Hebrews 6.12
Meat
January 19th 2014
Welcome.
Here at CAMPUS we try to focus on the Word of God in all we do – combined with the Spirit His Word is life – and we try to never forget this.
So let’s open with prayer and following this we’ll hear the Word set to music (please sing along if possible or inclined) and then we’ll sit in silent, prayerful reflection.
When we return, we’ll pick our verse by verse study of Hebrews 6 beginning at verse 9.
Okay, we have been talking a lot about what Christians need to understand relative to the basics of Christianity.
And the writer of Hebrews, speaking to believers, has strongly intimated that being established in the meat of the Word believers are going to avoid apostasy.
The Bible is NOT easy on us relative to apostasy because there are many places that make it seem like we are precariously hanging on to our salvation and then there are other places that seem to say it not a concern.
We discussed Christian apostasy at length last week and we wondered if these warnings are simply warnings to protect believers from letting down their guard or if there is the possibility that certain believers, who have become so utterly evil in their heart that they would want to aggressively crucify Jesus with their own hands, have walked from the faith.
But today, after a rather stern warning, the writer enters a period of reassurance, saying (beginning at verse 9):
Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
This is our text for today – it is full of tremendous insights.
After having described believers using five plain factors to prove their spiritual allegiance to the Lord, the writer said that if any such person should fall away there remains no repentance available for them, seeing they have (in essence) taken Jesus with their own hands and aggressively crucified him as a means to mock and expose Him to ridicule.
Harsh stuff. Then we get verse nine where the writer says:
(Kindly) Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
From the tenor of this verse we can see that the warnings covered last week were NOT given as a threat of any sort, but were plain facts. I say this because here in verse nine the writer would be guity of hypocrisy if he was throwing down on people and then suddenly got all kind and loving on them.
And since I am sure the writer was not writing Hebrews hypocritically, I am also sure that in light of his tender and very personal approach we find in verse nine, what he said before was truly a form of factual instruction for them to consider and not so much a description of anyone there receiving these words.
Hebrews 6:9 “But . . . beloved,” he says, “we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.”
First things first. Notice that the writer speaks in the plural – “But beloved, WE are persuaded of better things of you . . . though WE thus speak.
Throughout the epistle the writer refers to the believers (and in places he includes himself) as “we.”
I believe this is the meaning here as well. We could say that there were plural writers and this was speaking of them in an authoritative sense (You know, “we the apostles are convinced you are going to do well,”) and this is the common view, but because of his frequent use of we in the first six chapters I’m not so sure this is the case.
Anyway, he says:
“But . . . beloved,” he says, “we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.”
“I trust that, in spite of what I have been saying about apostasy that there are far better things about you,” or as he puts it,
“Things that accompany salvation.”
Things accompany salvation?
You mean the salvation moment isn’t the final act for a Christian?
There’s more?
Is this what James means when he wrote:
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
“How do these things play out in the Christian life?” We might ask.
“Don’t we run the risk of falling under a yoke of bondage again if we start talking about “things that accompany salvation?
We certainly do.
“How do we avoid such bondage? How do we enact the things that accompany salvation without re-embracing elements of living by law, living under a yoke of bondage? How do we, having begun in the Spirit continue in the Spirit and refuse the temptation to become perfected in the flesh.”
In my estimation this is an enormous issue and one I personally take VERY seriously – probably because I have come out of Mormonism AND because I want to worship God in spirit and in truth OR NOT AT ALL – you heard me right.
So let’s take a minute and work through this slippery topic so we know what the writer is saying when he speaks of things that “accompany salvation.”
First of all, knowing the Greek word for “accompany” (as in “things that accompany salvation”) is very helpful in our understanding the grace and works debate.
One translation put it this way:
“things which go with salvation.” I like that.
Darby’s translation says, “things connected with salvation.”
The Revised says “things that belong to salvation.” Ooooh, that’s good, isn’t it?
And then another says:
“things that point to your Salvation.”
All of those descriptions help us move from the idea that it’s “salvation plus” when in fact its “salvation multiplied.”
Perhaps the best way to understand the meaning is to look to the Greek. The word translated by the King James as accompany is the Greek word (get this) “echo.”
This helps perspective, doesn’t it? –
“Things that echo salvation.”
