being destroyed or dispersed throughout the world because of their determination to worship a Single God.
• A fledgling group of Christians who found themselves disappointed that Jesus had not come back yet.
• A church that was becoming more and more despised because of their weakness, their tendency toward love and forgiveness.
• A world in which people grew sick and died quickly and sometimes without reason.

We live in a different world, of course.  But we also see that things are not right:

• A world filled with natural disasters of all kinds – hurricanes on top of earthquakes, that leave thousands dead and millions of people without the basic necessities for life.
• A world filled with hatred – people whose selfishness has nearly obliterated their capacity to love and help.
• A world filled with hunger and need – where there are enough resources to care for every human being on the planet, but there aren’t enough people willing to share to make it happen.
• A world filled with war – nations and groups that will use any means at their disposal to get what they feel like is theirs.
• A world filled with meanness – people who are so cruel to one another over petty differences that someone would commit suicide to escape.
• A world that is gradually dying – because of our own thoughtlessness as we use resources faster than they can be replenished.
• A world that is mostly indifferent, if not sometimes hostile, to the story of the Gospel.
• A Church that has grown complacent – neglecting the great salvation we have been given because we think we’ve gotten everything out of it already.
• A Church that has grown lazy – Christians are convinced that it is someone else’s job to do something about the things we see that need fixing.
• A world full of diseases and illnesses – and no matter how far advanced we think our medicine may be, new illnesses pop up that are more deadly than any before… some of our own making.
• A world in which our bodies, despite our best and most intelligent attempts, are still dying from the day we are born.

“Right now,” says the writer of Hebrews, “we don’t yet see everything subjected to him.”  I can almost hear those original readers and hearers saying, “Of course we don’t!  And what SHOULD we see??”

Focusing on Jesus

The writer knew the importance of seeing the right things.  If we use our eyesight alone, we’re always going to be depressed, disappointed.  That’s the way it’s always been.  Trust in God, belief in the Gospel, has always been about seeing the world not through eyes of flesh, but through eyes of faith.

And what do we see when we look at our world through eyes of faith?

“We see Jesus… who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

We may not see things as they ought to be… but we have seen the beginning of the end!  Because Jesus, God-made-Man, has seen all the things we see – not through distant divine eyes, but through REAL human eyes.  And that makes all the difference in the world for us – because Jesus overcame what he saw.

Yes, things are rough right now.  But remember that Jesus fought this battle too – and he won!

Walking through this life looking through only our physical, mortal eyes is like walking through a room focusing on the ceiling.  You might see objects in your peripheral vision, but they will be distorted and fuzzy.  You will probably trip and hurt yourself.  You might see the ceiling very clearly…  but you won’t see what matters.

Walking through life looking only with our physical, mortal eyes, only shows us part of the picture.  Sure, it’s a pretty clear picture – after all, just pick up the paper or turn on the TV.  The diseases and wars and hatred and waste are right in front of us every day!  It doesn’t take a genius to realize we don’t see things yet as God intends them to be.

But if you walk through life looking only at these things, you’ll miss all the important stuff.  You’ll get distracted and miss the right path.  The key to walking peacefully through life is to focus on what matters.

So what do we see?  Do we look at what’s immediately in front of us, begging for our attention?  Or do we see Jesus – who overcame all that we see, and will one day be Lord of it?

If we refocus on Jesus instead of looking at a trouble-filled world, we’ll see things differently.

• Instead of only a world full of disaster, we’ll see a world where people offer help and care to those who have suffered.
• Instead of a world full of hatred and hurt, we’ll see a world with endless opportunities to forgive.
• Instead of great need, we’ll see chances to give and share in ways that will make a difference.
• Instead of vast differences between people, we’ll see God’s creativity and joy displayed in diversity.
• Instead of a world in decay, we’ll see a world that can be redeemed by our own simple actions.
• Instead of a world that is hostile to the Gospel, we’ll see a world that will one day bow before Jesus in love and reverence.
• Instead of a Church that has grown complacent and lazy, we’ll see a Body of Christ that is quickly re-awakening to passionate and active service.
• Instead of a world full of diseases and illness, we’ll see a world where true healing can come to mind, body and spirit – a world where resurrection, not death, will have the final word!

What do YOU see?

Competition for Leadership

A week from Tuesday, many of us (hopefully all of us who are able) will head to a polling place here in Lunenburg County and cast our vote for various positions.  Elections are the way we have chosen to solve the age-old problem for civilizations – competition for leadership.  Who will be the leader?

