Author: missionspaul

The antithesis of loving one another, loving strangers, loving prisoners and loving marriages is basically this … love yourself and what you can gain.

”Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’“ Hebrews 13:5

In The Testament of Judah, ancient Jewish texts from the patriarch’s last words to his children, he says these words, “My children, the love of money leads to idols; because, when led astray through money, men make mention of those who are no gods, and it causes him who has it to fall into madness. For the sake of money I lost my children…” (The Testament of Judah 19).

How many families and lives are broken because of the love of money that drives work to dominate the lives of the parent so that the children are starved of the greatest commodity of love.

We should be content with what we have and if we gain more we give more.

The truth is we all like money. Most of us would like more. The reason being is obvious, we like what it does, what it gives us, where it takes us. But it is dangerous because of all of that. It can demand our attention and our desperation, our worship and our servitude.

Are you worrying about money?

Are you wanting some retail therapy today?

When was the last time you gave some money in just an act of generosity and not your tithe?

Do you tithe? Do you give more than your tithe?

Are you free from the power of money? Are you happy?

The reason for contentment is because God is with us. He will not leave us whether we have much or in need. I will never leave you. That is the promise we hold on to and that is the promise that makes us be happy with whatever we have.

Love the church, love strangers and love prisoners. That’s what we are reading as this book comes to a close and now …

”Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.“ Hebrews 13:4

God loves you loving one another. God loves you loving strangers. God loves you loving prisoners. God loves you loving marriages.

We don’t know why this is in the list. Was there some problem taking place within the church or was it because of the church living within a sexualised society? What is clear is that the adulterer and the sexually immoral threaten the honour and purity of marriage.

We all know the tragic consequences of where love has broken down. You may know the pain yourself. You may have contributed to someone else’s pain in your past. What good is it to strive for Philadelphia (family) love within the church if one’s own physical family is devoid of love?

When 2 people commit to a life friendship of love is there anything more beautiful? And yet when either or both don’t honour that commitment is there anything more tragic?

Self-less, sacrificial, this pure love is unconditional. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” If you have found such love then don’t let go of it. If you had such love then be thankful for it. If you have an opportunity to give this love then do it.

Sexual immorality is not that. Sexual immorality is selfish and does not sacrifice. It grabs and takes and goes for what it can receive from that other person not what it can give. It has an agenda which is to gain for its own pleasure. It will pay for it or manipulate or deceive the other or themselves to ultimately get what it wants. It will appear as activity but it commences in the heart. It is not love. It is not God and He will judge the sin of the heart.

Keep on … do not forget … and now …

”Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering.“ Hebrews 13:3

The church had been doing well and the author is now writing to them to continue to think of those who are worse off than themselves. This is probably referring to those who are in prison because of their faith and worse, they have been abused maybe in the prison.

It is clearly commanding not just to think of these people; what good is thinking going to do compared to being proactively involved?

But it is the words, ‘ … as if you were …’ that are speaking loudly to me this morning.

• It is not only about you. You need to step way from your world to enter someone else’s.

• Never think someone else’s difficulty is beyond ever reaching you.

• It is not sympathy that is needed but it is empathy, there is a difference. Pity is being thankful we are not in the same position. But those suffering need to know someone understands.

• When we step into the shoes of the sufferer then we begin to truly understand incarnation and as such we come closer to Jesus.

• To remember someone suffering is to act on that memory; a visit, provision, prayer.

• Though prison ministries are needed and God is using them, there are many contained and isolated: captives are everywhere.

• Though the persecuted church need our resources and prayers and it is vital we support them, there are many who are abused and ill-treated in your neighbourhood.

• Do unto others what you would want them to do to you. Someone very important said similar words to that!

Someone has to do it!

I was in Niger overseeing famine relief in 2005 and was staying in the home of a Pastor and his wife. There was only one bucket of water available a day and they gave it to me! There was literally nothing in the shops. The animals were dying and there was little vegetation. But I remember being given a curry that the wife had made from whatever vegetables were left in her small garden. When I left they gave me gifts of cloth.

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13 v 2)

In Niger it was I who felt like an Angel. The honour they gave me as you can see has stayed with me for all this time.

The instruction to the church builds on Philadelphia love because we have moved from loving people with family love into the home of the family.

They have been doing this but they are being instructed to not forget to continue. It’s another ‘keep on’ encouragement.

There are reminders here of that hot sunny day when suddenly the Lord appears to Abram in the form of three men, Himself and 2 angels. Abram takes them into his room and shows hospitality and the result is the promised blessing that would come to him (Genesis 18).

Maybe (like for me travelling through Niger and staying in a home for a few days) the church in the 1st century had been receiving into their homes evangelists and teachers passing by. They may not have known them but they were loving strangers.

Jesus highlights the importance of hospitality when he says when we bring people no matter who they are into our homes and take care of them then we are doing it to Him (Matt 25).

The incentive is that if you only show hospitality to people you know then there won’t be an unexpected benefits but inviting people into your care that you don’t know opens up the possibility of surprises for God does want to bless you.

