The First Command in Hebrews
05/30/04 AM
Text: Hebrews 2:1-4
Introduction
In chapter one of Hebrews there are no commands for the church. We are not told to do anything. Hebrews 1:1, this is the point of chapter one: something new and better and miraculous happened in the coming of the Son of God.
This is Hebrews’ way of saying what John said in his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...” John 1:1, 2, 14. In other words, God the Son took on human form as God’s final, decisive Word to the world. Final and decisive in that, since Jesus came, all that God has to say is rooted in Jesus, and points toward Jesus, and is proven by obedience to Jesus. All the fullness of God is in Jesus “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:9. “…in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3. Beyond what the Old Testament told us, whatever we need to know about God and how he relates to our lives we learn from what we hear and see in God’s final, decisive Word, Jesus Christ. That’s what Hebrews 1 is all about: this final word of God, Jesus Christ.
In summary, chapter one says that the Son of God is the heir of all things (v. 2), he made the world (v. 2), he is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s nature (v. 3), he upholds all things by the word of his power (v. 3), he made purification for sins (v. 3), he sat down at the right hand of God’s majesty (v. 3) and he is greater than any angel (v. 4) because angels worship him (v. 6). He is the mighty God (v. 8).
That’s the message of chapter one: God has spoken by his Son and this Son is Creator and Sustainer and Owner and Ruler and Redeemer of the world. There are no commands for us here. Only declaration and celebration of the greatness of Jesus, the final Word of God.
I. The First Command in Hebrews -- Listen!
A. But in chapter two the first thing is a command or a duty
1. -- something we must do. And the connection with chapter one is very important. Chapter two begins, "For this reason . . ." (Or: some versions have, "therefore"). In other words chapter two begins by telling us that chapter one is the reason for this duty. Because God has spoken by his Son in these last days, and because he is the Creator and Sustainer and Owner and Ruler and Redeemer of the world -- above all angels -- therefore ("for this reason . . .") "we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard.".
2. Now here is a command that we need desperately to hear in our day. What do you listen to? Whom do you listen to? God has spoken through his Son, do you listen to him? How does your listening to him compare to your listening to other things? When we want to listen to someone, we make provisions for listening. If we want to listen to a musical group we make sure that we have the CD or tape in the car. If we want to listen to the news, we make sure there is a radio in the kitchen or that we have a TV and that we have it turned on at the right time. If we want to see our favorite show we make sure to set things up to record so we won’t miss a thing.
3. On and on it goes. We all want to listen to something. And we make plans for our listening and we buy things and go places and make sure we are not distracted. So how does all this compare to our listening to God’s Word to us in his Son? Are you listening to that? Are you making provisions for that? Are your kitchen and your car and your den and your reading devoted to that?
II. It is Exceedingly Necessary
A. It is not an option.
1. What Hebrews is saying here is that in the Christian life we must go on listening to God’s Word in Jesus. And we must do this with very close attention. We cannot treat this casually. We cannot act as if we already know all we need to know, or that we have nothing to gain from listening to Jesus.
a. There is urgency here in Hebrews 2:1. Literally it says, “It is exceedingly necessary that we give heed to what we have heard.”
b. It is not just an option that you can do if you are especially spiritual or have a crisis in front of you or if you are at camp or if you need to prepare some lesson. This is a word to all Christians: it is "exceedingly necessary to give heed" to Jesus as the Word of God.
2. This is not an isolated command in the book of Hebrews. This concern to get the readers to wake up and listen closely to God is repeated.
a. For example, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus.” Hebrews 3:1 Consider Jesus! That’s the point of Hebrews 2:1. Listen to him.
b. Then again in the author says, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.” Hebrews 12:1-2. There it is again: "Fix your eyes on Jesus."
c. Consider him. Focus on him. Stay close to him and keep him in your thoughts. Learn more and more from him every day -- what he is like and what he says and how we are to be like Him.
3. One of the great burdens of this book is that we the readers will see how serious it is to listen to Jesus, the Word of God, and consider Jesus, and fix our eyes on Jesus. This is the first commandment in the book. It is not a difficult command: Listen! Consider! Look! These are not hard things to do -- unless we don’t want to do them. The first command of this book is not "labor for Jesus", but "listen to Jesus." He is not commanding us to work for him, but to watch him.
III. Pay Attention, So You Don’t Neglect So Great A Salvation
A. The whole first chapter of Hebrews tells us why.
1. And the whole first chapter is intended to make this a light burden and an easy yoke.
2. The one we are to pay close attention to is the Creator and Sustainer and Owner and Ruler and Redeemer of the world. And what he has to say to us is a “very great salvation.”
a. 2 Corinthians 3:4-17
3. The Christian life is first and foremost a life centered on Jesus - listening to Jesus, considering Jesus, fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus. Everything else in the Christian life grows out of this. Without this the Christian life is simply unlivable.