When civilizations were smaller, this was not as difficult a question.  You had tribes or clans, and the leader was generally the mother-figure or father-figure – chosen by birth, not by election.  In the ordinary decisions of day-to-day life, you don’t need a leader – people can make their own choices.  But in decisions that affect a larger group of people, someone has to be seen as the clear leader who can make the final decision (or affirm or enforce the final decision of the group).

As civilizations grew, the need for leadership was even stronger… but the competition for leadership was stronger, too.  Sometimes people would fight for leadership – literally, hand-to-hand.  Sometimes, it depended on the amount of force and people you could gather to your side.  Monarchies emerged, in which family and birth order determined leadership – that is, until someone gathered enough support and strength to force themselves into leadership.

In a society of democracy, leaders are not chosen by their birth.  Leaders do not fight their way into office – instead, they are chosen by popular vote.  People make decisions based on their knowledge of the candidates, and the person with the most votes wins.  We’d like to think it’s always going to be the best person for the job, but just as often it’s the person who has the most to spend, or who has the most friends, or who has the best image.

To put it simply, we follow group leaders because they meet a certain qualification.  For some reason, they have been deemed to be “worth following.”  The criteria have changed over the millennia – strength, supporters, wits, intelligence, birthright, votes.  But regardless, a person is deemed a leader because they have met the qualifications of that society, and this places them above any other competitors for the job.

This said, leadership is not just a function of someone’s qualifications for leadership.  It’s also a function of how willing others are to follow them.  In some situations, someone meets all the “qualifications” for being the leader, but for different reasons the people are not always willing to follow or to acknowledge that person’s ability to lead.

That is a crisis of leadership, and I think it’s something our nation faces today.  It’s not just about the person in office – after all, we’ve always had men and women in office who lie, cheat, and do all kinds of things to keep themselves in power.  That’s been universal from the beginning of civilization, and has been true in every era of our country’s history.

No, the crisis of leadership we face today is not about the leaders – it’s about the followers.  We have less and less respect for a person who meets our own criteria of leadership.  So the power of our leaders – from the Oval Office all the way down to Town Council Chamber – is eroding.

I could go on about this for a while, but it’s not where I’m going today.

Crisis of Leadership

This is, I believe, what was happening in the Early Church.  They were experiencing a crisis of leadership… but not human leadership.  That was a fight that would take place centuries later.  The leadership I’m talking about is the Ultimate position: God.

Who is worthy to be worshipped?  Who is worthy to be followed?  Who meets our qualifications to be placed at the head of this group called the “Church?”  They faced a crisis of Leadership with a capital “L.”

It’s important to remember that in this Early Church, around the time Hebrews was written and circulated, they still did not have a very clear idea of who Jesus was.  They only had collections of stories, legends and word-of-mouth.  All the things we take for granted about Jesus now – that he was God’s Son, that he is Divine, that he really did all those wonderful things – these things were still being debated and fought over in those days.

This truly was a crisis!  In an age when the “Leadership” of the Early Church was crucial, how are you going to follow someone if you don’t have a clear picture of who is leading… especially when that person is no longer present to speak for themselves??

So the Early Church really was facing a crisis of Leadership.  In the fledgling days of this religious movement, who is qualified enough that we should follow them?  Of all the leaders out there, whose commands should we follow first and foremost?  The Christians had several good candidates for the job:

• Jesus is an obvious choice.
• Why not the Apostles – they did some neat things after Jesus left?
• How about Paul – he was very witty and intelligent?
• How about angels or archangels?  They make appearances all through history!
• What about the Prophets?  They were direct spokespersons for God!
• What about God’s instructions in the Torah about worshiping only One God?

Jesus is Superior

This is why the writer of Hebrews goes to such great lengths right off the bat to show why Jesus is the most qualified to be the Leader of the Church.  Hebrews in whole – especially the first part of the sermon – is an affirmation of Jesus’ worthiness to be followed.

In other words, the writer of Hebrews begins by saying, “Here’s who you have chosen to follow… and why he’s worth following!”

This first chapter is full of superlatives, terms (in Greek or in English) that promote Jesus as being “better than” the alternatives, or “the ultimate representative” of God.