I believe it is perhaps the BEST way to see how and what “things” come about or are produced once a person is saved – they echo off the salvivic experience we have.
They are a by-product, an echo of what Jesus has done. In other words, we might say such “things” are mirrored extensions of the salvation we have experienced itself.
Try and look at it this way – we (as sinners) were saved, while in sin, by the love of Christ, which was manifested by His suffering, His sorrow, His shed blood, and the giving up of His life on our behalf.
(Stay with me) By and through what He did (beat) we are pardoned, forgiven, given new life, relieved of pain and suffering and (LISTEN NOW) and as a result WE THEN “echo” these results -these things “that point to it,” the things “that go with it,” that “belong to it,” these things that CAME with our being saved!
In other words those who are truly His will also suffer, will “die to self,” will take up the cross, will forgive, will give up our lives for others, will pardon, will help other receive new life, will relieve the pain and grief of others.
Get it?
It is NOT incumbent on us TO produce manufactured works of love to show our salvation.
It is NOT Christianity to do works of love to maintain our salvation nor are we mandated to love in order to improve our position with God.
The position is proven, given, warranted by faith, and eternally secure.
The things (the works) merely echo the salvation present in those who possess it.
If we mess with this, or switch the order around, we get religion and not relationship.
In my humble opinion this vital nuance is becoming more and more lost in the modern world of volunteerism, doing goodism, and proving our Christianity – ism.
And what are the “things” the writer is talking about? In summation the things that echo salvation are agape love. His love exhibited through the lives of those who are His.
By this (love) men will know we are His disciples.
We know from a contextual study of James chapter 2 is that when he speaks of “faith without works being dead,” those works (those things that accompany salvation) are works of love.
Taking the Bible as a whole this is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is saying.
“My beloved, in spite of all I have been writing and talking about, I am persuaded that much greater things will come from you. Things that echo your salvation. And since your salvation was obtained and begotten by and through love, love will echo out from you.”
To apostacize would be to walk from love – the love a person freely received from God and ultimately the love they would echo in their response to having received it.
So the writer seems to be saying that he is confident that they are going to continue in love.
Verse ten seems to support (and give added dimension) to this concept with the writer, saying
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Because of the way this is written, and because of the way it is described in James 2 and in other places, Christianity has often made love work.
Don’t get me wrong, work is perhaps the single best way to describe agape love when it pours from human beings.
Let me explain this through a simple diagram on the board.
LOVE (describe agape compared to other)
What is the best manifestation of real agape love?
Work takes time, time is life = giving life.
Work takes devotion.
Work (unpaid) is selfless
Work is for the benefit of those we love (i.e. children, family, spouses, community)
LOVE
WORK
What then is the opposite of WORK?
(LAZINESS)
LOVE LAZINESS
WORK
Laziness is a reversion back to the self. It is self focused. It is centered on our comforts and luxuries and whether relative to God or man, it is truly the opposite of agape love.
I mean, think about it, we are surrounded by the “works of God” not only from the creation, but through His Son and His life lived to the continued works of God – which are all to bring men about to glory!
To labor is the best expression of love for God and man. We’ll talk more about this in a minute.
So if Love is the echo of salvation, and work is the best expression of love manifested, and laziness is the opposite of work (and therefore the antithesis to love) what is the antithesis to Work, what is the opposite of love.
In other words if love is best manifested by work, then (WHAT) is best manifested in LAZINESS?
What is the opposite of agape love?
Evil.
Think about this for a minute.
If (or since God is agape love) and since the best expression of this love is labor or work (from God to us and therefore from us to others) then the opposite of work is non-work (or laziness).
And if laziness is the opposing force of work, and evil is the opposing force of God who is love, then the highest expression of evil is laziness, and laziness is the fullest expression of evil, of indifference, of self.
Look back to the Garden of Eden.
Adam was given the garden and two commands. Multiply and don’t eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Had Adam loved God more than himself, He would have obeyed (which would have required work) and would have taken God’s ways to achieve and learn and grow.
But there was a short-cut – a tree of Knowledge – which Satan said would make them as the God’s knowing good from evil.
Instead of laboring with God to know good and evil, instead of loving Him enough to trust in His ways and to obey, Adam took the short cut – the lazy way – and ate the fruit.
And introduced death (the opposite of life and the product of evil (which is life or live in reverse).
