*Note: This is an adaptation of the second sermon in the "I Love My Church" Sermon Prep Kit on Sermon Central. Thanks to whoever created the original outlines. This is a great kit.
I Love My Church #2: Becoming Backyard Christians
Hebrews 10:19-25
[Lots of different fences on PowerPoint] When I talk about fences, what comes to mind? They come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. Some are short, small, and transparent; others are walls of fortress. In every case, what is a fence designed to do? Keep something in or keep something out, right?
How many of you have a fenced backyard? I’ve noticed something in our neighborhood—and you can tell me if it’s true for you or your neighborhood. People work really, really hard on their front yard. We get a little obsessed with our front yards.
The front yard is where you mulch the flower beds. The front yard is where you install the sprinkler system. The front yard is what makes you live in fear that you’ll get a nasty letter from the HOA if you don’t blow the grass clippings off the sidewalk after you mow the lawn.
But then, there’s the back yard! When I was growing up, we had a fence that went around the perimeter of our backyard. The front yard was always kept really nice—grass always neatly cut and Mom had flowers out. It looked like the cover of a real estate brochure or home and garden magazine. This was the front yard.
On the other side of the fence though—slightly different. The grass was cut, but not as often as the front yard. All of our toys and bikes were in the back as well as our swing set. My parents preferred us playing back there so they knew where we were. The grill was in the back with our picnic table, so we’d have meals back there sometimes. We had a dog, and try as hard as we could, you still had to watch where you stepped. This was the backyard.
The fence was the separation between the two spaces. It was the barrier between the front yard, which everyone was allowed to see, and the back yard, which is where we lived. Where we played. Where we had friends over.
So… are fences a good thing or a bad thing? I would say a little of both. You see, fences can either divide or define. Fences that divide us are bad. But fences that define us are good. And as we are continuing our series I Love My Church, we are going to look at both of these ideas from Scripture. and this concept is going to play a big part in what we’ll see today as one of God’s plans for the church: that we would live connected lives. God wants us to live connected with Him and connected with one another. God wants us to know true community. What do fences have to do with that? That’s what we’re going to talk about.
Let’s look at Hebrews 10:19-25:
19 Therefore, brothers,[c] since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
[Pray]
Before I unpack this, let’s go back to our fence. Let’s picture our lives as a yard. If a lot of us were honest, we’d admit that we like a good fence. What we are comfortable showing people and letting people know about us is our front lawn—and we try keeping a pristine front lawn. Nicely manicured. Beautiful grass. A nice welcome mat at the front door—for decorative purposes only. The front yard is what we show people.
But the backyard ... that’s different. That’s the real us, and getting in there is by invitation only. In fact, I’m going to build a fence because I’m not sure I want you to know what’s going on with the real me. I don’t want you to see the parts of my life that aren’t so pristine. I don’t want you to step in the dog piles. I’m not sure if we can have a meal together. The backyard is private, the backyard is me.
Everything in the front of the house is perfectly presented, but the back of the house ... behind this fence ... is where the true us resides.
But here’s the thing about fences: God isn’t a big fan of them. Okay, He doesn’t have a problem with us having a literal fence around our literal house. Please don’t leave here today and tear down your actual fence. But as far as being in relationship with Him and being in community with each other, God wants us to rethink our fences
1. Know that Jesus made a gate in the fence.
Before we even talk about the barriers we put between us and other people, we have to realize that a barrier has existed between human beings and God ever since the Garden of Eden.
In the beginning, human beings enjoyed close fellowship with God. There was no front yard and backyard. It was all backyard, because there wasn’t anything to hide.
But that all changed when sin entered the world. After Adam and Eve sinned, for the first time ever, they felt like they had something to hide. They made coverings of fig leaves for themselves, because even though they were literally the only two people on earth, somehow they were ashamed to be truly known by the other (Genesis 3:7).
And when they heard the sound of God walking in the garden, they hid themselves. Adam was like, “Here comes God. Quick. Let’s hide in the backyard.”
And Eve was like, “What’s a backyard?”
And Adam’s like, “I just invented it.”
And the paradox is that, while we can’t hide from God, we can surely be separated from God. And that’s what sin does. Look what happens. God says, “You want a fence? You want a backyard? You want to try to make a distinction between the self you present to the world and the person you really are? Well, I’ll see your fig leaf, and raise you… an angel with a flaming sword.
