Hebrews I – Back to the Future

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:1-12

October 26, 2003

 

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS

Beginning new series

Today we are beginning whole new series of sermons

We’ll use The Sermon to the Hebrews as basis

            You may have always thought of it as the Letter to the Hebrews > I certainly did

            But closer inspection [and not a few commentaries] corrects my error

            This is not a letter > it does not contain the kinds of things most letters contain

Thomas Long [Hebrews, John Knox Press, 1997, page 2) in calls it a sermon >

            And he calls the person who wrote it The Preacher

His introduction is so eloquent > I cannot match his words > so I want to read a bit

            Read paragraph from Introduction on page 1

For those who take ropes and spikes and torches and descend into the murky cave of Hebrews , there is much about this document we wish we could discover, but our historical lanterns are too dim.  For example, we wish we knew who wrote this curious epistle.  Even though many names have been suggested—Apollos, Barnabas, Luke, Clement of Rome , Priscilla, and Silvanus, to mention a few—the arguments are not strong for any candidate.  We actually have a firmer grasp of who did not write Hebrews than who did, since on stylistic grounds alone, it is a virtual certainty that the apostle Paul did not pen this letter.  But who did?  The best answer to that question is the comment of Origen in the third century: “But who wrote the epistle, in truth God knows.”

Only God knows who

 “Only God knows who The Preacher was” > and only God knows who the congregation was

            We do know, however, that he wrote to a congregation in crisis

Only God knows why

            Why were they in crisis?

                        For one thing > Christ had not returned yet > at least, not in way they thought

                        New Christians found themselves under extreme pressure to conform to world

                                    Non-Christians made fun of them > abused them

                                    In short > they were tired > more than tired, they were exhausted!

                                                Long says tired of serving the world

                                                Tired of worship > tired of Christian Education

                                                Tired of being out of step with society

                                                Tired of their spiritual struggle

                                                Tired of trying to keep their prayer lives going

                                                Even tired of Jesus

For a multitude of reasons > these people were in crisis > and it threatened the whole church

                        Read from page 22

The weary congregation of Hebrews longed for a gospel without a cross, a redemption without sacrifice, a faith without pain—something pristine and holy, something that does not exhaust the faithful with calls to put one foot in front of the other in daily obedience, something beautiful like an image of God in an unspoiled heaven surrounded by lovely angels singing untroubled hymns.  Anything but a weeping, suffering Jesus arching through tragic history with his head bowed and his face bloodied.  But the Preacher will not compromise the gospel, will not reduce it to the power of positive thinking.

The Preacher could have offered them gentle words of comfort

            “It’ll be okay > God doesn’t give you more than you can endure”

            “There’s a reason for all these trials > we just don’t know what they are yet”

He could have said this and more > but he did not

            He dives right into the truth of the gospel that goes beyond everything that troubles them

                        Read 1:1-4, 2:1-10

NOTES INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT READING

v. 1 > “different ways” literally ‘fragments’ and ‘fashions’

            ‘fragments’ > a word here, a sign there, years of silence in between

‘fashions’ > speech, dreams, insights, prayer

v. 2 > like movie Back to the Future about a young teen who travels back to 1955 in a Delorean turned time-machine. Once there, he meets his parents, still teenagers, but his presence throws things out-of-whack and he must work overtime to make certain they fall in love and get married or else he'll never be born > The Preacher reaches back into time to make the future certain

vs. 5-13 are quotes from Scripture (Psalms, 2 Sam, 1 Chron) > picks up again at 2:1

2:1 > Clue that Church is in crisis

 It’s not that they’re charging off in the wrong direction

                        It’s that they don’t have energy to even move, let alone charge off

                                    They were tired of walking the walk

                                    In fact > thinking about taking a hike > leaving church altogether

 

Dropping down toward the end of Chapter 2 and first part of 3 >

            Read 2:16 -3:2

 

WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO

What do we do when we find ourselves in the same place these “Hebrews” were?

            Tired of feeding the homeless

Tired of Church

Tired of teaching Sunday School

            Tired of being out of step with society

            Tired of struggling with questions of faith

            Tired of trying to keep our prayer lives going

            Even tired of Jesus

What do we do?

            We could stay home

            We could go somewhere else

But, since, as The Preacher says, Jesus is the “centerpiece of our faith”

            The best place to go is BACK > go back to these chapters in Hebrews

                        for going back leads us into the future

Thanks be to God!