So here in Hebrews we have the writer tell us that he knows that those who have heard his teachings on apostasy will continue on echoing the things of salvation in their lives. Adding –
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Now here’s the gig –
Labors of apparent love “from the hands” and “the pocketbook” and “to be seen of men” have absolutely no eternal value to the perpetrator if they are not driven by the heart.
Serving the homeless, give all we possess, etc., etc. will all be tried by fire and in the end be consumed if they are products of wood hay and stubble – (meaning if they are not the product of a heart echoing salvation).
To enact works of love without them being driven by love is akin to polishing the exterior of a car – its windows, bumpers, tires – but there not being an engine.
So, looking back to our model on the board, WHAT are the labors of love first and always focused on in the life of a Christian?
Spiritual things. Spiritual characteristics.
Not the physical!
It’s not that the physical will not follow-on in behind them – they will. But if our labors are not put to cultivating our internal character the external labors will simply be expressions of religion – of bondage, of a yoke heaped upon us by religious men and women who demand the physical devotions before the internal are in place.
Religion focuses and promotes the doing of external physical labors (of love) but the Bible is always promoting spiritual labors before the physical.
So looking back to our model, what are the primary expressions of love a Christian will evince in and through labor or work?
Laboring FIRST to produce characteristics of the Spirit, not the flesh. The flesh will come later.
Sooo . . . let’s look at the model from the best Christian perspective.
LOVE LAZINESS
EVIL LABOR
Let’s pull from some of the main Bible passages to understand the content and constructions of the Christian engine (before we seek to shine and buff out the exterior elements that show our love)
First we know from Galatians that the fruit (singular) of the Spirit are:
Love
Joy
Peace
Longsuffering
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance
We also know Jesus said in Matthew 5 blessed are
The Poor in spirit
Those that mourn
The Meek
Hunger and thirst after righteousness
Merciful
Pure in Heart
Peacemakers
Persecuted
And we also know from 1st Corinthians 13 that agape love:
Is longsuffering
is kind
doesn’t envy
Isn’t boastful
Isn’t proud
Behaves itself well
Is not self-seeking
is not easily provoked
thinks no evil
doesn’t rejoice in iniquity
rejoiceth in truth
beareth all things,
believeth all things,
hopes all things
endureth all things
and that it never fails.
Let’s ask ourselves . . .
Of this list (there are 33 items here) . . .
How many of these attributes originate from the inner man or woman?
(all of them)
Do ANY of them correlate directly to physical action first?
How many of them does a person have to “labor over to achieve?
How many of these labors come from the physical?
How are they harmed or stunted by laziness? How does laziness thwart them?
What is actually being worked on or on what is labor being done?
Rhetorical Statements
Can we see how these are the things Christians labor over first as a means to show our LOVE for God and Man?
How it takes a dying to the self, a dying of the flesh, a dying to the former woman and man to
Express Love
Feel and recognize Joy
Cultivate Peace that is not of this world
Be exhibit Longsuffering
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance
That is can be an effort to be Poor in spirit
to mourn
to be Meek in this barbaric world
to Hunger and thirst after righteousness
to be Merciful
Pure in Heart
Peacemakers
Persecuted
Notice that in each of these passage segments longsuffering is listed?
To be kind takes effort?
To fight envy is a labor?
To refuse boasting
And to shun pride
To behaves well takes effort
To not seek the benefit of the self
And to fight provokation
How much work does it take to think no evil?
To not rejoice in iniquity
But to rejoiceth in truth
To beareth all things,
To believeth all things,
To hope all things
endureth all things
and to never allow love to fails?
But in EVERY single case laziness allows for failure!
The writer encourages us, reminding us that
“God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
The passage, for me (especially when taken in light of the rest of the word) tells us that “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love,”
(which I believe the author is speaking of real, true, established heart-felt agape Christian love that has been achieved or reaped by spiritual labors on the soul) which are THEN expressed physically, which is why he adds:
“ which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”
In other words the internal love garnered through their laboring in the spirit was then “shown” (or seen or expressed) in that they “ministered to the Saints, and continue to minister to them.
Here, the characteristics of genuine Christian love are manifested in outward, physical actions.