1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, BUT in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

This chart shows the different superlatives the writer uses.  Here, the writer is showing how Jesus is far superior to anyone else we might choose to follow.  In the first column, entries that are in italics are not shown specifically in the text but are implied.

Then there’s the mysterious verse 4…

So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

Why would the writer suddenly go into angels?  To understand, it’s important to see that this strikes at the heart of the Early Church’s greatest question: Exactly what was Jesus?

Putting Jesus in a Category

We have a good idea from the scripture WHO Jesus is.  The Gospel accounts may be somewhat contradictory, but overall we see a picture of the man that Jesus was.  But there’s very little said as to WHAT Jesus is – just a man?  Just God?  Something in between?

We take for granted today some things that have taken theologians two thousand years to understand:

• Jesus is God, as much as God the Father and God the Spirit
• Jesus was perfectly Divine AND perfectly Human… not sure how.
• Jesus’ work accomplished everything that is needed for human beings to be saved.

We don’t have to define Jesus, and we don’t have to compare him to other things.  Jesus holds his own unique category.  He is NOT the Father, NOT the Spirit, NOT a created thing, NOT only Divine, NOT flawed or imperfect in any way.

In contrast, the early Christians didn’t have a category for Jesus.  So at first, they tried to place him in categories they already understood.  For instance…

• Was Jesus just an ordinary human being?  Of course not.  Any of the stories about him point to someone much greater than just an ordinary man.
• Was Jesus just a prophet?  He fit the definition of prophet, but he did more than just speak for God.  Some of the prophets performed miracles, but only Jesus died and rose from the dead.
• Was Jesus simply the appearance of the YHWH of the Old Testament?  Not exactly – no one had ever seen YHWH and lived.  People saw Jesus and lived.  Obviously Jesus was not completely YHWH.

Remember that this was not an effort to limit Jesus or to make him less than who he claimed to be.  They were simply a way to understand Jesus, to put him into a category.

Perhaps one of the first categories for Jesus that stuck was that of an ANGEL.

• Angels were “Messengers.”  They spoke directly for God.  Jesus spoke directly for God.
• Angels were visible and material – they could be seen and felt.  Jesus could be seen and felt.
• But angels were something more than just material – they could appear and disappear.  And they had moments when they were shining and glorious.  Jesus met all these qualifications as well.

So maybe Jesus was just an angel!  Granted, Jesus was the best of the angels, because he did things none of the other angels did.

But the writer of Hebrews says NO.  Jesus could not have been merely an angel.  By placing him in that category, we make him out to be something created by God.  Only God himself could have done the things Jesus did.

So the writer of Hebrews takes care in these first few verses to show very clearly that Jesus was something MORE than an angel.  And in order to do that, he couldn’t just make philosophical arguments.  If he was talking to Greeks or Romans he could have used logic and philosophy.  But he was writing to Jews.  And the best way to convince these Hebrew people was to point it out from their own scriptures.  So these next ten verses are riddled with references to the Old Testament, places where the writer sees glimpses of a category ABOVE the angels – the category in which Jesus belongs.

I won’t go into great detail here – you can look in your own Bible’s footnotes to see what passages are being quoted.  In essence, the writer of Hebrews is saying to the Jewish people, “Look in your own Bible – we already see clues that there is someone above the angels, someone just the same as God.  Who could that someone be, except Jesus??”

5For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father”?

Or again,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son”?

6And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

7In speaking of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
his servants flames of fire.”

8But about the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.

9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

10He also says,
“In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.

11They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
12You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.”

13To which of the angels did God ever say,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet”?

14Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Who Do We Follow?

The Early Church faced a Crisis of Leadership, and the writer of Hebrews is working to establish Jesus as the best, most reliable, most powerful candidate for them to follow.

Fortunately we don’t have to worry about this.  We have a very clear picture of Jesus.  We know exactly who it is we follow!

Or do we?  Today more than ever, it’s easy to get Jesus confused with the many people and things we worship and follow.  We have distractions left and right – from celebrities to ideologies.

But we have made a choice to follow Jesus, to commit our lives to him.  And since we have made that choice, it’s very valuable for us to reaffirm WHO it is that we follow… and who he is NOT.

We have NOT chosen to follow a mayor, governor, senator, representative or president.

We have NOT chosen to follow a mere historical figure.

We have NOT chosen to follow an ideology or a philosophy.

We have NOT committed our lives to a nation or a race.

We have NOT committed our lives to ink on a page.

