Come and Go Sunday School Lesson with Dr. Herb Prince & Dr. Frank Carver at First Church of the Nazarene in San Diego, California, United States “Long Ago God Spoke--The Office of Christ

Come and Go Sunday School Lesson with Dr. Herb Prince  & Dr. Frank Carver at First Church of the Nazarene in  San Diego, California, United States “Long Ago God Spoke--The Office of Christ

Long Ago God Spoke

The Office of Christ

Hebrews 10:19 So, brothers, we have confidence to use the way into the Holiest Place opened by the blood of Yeshua. 20 He inaugurated it for us as a new and living way through the parokhet, by means of his flesh. 21 We also have a great cohenover God’s household. 22 Therefore, let us approach the Holiest Place with a sincere heart, in the full assurance that comes from trusting — with our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.[Hebrews 10:22 Ezekiel 36:25] 23 Let us continue holding fast to the hope we acknowledge, without wavering; for the One who made the promise is trustworthy. 24 And let us keep paying attention to one another, in order to spur each other on to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting our own congregational meetings, as some have made a practice of doing, but, rather, encouraging each other.

And let us do this all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go,

My daily labor to pursue,

Thee, only thee resolved to know

In all I think, or speak, or do.

The task thy wisdom has assigned

Oh, let me cheerfully fulfill,

In all thy works thy presence find,

And prove thy acceptance will.[Charles Wesley, “Forth in thy Name, O Lord, I Go,” The Works of John Wesley, vol. 7: A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, (Abingdon Press, 1983), 470. ]

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:24-25).

Introduction

Let’s say it again!  We are in the midst of a brief series on various aspects of the work of Christ in the book of Hebrews.  The first Sunday raised the issue of work and the appointment of Jesus “to offer gifts and sacrifices” (8:3). The second lesson spoke of Jesus appearing “once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself” (9:26b).  For today, let’s not neglect “to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (10:25).

This morning let’s look at the work of Christ in a slightly different fashion than what theology books typically do.  Volumes of divinity speak of Christ’s priestly work in terms of atonement, justification, sacrifice, reconciliation and obedience, all of which we have touched upon at times in working through Hebrews. We will return to these themes before concluding the book.  One cannot get around these important teachings found just about every place in Hebrews!  However given the selection of text for today opens up an additional priestly work of Christ, that of host and of hospitality.  By what Jesus accomplishes he opens up redemption with benefits that accrue to those who believe in him.  He signals by sitting down!    

Come On In!

Hosts generally do their best work by not sitting down but by standing up, by moving around, by meeting the expressed and unexpressed needs of their invitees.        

“Come on in!” is how it starts.  Gospel hospitality, as Amy Oden reminds us, “is God’s welcome, a welcome that is deep and wide.”     

Gospel hospitality is God’s welcome into a new way of seeing and living.  Ultimately, gospel hospitality is God’s welcome into abundant life, into God’s own life.[Amy Oden, God’s Welcome (The Pilgrim Press, 2008), 11]

We do not normally think of “rules” when discussing hospitality but rules there are!  For example, the home receives extra attention when “guests are coming.”  Who wants to entertain while feeling that things around the house are just not right, just not quite proper, as it were.  The “rule” is to put everything in its place before guests arrive.  Beyond that most discussion on hospitality revolves around the welcoming of guests, family members or new acquaintances into one’s home.  It is a time of fellowship, of sharing a meal or refreshments.  In the mix occurs enjoyment, encouragement, the cementing of friendship.  

Perhaps what is most overlooked are the matters of host and guest.  Who fits in which category?  Is the host simply the person “hosting” others, the one inviting others into one’s abode or office or into a state of friendship?  Is the guest simply   the one or two or three who are being hosted, the invitees, the ones welcomed into a moment of relationship?  A fascinating aspect of some languages is the use of the same word to mean both host and guest.  In Latin (hospes), Greek (xenos), French (hote) and Italian (ospite) the word can refer to either the host or the guest.  If so, who is the host and who is the guest when discussion gets around to hospitality?

This morning’s scriptural text is suggestive when it comes to one form of hospitality,[Hospitality appears frequently in the Scriptures (e.g., Gen. 18:1-15, 19:7; Josh. 2; I Kg. 17:8-24; Judg. 19:20; Mt. 10:40-41; Lk. 14; Rom. 12:13).] that of entering God’s sanctuary (presence) “by the blood of Jesus.”  What are the implications resident therein?  

Hebrews 10:19-25

19Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us approach 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. 23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

There are two exhortatory sections (4:14-16 and 10:19-25) in Hebrews.  These are the “Let us” sections of the letter. The two sections frame the central theological argument of the book (5:1-10:18).  The sections mark the beginning and the end of the discourse on Christ’s appointment as high priest, his ‘offering within the veil,’ and the cleansing of the believer’s conscience from sin. This morning’s text, then, while ending the author’s sustained argument also provide an introduction for what follows in the rest of the book.  

As Peter O’Brien puts it, the single long sentence (10:19-25) in Greek “powerfully expresses the intensity of the author’s appeal.” [Peter O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 361.  Heavy dependence on O’Brien will be apparent.]  Gathering up and tying together what the author deems decisive of the work of Christ confronts the reader/hearer with a foundation for then expressing what should follow in the lives of those transformed. The move is from indicative to imperative, from what Christ has achieved (vv.19-21 to three direct exhortations, thereby highlighting the cardinal virtues of faith, hope and love.    

