An Anchor For The Soul Series

I imagine as we come to the very middle of the Book of Hebrews it might be legitimate for any of you to ask if I’m ever tempted to quit, to just blow off the Christian life, to abandon Christ.

And my answer is not so much that, though I must admit the thought has occurred to me, but always with the question where would else might I turn to resolve the issue of the emptiness of life without the true God.

What would be a greater temptation for me is the matter of quitting the ministry—quitting the love and service of the saints on Christ’s behalf.

Why? Because as only pastors and their wives might understand, ministry involves a lot of rejection, repeated rejections. Part of the typical landscape of ministry is that people are always coming and going. You give your heart to those who come; they often take it with you as they leave. And like it or not, if you’ve really loved someone, there is often an element of the personal, as in a personal rejection. I know that I have been entrusted with a message which is unalterable, if I alter it I risk God’s displeasure, and if I don’t alter I risk man’s displeasure and man’s rejection. However, after the guillotine drops, I’m often left wondering if something about me was what resulted in the rejection, or if in fact, it was something about the uncompromising message of Jesus Christ.

And that is often a painful evaluation, one that forces me to admit that I am beset with personal weaknesses and foibles that I am sometimes blind to and could well be valid reasons for rejection.

And I was there again this past week. It was reported to me that a certain young lady attended my Wednesday night Bible study had sent a letter to the church office that was heart-felt. Then she did not show up for the study, and she didn’t explain her absence as she often had before. So I felt anxious much of that night, expecting the guillotine to once again drop upon my emotions, and perhaps this relationship, again the next day, when the letter might be read to me.

And so I asked myself again, why in the world do you keep exposing yourself to these sorts of hurts and struggles. You know you’re shy. You know you will never be the life of the party. It’s the last thing you ever wanted to do to expose yourself publicly week after week to people’s acceptance or rejection, because you’re not exactly the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

And this morning we come to a passage that largely answers that question. And the answer is this: I persevere. I am faithful to Jesus because He is ever-so and forever faithful to those who persevere.

That’s the message of Hebrews 6:9-20. But for me, it’s not merely words. It is after more than 30 years of pastoring, the voice of experience. God has repeatedly come through for me when the struggles brought me to the brink, even beyond the brink of persevering in ministry. Because as Psalm 34:18 puts it, God promises to be close to the broken-hearted.

The writer to the Hebrews as we come to verse 9 has just issued the sternest warning we find in the Book of Hebrews in the first eight verses. He warns the believers that if they abandon Christ, they may find themselves in a place of irreversible apostasy—that it may well be impossible to renew them to repentance after they again crucified Christ to themselves and exposed Him to open shame.

But he has a pastor’s heart, Christ’s heart, tender to those he has just severely warned, determined to assure them of His great love for them, and that because of this great love, he has warned them, even though He is convinced of better things concerning them.

And so now, out of his love, he begins to comfort them, assuring them that God will never forget their loving service if they never forget Him.

Our first point this morning from verses nine and 10: Know God will never forget your loving service if you don’t forget Him.

Remember those that He’s speaking to. They have likely been believers for a long time, even for decades. They have experienced decades of persecution in Judea at the hands of the unbelieving Jewish community. We see how they have suffered described in Hebrews 10:32-34 when the writer recounts for them this: “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.”