Text: Heb 10:32-39, Title: Absolutely Ridiculous, Date/Place: NRBC, 8/28/11, PM
A. Opening illustration: Radical Video, Gary Tryon speaking about Bill McDonald giving him $100
B. Background to passage: after scaring them to death, hopefully causing them to examine their own conversion, and make sure that it is legit, the author shares his hope that their conversion is real by looking back on their experience. And he doesn’t say that they prayed a prayer or walked the aisle or joined the church, he says that they suffered well for Christ! By the way, how one endures suffering spiritually is very much an indicator of the genuineness of their conversion. By suffering well, I mean that they suffered intensely, because of love, and with great joy. In a world that values wealth, security, power, and comfort, these people with great joy accepted the destruction of their personal worldly possessions. And these were very young Christians, and had not been in the faith for long.
C. Main thought: how do we become like those people?
A. Allow Love to Win (v. 33)
1. He says here that they became “companions” with those who were suffering. The word means to partner with and join themselves to. This would have and did cost them much. We see the results, but these are probably results that they would have been able to anticipate. It says that they had “compassion” or sympathized with those in prison. So knowing the consequences that could come, they took food and provisions to their brothers in prison. How? Why? They allowed agape love to drive them to sacrifice themselves and their stuff, and to triumph over fear and want. They truly put the needs of their brothers and sisters before their own.
2. 2 Tim 1:16, 1 John 3:16, Matt 5:46-47,
3. Illustration: Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in Eilenburg, Germany, wrote the hymn during the Thirty Year War which raged in Germany during the 1600s. Eilenburg was a walled city and was a place of refuge for thousands of refugees fleeing the war. As it filled with helpless victims, the city became overcrowded and was under-supplied with food, sanitation, and medical care. Instead of a place of refuge, it soon became a city of death. Plagues raged through the city claiming hundreds of victims. In the midst of misery and pain, Reverend Rinkart wrote sixty hymns of faith and hope. His hymns helped turn the people’s eyes from their despair to the power and love of God. Rinkart encouraged them to look beyond their circumstances to the eternal blessings of God. With this confidence, Rinkart was able to minister to thousands. In the terrible plague of 1637, other pastors fled or died, and Rinkart was left alone to bury close to 4500 men, women, and children. Some days he would conduct 45 funerals. As the war drew to a close, Eilenburg was overrun by several armies. At one point, the Swedish army occupied the city, and the general in charge demanded that the people pay a large tribute. On behalf of the people, Rev. Rinkart spoke to the general and begged for mercy. The general was unyielding. Facing possible death, Rinkart called his companions to kneel and pray. “Come my children, we can find no mercy with (humans); let us take refuge with God.” He led the prayer and the singing of a hymn. Stunned, the general watched. When Rinkart rose, the general ordered the levy reduced, and he spared the city. It was with this faith that Rinkart wrote, “Now Thank We All Our God.”
4. If we are to be a generation of people that could/would do as these did, we must let self-sacrificing, unconditional, highly-valuing love determine our actions, rather than fear, social pressure, apathy, of self-absorption. And this is not usually the case. I have sat in homes this week of church members who felt completely abandoned by the members of this church during their darkest hours (myself included), because we didn’t let love determine our actions. Christian love looks at others before it looks at self. We do this often with our families, children, grandchildren, but not so much with others. Or we do it to certain ones that are close to us, and neglect other church family, because we have never formed a relationship with them. We will never be Heb 10:33-34 Christians without allowing love to reign in us.
B. Loosen Grip on Present World (v. 33-34)
1. These people were not overly attached to their things. They were willing to part with them for a greater cause. Their perspective on things of this world was that everything here is temporary.
2. Rev 12:11, Matt 6:32, 19:22, 1 Thess 4:5, Mark 4:19, 2 Tim 4:10, 1 John 2:15-17,
3. Illustration: the man in the children’s book who sold his favorite hat to buy the field, joke about the woman who figured she should have put the money in the basement, Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace. Ariely’s study therefore presents us with a warning. Our hearts are predisposed to instantly grip themselves around our possessions. In a very real way, we will come to value our possessions much more highly than we did before we had them. There’s almost no going back. So be discerning about what you own, and also be discerning about how your relationship to your possessions can ultimately impact your relationship with God. What seems like a gift may one day serve as a wedge between you and the Giver.
4. We are a generation consumed by stuff! Everything in our world is driven by stuff. Even though we may not be “greedy” in the outward, external, excessive use of the word, we are usually thinking about things we need/want, places we want to go, pleasures we want to experience, and goals we want to achieve. How about you? Name the top three things that you want right now? What kind of power do possessions and money possess in your life? Sex? Power? Would you be willing to turn loose of these things in your life? If loving one of your brothers meant you had to sell your favorite “thing” to provide for them, would you? This is one of the reasons that we can rejoice when all our stuff is seized: we are reminded that it is just stuff, that this world is temporary, and our love for Christ should exceed our love for anything else. We can rejoice when we are forcibly taught this truth.
