Author: missionspaul

Are you ready to move on? Without abandoning what you know He has more to show you!
How old are you? How long have you been following Jesus? How have you grown more in knowledge of Him? How have you experienced Him more? In what ways are you now more obedient?
Recently I tried to explain something to a friend and their response was, ‘Oh thank you, now I see, no one has explained it so clearly to me before.’ I thought at last there was a breakthrough. Then a few months later this friend was back struggling with the same issue. It was as if I had never had the breakthrough conversation. It is possible to be locked into a position of thought or a revelation and never be able to move further.
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.” (Hebrews 6 v 1-3)
There is an old joke amongst ministers that when a new Pastor takes over the church from a Pastor who is their friend they might provoke them by saying, ‘I am going to lay a proper foundation’. The writer to this community of believers tells them that there will not be another laying of foundation. What does he mean?
Continuing the warning theme to the community of believers this leader/Pastor is challenging their lack of maturity.
Not that we discard the basic elementary teaching of our faith or we tick it off as something already learnt but it becomes the spring board to move on to further truth. There are elementary truths about Christ that are so important that must not be bypassed or forgotten. However, there is more!
The elementary truths are listed and in pairs:
Repentance and faith; cleansing rites and laying on of hands; and resurrection and judgment.
We understand the first and the third pair; but what is the second pair about?
‘Cleansing rites’ might suggest baptism but it is plural and doesn’t use the right word for baptism alone. It is probably a mixture of Jewish ritual washings and Gentile Christian practice that either symbolised their roots or moved on from them.
The Pastor wants them to move on from these things because whether they are the basic wonderful truths of our faith or some precious practices that are symbols of what we believe, it is possible to get so locked in to a revelation that we shut ourselves off from what God is wanting to say and do.
Are you open for new revelations? Are you open for God to speak to you? He may use Scripture? He may speak through dreams and visions? So many ways. It will happen ‘if God permits’ meaning not that He is reluctant or undecided but that it is in accordance to His will and for His glory. Today ask God for further revelations. There is more.

After each chapter I want to pause and reflect and ask this question. Why?

If you are wondering if your sinful actions have disqualified you in some way then read this chapter.

Jesus is your High Priest who intercedes for you and the reason why He is good at that is because He has walked your life but was without sin, v1-4.

Jesus can see life through your perspective and as He does He understands you.

If you want to know about being called by God then read this chapter.

Jesus did not reach out for this role but it came to Him. A calling is a holy appointment, v5-7.

In the Old Testament there was no individual who was a Priest and at the same time the King. That was always seen as the role of the Messiah symbolised by one figure only, found in Genesis 14, Melchizedek. This individual symbolised the role that Christ would be given. He was chosen for this role. Others had through sheer ignorance tried to take it. For example, King Uzziah decided one day to try and look like a priest by offering incense and he ended the moment with a deadly leprosy. Be careful what you reach for. Let your appointment come to you, don’t grab and don’t be apathetic towards it either.

If you want to know how to survive a crushing period of your life then read this chapter.

Jesus offered up tearful prayers in the Gethsemane but demonstrated how to stay obedient to do the perfect will of God, v7-10.

Jesus’ suffering commenced with his anticipation of his own crucifixion and death and being cursed by His Father. You know the feeling of anticipation very well. It is not always the anticipation of Christmas or a birthday party. It can be a dark shadow experience that you know you have to go through. Perhaps you haven’t gone through this way before and you are afraid but Jesus is praying for you that you will hold on and stay obedient even in the darkest moment. And like Jesus you will be delivered at some point and in some way. There is always a resurrection for those who follow.

If you want to safeguard yourself from slipping away from the faith then read this chapter. 

It’s not only about hearing what the Word says but it is about doing. The community of believers were not growing how they should. Life is about discipleship, v11-14.

Following Jesus is to grow in knowledge and wisdom and that does take time. The time is not age-related but the time you spend in reading the Bible, hearing it being taught, praying and looking at your world through the perspective of your Priest and King.