Let us draw near to God . . .  faith. . . (v. 22),

Let us hold to hope . . . (v. 23), and

Let us consider . . . love. . . (v. 24).   

Before jumping into the exhortations, let’s first look at the basis behind them.  The passage begins with a conclusion indicator, ‘therefore.’  It seems reasonable to assume that the author, having laid out an extended argument that Christ’s sacrifice makes possible access to God (5:1-10:18), is now drawing what can be inferred from what has been said.  He does this through highlighting two significant blessings that believers are now able to enjoy: 1.) confidence to enter the most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus; and 2.) recognition of a great priest over the house of God.   In line with the Day of Atonement imagery, the author might well have said what the Protestant Reformer Philipp Melanchthon says later in the 16th century: “To know Christ is to know his benefits.”           

The confidence which believers have is in terms of free access to the true heavenly tabernacle.  The blood of Christ makes access possible.  This “new and living way” is said to have been “opened” to the believer.  That is, a way has been made that was not there before, thereby enhancing the difference that Christ made through his sacrifice.  Thus, as O’Brien says, “It is new because it is qualitatively different: it participates in the incorruptible freshness of the new covenant, which will not become old” (364).  To speak in terms of “through the curtain” continues to play off of the imagery of the old covenant but now is seen through the “flesh” (= body) of Jesus.  Verses 19 and 20 conclude that Jesus sacrificial death was the means by which free access to the heavenly sanctuary was attained.                 

Thus the text affirms that “we have a great priest over the house of God.”  Earlier in the book the author spoke of a great high priest (4:14-16):

14Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Now in chapter 10 the writer returns to the same title of a great priest but with additional meaning due to the refinement and addition of more content.  Christ the Son is in charge of God’s household, of God’s people.  The writer’s personal touch and identification is seen in the “we,” “us” and “our” references (10 times) in the text.  They serve as a measure of assurance for the reader/hearer.  The message is for us!  Therefore he can make his appeal:     

22let us approach 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. 

This first exhortation echoes what has been stated earlier: “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (4:16).  To approach the throne of grace may well suggest prayer as the context.  If so then the exhortation for help in time of need reflects a certain confidence in the new covenant based on the people’s relationship with God.  Now at the conclusion of the theological portion of the book every aspect of the believer’s drawing near to God, both corporate and individually, comes to the fore.  Complete trust and devotion are evident.  A sincere heart in terms of conviction or certainty of faith has been made possible, generated in believers as a result of Christ’s work on the people’s behalf.  This is indeed possible with “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (see Ezekiel 36:25-26).    

The second exhortation recalls the repeated summons to hold fast to what the believers already have (see 3:6; 4:14).

  23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful

Commentators think that the word ‘confession’ is not meant as a technical term as it can today when we refer to ‘confessions and creeds.’  If it was, then it would represent an objective, traditional listing of faith’s content.  Instead the term appears to refer to a more general sense of hope that is set before us.  The encouragement to hold fast is qualified by the term “unwavering,” suggesting the firmness of the hope factor.  This firmness is itself steadied by what God has promised (Deut. 7:9; Psa 145:13; I Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 1:18).  Promises are the basis of their hope (Heb. 4:1).  

The third exhortation, then, has practices in mind.  Mutual activities based on love and done for the good of all benefits the community of faith.

24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

To provoke is to stir up, to convey deep emotion, to care for each other so good deeds are the result.  However for this to be successful there needs to be an assembly, “not neglecting to meet together.”  Neglect in this context implies abandonment.  The LXX term used here is the standard verb used when Israel is said to abandon the Lord, in the Old Testament.  Thus the Hebrews writer seeks to overcome the laxity of the people who by their actions come up short.  The Day of the Lord is approaching.

It must be clear to anyone who reads the New Testament that the evidence is totally consistent on the direction of Jesus’ life.  In a noteworthy passage Paul speaks of Christ’s emptying and humbling himself and that he “became obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).  We have recently read of his suffering: “though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8).  He was born “under the law” (Gal. 4:4) and continuously   conscious of his dependence on his Father.  In one instance he says that it was his food “to do the will of him” who sent him and to complete his work (John 4:34).        

In short, G. C. Berkouwer observes “Christ did not obey spasmodically or incidentally.”  He goes on to affirm:[G. C. Berkouwer, The Work of Christ, Studies in Dogmatics (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965), 315.   Italics are Berkouwer’s.]

We are dealing with a total life’s direction which manifests itself in every day and hour, in ever-changing circumstances and encounters, as the actions of the Sinless One, the Holy One of God.   

Karl Barth wrote: “The way of the Son of God into the far country is the way of obedience.”[Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol. 4: The Doctrine of Reconciliation, Part 1 (Hendrickson, 2004), 192.   The German first edition was published in 1953.]  Can we be content with anything less than that for ourselves?

Gospel Hospitality

Mention was made when the lesson began of Christ’s work as host, a host who sits, who waits, who welcomes. Earlier in chapter 10 before calling on his readers/hearers to persevere the Hebrews writer says:     

11And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

The lesson this morning entails a number of significant motifs for our personal consideration: the work of Christ as high priest, hospitality, faith, hope, love, obedience.  The scripture says that Jesus sat down.  He sat down because a phase in his life of work was complete.  As the assigned host of the heavenly sanctuary and overseer of the house of God he now serves as our priestly intercessor before the Father. In addition he calls upon us to follow in his train.

Come on in!

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