We have NOT chosen to follow a star athlete, celebrity, or inspirational speaker.

We have NOT chosen to follow someone who is simply a good man, or even a prophet.

We have NOT committed our lives to a created being, even an angel.

We have NOT committed our lives to someone who is limited to past, present, or even just future.

We worship JESUS, God’s Latest and Final Word to humankind.

We worship JESUS, revealed not to a few but to ALL.

We worship JESUS, God’s very Word, delivered once and for all times.

We worship JESUS, through whom all things were created, and who owns and sustains all creation.

We worship JESUS, not the reflection or the copy, but the SOURCE, the ACTUAL God.

We worship JESUS, who needed no help, no purification, no forgiveness – who was the PERFECT Lamb of God.

This is the Jesus we worship, who we have chosen to follow, who we have committed our lives to.  This is a leader far above all others.  This is our Jesus, more worth following than anyone we could imagine!

In the past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many different ways through the prophets. In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe.  His Son is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of God’s being. He holds everything together through his powerful words. After he had cleansed people from their sins, he received the highest position, the one next to the Father in heaven. (Hebrews 1:1-4, GWT)

Hebrews: A Book of Mystery

Some books of the Bible are easier to wade through than others.  With 1 Corinthians, for instance, we know a lot about the background of the book before we even get our feet wet.  We can answer a lot of the essential questions – who, what, when, and why.  About 1 Corinthians we know:

• WHAT: It’s a letter,
• WHO FROM: Paul wrote it,
• WHO TO: He was writing to the Christians in Corinth, a church he had planted,
• WHEN: He wrote it around the middle of his ministry, placing it in a specific timeframe, 50-60 AD.
• WHY: He tells the exact reasons he’s writing and what he’s trying to say.

These things are helpful…  When we know who wrote something, who they were writing to, when and where they wrote and for what reasons, it helps us make sense out of what we hear.

So in places like 1 Corinthians 11, we know that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth – a city in which prostitution was rampant, where women were making an uproar in society, and were watched closely for their conduct.  It makes sense, then, that Paul would give specific instructions about how women are to act when they gather – heads covered, modest, simply dressed.

When we know these things, it helps us realize why we don’t have to do exactly as Paul says anymore – he was giving specific instructions to a specific group of people.

That’s where we run into problems with Hebrews.  The writer gives us no such clues.  It doesn’t start off with a greeting or salutation, it doesn’t end with a signature.  The author gives no clues as to who he is, and very few clues as to whom he is writing.

All of that said, we don’t have to just grope blindly in the dark.  Scholars have made the following best-guesses, mainly by determining what Hebrews is NOT:

• WHAT:  Hebrews is NOT a letter.  It is written in rhetorical style, as if it were written to be read out loud.  It’s probably a SERMON.  It is most likely a direct copy of a sermon – written down to be preached, and then distributed so that it could be “preached” in other churches.
  • The Greek used in Hebrews is complex and lofty.  For instance when we hear a president or an important figure speak, they use grand phrases and big words… that’s how the hearers would have heard Hebrews.
  • They would have listened differently, because they knew what was said would be important.
• WHO FROM:  Hebrews was NOT written by Paul.  You can identify all of Paul’s writings by his own signature phrases and ideas.  Hebrews has none of those hallmarks of Paul’s other writings, is not in his writing style.
  • From the way the writer addresses his audience, we can assume that he was a leader in the early church – a traveling preacher/leader/pastor who was well-known by many Christians in various churches.
  • From the writing style and the many quotations, we can assume that he was very well educated, and was probably raised in the Jewish tradition.
  • There are plenty of good guesses about who might have written Hebrews, but no guess stands out from the others, so we won’t get into it.
• WHO TO:  Hebrews was NOT written for one specific group of people.  There are few specific names mentioned, and the farewells at the end are vague at best.
  • It’s generally written, with few specific details… as if the writer knew this would be distributed to many different churches.
  • From the language and arguments, it’s likely the recipients were educated and intelligent.
  • And from the imagery and extensive use of the Old Testament, it’s likely that the writer expected many of his hearers to be, like himself, of Jewish background.

• WHEN:  Hebrews is NOT an early book.  The theology of Hebrews is so mature and developed that it’s likely from the late first century… after Paul had died.  Hebrews was probably one of the last, if not THE last, book written in the New Testament.
• WHY:  It’s clear that something was happening among the people the writer speaks to… they were losing hope, losing faith, losing interest, losing energy.