That’s why Hebrews 5 should be read.

Throughout this letter the Pastor will pause from the main subjects to bring a warning to the people. This is the third time in the letter. This warning passage is again quite long starting here in verse 11 and continuing into chapter 6 v12.

”We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.“ Hebrews 5:11-14 

The section of the letter doesn’t pull any punches:

They had stopped trying to learn – Today is a day to learn. Let Him direct your paths. Grow. Mature. Be self-aware. Be better.

By this time they should be teachers – disciples make disciples and so if no disciples are being made what does that mean?

They needed milk not solid food – they have slipped backwards and become immature.

They do not know the teaching about righteousness – they don’t know how to live the Christian life.

They cannot distinguish good from evil – they don’t know how to make wise decisions. 

Now think for a moment on what has already been told them previously.

Chapter 1: The Son is better, greater, superior and He is supreme than whatever you are hearing or seeing.

Chapter 2: Seeing Jesus is to see how He suffered but won; how His victory is our victory; to live in Him not at the mercy of this world. 

Chapter 3: ‘hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory’

Chapter 4: ‘hold firmly to your faith’

Chapter 5: Psalm 2:7 and 110:4 which are quoted here reveal the status of Jesus and how it came about. He is the Son and the High Priest. This has come about because of the declaration of God. This will never be altered.

They have been told all these things. However look at those 4 verses again. 

They are not where they should be by now. They are in danger of slipping backwards. In fact they seem to have done so. 

It’s a challenge to us all. 

Are we moving forward? Are we growing? Do we know Him more? Asking yourself these 5 questions each day may help to redirect your paths. 

What will you learn today?

Who will you teach today?

How will you grow today?

What acts of righteousness will you do today?

What wise decisions will you make today? 

“I’ll pray for you” is often said and we often say it.  But there are times when behind the scenes where no one is hearing and seeing you feel like you are crying out to God to change your circumstance and to do something so that what looks inevitable doesn’t happen! Do you know those moments? Of course you do and you maybe in one of them right now. That’s what our next verses speak to us about today.

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him ¹⁰ and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5 v 7-10)

He prayed, was heard but was not saved from death but through death.

Perhaps the thought here is Gethsemane and though there are other times we see Jesus praying and there are many occasions we are not privy to, but what is written here would suggest his time in that garden. A place of grief and sorrow. He knows what it is to be hard pressed. Gethsemane means oil press.

He prayed to the Almighty, the all-powerful One. To Him who placed the stars in the sky and created the gardens of Eden and Gethsemane. The Father of Jew and Gentile, of all. He prayed to the Covenant-maker. Jesus was fully aware of the prophecy of Jeremiah in 31:31-33 where God promises a new covenant, for the old was broken. That’s why Jesus personally battles with the cup before him. He has Isaiah also racing through his mind where the prophet is alarmed at Gods people drinking the cup of terror (51:17). He knows he will drink the cup of wrath and judgment in order to create the new covenant made with his shed blood.

He learned obedience not because he was disobedient but because of his submission to what he suffered.

The mark of any disciple is obedience.

“Son though he was” reveals that the One who had it all needed to submit.

There are times for whatever reason that we should not stop and admire the view but submit. We should just go through it as best as we can. This place is not your destination nor is it a resting place. It is a going through place. Do not be distracted or attracted to whatever you see around you, just keep walking through.

He was declared as High Priest.

The ‘Pastor’ will speak more about this in chapter 7 and it seems like we are being simply introduced to this name Melchizedek for that reason, whetting our appetite for more!

But Jesus was called, appointed, designated High Priest not by ambition. This role is as we know from the Old Testament system one of intercession and we have seen this already.

Today Jesus is interceding for you.

Gethsemane and submitting to the destiny on your life will crush you. He hears your cries. He hears and He is praying for you.

To learn obedience is to know we are not first but second. We are not leading everything but following. We are not in charge but conforming ourselves to Him and not to our rights. But in doing so we cry through the battle of that transformation. He hears and He is praying for you.