Genesis 3:24 tells us that God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden, and stationed cherubim at the entrance to the Garden with a flaming sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
And Eden became the first gated community.
So fast forward to when the Temple was built. Because the Temple pretty much took the idea of walls and fences and barriers between God and people and people and other people and put it into overdrive. I know we’ve talked about this before, and actually pretty recently, so I don’t want to camp out on this too much. But remember that the temple was this massive complex, and the outer circle was called the Court of the Gentiles. And if you weren’t a Jew, you could hang out in the court of the Gentiles. But if you tried to take one step beyond your area you encountered this waist high fence, called the soreg. And all along the soreg were signs with this inscription
No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be himself responsible for his ensuing death.
(Man—I thought our HOA was strict…)
Now, if you were a Jew, you could go one step further in. The next area was the Court of the Women. And if you were a woman, that was as far as you could go.
The next separation was between women and men. If you were a man but not a priest, you were allowed into the Court of the Israelites, or the Court of Men.
You could only be allowed inside the temple if you were a priest. And you could only be a priest if you were born into it. You had to be a Levite. [Side note—Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, so He wasn’t even allowed into the Temple itself. Can you imagine a church where Jesus Himself wasn’t welcome? Yeah… come to think of it, so can I.
But even within the temple, there was one more wall of separation. There was a huge, thick curtain separating the Holy Place (where only the priests could go) from the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies. This was where the Ark of the Covenant was. This was where the presence of God rested above the mercy seat. And it was so holy that only the High Priest could go there, and then only once a year, on the day of atonement.
But Jesus’ death on the cross changed all that.. Look how verses 19-21:
“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
Church, we see the whole gospel here in these verses: Jesus creates community by making a gate in the fence.
We who had been banished from God’s presence, who couldn’t get any closer than the court of the gentiles, now we can have confidence to enter the Holy place—into the very presence of God. How?
Because Jesus shed His blood. On the cross, Jesus exchanged all our sin for all his righteousness. So the writer of Hebrews says that we now have a “new and living way” to confidently approach God. The “old and dead way” was through the blood of bulls and goats. But Jesus shed His own blood, and now we have confidence to enter the Holy Place.
Jesus tore the veil. At the moment Jesus died on the cross, the gospels tell us that the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. That’s why the writer of Hebrews says that this “new and living way” into God’s presence is “through the veil.”
Third, Jesus made the sacrifice. Who was the one who made the sacrifice? That’s right. The High Priest. Now, remember that God appointed one tribe out of the twelve tribes to be his priests. Which tribe was that? Right. The Levites. No one other than a Levite could be in the presence of God. With one exception. Every year, one non-levite was allowed into God’s presence. Think about it: What was the ONLY thing that was allowed behind the veil besides the Levitical High Priest?
The sacrifice itself! The lamb that was being sacrificed was allowed into the Holy of Holies. Now, I’m sure that wasn’t necessarily good news for the lamb. But do you see how God is perfectly faithful to His own Word? Jesus didn’t enter the Holy of Holies to make a sacrifice. He entered the Holy of Holies because He was the sacrifice! He wasn’t a priest because of His birth. He became a priest because of His death.
Jesus is our Great High Priest. He says in John 10:9, “I am the gate for the sheep.” He creates community between us and God by making a gate in the fence that separates us.
Crashing the fence is as easy as admitting we need Him—we can’t live life on our own—we’ll never make it into His presence with a fence separating us. The Romans letter gives us more of the details behind our Hebrews passage:
• Romans 3:23—There is a fence called sin separating us.
• Romans 6:23—Because of that fence, we’ll never get to God.
• Romans 5:8—God made a way through that fence.
• Romans 10:9-10—If we confess our faith in Jesus, He opens the gate.
• Romans 10:13—The gate is open for anyone that calls on Jesus.
Have you ever drawn near to God? Have you ever acknowledged what Jesus has done on the cross and allowed Him into your life—all of it, the front and back?
Realize that the fence separating you from God has a gate in it. Jesus is the gate. Surrender your life to Him, drawing near to Him in relationship, close to Him in community.