This WHY is so important that I feel it merits our attention for this first sermon.  The WHY of the book makes sense out of this lofty first section.

Final Approach vs. Holding Pattern

What the early Christians experienced in that first century was a shift in ESCHATOLOGY – that’s a fancy theological word from the Greek word “eschaton,” that means “the ending.”  Eschatology is like an appendix – you may not know you have one, but you do!  It basically means “what you believe about how and when things are going to end.”

And the early Christians had just experienced a difficult shift from having a “Final Approach” eschatology, to a “Holding Pattern” eschatology.

Do you know what a Holding Pattern is?  Holding pattern is what airplanes do while they wait for the runway to be clear before they land – off the ground, almost to destination, but just waiting for that familiar bump when the wheels touch down…  I have experienced it firsthand flying into Atlanta, when a storm had backed up the runways and we circled the city for two hours with dozens of other planes.  We just had to wonder – will we ever make it?  Will we run out of gas??

Let’s go back for in our minds to the moment Jesus left earth for the last time.  His disciples are standing on the hillside, Jesus is speaking to them, giving them last instructions.  He tells them that he is going to send a helper for them, and that he will return at some point.  And then Jesus rises into the sky and disappears.

It’s clear that in those first few weeks, the disciples were certain that Jesus was going to come back any day.  They were in “Final Approach” mode.  They spoke to the crowds with urgency.  They gave away all they had.  They put themselves in precarious positions with the understanding that Jesus would be back at any moment to rescue them.

When Jesus didn’t come back as soon as they’d hoped, they began to get discouraged.  Did we misunderstand Jesus?  Was all of this just a dream?  We didn’t think we were in this for a long holding-pattern!

You and I are used to this kind of holding-pattern theology.    It’s where all of us have lived our whole lives.  We’re off the ground:  Jesus has come, and promised us that things will be made right.  Peace will reign, justice will be complete, our questions will be answered at last.

We’re almost to our destination:  A monkey could recognize the signs that things are close.  Jesus talked about the escalation of wars and natural disasters, political upheaval and sliding morality.  We can see the destination – we’ve been circling it now for about two thousand years!

But we haven’t touched down yet, and we have lived in holding pattern long enough that we have settled in for the ride.  Maybe we’ve even gotten a little TOO comfortable.

Those early Christians hadn’t gotten settled in yet.  They were still listening for the landing gear, bracing for the bump.  But by now they’re beginning to suspect that it’s not as imminent as they thought.  And this is discouraging, because they had put ALL their eggs in this basket… what if the plane never lands??

Christians a Minority Religion

To add to the discouragement, the early Christians faced persecution and ridicule from nearly everyone.  The Jews said their Messiah was a fraud. The Romans said they were fools to believe in only one God.  Others thought their Jesus was too tame, too boring.  The Christians had been thinking, “We can endure this!  Just wait ‘till Jesus comes home… then they’ll see who was wrong!”

But then Jesus didn’t come back.  No one was proved wrong, no one was vindicated.  Things had “hit the fan,” and their brash certainty gave way to doubt and questioning.

The Christians didn’t live in a hostile world yet – it was just a world in which their religion was not assumed.  People didn’t just accept their word about God and Jesus… they had to know why their God was different, why following Jesus was a good thing.  They had to fight to be able to observe their worship days on Sundays, and had to offer their prayers in private while others worshipped their gods in public.

This is also a world we’re used to.  We live in a society that is increasingly non-Christian.  Our religion is no longer assumed, and – let’s be honest – it’s not going to be assumed again soon.

It wasn’t always so… For the longest time, we had it easy – all of America was “Christian,” everyone claimed to go to church and be a Christ-follower.  We didn’t have to fight to observe our holidays, to hear our prayers said at public events.  We didn’t have to fight for Christian morality – it was generally assumed, and if it wasn’t practiced, at least people did it privately!

But that’s not how it is now.  Now people are basically irreligious.  They follow after their own hearts and minds, not after our God.  According to a recent Pew Forum study, 44% of American adults have either switched denominations, switched religions, or given up religion all together.  And this follows a world-wide trend.

Christianity is no longer the assumed religion.  We have many more religions to compete with.  I think that in our privileged position for so many decades, we actually got lazy because we never had a reason to appreciate our beliefs, our holidays, our right to worship.  Now that we actually have to swim upstream for a change, many people realize that faith in Christ is more than they bargained for!