Finally, this war with your soul is the prayer that brings the eternal part of you, the God-focused, Christ-centred, Spirit-dwelt part of you to the surface and to make this the loudest voice, the clearest vision and the most powerful thought over what your body is experiencing. He knows this, He hears this and He is praying for you.

Thank you Jesus!

In the verses before we see the requirements of the High Priest and one of them being that no one takes the honour themselves, it is given, v4.

“In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” ⁶ And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5 v 5-6)

These 2 verses from the Psalms (Psalm 2:7 and 110:4) reveal the status of Jesus and how it came about. He is the Son and the High Priest. This has come about because of the declaration of God. This will never be altered.

He did not appoint himself.

He had no priestly family connections. He was not in the line of Aaron.

He wasn’t interested in joining a Temple to carry our priestly duties in the way everyone was used to.

He did not enter into political shenanigans like what had been happening in the culture of his day.

He had to die and rise from the dead to become the High Priest (we will read this in verse 9 soon). It showed that he was different to Aaron who also had to have atonement for his own sin before atoning others.

His priestly ministry is forever. Like Melchizedek’s It never fades.

You may in the eyes of some not be good enough. Your family tree may be conspicuous to say the least.

You may be completely different to anyone else.

Your way maybe the sacrificial way.

And what you think disqualifies you may actually be the reason you are qualified.

A message for those in the pulpits (and the pews!)

Over the next few chapters we will be reading beautiful things about Jesus our High Priest but before we get there we are reminded about what the qualifications are for priesthood. So whether we think of the high priest in Jewish history, or the church minister today or wherever you might be serving the Lord in whatever capacity that is, here are the instructions.

“Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. ³ This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. ⁴ And no one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.” (Hebrews 5 v 1-4)

It may look like you have gone through a human selection and then appointment process but actually you are called by God, v1 and v4

Do you believe this?

Being appointed by man can be encouraging and even empowering. But that is nothing compared to knowing that the Lord has appointed you, that He has chosen you, that He knows you and wants you.  In the same way even if man rejects you, even if they don’t see the potential in you, even if they say ‘NO!’ as the friends of Jesus did when he tried to share with them his appointment, it matters not. God appoints where man disappoints. It takes courage to hold on to this and to know you are appointed.

Deal gently with people, v2.

Into a context of being interrogated over who he is, where he is from and why he is here, Jesus tells a story. Was it going to be a story showing the power of who he was? A warrior leading the people into battle over the Roman Empire? No! He tells the story of a shepherd (John 10). The story is not of a powerful leader but of a caring and loving shepherd who deals gently. The Bible is full of a God who loves as a shepherd. We need more gentleness in our world.

Don’t let the sins of others become more important than your own sins, v3.

Maybe you wake to the hurt of yesterday. Every day there are wrongs done to people. You may be reading this carrying such a horrible weight of wrong that has been done against you.  There are unbelievable tragedies today. There are many victims. Since the beginning of time God has seen what mankind can to each other. “The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10). Today you may be the victim because someone made the wrong choice. When we are the sinner we cry for mercy. But the natural response when we are sinned against is to cry for justice. The blood of Abel in Genesis 4 cried for justice. It was a prayer of ‘Get him God.’ The blood of Jesus is not ‘Father get these murderers’ but “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Receive this honour, don’t grab it, v4

Jesus had said he was going to suffer and the disciples wanted to talk about who is the greatest. The whole team were battling over their positions. They were full of ambition. Still today even leaders want to be a higher leader, members want to be pastors, Pastors want to be apostles, apostles want to be bishops, bishops want to be archbishops and archbishops want to be Popes. That’s in the church but it is everywhere. Naked, raw ambition, climb the ladder, get to the top, it is better up there. Ambition is a killer of the church. We need to stop looking in the mirror. We need to find another visual aid other than ourselves. In the incident I mention remember the visual aid Jesus chose? He brought a little child amongst them.

After each chapter I want to pause and reflect and ask this question. Why?

Over the last several days we have discovered the answer.