James makes the actions an imperative when he writes the all familiar lines:
James 2:14 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
Beautiful words. Wonderful works. Outstanding evidences of a heart for God that will take the time, and trouble, and temerity to physically bestow actual love on others.
But understand, God Himself could – could feed every hungry mouth and remain a just and good God. But He cannot change the human heart that is unwilling.
Therefore the order, within the confines of Christianity is not physically feed and hope the heart changes, but it is to first know Him by and through salvation, then to labor and work to die to self, and to overcome the wicked one who abides in our flesh, and to labor to retain the word of God within us . . . and to then let the love pour forth.
In this there is lasting, eternal value.
I say this because communist China can feed the huddled masses. And godless philanthropic physicians can heal the human body, but God is seeking those who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and did NOT send His only begotten Son to materially perfect the earth.
It has to start and continue from the heart and not just exist by the hands.
So how to best define a Christian?
Depending on the spiritual maturity of the believer we would certainly receive a number of submissions.
Some might say: “A true Christian believes in Jesus.” That’s not bad but certainly not complete.
Others might saying:
“A true Christian believes that Jesus is the Messiah whom God sent to pay for the sins of the world.”
True. True.
We might hear:
“Christians believe Jesus is Lord?”
“Christians are saved?”
(beat)
“Christians are people who will live with God after this life because their sins are forgiven by His grace through faith on His name?”
All good. But in my opinion still incomplete.
Wouldn’t the best definitions of a true Christian include something about love?
I would suggest to you that it would HAVE to. I mean, after all, it is BY this love that men know we are His disciples, right?
There IS and WILL BE a natural echoing of the love believers freely received from God, right?
Getting such love to flow naturally from the human heart out of our flesh takes effort, labor, and work, right – BUT . . . a work of the Spirit.
So maybe the best definition of a true Christian might be:
“A believer in the shed blood of the I AM who loves from the heart first and then from the hands.”
You might create your own, better, definition.
Finally, I think it is interesting where the writer says their material love came from (in whose name) and to where it was pointed, saying
“ which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”
The idea of assisting and showing love to non-believers is clearly expressed in Jesus story of the Good Samaritan. Love and help, in my opinion, out to cross all boundaries.
But here in the early church it seemed that there was some special praise for those who ministered to the believers or saints.
The Greek word for ministered is diakonos (which is where we get the term deacon) and the deacons call was primarily to the physical well being of the believers in the church.
I honestly do not know how to advise in light of these factors except to say, “May the Holy Spirit guide.”
And when the Holy Spirit guides believers will do, give and serve whom they would and whom they should in His name – whether they are believers or non – we cannot put God in a box.
In the last two verses the writer gives us a wider view, some broader application of what he has been trying to convey.
Take note of a few key words and phrases in the next to verses, like:
“The same diligence”
“the full assurance”
“of hope” in verse 11 and
“be not slothful”
“but followers of them”
“who through faith and patience”
“inherit the promises.”
Let’s wrap today up with these two verses where the writer says to all the readers and believers who read his letter:
11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Within these verse we have an admonition to those who maybe had not (through faith and patience obtained by labor in the spirit) become as equipped as some of the others who had.
So the writer says, “Listen, we want all of you to show forth the same diligence (of expressed love to the Saints) until you too attain “the full assurance of hope.”
From this there is the implication that “a full assurance of hope” is to be obtained by a persevering effort to lead a holy life of love.
Until you to receive the fullest conviction.
To the church at Colosse, Paul wrote (using the same word for full assurance here)
Colossians 2:2 “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Later in this letter the writer will write: (Hebrews 10:22)
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Fully persuaded.
In scripture (even outside of it) hope is a compound emotion.
It seems to be made up of an earnest desire for something and a corresponding expectation of obtaining it.
Therefore the hope “of heaven” is made up of an earnest wish to reach it and a corresponding expectation to reach it (or a reason to believe that it will be ours).
I would guess that to obtain “the full assurance of hope” there is a complete and proven desire for God and a complete expectation of it produced by love internally present and externally shown.
His wish for them to obtain this full assurance concludes with some more advice (verse 12)
12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Don’t be lazy, indolent. Guarding against this will keep you in hope and avoiding the aforementioned apostasy.
“But follow those who through “feeing the poor, and donating to indigent” . . . no? who through FAITH and PATIENCE actually inherit the promises.
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