Summary: What would be left, if God grabbed your life and shook it and shook it and shook it until everything that could be shaken was gone, and only those things that could not be shaken remained? And, why does that question scare us?

Unshakable: Hearing God Through Hebrews 12

Heb 12:25-29 Feb 25, 2007 (Lent #1)

Intro:

What would be left, if God grabbed your life and shook it and shook it and shook it until everything that could be shaken was gone, and only those things that could not be shaken remained? And, why does that question scare us?

Welcome to Lent:

Welcome to the season of Lent, where we prepare ourselves to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a season of reflection, re-examination, re-orientation – a season where we prepare to come again to the cross and empty tomb, to take a good hard look at our lives and our walk with Jesus. It is a season of asking hard questions, and of challenging ourselves to deeper obedience and devotion and love for God and one another. It is a season to be uncomfortable.

Our theme for this year’s season of Lent is “Hearing God’s Heart”. In our Sunday morning sermons we are going to study Hebrews 12, to hear God’s heart through His Word, and in our special series of Sunday evening gatherings we are going to seek God and listen to God in a variety of ways together.

Listening:

I once led a small group of people in a “listening to God exercise”, and I began with a question: “if God were to appear before you in person right now, what do you think He would say?” I paused to give space to consider the answer, and I watched. Faces got dark and serious. Eyes were downcast. Shoulders slumped. The group atmosphere got heavy, and kind of depressing, and I knew what they were thinking: “oooh boy, would I be in trouble…”

If that is our expectation, it is no wonder that we don’t stop to listen. Who volunteers to get into trouble? Who looks forward to walking into the boss’ office with bad news about how something has gone wrong, how you have done a bad job, how you have let the company down? Whose hearts leap for joy when the message comes over the school intercom, “would report to the principal’s office immediately”?

If that is what we expect from God, then who wants to listen? If that is the kind of God you imagine, then who would want to get close? I’ll finish that small group story later, but first the warning:

Heb 12:25-27

“25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26 When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.”

A Warning:

I am not a “hellfire and brimstone” kind of preacher. I bristle at scare tactics, and get genuinely angry when I hear people’s stories of some of the confrontation, guilt, and fear motivated manipulations of personal-power hungry people who claim to speak in the name of Jesus. But there are times when Scripture gives us clear warnings, which we need to listen to. Warnings are good – our safety conscious culture has many:

Some are a little crazy:

Those humorous examples aside, warnings are good. This passage in Hebrews has a warning: “Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.” The first thing to notice in this verse is that God IS speaking! He really is – constantly, consistently, concretely speaking. It is one of the most amazing things about God – He chooses to interact with His creation – that is why He created, because He wants to be in relationship with us, and relationship requires communication, and God is trying to communicate! God is speaking.

Then why don’t we hear? Because we don’t listen. We have often ignored this warning – sometimes through active refusal, like when we know God has told us to change something or do something or give up something and we have stubbornly dug in our heals and said “no.” My friends, if that is you then you need to pay attention to this: you are headed for disaster. God has put a great big “bridge out” sign in front of you, and you are ignoring it at your own peril. Maybe you think you can handle it, or you know the way, or your way is better, but if God has said something and you refuse to listen then you are in grave danger.

Here is why: God is not out to get you. He is not out to make your life miserable, rob you of enjoyment, or force you into some terrible place. If that is your picture of God, then you have been listening to and believing a lie about who God is. If God has told you something, it is because it will bring you the most love, the most joy, the most peace, the most significance: in short, the most life. It is best! So, just do it will you!!

But I am convinced that most of us are not in a place of active refusal to listen. Our refusal is passive. We’ve edged God out, and then gotten upset that we aren’t hearing Him speak. We plug our ears and lives with other voices, louder voices, incessant voices. We surround ourselves with noise, clutter, activity, and often do not stop to listen to God. We don’t make time to read God’s Word, to pray, to serve Him by using our gifts or to talk about Him instead of the Oilers score. We don’t even come to church on time. And then we blame God and say that He is silent.

The warning of Hebrews is this: “Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.” He follows it up with an example, from the OT, when the people refused to listen to Moses and “did not escape”, and brings it into today: “we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!”

It is a warning. One we need to heed.

A Promise Follows The Warning:

“now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.”

That sounds ominous – more like a promise of judgment or destruction than a promise of blessing. But in fact it is a good promise. You need to go back to Haggai 2, the first time God made this promise, which is being quoted directly here, to see that it really is a promise of blessing. God is promising that He will shake away the flimsy, temporary, unsatisfying, life-robbing, junk. So that the strong, permanent, truly satisfying, life-giving priorities remain. The word used for “shake” brought to mind the sea – pounding waves, winds, storms – images of power and of God’s might and control. Sort of scary images, but that is not the perspective of the author of Hebrews, and it is not my perspective either. It is not scary, even though it is not optional – “all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.” It is coming, and it is universal, and it is not to be feared.

The Unshakable Remains:

Why isn’t it scary? Why is it ok? Why is it even good and desirable that God would grab your and my life and shake it and shake it and shake it until everything that could be shaken was gone?

Because what remains is God’s Kingdom. “28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.”

Here is the author of Hebrew’s view, and mine as well: what remains is far better, far more valuable, far more significant. Jesus called it the “pearl of great price” (Matt 13:44-45), worthy of selling everything for. Paul said “7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:7-8). Everything else may go, but “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13:13).

The things of the Kingdom of God are unshakable. My love for this church will not be shaken. Your devotion to one another will not be shaken. Your selfless giving of gifts and time and money will not be shaken. A little building in Bolivia, with freshly painted walls and a new mutual partnership of love with us here at Laurier, will not be shaken. Your experience of forgiveness, the promise of a warm welcome on your return, the undying love of our Father will not be shaken.

Therefore:

The application is clear: “let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.” This is further evidence of how good this “shaking” is for us. We will be thankful, and respond in worship.

I have to say one more thing before wrapping up – it says to “worship him with holy fear and awe.” Those are unique words. In researching them, I come to the conclusion that they essentially mean this: recognize who God is, in His awesome power (which will shake all of creation) and in His choice to love us, and translate that into worship. Now you know that I believe and preach that all of our lives is to be about worship – every day, every decision, every action. But I want to apply this to our gathered worship, and again in keeping with the theme of Lent be more blunt than usual. Worshiping God with holy fear and awe does not mean showing up late for church. It does not mean sitting passively in a pew, or singing half-heartedly because “it’s not my style”. It does not mean nursing a critical spirit, looking around at others with a judgmental eye, believing the worst. When we gather to worship, we gather to worship God. Those of us leading see ourselves as nothing more than the servants in the house of God – God is the host, the master, the owner, the reason we are together. Now the servants might not be perfect, we might spill a beverage or serve a flawed meal or not great you as warmly as you would like. We try our best, but it isn’t about us – it is about God. I urge you to “worship him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.”

Conclusion: Listening

When I saw the small group that I was leading into a time of listening to God get down, and depressed, and certain that if they listened to God then all they would hear was how terrible they were, and how disappointed God was in them, and how they had done this sin and that sin and the other sin, I saw an opportunity. I asked another question: “imagine this: you have a child – dearly loved, yes imperfect but still your child. Now imagine that they come to be with you. What do you want to say? That they are really bad? They have really disappointed you? Do you want to break out a long list of grievances against them?”

Jesus said, “9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” (Matt 7:9-11).

When we chose to listen, we heard words of life. Of forgiveness, not condemnation. Of acceptance, not rejection. Of hope, not despair. We heard words of love.

Let us “be careful that (we) do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking… (for) we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.”