If you are struggling in this season of your life then this section of the letter is an encouragement and a command to ‘hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory’ and ‘hold firmly to your faith’. Accompanying this command are several practical instructions; listen and obey His voice, know His ways, watch your heart, continue to move, move into His rest, don’t work for righteousness and take care of your soul. 

But maybe someone needs to hold on to these commands today.

To ‘hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory’ 3 v 6 and to ‘hold firmly to the faith’ 4 v 14.

We don’t know exactly what struggles of persecution this community of believers were facing but they were told to hold firmly to their confidence, hope and faith. 

Yesterday the World Watch List 2024 was published and launched by Open Doors at Parliament, Westminster. Along with many church leaders there were 130 MPs present. The 10 most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a Christian in 2024 are:

1. North Korea
2. Somalia 
3. Libya
4. Eritrea
5. Yemen
6. Nigeria
7. Pakistan
8. Sudan
9. Iran
10. Afghanistan

But those are nations and it doesn’t impact us. We need stories. 

I stood amongst the crowd with tears in my eyes as I heard first-hand stories of a Nigerian Pastor who was away on a ministry trip and Islamist’s came to his house and abducted his wife and 4 girls. They were taken far away but the wife couldn’t make the journey physically so they abandoned her and continued the journey with just the girls. Months of anxiety went by and then the ransom demand came. They could have them back for an equivalent of £20,000. The Pastor sold all that they had, their house and farm, and even the clothes on their back and borrowed to get the money. Then came the day for their release and the handover of the ransom. Before their release all the girls were raped before being let go. This family are now seriously in debt and are traumatised by the evil.

Story after story.

Evil.

And I was in tears. 

Hold firmly to your faith. 

For far less a story people have abandoned their faith. 

And whatever your circumstance. Whether you are one of the 2 Christian women stripped, paraded and sexually assaulted on the streets of Manipur in India on 4 May last year, having watched your younger brother and father killed before your eyes because they tried to intervene, the video was seen all over the world on newscasts on 19 July; or your name is Saleh (not his real name) who today is on Yemen’s most wanted list because he is a Christian Pastor; or you’re an Iranian Christian who is weekly being interrogated by the police having had your home ransacked again; and we can go on and on; or you are reading this and maybe you are not being persecuted but you are thinking of giving up because the devil is constantly plaguing you; then the reason why you should read chapter 3 and 4 is this: hold firmly to your confidence, hope and faith! 

Some days we need someone to represent us. It can feel like even our self is against our self! The evidence can be stacked against us and we know more than others know. We are simply not good enough for this world we live in. And as for another world after this one? Well, if we don’t qualify for this one then how will we make the next one?

We need a lawyer to get us through this season. We need a lawyer who though might know the truth about us can masterfully still defend us and find some mitigating factor that means though we are guilty that we survive.

I’m thankful this morning that we have someone who is far better than the best lawyer. The actual need is not for a lawyer but a High Priest.

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16 

Jesus the Son of God is our great high priest. 

The Pastor has told this community already that Jesus is greater than the angels and the prophets. But there is a higher position because of its function and that is Jesus is the great high priest.

The priest was crucial to the life of a believer in that they taught the law of God and represented God to the people but they also stood on behalf of the people before God and did so through the sacrificial system. They were the intermediary, pleading to God for the people.

But it was the high priest who was most important in keeping the relationship with God good for the people and the special Day of Atonement was his day as he went into the Holy of Holies to cleanse the people through the blood sacrifice. 

Today I want to tell someone who needs to know this truth. No matter what this world throws at you and you might deserve everything, there is one who stands in the gap for you, Jesus your High Priest.

Your prosecutor, the devil, wants to stop you from approaching God and if he cannot then he definitely wants to remove your confidence in doing so. He wants you to fall away and if he cannot make that happen then he definitely wants you to approach God with your head down and await your judgment and condemnation.