It’s easy to see how those early Christians, then, might begin to waver and doubt.  We can understand their plight in many ways… especially here in America.

Hebrews: A Book for Today

That’s why Hebrews is such an important book for us today.  The writer/speaker is writing to people just like you and me… in fact, I think it’s safe to say that he IS writing to you and me!

He writes to:

• ENCOURAGE the hearers to hang in there, to keep the faith.
• REMIND the hearers of the things they have been taught.
• WARN them of the dangers of falling away from faith.
• Most importantly, to INSPIRE them with a clear picture of Jesus, what he did, and why following Christ is worth more than any other religion!

These were people just like you and me – they had not met Jesus face to face.  Most of them had never met one of his followers or first-hand witnesses.  They had not seen the miraculous healings, the resurrection, the loving smile and embrace of God’s Son.  They had heard plenty, sure!

But it’s hard to live a completely different life based on the word of someone you’ve never met, isn’t it?

The problem is, we think we know what we need… but if we look at the way the early Christians had to live, we realize that maybe we’re looking for the wrong things.  We DON’T need…

• NOT the exclusion and eradication of other religions.  God’s going to take care of all that business one day, not us.
• NOT a nation or a world that is completely Christian and that bows to every Christian whim.  That’s heaven, and Jesus has told us in no uncertain terms that we won’t have this until the end of all things.
• NOT a society where everyone acts and thinks the same way.

What we DO need is…

• A clearer picture of a Jesus who is different from all other gods,
• A Savior whose power and love are greater than any human force,
• A God who is worth worshiping, serving, and giving our lives to!

That’s where the writer of Hebrews begins – and where we will end today:  With a picture of Jesus.  Listen again to the opening words of the sermon, and hear them as they were meant to be heard:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many different ways through the prophets. In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe.  His Son is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of God’s being. He holds everything together through his powerful words. After he had cleansed people from their sins, he received the highest position, the one next to the Father in heaven. (GWT)

Let us pray:

God, as we look into your Word these next few weeks, may we see more clearly the one who has called us – Jesus Christ, your Son and our Savior.  Where we are weary, strengthen us.  Where we are lazy, invigorate us.  Where we are hesitant, embolden us.  Where we are doubtful, give us hope and faith.  Help us to get a glimpse of Jesus – and may that glimpse change our lives!

If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them – please leave a comment!

- Jon

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Once upon a time, there was a farmer who lived on a farm a little ways from here… but not too far.

He loved farming and had done it his whole life.  He didn’t have a lot of fancy equipment, no expensive chemicals.  Instead of a calendar or an almanac, he watched the skies and other plants.  The farmer used old-fashioned and time-tested methods that he had learned from his father.  He just worked his small plot of land with his hands, a few tools, a pickup truck, his John Deere tractor, and his old hunting dog named Brown.

It was the early springtime of the year – right at planting time.  Already the spring had been hot, and there hadn’t been much rain.  So the farmer knew he would have to choose his planting time carefully.  He prepared his seeds and tools, plowed up the soil, and waited for a good rain.

He got his rain late one evening – just enough to get the soil moist, but not enough to make it hard.  He woke before dawn the next morning, and he and Brown had a big breakfast.  Then as the sun was coming up, he shouldered his heavy seed bag and the two set off into the field.

This farmer knew the truth about seeds, especially in the old-fashioned way he farmed – some seeds will make it, and some won’t.  That’s just a fact of life.  He did everything he could to make sure that as many of those seeds as possible would make it.  He scattered the seed generously and widely, his practiced hands distributing seed to just the right places.

The Path

As the sun got higher in the sky, the birds began to wake and make noise.  It was still early spring, and food was hard to come by.  So when the birds saw those seeds flying through the air, they swooped down from the trees to get a little breakfast.

This is where Old Brown came in – he ran through the field, barking and making a ruckus, chasing those birds away as best he could.  He ran to and fro, and the farmer watched with laughing eyes as the old hunting dog had his fun.

Brown was mostly successful.  He kept the birds at bay while the seeds were being scattered.  A gentle rain later that day washed most of the seeds into the softened soil.

But a few were still vulnerable.  They had fallen on the places where the ground had been packed down – in the farmer’s footprints in the mud, for instance;  in the tracks left by the tractor;  or on the hard-packed trail around the field where the farmer drove his pickup truck.

