Sticking Together
This sermon was preached at St Andrew’s Wakefield during their interregnum on 21 January 2001. Little did I know that I would become their vicar in June 2002.
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19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
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Perseverance
Setting the Scene
Sometimes, to inject humour into a difficult situation, I would sign a card to a friend who was struggling, ‘lets stick together’ and then signed it ‘the workers in the glue factory! It wasn’t always the right thing to do!
In Hebrews 10 we get the real feeling that sticking together was one of the reasons this letter was written.
Hebrews was probably written to Jewish Christians experiencing persecution at the time. Some were tempted to return to the Jewish religion some were tempted to split off and do their own thing, and some were tempted to jack it all in and not meet together at all. As they say, - if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen type of mentality.
And the ‘letter’ was written to urge them to hold fast (Hebrews 10:23);
Phrases like Hold fast recur - strive, go on to maturity, seize hope (Hebrews 3:6, 4:11, 6:1,18)
And the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains how our Lord has sacrificed himself so we can have direct access to Almighty God in prayer and through forgiveness.
But then the writer seems to change his tone, it’s as if he realises that all the spiritual theory in the world about Christ, the high priest and the perfect sacrifice, will not touch their lives unless we translate it into practice. What the Lord is calling us to isn’t an intellectual process and as such he moves from ‘Argument’ to ‘Appeal’ from doctrine to deeds.
In Hebrews 10:19-25 he makes three appeals to the Hebrew Christians and we can learn from each of these in our own situation here today.
Look unto Jesus
The first Appeal is to Fix their attention on the Lord (see Hebrews 12:2).
He urges them to look to their great high priest. This wasn’t about positive thinking (pull yourself up by your own boot laces) nor is it just about (the workers in the glue factory – sticking together). The writer was trying to encourage the readers and listeners who are faced with difficult times to look to Jesus their great high priest and for the Hebrews that meant persecution. It may be something different to persecution for you - but the answer is the same - ‘look unto Jesus’).
The writer was trying to encourage them and us to look unto Jesus their great high priest (especially as he was faithful in enduring suffering for us -even to death. And we are meant to notice in v21 that Christ is described as ‘the great.’ The reader was familiar with other greats - Alexander, Alfred, Gregory ‘the Great.’ Jesus isn’t your ‘commoner gardener’ priest he is unique, he is (v21) a Great high priest.
Great, as in, greater than Aaron who made his petitions before God in the tabernacle or temple.
Great also means great in his effectiveness, great in the work he has done, great in nature (the son of God), great in that he was (Hebrews 10:15) without sin, great in costliness - offering his life for the sin of the world.
Friends, He is our Great High Priest and he is able to guard us and keep us as we look to him at this time.
And the first lesson here for us is simple, we can only be encouraged to hang in there with God in difficult times, if we have first turned our eyes from ourselves onto Jesus (our Great High Priest)
For example, when I was snorkelling in Australia on the great Barrier Reef - I got carried away with swimming after the colourful tropical fist that I lost sight of the boat and - I was in trouble]
Another less personal - It is bit like looking down when you’re going up a ladder,. fear sets in but looking up to your summit keeps you climbing.
Another example, my South African friend Roger Robert when climbing Drachenberg Mountains, looked down at where he had come from and he became dizzy and fearful.
Friends if you focus on yourself. I am aware that this church in an interregnum, if you focus on your self you will reach for the anti-depressants and the psychotherapy chair but if you look to the Lord Jesus (our Great High Priest) - look up the ladder - you will see what he is doing for us in his petitions at the Right Hand of the father, you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to fight the fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).
This is the message to these Hebrew Christians, hold fast, since we have a Great High Priest and as we seek him at this time he will surely guide us in decisions and appointments that need to be made over the next few months.
Hold Fast
The second appeal is to Hold fast. Here the writer is urging them to persevere. There was obviously a danger of them drifting back into the ritual attractions of Judaism and even today we find it that some prefer the ritual of Churchianity to ‘holding fast to the confession.’
Now this does not mean grit your teeth and persevere personally but it means we are to continue our witness, ‘hold fast to the confession of our hope.’ In a world that dismisses Christianity as irrelevant or as we mingle and mix with people who simply ignore the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is important that we hold fast to what we believe and that we speak it out, your creed, ‘I believe in one Lord J C the only begotten son of God who was incarnate of the Virgin Mary.. and was crucified.. died and buried and no the 3rd day he rose again and ascended on high and sits at the RH of the father.. and he shall come again…’ This is powerful stuff and if we were to hold fast to the confessing of it or the speaking out of it to those outside the church what a difference it could make.
Allow me to illustrate this with a personal story. A few weeks ago we had a Saturday evening guest speaker (Steve Legg).
I had been talking to Robert and invited him to the Saturday evening evangelistic event. On Sunday he came to Church and we talked some more.
He said, “I’ve just got to do something about this to get right with God … I’ve ignored it for too long.” Robert is now on the third week of a six-week ‘just looking’ course with his wife and it’s wonderful to hear him speak about the way God is leading him on, drawing him closer.
And this second appeal of the writer to ‘hold fast to the confession of our hope’ is not about an underground movement, a religious secret service - it is about persevering with our witness as believers.
Look out for Each other
The Third appeal was to Fix their attention on each other.
If the first appeal urged them to fix their eyes on Jesus their Great High priest and the second appeal urged them to Hold Fast ‘confessing their hope in the Lord’ this third appeal urges them to fix their eyes on each other.
Hebrews 10:24-25 says, ‘Let us …provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together … but encouraging one another…’ Now if ever there was a right message at the right time for this church it is this. Consider again this final appeal in v24,25.. provoke one another to Love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together … but encouraging one another…’
It is this word ‘provoke’ which intrigues me, it is often a word with bad vibes but in this context, it has a sense of ‘sticking together’ (glue factory).
It is as if the writer here is giving us permission to bug each other to love one another and to bug each other in doing good deeds and in being liberal with our words of encouragement for each other. Now in a world full of discouragement, it is easy to pour cold water on people’s enthusiasm.
We should be offering to each other words and notes and even buying small gifts of encouragement, of praise for each other, of thanks and appreciation. That is the stuff that the glue is made up of that will help us to ‘stick together.’
You see, in urging them and us to fix our attention on one another he is also saying not to be content with a personal Salvation - I’m saved I’m all right Jack. John Wesley said, “the bible says nothing about solitary religion.”
Our Christianity should not be for our own sakes but for others, those around us both in our own fellowship and those who don’t yet believe
It is tempting, during an interregnum, to drift into a kind of selfish Christianity but selfish and Christianity together in a phrase is a contradiction.
Let me illustrate through the science of a microwave. Particles vibrate, rubbing against other particles and the whole thing heats up…. If it was possible to isolate particles there would not be any warmth. They would remain cold. They could not stick together.
Here in the last verses of today’s reading, we are being urged to look out for each other… not to neglect meeting together (v25)… to be encouragers for each other and I believe we have in this reading today, in a nutshell, the survival guide for an interregnum:
Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord our Great High Priest, Hold fast by looking outward and witnessing to those you know about your confidence in the Lord and Keep looking out for each other.. provoking each other to love and do good deeds and to be encouragers for each other.
If you do all that you’ll be like the workers in the glue factory – sticking together and you’ll survive the interregnum.