This last week I attended a leadership conference which was outside of the usual faith sector that I comfortably move in. The delegates were CEO’s and senior leaders from all walks of life including the British Army. It was an honour and privilege to be there. One of the many highlights was to hear how within the regiments of the Army they are teaching and fostering the importance of love. If a fellow soldier is wounded on the battle field the reason why you should go and rescue them is because you love them and not only because it is your duty to do so.

Hold that thought!

We have nearly finished reading this book of Hebrews. As we do we move into what appears to be a usual list of demands and calls to obedience. It sounds like the lists that the Apostle Paul wrote in his other letters and has led many to think he is the author here. But refusing to be distracted with that we press on and read the first on the list and appropriately it is love.

”Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 13 v 1

The word used is philadelphia and it was used for the love amongst the family. Don’t stop having tender family love towards others in the Church.

In the desire for a church to grow we must also continue with the same desire to build a family that knows how to keep on loving each other.

We can all think of examples where we are devoted to that Church member with love. We can also think of those people who we struggle with. They are the people who hurt you, spoken against you and who do not even like you never mind reciprocate any love you might have for them. It’s difficult.

Fire in the burning bush; fire in the wilderness guiding the Israelites to the Promised Land; Abraham and Moses both saw the fire. One of the symbols of Christianity is fire. If the Bible regards fire as the supreme need of the Church and the final gift of God. If the prophets of old associated fire with the Messiah. If our God is a consuming fire. If the gift of the Holy Spirit is a baptism by fire. If Christianity is a religion of fire. If we are saved by fire. If fire is so important then we definitely need it.

“for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12 v 29)

We must remember that the fire of God is coupled with the altars of man. He consumes altars with fire.

 Elijah built an altar, “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” 1 Kings 18:38-39

Solomon built an altar, “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ² The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. ³ When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground,” 2 Chronicles 7:1-3

The fire came because there was an altar.

The final altar was the cross of the sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. As He ascended to heaven he sent the fire from heaven.

At Pentecost we have to see beyond the phenomena, the noise, the violent wind, the tongues of fire, speaking in tongues, drunken-like behaviour. If we do then we will then see men and women whose lives were saturated with the Spirit of God. The passion of God possessed them with an intensity of a fire. They burned and they shone for Jesus. A holy passion for righteousness, a consuming enthusiasm for the salvation of the lost. They were sold out for Jesus.
The fire of God is unique.
The fire of God is not sent for a few emotional experiences. The fire of God brings power. Power to go and power to be.

Today give your heart to Jesus, prepare an altar and invite Him to come to you and He will. God consumes altars.

So we know because of what the author has just written that we will not be shaken. But that doesn’t mean we parade with arrogance nor that we just take this position as granted or like we deserve it.

“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” (Hebrews 12 v 28-29)

Therefore we are thankful. Therefore we worship with deep reverence to Him.

An old man is on the pier feeding the seagulls, they land all around him, on his shoulders, his hat, feeding off what he had in his bag. Why is this man doing this? Why does he come here every week?
The man is Eddie Rickenbacher, a famous pilot in World War 2. His plane the “Flying Fortress” was shot down in 1942 and no one thought he would be rescued. He and eight passengers survived in 2 rafts for 30 days. They fought thirst, the sun and sharks some of which were 9 feet long. But what nearly killed them was starvation, within 8 days they had no more food left.
But in these rafts they would have a daily devotion to God. One day after a devotion Rickenbacher leaned back with his hat over his eyes to get some sleep. Within a few moments he felt something land on his hat. He knew in an instant it was a seagull. They were hundreds of miles from land, where had it come from? In an instant he grabbed the seagull. They all ate the bird and the intestines they used as fish bait. Rickenbacher never forgot that sacrifice. Every week he went to the pier to feed the seagulls, to say thank you.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you’, that would be sufficient and that would summarise your position.

The Jew spends every day focused on thankfulness. In fact because of a legend regarding a plague that took the lives of 100 people in one day during King David’s reign the rabbi’s came to understand the spiritual reasoning for the plague and thus instituted the need to say 100 blessings of thankfulness to God.

Here is a Jewish prayer: “Even if our mouths were filled with songs like the sea, our tongues with joy like its mighty waves, our lips with praise like the breadth of the sky, if our eyes shone like the sun and the moon, and our hands were spread out like the eagles of heaven, if our feet were as swift as the hind, we should still be incapable of thanking You adequately for one thousandth part of all the love You have shown us.”

He has given all you need to be unshakeable. He gives you His presence. He bridges the distance between Himself and you. He has come to you and the reason why you will not be shaken is because His Spirit is with you. He gives you His power. He untangles your mess; He restores and revives you to go again; He cleans your life and chooses you every day to follow Him and the reason why you will not be shaken is not because you are better than anyone else but it is because of His power within your life.

We are thankfully not shaken and we will be so.