There is a gap though and Jesus is standing in it. More than a lawyer. A High Priest. More than the best High Priest of history. One that has ascended to the throne room, the place of judgment, as the one who knows what is to be fully human, he knows how you are feeling, he knows how you are thinking, he knows not only because he sees but because he has been where you are today. Maybe you have fallen into temptation and perhaps you have failed the test but He had the same experience but He didn’t. He is your confidence because He didn’t sin. He is your confidence because He became your sacrifice.

And today the throne is one of grace and mercy and the greatest lawyer, intermediary, High Priest is there representing you, calling out your name. So hold on, stand firm, not because you are right but because He is your righteousness.

How is your soul? And how is your spirit? Which submits to the other?

At the start of this second warning in the letter the community of believers are encouraged by this ‘Pastor’ to listen to the voice of God and through a number of other instructions it ends with bringing us back to the voice through the word of God.

1. Listen and obey His voice, 3:7-9.
2. Know His ways, 3:10-11.
3. Watch your heart, 3:12-15.
4. Continue to move, 3:16-19.
5. Move into His rest, 4:1-5.
6. No works for righteousness, 4:6-11
7. Take care of your soul, 4:12-13.

^“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4 v 12-13)

Look what the word of God accomplishes: it divides the soul and spirit.

On the cross Jesus cried out, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 26 v 38)

The 3 functions of our soul: the will, intellect and our emotions must be directed by our spirit which was created to be in direct contact with God.

In the order of God’s kingdom our souls direct our bodies but our spirit (which God constantly moves upon) masters our soul. This is why the Bible is essential to keep the order of God in our lives.

If I allow the primary focus of my life to be my soul (my will, intellect and emotions) then not only will that dominate my body but it will negatively impact my spirit (my contact with God).

Jesus reversed soulish living so that it is possible to be restored to the original kingdom order. But to do that his spirit, soul and body took a battering for us.

Jesus’ cry is an anticipation of 2 deaths. He knows the pain his body will go through but he is also anticipating being forsaken by God the Father. His spirit will soon lose contact with his beautiful union with God. The result is, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death …” The soul of Jesus was beginning to rule his life through grief, pain and hurt hours before he lost contact with God (his spirit) and his body killed.

He did that for us. Why?

So that our souls are submitted to our spirit and our spirit is in direct contact with God and we live as the nail-printed body of Christ in the world today.

And so that is the warning. Let us make sure the word of God continues to speak to us and let us be obedient to it so that we remain in His rest/in the finished work of Christ.

How many woke up this morning knowing that today they want to please God?

Do you ever worry about being good enough for God? Do you wonder if He is pleased or angry or is He someone who is rolling His eyes at you? How debilitating that must be! And more important what a waste of time as a follower of Jesus!

The Word of God is the same in 2024 as at the time of Israel’s Wilderness years:

1. Listen and obey His voice;
2. Know His ways
3. Watch your heart.
4. Continue to move.
5. Move into His rest.
6. No works for righteousness

“Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, ⁷ God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4 v 6-11)

Every generation must enter into the rest God has given. Whether that be the Moses generation, Joshua’s, the Psalmists who is quoted here (Psalm 95) and our own generation. There is a greater Joshua who we know is Jesus and though we have rested in Him we know we are also looking forward to that final rest in God when we step into heaven. Jesus finished what Joshua failed to do.

For that then we recognise there is no place for working for your salvation. This is to have the Sabbath rest. We don’t work for our righteousness. Yet ingrained in us is the belief that God is not pleased with us and He wants more from us.

There is nothing you can do to cause you to be saved, not one thing, it is total grace. Not one performance, not one sin-free day, not one commandment or act of purity or sacrificial giving, nothing. Get rid of the whole notion.

I met a man the other day who had achieved so much for God but he was incredibly miserable. Happiness is only found when you receive from God and not when you have earned something from Him (or think you have).

Sit back, receive His presence, be thankful for His forgiveness and be happy today. That’s not as easy as it sounds and for some we have to ‘make every effort’. This is of such importance because if we fail to do so then where is there left to go? Everything hangs on this one thing that our obedience is to enter into the finished work of Jesus. This is incredible but true.