You see, this soil wasn’t vulnerable.  It was hard and packed tight.  It wasn’t about to let anything in – good, bad or indifferent.  This soil had experienced the hard times of life – had been pushed, shoved and hurt.  The dirt had hardened itself so those hard times wouldn’t hurt as much.  It refused to trust, refused to accept, refused to see things in a new way, or to believe in things it couldn’t see.  It’s just as well the seed didn’t try to take root here, because the ground was packed so tightly that no nutrients had gotten into it for a long time.  It might as well just have been a rock.

So the seeds that landed here simply sat on top of the ground.  And after the farmer and the dog left the field, the birds swooped down and had their fill.  Not a single seed was left in these hard places.

The Rocks

Over those first few weeks, the weather turned more hospitable, so the seeds found a good home in good soil.  They germinated and began to grow – slowly at first, putting out roots and barely peeking above the ground.  The nights were still cold sometimes, so those seeds did most of their work under the ground.  In fact, if you didn’t look closely, you might think those seeds weren’t doing a thing.

But as the days got warmer, the seeds began to come up into the sun and they grew quickly, reaching for the sky.  Sometimes, it seemed to the farmer that the plants would grow a foot in a single day.  This is just what he’d hoped for – the seeds he’d put out had found a good home in the soil, and they were beginning to do their work.

Some of these seeds still had trouble, however.  They had not landed on the hardest ground, to be sure.  But they had found some areas that didn’t have enough good soil to support them.  Along the edge of the field, for instance, where the ground was somewhat soft on top but was hard underneath.  Some had landed on the gravel driveway that ran between the field and the house.

This soil looked promising at first, and the seeds seemed to have found a good home.  Like many of the other plants, these began gently peeking above the ground, then shot up toward the sky as the days got warmer.  In some places, these seeds grew up even faster. From above the ground, you couldn’t tell much of a difference between these plants and the ones that were actually in the field.

No matter how good things looked in this soil, however, there was still a serious problem.  The soil in these places was shallow.  Like all soil at first, this soil had once been packed tight.  But now it had been gently loosened by the movement of the tractor nearby, buy the feet of the farmer, or by the gravel which had been pushed into it.  It readily accepted the seeds that landed on it – no birds were going to get this seed!

But while this soil had all the appearances of a good place to plant, and while the seeds there sprouted and began to grow, the problem was under the ground where you couldn’t see.  This soil was glad to seem accepting and open, but it only allowed those seeds to penetrate a little ways down.  After all, you can let things in… but not TOO far.  Who knows what would happen if you let this strange seed send its roots all the way down??  It might attract bugs, grubs or moles – the soil couldn’t let that happen!  It had to protect itself.

So it kept its soft façade, but it was only a façade.  This soil could look the part on the outside, but it never really let the plant take deep root all the way down deep – where those roots could get the water and nutrients that would sustain the plant for the difficult months to come.

Those seeds germinated and sprouted.  They peeked above the earth and shot up toward the sky.  But as soon as the rainy season stopped, their shallow roots betrayed them.  While the other plants nearby continued to draw water and food from the soil deep down, these plants in the shallow soil had nothing to draw from.   After a couple of days without rain, they began to wilt.  The morning dew might revive them for a few hours, but not for long.  And after a week with no rain and hot sun, the plants were brown and dead.  The seeds had been wasted.

The Weeds

The other seeds did exceptionally well.  They grew deep roots so they could weather the long dry days.  They shot up toward the sky and began to put out leaves.  It looked like this was going to be a good year come harvest time!

But a few more seeds ran into problems.  Like the others, these seeds had excellent soil.  They grew deep roots and had the nutrients and water they needed.  But even though the farmer had turned over the soil, and all the weeds had been buried deep in the ground, a few persistent weeds remained asleep.  And as soon as the sun began to warm the earth, the weeds began to grow alongside the other plants – slowly at first.

You see this soil had allowed itself to be soft and vulnerable.  But it had not been selective about which seeds would take root – and, it had not decided which seeds were most important.  It allowed other things to come and share the water and nutrients with the good plants.  These old weeds had been here a long time – didn’t they have a right to grow and live, too?  And the bugs that came year after year to feed on those weeds, came to feed on the good plants as well.

The good plants had to compete for the things they needed – and being new plants, just growing roots, they couldn’t put up much of a fight.  Things would grow in this soil – but the things that grew were the wrong kinds of plants.