For in the hour of our darkest day
We will not tremble, we won’t be afraid
Hope is rising like the light of dawn
Our God is for us, He has overcome

For we trust in our God
And through His unfailing love
We will not be shaken

I wonder what worshippers are thinking when they sing this song. I would imagine it is about the challenges they are facing today. It may not be what our author/pastor is thinking in these verses as he writes to the community of Christians to do all he can to stop them turning back to Judaism.

Yesterday I was listening to the promotion of a new Radio 4 play soon to be released, centred around an attack on the financial structure of our nation, no one was able to get hold of any cash! The bank system collapsed. Well, I am not sure if the play is any good but I thought it not strange at all that certain plays were being written for such instability is all around us. The world is shaking. Nations are rising against nations. Fear dominates. The impact of the pandemic still resonates. Natural disasters are happening every week.

^“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.” (Hebrews 12 v 26-27)

It seems the author is thinking of the prophecy of Haggai in 2:6-7, “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

Haggai is thinking back to the same period of time that the author is speaking of, Mount Sinai. But he is also looking ahead.

Change is coming so Haggai believes and it did. Jesus came. But Haggai had an end-time shaking in mind along with the Hebrews Pastor/author. This will be a wholesale shaking of the world as we know it. God is once more going to shake His world. The ending of all that we know and the beginning of the new for it will be the return of Christ. Has it started?

When He comes everything that Christ has held together will be released. Christ sustains everything and when He comes He will stop sustaining. He will take His hand off this world and what we know will change.

But what we and the community of believers are told is that because we belong to Christ we will not be shaken. We shall remain.

For we trust in our God
And through His unfailing love
We will not be shaken
We will not be shaken
We will not be shaken

It doesn’t matter who you have become or what you have done. You can start all over. This is the gospel. This is the only gospel. There is not alternative to match this gospel. It must not be refused.

“See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶ 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.” (Hebrews 12 v 25-27)

Contrasting what happened on Mount Sinai (the Law was given that couldn’t be kept) and Mount Zion (the cross of grace that Christ completed for us) the author tells the community that they must not refuse this gospel. Why? Read the verses again and here are 3 reasons:-

• It is God who is speaking this gospel. This is not just a treaty of words but the truth of what He has done for the whole world. The gospel also carries a warning. Everyone knows John 3:16 but v18 is as important, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” If we are warned on a daily basis that another firm are recalling a certain product so do not eat and do not use then how much more if God is warning us?
• The consequences of refusing the voice of the gospel from Mount Zion will be greater than that of the voice of the Law from Mount Sinai. Their ancestors refused to go into the land God had promised and suffered the consequences. They wandered into the desert and never came out of it. They died there because they refused to enter. Those who refuse this gospel will face a greater consequence. Eternal punishment is real. Someone told me the other day they didn’t believe in it as if the New Testament is all pleasure and the Old Testament is all punishment. Talk to Ananias and Sapphira about that! If you refuse the Mount of Grace then there is only the Mount of Law left.
• The only way to survive the judgment is to hold on to the gospel. Only Joshua and Caleb survived the desert, they were the unshakeable ones. Those who hold to the gospel will survive the shaking. God will once more shake the earth but this time also heaven. Mount Zion shook Mount Sinai and everything that it represented: the Law and the sacrifices. Gospel-carriers will remain standing and will not be condemned but will be commended for their life.

This is why the Gospel of Jesus Christ must not be refused.

Having reminded the community of what they have not signed up for (Mount Sinai) which was an experience that separated them from God, being so afraid of His voice and unable to approach His presence.

Now in what is in the original one long sentence the Pastor/author tells the community of believers that they have such a lot to walk away from. Judaism has nothing compared to Christianity. Holding on to the faith and not going letting go is hugely important.

“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.” (Hebrews 12 v22-24)

Mount Zion – Yes we also have a mountain! It is not Sinai but it is Zion. We don’t have a place where God came down with the Law but we have a place where God came down with Grace.

The city of the living God – We have a city which the ancestors didn’t. They had the mountain but no city. Theirs was the wilderness. We have the living God who we draw near to not away from. He is living in us!

The heavenly Jerusalem – They wandered looking forward to a heavenly city of which their ancestors and the prophets after them longed for. Through Christ we understand that we are already citizens of this heavenly city.

Thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly – We know there are not just a few angels (beings used by God in previous Old Testament stories) but rather myriads of angels gathered around the throne and at work on this earth.

The church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven – this is not a denomination or a non-denominational church, but the church being the community of Christ followers throughout the world who are the chosen of God, the inheritance of God and loved by Him whose names are in heaven’s book of life.

God the judge of all – but more than what they think for He is the God who has satisfied His judgment because of Christ on the cross.

To the spirits of the righteous made perfect – Not in the sense that we are without sin but we are justified and our eternity secured.

To Jesus the mediator of a new covenant – there is only one way and that is Jesus and that is the way we are following.

To the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel – Not all blood that has been shed is righteous blood, Abel’s wasn’t. We are people of the blood, Jesus’ blood!

Now that’s a lot to walk away from!