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Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

It looks so simple in this single, short sentence. Easily said and swiftly read, but so hard to do.

We need to be told to ”Keep on” because loving can be exceptionally hard work. It is probably true to say that some (maybe many) in your orbit will not stretch your love muscles all that much, bur certain others…!!! Another story altogether.

Be encouraged today. However many times you’ve come off this horse, you can get back up and try again.

”Keep on…”

Remember, whenever the Bible exhorts us to move in a particular direction, it does so with the assurance that God is with us (indeed He is in us), and He will help us.

We are not alone.

Prayer: Lord God, you are love, and I am not. Please fill me to overflowing with what I lack, but what is yours in abundance. I come to the Fountainhead to be filled again. Thank you that you will not turn me away.

As we come into the final chapter of Hebrews, you may want to do a read-through of the whole of it this morning.

But before we get into the details, I simply want to make a general comment.

It has been said about the apostle Paul that he uses ‘a steam hammer to crack a nut.’ In other words, he repeatedly takes hold of a mighty theological doctrine, and uses it to make a simple, practical, down-to-earth point.

We do not know who wrote ‘Hebrews’, and I’m not arguing it was Paul. I’m not at all sure he did; and I’m certainly not convinced that he didn’t! But I make the observation that we see the same principle here. After many chapters of doctrinal learning, this last one deals primarily with daily living. There is some doctrine mixed in, but it is essentially practical material (It’s interesting that the writer actually refers to this letter as ”my word of exhortation”: v.22).

As Alistair Begg reminds us with his radio ministry, truth is for life, learning is for living.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our “God is a consuming fire.”

This passage, as we have seen, reminds of continuities between the Old and New Covenants. It is the same God we worship. We must not drive a wedge between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New. Although we can come to Him through the mediating work of Jesus (23b,24), He is nevertheless to be feared. We are to worship Him ”acceptably with reverence and awe…”

But also with thanksgiving.

I found this passage in Tom Wright’s commentary so helpful, I’m going to quote it in full:

”I was talking with a friend the other day who had been wrestling with the proper Christian attitude to what we sometimes call ‘the good things of life’ – food and drink, money and possessions. Knowing perfectly well that these things can become severe temptations if pursued for their own ends, he had often found himself led in the direction of renunciation, setting aside all interest in and claim on them, going the route of asceticism. Now he had come to the conclusion, he said, without wanting to pursue them in an idolatrous fashion, that the proper response to material goods was gratitude. Thanking God for what you have is the way to keep the things of this world in proper perspective. That way, you can never turn them into idols; nor can you make the mistake of supposing that when God made the world he made trash, which we can ignore or sneer at.

If that is so with the present world, with all its ambiguities, how much more ought we to be grateful for the world that is to come, the world that we have been promised as our true inheritance!” ‘Hebrews for Everyone’, pp.166, 167.

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ ²⁷ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Nothing pertaining to God’s Kingdom is shakeable! Those who build on Jesus’ Words erect their lives upon an unshakeable foundation (Matthew 7:24-27). But everything that can be shaken is one day going to be, before the unshakeable Kingdom comes in its fullness.

Tom Wright says that the really worrying thing in today’s passage is that God Himself is going to do this ”as part of his plan to take his creation by the scruff of the neck and make it, at last, what he always intended it would be.’‘ ‘Hebrews for Everyone’, p.164.

It will involve not only an earthquake, but, so to speak, a ”heavenquake”, as God brings in a whole new universe.

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! (New Living Translation).

In spite of the contrasts drawn between the Old and New Covenants, and the privileges of belonging to the New, we must not think we can rest on our laurels. We are called to obedience, and it remains a serious thing to dig our heels in, insist on our own way, and ”refuse” God.

“We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behaviour.” John Stott.

It has been pointed out that this brings us back full circle, to 2:1-4, and indicates that the writer is completing his argument and starting to pull together the various threads.

What was the last thing God showed you to do? Don’t neglect to act!

¹⁸ You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. ¹⁹ For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. ²⁰ They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” ²¹ Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”

²² No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. ²³ You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. ²⁴ You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. (New Living Translation).

There is a strong contrast drawn in these verses between the Old and New covenants. When we come to Jesus (”the one mediator between God and mankind…” 1 Tim.2:5) we also ‘come to church.’ We are brought into the church which is a holy mystery. Let us tread with sacred wonder. It is a place of supernatural encounter where, above all, we meet God in and through Jesus, but we also share communion with angels and believers (both visible and invisible).

”Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven,
we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you…”

In one sense, believers have already arrived in the heavenly city (they/we are seated with Christ in ”the heavenly realms” Ephesians 2). ”They already belong there; in prayer and worship they are already welcome before God’s throne. This leads to the obvious question: does your life of prayer and worship, whether alone or with your fellow believers, carry the sense of joy and excitement that comes bubbling out of these verses? If not, why not?” Tom Wright: ‘Hebrews for everyone’, p.163.

 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; ¹⁹ to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, ²⁰ because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.’ ²¹ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’

²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ (Matthew 11:28-30).

The word ”come” is repeated in today’s passage, and it is a word expressive of movement. No-one can come to Jesus and stay where they are. I think the New Testament word which best captures this movement is ”repent”. You could say it has movement built into it. It means a change of mind leading to a change of direction. It is to turn. In fact, it is an ‘about turn’: a turn through 180 degrees.

No-one can respond to Jesus’ most gracious invitation without movement. No-one can come to Him without repentance. There are those who admire Jesus from a distance, but that is where they stay. They admiringly look from afar and appreciate the view, but they do not ”Come”.

”See to it…See that…See to it…

As we have seen, pursuing holiness (14) involves availing ourselves of all the resources God provides (15a). We cannot become holy apart from God’s grace. But these repeated exhortations in Hebrews 12 point to our personal responsibility to take action, as we draw upon God’s power – a power, by the way, we may not always feel, but it is none the less really there for us. We can count on it; even more, we can count on Him.

Here is a very important quote from Don Carson:

“People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.

Literally, the Bible says of Esau here ”he found no opportunity for repentance.’

Tom Wright comments:

‘Human character and reputation is like a tree; it takes decades to grow, but it can be cut down or burnt to a cinder in a matter of minutes…the point of the sharp warning in this passage is that it is indeed possible to do things which bring our character crashing down in ruins and to discover that there is no way back…We should be cautious about suggesting that someone who genuinely wants to repent of their sin and get right with God will ever be refused; but we should be equally cautious about imagining that someone who enjoys Christian fellowship but then plays fast and loose with the consequent moral responsibilities will be able to come back in whenever they feel like it. Decisions and actions have consequences.’ Tom Wright: ‘Hebrews for everyone’, pp.155, 157,158.

Here, then, are some words to take to heart:

”Be very careful, then, how you live…” (Ephesians 5:15a).