C. Be Confident in a Better Possession (v. 34)
1. The writer said that they did this with joy because they understood that they had a better possession/inheritance, and they believed it so much that they gave all they had. The writer of Heb has been talking about the superiority of everything in Christianity over Judaism, but it all comes down to the superiority of Christ over everything!
2. Rom 8:17-18, 2 Cor 4:17-18, Luke 6:22-23, Heb 10:24-26
3. Illustration:When you know that you have a better and a lasting persuasion, you are not paralyzed by loss. If that better possession is great enough, you will even be able to rejoice in loss...It's this deep confidence about your future that frees you from the fear and greed that kill love and make you into a cookie-cutter human who has to have security and safety and ease and comfort.” -Piper,
4. We should spend time reflecting on the reward, on the inheritance, on the better possession. Our concept of heaven is realitively simplistic--harps, clouds, angels, better health, no sorrows...but very seldom do we think any deeper than that. We usually don’t long to be there. Most of us are “ready” to go to heaven, but not “eager.” Why? Because we love this life, and wonder (if we are honest) if missing family and friends and the things we want to do before we go there is worth it. But remember the writer says that if you want to suffer willingly with joy for Christ, we must have utmost confidence that we have a superior inheritance to come! And we shouldn’t just want to go to heaven because we miss our loved ones. The better possession is not simply our loved ones, nor is it even heaven itself, nor the freedom from sin and pain and sorrow...the better possession is not a what but a Who! Jesus Christ is our better possession! Being with Him will put all other joys to shame (sex will be a yawn, your boat and house will be a distant memory, you will laugh that you worked so hard to get stuff, the beach and the grand canyon and the Smoky Mountains will be lackluster, your wife and children and grandchildren will be boredom, golf and deer hunting and ice cream and chocolate cake will be a joke). And He will make every suffering that you endure seem as a light momentary affliction that only whet your tastebuds for true glory. And you will know that all these things that you endured were totally worth the cost.
Closing illustration:
This world will surely pass away, But You remain, You remain, Riches will fade, Names will be forgotten, Bread of life, only You satisfy, I put my hope in You
You are all I need, My portion forever, The strength of my heart and my life, My sufficiency, In You I take refuge
You're my all when all is gone
Whom have I in heaven or earth? Only You Lord, only You, My flesh and heart may fail, But never my Redeemer
The grass withers, the flowers fall, But Your promises are sure
The best of earth could not compare, To You my Savior, You are my treasure, This world is not my home, I will trust in You alone
A. THEREFORE, DON’T LOSE HOPE! DRIVE IT DEEP! ENDURE! Don’t let the temporary cost of love keep you from expressing that love, even if from an earthly perspective, it is very high.
B. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if we had to stand up and say what we believe based on our game plan for life. I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth who is not worthy of me making two hours of week in my schedule to pray or talk to and to attend church. I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, who has no right to tell me how to live my life after I get out of church.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, but he should not expect me to make any kind of similar sacrifice on His behalf. I will tell off who I want to tell off, and I will give when I feel like giving. If I do not want to do my part, then others just have to take up the slack for me whether they want to or not.
He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from which he shall come to judge the living and the dead, with me being the exception because He knows my heart. I intend to one day get serious about serving God, but until then he should not judge me. When I prefer gossip over sharing the word of God, that’s my business.
• What is this "better possession and abiding one"? Well, it's all the good news that we have been pondering for over a year in this letter. It's the triumph of Jesus over death (2:15), and the final rest for the saints in the age to come (4:9), and the subduing of all our enemies (10:13) and the perfect purification of our conscience (9:14), and the removal and forgetting of all our sins (8:12), all of which is aimed at the ultimate and greatest reward of all, namely, that we shall be "near to God" (7:19, 25) and know God (8:11) and that he will be our God (8:10) forever.
• So where does that "knowing" come from? That confidence? The answer to that is what this whole book is written to supply. Our confidence comes from Christ, what he did perfectly on the cross and at the resurrection, what he is doing now for us in heaven and what he will do for us at the second coming and to all eternity. Christ is the one who destroyed the power of death (2:15). Christ is the High Priest who opens the way to the throne of grace (4:15-16). Christ is the one who ever lives to make intercession for us (7:25). Christ is the one whose blood cleanses our consciences (9:14), and obtained an eternal redemption (9:12). Christ's death is the single sacrifice that perfects us for all time (10:14). Christ will make all his enemies a footstool for his feet (10:13). Christ will come again a second time to save all who are eagerly waiting for him. Christ is the mediator of a new and better covenant that insures the forgiveness of our sins, and the writing of the law on our hearts, and the presence of God in our midst forever and ever (8:6-11).