The farmer did his best to pull up the weeds, but in some places the soil was so full of them that he couldn’t keep up.  In these places, the weeds grew and reproduced, so that eventually the good plants could get none of the things they needed to thrive.  They slowly withered and died from lack of nourishment.

The Good Soil

Despite all these problems, the farmer did have a good crop come harvest time.  As the summer turned into fall, and the plants ripened into maturity, he prepared to go and collect the harvest.  He called in neighbors and friends, and one afternoon they came together.  Laughing and chatting, they swarmed into the small field and collected all the harvest.  Old Brown darted back and forth, loving all the attention he was getting.

That night when they were through, all the crowd gathered in the farmhouse alongside the farmer.  They gave thanks to God for the harvest they had collected.  Then they enjoyed a meal together – a meal that looked much like a banquet.

Even though some of the seed had been taken because the soil was too hard, even though some of the seed had withered because it couldn’t grow deep roots, even though some of the plants had been starved to death by the weeds – even then, the farmer’s efforts had not been wasted.  He had set out in the springtime with a small bag over his shoulder… and now, it took dozens of people to bring in the harvest.  Not only did he have enough seed to plant next year, but he also had enough to give him food through the winter.

Year after year this cycle was repeated.  The soil was prepared; the seeds were sown.  Some seeds were eaten up, some plants withered and died.  But never was the seed or the effort wasted, because the good soil more than made up for the few areas where the seed had died.

What About Us?

You already knew the story I told this morning.  In fact, I bet a lot of you recognized it when I was only a few lines into it.  It’s a parable Jesus told to the crowds and to his disciples one day – and that he later explained to his disciples.

I remember hearing this story growing up.  I remember hearing it in seminary and in sermons.  But it wasn’t until I moved here and experienced a little of this kind of life (and only a LITTLE), that I understood something different about the story.

I had always viewed this story as a one-time affair.  The soil is me.  The seeds are the gospel.  God is the farmer, and he wants to plant the seed in me.  I had chosen to accept the seed, let it take root.  Heck, I even let it take root deep enough that I went into ministry!  Surely, if anyone could claim to be the good soil, it’s me!

Ahh, but then around here, after a couple of years, I was made aware of something – something so basic that you probably understand it without even knowing.  But humor me as I share what I’ve been thinking about it.

This story is not a one-time event.  This story – like the planting of crops – is a cycle.  It happens every year, in seasons and at established times and places.  This story is played out time and again, over and over.

Of course, you say!  It’s a cycle, it happens again and again.  But do we look at this story that way?  I’m sure that you already do, but again – humor me.

What if this is an example of the cycle we go through?

What if our lives have seasons – seasons when we are dry and cold, seasons when we are warm and ready to be planted?

What if God is sowing seeds in us all the time?

What if the fact that we were the “good” soil the first time around, doesn’t mean that we are still the “good” soil today?

Again, I’m sure you already understood this, but humor me, please!

What I’ve realized about this passage is that I could be – and I HAVE BEEN – every one of these types of soil at different times in my life.  In fact, I might be different types of soil from day to day.

Some days, my heart is like the hard soil.  I don’t want anything to do with the seeds God is sowing in my life – “grow in me,” “be connected to the vine,” “nurture others who are in need.”  I know these seeds are there, but I refuse to let them grow.  I’ve had a long hard week, and I don’t really want anything to do with this stuff right now.

Some days, my heart is like the shallow soil.  I have to be “on” a lot, so I have to LOOK vulnerable – like the “good” soil.  But no matter how the seeds might start to grow, they will quickly wither and die because I haven’t let them take root deeply in my spirit and soul.

Some days, my heart is like the weedy soil.  I have so much going on in my life these days that it’s hard to pay attention to all of them.  All too often, I forget that the most important seeds I water are the ones God is sowing… no matter how important those other seeds may seem to me.

And some days – those rare, few days – my heart is like the good soil.  I take in God’s seeds – his word and his love.  I let them nourish and take root.  I let them grow throughout the day, and bear fruit that reaches to others.

Real soil takes months and years to cultivate.  But my soil can change almost instantly.

…

But I didn’t have to tell you all this.  You live out here among seeds and plants.  You all know exactly what I’m talking about, and you didn’t need to hear this story or this message.

But thanks for letting me tell it anyway – just for my sake, not for yours.

Let he or she that has ears, hear what God is telling us today.