2. Believers enable community by inviting others behind the fence.
Now, we know that the barrier between us and God has been broken down completely. However, there are still barriers that exist between people. Because of sin, and fallenness, and hurt, we all come into community with some trust issues. I get it. It’s understandable. The more we’ve been hurt, the more defense mechanisms we put up. That’s why we have the front yard that we present to the world, and the backyard, where we let family and close friends in. See, even though Jesus tore down the walls of separation, we still want people to see only the pretty parts of our yard. We don’t want them to see our laundry—clean or dirty—hanging on the clothesline in the back. So we fence off the backyard. We keep very careful tabs on who gets to see how much.
But while it’s a reality, it also stifles community. As long as we keep people locked out of our backyards, we are going to have a very superficial community.
Verse 22 says,
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (verses 19-22)
You see the invitation in the first part of this verse: “Let us draw near.” God invites us to draw near to him, and he promises we can do so with a sincere heart, in full assurance that our hearts are clean!
There aren’t too many places I can think of where I would describe myself as having “full assurance.” Most of the time my insecurities and self-consciousness work against my feeling self assured. But verse 22 tells me that I can draw near to God in full assurance. And the reason why is the next two words: of faith. What we have as believers is not “self-assurance,” but faith assurance. And that’s different. Self assurance looks inward. Faith assurance looks upward.
Self assurance is based on whether you think you measure up. Faith assurance looks at Jesus as the measure of all things. And because the focus isn’t on self, you are truly free, completely at ease, with a clean heart and a clear conscience.
And as we draw near to God we draw near to one another at the same time. In other words, you let people into your backyard. This is community—letting each other behind the fence. Community means authenticity—the sharing of ourselves with others—a deeper relationship than we can have sitting in this large room while I or someone else speaks to you. Community means standing in someone’s yard and allowing them to stand in mine.
Our un-manicured, never picture perfect, weeds-not-pulled, toys everywhere, watch where you step ‘cause the dog’s been out, beautiful backyard.
You may or may not remember the television show Home Improvement with Tim Allen. Tim’s family had a next-door neighbor named Wilson. Nearly the entire series, this is all we ever saw. The Taylors lived next door to Wilson for years, yet they never saw his face. Sometimes it’s like that for church folks. We sit in the pews with people. We serve on committees together. We may even enjoy Bible study with one another, but we never see someone’s whole face. We only get a glimpse of them from behind our fences.
They stay in their backyard, we stay in ours. I can’t embrace him in a family tragedy. He can’t really see what’s happening over here when my wife and I are having a spat. This fence impedes our community. We have to get into the yard to fully know someone.
If we are truly going to experience not only the church but also life as God intended it, then we can’t live behind a fence. To truly love your church, you have to love someone in your church. This doesn’t mean that everyone transforms into super social extroverts. What it means is that we don’t live in isolation.
3. Churches sustain community by protecting what’s inside the fence.
So we’ve talked about how Jesus broke down the fence that separated us from God. And we talked about how we as believers need to work at removing the fences that separate us from each other. So you might be thinking that all fences are bad. But actually that’s not the case. Remember that at the beginning of the sermon we said that fences both divide and define. So let’s wrap up this morning by talking about what defines us as a community of faith.
Look again at verses 23-25:
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Every church has a statement of faith, or a creed or a confession. Something that defines what they believe. You might have grown up in a faith tradition where you had to memorize the Apostle’s Creed as part of your catechism class. Anybody? “I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only begotten son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried…Nobody? Just me? Ok. Our church’s statement of faith is the Baptist Faith and Message. Regardless of what its called, a statement of faith articulates what a group of people believe about the authority of Scripture, the nature of Jesus, what it means to be saved, and so forth. And so doctrine is the fence that defines us. Verse 23 says we have to hold fast to our confessions. So that means that for someone to be a member of Glynwood Baptist Church, they need to agree with our statement of faith. If someone doesn’t, that doesn’t mean we are going to block the door and not let you in. We are going to love you, teach you, and minister to you in every way possible. But you wouldn’t be able to teach or lead or be considered as a member of the church. Doctrine both defines and protects our community.
Second, we encourage our community. Verse 24: let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. How do we do this? By holding each other to the standards in God’s Word. By loving each other enough to kind of be in each other’s business. Listen—we need to love one another enough to risk someone saying, “Who are you to judge me?” and then let the answer be, “I’m your brother or sister in Christ, and what you are doing right now isn’t consistent with what defines our family.
Finally, we sustain our community when we maintain our commitment to it. Verse 25 tells the people of God to “not neglect meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.” Listen—our community can’t be sustained if our relationships are not maintained.
[Illustration of husband and wife]