4. Notice in verse 3: “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”
a. So if we choose not to listen to Jesus every day and consider him and fix our eyes on him, then we are scorning his importance described in chapter one and we are neglecting a “great salvation.”
b. Now why would anybody want to do that? The only reason would be if we regard something else as more important to listen to and consider and fix our eyes on.
5. This is why the next phrase in verse 1 is a warning: “…lest we drift away from it.” The first reason for paying close attention to what we have heard in God’s word through his Son is that the Son is infinitely greater than angels: Creator, Sustainer, Owner, Ruler, and Redeemer. Therefore how could you not want to be vigilant in listening and considering and fixing your eyes on him?
IV. Pay Attention, So You Don’t Drift into Destruction
A. There are many currents which cause us to drift.
1. The Current of Complacency
a. As we become familiar with the truth, it may seem common place to us
b. We may take it for granted.
c. Like the Ephesians we may lose our “first love”
Revelation 2:4
2. The Current of Time
a. We may begin to rest on past accomplishments, and cease pressing forward: I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
b. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6:9
3. The Current of Daily Concerns
a. The constant pressure of daily cares, anxieties, duties, etc., can distract us, as Jesus warned more than once:
1) In the parable of the Sower: “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” Luke 8:14
2) “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” Luke 21:34
4. The Current of “The Flesh”
a. Our warfare is not only without, but also within:
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,” 1 Peter 2:11
b. Our flesh is constantly waging war against our souls, and against the Spirit who desires that we follow Him:
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Galatians 5:16-17
5. Any and all these things can drift us away from the Lord and His great salvation if we are not careful! Hebrews says if we do not pay closer attention to the Word of God, we will float by - we will drift away from God’s word. We may know people to which this has happened. We may know someone experiencing this now. There is no urgency. No vigilance. No focused listening or considering or fixing the eyes on Jesus. And the result is not standing still, but drifting away.
6. That is the point here: there is no standing still. The life of this world is not a lake. It is a river. And it is flowing downward to destruction. If you do not listen earnestly to Jesus and consider him daily and fix your eyes on him hourly, then you will not stand still, you will go backward. You will drift away.
7. Drifting is a deadly thing in the Christian life. And the remedy to it, according to Hebrews 2, is “Pay much closer attention to what we have heard.” That is, consider what God is saying in his Son Jesus. Fix your eyes on what God is saying and doing in Jesus Christ.
8. This is not a hard stroke to learn so that we can swim against the currents of sin and indifference. The only thing that keeps us from swimming like this is our sinful desire to drift along with other interests. But let us not complain that God has given us a hard job. Listen, consider, focus - this is not what you would call a hard job description.
a. It is not a job description. It is an open invitation to be satisfied in Jesus so that we do not get lured downstream by deceitful desires.
B. Drifting is Infinitely Dangerous
1. His yoke is easy and his burden is light - as easy as listening and as light as looking. But if we neglect this great salvation, and drift into the love of other things, then we will not escape. We will perish.
2. The argument given in verse 2 for why we will not escape if we drift and neglect our great salvation is that “The word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense.”
a. In the Old Testament God did not yet speak directly through his Son on the earth. He spoke through intermediary messengers. Hebrews says angels were involved in the revelation of God’s word. Nevertheless, the firmness of this mediated word was so great that every neglect and rejection of it was punishable with a just recompense.
3. Now something much greater has come: God has spoken to us not through angels, but unmediated through His Son. God himself stood forth from heaven in Jesus and spoke a great salvation with his lips and his life and his death. Confirmed by those who heard and witnessed by God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, this writer illustrates how our neglecting this great word results in guilt much greater than the Old Testament people who disobeyed the word of God given through angels, and therefore we will not escape.
4. Escape what? Hebrews 10:28-29
Conclusion
1. We have been blessed to receive “so great a salvation”
a. A salvation spoken to us first through God’s own Son!
b. A salvation then confirmed by those who heard Him and witnessed by God Himself through the Holy Spirit!
c. A salvation much greater than any offered before!
2. But please note carefully...
a. One need not "reject" or "actively fight" against this great salvation to “receive a just recompense”.
b. Those who simply “drift away” through “neglect” will also not escape!
Invitation
Have you neglected this great salvation Jesus offers? If so, may this first commandment found in "The Letter To The Hebrews" move you to repent, and cause you to give “pay closer attention to” the gospel of Christ!
